Oh my, what a month August was! Adalyn's first birthday party; a sailboat afternoon with good friends; a goddaughter come a'visiting; our first Native American powwow; a frantic trip back to Vermont after Mom broke her neck; visits to several longtime friends we hadn't seen in a while;

And, oh yes … Tropical Storm Irene

Grandma Penney is clearly enchanted with the birthday girl! The party was held in Andrew and Emily's back yard and fortunately, the weather held off for the event.

Andrew and Emily see to it that Adalyn has the proper amount of fun eating her birthday cake. It was a great party and we were happy to reconnect with Emily's side of the family.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis …

Cap'n Will Loeffler at the helm!

Susannah Bender looks on approvingly.

Bob's goddaughter, Rose Anne Hamilton Harry

Calvin and Rosie's granddaughter, Nevaeh

Calvin Harry, a First Nations member from Canada's Pacific seacoast.

The site of the Powwow which we attended the day after Rosie and Calvin's visit was a beautiful mountainside plateau in Pennsylvania, about an hour or so northeast of Pittsburgh; Rosie and Calvin were performing in the dance and also selling Native-made goods. We were able to purchase a few items.

The fire circle just before the start of the dance. It was a very impressive ceremony, with members from several tribes participating (the various groups of drummers are seated under the pavilion just to the right of the plume of smoke. The photo to the right shows Calvin in his native dress (as a raven).

Tropical Storm Irene hit Vermont extremely hard; Vermont is sort of "V"=-shaped, with a lot of water falling into a relatively narrow space. It scoured away roads, bridges, houses and farm animals. This is a portion of state route 121, which runs just below Mom's house.

We were spared from any real damage (one pine tree lost a few branches, which we were able to clean up in about an hour). Many other residents lost everything..

The Saxtons River at this point is normally maybe 20' wide! This shows part of the right side of the flood. Note the tree in the center.

Same tree just to the left of center, and you can't even see the left-hand side of the river. I estimate the width at the peak water flow was 200'.

We've known the Haven Andrews family since our Greendale, Wisconsin days, when they were parishioners at St. Hugh of Lincoln (later St. Thomas of Canterbury) Church. They later moved back to the Kennebunk, Maine, area.

Haven's daughter, Karen (left, with Penney) was a special favorite of us both and we hadn't seen her in many years. An intended "quick visit" turned into a pizza party and overnight stay.

We were in Maine because we couldn't get to the hospital where Mom was being rehabilitated; too many roads and bridges were washed out and the place was completely isolated. Fortunately, roads to the northeast (through Keene, NH) were open, so we took advantage of an enforced vacation for a couple days of R&R.

The next morning, we bade a reluctant farewell to Haven and his wife, Paula before hitting the outlets in Freeport (home of L. L. Bean—need we say more?!).

Sandy and Becky McNiven were close friends of Penney's when she was at Hope College, and she hadn't seen them since graduation, so it was a real thrill to find that they were at their family summer home in Ogunquit, Maine, a place we try to visit yearly. (See photo, right)

The "Marginal Way" in Ogunquit is one of the most lovely walks I know. It runs from Perkins' Cove to the town beach.

The "Penny" of the sign was the McNiven family dog, who used to love climbing down to and up from the beach along a small path. For the occasion, we added an "E" to make it Penney's very own—for an afternoon, anyway.