Today has dawned clear - for a change! - and it should be a nice day.  But my mind is back is Maryland, where Emily is scheduled for her C-section today.  Just waiting for the exciting news of the arrival of Baby McGill!

In the meantime, here are a couple more shots of Ivy from last night.

with mom Loretta

with cousin Alexis, and dad Michael in back

(he does not look 29, does he!)

with Grandma Terry and Grandpa Neil

Tom missed one of his favorite dinners last night (chili, cornbread, salad - and pecan pie bars for dessert!)  It was a wonderful family gathering, and Neil tolerated the noise and commotion well. Though the kids ate in the kitchen while the 9 of us were at the dining room table, of course the rest of the time they were bouncing all over the place.

I finally got to meet Ivy!

She needed a serious diaper change upon arrival, and I volunteered.  It was MUCH easier than dealing with Neil. <g>

After lunch Terry encouraged me to head up for a soak.  I made it as far as the swimming pool, and decided to do some laps.  But my hair has gotten so long that without a hair-tie it kept getting in my face and annoying me - so I quit after just 4 lengths.  

Look who was cruising by grazing as I was toweling off.  In these shots I am still by the swimming pool.  In the background above the doe if you look carefully you can see the heads of folks in the apple pool.

And I was not the only one taking pictures.

The flowers adorning the swimming pool deck are quite happy with all the rain we've had.

The bathhouse by the pool would have been nice when the kids were little. The red metal "triangle" in the foreground is the roof to the sauna.

And if you need a massage, just check the board opposite the bathhouse door to see who's around and available.

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Never did make it up to the party pool, but I took a nice soak in the lower the apple pool. 

There's only one lone sunflower blooming there.  Can you spot it?

Here's a closer view to make it easier:

Janet and Roxie were just leaving Apple as I was getting there, and Roxie's name had come up as a possible Neil-helper for Steve during our eclipse trip.  I mentioned the need, and she's definitely willing to talk to Steve to see if they can work out a schedule.

Here's a good bumper sticker from my walk back to the house today:

Hey GMO - Stop trying to get in my plants!

I was almost back to the house when Aimee and friends were heading up to soak, and I admired her head "thingie".  Apparently she makes a lot of them, and was more than willing to have her picture taken. 

When I told her she'd appear on my blog she asked for the name of it - at which point I had a deer-in-the-headlights moment.

However I gave her one of my cards, and told her the ball is in her court. <g>

Wasn't back at the house long before it started to rain - again.  James and Deanna had hoped to take the kids down to the ranch this afternoon to play with some of the piglets once they got back.  Oh well...

I'm always on the lookout for interesting bumper stickers here.  So far I haven't seen too many, but of course the annual party is next weekend, so I have high hopes!

Can't remember if I already shared this sign posted outside the quilt store in Durango.  (Maybe quilting hasn't made ME any smarter?)

I was proud of myself yesterday, when (all by myself <g>) I loaded Overdrive onto the laptop, checked out a book from the library, and - when it didn't actually appear - figured out that I also needed to download it... which I accomplished.  Yes, this really is a big deal! lol  

Now if the book just doesn't vanish into thin air after 2 days I might be able to finish reading it.

I never get tired of this view - and of course it's never quite the same since the clouds keep changing.  Still trying for that "perfect" shot to use as a template for a wall-hanging.  Of course I can always cobble together a template from several photographs....   In the meantime, here are a few shots from yesterday afternoon.

Not sure if I'll make it up to soak today.  It's another dreary morning (very unusual for overcast skies first thing in the morning, but that has been the norm here lately) and I didn't wake up early enough to "sneak" up for a soak and get back in time to help Terry with Neil - which takes up most of the morning.  Might make it up this afternoon; just depends on when the gang makes it here from Alamosa.

Although the day dawned gray and overcast, the sun did eventually come out for a little while in the afternoon and we lunched on the back patio. 

Afterward I went to soak for an hour or so.  On my way past the swimming pool I saw this little guy sitting on the rock wall eating what I originally thought was a piece of fruit.

Turns out he was helping himself to this bag of chips on the table!

 I did not meet baby Ivy today after all.  The cousins are having so much fun together in Alamosa that the kids have been invited to stay over again tonight.  So Michael & Loretta didn't bring the kids back today, and the big dinner party has been shuffled to tomorrow.  Elinor and Richard are joining us tomorrow night (despite not knowing what is for dessert...) so it will be a family crowd of 9 adults and 5 kids.

James and his family - wife Deanna, daughter Alexis (12?) and twins Tatum & Gauge (9?) and dog Scrappy - arrived for a four-day visit.  I didn't take any pix yesterday, but until I get some from this summer here's one from last summer. 

Today while they are off for the day Scrappy is 'stuck' here with us. 

Here are Neil and Scrappy visiting.

Yesterday there was considerable moisture in the air, and up at the party pool we had lovely rainbow colors smeared in the sky.  Unfortunately my camera did not capture the vivid hues very well.

I'm loving the intense cloud formations!  These are also from yesterday.

And I'm hoping that at some point someone (maybe Alex?) can help me stitch these 3 shots into one panoramic view.  No doubt it can be done right on the camera - though "probably" not <g> by me!

Terry had mentioned to me that Suzanne was coming up today with her grandson for his inaugural soak.  But I was surprised that she recognized me (and remembered my name) when I got to the party pool.  Gavin really seemed to be enjoying his soak, though Mom Monica was worried about him getting too pruned out.  At which point I sang him The Prune Song (a new one for her.)

I liked Suzanne's robe - nice and lightweight for the summer - and am thinking that Wanda could whip up a pattern for one of these!

Warren and Katie showed up for a quick soak (Egee is attending Science Camp.)  Warren didn't have time to whip up a fancy rock creation (like last year) but maybe I'll see one yet.  Pretty sure they're going to be around for a while.

This hat turned out to be Annie's.

When she and Mike got out of the pool I could see that tops of her buns were burnt, to an uncomfortable-looking rosy pink. 

I asked if she'd brought aloe (nope) so I had her rummage in my red bag for the travel container of aloe and slather some on. (I carry it around for just that purpose, because I am being careful and do not plan to need it for myself!)

No laps today; Wednesdays are pool cleaning day.

These campers have a hammock room!

It's official; guess Marla was right!  This was posted at the bathroom:

And here's the Science Camp poster.

I took the back way 'home' (that trail is all washed out and the pipes are exposed) and took a few pix of the swings.  See them in the background?

The kids loved swinging out over the valley;

the long chains meant they could get quite a bit of height!