Quality Time

Earle and I have been savoring moments of quality time over the last week. Starting tomorrow he will be off to Taiwan and Germany again for work. This time it will be a two-and-half week journey to solve problems that came up in Taiwan. This unexpected trip has altered our summer plans. He was originally going to leave yesterday for a short trip to Germany and was going to take Julia with him. After his return we would have been heading up to Maine to visit his family. All that is now postponed until fall. Fall is a perfect time of year to visit Maine though. It should all work out just fine in the end. The hardest part is knowing he will be away from us now for longer and he will be away for our 20th anniversary. So, we are sharing these moments of quality time before and after the trip. It actuality, his upcoming departure has forced us to slow down and enjoy the summer we have left. That has been a good thing.

There is a park not far from our home that we enjoy with a pond, walking trail, and memorial to a fallen police officer. Recently Earle took his camera and I took my small field guides to wildflowers and birds. These are some of the highlights of our venture. We had been there just the day before and observed a lovely killdeer standing ankle-deep in the marshy area at the end of the pond, waiting patiently for dinner to move below the surface of the water. We were hopeful he would be there when we returned with the camera, but he must be photo shy. Maybe next time.