They smell better than they look. This is my rose bush, the one I brought from Rhode Island, which is about 30 years old (I moved to RI in 1975 and the bush was there then). It used to be big and bushy and covered with blossoms, now the center is dead and it has lots of canes growing in a circle around the center and this year those are covered with blossoms. Very encouraging--last year there were hardly any blossoms. It smells so good you just take deep breaths when you walk by it, and you walk by it every time you go up the stairs to the front door. I love this plant (yes, I love plants). This is a blurry picture because I was dashing to the car, late for work.

I'm having problems with my well/water again. I don't know what's going on, whether my well is truly going dry or there's a problem with my pump. I went to a friend's for dinner last night and when I came home the pump was running and no water came out of the faucets. I think this weekend I have to bite the bullet and struggle with the wellcap to see how much water is in the well. Don't want to, too much work. Haul ladder down to well, cut down balsams blocking the way, prop ladder against well tile, struggle with heavy (40 or so pounds) wellcap inconveniently located in center of well tile and shine flashlight down well without dropping it. Don't want to know how much brown gunk is at bottom of well. Sometimes the truth hurts, no?

Last night I ate with Mary Kay, a former camper who is staying at Linda's camp this week. We had a great time, as we always do together. Mary Kay was a high school guidance counselor who got to retire early (last year). Lucky, lucky her. She's now into geocaching. How cool is that. She found a bunch of caches not far from Silver Lake, which is really amazing, I think. We talked about good places to hide things at Silver Lake but decided we don't want more people to come here. She's going to look for a cache that's accessible only by boat while she's here, and the body of water is in a non-motorized chain of lakes. Sounds pretty neat. She said I should take my kayak and join her but of course I won't. I said I need to get used to it first, and will practice on Silver Lake before venture elsewhere. She showed me this really cool place she and another friend went last year (on a great map she has) that ends up on a pond I want to go to. I must say having the kayak and feeling better makes me more interested in getting out and doing things.

I had company for dinner on Tuesday night. Duncan, David and Ken came. We had cocktails (beer) on the deck, where there was a nice breeze and it was really pleasant, then we ate inside. I had thought we might be able to eat on the deck, which I sometimes do in the summer, but it was drizzling so we didn't. I served meatloaf, which was very mediocre. I need a good recipe for exceptional meatloaf. I made good chocolate sauce and we had ice cream with real whipped cream and choc. sauce for dessert. That was really good. As I've mentioned, I'm crazy about Duncan and David, so I had a great time with them. I even gave them a tour of my house, which I had spent a few hours cleaning/organizing before they came. It was humiliating but since I've turned the master bedroom into a storage area it was better than it's been in the past. David even went into the cellar hole to look at the live wire. He marveled at it and said I was lucky, that's all, after my experience touching it to the metal ladder earlier this year. I think it's wired to the breaker that controls the light down there so I can't shut it off. I'm not sure what Jamie had in mind when he put that wire there, or why he never capped it off, but I should ask someone to cap it for me. Someone either brave or stupid. Anyway, D & D have now left and I won't see David again until November, sadly. Duncan and family will return in 3 weeks.

Linda and Erdvilas come on Saturday, as do a number of other people. The season will be in full swing. I'm not sure anyone will be at our camp for the 4th, which will be strange but nice for me. It's supposed to be sunny and hot on Saturday (maybe--it all depends on which forecast you believe) so I'm hoping to spend time on the dock (as opposed to looking down my well). It's pretty much rained all week.

And now it's on to cataloging and revising records. I have to catalog 3 multi-media kits for a grant we got. They have little plastic animals. I won't list each animal individually, though.