Maybe the Last Bouquet

The process of clearing out a house and barn in order to sell it is one of those projects that extends to fill all the time available. And that's good, if the clearing out entails sifting through a long, happy family life and culling out the very little you can take with you into a new life. Such is my love affair with 179 Friendship St., Waldoboro, Maine.

Last week, daughter Rachel, son-in-law Rob, and I spent the three hottest days of this summer working at the sorting and clearing. We also took time to play.

First order of the day: Rachel collects a full
gallon of raspberries from our neglected
bushes. She made a heavenly pie.
Note the gone-to-seed rhubarb!

Second order of the day: Bring the house
to life with flowers. This was Rob's job.
Is this my last bouquet here?

Weeding and bush-trimming filled several
trash cans, but Wow, did Tom's sculptured
landscaping look great again.

We moved "a ton of stuff" along via a "free" sign.
This man and his wife filled their car twice and
the Feeneys' truck once. Excellent riddance of
things I no longer need.

Weeding and mulching made the
barn garden presentable again.

And the play? Here are R & R at Owl's
Head Lighthouse, before we went to see
the final Harry Potter flick. We also swam
at idyllic Peter's Pond and had a beach
picnic with old friends Liza and Amelia.

My family is wonderful.