TRIBUTE TO A SPECIAL PERSON, JUNE KRANENBURG

Our friend and dance instructor June Kranenburg and her husband Leonard died in an Alaskan plane crash this past week.
June was a great person and the best dance instructor we ever had! She had a wonderful inclusive manner so that even the most challenged person wanted to learn to dance. She was great with all ages from teens to seniors, but I think she most enjoyed teaching high school and college students. Thanks to her there are a lot more young people dancing these days in the Rogue Valley!

Personally, she saved me from many a dance meltdown because she could teach my partner Jack better than anyone else. I honestly think that it's thanks to her that we kept on dancing after some "rough spots" learning new moves. We're still dancing 15 years later.We took group and private lessons from her. We always felt that we got more than our money's worth from her instruction. She was so good at "diagnosing" what wasn't going right with an attempted dance move and fixing it for us. She also had the ability to choreograph based on the skill level of the dancers...a real confidence booster for beginning dancers.

So we guess that a good dance instructor was needed "up there" and June was called to the task. I don't imagine that wings will hamper her one bit...if anything she'll come up with some new steps!
We miss you June.
Kathy and Jack Ashcraft
"Never Miss A Chance To Dance"

GOT WHITE?

 I like white flowers in the summer. They have a refreshing look in the heat. The yucca blooms right on schedule on the first day of summer.

 This is my favourite Shasta Daisy...some call it a "cactus flowered" daisy.

 Then there's the hydrangea. This is my newest...an "oak leaf" variety.

And here's the yucca again. It only lasts a few days and then it's done. Happy summer!

PEA PICKIN' TIMES

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave...
Temps in the low 90's up here in the mountains, over 100 in Medford for 3 days (with T-storms predicted)! Good for tomatoes but bad for peas. So I got up at 6 am and picked all the peas. Then I "robbed" a hill of potatoes to make a nice side dish of new potatoes and peas in cream. Yum. Went well with the salmon patties.

LATE SPRING GARDEN MAGIC

 Sweet pea treat perfumes the garden.

 Nosey delphinium peek over the back fence.

 The swelling pods of English peas...our first harvest was 3 weeks early this year. 

 Cream separator from the old farm in South Dakota makes a really sturdy plant stand in Oregon. 

Old garden ladder gets fresh coat of boxwood green stain.