We have now complete 7 weeks of our mission and it seems like we just left Placerville, but then when we think of our family and it seems like it has been such a long time.  We can see the little ones changing and growing up right before our eyes.  We just hope they will remember us when we get home. 

I am still working 6 hours a day 5 days a week in the gardens.  I was talking with my neighbor who did the gardens last year and she said our crew is something remarkable.  What we did last week, their crew hadn’t even got to this point until the middle of June.  We completely took 3 homes ( 1 acre each) and weeded, pruned trees, formed hedges out of wild bushes; I took before and after pictures so there was proof of what we did.  I have nicknamed our crew the “Magnificent 7”.  We had one sister drop out as it was too hard of work for her.  She probably weighed 95 lbs socking wet and she just was not strong enough.  I am hoping I am loosing weight as my shoes are so loose on me.  That is the first place I lose weight and then it is my face.  The stomach is still there but the jeans are falling off of me.  Can’t find old lady jeans that go up to the waist.  These mid drift jeans don’t work. 

Our plays are so much better as time goes on.  The director keeps asking Jonny if he is ready for a speaking part and he keeps telling her he is perfectly happy pulling the curtain.  We have a big time director from Salt Lake here to critique our performances.  He told our director that one of the other casts had the best curtain puller, now the competition is on from Jonny to be the best curtain puller.  The narrator for the play has a very bad back and it takes him a while to get off the stage.  Jonny thinks that is why he wasn’t the best.  Jonny doesn’t go to the green room for warm up practice but stays upstairs meeting and greeting the visitors.  He is really good at this and no one so far has missed him at practice.  One funny thing happened after the show the other night, Jonny was talking to a young boy about 12 years old and asked him what he thought of the play, he said “ I was really impressed with the make up on all the performers, I didn’t know they could make so many people look old.  Little did he know we don’t have stage make up on – and we are naturally OLD!!!  I probably would have hit the boy when he said that.

The weather here changes hourly, it can be lightning/thundering one minute and the sun shines a little later.  They do have some great thunder storms here.  The weather is still very cool and  it looks like it will be raining most of the week.  Hopefully we won’t have to work out in the rain.  Most of the flowers we have transplanted are now big enough to be put into pots.  I guess from what people tells us that these pots are absolutely gorgeous and they are planted on the Main Street in front of all of the buildings downtown.  We went to a civil war reenactment yesterday in Keokuk Iowa   I have never seen one of these and it was very realistic.  They shoot off the big cannons and rifles and every time the cannon went off I jumped and people around us would laugh at me.  I was also in a frying pan toss.  I let go of the pan too soon and it flew up in the air really high but that is not how it was measured.  They measured it by where it lands.  One lady threw the pan side armed and it landed on the cement stage and broke in half.  She was so embarrassed, Glad it wasn’t me.  Well its time for bed so I’ll sign off for now.  Love to all of you and we will see you soon???

Love, Carole and Jonny