Grad party pix

On our patio. My son Josh near the orange bowl. Absurdly obese me way in back

The Naomi Shrine. The collage was put together by the juinors on the Varsity Bball team

Naomi and Dontae in our living room. She likes to make this silly kissy face anytime a camera is near her

Dancing Oliver-unfortunately off by 90 degrees

I decided to take a day off yesterday from running. Even when I was in 'good' shape, I'd take off a day before a long run but I felt guilty nonetheless. Must..keep...running. As penance, I ran a 10K today (6.2 miles), the longest I've run in 2 years. Aside from making my legs sore, it was relatively easy. Lots of goldfinches out this year on my path.

We had one last visit from Shanna and her family yesterday. Oliver is so cute!!! They will return in about 8 weeks for a wedding and baptism.

Steve and I took a walk yesterday in the arb to the peony garden, which is in full bloom. Thousands of plants! Also we walked through this protected glen which has a micro-climate suitable for mountain laurel, rhodadendrons and azaeleas, which also are mainly in bloom. Generally the mountain laurel can only grow further south-I've never seen it any place else in Michigan but it is very pretty.

So my worry-the scar on my breast hurts and forms a hard ridge. I am hoping that this is normal. During the 2nd surgery, they took a big slice out where the first scar was to test it (it was benign). Recurrences tend to occur along incision sites (so I've read). Hopefully it was just the radiation that made it turn hard. Silly cancer. Most of the time I don't think about it coming back but it remains in the back of my mind. Maybe in 5 years, I can rest easy.

In our lower level, we have an unofficial 5th bedroom where our adult children (and spouses) have lived, Shanna being the last occupant. She left her sizeable party dress collection-the Size Two rack, we call it. Naomi has been eyeing this treasure trove hungerly but at the very least, she is a size 7-she is about 5 inches taller than Shanna and has much bigger bones. Naomi has lost some weight recently and thought maybe the larger ones would fit her. She was very thrilled to find some of them that did-new dresses for her- but didn't want to wear them for graduation as she was afraid Shanna would be angry.