Journal: July 25th. Quiet rainy Sunday.

Things must be taking shape. The frenetic cleaning of the past two months is drawing to an end.

Today, with a full house--Sam, Carrie and Sarah--the chores were not overwhelming. Sam and I drove to get the Sunday Times in the morning, then a quick stop at the Lafayette Farmer's market--a nice idea--but we bought only scallions and zucchini--we may have--hard to believe--had our fill of corn--at least for one day. Then a drive on the back road to Newton--where we stopped in the two(!!) Latino grocery stores on Spring Street. Sam, of course, takes Latino grocery stores in stride. He expects to find them everywhere in the world--but for me, remembering the Newton of fifty years ago, the influx of Central Americans, blacks, East Asians, is a continual amazement.

Then to Weiss's--the smaller supermarket next door to Shop Rite. We'd been disappointed yesterday--there had been a circular in my post office box announcing all kinds of sales--but when we got there, we realized the sales started today. So--this morning--we knew exactly what we were getting--the highlights--three family size bags of chips for the price of one (Buy One--Get two Free!!) and Ben and Jerry"s Ice Cream.

Back at the house, I gave Sam a lesson in using my splendid new self-powered lawnmower. He took to it like a champ--but his efforts were cut short--when the heavens opened--and the rain we'd been waiting for (the rain that promises to end the dreadful heat spell) poured down for a few hours.

As it rained, we had a splendid late lunch of many delicious left-overs--sliced steak, the bean salad, a new tomato and cucumber salad with lots of ice cream and pie for dessert.

Sarah had emptied the dressers upstairs, bringing the contents into the living room, where she and Sam spent some quality time sorting and organizing. Many beautiful old gloves and handkerchiefs, the light system my father used to take movies of us with his 16 millimeter camera, and a tiny minox camera. My father bought it in the late fifties and was thrilled with it for years. It's a three inch camera--I don't remember the pictures it took, but it is quite beautiful in a tiny leather case with chain in perfect condition. I quickly researched it--I am willing to sell all discoveries if they are worth five (maybe four figures)--but this particular treasure--a Minox B, a German made variation of a "spy camera" dating from 1958 thought coveted by collectors can be bought on e-bay for $139. The bad news is that we can't turn it into a solar heating system of new bathroom, the good news is we get to keep it.

The rain stopped. The heat broke. It was time to drive Sarah to the Lakeland Bus. We were trying a new stop in Sparta--which we're hoping will be a shorter trip (the report isn't in yet). As Sarah made her way back to the big city, Sam, Carrie and I drove around Lake Mohawk checking out colors and types of siding in the newly crisp evening air.