I just love peonies! This is one of Mom's pink ones. Photo by Mom.

Matthew is keeping busy, as always. The fact that the daylight doesn't fade until after eight gives him extra time to work hard. He always seems to have a lawn to mow, a tree to plant, some sod to lay, some furniture to move, or something going on! He enjoys spending some of his (very rare) spare time at the dog club near here. Buddy has competed in a few dog trials of various types lately, and has placed first several times. We are very proud of both of them. Matthew also continues preparing for college as he begins his senior year of high school this fall.

A Word About The Weather

What a hot, hot week! I don't think we had a day that could even be classed as 'warm'. They were all steaming, piping hot. Especially, it seemed, when there was a big, hard job to do outside. I hear that cool(er) weather is on the way, but I find that hard to believe right now!

"I had the strangest dream last night!" Jodi exclaimed to Victoria as soon as they awoke in the morning. "I dreamt that somebody had scammed us and run off with all of our money!"
"Really!" Victoria replied, hurrying into a warm sweater and socks, as the old farm house was always cold in the early mornings. "And so is that what is in the letter?"
Jodi looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Actually," She said, "the letter never even showed up in my dream. It was all phone calls from our bank and stuff. I dreamt that you and I were on the hammock and Jacob came out to say we were going to have a family meeting. We all gathered inside, and Dad said that all our money had been stolen. It was awful, and I was very glad to wake up!"
"I sure hope that's not what is in the letter," Victoria said thoughtfully. "But I think you are right. All that kind of stuff would be carried out over the phone."
"Maybe Mom and Dad will tell us today," Jodi suggested, following Victoria down the stairs into the country kitchen.
"Haven't we put up with this long enough? Maybe we ought to just ask them out-right," Victoria said, rummaging through the fridge for some breakfast. "Maybe when Dad gets up this morning we can ask him."
"Good idea. You can ask him," Jodi agreed, and they forgot about the letter for a few minutes to dig through the left-overs in the fridge. After they had tried cold pork-chops, investigated the remains of a roast chicken, eaten all the melon out of a fruit salad, and finished off quarter of a gallon of apple cider, they settled for a quick bite of cereal.
The girls were just finishing with breakfast when Mr. Barnes and Jacob came in.
"You girls sure get started early!" Jacob commented, glancing at the clock which proclaimed the early hour of five fifteen in the morning. Neither Jodi nor Victoria responded, as they were busy exchanging glances and trying to decide which should pop the question to their father, who was innocently cutting up an apple and looking like five o'clock came too early today.
"Dad," Jodi began boldly at last. "For the last few days, you and Mom have been acting really strange. Vic and Jacob and I were wondering if you could tell us what it was all about."
"We were?" Jacob muttered, but was again ignored by his sisters.
"What do you mean by strange?" Mr. Barnes asked, looking puzzled and slightly amused.
"Pre-occupied," Victoria elaborated. "Worried. Anxious. Tired."
"Like you were a million miles away from anything happening here," Jodi inserted. Mr. Barnes nodded and thoughtfully finished his apple before responding.
"I don't think we were being that strange, but I guess our actions could be interpreted that way. I know we have been tired and worried and a little bit out of it."
Jodi and Victoria exchanged another glance and sat together ready to hear the worst.
"The last few days have held a combination of factors making things difficult for Mom and me," Mr. Barnes continued, sighing. "It's the beginning of market season, for one, which is always a stressfull time for us. Besides that, Aunt Cathy called a few days ago to say that Grandpa isn't doing so well. Mom and I have been wrestling with the question of whether Mom should travel down to North Carolina or not, to be with him. We're also stretched in our finances, meaning economy and hard work. Does that answer your question?"
Jodi and Victoria exchanged yet another glance, a slightly puzzled one this time.
"Are you sure that's all?" Jodi asked. "You certainly were acting stranger than that."
"Sometimes loving concern magnifies things," Mr. Barnes answered, with a smile.
"But what about the letter?" Victoria demanded. "You didn't say anything about the letter."
"Which letter?" Mr. Barnes asked.
"You know, the one that came in the mail the other day?" Jodi said. "I gave the mail to Mom, she looked at a letter, said "Oh goodness!", and went down to find you immedietly. That's when you started acting strange."
Mr. Barnes pondered this information for a moment.
"There's only one letter I can think of," he answered at last. "In the mail the other day we received a very high bill that caused your mother considerable worry, but other then that, business has been usual."
Jacob shot his sisters a triumphant glance, in which he managed to communicate shouts of laughter, a victory dance, and a few other things. They were feeling too relieved to care that he had been right all along.
"You mean, all that worry for no reason! No scams?" Jodi asked. "No big problems or anything serious? Nobody willing me a million dollars?"
Mr. Barnes smiled again and shook his head.
"Sorry," he replied. "Nothing that exciting."
Jodi and Victoria let out a unanimous sigh of relief.
"I think I can breath freely again. I wish we had asked about this earlier," Victoria said. "I haven't stopped worrying about that letter since the day we got it."
"Me neither," Jodi agreed. "I can't believe we've all been so silly."
"Don't start that 'we' thing again," Jacob warned. "I never believed any of your wild tales for a moment." But, of course, his sisters continued ignoring him.
"I guess this is the point where somebody says 'And the moral of our story is...'." Jodi said, laughing easily for the first time in a few days.
"The moral," Jacob said, "is that we shouldn't let our imaginations run away with us, and we shouldn't exaggerate things. We shouldn't jump to conclusions without any conclusive evidence, and instead of worrying ourselves sick, we should just ask the right questions at the right time!"
Victoria and Jodi exchanged sheepish grins---it wasn't possible to ignore him any longer at that point---as Mr. Barnes looked from one young face to another in bewilderment.
"Did I miss something?" he asked.

"And thus ends the case of The Mysterious Letter," Jodi said, as the sisters began picking strawberries several minutes later. "I am so glad it ended happily. Though, on second thought, I do think my dream come true would be pretty exciting."
"We won't need any help with excitement now," Victoria answered, eyeing the berry-laden rows before them. "This is going to be an action-packed summer."
"We always have action-packed summers," Jodi agreed. "We're the only kids for miles who have anything to do all summer long."
"We have less to do then I was worried we might." Victoria said, thinking back on the few days since the harmless letter had arrived. "Compared to your scam thing, this summer may be pretty dull after all."
Jodi grinned.
"Don't count on it."

A Word Of Wisdom

Success has made failures of many men. ~Ingrid Bergman