Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
A home week, but still busy. Old houses with large gardens can always be counted on to keep owners' spare time filled. This time of year, we earn payback for the winter months when we can just let the yard and garden sit unattended. Roses announce Spring chores and Marianne has already fought the beetle invasion. Those guys hit our fresh flowers and eat them to death in days. Fortunately, the plants do seem to recover, and here is proof.
My contribution to the garden this week has been bark, lots of bark. Our large backyard is 20% bocce court (redone last week) and 80% trees, bushes, and plants above bark mulch. Over the years, the mulch disappears (carried away by bugs?), so 2024 became a year for rebuilding. So far, I have cleaned half the yard and spread 30 bags of shredded tree skin over the bare dirt. It looks pretty good, although I know the look will gradually become ragged and "natural" over the next few years. Meanwhile the plants and bugs like the environment.
Other than the roses that were here when we moved in a decade ago, we have not done much with flowers and veggies. Fussy gardening has not ended up being our thing and, especially in our desert summer, flowers need fussing. I have discovered that cactus and succulents thrive with our level of care and Marianne has some small raised beds (picture later.)
Otherwise, our lives are quiet. Marianne is getting used to new anti-cancer pills, living with limited complications and tiredness. I am shedding some of the excess weight I earned from overeating in the last six months to a year. It's all good.
On Saturday we joined neighbors at the Fresno State Women's Swim and Dive "Hoedown", a fun annual team fundraiser that is almost a requirement for Cambridge Avenue folks. Friend-of-the-neighborhood Jeanne Fleck is the head coach and she has made sure we all get welcomed. Unfortunately some of the regulars have aged out of partying, so this year's event was not quite as well attended as past years. Still, lots of fun and lots of pictures.
There are a whole range of ways to get us to part with a little money. First, a raffle, mostly for FSU-themed shirts, hats, and jackets. We bought 40 chances and hit on two. Then there was a silent auction for a couple dozen donated baskets, jewelry, and other crafts. Here, we "won" the two auctions we bid on.
Greeting neighborhood friends is always a big part of the evening.
This year's dance entertainment was an introduction to line dancing. First, the instructor trained the swimmers and divers, most of whom learned quickly. Athletes have an advantage. When audience participation was added, the dance quality changed a bit.
All that dancing, doing or watching, worked up appetites so it was time to dig in to the offerings from Pardini's catering. Since Marianne and I are on our South Beach diet, we had to pass on the carb dishes, but the chicken, beef, and salad were enough. I noticed that the swimmers filled their plates, confident in the ability to keep any unwanted ounces off by hours in the pool and weight room.
The penultimate opportunity for donations - and calories - was the auction of team-prepared desserts. Each girl introduced them self and the dish they helped prepare, from death-by-chocolate cupcakes to Finnish cinnamon rolls. Each audience table bid for the right to pick, with the highest bid going first. Our Cambridge tables were in the lower ranks of the bids, but we were more than happy with the results, nonetheless.
Finally, Jeanne offered a pair of her home-cooked dinners. These dinners-for-eight are popular and each earned more than a thousand dollars for the team. 
So, it seemed to be a successful evening for the Swim and Dive team. The Trotter's two raffle and two auctions wins marked a success for us too, not to mention good food and friends.
No other excitement planned for now, but stay tuned.
John and Marianne