**Family time**

So long overdue on the update. But the excuse is company, particularly company that I haven’t told about blogging, so I tend not to do it when I have visitors like that.

Most of the past week has involved entertaining. My niece is visiting. She is a remarkable young lady. Quiet, but a deep thinker and quite observant. At the tender age of 14, she is better read than me when it comes to literature.

Part of the real fun of having her around is showing her my favorite places. It is fun to experience them again through her eyes.

And then there is the joy of being an aunt instead of a parent. I remember well, my sister poking fun at the “video game-free zone” that was my house and sending Game Boys to the kids for Christmas. So it is pay back time. My niece now knows how to drive... A clutch to be specific. For two different cars.

She is good.

She also has been tasked with watching selected R-rated movies. We started her on "Dogma."

Then there is the slight shift away from nonfiction literature at my prodding. She has now read "Fast Food Nation" and is starting on "Nickled and Dimed."

I kid with her saying my goal is to insure that her parents never again let her come spend part of the summer with me.

It doesn't seem to be working, cause her mother doesn’t seem to mind….:)

Now the rest of my niece's family is here and our days are spent picking up, feeding the kids, running the dishwasher, tripping over piles and piles of shoes, picking up, hiking, feeding kids, laundry, picking up, watching "Meet the Fockers" 50 times, and more picking up and feeding kids.

I am having a blast with the house full. Just powerwashed the outside of the house. My plan is to do the same inside when everyone goes.