Mason

By Richard Grover

Last Saturday was a good day at “The Farm” in Mason. Ina and Rupert Jr. arranged for the Market Square Nursing Home specially equipped van to bring Rupert Sr. home to the farm for a few hours during the day. This was his first trip home in the several months he has been at Market Square, where they take very good care of him.

The farm was a-buzz with family members, with four generations of Grovers and friends there to enjoy a visit with Grandpa, a cookout, and other delightful activities. The grand- and great-grandchildren had a great time catching frogs and other creatures in the little farm pond, with the elder set supervising and catching up on family comings and goings. One old bullfrog that has been caught and handled by little hands many times before grumbled his resignation with throaty low-frequency utterances.

In mid afternoon, we capped off the visit by helping Rupert into the golf cart and taking him around the area, stopping to join the gathering at the pond before continuing down to the black-berry patch so he could see the new chicken pen and the dozen laying hens in residence, where they are supposed to help keep the grass and weeds down. A quick pass by the gardens, and it was time to go. The entire group assembled at the van for final pictures and “goodbye’s” to Grandpa before he was “vanned” back to South Paris.

I think summer has arrived early this year. Monday evening I witnessed the winking and blink-ing of “lightnin’ bugs” at the edge of the woods behind the house under a bright moon-lit sky. Don’t they usually come out during the hot, muggy days of July and August?