As the McLains made their way back to Colorado at the end of their summer sabbatical, they drove right through Palisade, Colorado, the Western Slope community that is famous for their delicious peaches. I’m serious. There are no better peaches anywhere. Anyhoo, they bought a box of peaches as would any traveler with knowledge about the western slope fruit. The peaches are at their ripest.

On Friday, as I was packing clothes, toothbrushes, pajamas, underwear, picnic supplies, and wine in preparation for my sisters’ weekend in Estes Park, I received this text from Dagny (Let me warn you that despite the fact that she is as smart as a whip, her spelling, well, suffers. I am not changing a single thing.)…..Hey nana we stopped today to get some peaches could you help me bake a pie. (Punctuation is also not a strong suit; her love of cooking and her fondness for her Nana, however, are.)

I explained that I was leaving town, but if she could wait until Monday, we could definitely make a pie. Her response: I can wait. but i would love to make a cherry pie as well so we can eat them for desert for my birthday party.

It’s true, my friends. She was baking her own birthday treats. And thoroughly delighted to be doing so. But she went on: I can’t wait to be with you. Hey can we also make aunt Laurens roles. Mom has her resipie.

Now, this particular text post told me that she has a lot of her Papa Bill’s lobbying talent. Suck them in with compliments, and then deliver the final blow. It worked. Today, perhaps as you are reading this blog post, I will be kneading bread with Dagny at my side to make my daughter-in-law’s grandmother’s famous crescent rolls. And I feel compelled to tell you that while I believe myself to be a passable pie maker, bread is certainly not my strong suit. Still, a promise is a promise. Here are we two pie bakers as I taught her the art of making pies — one cherry, one peach, and one gluten-free peach for her Uncle Allen……

It was absolutely wonderful to catch up with this young woman. I heard about the fun they had (Alaska was her favorite spot), and about how nice it was to sleep in her own bed without Maggie Faith’s feet in her face in the middle of the night. We talked about her playlist on her phone, and about facing seventh grade in a few days.

She even took a bit of time (well quite a bit of time, actually) to eat dill pickles and fly a drone with Papa Bill…..

It only required one trip to the neighbor’s house to retrieve a drone that she flew over the fence. Bill is so happy to have a drone-flying partner.

As for me, I’m so happy to have those grandkids back in my neighborhood. I want to get lots of quality time before school starts. It’s almost certain I’m going to get lots of pie.