Another beautiful week!

Another BEAUTIFUL week!  It's a cloudy Saturday morning and the forecast calls for rain and storms today.  

I'll start here with a collage of photos that I took this week of our beautiful surroundings.  The photo on top was taken from the parking lot of Greater Buffalo Run Valley UMC up the road from here.  We are so very blessed to live in such a beautiful area.   Did I ever say I love summer?  Haha! 

Last Saturday I was blogging really early because I couldn't sleep.  I was afraid the same thing was happening this morning.  You know how it is - you stay up past midnight because you know the next morning is the one day you don't have to set an alarm and get up early, but the early daylight wakes you up even before your normal time, and then your brain revs up and tries to solve all the problems of the world.  Well, this morning when that happened I was determined I was going to go back to sleep.  I heard Dick get up and go to the bathroom and come back to bed, then I had a few quick doze-offs in which I dreamed crazy things, then I heard Dick get up, but I still didn't want to look what time it was.  I was sure that if I had dozed at all I could probably go back to sleep.  And I guess I did!  When I woke again and decided to look at my phone to see what time it was, it was 9:34!  What?????  That has to be a record!  

So last Saturday morning after I was finished blogging, we still had not eaten breakfast, so I decided to do something different from the Western omelet I make for Dick each morning.   I made French toast as low carb as I could.  I used our regular Wegmans multi-grain sprouted bread to make the French toast.  Then I cooked a strawberry syrup made with strawberries, lemon juice, and splenda.  Of course I made bacon too.  It was a nice change!  

Later in the day Dick went over to finish the mowing at Anthony's place, and I went over for a little while to say hi.  The pond was muddy and full, partly due to some heavy rain we had had a few days prior and partly due to some digging that is being done to hook up sewer for a bathroom that is being installed in the barn. 

Sunday morning was an exciting time.  GBRV was having our first regathering, an outdoor service.  I took my portable keyboard and Dick set up his iPad to video the service.  The family you can see on the far left of the top photo was operating the Google Meets online.  The weather was perfect, not too hot, just a bit breezy - enough to blow my music shut a few times, haha!  

Of course it was also Father's Day.  This is the first year we no longer have either of our dads.  Howard Stauffer and Paul Witmer,  two very good men.   We can't be thankful enough to have had these men for our dads. 

I also made a collage that day of Dick and all the dads in our family.  Actually, later I realized I should have included a picture of Bjorn and Katrina with their dad.  I probably could have found one from Bjorn's wedding.  Hmmm.  Now I'm probably going to have to look!  Just like everything else in our family, our guys hold a variety of dad roles - bio dad, stepdad, foster dad, and friend dad, each one so important.

We were so excited when Anthony texted us an invitation to a Father's Day cookout at their place.  Woohoo!!  First real cookout for this year!  It was a beautiful evening in every way!!

Lori grilled steak bites and veggie kabobs.  Later she added pineapples to the grill, and she also had cooked corn on the cob.  Everything was super delicious!!  While we waited for the food to cook we had the best time sitting around talking.  Hunter read Grandpa's Father's Day card to him!  Austin went down to the pond to find his favorite frog.  See that boat raft?  That's their newest fun addition to the pond!

For dessert Lori had strawberry shortcakes.  So scrumptious!  There were Oreos too, and I think Hunter had more than a few, haha!

Lori wanted to recreate a photo from four years ago.  What a crazy time that was.  She was showing them the picture on her phone while snapping pictures with Anthony's phone.  I was on the side snapping pictures with my phone.  The boys were wild and crazy!

The day ended with a beautiful sunset and the boys playing in the hot tub.  

I didn't have much to differentiate one day from another this week.  I did walk four days this week, but it's getting to be a chore.  My left hip is giving me so much trouble and I'm not at all happy about it.  But I love walking in our community, taking different streets each time.   But I'm always really glad to see my own house and know I'll get to sit on the porch for a bit.  

Here are pictures of my flowers I snapped this week.  The lilies are blooming, and I love it!

Lancaster County has been a few weeks behind us in reopening, so my sister Doris was delighted to FINALLY get a trim from her beloved stylist.  She posted a delightful picture afterward.  I couldn't help myself.  I put my reading glasses on and took a selfie with a thumbs up, then made a collage of the two of us and said, "Look, we're twins!"  She's been encouraging me to let my hair go natural for years, and now that I finally have, we look more alike again!

I took this picture of my happy feet one day this week.  I'm on my fifth pair of these Birkies!  Lisa got me my first pair in 1999 when we were visiting them in Tampa.  I was sure we would need to take them back, because they hurt me so much.  She assured me that if I keep wearing them a bit at a time, I would soon love them.  She was right!!!  I wore that first pair for at least four or five summers!  I keep finding them on eBay when I need a new pair.  Once again, when I first tried breaking this pair in when they first arrived a month or two ago, I was not sure it could happen.  But voila!!  It did!  And now they are my very favorite thing to slip into when I go almost anywhere these days.  (Well, not for my walks.)  The "buy now" price for this brand new pair on Ebay was $75, but I bid $50.  No one else put in a bid, so that's what I got them for!  The arch support is the best thing about these. 

Of course, I've been enjoying the birds at the feeder.  It seems we have mostly have just these two.  My sister-in-law Nancy is a photographer and gets incredible pictures of birds.  I asked her one day this week what kind these are.  She said she couldn't quite tell because of the screen door.  Hmmm.  That got me thinking.  If the door is closed when the AC is on, the screen door could be pushed back for clearer pictures.  AND why not pull out my camera?  I have been happy enough with the pictures my phone takes that I haven't used my camera in quite a while.  But wow!!!  This is what I have been missing!!  Pictures taken with my camera can be cropped and cropped without losing quality!  The general consensus is that we have house finches.  

As we sat on the porch one evening, I looked up and said, "Oh my word!  I gotta get my camera!"   There was a purple hue that was so gorgeous!

When I looked another direction I saw that there was bright orange too!

Dick's project today is to put up some lattice on our side porch.  He might get rained out however.  I love sitting out there with my coffee in the morning, but it is often either too sunny or too windy.  I have always missed the feeling I had at our Lititz house inside the privacy of the lattice.  Our plan is to put it on two sides, as we did in Lititz, so I will still have a view of the mountain.  Here's a beautiful picture from our Lititz house in 2006, complete with a gorgeous floral arrangement from a student's mother.  

While I was sleeping in this morning, I missed a call from our next door neighbor lady.  She left me a message that her husband had passed away during the night.  So I went over to talk with her soon after I woke up.  Ben was 96 and his health was really failing in the past year.  He has needed to go to the hospital several times in the last few months for chest pain and trouble breathing.  When I talked with her earlier this week she was feeling really exhausted, and they were looking into help from Hospice or possibly having him moved to Centre Crest, a local nursing home.  He's been in the hospital again the past few days, and he passed away around 3:00 this morning.  She said she had a call from a nurse afterward who told her that she was with him when he passed away, and it was absolutely peaceful.  He had told her last evening that he would be going to see Jesus.  So Joanne has a lot of peace this morning.  Her sons and other family members are over there this morning and I hear lots of laughter through our open windows.  It's so good to hear her hardy laugh!  I know she must feel so much relief, knowing Ben is with Jesus and no longer bound to his failing body.  Of course there will be times of loneliness and tears.  

That's all for this time!  Next Saturday we'll be in July!  Good grief, even without being busy the time speeds along!

Birds and beautiful June

It's early Saturday morning, the one morning we could sleep in.  But I was awake before 5, and my brain could not be turned off, so I decided I might just as well put it to work and get this blog update done for this week.   

I don't think I mentioned last week that we got a birdhouse.  We were walking one evening and struck up a conversation with a couple who were out in their yard.  They had several birdhouses which he had made, and before I knew it we were taking up his offer to buy the one he had just made that day!  

So last Saturday one of Dick's projects was mounting it on a pole so it could be right outside our sliders where we could watch it. 

Meanwhile I did some mulching, watering, weeding, and picture-taking. 

After we came inside I decided I did not love the look of the birdhouse right outside that door.  I knew I would have to paint it. 

In the evening we went over to Anthony and Lori's for some time together outside.  Austin caught a little frog while we were there.  

As you can see, the rhododendrons were on their last leg.  I did find one that was still beautiful .  Take a look at the bottom left picture in the collage below - yes, the rocks.  The little rock that's on top of the big one is Hunter's "pet rock."  I'm serious!  He loves to carry it around, but he's not allowed to take it into the house.  So when we were ready to leave and they were going up to the house he decided to put his pet rock on top of that big one.  He said the big one was the grandpa rock and the one beside it was the grandma rock.  How precious is that??

On Sunday morning we had our Google Hangouts service with GBRV at 9:30, and then we watched Calvary's service at 11:00.  It was a joint service with Calvary and Unity Church of Jesus Christ.  It was so, so good!  When the two worship teams join it is dynamite!  Pastor Dan and Pastor Mac had a heart to heart conversation about racial reconciliation, which is always an open conversation between the two churches.  The pastors have been friends for years and the churches have done things together.  And because Anthony and Lori used to go to Unity, there are deep friendships and connections both places.  There were so many takeaways from their conversation, but two that have stuck with me all week are the scriptures that tell us to honor others above ourselves and to let our hearts be broken with the things that break the heart of God.  So many things that apply to our current events.  

That afternoon I set up shop on the front porch and painted the birdhouse.  It was such a beautiful day!  Later we went to Walmart and bought one of the last two fire pits they had.  We came home and roasted some smoked brats over our little fire. 

Dick decided to add a tray for bird food onto the front of the birdhouse, so on Monday I painted that and gave the birdhouse a second coat.  Then. while I had the paint out, I decided to paint the ugly top of our dining room table.  I always have it covered with a table cloth, but whenever we do puzzles with the kids we pull the tablecloth back and I have hated how ugly it was.  It's really, really old, like probably as old as I am (it was my mom's) so it has been used and abused!  

I get up at 6:15 most mornings to make an omelet for Dick's breakfast and help get things together for his lunch.  Eating well (less carbs, more veggies and meat) takes a lot more time!  And money!  Since it's June, the sun is usually brightly shining into the kitchen before I get there.  No sunrise pictures these days!  

On Wednesday evening Dick put the birdhouse/feeder back up on its pole.  He had decided to use a metal pole so the squirrels could not climb it.  When I showed Sam a picture of it he said that he's wondering if the bird family who will make its home there will appreciate all the visitors that will come for food right outside their front door.  Hmmm.  Hadn't thought of that!  I guess what I really wanted was a bird feeder after having seen how many birds came to Sam's.  But the guy was eager to sell us the birdhouse he had made that day (for just $15!) so now we have an Airbnb!!  It's literally in the air and it will provide both bed and breakfast!

All day Thursday there was no signs of birds, except that later in the day there was bird poop on the roof, so that was a start, haha!!  

We met another couple one evening this week.  I had decided to sit on the front porch and they were walking by and asked about my blue salvia in the front.  We ended up talking for at least half an hour or more!  We found out they are really good friends with the parents of Dick's favorite coworker!   That's one thing I have loved about this season of staying at home more - having the time to be a good neighbor.  Whenever we meet someone new I put their names in a note in my phone.

And I LOVE June!!  Look at these pictures I took one evening at 9:00 PM!!  I posted these on Instagram with the caption, "Still daylight at 9 PM!"  Miki commented, "Still daylight 24 hours a day!"  And that is true!!  How well I remember being in Sweden at this time of year.  At midnight it was dusk and by 2:00 AM full sunshine!  Not great for insomnia!

Speaking of Miki, she has sent us several of her cards recently.  She is so crafty and talented!!  

I cracked up at this one!  "Here's to laughing so hard we have tears running down our legs!"  The picture inside is SO FUN!!  

And of course I remembered all the good laughs Miki and I have had together.  How I miss her!  

Then this week we got two more cards from her!  Her artistic talent never ceases to amaze me!

Finally yesterday, as I sat at the dining room table doing some book work I saw a bird checking out the the new digs!  I was so excited and tried to take the picture without moving.  Thankfully my phone camera has a good zoom feature.  When I posted it on Facebook several people said it was an Eastern bluebird.  

 

Later there were three birds interested in the food and a fight broke out!  So fun to watch!!

But then thunderstorms rolled in and it rained most of the rest of the day, so that was the end of bird watching.  I went to the bank and grocery store, driving through crazy rain and wind at one point.  I seriously prayed that no tree or pole would fall on top of me.  On the way home the clouds were so spectacular that I decided to drive up the hill to a park to take some pictures.  

Well, I've done this without coffee - on purpose.  I'm hoping that perhaps I can go back to bed and catch a few more zzzz's.  

Have a good weekend!

Beautiful week in review

Another beautiful Saturday morning!  I feel like my weeks are so uneventful, but somehow when I sit down to do my weekly update, there are always a ton of pictures to post!  Of course, that is partly due to the fact that this is certainly the most beautiful time of the year, with daylight from 5 AM to 9 PM. I LOVE it!

After I updated here last Saturday I went over to Anthony and Lori's to get some last pictures of the rhododendrons.  Dick and Anthony has just installed the new fountain in the pond.  The old one had broken for the last time.  What a beautiful sight!

There were still lots of rhododendrons, but they were beginning to fall to the ground.  Lori and Hunter were on the swing when I got there.  After a while Hunter went with Grandpa into the woods, and I had a rare chance for a chat with Lori.  

After a while my phone rang and it was Dick.  He said that he and Hunter had gone up into the hunting shack and Hunter wanted us to look at him.  He had taken a picture of Hunter watching us!  

So Lori and I walked down to the shack.  She crawled up the ladder and I got a picture of them looking out.  Then I decided to crawl up that ladder too.  I'm not at all crazy about heights.  When I got to the top I handed my phone to Hunter so I could get a better grip on the ladder.  Before I knew it he was taking pictures of me!!  He had been having the most fun throwing out Dick's pulley rope and then pulling it back up again - over and over and over again!

Views from the top.  And going back down again.  

On Sunday Dick and I participated in our online service with GBRV, then we packed some food and hit the road for Lancaster County.  We listened to Calvary's service as we drove.  It was a spectacularly beautiful day!

Our main purpose for the trip was to take some baby boy clothes to Destiny that Dick's co-worker had given us.  She also had a graduation lawn sign that I wanted to put up.  But first, we drove by my sister Doris's place.  I had not seen her in person since early March.  They live with their son's family, and the whole family came out for an outdoor visit.  It was so fun!  i would have loved to give her a hug, but we're all still being very careful.

From there we went to take the baby clothes to Destiny and Alex.  It was so exciting to see all the adorable baby boy clothes.  Those newborn onesies are the CUTEST!!  

We had hoped to visit with Grandma Arlene at Pleasant View but were unable to reach her by phone.  Later we heard that she had been out for a walk and didn't have her phone with her.  

We stopped by Sam's place on our way home, and I had a fun visit with him and the kids in the gazebo while Dick took a snooze in the van.  

We always enjoy the views of the Susquehanna River and the trains when we go to his place.  

Dick put up the lawn sign after we got home.  I was disappointed that it just said "graduate."  So I put duct tape over it and wrote her name with a big magic marker.  

Destiny's virtual graduation was on Tuesday at 6 PM.  It was so fun to be able to watch it on our TV and to be texting with her at the same time!  There were over 450 graduates!  After the graduation address, they read off the names of each graduate and their picture or video (if they had submitted one.)  

At the end of that LONG list of names, they said, "Class of 2020, you may turn your tassle!"  And then they started showing pageful after pageful of the video clips.  I was so afraid we would miss seeing Destiny that I forgot to have my camera ready!  But we DID see her!  Later Destiny told me that Alex had gotten it with his camera, complete with her squeal when she saw herself, hahaha!

How cute is this?  Her first day of kindergarten at Manheim Christian Day School in 2006, and graduation at last!  She's been uprooted from school to school to school so many times through the years, but she did it!!  We're so proud of her!

Like I mentioned before, the weather was spectacularly beautiful most of this week.  While I am desperately missing so many things during this time of social distancing, I am thankful to have the time to sit on our porches more than I ever have before.  

Views while sitting on the side porch and the front porch.   I think of people living in the city with no view at all, and I feel overwhelmed with gratitude.

I often wish that my pictures of the mountain were not hindered by the utility pole and lines.  Recently my sister-in-law Nancy said she photoshops them out of her pictures.  I thought "Hmmmm."  I do not have photoshop, but I do have the "retouch" editing feature in Photos, so I gave it a try!  Voilá!!!  I tried it to remove a house from one of my photos, but that was not as successful, lol!

I have not planted coleus for many years, but I realized this year that I might have a good shady spot behind the side porch.  So we planted a couple of them.  I hope they get huge.  We're waiting to see if the hydrangea will bloom this year.  Nothing so far. My blue salvia are doing great, but most of them have fallen apart in the middle.  I have no idea how to prevent that.  I'll cut them off after a while and they'll come back again before the season's over. 

I gotta share this!  Destiny had an ultrasound this week.  Just when she exclaimed, "He looks just like his dad!" the baby smiled and opened his left eye like he was peeking (lower photo.) Destiny said that she and the ultrasound tech were cracking up!!

Look at the HUGE frog they caught over at Stauffer Acres this week!  I love that they are not afraid of them.  They just hold them for a while and then put them back in. 

I have been listening and reading and learning this week.  I know there are many reasons to be weary of the unrest and the back and forth accusations and opinions.  But I do long for racial understanding and reconciliation that will make a lasting difference.  Those beautiful boys in the picture above are enough reason for me to care about the future!  

For the first time ever I heard of the Tulsa Race Massacre on June 1, 1921.  I don't recall ever knowing anything about it before.  It was truly horrific!!  A former student of mine, Karen Miller-Rauch did a blog post about it, which is so very informative.  One of her references is the Tulsa Historical Society, which is great resource.  It has many old photos, some of them very hard to look at. But I think we need to be faced with the history that has contributed to the ongoing issues today. 

I'll finish today with this song I recorded last Saturday.  I had been working outside and was dirty and sweaty.  A friend texted me to ask for prayer.  I often sing my prayers.  I went to the piano to do so, and sitting there was a song I had just found in one of my old worship notebooks earlier in the week.  I decided to sing it for her.  I didn't intend to make it public because I looked such a mess, but it was just what she needed, and maybe it will minister to your heart too.  "I Need Thee/Hear My Cry"