Not the weekend we had planned, but other good things instead

Sunday evening.  Another slow weekend that we tried to fill with things to take the place of what we wished we could be doing.  This was supposed to be the bi-annual Witmer reunion at Refreshing Mountain Retreat in Lancaster County.  But Covid changed those plans.  I'm not exhausted like I would be if we had been able to go, but my heart is not filled with precious memories of fun times and sweet music.  

Here's the group picture that was taken two years ago.

One of the best things to take its place was our sibling Zoom gathering on Saturday morning. Over two hours long!  I lost all track of time.  It was only when our batteries were dying and our bladders were getting full that we finally said our awkward Zoom goodbyes.  There were eight of us.  My brother and his wife and two of my sisters, all of whom live in Lancaster County, one sister from Georgia, one from Idaho, one from New Hampshire, and me from State College.  Other family members came into the rooms and said their hellos from time to time. It was SO GOOD!!  

I was taking screen shots as we talked, and of course caught most of us in unflattering moments, but we don't even care.  

Our Saturday actually started and ended with some pretty good food.  Almost every day I make Dick an omelet for breakfast before he goes to work, usually Western style.  On weekends he either makes his own or I try something different for variety.  Yesterday I decided to make Mexican omelet wraps  for the first time ever.  In addition to the regular peppers and onions, I added cilantro, a leftover hamburger, and cherry tomatoes.  For seasoning, in addition to the regular pepper and salt I added chili powder and cumin.  Then we had the eggs in a tortilla.  When I told Dick that a slice of our regular bread has 17 carbs, but a tortilla has 25, he said, "And we're doing this why?"  I said, "For variety!"  He could eat the same things every day for ten years and it would not bother him one bit!

For dinner I made one of our favorite things.  I chop whatever fresh veggies are in my fridge and a couple of sweet potatoes and a pack of smoked brats, drizzle everything with olive oil, and season it with pepper, salt, oregano, and basil, then roast it in a 400 degree oven for around 45 minutes.  So delicious!

I went to Sam's Club late Saturday afternoon, actually much later than I had planned to go.  I could not believe my eyes when I walked in and saw a display of disinfecting wipes!  I had not seen any in any store in months!  They were allowing only one pack per member, and I think every person coming through the door was taking a pack!  The guy that checked my receipt as I left said that they had just come in within the past hour and were going fast.  I was so thankful I had not gone earlier as I had hoped to do!  I would have missed them.

I got this glimpse of our sunset Saturday evening.  I often wonder what it looks like on the other side of that mountain.  Some evening we should drive up to the top of the mountain just to see it.  

We had beautiful weather for our outdoor service at GBRV this morning.  We definitely had more people than we've had the past few weeks.  

Afterward we came home, and this is how I attended Calvary's service, haha!  As we watched,  I was also uploading the video Dick had taken of GBRV's service to the church's YouTube channel.  

After a late lunch we wanted to hit the road again for some place new.  Mostly I just needed to get my mind off not being with any grandchildren again.  We decided to go to Greenwood Furnace State Park, about 45 minutes from here.  We had driven by it a few times since we live in Central PA, but were never actually there.  

On the way we stopped at an overlook of State College, but it was starting to cloud over, so not a great view.  

We passed our very favorite BBQ joint - Doan's Bones.  

As we arrived at the park the sky was looking like rain any minute, so I carried my umbrella.

A beautiful place with lots of picnic areas and pavilions. 

A sandy shore by the lake. 

Dick was especially fascinated by this waterfall. 

I guess that was the furnace!

I have no idea what this building was.  At first I thought housing for furnace workers, but it looks more like a warehouse.  As you can see, it was already raining when I took this picture through the windshield.  We sat in the parking lot for quite a while during a heavy downpour.  

We passed Doan's Bones on the way home again.  I really hope we can go there sometime this summer.  It does look like they've added more outdoor seating.  I could almost taste That Dam Fish Sandwich, almost always my choice from the menu!

We were planning to go to an outdoor prayer and worship service at Calvary this evening.  It would have been their first official regathering event.  But the rain!  It was online instead, so we joined it at home.  

One more collage here of pictures I took as I walked around the house Friday evening.  

And a collage of silly Snapchat shots!

Have a good week!

July 4th, Sunday drive, outdoor visits

What a hot week we're having!  But I'm not complaining.  Of course, I don't need to work in the heat like Dick does.  I like to be outside in the morning until it gets too hot.  And I actually enjoy being outside to water everything, which is more necessary this summer than it's been for years.  We did have rain a few times with thunderstorms.  But they're saying we need a day of steady rain.  I don't look forward to that. 

Here are some pictures I took outside this afternoon.  My tiny new knockout rose has a few flowers on it!  And I discovered a few beautiful orange lilies along the back of the house.  I think Dick's shed looks cute with the flowers blooming. 

Dick's a happy guy this evening.  A few days ago he sold the old mower we had gotten from his dad last summer.  He never did get it to run.  His motivation to get rid of it was because his co-worker had a John Deere mower he wanted to sell to Dick.  And now it's here.  We haven't had a riding mower since we moved away from our farmhouse fifteen years ago.  We don't have a big yard, but I guess we're getting old and lazy.  

After I finished blogging on Saturday (which was July 4th) I got ready to go for groceries.  I decided to wear the shirt I had gotten in Florida two years ago, and it occurred to me that it was red and blue, and my hair was white, so I had the red, white, and blue covered, lol!  

When I was getting groceries at Wegmans I saw the desserts I love so much - the ones with vanilla pudding in a pie crust and topped with red and blue berries.  But I was sure they would be too high carb for Dick.  I started thinking how I could possibly make a lower carb version of it myself.  I found sugar-free pudding mix and a ready-made pecan crust, much lower in carbs than regular crust.  I discovered that extra creamy whipped topping has less than one carb per serving!! Who knew?  I sweetened the strawberries and blueberries with Stevia.  Was it ever delicious!!  

On Saturday evening State College did not have their regular big fireworks display, but instead put them off at four different locations simultaneously.  There were suggested parking lots from which to view them.  I had to battle store lights and parking lot lights when I took my pictures, so they're not great.  But it was fun to watch them.  They only lasted fifteen minutes. 

Sunday morning we again had our outdoor service at GBRV.  It was hotter than the previous two Sundays.  When we saw people putting up their little canopies Dick remembered that last summer we had gotten one at Ollie's to put over our table at the KOA campground.  He said it's in the camper over at Anthony and Lori's, so he'll get that to put up this week.  

I was feeling sad and bored on Sunday afternoon.  I'm so terribly tired of needing to be so careful of being with loved ones.  (I had actually had a good cry on Saturday evening.)   We decided to go for a drive. First we went to Bald Eagle State Park about half an hour from here.  I had put my swim suit on thinking I'd go in the lake.  But when we got there it was more crowded than I had expected, so I just walked in to get my feet wet.  

What a beautiful lake!

Then we headed for the hills!  Dick wanted to show me the place he had bought some shelled corn.  Wow!!  We were off the grid, no cell service at all!  Eventually dirt roads!  

On our way toward home we passed our beloved Bellefonte KOA and decided to take a loop through it.  Of course I had to take a picture of our regular campsite and Anthony and Lori's cabin.  

We then went to Texas Roadhouse for take-out and ate in the van, and then went over to Anthony and Lori's for an outdoor visit.  

Austin was putting together a new toy.  He was sure he could do it without looking at the instructions, but I think he eventually did, lol!

Such a beautiful evening!

Another lovely sunset. 

Here are some pictures I took from my side porch this week.  The absolutely best thing about this slower pace of life is being outdoors.  I never, ever tire of it.  Because we had storms last evening, this morning was a foggy, dewy morning.  Look how the spider webs showed up!

On Wednesday morning I had a very special porch visitor - our new GBRV pastor, Lynn Wilcox.  I decided we would sit on the front porch because it does not have the morning sun.  I wanted to have some finger foods, but I knew it would get too hot.  Then I made a wonderful discovery!  My red plastic divided tray fit perfectly inside my old Dutch oven, with plenty of room for ice packs underneath.  And the lid fit over it perfectly to keep flying insects away!  I've had those things for many, many years and never knew they could be used together in that way.  I guess necessity is indeed the mother of invention!  So I put a card table on one side of the porch with a fan underneath it, and Lynn and I sat on the rockers on the other side, easily six feet apart.  

We had a wonderful time talking and getting acquainted for over two hours.  She is the age of our children, but we really connected on many levels.  Actually, she reminded me of our daughter Miki in many ways!  It was a really good morning.  I look forward to working with her!

Have a good weekend!  

July 4th, flowers, and clouds

Saturday, July 4th is here.  Nothing too exciting happening here today, and I'm trying to be content.  The emphasis is on "trying."  The best I can do for a July 4th picture is our breakfast - French toast topped with a syrup made with blue blueberries and red strawberries and served on a white plate, hahahaha!!  With bacon too, of course.  It tasted better than it looked, and was a nice alternative to eggs.

I really have not done anything away from home since Wednesday except go to the grocery store and to our neighbor man's viewing.  It's been really hot, but I've spent lots of time on our porches anyway.  There is usually a breeze and shade on one or the other.  I have never been so thankful for these porches.  When I feel like I could climb the walls of the air-conditioned indoors, I feel so much more contentment by going out to one of the porches.  

Our flowers are outdoing themselves this week!  Here are pictures I took since Wednesday morning.  

I am puzzled, however, by our hydrangea.  The foliage has been so beautiful, and I was really hoping that this year we would finally get some blooms.  I've been watering it faithfully, because I've read that they like lots of water.  But alas, yesterday I discovered it suddenly looking like this!  I have no idea why.

I'm also wondering what to do to get this hanging plant to bloom.  Snapdragons.  I have never had them before, but when we were looking for hanging plants for the porch it had beautiful dark red flowers all over it.  I water it faithfully too, and the foliage is doing fine, but no flowers.  

We still have the same finches at our bird feeder.  I have never seen any of them go inside the bird house, but maybe I just don't watch it enough.  I caught this picture from the front porch last evening. Looks like a guard bird, hahaha!!

We had such interesting clouds yesterday.  When I posted this one on FB, our nephew Eric Stauffer, who is an avid fisherman, said that the one on the right looks like a jumping trout.  

Later I walked outside and saw a cloud that looked like a bear.  I told him to watch out for that bear, it's probably trying to catch the jumping trout.  He replied, "But look at that tree monster watching you with its two eyes!"  Hahahaha!!  

Dick had his July 4th paid holiday yesterday.  We worked in the flowerbeds in the morning.  We replaced the dying knock-out with another one.  We also planted a yellow tea rose bush in the flower bed near the road.  They are both small, but I hope they survive and flourish.  It was SO HOT!! 

In the afternoon Dick mowed over at Anthony and Lori's, so when he came home he was glad to relax in the cool indoors and watch TV.  I sat on the side porch until almost 10 PM.  It was so lovely.  Sometimes it was quiet and peaceful, other times there were fireworks, some right here in our community.  I couldn't see any of them, but I loved hearing them.  I took this picture after 9:30 PM, and it was amazing how the sky was still light above the mountain. 

Here's my July 4th selfie.  How about my eye lashes??  And my wrinkle-free forehead!  Those days are long gone.  

This evening there will be a 15-minute fireworks display at various places around State College, not the big event from the stadium as usual.  They have given various parking lots as good places to park to be able to view them.   We hope to do that.  How we have missed the big event at Longs Park in Lancaster, which of course is not being held this year.  

That's it for this time!

Our latest project; Sunday fun

Each time I blog I always think that I should write more often so each post doesn't get so long, but somehow I can't seem to fit blogging into a daily schedule like I used to years ago - when I was much busier.  Go figure??!!  Anyway, here's an attempt at it. 

The big project around here since Saturday morning when I last posted was putting up lattice on two sides of our side porch to add a bit of privacy.  I want to be able to still see my mountain, so we did not put lattice on the back side of the porch.  Dick had to do some crazy shenanigans with a taller step ladder to get the last piece up, but I have no pictures of that part of the process, because I was too busy handing things to him and GASPING!  Because of the non-level ground, he had to put a wood block under one leg of the ladder.  It was not a sturdy situation and I was really glad when the last screw was in and he could get down from that thing!  Here's a picture I took last evening.  We already had the string of lights up, but we added that welcome sign I found at Ollie's the other day.  

Here are some pics of the Dick working on it.  Like I said, no pics of the last part.

When we first started talking about this project, he had ordered something from Lowes to make a framework for the front side of the porch on which to attach the lattice.  It was beyond me to understand what he was talking about.  Then I saw what he meant when he was ready to put it together.  I took these little video clips, because I so love the ingenuity passed down from his dad.  If you can't find exactly what you need, you make it!

I was actually a bit disappointed when Dick brought the lattice home from Lowes, because I had been expecting smaller holes like we had at our Lititz house.  He said this was the only kind they had.   I was hoping for a bit of protection from the bright sun.  So this morning I got creative and pinned up a sheet, haha!! It worked!  Friends have given me better ideas - like planting a climbing rose bush.  I'd like to try that.   

This looks messy, but it felt really nice this morning!

On Sunday morning we had our second outdoor service at GBRV.  Once again, the weather was beautiful!  We're hoping to keep doing this "until the weather forces us inside" as someone said!

This past weekend would have been our annual Stauffer Camping weekend at Camp Hebron.  Last year we made the decision to discontinue the weekend event, but instead to do a one day event.  We had made reservations at Camp Hebron for this past Sunday.  We would have been renting a building in which to have our own church service, lunch, and then an afternoon of swimming and boating, etc.  But many of us did not feel comfortable gathering with that many people and eating together like that, so it was postponed until next year.  

Destiny was extremely disappointed.  She has been part of that event ever since the first summer of her life.  So we decided to meet up there and get day passes.  Destiny and Alex had her brother Shalimar along too.  Sam and the kids joined us also.  They live just 20 minutes away from Camp Hebron.  We did everything we could to have fun together but also to observe precautions.  Dick spent most of his time sitting on the side relaxing.  

Because we got there when the pool first opened we were able to have plenty of chairs in the shaded corner.  It was not full like other years, so that was a good thing.  Sammy had the most fun, especially on the slides.

We had the most fun at the lake.  We were the only people there except for the staff person. 

When Bianca saw Sammy on a saucer she wanted to be on one too.  But alas, the staff person had not tied a very good knot, and before long she was unattached to Sam's peddle boat and floating off to the bushes!  Shalimar had been a boy scout at one time, and he came to the rescue with a good tight boy scout knot.  I thought they should teach their staff people how to do that!  

Sammy ended up having the best time with Alex and Shalimar, even jumping into the lake from the peddle boat!  Of course he had a life vest on.

We stayed at the lake until it closed at 5, then spent some time at the playground and then at the empty campsite we always had.  It felt like it was still ours.  But I didn't get any pictures of us there unfortunately.  

After we left we decided to drive up Peter's Mountain, which we have not done in years.  This is the view from the top!

Dick realized that day that it was FIFTY years since he spent his two weeks' vacation in 1970 as a camp counselor at Camp Hebron.  The following year of 1971 he worked there for the whole summer just prior to our wedding.  He wondered if he looked as young back then as the current staff do, haha!  So I pulled out this picture of him packing his car to leave for camp!  (That's my blue Ford Falcon on the picture, by the way!)

More and more lilies are blooming this week!

And last evening I looked outside and saw there was a pink hue to the sky!  So beautiful!

Well, that's the news from here for the beginning of this week!