PERFECT SUNDAY

Getting ready for church this morning I took this bouquet of sunflowers with me to brighten the communion table.  Sunflowers are so bright and cheery you just have to smile when you look at them. A fellow Curb Marketer gave these to me yesterday as we loaded after market.

The preacher was just coming through the sanctuary and commented that he hoped I brought some pretty flowers this morning.  These fit the need nicely and added a special  touch to the sanctuary for a special concert tonight by a group called "My Hope".
I had greeter duty this morning so I was late getting into the sanctuary and missed the first part of daughter's video on the E-camp trip she made but the part I saw was really good and the fact that four teenagers were saved on this trip just made it sweeter.
After church everyone made it to lunch of grilled chicken breast, the first fresh green beans from the garden, potatoes from our garden, corn and squash bought at market yesterday and plenty of that good ole southern sweet tea made for a delicious meal.
After lunch g-son and Evy went outside to slide on the slide and play for  awhile before everyone scattered for the afternoon.
#2 son came by later for a plate of leftovers for his supper as he had played golf today.
Aaron , Rebekah and Evy came back later for watermelon then hubbie's brother and his wife, Sandy came by for a visit.
The clouds came up on the horizon but gave up the battle and we didn't even hear any thunder today.

It was a perfect Sunday filled with laughter and good food.
Thankful to God for the place He choose for me and the family and friends He choose to surround me with.
Good Night and God Bless.

1964 and 1974 MEMORIES

Hubbie being off on Fridays for the summer is going to take some getting used to, it makes it not seem like Friday.
After chores and breakfast we had to make an animal feed buying trip to Southern States.  The morning is sunny and already hot by the time we got back with our load of feed.
Hubbie got on the lawnmower and I started my baking. I baked 12 caramel, 3 coconut, 3 chocolate and 2 pound cakes.  I was finished by lunchtime.
Clouds are starting to build and there are storms to the west and south of us already. Daughter called and the E-campers should be home around 4:00 if all goes well. #1 son worked on the van's air conditioning while he was at the beach and has it working so everyone is happy.  He is going to try to pull the trailer up the mountain, if the van starts heating up he will stop and call hubbie to come pull the trailer on up.
Hubbie finished his yard work and we both worked in the garden awhile, pulling weeds and getting the spent pea plants and some lettuce and argula plants fed to the chickens.
Aaron, Rebekah and Evy came up while we were there and she found the bush beans need picking. She said they would pick them tomorrow for our Sunday lunch.  We had a nice visit until the thunder and lightening got too close for comfort so they went home and we came inside.
The storm passed dropping only about 1/10th inch of rain here. The other side of the county got hammered again.
As we sat out in the patio watching the last of the rain move on daughter came in about 5:30.  She ate supper with us and caught us up on the trip. Four of the kids they took on the trip got saved while they were there, all the glory to God !!!
She took Tipper and headed home for a nice long rest in her own bed and an evening of peace and quiet.
Since I don't have any pics for this day I will continue the June decade pics. This is the wedding announcement for one of my cousin's wives and her sister.  My cousin and his wife Nancy got married on June 6, 1964, they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

 In earlier years of my post I have talked about this red climbing rose that I first planted at my first house and then we moved it here when we built this house. It still blooms each year and loves it's new home apparently.  This is a picture of the rose in it's first location at the single wide trailer I lived in when I was single in June of 1974.

I iced my cakes and we got some orders boxed up before we called it a day.
Glory to God for the young lives that were dedicated to him this week and praising His name everyday.
Good Night and God Bless.

SLOW MARKET, FIVE YEAR COMPARISONS

Thankful for a good night's sleep last night I was up early to get ready for market.  There is so much animosity going on at market right now that I don't look forward to going anymore.  Every time in years past that business slows the bickering starts but this time seems to be the worst I've seen. I stay at my booth and don't engage in any of it but just knowing it is going on is stressful. I also see the stares of other vendors when I have large orders picked up making me feel sad instead of happy for my business.  Oh well maybe it will get better.  There is a movement by some of the newer and some surprisingly older vendors to sell the market so that is another separating issue between vendors right now. This market has been a staple in this town for 90 years this month it would be sad to see it sold.
Getting  into market on time this morning the parking lot was pretty empty.
I am typing this as I sit waiting for my first customer and it is already 10:30.
I guess many of the vendors are feeling the same stress as I am because there is not many vendors even here today.   I am thankful for the few things I did sell. 
After market I went to the bank, P.O., Sav Mor, Aldi and Walmart on the way home. Walmart was my last stop and as I went through the check-out I could hear the thunder.  I made it to the van and headed home away from the dark ominous looking storm clouds.
When I got here the wind picked up  and I thought we were in for a major storm.  I unloaded all the things into the basement in a hurry ahead of the rain.
We only got a sprinkle as we watched the storm move to the south and west of our area once again.
I-26 divides Henderson county and today all the rain stayed on the west side away from us.

 There were trees down and power lines down where the storms passed and early this evening there were over 2500 people without power in those areas.
We watched the dark clouds move on before we went out to do the chores a little late.  The misty rain was still falling.
As I fed the pair of quail their afternoon clover I noticed the female is setting on a bunch of eggs in the back of their little house. Usually quail won't set in captivity but this little quail has always been a little out of the ordinary as I had to nurse her back to health after another female quail I had in the same cage attacked her.  It will be interesting to see if anything hatches from her efforts. I think the eggs she has gathered under her would be too old for hatching but we will see.
Daughter sent me some pics of g-son today at Broadway at the Beach amusement park. We made the same pics back in May of 2009 when g-son was 2 years old at the same place, there is quite a difference !
I remember he was afraid to get on these animal until Aunt T would get on too protect him.

 No protector needed any more !!!  Haha the thing I noticed in these pics are now his legs are as long as his Aunt T's !!

Love these comparisons !!!!!!! My baby boy has grown up on me !!!
They are having great weather ,just hot !!  Looks like they are having a great time as well.
Getting to bed early tonight expecting a busy day tomorrow as always on Friday.
Grateful for the blessings of today and thankful for the graciousness of our loving Lord.  Praying tonight for safe travel tomorrow for the youth and their leaders as they head home.  Also praying for safe travel for #2 son and his friend Trey, as they travel back and forth from  Trey's house at Lake Bowen,S .C.  getting his furniture moved to his house up here and doing some work down there to get the SC house ready to rent.
Good Night and God Bless.

CAKE BAKING WEDNESDAY

At least I don't have anywhere to be early this morning so I could have lounged in bed a little longer but I thought about the warmer summer mornings and all my chickens shut up in their houses so no lounging for me !!
With Tipper, daughter's dog staying with us my morning routine starts off with alternating dogs in and out of their kennels.
The chickens were glad I was on time to let them out in the lots so they could get a cool drink of water.
There is workers on the bridge construction project this morning for the first time in a long time. School is out so I look for them to close the road and get this thing finished !!
I walked in the hot sunshine this morning. I am getting my lungs and heart stronger each day as I walk for 10 minutes and run for at least a minute then repeat.  My recovery time from running up the hill in the driveway is getting shorter and shorter.  Good for me !!!
I baked 12 caramel, 3 chocolate, 7 pound cakes and an apple/walnut cake on order for tomorrow before I sat down to have lunch.
The last cakes didn't come out of the ovens until almost 3:00, whew !!!
The clouds were rolling in and for the third day in a row the thunder rolled in the distance. We didn't get any rain even close to us today.
My sore back is much better today, I haven't yelled out in pain from making turns once today.
Rebekah and Aaron got back from Ohio this afternoon. Thankful for a safe travel for them.
Also got this pic from daughter of the youth  with g-son getting in on the beach games and #1 son watching from behind.

I think this is so good for g-son to get be involved in these things at his young age, I'm glad his dad can get off work to help out so he gets to tag along.
Hubbie painted the roof of our new dog abode.  This is Flash's new home.  He needed a space of his own because he and Annie at times do not always see things the same way and it causes a ferocious fight between the two.

I spent the early evening in my office with weekly paperwork and bill paying duties.
After chores were done I iced cakes for the remainder of the evening.
It is 10:30 and I'm headed for bed, hoping to get a better night's sleep since my back pain seems to be gone tonight.
Thanking God for the traveling mercies for Aaron and Rebekah and for watching over the church youth and leaders at E-camps, also thankful for all my other blessings of this day.
Good Night and God Bless.

GOOD FOR ANOTHER 8 YEARS !!!

Got an early start today to get things done before it was time for my driver's license renewal appointment at 9:30.
When I pulled into the parking lot I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of cars there. Eight years ago there was long waiting lines everyday at this office.
I arrived at 9:20 and was walking out with a new eight year license at 9:45, wow !   This was the best experience I have ever had at this driver's license office. I only hesitated on one sign and passed the eye test without my glasses ,so I have no restrictions which is good for the days I forget (or can't find) my glasses !
I stopped by Walmart on the way home for some groceries.
After taking a late morning walk and doing my devotions I got laundry and housework started.
I slept on a heating pad last night so my sore back is some better today and I am trying to take it a bit slower to keep from aggravating it again.
After lunch I took a break out in the sunshine for a few minutes before the 87 degree humidity ran me back inside. I continued laundry and housework until my back flared up again. I got everything done except vacuuming and mopping which are not good for a sore back anyway.  I'll save those for another day.
Once again the thunder stayed in the distance and we dodged the few showers that fell around the area today which was mostly quiet today.
Unlike some folks out in Nebraska which were dealt a violent blow from two massive cat 4 tornadoes.

The entire town of Coleridge,Neb was virtually wiped out with these storms.

Even the school building which had weathered many storms before this one.

I look for our area storms to fire up as we really heat up for the rest of this week.
After supper and chores tonight I picked the rest of our peas. These last several hot days have really done a number on them and I was lucky to get this many off the quickly dying vines.
These are sugar snap peas and I wash them very good and spread them out on towels to dry some of the water off them.

Then I put them in freezer bags and into the freezer they go.  This way I can take out as many or as few as I want to cook at a time without them all being stuck together in a clump.

My first produce in the freezer for the year !!
Talked to daughter tonight, they are having fun.  G-son is having a good time and I'm sure he likes visiting in daughter's room much better than he likes staying with his dad in their room, haha , I can understand why !!

These trips are so good for him and he goes to all the training sessions with the group so he gets to hear the message of Jesus over and over which is very good for him !!!
Grateful to God for the blessings these young folks will get during this trip and very grateful for my kids rolls in exposing them to it.
Good Night and God Bless

E-CAMP TRAVEL AND 1954 JUNE MEMORIES

Today started early with daughter knocking on the door at 6:45.  She was taking an exam in one of her on-line classes and needed to do it on my desktop computer.  She had to get here early because she is going with the church youth to e-camp at Myrtle Beach again this year.  #1 son and g-son are also going to help chaperone, #1 son was needed to pull the trailer with all the luggage in it. They have 29 people going and at least one more coming later in the week.
Daughter finished her test and headed out to pick up #1 son and g-son just before 8:00.
I had been a dozing  in and out ever since she got here so I decided to just get up before I fell back into a deeper sleep now that the house was quiet again.
It was sunny and already very warm as I did my morning chores.  I had breakfast and then took a nice walk.  It seems very strange to not have any little ones around today.
Rebekah and Aaron had to make a trip to Ohio to attend Rebekah's grandmothers funeral who died last Thursday. They left early Sunday morning and made it up there around 4:00 in the afternoon.
So d-in-love, hubbie and I are holding down the fort while everyone else is gone right now.
I checked with daughter around 10am to see how far they had gotten and she said to the end of the road we live on !!!!  There was a mix up with one of the borrowed vans and they had to go to Brevard to get it, so they left 1 1/2 hours later than scheduled.
I took the opportunity to clean g-son's room while he is not here this morning.  I threw away alot of broken and lost parts toys. Shhhhh!!!   Don't tell him !!!
I even went through the toy box in the living room !!
Clouds took over the sky by the time I had lunch.  I could hear thunder but the storms went south and east of us today, thankfully.
I went outside and worked in the yard for a while, pulling weeds from my flower beds and re-potting a bunch of Aloe plant that is out growing its container. I filled all the pots I had and need to get some more.
All this rain is sure making weeds and all kinds of unwanted things grow faster than my flowers.
At least with the sun not beating down it was comfortable working outside.
Checked with daughter again and they were slowing down because #1 son was afraid the van they were pulling the trailer with was going to overheat.
Hubbie worked today for his first summer schedule of Fridays off.  The school district shuts everything down completely on Fridays to conserve energy. He also gets off 30 minutes earlier which is nice.
When he got home we watched the news then both went to work in the garden. He sprayed insecticide and I pulled some collard greens that have seen better days to feed to the appreciative chickens.
Daughter texted and said they all finally arrived at the hotel in Myrtle Beach around 5:00 this evening.  Hubbie will take the truck on Friday and meet them somewhere before they come up the mountain so he can pull the trailer up with his truck.
Hubbie and I both worked outside until dark tonight. My back is hurting from lifting some things I shouldn't have this morning so I am getting to bed early.
Back in June of 1954 things were sad as my mother's father died that month.

I remember back then after every burial my mom and aunts would go back to the grave to make photos of the flowers that were there.  That was back in the days when the only thing folks did was send flowers.
Of course my Aunt Carol (mom's sister who lived in Michigan) and her family came down for the funeral.  This is Aunt Carol and her kids in the boat with my dad on the pond he had just built.

It is coincidence that my mother was pregnant with me, her first child and I was pregnant with #1 son, my first child when both our fathers passed away.
Praising God tonight for this blessed day and thanking Him for watching over the church youth and their chaperones as they traveled today.  May they glorify His name and teach the love of God to these teenagers during this week.
Good Night and God Bless.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY 2014

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU DADS OUT THERE.
It is a beautiful Father's day here today with bright sunshine this morning.
Our church service was good today as we honored all the fathers with red or white carnations.
Today is an emotional day for me always as I miss my dad so much. He has been gone for almost 33 years and still never a day goes by that I don't think about or get reminded of him in some way.  I was a daddy's girl and was a big "tom boy" growing up. He even nick named me "Pete" , when someone questioned him about that he would always say it was after "little Bo Peep" who lost her sheep.  For many years I thought that poem went "little  Bo Pete"  Haha !!
This is some of the earliest pictures of me and my dad.

This tractor was the first vehicle he taught me to drive and by the time my feet reached the brake petal I was in the fields helping him farm.

He was a crop farmer and raised chickens for years until Chesterfield Mills in Asheville went out of business.  With their abrupt closing he was burdened with the dept of building the long chicken house and was forced to sell half of his property to pay it off. I never remember hearing him complain.  We always had beef cows and a milk cow around when I was growing up and we never went hungry, he always found a way to provide whatever we needed. He said "you never look back because there is always things you can't change, you always look forward to the things you can change". 
This sums up my feelings tonight.

Good Night and God Bless.