SWIMMING FUN AND A 1953 MEMORY

G-son was in a surprisingly good mood this morning on the way to the workshop he didn't like yesterday.
I spent the morning in a more normal mode today for the first time in a couple weeks. Tuesday is always laundry day so between 3 loads of laundry I cleaned the bathrooms and washed windows all around the house before going to pick up g-son.
He said he didn't like this day any better than yesterday and we left it at that.  He was very hungry again and after he had ate his lunch I asked him again exactly why he wasn't having any fun and he said he was having some fun.
Later in the afternoon daughter came by to take him to play in the pool out at the condo development #2 son is living in.
Looks like they had a fun time and luckily the rain went around us today after about 3/10ths inch in the gauge from last night's rain.

She said they were there alone for awhile until some other kids about g-son's age came in and he had a good time playing with them. When she brought him back here this evening he acted completely worn out.  Thank goodness for Aunt T !!!!
I went through my photos today looking for August decade  pics and put an Avon order online.
After chores tonight I baked 60 cake layers for 24 caramel and 6 chocolate cakes.
The sun and clouds battled all day with the clouds finally winning out this evening and the rain is supposed to move in tonight for the next couple days,yuck !!
The temperature couldn't get out of the 70's under all the clouds so it was a nice cool day anyway.
I found this photo of my mom and dad dated August 1953. I wonder where they were going all dressed up ??

As I looked at this old black and white picture I had to chuckle as I remembered g-son's questions this past weekend about a couple black and white pics in my bedroom of me and my dad and of hubbie when we were babies. G-son wanted to know why they were not in color. When hubbie explained that back in those days there was no colored pictures,only black and white , he wanted to know if people were colored back then or just black and white?
Tonight as I get ready to sign off I am grateful for the blessings God has given me and for this day of blessed love from my Heavenly Father.
Good Night and God Bless.

BUTTERFLY BUSHES LIVE UP TO THEIR NAME

Whew !!! Getting back on the school schedule was easier than I thought it would be this morning as g-son was so excited to be going to this workshop at his school.
I walked him in and he went right to the line of kids and sat down and began to talk to his friend who was sitting there already. All is well !!!
Back home after the regular morning chores and breakfast I washed a couple loads of month ending laundry that I am behind on and hung them on the line to dry outside on another sunny, breezy 80 degree day.
I worked hard all morning giving my house a good cleaning for the first time in several weeks.
There were alot of dust bunnies that lost their homes this morning around here !!!
This time of year things get a bit crazy around here so I clean when I can and work or spend time with g-son the rest of the time. It's only 3 weeks until regular school starts.
When I picked him up from school today at noon he was not happy with this workshop. He said it was not fun like we all said it would be and he didn't like it. He was not in the group with any of his friends and just not happy at all. I think he  was also ill because he was hungry.
After lunch his attitude improved and he read me a book and made more lego creations. He was hoping to go swimming with his aunt T but her blackberry picking lasted until the clouds moved in so maybe tomorrow.
She is going to market tomorrow morning to sell her berries,hopefully she will sell out early !!
#1 son came after g-son this evening and he went back into his mood for not liking the school workshop but we can't let him just quit because then he might not like first grade either and expect to just quit that ! Hopefully things will improve for him tomorrow and he will enjoy it more.
I cleaned out another flower bed this evening. This is the one in front of the porch that always gets over taken with Potato Vine. Unfortunately I had to rip out my Morning Glory vines that were intertwined with the potato vine.
I noticed a flurry of activity around the Butterfly bushes around the yard. They don't call them Butterfly Bushes for nothing !!!!

I did evening chores and then took a back rest out in the sunroom for about 30 minutes while hubbie tilled the garden. The soil is just now dry enough to get a tiller through it without clumping it all up.
Dark clouds are building and the rain is supposed to start tonight. On the weather tonight they said we had just had our first rain-free weekend since April 20 .
As I type this tonight I heard the rain start outside along with some strong wind gust. Oh well, at least we had a few rain-free days !!
I am going to bed early tonight as I didn't sleep well last night for some reason and am really tired.
Grateful to God tonight for the graciousness He shows me each day and for His guidance every hour of every day.
Good Night and God Bless.

BLESSED SUNDAY

Another welcome sunny morning greeted the three of us when we woke up this morning. G-son slept great last night and was up early and ready for his aunt T to pick him up for Sunday School today.
She always stops by and picks hubbie, who is her assistant teacher up and g-son is in her class this year so it made it easier for him just to go with her and hubbie to church.
I did chores and got ready to go to church myself.
Our associate pastor gave the message today as the senior pastor was doing a special service at a church in a neighboring county this morning.
Pastor Craig did a good job today and the music was really good.
The son of the cousin of hubbie's who died last year brought his family to our church this morning and sat with us. It was good to visit with them,hopefully they will start coming to church with us.
G-son and his son are the same age.
After service we had Sunday lunch with all three kids and Aaron and Rebecca with little Evy.
We had bacon wrapped pork roast, corn on the cob, green beans, potatoes, slaw and peach cobbler for dessert.
After a nice visit #1 and #2 son went to #2 son's new lot to lay out his septic and house location. The house is in a little different spot than he had hoped but it will still have a winter view.
Hubbie had a Deacon's meeting at 4:00 so I caught up on some reading while he was gone.
After chores this evening we ran over to sis-in-law Sandy's to pick up some on sale eggs she found for me. I love it when she finds these kind of deals for me.
The weather has been really nice again today with sun and  temperatures in the 70's with a pretty stiff breeze at times.
Tonight I will leave with some more Bible School pics that d-in-love made last week.
This is a photo collage she made for their classroom wall of all the kids in their first grade class.

This is daughter directing these kids in a game.

Our church has a puppet ministry and they preformed each evening at the closing ceremony. The kids loved it and so did, I think, the adults !!!

The church was full this morning , maybe some of the kids who came to Bible School brought their parents with them today. I pray that all these children felt the love of Jesus through the direction of the volunteers who helped make this year's VBS a success.
Grateful for the blessings of this day and praying for God's grace as I begin another week.
Good Night and God Bless.

BUSY MARKET AND MONEY PLANT HARVEST

Off to market early this morning as we expect it to be crowded today.
Daughter pulled into the parking lot just ahead of us for a nice unplanned coincidence. She had picked 8 gallons of black berries yesterday to sell. They were some of the largest berries I have ever seen. She is off now until school starts and her teaching career begins so she will be picking lots of berries to sell to fill in the gap no  pay check.
We were right about the crowds today as the morning was very busy. She was out of berries before noon and our baked goods shelves were almost empty also.
Thankful for another good selling day.
Hubbie shopped for fresh green beans and corn for tomorrow's lunch then headed home to mow the lawn for the second time this week !!
Daughter left about 1:00 to go home to mow her lawn also.  I picked up baking supplies on the way home and made it home at 3:30.
Hubbie came in and helped me unload then we took a break and had a snack before returning to the yardwork. He finished mowing and I cleaned out one bed in front of the house where I needed to harvest some money plant to sell. There was poison ivy all intertwined with things in this bed, I had on a long sleeved shirt and gloves and pray that I didn't get that stuff all over me.
The money plant doesn't look too good this year. I hope the coins will stay attached to the stems after I shuck the husks from it.

These husk hold the seeds, I always leave an abundant amount of the coins in the beds for next year.

This is what it looks like with all the husk and leaves off.

It last forever or until it gets too dusty !!
I only have eight bunches so far this year. This is pretty late to be gathering it but I had to wait until it dried out.
I washed my hands three times when I came inside hoping to get any trace of poison ivy off.
One flower bed cleaned many more to go !!!
After a quick salad for supper I did chores before g-son arrived to spend the night with us.
He was hungry and had his regular mac and cheese followed by M&M cookies for dessert.
That's what g-mas are for you know !!!
We sat up the laptop and he entertained himself with games while Pawpaw and me  gleaned the garden and put up all the chickens.
Today has been a perfect day with lots of sunshine but temps in the low 80's , not our regular August "dog days" weather around here but we will surely take it and be thankful.
The July weather map shows one of the coolest Julys on record for our area and the predictions are for August to follow suit.

But also predictions for August are for more rain than normal which we really don't need.

Someone asked today at market if I had heard the predictions for this coming winter and I said I hadn't. She said the almanac was predicting a severe snowy,cold winter. All I know is if below normal temps and above moisture hold on we better get stocked up of food !!!!
God knows what He is doing with the weather and everything else so I try to leave all those things up to Him and just live in His glory.
Good Night and God Bless.

GARDEN UPPDATE AND VBS COMMENCEMENT

Thanks to Hubbie being off today I got to sleep in a little this morning until 8:00 anyway before the day's activities had to be started. G-son was having his breakfast when I got up and hubbie was getting ready to go repair some fence in the bottom pasture while still in the cool of the morning. After I did my chores I started icing cakes, I iced 12 caramel before my back started burning. When I woke up this morning I did some lower back stretching exercises and my lower back feels fine but my upper back usually hurts form too much icing cake movement. While I rested my back I went out to check on some chicks I moved this morning and to photograph the garden for this month's photo. This is a strange year for me,usually at this time I am buried with canning beans and tomatoes or making pickles and salsa but not so this year as we have yet to get any ripe tomatoes or beans from our rain soaked garden. Looks like we will soon have our first ripe tomatoes.

The peppers have done well,they must love lots of water !!

Hubbie keeps planting late vegies in hopes that the later garden will fare better than the summer garden has.

The squash and cucumbers are still producing but not like they should.

I am thankful for the produce we do get from our garden. Years ago a friend of mine said she named her garden "Grace" and was just thankful for what she got from her, so that's how I feel this year.
After lunch daughter who had finished picking blackberries came by and picked up g-son for a swim date with a friend of hers who has a boy the same age as g-son. He already had swimming trunks on ready to go.
I baked 4 pound cakes and 2 blackberry wine cakes then iced 12 more caramel cakes this afternoon.
I'm looking forward to the next couple days when I won't need to do any baking or icing !!!
Bible School commencement was tonight so hubbie and I went. This year broke attendance records for our church in Bible school with up to 121 kids there,may all the glory be to God. There were also 7 professions of faith during this week.
This is the group of kids tonight.

G-son was into the action with the songs they were singing. ( he is in the grey shirt)

After the ceremony we went to g-son's room and then down to the fellowship hall for a BBQ meal prepared by a church member who has a BBQ business. It was very good.
I caught up with some old friends and had a nice time.
Hubbie and I drove separate vehicles because he stayed and helped daughter take down the decorations from her room and I came home to ice more cakes.
I iced 8 chocolate cakes then wrapped and labeled everything along with washing eggs.
This has been a hectic week but it has been full of blessings along the way.
As these VBS'ers raise their hands in praise of our Heavenly Father I humbly thank Him for each of these young lives and pray that they keep Him in their heart as they grow up.

Good Night and God Bless.

BUSY DAY BEGINS AUGUST

Off to market today with plenty of time to spare or so I thought !   Just a little over a mile out the road I ran into a major traffic jam. As I eased along wondering if someone had a wreck the "road construction ahead"  sign came into view along with a couple of utility buckets up in the air. I turned around and headed back another way to get around all the traffic, making a mental note not to use this road for awhile.
I got to market just a few minutes late and got set up before the first customer came anyway.
I had a good selling day, selling everything I had except a couple cake halves.
Daughter got up early and went to pick blackberries,she made it to market with them about 10:30. With a lunch date with her previous boss and her replacement at the elementary school she worked at set  for 12:30 she had a couple gallons left of her 6 gallons that she picked so she took them home to bake with.
About 1:00 the sky grew very dark and thunder and lightening started along with a strong wind. It looked like we were in for a major storm but luckily the thunder and lightening subsided and only a short hard shower of rain fell.  I used my rain coat to load the van then by the time I got to the bank the rain had stopped.
At home we only had 2/10ths in the gauge.
Hubbie was already home when I arrived so we got unloaded and had an early supper of BLT's with some fresh tomatoes I bought from a neighbor at market.
We rested and tried to stay awake during the evening news then did chores.
Dolly is hobbling on one of her front legs so I gave her a half of a canine asprin  and she seems better tonight.
Since I sold out of cakes and took a page of orders for Saturday I baked cakes all night tonight. 64 layers for 24 caramel and 8 chocolate cakes. It is midnight and I'm blogging while I wait for the last ones to come out of the oven.
I am thankful for the good amount of business I am having but it is getting harder and harder each year to get through this busy season.
I did some back stretching exercises this evening and my back feels remarkably better tonight thankfully.
At least August started today with almost a half day of nice sunshine before the rain moved in,maybe the rest of the month will be not so rainy.
Grateful tonight for the blessings of this day and giving all the glory to Him.
Good Night and God Bless.

HAPPY 59th TO ME

Up extra early today to get the outside chores done before little Evy gets here. Her mom has a nursing class to attend this morning so she gets to keep g-son company while she is gone.
G-son arrived at 7:00 and promptly hit the couch for some extra zzzz's today.
When Evy arrived they became fast friends again. G-son was glad to have some company even if she couldn't get up and play with him.
These are the Sesame Street buddies.

He is so gentle and good with her and she just wants to do everything he does.

Evy is getting really good at using her hands to grab things and today she even held her own bottle for a few minutes.

Needless to say I had a nice relaxed morning with these two precious ones. Just before her mom came to pick her up Evy got really fussy and wouldn't take her bottle but was fine when mom got here.
I spent the afternoon with weekly paperwork and paying bills for the last two weeks. It's amazing how much stuff accumulates over just one missed week.
G-son and I had a cake delivery to make at 3:00 and on the way we spotted a huge flock of Canadian Geese in this field.

Don't know what was so special for them to eat here but there were lots of them ! This picture is just the middle of the flock.
Back home I baked 4 pound cakes and iced my last 6 caramel cakes for tomorrow's orders.
Out of the 30 caramel cakes I've made this week I will only have 6 wholes and 6 halves to put out for sale after all the orders so far tomorrow.
I had to much to do tonight to check in on Bible school but daughter came by and said things went well.
She brought me my birthday gifts reminding me that I am a year older today. Today I begin the last year of my 50's decade. Oh well it's just a number anyway,right !!!  I get to celebrate later with the family at Cracker Barrel my favorite restaurant with the gift card the kids bought me and she also brought my secret sister gift which was a nice set of old milk bottle replicas that hold tea lights.
This is me just 33 1/2 short years ago in December of 1979 right before hubbie and I were married.

Yeah, 33 1/2 years and 3 kids later I do look a bit different !!!!
Thanking God tonight for the wonderful full life He has blessed me with in these 59 years and praying that it be in His will that I have many more.
Good Night and God Bless.