Here we are at the last day of July! It’s time to pause with Susanne and friends to note and appreciate some of the highlights of the week.

1. Good news. Some of you know that we’d had to cancel my oldest son’s visit last April due to the pandemic, and it looked like we might have to cancel August’s visit as well. He wasn’t comfortable with flying yet nor staying in a hotel if he drove (neither were we). Then my husbands colleague mentioned going somewhere in a sleeper car of a train, where he could basically keep to himself. We checked on prices and station locations, then ran the idea by my son. He thought that sounded feasible—so he’s coming in August! We’re so excited. We won’t be able to go and do like we usually do when he’s here, but we’ll get to see him in person, and he’ll get a break from his apartment. And I’m sure we’ll do lots of hanging out and playing games.

2. Early voting for our state’s primary will hopefully mean less of a crowd. My son and d-i-l voted yesterday and I am planning to before they close.

3. Jeopardy. My husband and I usually watch weeknights after dinner. Lately they pulled out some early episodes. It’s been fun to see how the program have changed over the years.

4. Kind comments. I so appreciated your kind remarks on my blog birthday and my ponderings about my direction.

5. My husband’s indulgence. I got to the end of Wednesday afternoon with little to no desire to cook, and suggested maybe getting takeout pizza. We usually save that kind of thing for weekends, but my husband graciously agreed.

Bonus: My husband stopped by my son and daughter-in-law’s house for something, and Timothy had just lost his front tooth. So he sent a selfie of Timothy’s snaggletooth smile—a phrase my mom used to say based on a cartoon character way back.

How was your week?

As July speeds by, it’s time to pause with Susanne and friends to note and appreciate some of the highlights of the week.

1. Jason’s birthday. We love opportunities to celebrate each other, and I am thankful for Jason’s special day.

2.Chocolate Cheesecake. Mittu made this for Jason’s birthday, and I love the decoration she found for the top. If you can’t read it, it says “Happy Quarantine Birthday.”

3. Thoughtfulness. Jason wanted Indian food for his birthday dinner. Knowing that’s not my favorite, Mittu make a sausage/zucchini/pasta dish for me. I appreciated that she went through the extra work to make a separate entree, in addition to the other three entrees she makes for an Indian food dinner .

4. Conversations with Timothy. I love that sometimes he’ll seek me out to talk, like when I’m in the kitchen and everyone else is in the living room. When they camped out in the yard a few weeks ago, Timothy came into the bathroom while I was fixing my hair, played with my makeup mirror, commented on how his mom’s blow dryer was different from mine, etc. It had been a long time since I had little person company there!

5. Patient portals. Our doctor’s office has an online portal through which we can access our account, look at lab results, or send in a question. I don’t know why, but I much prefer using this rather than calling in. So I am glad that’s an option for things that aren’t urgent.

How was your week?

It’s Friday again! Time to pause with Susanne and friends to note the good things of the week, lest they slip by without notice. Here are some highlights of my week:

1. A meal I didn’t cook. I always appreciate when my daughter-in-law texts to see if they can come over and make dinner, but especially when I was just thinking I didn’t feel like cooking that night.

2. Taking care of plants. I don’t do that as often as I should. But our front planters have some ivy that likes to take over, and our roses badly needed deadheading and pruning. I kept planning to go out early before it got hot, but never made it. So one evening when Jim had to go somewhere after dinner, I did some work with the plants then. Plus I took a houseplant Jason and Mittu had given me and replanted it outside. It still had some green leaves, so hopefully it will do better out there than it did inside. Nice to get those things taken care of.

3. Root beer floats are my reward for getting hot and sweaty working outside. 🙂 We get these mini cans of root beer that are just the right amount for our glasses. And thankfully lactose-free ice cream is available now.

4. Air conditioning and ceiling fans. I don’t know how people survived 90+ degree temperatures and 80+% humidity without them.

5. A Zoom visit. I had not been able to get together with a friend that I sometimes go to lunch with since before the coronavirus started. We decided to have our own Zoom meeting. It was fun to catch up while seeing each other.

That’s my week. How was yours?

Another week is almost done. They go so fast these days. On Fridays I like to slow down for a moment with Susanne and friends to note the good things of the week, lest they slip by without notice. Here are some highlights of my week:

1. The 4th of July. I love my country, though it’s not perfect.I love the opportunity to celebrate her birthday. Though the city-wide activities were more low-key this year, we did hear and see a number of fireworks around us. My husband’s grilled burgers were the centerpiece of our July 4th meal. So good, as always. But especially since we’ve not been eating takeout, except for an occasional pizza, our burger cravings were satisfied. And my daughter-in-law made a scrumptious cheesecake for dessert. The “4th” decoration is made from diced Reese’s cups.

2. Mostly homemade pizza. I found some ready-made pizza crusts at the store (Mama Mia brand) that were a good price. I bought toppings and made my own pizza sauce for a dinner at home. I thought they turned out really well. I liked the crusts better than the kind from a can that you roll out. Plus they have a gluten-free version we can get for when my daughter-in-law and grandson are here.

3. Zucchini cake. I mentioned last week that a neighbor gifted us with zucchini from his garden. We’ve used some as a side dish, and I made a sausage/zucchini/squash/noodle dish last night. I made a zucchini cake by halving this recipe. So good—hadn’t had something like that in ages. (What’s your favorite zucchini recipe? I still have a lot left. 🙂 I was pleased to learn I can freeze shredded zucchini.)

4. My husband washing my car. I stepped into the garage Wednesday to get some chicken from the freezer there, and I was surprised to see my husband washing my car in the driveway. It has some shields over the top of the windows that he doesn’t think would fare well in an automatic car wash, so it has to be done by hand at home. It was in sore need of cleaning, and I was thankful he took that on.

5. A clean kitchen window and windowsill have been on my list of things to do for a while. I finally got to it yesterday. Makes for a much brighter outlook!

How was your week?

2020 is half over! Yay! I started to say that hopefully the second half will be better. But with the election coming up, and as much vitriol as there has been between sides, social media may not be a pleasant place for a long time to come. But for now, I enjoy this pause on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to recount some of the blessings of the week.

1. Timothy’s first camping experience and brunch. His parents wanted to set up camp in their yard before trying it away from home, so that if Timothy woke up in the middle of the night upset, they could take him right in. He did great. Jim went over to “camp out” with them. The next morning, Mittu made a hash brown casserole and bacon and biscuits for the campers and invited Jesse and me as well.

2. Gifted produce. Our neighbor has a good-sized garden and always shares from his bounty. He brought over some zucchini this week.

3. A brief visit with another neighbor. We happened to be taking mail to our mail boxes at the same time and visited across the cul-de-sac for a bit.

4. Menu planning is something I know how to do, but I just don’t often do it. I’ll have a few meals in mind, but then I keep a lot of staples on hand to throw together. I don’t like to try to decide on Monday what I’m going to want to eat on Friday. 🙂 But, for some reason, I made up a list of meals for this week. I didn’t assign them for certain days: I decided on a daily basis which to do. But it was nice to choose from a list of meals that I knew I had the ingredients for rather than racking my brain to figure out what to make each day.

5. Timothy’s second camping experience! Everyone in the family had today off for the Fourth of July. So they decided to camp out here last night. Jesse and I slept in our own beds, but Mittu joined the campers this time. Timothy spent the night in Granddad’s tent instead of his parents’ and did fine.  I figured some time during the night he’d want his mom and dad, but he slept straight through. Then Jim made “camp breakfast” on the grill this morning. So good!

Belated Happy Canada Day to my Canadian friends! And I wish my fellow Americans a happy Independence Day.

Here we are at the last Friday of June. I enjoy this pause on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to recount some of the blessings of the week.

I’m running a little late today due to an appointment this morning.

1. Father’s Day. We had a nice time with the family, eating ribs and cheesy potatoes and apple pie.

2. Father’s Day breakfast. Jason and Mittu brought over quiche, hash browns, and sausage for Father’s Day breakfast, and then stayed for our church via Zoom and dinner and presents afterward.

3.Sewing buttons on is not a favorite activity, which is probably why I had a stack of items needing that attention. I determined I was going to take care of them this week. Once I got set up, it didn’t take very long.

4. Lactose-free ice cream. I don’t have ice cream much through the year, but it often hits the spot in the summer. Once I became lactose intolerant, I didn’t have ice cream for a number of years. I’m thankful there are lactose-free versions now.

5. Naps. I think I’ve had one every day this week.

How has your week been?

It’s so hard to believe we’re almost 2/3 of the way through June already. Whether the days contain good or bad, they fly by. I enjoy this pause on Fridays with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to recount some of the blessings of the week.

1. A haircut. My daughter-in-law graciously agreed to cut my hair for me last weekend at her house. I know it was nerve-wracking for her, and I appreciate that she did it anyway. 🙂 She did a good job. My hair just does not cooperate when it gets a certain length, so it’s nice to get it to a place where it responds better.

2. Lunch with Mittu and Timothy. While Mittu cut my hair, my husband was outside with Timothy doing a bit of yard work. Then Mittu made us a lunch of egg salad sandwiches and chips. Jason, unfortunately, had to work, and Jesse had stayed home. While Granddad worked outside some more, bleaching the mildew off the sidewalk and patio, Timothy and Mittu showed me some funny You Tube videos they had enjoyed.

3. A belated Mother’s Day gift. My son and daughter-in-law pre-ordered Nathan W. Pyle‘s Stranger Planet for me for Mother’s Day, but it was just released a few days ago. They brought it over as soon as they received it. You can see some of his work here. The book was so good! I love his beings’ observations about life. The only downside: I finished it in one evening.

4. Old pictures. Our church is putting together a Father’s Day collage slide show for this Sunday, and anyone who wanted to participate could send in photos of themselves with their dads. I had a couple I could use, but started looking through old photos to see if I could find any better ones. It’s always fun to look through them. I’m ashamed to say I have at least three shoe boxes of photos from before the digital age that have never been put into albums yet. I was able to organize them a bit, which will help whenever I finally do get to them. I need to redo all my photos that have been in the sticky photo albums (which they say is not good for them, and some of the pages have browned and lost their stickiness). So that’s going to be a big job someday, but one I look forward to.

5. A special moment. Last Saturday morning, I started reading Jen Wikin’s None Like Him on the attributes of God. Wow. So good. All morning afterward, the song “None Like You” came to mind. When I got into the car to go for my haircut, I plugged my phone in and set my playlist to shuffle. The first song that came up was “None Like You.” That just made me feel so seen and loved and cared for. It reminded me of this meme:

I discovered a couple of songs with similar names concerning there being none like God. This is the one I am familiar with:

Every Friday, Susanne at Living to Tell the Story invites us to pause for a few minutes and recount some of the blessings of the week. It’s harder some weeks than others to find them, but they are always there. And looking for them can transform our whole outlook. So here are a few from my week.

1. A park outing. We went with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson last weekend to Norris Dam State Park for a picnic lunch and fishing. We had our little picnic area to ourselves most of the time. The few people who came and went stayed more than six feet away. Jesse and I left a little early after watching the others fish for a bit—neither of us was interested in fishing and the heat was getting to me. I can’t remember if this was Timothy’s first time to fish, but it was fun to watch him get the hang of it.

2. A potty tent. 🙂 Though the state parks are open, the restrooms are closed. Personally, I’d rather use a public a restroom and sanitize than wonder where people might have relieved themselves outdoors. A while back Jim had invested in a camping toilet and a little pop-up tent to put it in, so he brought all of that and set it up. Yes, I did feel funny using it when another family was in the area, but it was much better than finding a tree to hide behind. I don’t know if they thought it was really weird or a good idea. 🙂

3. Time off. This was something from the week before last that I forgot to mention. Everyone in my husband’s company was required to take a week of vacation in May since business was running a little slow and some of their clients were closed. Jim chose the last week in May plus a couple of Fridays before that. He got a lot done in our yard and our son’s, rearranged his office a bit, cleared some things out of the garage, and took some things we both had culled to the thrift store.

4. An actual letter! My oldest son and I used to write back and forth when he first moved out-of-state, but that eventually fell by the wayside since we FaceTime pretty regularly. So it was a nice surprise to get a letter from him.

5. An unexpected history. I’ve had this little mini cedar chest for years. It had been my mom’s, and I kept all kinds of childhood treasures in it. Now it just has odds and ends. It never occurred to me to ask when or where she got it. Then my friend Susan had a post about these Lane chests. It turns out that for many years, the Lane company gave these out to female high school seniors who requested them. It was fun perusing this site and finding out about the history of them. They share a way to find out when a box was made by its dimensions and inscription (which I have not done yet).

It was so fun to discover that this little box that I have used for decades had such a history!

That was my week. How was yours?

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week
with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

There are so many sorrowful things going on in the world today. It takes intention sometimes to look for the good. Here are some of the bright spots in my week:

1. Little Caesar’s. We haven’t felt comfortable getting take-out while the pandemic is going on. Some of you know how much I love take-out, so I have missed the breaks in cooking. We decided we’d be fine with something like pizza, which isn’t touched by the makers after it’s done and put into a box. A couple of times in the past couple of weeks we’ve been out just before dinner and brought Little Caesar’s pizza home. Hit the spot.

2. Ankle feeling better. Ever since contracting transverse myelitis, my right lower leg registers pain as tingling. I had a few days where my right ankle was tingling like crazy and giving out sometimes when I put my weight on it. We decided to give it a couple of days to see if it righted itself, and it did, thankfully. I remembered later that when I had gone to my sewing machine a few days earlier, the foot pedal was too far away and in an odd position. I tried to maneuver it with my right foot. I must have wrenched my ankle somehow then without realizing it.

3. Time at my son’s house. My son and daughter-in-law invited us over for dinner last Saturday. We had a nice meal and visit and ended by eating brownies and ice cream while watching Timothy play outside.

4. Submission acceptance. A writing blog I follow has people guest post sometimes. I submitted a post, and it was accepted this week! I’ll let you know when it comes out.

5. Ladies’ Zoom Bible study. We were a bit fewer in number than usual, but we had a great time.

Bonus: These beauties are blooming:

What are some bright spots from your week?

It’s Friday, time to look back over the blessings of the week
with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and other friends.

Once again we’re pausing to commemorate and “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Here are some of the things I am thankful for this week.

1. Memorial Day. We often watch the Memorial Day concert on PBS the Sunday night before Memorial Day. They usually have actors portraying real-life stories of veterans. I’m so moved by what people went through for their fellow men. It’s good to remember how much our freedoms cost and to appreciate those who fought for us.

2. Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows. We often grill burgers on Memorial Day, but since we’d just had them on Mother’s Day, we went for hot dogs with all the trimmings. Jim grilled some but set up his fire pit for those who wanted to roast hot dogs and marshmallows. Timothy had his first s’more, and evidently loved it, because he chowed it down. It was a fun time.

3. A productive day. Saturday I got lots done, and it felt so good. I think the brain fog from the first few weeks of the pandemic is lifting. Maybe because I’m getting used to the new normal, or because we know more about COVID-19 than we did, or because there’s hope that the pandemic is starting to lift a little—or all of the above.

4. An apple pie visit. My daughter-in-law and grandson are gluten-intolerant, and their favorite bakery advertised apple pies this week. They got one and brought it over to share with us. This place has really perfected gluten-free pie crusts. The frozen ones I buy aren’t nearly as good.

5. Celebrating the end of kindergarten. Timothy finished up his first school year yesterday, and we went over for a visit. We ended up at an outdoor shaved ice place that had a fenced-off area of picnic tables with umbrellas. I didn’t have any this time—I wish they had servings about half the size that they offer. But everyone else enjoyed theirs, and the place itself was set up nicely to be out yet distanced from the other tables.

For those of you who prayed for Mason, the grandson of a former pastor who has been battling leukemia, there have been some small improvements since last week. He’s still sedated while his lungs heal from the bleeding and pneumonia. They’d had him on a paralytic so he wouldn’t move and worsen his bleeding, but they’re starting to take him off of it for a few hours at a time. It did his mom’s heart good to see him moving a bit. He still has a long way to go.

I’ve grieved over sad things happening in our country this week, and may post about them once my own thoughts have been sorted out. It’s timely that my Bible reading was in Amos 5 today, with some of these phrases:

• 14: Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you…
• 15: Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate…
• 24: But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amen.

What’s something good from your week?