The first Friday of a new month! I try to pause the swift passage of time on Friday’s to reflect on the blessings of the week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. A new calendar page. I’m not sure why, but turning the calendar to a new page each month is one of life’s little pleasures.

2. Kid’s Club costumes. The kids could dress up as a Bible character or animal this last Wednesday night. Timothy went as—Timothy! I thought the scroll was a great touch.

3. Annual family dress-up party. We started this during the Covid pandemic. Unfortunately, Jesse wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t come.

Mittu is dressed like Timothy. 🙂 Timothy is the Buc-ee’s Beaver. Jason and I are the skeleton crew. 🙂 It’s funny, mine came with a “sewing kit” to stitch up the neck opening and reuse as a tablecloth after using as a costume—if I ever have need of a skeleton tablecloth. 😀

I thought Jim’s costume was the best this year. I asked if he was a mad scientist. He said no, he was a scientist involved in a lab explosion. 🙂

4. Pumpkin decorating. We usually do this earlier in the month but just didn’t get to it until last night.

I especially liked Mittu’s:

5. Homemade caramel corn and apple cider are our usual snack foods while pumpkin decorating. Even though it takes a while to make the caramel corn, the end result is worth it. Jim says it’s “better than Cracker Jacks.”

Did you have a good last week of October?

I’m joining Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to share some blessings from the week.

1. A Medieval Faire. I’ve wanted to go to one of these for years. This one was about an hour away from us, but so much fun. It had a Robin Hood theme, Human Battle Chess with characters from Robin Hood lore, a (very fake, but fun to watch) jousting tournament, various performers, and vendors. Many of those who came dressed up as well.

2. Medical phone calls done. I don’t know why I hate these so much. 🙂 They don’t take long to accomplish. But it felt good to take care of them in one sitting. I’m still waiting for a reply to one . . . but at least the ball is in their court.

3. French toast for one. I rarely make this, as it’s a little more involved and a little much for a regular breakfast. But I was in the mood for something different and came up with this. It was just for one because Jim usually eats breakfast before I do.

4. Connect Four group. Our group of four ladies from church had our third get-together, this time at Zaxby’s. I enjoyed the conversation immensely.

5. Early voting. There was a pretty long line, but not as long as it will be on election day, and it moved quickly.

Bonus: Beautiful fall color. It’s been rumored that the fall leaves would be not quite as vibrant this year because the weather has been so dry (minus the hurricane). But as we were out and about yesterday, I drank in the beauty of many trees.

That’s our week–how was yours?

Another Friday marks another opportunity to pause for a moment and cultivate gratitude for the blessings of the week. We share those blessings with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Dinner guests. A couple from our church loves India and has been there several times. Mittu invited them over for Indian food but asked if we could meet at our house. The wife of the couple has back and hip problems, and our house is on one level while Jason and Mittu’s front door opens to steps going up to their living room. It worked out well that Mittu did the cooking and I did the cleaning. 🙂 We had a wonderful time of fellowship.

2. An Amazon gift card. I received it for my birthday but was saving it until I knew what I wanted to do with it. It was nice to extend a birthday gift for several months.

3. A denim jacket. It may sound silly, but I have been wanting one for a while. The ones I had seen were a little more than I wanted to pay. I found one at a pretty reasonable price on Amazon, and that’s one of the things I used my gift card for.

4. Central Heat. We had a cold spell this week—nights in the 30s, days in the 60s. It’s so nice to just push a button to switch from AC to heat.

5. Fall color is starting to show on the leaves in earnest now.

Bonus: A funny seen around the web:

How was your week?

October is chugging right along. I’m pausing a few moments with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to remember the good parts of the week.

1. Getting “extra” things done. You know how, when someone is coming over, all of a sudden you have a number of projects and “extra” housekeeping tasks you want to get done? A friend was due to stay with us overnight on her trip from OH to SC, but had to change plans due to Hurricane Helene. She did go later, but had to vary her route so much that she wasn’t passing close to us any more. I decided to go ahead with some of those extra activities anyway, which was helpful since we’re having some folks over for dinner this week.

2. Answered prayer. My son’s friend’s cancer surgery went well, and a friend’s family in FL was safe during Hurricane Milton.

3. Dinner and games. Timothy texted and asked if he and his mom and dad could bring dinner over one night. Of course! We often play Jackbox games through the Apple TV, but this time played Telestrations at the table since Tim is old enough to handle it now. That one always provides laughs and creativity.

4. Rearranging and sorting books. I have a small bookcase in our bedroom (in addition to two large ones in the family room and one in the guest bedroom). The small one has my massive pile of “to-be-read” books. I also put books there that I have finished but either haven’t found a place for yet or haven’t decided what to do with. It felt good to get those organized and dusted, find places for a few, and set aside a stack to give away.

5. Recorded Zoom training sessions. A couple of sites I follow had Zoom meetings about writing with special guests and a Q&A session afterward. I couldn’t attend either at the time, but, thankfully, the sponsors made the recordings available to watch later. I’ve worked my way through those a little at a time throughout the week.

How was your week?

This first Friday of the month, I echo what Anne of Green Gables said: I am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers! I’m joining with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to share some blessings of the week.

1. Safety. I mentioned last week that we were predicted to lose power for a few days during Hurricane Helene. Some people in the area did, but most were fine. Our lights dimmed a couple of times, but, thankfully, didn’t go out. My two sisters in SC were without power for several days but have it back now.

As I mentioned Wednesday, though the storm is over, the ramifications are not. It’s not often that hurricane-level winds and rain make it this far from the coast, but parts of TN, SC, WV, and particularly NC and FL were hit badly and will take years to recover.

2. Helpers. Though some of the photos and footage I’ve seen are horrifying, I’ve also been heartened to see groups and individuals jumping in to help.

3. Fall coolness and color. We’re still pretty warm in the afternoons, but the evenings have been so nice. And, though this sounds trite in light of what some people have lost, I was really hoping the trees wouldn’t be stripped bare of leaves during the storm. Soaking up the beauty of fall color helps me get through the bleakness of winter. I’m happy to say we have plenty of leaves left that are turning lovely fall shades.

4. Fall decorations. I finally got these put up last weekend. I didn’t take any pictures since the decorations are the same as in years past.

5. Dinner. Last Sunday night, Jason and Mittu came over and made grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup from Jim’s tomato bounty. He only planted one package of seeds, and the tomatoes have been small, but they’ve been prolific.

That’s our week. How was yours?

After several dry weeks, we finally got a good, soaking rain. But now, with the hurricane coming in, we’ve had even more. High wind and flood warnings have been sounded, even as far inland as we are.

As we wait to see what happens with the weather, I’m pausing with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to reflect on the blessings of the week. One encouragement for God’s care in the future is remembrances of His care in the past.

1. Watching Timothy while his parents went on a date. He had a project in school to make a replica of a cell, so he and his granddad looked through the microscope at some slides of cells that Jim had on hand and then got water from a nearby pond to look at single-celled organisms through the microscope. (Timothy called Jim’s office the “science lab.” 🙂 ) Then his parents brought home Salsarita’s for dinner.

2. A new car battery. Sunday, we hopped in my car to go to church, and the car made a clicking sound. The screen over the steering wheel said “System check.” It’s never done that before. Jim tried it a few more times, then we gave up and climbed into his car. He thought my car’s problem was probably the battery. He had another one installed the next day, and now it’s working fine. I am thankful it happened at home and not while we were out somewhere and not while I was out alone. I am grateful, too, that we had a second car to use and that Jim took care of the battery for me.

3. Refrigerator issues fixed. Our refrigerator was not cooling well, so Jim investigated and found some water had collected in the panel between the freezer and refrigerator and frozen. He took everything out of the lower shelves and put it in a cooler, then turned the refrigerator off and used a hair dryer to melt the ice. I couldn’t be of much help, with there not being room for more than one person. But I washed out some of the refrigerator drawers and shelves while Jim was working on the rest of it. Thankfully, it’s all working like it’s supposed to again.

4. Another Connect Four lunch. I mentioned last month that our church had a Connect Four program, where ladies who sign up are divided into groups of four who then meet once a month over the next four months. This was our group’s second get-together. We met at the bakery of a lady who goes to our church. We enjoyed both the food and the fellowship.

5. Finally, a haircut and a coupon. I’d been putting my haircut off for several weeks and finally took care of it this week. I tried a new place since the prices of our old place had gone up. I had a coupon for almost half-off.

Bonus: Food poisoning is no fun! I got chicken strips and chicken noodle soup at Chick-Fil-A last night. We’ve never had a problem there, but thirty-forty minutes afterward, my body started reacting violently. Let’s just say I spent the next several hours in the bathroom. Jim had one of their sandwiches and wasn’t affected. I was thinking last night I should be thankful our bodies are created to expel harmful things. But I’m especially thankful that everything seems to be all right this morning, and this was a short-lived experience rather than a longer-lasting stomach bug. I hope this hasn’t ruined my taste for their soup–it’s one of my favorite fast-food items. But I don’t think I can eat it again for a while.

Jim read one prediction that our area might be without power three days or more with the hurricane coming in. I sure hope that doesn’t happen. I’m sure all in the path of Hurricane Helene would appreciate your prayers, especially those in Florida who will take the brunt of it.

Fall is in the air. Leaves are starting to turn and drop. We had a warm spell this week, but enough coolness the week before to make us anticipate more. I’m joining Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story to reflect on the blessings of the past week.

1. Jesse’s birthday. We got together to celebrate my youngest son with stroganoff, his usual requested birthday dinner.

2. Jesse’s cake was made by Mittu, a lemon blueberry cake. I struggled with this one before, so Mittu has made it ever since. 🙂

3. Jackbox games across the miles. We often play Jackbox games when we’re all together, especially Blather Round. Since we log in online and play on our phones or ipads, we were able to play with Jeremy in RI while FaceTiming him.

4. A productive day. Some events from last week put me behind schedule. I usually start my Sunday blog post earlier in the week, attempting to leave Saturday for proofreading and graphics. But I didn’t get started on it until Friday night! Then, I wanted to get Jesse’s card made and presents wrapped on Saturday so I wouldn’t feel rushed and pressured on his birthday Monday. I prayed that I might get everything done Saturday, and I did.

That turned out to be a good thing, as I had forgotten that Jesse had a dentist appointment Monday near us and planned to come here afterward for the rest of the day instead of going home and then back here for his birthday celebration in the evening. So I was especially glad all the birthday stuff was done except for dinner.

5. Sleep. I usually wake up a couple of times during the night, but somehow, this morning, I feel rested and refreshed.

How was your week?

September just arrived, and we’re almost halfway through it already! Pausing on Fridays to look back over the blessings of the week gives us an opportunity to stop and savor these fleeting moments for a bit longer. Susanne is our hostess at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Recovered text messages. I’ve mentioned several times here that we have a family text thread that I love. Sometimes we share memes, tidbits about our day, interesting things we come across, news, etc. Thursday, I tried to scroll back through the thread to look for some photos, but it would only go back to Sunday. I would have been so sad to lose that collection of texts. I Googled the problem, and it was very easy to recover the texts out of the “Recently Deleted” file. I’ve been getting some junk texts lately and must have accidentally deleted the wrong thing.

Not only was I grateful to find such an easy fix, but I was very pleased that I did it without having to ask my kids. 🙂 However, I have to admit I was halfway through tapping out a text to them to ask what to do when it occurred to me to look it up myself.

2. Craft show and lunch. Last Saturday we went to a nearby craft show with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy, and afterwards ate a late lunch at a Mexican food restaurant we discovered recently. This craft show has been pretty small the last few times we’ve gone, but seemed to have a lot more vendors this time. Plus it was all crafts! I hate to pay to get into a craft show and then see booths for leaf gutters and such.

3. Grandparent’s Day last Sunday. Jason and Mittu brought flowers and made dinner, and we had a nice visit.

4. The Tennessee Valley Fair. We’ve always gone to this in the evening, but decided to go in the daytime this year with Jason, Mittu, and Timothy. The rides and food trucks didn’t open until just before we left, so it was much quieter and less crowded. We saw lots of animals and entries for art and photography contests as well as a lot of 4H projects. And it happened to be Senior Citizen’s Day, so Jim and I got in for free. 🙂 Jim and I did get to split our once-a-year fair funnel cake.

5. Coolness. We’ve had some lovely cool temperatures in the mornings and evenings this week.

And that’s our week–a little busier than usual, but enjoyable! How was yours?

Once again, I find myself asking, “Is it Friday again already?” And this Friday is the first one in a new month. I’m thankful Susanne at Living to Tell the Story started this weekly exercise in pausing from life’s busyness to look for God’s blessings. Last week was her 800th FFF post!

1. Another quiet week. As I mentioned last week, these are my favorite.

2. Family well again. I’ve shared that Mittu, my daughter-in-law, has been sick for several weeks, and then Timothy was. They were all at church Wednesday for the first time in almost a month. Jason said he felt like they finally turned a corner. Thankfully, he didn’t get sick.

3. Labor Day.We don’t really “celebrate” this except that most of the family has the day off and we get together to grill burgers. It’s kind of like the last hurrah of summer.

4. Not one, but TWO Chick-Fil-A biscuits in one week! 🙂 Jim brought one home for me after he went to the gym, and another after he met a friend from church at CFA for coffee.

5. Our writing critique group usually meets every other week. But during the summer, we cut back to once a month because so many of us were going to be in and out over the summer. We ended up having to cancel August’s meeting altogether–which actually helped since August was my family’s busiest month. We got back to our regular routine staring this week. Not only do I enjoy all the ladies in our group, but it’s stimulating to talk about writing and share our thoughts on each others’ work.

How’s your September going so far?

Here we are at another Friday already. Let’s slow time a moment and savor the blessings from the last week with Susanne and friends at Living to Tell the Story.

1. Family outings. My oldest son, Jeremy, was with us through last weekend before going back to RI. Friday night, Jesse, my youngest, had us over for jambalaya. This was the first time Jeremy had gotten to see Jesse’s new house.

Then Saturday we went to a Hummingbird Festival at a local nature center. Didn’t see any hummingbirds. 🙂 But we did see some owls, turtles, and other nature displays. The guys went on a guided nature hike.

Then we went to the new-to-us Mexican food restaurant I mentioned a couple of weeks ago where I had the scrumptious shrimp, onion, rice, and cheese dish. Yes, I had that again, and Jesse tried and loved it, too.

2. My birthday was after Jeremy was scheduled to leave, so we celebrated it the Sunday before he left. After church, we went to one of my favorite restaurants, then headed home for presents and cake. Mittu usually makes my traditional birthday Texas Sheet Cake, but she was still sick, so Jim and Jeremy made it.

On my actual birthday, Jim brought me flowers and a Chick-Fil-A breakfast biscuit. 🙂

Then Jason, Mittu, and Timothy dropped by after the Kid’s Club at church with a card made by Mittu and a couple of Chick-Fil-A goodies (a chocolate chunk cookie and a brownie).

Then in a fun coincidence, the Strands game had a birthday theme on my birthday. At first I thought maybe that was on purpose, though I couldn’t remember having entered by birthday on their site. But when I looked it up, I saw that was just the theme that day.

3. Luscious weather. The day of the Hummingbird Festival was pretty fair weather. We still got hot and sweaty, but some delightful breezes blew occasionally. Rain had been predicted but didn’t come, except for a few drops. The cloud cover helped a lot.

Then Sunday afternoon, we went into the back yard for family photos and for Jeremy to try out his new drone. Rain was forecast again and the clouds looked threatening. But the wind and temperatures felt so good. I know we’re a long way from fall and we’ll have a lot more hot and humid days til then, but that respite felt so good.

4. Family humor. We laugh a lot when we’re all together. 🙂 As an example, when we went to the bird festival, the volunteers explained that a bird banding event was extra–they try to catch a hummingbird in a net and attach a band around its leg. That doesn’t sound too pleasant for the hummingbird, but the sessions would explain why it’s done. We didn’t sign up for that part. After we paid for our general admission tickets, volunteers placed a band around our wrists. Jeremy joked that when you’re a nature center and banding is your only tool, you band everything and everyone, including visitors. 🙂

Then while waiting in line, I pointed out to Jesse one of the features the sign listed was a “live animal display.” I commented that the wording seemed funny–why would they designate “live?” The first display we saw had a stuffed bat and bat skeleton and a glass case with pinned butterflies specimens. Jesse said, “What happened to the live animals?” 😀 We did see some later.

5. Connect Four is a program at church were ladies who want to participate can sign up, then they are divided into groups of four. Each group is supposed to meet once a month over the next four months, to do whatever the group wants to do. Probably most meet for lunch at someone’s home or at a restaurant, but some do other activities like hike or play games. Our group had they first get-together yesterday. Thankfully I had at least met and talked with everyone, so none was a complete stranger to me. But it was fun getting to know everyone better. The conversation flowed for a couple of hours.

It’s been a nice blend of activities and rest. I hope you’ve had a good week as well.