There Goes June

 Hello, friends!  An entire week has passed and I haven't posted anything.  Truly, it has been another busy busy week.  I am thankful for Susanne's faithful hosting of Friday Fave Fives which helps pull me back in from running around and reminds me to focus on gratitude for my wonderful life.

Here are my Five Faves from this past week.

1.  One reason for the busyness is that I have spent many hours working in my garden.  My goal is to remove the grape hyacinth that has taken over the front garden.  Don't get me wrong.  I like grape hyacinths.  But there were too many of them.  I'm almost done!

Another section of the front garden includes a circle where we planted a small tree.  The wild flowers have taken over the edge of the circle.  It's beautiful.  And the bees love it.  There really is a tree sapling in the middle.

I am thankful that I have the time and energy to create a beautiful garden.

2.  Father's Day.  The Professor had a very full day.  In the morning, he preached the sermon at our church.  Then we celebrated three dads at our son's home.  The Professor.  Our son, Chaplain Dan.  Their friend David who with his family was visiting from Southern California.  Then in the evening, we gathered for our weekly Life Group where he again taught a short lesson.  It was a wonderful way to celebrate Father's Day.

3.  I continue to enjoy meeting with the college student to tutor her in writing and composition.  It is fun for me.  In addition, it is pushing me back into recalling and reminding me on how to be a better writer myself.

4.  A walk with family and dogs at the local arboretum.  We mostly walked through the woodland area and then wandered around the lake.  Then, we had to stop the rambling and head quickly back to our cars because a thunder and rainstorm came rumbling in.  Even with the rain soaking us, we had a great time.

5.  I saved the best 'til last.  Today is The Professor's birthday!!  Happy Birthday to my best friend!  He's gone  until tomorrow because our grandson's Trail Life troop is camping for two nights at a state park about an hour's drive from here.   Because he is gone on his birthday and Nurse Daughter is working all weekend at the hospital, we celebrated on Wednesday evening.  Ten of us were around our table.  He asked for cupcakes.   Then we gathered around the bonfire on our patio.  Happy Birthday!!

Bonus!  This week Eleanor decided to accompany us on our weekly coffee date with T and S.  I think it was because the coffee shop is also listed as a cocktail lounge.

And of course, The Professor had to tease her with some bunny ears!

Now I'm off to meet a friend to talk about ... writing!

Family and Friends Faves

 Happy Friday, my blog friends!  How was your week?  I hope it was full of blessings.  Mine was.  It was busy but wonderful.

Here are my Friday Fave Fives from my week.  Click on the link and join us in practicing weekly gratitude.

1.  Road Trip! We traveled to Iowa!  

The Professor's mother was born and lived in Iowa during her childhood.  Many of her family members still live there, and every June they have a family reunion.  So this year, we took Nurse Daughter and her son with us to the reunion.

2. It is always a joy to visit Sunday morning church service at the church where The Professor's mother attended growing up.  

And his mother is buried in this cemetery. 

3.  Friends.  I have a dear college friend who lives not far from where the reunion was.  So we met up and enjoyed a lunch together.  Then the next day we spent several hours hanging out during the reunion.  We even managed to take one photo!

4.  We enjoyed staying with The Professor's cousin at her farm.  What a beautiful place!  I love visiting her.  I love sitting on her back porch and just gazing out at the farmland.

evening view

morning view

5.  And she loves to cook.  This was our last breakfast.  Swedish pancakes!

We had a wonderful road trip and a wonderful family reunion.  I am thankful for the opportunity to spend the days with family and friends.

Fave Fives for Second Friday of June

A busy week often means many blessings.  That's how my week was. It may have been hot and humid, but it was still a lovely week.  I'm sharing some of the week's blessings with other Friday Fave Fivers.

1.  Several mornings I have sat quietly on my back patio and sipped my coffee in the quiet.  This quote states my attitude well:  "A beautiful day begins with a beautiful mindset.  Start by realizing it is a blessing, a gift." (anonymous)

2.  For the last several years before I retired, I taught writing and composition.  It was my favorite job.  So I enjoyed spending a couple of afternoons this week coaching a young woman who is taking a college composition and writing course and was feeling overwhelmed.  She's much more confident now, and I am pleased that I could encourage her (and she's so much fun to interact with).

3.  Wednesday was filled with friends and family and fun.  We met T and S and L (our usual coffee buddies) for coffee, pastries and conversation.  Then we picked up Tall Boy and his girlfriend and drove them to a local private lake park so they could spend the afternoon swimming and enjoying the sunny weather.  About six pm, we retrieved them and took them to our local brewery for Trivia game night with his mom and friends.

4.  Trivia Night was fun. There were five teams competing. The host often offers unusual and sometimes obscure questions.  Some of them we knew.  Some we didn't.  We ended up in second place.  We had so much fun!

5.  As I mentioned earlier, the weather was hot and humid this week.  I am thankful for air conditioning!

It was a wonderful week.  So many blessings.  So much fun!

First Friday of June

Hello from Willow's Cottage on this first Friday of June.  I hope you have had a wonderful week.  I look forward to Fridays to post about all the blessings of my week.  It helps me stay grounded in gratitude.  Every Friday Susanne hosts Friday Fave Fives.  Join us if you want.

1.  On Saturday, Nurse daughter and I joined some other people and drove about an hour north to Groovy Plants Ranch.  Oh my!  So. Many. Plants.  We had a great time.  And we didn't carry home "that many" pots of flowers and herbs.

So much lavender!  I had to help them out by taking one home with me.

2.  A second fave about the trip to Groovy Plants Ranch is that I managed to get the lavender planted in the front garden and the bellflower and salvia planted in the back-- those 'few' plants I purchased.

3.  This week, a new to us handyman came to do a few jobs around the house.  He did a great job, and now our back door and front door are working better, there isn't a spot above the back door leaking raindrops on us.  It's not easy to find a good handyman, so we are very thankful for him.

4.  Time to read.  I love reading books.  This week I finished reading Christy by Catherine Marshal which is about 500 pages.  Now I am enjoying Francie on the Run, a children's book by Hilda van Stockum.

5.  Of course, I've been knitting.  I love to knit and I am thankful that I am able to do it and have an 'ample' yarn stash (insert laughing face emoji here).  These are two current projects.

A baby blanket in neutral grey.  The pattern is sometimes referred to as waffle weave.

 And an experiment.

A knitted US flag.

This is my first attempt.

So this was my week.  Nothing exciting or unusual.  But it was a blessed week.

How was your week?

Red Barn Part 1

 I am not sure why, but red barns are popular around Ohio. It could be a Buckeye thing.  I don't know.  Whatever the reason, they're everywhere.  Old and New.  Small and Large.

Which one is your favorite?

The End of May Faves

I had big plans to post a couple of times this week.  You can see (actually, you can't see) that that didn't happen.  But I really need to pause and be thankful on Fridays even if I am busy all the rest of the week.  Friday Fave Fives does that for me.

1.  Tall Boy graduated from high school!  Because the weather was wet and rainy, the usual outdoor graduation ceremony at the football stadium was moved to the basketball court inside.  It was a bit more crowded and seating was limited.  I am thankful I could attend in person and watch him walk across the platform and accept his diploma.

Celebrating with Tall Boy and his best friend

2.  Monday was Memorial Day.  We spent the whole day at home.  In the evening, we did our first bonfire of the season.  Some of the family joined us.  Weather was perfect and it was a good evening.  Both of our fathers served in the US military during WWII.  And so did two of my uncles.  The Professor served in the US Army in Vietnam.  And our son is a US Army Reserve Chaplain.  Memorial Day is important to us.

3.  On Tuesday, we drove north about an hour to meet up with our friends who drove about an hour south from their home.  We've been friends since we all lived in Oregon and attended the same church.  They chose a very interesting place for us to have lunch.  Buckeye Express Diner.  It's a train car turned into a restaurant.  I'm sure we will visit it again.

Sign at the gas station pointing us to the street taking us to the diner.

A fun place to enjoy lunch... what!  What's that giant cook doing??

Oh, it's just a statue ...

4.  A local brewery hosts a Trivia Night every Wednesday evening.  The Professor and I joined our three adult kids who live in our town and a couple who Older Daughter knows to play as a team.  We didn't win first place, but we didn't end up in the last place, either.  It was fun.  And I am thankful that we can enjoy impromptu time with our family.

5.  A few days this week, the weather has been perfect for messing in the garden.  I am in the process of 'redoing' the front gardens.  I finished clearing one section and planted some zinnias around the edges.  I'm liking the new look.

How was your week?

Busy Busy Week

Another busy busy week here at Willow's Cottage.  And I am thankful for a small break in the busyness to take a breath and be thankful for the blessings in my life.  Thanks to Susanne for hosting our Friday Fave Fives.

1.  Our busy week started with Saturday.  The Professor had a meeting at 9am.  I had Fiber Arts Group at 11am.  And then we drove north more than an hour to visit Milk and Honey Acres which was having an open house.  I enjoy buying and using their salves, and they experimented and made one with tallow instead of beeswax just for me.  It was a busy day but it was filled with blessings.

2.  On Tuesday, I received a text from Tall Boy noting that he needed a ride to the high school for the honors convocation ceremony.  Umm, ok.  We didn't know about it... The Professor had Trail Life to attend, so he dropped us off at the high school, and later his mom arrived (just getting off work) in time to watch him stand and receive his award.

Yes, he really is that tall.

And after the ceremony, Tall Boy and his mom had a silly photo shoot.

Then I had just enough time to race over to my son's house to attend Well Read Mom book club meeting that my daughter-in-law was hosting.  I am thankful I can be available to spend these special moments with family.

3.  Wednesday noon was a special time.  We have a friend who lives in Vietnam and works with an NGO there.  We were friends when we lived in California.  But now her mom is living in Columbus, so she visits here whenever she is in the US.  So we always plan a lunch time to catch up on our lives.  I am so thankful for this friendship!

4.  Lots of garden time.  I have been outside working in our gardens almost everyday this week. Except today because it has been raining nonstop all day.  So much weeding to do.  And making changes like adding more beds for wild flowers.  I am thankful that we have enough property that we can add more areas to have lots of flowers for our bees.

5.  Speaking of bees... our hives are going bonkers.  So busy doing their business of making honey.

I am thankful for our beekeeper Steve.  He comes immediately if there is an issue.  Yesterday, he arrived in five minutes to close up our hives (and our neighbor's hives) when there was a suspicious smell all over our neighborhood.  Then this morning he returned and checked the hives to make sure 'the girls' are healthy.  They are.  And maybe soon, we will have more honey.

And tomorrow is another busy Saturday.  Tall Boy graduates from high school!!