Closing Out July

Late again, but I'm here now on this next to the last day of July.  I spent quite a bit of time today waiting around for other people to complete medical appointments (I was the driver).  Then The Professor and I took the New Boy shopping for clothes to wear to a wedding tomorrow--nothing fancy, but Oh My!  He has been growing and growing and needed shirts and slacks and shoes that fit.  Now I'm home and enjoying a relaxed evening, some time to reflect on the blessings of this past week.  Here is Willow's Week in Friday Fave Fives! (follow the link to join!)

1.  My cousin and her husband visited and stayed for two days.  We haven't seen each other very often since we were early teenagers (her) and lower middle school (me).  Maybe a total of less than 10 times in all those years.  We settled right in to our childhood interactions with her bossing me around as the older cousin and me being snippy back at her.  It was great!  Since she is moving a (long) day's drive from me, maybe we'll see each other more often now.

2.  Good news from our uncle who is 94!  We were told he has been put on hospice care.  My brother lives fairly close and went to see him.  The news today is that he has rallied and is eating and drinking. (and is as grumpy as ever--heehee!)  I'm thankful for this news.

3.  So much yumminess from our garden.  The cherry tomatoes, those little mouthful bites of sweetness, the lettuce, snap peas and kale!  I can walk out my back door, take a few steps, lean over and pick our dinner salad!

4.  Air conditioning.  The heat has been getting to me.  When I walk into the house from outside, it's a welcoming coolness.

5.  Yesterday, we welcomed a rainy and stormy day.  After a week of high humidity, it felt wonderful to be cooler.  And the other reason to appreciate the rain?  I didn't have to water the garden.

These are five simple happenings in my life this week--I am thankful!

I did write a post about the fairy forest we visited last week.  If you missed it, you can click HERE to read about it and see the photos.

Oh Look!

 Another Fairy Trail!

This Fairy village seems to be in a bit more upscale area.  You will notice there are more brightly painted homes.  Also, this community does not seem nearly as shy as others I have visited.  Many of the residents allowed me to take their photos.

They even provided benches for the big people to use to rest if they were tired.  Evidently, they are used to having tourists visit this Fairy Forest.

I hope you enjoy your stroll through this fairy village.  (yes, there are more photos than normal.) Which home is your favorite?  It was difficult to choose, but I finally decided that I like the last one.  In fact, the owner stopped to chat with me a bit, and we talked about the flowers in her garden.

Quite a Week

 What a week!

One of Older Daughter's friends is visiting with her son, so we have joined them on some adventures.  And we have gone on an adventure ourselves, too.  Here is Willow's Week in Five Faves.  Here is the link to Friday Fave Fives.

1.  Our fence is finished!  There was a small section in the front that wasn't done but we ran out of fencing and had to order additional materials.  They arrived and the fencing guy came and put up that last bit.  Done!

2.  A day at the zoo.  When I say a day, I mean the whole day.  We arrived shortly after it opened, and we shut it down.  I should have worn a pedometer!  The exhibits were amazing!

3.  After that long and fun filled day, we decided that a 'resting day' was in order.  Resting?  Sort of.  We took a short hike around Flint Ridge State Park.  The background is that this area was the main source of flint used for arrows and tools from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky Mountains.  You can see bits of the flint and the pits where they dug it out even today.  Then in the afternoon we had a picnic lunch and strolled around Dawes Arboretum.  More woodsy areas because it was hot and humid.  It was wonderful to again stroll through God's beautiful creation.

4.  When we learned that our oldest, Chaplain Dan, was at Ft. Knox, KY this week for training, we figured an overnight trip was in order.  It was worth the drive just to have dinner and spend a few hours with him.  It is these times that I treasure.

5.  On the way home from Kentucky, we decided to get off the freeway and take some less traveled roads.  Serendipitously, we found a botanical garden which has reciprocal privileges with our local arboretum!  It was a delight.  AND, it had a fairy trail which deserves its own post (come back in a few days and enjoy!)  I love those unexpected hidden treasures.

And now we are home and relaxing a bit.  My own bed, my own shower, The Professor's homemade coffee which is the best in the world.  Maybe next week won't be quite the zoo this week has been.

A Very Important Date

I'm late, I'm late! Cuz of a very important date!  That date was Wednesday, our wedding anniversary.  We've been married nigh unto fifty years.  Yes, we were children when we married :)

Anyway, here are my Friday Fave Fives from this past week.  THIS IS THE LINK to join Susanne and the rest of us to celebrate all the little things which make us thankful every day.

1.  Obviously, I am thankful for my marriage and my husband.  He is faithful, loving, helpful, wise.  And he actually enters knitting shops with me!  See?  We really were very young.

2.  Knitting.  Yes, I am thankful I can still use my hands and head to create things from yarn. I've been trying to use up a bit of my stash.  Fun blankets work well for using up yarn.

3.  A Sunday afternoon drive, just for fun.  We explored a bit more of the counties south and east of us.  It's all small towns and country farms.

4.  A fun little event (like 3 seconds of time) made me so very happy.  As I was driving on a local street, my younger daughter drove past me.  The grandkids recognized us and waved.  That I can serendipitously catch sight of my family as I drive through town just made me so very happy that it made my heart hurt.

5.  OK, why am I late posting my FFFs?  For our anniversary, we took our little motorhome out on a camping trip for two days, and we just pulled back into the driveway about an hour ago.  There is a state park less than a thirty minute drive from us, so we booked two nights there in the middle of the week.  We call this  our 'shakedown trip' because we haven't actually camped with the motorhome since we bought it!  Blame the cross country move, covid and winter.  Now that we have stayed two nights in our tiny home away from home, we can better assess what we need and things we want to change.  We took our car, too, and our bikes.  One morning we biked for seven miles on the 'rails to trails' path; one evening we explored a bit of the hiking trails around the campgrounds.  Mostly we sat and enjoyed the sun, clouds, shade trees, wildlife and night time firepit.

Now we're home and so very thankful for all the wonderful things that we enjoyed this week!

Weekly Blessings

Hello Friday!  Here it is a warm and partly cloudy day.  And we're heading toward the middle of July.  Here are Willow's Friday Fave Fives.  Won't you join us for this weekly adventure in searching and finding blessings big and small?

1. You may have noticed the new header here on the blog, which shows a very very blurry picture of knitted stitches.  When I clicked in to change the picture behind my blog name, nothing worked.  I spent quite a long time trying to figure out why photos I have used before no longer worked.  As a last ditch effort, I simply wrote my name in a photo and adjusted until it looked right.  I am thankful to have figured that out even though it doesn't look great.

2.  We are making progress on home projects.  Last month we purchased a pergola to put on the back porch.  It's mostly set up now.  Then we can sit back there in the afternoons with shade above us.

3.  Also, we are working on a back garden project.  The place where there had been an above ground pool was just a sand and mud pit.  We have a plan to make it in to a fire pit and small patio with some garden beds around it.  This week we started laying the edging blocks around the perimeter!  Yay for progress!  (pictures later when it is finished)

4.  Produce from the garden.  Lettuce, kale, basil, parsley have all been on our plates this week, compliments of the garden.  Yummy!

Basil becomes Pesto

5.  The weather here has been frightfully hot and humid.  I could hardly make it for five minutes outside (all those outdoor projects have been done in five minute spurts).  Then Thursday (yesterday) the heat sort of broke with thunderstorms and rain.  What a relief.  I really am thankful for thunderstorms because they normally bring cooler weather.  And of course the lightning is amazing to watch.

Bonus:  it's summer.  I have to post photos of flowering plants!

Have a blessed weekend, my friends!  Be thankful!

Barns!

 I love driving through the rural areas in any state or province or county or country.  When we are traveling, I keep my camera available just in case I notice an old barn I can grab a photo of.  Our last road trip took us through the countryside of four midwestern states-- Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa.

Sometimes, the barns in isolated open fields.

And other times, they are nestled in to close wooded areas.

Sometimes we pass by huge working barns

and other times, the barns are barely barns, but really simply large sheds.

Most picturesque are the old dilapidated barns.

(The Professor's cousin who lives on a large farm might disagree with me.  She might think they are simply a nuisance.)

I don't always remember where exactly I spotted all the barns.  Only one helped me with a hint.

No matter where I travel, I always find a fascinating old farm barn.