Five Fun Things on a Road Trip

Happy Friday!  Friday Fave Fives always kicks me into thoughtful memories of all the wonderful things large and small that have happened to me in the past week.  Since we have been traveling, there have been so many opportunities to count my blessings.  Here are FIVE.  (the link in blue will take you to Living to Tell the Story where you can read more)

1.  Continuing on our road trip, we enjoyed a quick visit with a family we knew at our church in California.  They moved to the midwest just after we moved to Ohio.  The guys had served together on various committees and the church elder board.  It was great to reconnect with them, even for a short time.  Of course, Eleanor always enjoys coffee time with friends, too.

2.  Along the way, we visited several National Parks and Historical Sites on the Santa Fe Trail.  One of our favorites was Ft. Larned, in Kansas.  The museums were very well done, interesting and informative. [no photos uploading]

3.  Santa Fe, New Mexico.  We made it all along the Northern Route of the Santa Fe Trail!  [hmmm, my computer is still not allowing me to upload a photo...I'll try later]

4.  We are at our destination point on our road trip.  Arizona, where Older Son (Chaplain Dan) and his family live.  This is the first time we have seen our son since he returned from his most recent nine month deployment with the Army Reserve.  We are loving every minute spent with him, his wife and our granddaughter!

5.  Of course, PAL is full of ideas on what to do while we are visiting.  Diamondbacks game.  Shopping for materials to create things with yarn and fabric.  Ice cream dates.

So. Many. Blessings.  How about you?

It's Autumn!!

 Yay! Autumn is my favorite season!  This is my first Friday Fave Five for Fall.  These are just five of the things that I am thankful for this week.  Follow this link-- Fave Fives with Susanne --to join in expressing your thankfulness.

1.  As I just wrote, Autumn is here.  I love fall!  Truly, I am thankful for all the seasons, but for me, fall is best.

2.  Now that we are retired, The Professor and I often take an extended trip during autumn.  This year, we planned a road trip to visit our son, Chaplain Dan, and his family in Arizona.  So yes, we are on the road.  I am thankful that we can do these trips.  (Yes, Ohio, we'll be back soon!)

If you see a photo of that arch, where was it taken?*

*St. Louis, Missouri (crossing the Mississippi River)

3.  The Professor and I love botanical gardens and nature reserves.  So, obviously, we would find gardens to visit on our journey.  This garden, Shaw Nature Reserve, is west of St. Louis, MO.  We spent almost two hours there, hiking and driving around the areas.

Eleanor always finds the best places to sit and rest during our hikes.

4.  We chose this route so we could follow the Santa Fe Trail, which started out on the same path as Lewis and Clark took for a ways into Missouri.  Then the Oregon Trail, California Trail and Santa Fe Trail split off.  Already, on our first day, we have learned so much about these Pioneer Trails.  I am thankful that my husband loves history like I do and enjoys nerding out about this kind of history.

5.  While we are away, we have several different people keeping watch on our house, our garden, our bee hive.  I am so very thankful that we live near our two daughters and that they take care of things while we are away.

More Barns of Ohio

 I just can't stop snapping those photos of barns.  More barns from our trip to Bellville.

Some barns aren't in exactly great shape.  But they are so picturesque.

Nothing's better than a sheep barn.

A patriotic barn

Sometimes a farm needs more than one barn.

Lastly, a blue roofed barn in a soy bean field.

Which barn do you like best?

Joy of the Edge of the Season

 Middle of September.  Literally.  Less than a week until Autumnal Equinox.  Time is flying.

Here it is Friday already.  And I am pausing in the rush toward fall to think back on this past week and remind myself how blessed I am.  On Fridays, I join Susanne and others to post my Friday Fave Fives.  If you click on the label below, it should take you to her blog where you can join in.

1.  I am ENJOYING this beginning change of seasons.  The weather is cooler and we even had a couple of rainstorms.  If it rains, I don't have to water the garden :)

2.  The tomatoes and raspberries are still producing, so our meals and freezer are ENJOYING the yummy fresh homegrown goodness.

3.  On Monday, The Professor and I drove an hour north of us to meet halfway with long time friends who have just moved back to the Cleveland area.  They are from Ohio and when they retired, they chose to return 'home' and brought their daughter and grandchildren with them.  Land I worked at the same school and were in a women's Bible Study together for years. We ENJOYED lunch and two and a half hours of conversation with them (and our husbands enjoy each other's company, too).

4.  As you would know if you regularly read my blog, I love old barns.  So on this trip through the country, I ENJOYED  watching for barns and taking photos of them as we sped past.  Here are a few samples.  There will be a longer post later in the weekend.

5.  Bible Study classes (two of them) started up this week for the fall term.  I ENJOY studying God's Word and connecting with friends.  My heart is just full from those hours on Wednesday evening and Friday morning.

That's just FIVE things I ENJOYED this week which truly blessed me.  How was your week?

September Keeps Sliding Along

 Oh my.  I just realized that it is FRIDAY!  On Friday, Fave Fives happens and here in a hurry are mine.  My Friday Fave Fives (follow the link for more!)

1.  Our warm hot weather has moderated.  That in itself is a blessing.

2.  Because the temperature is more amenable to being outside, I have been able to work more in my garden.  If you know me, you know that the garden is my happy place.  Mostly, I am doing some clean up although I was able to give some extra black-eyed susans, wooly lamb's ear, and other plants to a friend who is working on her new garden (she recently bought a new home).

3.  Little bits of rain.  It smells so refreshing and the plants certainly enjoyed it.

 4. Coffee with our friends T and S.  Yes, I often mention our coffee dates in my faves.  We just enjoy each others' company, and we never know where our conversations will lead us.  This week, we talked about vocabulary and word origins as well as gardens and birds and a host of other topics.

5.  The current afghan I am knitting is nearly finished (photos next week?).  Now I have another baby blanket to make for a baby boy who will join the world around Christmas. (I wonder if his mom will name him Elf...)  AND. I was given some very lovely yarn (mostly merino wool, with some alpaca and silk) and I think it is going to become a winter sweater for me.  I love to knit and I appreciate quality yarn.

That wraps it up for this week.  I am sure that there are many more blessings that I have not noted here.  How about you?  Are your blessings just piling up?

September Has Arrived!

It's September!  The ninth month of the year!  So much has been happening which on one hand is fun and on the other hand is a bit tiring.  No matter what is happening, I choose to be thankful for my life.  That's why I post my Friday Fave Fives every week. (follow the link to join!)

We decided to spend the last few days of August at a fairly local state park campground.  It was wonderful.  It was relaxing.  These are a few of the happy memories we made.

1.  We love driving through the countryside to arrive at our campsite.  And one day we drove around a bit and took the off roads.  Of course, I just had to grab a photo of a barn!

2.  In Zanesville (yes, that Western author Zane Grey was from this town), there is a Classic Denny's Diner.  One morning, we left the campsite and drove there to meet our friends T and S for breakfast.  It's right on Hwy 40--the National Road.  We've been wanting to visit this Denny's ever since we saw it a couple of years ago.  It was a great breakfast time!

3.  Camping after school starts and during the week, almost all of the campers are retired.  That means quiet.  Usually, it also means empty spaces around us.  We enjoyed chatting with several of our 'neighbors'.  We even bumped into someone we know!

4.  Camping means campfires.  Morning and evening.

5.  Camping gives us more opportunities to be out in nature.  We rode our bikes almost ten miles one morning.  And we hiked a couple of the trails at the state park.  The trails were steep and a bit rugged.  But it was fun.

Which way should we go?

On the evening of the super moon, we were able to capture a few photos since there was not much light around us.  There were lots of trees, though.

And I found more hearts.

Can you see the heart shaped light spot on the upper left of the fire pit?  I noticed it when I downloaded the photo.

In the shadow of the tree on the trail

OK, now it's September!