July Has Arrived

 I am late but at least I am here posting my Friday Fave Fives before midnight. We had a busy day! And a busy week.  Here are the five blessings I chose out of many from this past week.

1.  My brother's birthday. We talked on the phone.  And at least we saw each other last month. 

2. July 3rd. We joined the rest of the family to walk to the university campus and enjoy the local symphony play lots of patriotic songs, and then we enjoyed lots of fireworks.

3.  July 4th.  A Day of Remembrance of independence.  July 5th.  More fireworks.  This time at the home of friends--out in the country.

4. This morning we drove to Amish Country with family and friends. On the way, the back bumper on younger daughter's car broke half off.  After we pulled off the highway and stopped to examine the damage, two different people stopped to check on us. One gentleman ran back to his car and grabbed some rope, crawled under the car and tied the bumper back on.  We were so thankful for his help so we did not have to turn around and abort our trip.  That is something we love about living in Ohio-- the kindness of strangers.

5.  The most fun part of that was that the man had a small python snake around his neck when he stopped.  As he stepped from the car, he handed the snake to The Professor.  Then others had to take their turn holding it.  Instead of 'hold my beer', it's 'hold my snake'.  Only in Ohio!

6. BONUS! There is a new dog in the family!   Our girls have an eight week old Bernese Mountain Dog named Athena.

Amish Country

Look!  See all the photos??  My computer and my camera are playing nice together, again.  I figured out the problem and fixed it.

So... I have a treat for you!  Photos of my trip to Amish Country!

Of course there are always old barns and dilapidated outbuildings.

If you are traveling in Amish country, watch out for horses and buggies!

Especially on narrow, windy and hilly roads.

How do you know a house or farm is Amish?  Well, first, there will be lots of horses.

The laundry will be hanging outside in all kinds of weather.

Usually, the houses and many of the outbuildings are painted white.

In all the houses, what did you NOT see?  What is missing?  A couple of things.  No cars.  And no electric wires hung from the poles to the houses or barns.

But lots of cows.

As we returned home from our adventure, we noticed an picturesque place for sale.  Want to buy this house and live in the country?

Falling for the Season

Autumn is in full swing here.  Brilliant colors.  Falling leaves.  Cooler temperatures.  Here in my new(ish) state, fall is my favorite season.  I hope it lasts a long time this year.  Each week of autumn seems to be filled with so much color and many many blessings.  Here are five (well, seven, really) which I am sharing for Friday Fave Fives (follow the link to join).

1.  On Saturday, I joined a group of ladies on a day trip to Amish Country.  My friend's church sponsored it and we drove up in a van.  The weather was perfect autumn.  Of course, that meant the town was very very crowded with tourists and visitors.  Mostly, we wandered around and checked out all the stores.  Because it was so busy, we were fortunate to have reservations at a local restaurant.  The best part was just spending time with my friend and one of her family members.

2. Of course the trip there and back was filled with old barns and farm land.

3.  Sunday was another stunning fall day.  We took eight of us and two dogs to the local arboretum and hiked 3.5 miles.  There is an area that does not have paved trails and we thoroughly enjoyed walking under all the trees.

4.  We thought we were going to have our first bonfire on our new patio.  But, literally, just as The Professor was cutting the kindling to start the fire, guess what.  It started raining.  I guess we'll just have to wait a few more days.

5.  This week was our youngest granddaughter's birthday!  PAL is EIGHT!  She called us to thank us for her present which actually arrived on time.  She also received an American Girl doll, so we discussed what kind of sweaters Meema should knit for it.

Bonus:  I had an appointment with the 'hand doctor'.  After examining both of my hands, he suggested two more shots of pain meds in my right hand, and upcoming surgery on my left to deal with the trigger finger issues.  I have been in much less pain!  So thankful!

Bonus2:  My absolute favorite photo from the weekend is this one:

Have a wonderful week full of God's blessings!