A Reminder to Be Thankful

Today is a hard day for Americans.  Twenty five years ago, the US was attacked.  Many people died.  Planes crashed.  Everything changed.  Nine Eleven.  Where were you?  It was one of those moments when you will always remember where you were.  I had just returned from a trip to Rome with my older daughter Deb (Rocket Scientist Girl) and was planning to fly home to Portland, Oregon from Los Angeles.  Obviously, my flight was canceled and I had to make other arrangements.  Two days later, I boarded a bus and rode it north on a twenty-four hour trip.  Thankfully, I arrived in Portland safely.  Where were you?

1.  I began this Friday Fave Fives with remembering September Eleventh Two Thousand One-- 9/11-- because I am reminded that I am so blessed to live in a safe country protected by a strong military.

2.  Deb's birthday was in August and we were in Alaska, so we celebrated her birthday on Saturday night with dinner at Olive Garden.  Presents.  Conversations.  Even a few extra guests.  It was a great way to celebrate her.

3.  How did you spend Labor Day?  We didn't do much during the day, and then at the last minute, we decided to have a bonfire and invite the family to join us.  The weather was perfect.  And we didn't cook anything (except s'mores) as we chose BYOD (bring your own dinner).  The Professor and I ran to the pizza shop but it was closed, so our second choice was P*nda Express.  An added benefit is that we managed to eke out THREE meals for each of us over the next few days.  I love sitting on our patio in the evening and watching the embers in the firepit.

4.  Tuesday evenings are always Trail Life.  The Professor is a leader and our grandson Liam is part of our local troop (Older grandson Nathan has aged out now that he is eighteen).  The troop met at Dillon Lake State Park which is near our city to play disc golf.  I joined them, not to play with them but to walk around the campgrounds and enjoy the beauty of this lovely park.

5.  Medical appointments.  Our dentist appointments went well.  Good news!  Also, I had an appointment with my dermatologist and she is happy with the progress I've made in managing all my allergies.  I am thankful for good health and for the excellent health care we have. 

The Very Last Day of July Faves

I'm a bit late posting my Friday Fave Fives because I've been busy celebrating my daughter's birthday (see Fave #5).  But I'm here now to share five blessings from this past week.  I've been doing this for several years and it is important to me to stop and reflect on how blessed I am.

So here are my Faves from this last week and very last day of July 2026.

1.  What's more fun than a fairy trail in the local county park?  PAL and her parents joined us for a ramble at the park and we decided to visit the fairy trail.

Which one is your favorite?

3.  Tall Boy is getting everything in order to begin his freshmen year of university.  It's the local campus of the state university, and it's walking distance from our homes.  One evening, The Professor and I walked over to the uni and strolled around the campus to get a better feel for it.  We have walked past the campus weekly for six years and haven't really wandered around it.   So we did.  One of the interesting bits about the campus is all the statues placed everywhere.

Yes, those are statues, not human fishermen.

4.  Younger Grandson passed his driver's test this week!  So proud of him and his diligence and careful driving.  He's been dreaming of this day for years!

5.  It's Nurse Daughter's birthday today!  Happy Birthday to our youngest!!  We celebrated doing what she loves best.  Walking her dogs and having coffee.  No photos from today.  But here are a couple of her as a two year old, playing outside in our remote Indonesian village.

Some things never change...

And a bonus photo.  Cuz you can't have too many barn pictures.

Hello, July!

 Wow. We are halfway through this year.  That's hard to believe.  Where did January, February, March, April, May and June go?  This week flew by, too.  And now we are getting prepared to celebrate Fourth of July!

I really needed to stop for a bit this morning and post my Friday Fave Fives, the weekly list of blessings from this past week.  Thank you, Susanne, for your faithful leadership for FFF!

1.  First and foremost.  The weather here in central Ohio has been HOT! Mid to high 90sF and high humidity! I am thankful for an efficient and stable working AC.

2.  We've been having to water our gardens since there has been no rain.  I am truly thankful and appreciative that The Professor has been watering our large back garden. I'm doing the front which is much smaller.

3.  Our county has published a "passport" program do encourage our residents to travel around the county and find historical information.  This week, The Professor and I enjoyed driving many back roads and searching for the answers to the questions.  We visited two of the many covered bridges in the county as well as several old cemeteries.  I am enjoying learning so much about my new home.

4.  Last Saturday, I enjoyed breakfast and a chat with a friend.  We have so much in common, but we seldom meet up.  It was a wonderful relaxing and affirming time with her.

5.  Yesterday was my brother's birthday!  I am so blessed to have an older brother who has always been a friend and protector for me.  I know that sometimes family aren't close.  But he and I are.  Happy Birthday to my Bus Driver Big Brother!

A few years ago...

And, to all my American friends, Happy Fourth of July!

Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence!

SPRING!

Today is the first day of SPRING!  YAY!  Does it look like spring where you live?  Here at Willow's Cottage it does today.  But don't count on it being warm and sunny next week.  This week's *Friday Fave Fives may have some references to weather.  And also some wonderful blessings.  This is how things evolved on this last week of Winter here at Willow's Cottage. *follow the link to join us by sharing your blessings.

1.  Weather.  On Friday, we experienced some wild winds and rain and many communities in our area lost electric power for several days, including our daughters.  Then, over the weekend the weather seemed like spring was coming.  I spent two houses Sunday afternoon doing some clean up in the garden beds.  Then the frigid weather set back in, and we had ice and snow and below freezing temperatures.  Why is all this a fave?  Well, our weather isn't boring :)  We go from sunshine and daffodils to snow in 24 hours.  And we were all safe from falling trees and accidents.

From sunny daffodils from the garden...

to snow

2.  Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day.  And it was my Birthday!  T, S and L joined the Professor and me for breakfast at Denny's because I like their multi-grain pancakes.  Then in the evening, all the family (except Younger Son Dr, Mike in San Jose) enjoyed dinner at our house.  We ate green salad, green roasted veggies and two kinds of pot pie and a shepherds pie.  Notice the green and pie theme?  My choice for birthday dessert was triple berry pie.  Yum!  It was all so yummy!  Dr. Mike did text me to wish me a Happy Birthday, as did my brother in Oregon.  And many friends and family.  I felt greatly loved.

3. My Birthday Present(s).  Of course, I loved my presents.  A knitting pattern book.  A "coupon" for my daughter-in-law to help me organize all the books in our 'library'.  And last but not least, a trip to Goodwill because everything was 50% off on St. Patrick's Day AND there was a HUGE bin full of yarn bundles.  PAL and her mom and I may have mostly cleaned out the whole bin.  There were some high quality yarns in so many different colors.  When we brought them back to our house, we opened them all and shared them with the knitters in the family.  We all walked away with so. much. yarn.  Me?  I probably have a life time supply of sock yarn now.

PAL was very excited.

4. In the afternoon, the doorbell rang and I opened the door to a friend holding a bouquet of flowers!  The ladies in my Saturday morning Bible Study group gave me a beautiful gift of flowers and special cookies.  That was a wonderful surprise.

5.  Always Walks.  We managed to get in two walks this week.  One was inside the local mall where we just walked around in circles for two miles.  The other walk was today (Thursday) outside for 2.75 miles in sunshine and 60F temperatures.  As we were walking back on the local path by our house, I commented to The Professor that I am thankful to be well enough and active enough to be able to walk.

Bonus:  crocuses from my garden.

What blessings helped you say good-bye to WINTER and welcome to SPRING?

Mid August Faves

Happy Friday!  It's time to slow down!  I need to step away from the treadmill of life and take it slow for a few minutes.  That's what Friday Fave Fives is for.  A time to check back on my week and just be thankful.  The link takes you to Susanne's blog where you can join other people and also be encouraged by their items of thanksgiving. 

1.  As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, August is Birthday Month.  Another birthday was celebrated this week.  Happy Birthday to my older daughter, Rocket Scientist Girl! (yes, she really is!)

My Faceb--k post earlier this week:

Happy Happy Birthday! You have always been adventurous from the time we spent in Bandung, Indonesia and Papua, Indonesia, to all the other places you have lived and visited. You will always be up for another adventure.

Me holding Chaplain, my mom holding Rocket Girl.

Short story before you are bored with it all... I got a text one day in October 2017 saying, "Hey Mom, want to go on a short trip over Thanksgiving with me?"  Of course, I responded with YES!  thinking it would be a nearby spot for a quick getaway.  "Where?"  "England!"  And so we two flew to London, took trains and busses and explored Dorchester, Dorset.  Just five days.  That's my girl!

2.  I had a good visit with my primary care physician following up on the various issues like my skin allergies.  I really like her.  She listens to me.  I am thankful that I have good health care.

3.  Morning coffee with Nurse Daughter.  Mostly, I just wanted to spend time with her, but it was a good opportunity to run some thoughts by her that my doctor mentioned (and told me-- yes, discuss these things with your nurse daughter).

4.  Beautiful sunsets.  I'm a sunset girl, not a sunrise girl.  One evening this week, the sunset was amazing!

Do you see the flock of birds flying in the bottom of the larger clouds?

The picture below shows them more clearly.

5.  Today is first school day of the year for our two high school grandsons.  I have mixed feelings.  It's Tall Boy's last first day... Yes, he is a senior!  I had the privilege of tagging along on his open house tour of this year's classes to meet his teachers and find out what classes he will be taking.  Be prepared-- I may be posting photos from his life during this school year, kinda like Senior Sunday.

Tall Boy and his mom

Tall Boy and his uncle playing with a rubik's cube

That's a wrap on my week.  How was yours?