THE GARDEN

 Hello, friends!  Hope you are having a wonderful day.  Here it is the middle of another week.  And the last day of June.  Time just marches on.  The year is half over already!

We had a good Ladies Bible Study yesterday although I was very late.  I overslept and it just went from there.  But things still went well.  We just didn't get as much studied, but that's OK because we are not on a time schedule.

It has been so hot here.  I know there are many of you in the western states who have it even worse than I do.  I feel sorry for you and pray for you.  But it is very hot here too.  We have been having the air conditioner running non-stop.  Right now I have it turned off and the front door open to get the cool fresh air into the house.  It is so pleasant in the early morning.  (It's about 5:30 a.m. as I write this.)  I try to do all I need to in the morning because as soon as it gets hot, I'm done.

The heat has taken a toll on my garden too.  My marigolds are all dried up and withered even though I try to water them.  The other plants aren't doing all that well either.  But I did take some photos before it got brutal so I wanted to share them with you.  Sorry some of these are rather dark.  I hope you can see them.  I need to check the light meter on my camera.

Last year I had no flowers at all on my hydrangea.  This year it is overrun with them.  So many and so beautiful.

 

The red and white petunias all died off.  Fortunately there were lots of buds and they all came back.

                              

The roses have been beautiful.

The basil is going crazy and the parsley is up too.

And for the first time ever the tree has crab apples on it.

I was reading on Google that the seeds contain cyanide and are poisonous to people and animals.  The stray cats won't bother them because they are well fed and cats want meat not vegetation.  But I need to warn our next-door neighbors who have dogs.  Dogs are especially vulnerable it seems.  And if I decide to use them for something, I need to be careful about getting rid of the seeds and anything near them.  Have any of you heard about this?  Have you ever eaten a crab apple?

I was going to show you the patio area also, but those photos are really dark.  I will retake them and show you later.

And now I need to get going with my day.  Lots to do.  I asked my friend, Donna, to come for lunch after church on Fourth of July.  So I need to get this house cleaned up.  And I need to stop at ShopRite for my medication and I'll buy some food there too for Sunday.  I'm going to look for a watermelon slice.

So see you all later.  Have a wonderful day.

Kathy

THIS AND THAT

 

Hello, friends!  Hope you are having a great weekend.  I wanted to check in with you but really don't have much to tell you.

It is really hot here.  We had storms off and on this morning.  I was hoping the rain would cool things off a bit, but no such luck.

We went to get our groceries today.  I had ordered them online yesterday and so today just had to pick them up.  I don't do that very often, but I just couldn't face doing the shopping today.  I will say that the employees who do the shopping for me pick out such good produce and meat.  Everything was perfect.

I wanted to get out in the yard today and change the patio out to summer décor but that didn't happen.  I'll have to do that tomorrow.  And I'll be sure to take some pictures for you.  The hydrangea and roses are beautiful!

It is my turn to bring the treat for church tomorrow.  I was going to bake, but just couldn't face it with the heat.  So I will have to make a run to the supermarket tomorrow morning and pick something up.  I hope I can find something patriotic and summer looking.

I am about 2/3 of the way through my next book that I'm reading.  And I still have another one to tell you about before this one.  For some reason I am just reading and reading.  I am going through a book every three or four days.  I haven't done this in years but I am loving every minute of it.

Today is a special day in our family.  My grandson, Colby, turns 21.  How time flies!  I can hardly believe it.  Here is a picture from when he visited us when he was 11 years old.

And here he is today at 21 years old with his mom.  What a great guy he is.  But where did the last 10 years go?

Well, I have to end and get my lesson for tomorrow together.  I will post it tomorrow for the weekly Sunday Praise.

Have a good night.  Until later...

Kathy

WHAT I'M READING -- THE SAPPHIRE OF ZANGRABAR by Steve Higgs (2021/5)

 

Hello, friends!  Hope you are having a wonderful day.  Things here are so busy and I barely have time to breathe let alone write a post.  But I wanted to let you know I am still here and I am going to share the next book that I read with you.  It is "The Sapphire of Zangrabar -- a Patricia Fisher mystery" by Steve Higgs.  It is book one in a series.

This is another book that Goodreads recommended to me.  Actually, it is a series of books.  There are 10 books in the series I bought.  These are mysteries set in England.  I am assuming that Steve Higgs is a British writer but I am not sure.  I have to look that up.

The main character is Patricia Fisher.  And a character she is.  She is 52 years old, a housewife with a love of gin, and a husband that she has been married to forever.  She also has a best friend that she can tell anything to.  And share everything with.  Apparently her friend thinks that sharing Patricia's husband is OK too.  When Patricia walks in on them, that's the end of her life as she has known it.  She empties their bank accounts and books herself on the three month cruise of a lifetime.  In the royal suite.

At first she is overwhelmed by her private butler, gym instructor (who is the size of a twig) and the over the top accommodations.  But when a man she meets in the restaurant turns up dead and her purse and missing jewelry is found in his room, signs point to her being the murderer.

Not only is this a good mystery where you are constantly trying to figure out "who dun it", but it is funny as everything.  I was laughing out loud and Joe would stop his reading and look at me as if I were out of my mind.  Especially when he asked me what I was reading and I said a murder mystery.

Such a good book.  I read it in four days.  I just couldn't put it down.  Steve Higgs is a genius when it comes to writing books.  I can't wait to read the next one.

So dear friends, I am recommending this book to you.  You won't regret reading it.

And now back to work.  See you all soon.

Kathy

SUNDAY PRAISE

 Hello, friends!  Hope you are having a wonderful Lord's Day.  It is a sunny and hot day here even though it is early in the day.  I am getting myself ready for church.  We are having a guest speaker today while our pastor is away.  It is our friend that we had lunch with at Joe's birthday.  My friend Sharon, his wife, is coming too.  I am very excited to see them.  Although because it is Father's Day we can't hang out with them after church.  Joe and I may go out for lunch -- we aren't sure yet, but I will let you know.

Also, I have today off from teaching.  My friend, Kathy (also known as Miss K) is giving me a break so I can hear the message.  That was so nice and kind of her.

But I will still give you the lesson.  As you read, please remember that it is for pre-schoolers and so is not in great detail.  I will give you the reference and you can read the story in the Bible for yourself.  Today it is

JERICHO

"God, show me what to do," prayed Joshua.  "I am nearing Jericho.  How can we conquer the city with those high, high walls?"

God told Joshua what to do.  But what a strange command God gave him!  Would it really work?  Joshua didn't hesitate, he went right to the captains of his army.  "God has told me how to conquer Jericho," he said.

When the captains heard what God said, they agreed.  "It is very strange, but we will do what God has commanded."

The next day all of the soldiers of Joshua's army lined up.  Joshua led the army in a line around the city of Jericho as God commanded.  They marched all around the city and they did not say a word  There were hundred and hundreds of soldiers and they were all quiet.

For six days the soldiers marched around the city and for six days they were quiet.  On the seventh day, Joshua's army marched around the city seven times.  Seven times around and not one sound was heard!  But then, the trumpets blew and the soldiers yelled as loud as they could. 

As all the noise hit the air, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.  The soldiers rushed into the city and destroyed it.

The walls fell down because Joshua obeyed God.  He was God's child.

-- based on Joshua 5:13 - 6:26

Is it always easy to obey God?  No.  Definitely not.  But should we always obey God?  Definitely yes.  He made us.  He knows us.  He loves us and has our best interest at heart.  We don't always understand.  I would say we don't understand more than we do.  But that doesn't mean we shouldn't obey.  I find I get myself in trouble when I don't obey.  And I'm sure you feel the same way.

That's my thoughts for today.  I hope you are enjoying these little lessons.  I think I learn more than the kids do.  But isn't that how it usually is when you teach?

See you tomorrow.

Kathy

PATRIOTIC DECORATIONS

 

Hello, friends!  Welcome to Thursday.  Is it just me or do the weeks just fly by?  Here we are in the middle of June already and I am just getting around to showing you my patriotic decorations that I put up around Memorial Day.  There will be a few changes for July 4th, but I will show you them later.  So let's get started.

I finally found the kitchen towels that I bought at Lenox the last time I was there.  Unfortunately it was the last time since they closed the store.  Here is the red, white, and blue one.

Here is the little sign I was going to put in the front window.  But my next-door neighbor put the same one on her front door.  So I have this one living on the pantry wall.

The little red truck is on the back door.

My shelf is looking very patriotic.  I got the gnome at a close-out in Rite Aid and the stars at Dollar Tree.  The little flag came in a bouquet Joe bought me one time.

The pot by the front door has red, white and blue flowers with a Navy flag, Marine Corps flag and the American flag.

And there is a flag on the front door.

Already some of these have changed.  I will have to take some more pictures to show you.

I have been sick again.  I think I got food poisoning.  It has taken me four days to recover.  I was able to eat dinner last night, so that is a great improvement.  I hadn't eaten much of anything for several days.  Unless you count crackers and pretzels.

Hope you are having a better time of it than I am.

Have a good day and I will see you all soon.

Kathy

WHAT I'M READING -- NANTUCKET NEIGHBORS by Pamela M. Kelley (2021/4)

 

Hello, friends!  Hope you had a good day today.  I am back with another book review.  I read this awhile ago but forgot to do a post on it.

This is the second book in the Beach Plum Cove series.  I so enjoyed the first book that I bought the second one.  And I'm glad I did.  Pamela Kelley is such a good author.  It was another one that I just sat and read and couldn't put down.

This book picks up where book one left off.  Sometimes when you go to a second novel a year or more has passed.  This one it seems like just a few weeks have gone by.  In the first book, The Nantucket Inn, the main character, Lisa, discovered that her late husband had been addicted to gambling and had left her penniless when she thought there was enough money in their retirement savings to take care of her for the rest of her life.  Lisa has not worked in years, being a stay-at-home mom and so has no employable skills.  She decides to rent out her spare rooms and open a bed and breakfast.

This has been a good plan so far.  Lisa's first guest, Rhett Byrne, opens a local restaurant and becomes a permanent guest.  And then a little more than that.  Clearly they have feelings for each other.

The first book tells the story of her three daughters and this one concentrates on Chase, the only boy in the family.  He has never been serious about anyone before, but he's suddenly secretive about who he's seeing.  This makes everyone curious about what is going on with him.  Chase has been hurt before and no one wants to see that happen to him again.

Lisa's best friend, Paige, has a surprise neighbor that has quite a mystery attached to her.

But the real mystery is when one Friday night a guest that prepaid for the weekend never shows up and a lot of people, including the police, show up asking questions.

I won't tell you what happens.  You have to read that for yourself.  But it is a good story and a fast read.  I can't wait to read the next book in the series.  It's just the right read for a lazy summer day.

I have already finished another book which I will share with you soon.  What are you reading?

Until later,

Kathy

SUNDAY PRAISE

 

Hello, friends!  Happy Sunday!  Welcome back to another Sunday Praise.  Praising God is so important.  Today I am teaching the children about:

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

While God's people were camping at Mt. Sinai, God gave them ten special laws to help them know how to live and worship him better.  God gave these rules to Moses to share with his people.  These laws are recorded in the Bible.  God still wants us to follow them today.

Four of the rules were about God.  We should worship God only -- the one true God.  We shouldn't bow down to idols or love anything or anyone more than we love God.  God doesn't want us to make fun of his name or say it in anger.  God wants us to spend one day every week in rest and worship.  God said, "Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy."

Then God told Moses to teach the people to honor their parents.  He does not want us to disobey or disrespect our parents.

"Don't take the lives of others," God then said.  "And if you are married, keep your wedding vows."

God also gave us the laws that say "Don't take what isn't yours" and "Don't lie or deceive anyone."  The tenth law God gave was "Don't wish you could have something that belongs to someone else.  Be happy with your own belongings."

God gave us ten rules to live by.  These are ten rules we can learn to help us worship God better.

Psalm 119:108 tells us, "LORD... teach me your laws."  How can we learn God's laws?  Is it a matter of learning Exodus 20 by rote?  Or is it a heart knowledge even if we can't quote the ten commandments perfectly from memory?  God gave us these laws to make our life better, not put restraints on us.  We all break them.  Over and over.  How wonderful that our God forgives us over and over if we just go to Him in humility and ask forgiveness.

Until next time...

Kathy

THIS AND THAT IN THE GARDEN

Hello, friends!  Happy weekend to you.  I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.  Time just flies along, doesn't it?  I have so much to do around the house and it seems as if all I do anymore is sleep.  I guess my body is telling me I don't get enough of it.  Well, I have broken sleep.  Up and down all night so that may have something to do with it.

I was going to do a post on what I'm reading, but that takes some work and I just want to get this out to you.   I'm trying to do better with keeping in touch.  I've been getting out two YouTube posts a week (Wednesday and Saturday) so now I am working on getting my blog out more regularly.  The book review will come later next week, but let me show you a few things here.

First off, I decided enough is enough with my hair.  Do you ever get to that point?  I like my hair long.  And for well over a year (two years?) I have let my hair grow and stopped coloring it.  I wanted to see how much gray I had.  Well, I found out.  And I liked it.  But...

I went to Mane Connection and got my hair trimmed.  Well, I had about three to four inches cut off.  It looked and felt terrific.  I just cannot get a bad cut there no matter who I have wait on me.  I think I have to get back into my routine of going there every 8 weeks or so.  Although I loved the cut, when I had that much taken off, all the color in my hair went too and I was completely white.  I thought I would like it, but it was definitely not the look I was going for.  So I waited a couple of days to see if I would change my mind.  I didn't so I decided to color it.  I wanted to be sure that was what I wanted to do.  But each day I loved the cut and hated the color of my hair more.  So here is the new me.

It's a little darker and a little more red than I wanted it to be, but a few more washings will take care of that.  I'm happy with it and that's what matters.

Each week I try to take one day to work in the garden.  It is a huge job to try to clean it all up.  And with my health the way it is, I can't do it all at once as I used to do when I moved into this house 41 years ago.  But with just plugging away a little at a time, things are getting done.  When I was outside this last week being food for the pesky mosquitos, I took some pictures to show you.

Here is my hydrangea.  Last year I got no blooms at all.  This year there are plenty.  It's so pretty.

I planted a pot of red, white and blue flowers, but only the blue ones are blooming.  There are buds on the other two, so I'm sure they will make their appearance shortly.

I have so much pruning to do on my rosebushes.  But they bloom in spite of me.

This last one came out pink in the photo but in real life it is much more red.  A deep pink.  I took several photos of it and it always came out this color.  I don't know why.

And finally for today, let me show you some of my decorations around the house.

Even my dishtowel is patriotic.  This is one of the towels I got at Lenox in Lancaster County right before they closed down.

I was going to put this sign in my front window, but my next door neighbor put the same sign on her front door.  So this lives on the wall to my pantry.

The back door got my red truck.

The shelf in my living room.

Red, white and blue flowers in my front flower pot along with a Navy flag, Marine Corps flag and the American flag.

And an American flag on the front door.

I like how things came out this year.  I'm leaving them like this for one more week and then I will change things a bit to celebrate Independence Day.

And that's all for today, friends.  I hope you have a great weekend.

Until later...

Kathy