INDEPENDENCE DAY

Hello, friends!  Hope you all had a wonderful day.  I am sitting in the living room watching wonderful fireworks through the front window.  I went outside on the front step and took a video to show you.

Then I decided to zoom in a little to see them better.

Of course now that I am inside the big fireworks are going off.  Oh well.

It was a rather low key day for me.  I have been watching a series, well a couple of series, on Amazon Prime.  The first one I watched was "Pioneer Quest: A Year in the Real West."  This is part of a series by Frantic Films and like the rest of them takes place in Manitoba, Canada.  Well, they are a Canadian documentary series after all.  It was on the History Channel and PBS in 2001 although I never heard of it.  I loved it and if you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it.  When I found there were more, I had to watch the next one.

I finished the second series today... "Quest for the Bay."  This is from 2002 (although it was filmed in the summer of 2001) and was also on the History Channel and PBS.  It follows an 8 person volunteer team (7 men and 1 woman) as they attempt to recreate the journey made by fur traders of the Hudson Bay Company during the 1840s by traveling from Winnipeg to Hudson Bay in a York Boat.  They had all kinds of hardships and had to repair their boat over and over.  Twice it was almost destroyed in white water rapids.  They lost most of their cargo.  They had very little food to eat and lots of hard work.  I could not have done what they did.  So very interesting!  Tomorrow I will start the third series, "Klondike: Quest for the Gold."

It was in the 90*F range again today and will be for the foreseeable future.  We did not eat outside.  But I did make a special dinner for us.

Barbecued chicken, deviled eggs, pasta salad and potato salad.  Everything was good.

Jack was in his usual place begging for food.  And who can resist that face.  Yes, he got some chicken.

I even wore my USA shirt.

It was a strange day, but then this whole year has been strange.

I always like reading the letter John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, on July 3, 1776.  The Declaration of Independence had been ratified the day before so actually we should be celebrating Independence Day on the 2nd.  Here's what he wrote:

"The second day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the history of America.

"I am apt to believe it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.  It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn acts of Devotion to God Almighty.  It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

And so it is.

Until later...
Kathy

INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Hope you have all had a wonderful and relaxing day.  My day has been great.  Looking at my to-do list I don't think I've crossed all that much off of it.  But I still have the rest of tonight and some of tomorrow before we go away.  I would like to spend some time on the beach at Atlantic City, but I doubt that will happen.  I think we will be spending time in the casinos because I am so interested in seeing what they are like and to taste some of the treats they have in the restaurants there.  We'll see.

The day has been so nice.  It was sunny all day, but now it looks as if it will pour any minute.

 This morning I made a flower arrangement for the kitchen counter.  It is right by the Keurig where I will see it every day.  I love my roses with the raindrops.  The other roses are made out of wood.  And I have a pretty butterfly in it too.

I went to Rite Aid this morning and got some great buys.  

I love this dish.  I have loved it since April.  Today I finally bought it.

Look at this pretty tissue paper.  It's so unusual!
 

They had blinged out composition books.  Those lines are made out of sparkly crystals.
 

And spiral ring notebooks with crystals.  I debated about getting one and finally decided to just put it back.

I spent a lot more money than I had anticipated, but got a lot of good sales.  I made a little video for you about my trip.

I had a hot dog, some chips and iced tea for lunch.  Joe had nothing because he wasn't feeling well.  But he says he will try to eat dinner.

We just got back from Shop Rite.  Who goes food shopping on the Fourth of July?  We do.  We just had to pick up a few things for dinner and to take with us tomorrow.  We were in and out in a flash.  I was actually surprised by how many people were in the store.

For dinner tonight I'm having a rotisserie chicken, potato salad (no I didn't make it this time), the chips and salsa, and watermelon for dessert.  I'll get things together in about half an hour.

I'm going to do a little bit of straightening up and then make dinner.  Hope you have had a wonderful day.

Kathy

FATHER'S DAY

Joe was our speaker today in church.  He spoke on Colossians 3:1-11 -- Our Identity.  It was so very good.  I think it's my favorite of everything he's preached so far.  So that started our day off right.

I had made up little bags of assorted chocolate to give the men in the church for Father's Day.  Everyone liked it.  I'm going to have to do it again next year.

For lunch I took Joe to our favorite place -- East Coast Wings and Grill.

I got Smoky BBQ wings and fries.  Joe got a buffalo salad.  He had it before and loved it.  When we were finished eating the waitress said because it was Father's Day Joe got a free dessert.  It was ice cream with fried apples and caramel sauce.  It looked good.  It was served in a margarita glass.

Do you think he's excited?

This afternoon I took a two hour nap.  I felt so much better when I got up.  But now I'm sleepy again, so I'm going back to bed.  Hope you all had a good day.

Kathy

ST. PATRICK'S DAY

Isn't this cute?  I saw it on facebook and couldn't resist posting it.  You know I love Snoopy.

I began the day by making lemon poppyseed muffins for breakfast.  I made them special by putting them on some shamrock plates.

And after lunch I ate a shamrock doughnut that Joe bought me.

I have been running around so much this week and last that I am very tired.  So is Joe.  We decided to take today off and we both just watched TV, napped and read.  Nice.  Everyone needs a day like that once in awhile.

I did go outside and get a couple of pictures of the yard for you.  The daffodils are up.  Well, some of them are.  There's lots more to come.

And my lilac bush has little leaves on it.
 

I was just saying it was late in the year for snow and it was probably over for the year when what should happen but we get a forecast today for a major snowstorm on Sunday.  According to how the storm goes we will get anywhere from 3 inches to 12 inches.  I hope my little flowers make it and don't freeze.  Just when you thought it was safe to go out and garden.

It seemed strange not to be at work this year, celebrating with my friends.  But it was nice to be home too.  I'm getting very used to being retired.  I rarely miss work anymore.

I wore my new Irish shirt that I bought in Tennessee.  It's hard to see, but it says "Luck of the Irish" all over it.  And the silver is all sparkly.

 

I usually make Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day, but this year I changed and made ham, cabbage and potatoes.  It was wonderful if I do say so myself.

For the second week no one showed up for the Mid-week Bible Study.  So we were decorating the church as much as we could.  There are still some things I can't find.  Genny and I are going over there tomorrow morning to see if we can find the last box and put things up.

The new centerpieces on the tables for Fellowship Time.

A forsythia wreath on the back bulletin board.

A lilac wreath just inside the front door.

Joe got a banner for the front of the church.  This is the Palm Sunday one.  There is also a Good Friday and Easter banner.

How many people does it take to hang a banner?  Well, in our case it was two.

He also bought a new cloth for our communion table.

The man himself in the pulpit.  I was blocking the shot for Sunday morning and had him stand there so I could see where to put the camera.

And now it's time to call it a day and get some sleep.  Another busy day tomorrow.  I am so much busier than when I worked at the library.  So much to do all the time.  How can anyone ever be bored?  I feel as if I have a six-day work week.  Maybe even seven because Sunday I am still working making sure the service goes well, all the people have church bulletins and everything is set up and ready to go for the Fellowship Time.  Then I tape the message and see that it gets onto youtube and our facebook page.  Monday starts all over coordinating the bulletin, getting people together and cleaning up the church office and sanctuary.  Sigh.  BUT...  I love everything I am doing.  I may be busy, but it's my dream job!  On top of that, I get to set my own hours.

I'm going to end with an Irish Blessing.

Have a good night everyone!

Kathy