CLOSING OUT JULY

July was not the month I expected it to be.  What a whirlwind month. We celebrated the Fourth of July with a cookout at my brother and sister-in-law's new house.  What fun!  I went to lunch with my friends Carol and Donna.  And then there was the big car crash.  I thank God no one was hurt but our car was a total loss.  I loved that car so much.  And it has been a big job to get all the insurance taken care of and get a new car.  But as of next week all will be done.  I will be so glad when I hand over that last check.

My sister lost her sweet dog Cody this month also.  He was the best dog ever,  She had him for many years and is lost without him.  Many tears have been shed over his loss and not just from my sister.

Our washer also broke this month.  We had to go out and buy a new washer and dryer.  The guys who delivered it were not happy that the doorways in the house were so small.  And when they tried to take the door off it wouldn't move.  The house is 100 years old and the door has been in place almost that long.  So after having the appliances delivered ($), having to have new plumbing put in ($), and having to get some new electrical work done to accommodate them ($), we are finally up and running.  More electrical work to be done this month.  Or next.  But hopefully this month.  I just want it all finished.

I did get to visit the farm.  I haven't been there in a long time.  And one night Joe and I went to dinner at IHOP.

Best news was that we got a beautiful new car that is way better than anything I ever thought I could afford.  I took the new car to Lancaster County where my sister and I went to celebrate her birthday last week.

That's the month in a nutshell.  I wonder what August will bring.

I am still working on my temperature afghan.  Here's July's section.

You can tell it was hot.  The yellow days here and there are the 70 degree days.  The pink are the 80 degree days and the red are the 90 degree days.  I never realized how hot Philly gets in the summer.

It is now so large that I can't show you the entire afghan.  But here is a huge part of it.

My Breathtaking Views Calendar for July is the California coastline.  It looks so beautiful  Wish I were there now.

 Only a few July @ 9 p.m. photos.  I'll try to be better about it in August.

July 16

July 16

And so that's it for this month.  Hello August!

 

SAYING GOODBYE

Many of us have tons of blog friends.  Seldom does a blogger pass over into being a real friend.  But that has happened with several of my blog friends.  One of them was Mona.  She was the sweetest lady and besides blogging she would write me long letters in the middle of the night when she couldn't sleep.  We shared our lives with each other knowing that we would keep the secrets and share the joys.

Today Mona's son wrote on her blog to let us know of her passing from pancreatic cancer.  The world needs more Monas and her death will leave a large hole.  Rest in peace, Mona.  You had a hard life with many losses.  I hope you are finally able to rest with your loved ones now.

I will be back later with my usual post.   

Kathy

SISTERS GET-AWAY -- DAY TWO

Day two started out nice and sunny.  We ended up getting up around 6 a.m. and left the hotel around 7:30 to get breakfast.  I took Elaine to the Rockvale Diner.
 

Elaine had eggs, hash browns and scrapple.  I had a Belgium waffle with strawberries.  Good.

After we ate we went back to the hotel to clean up and check out.  Before we went in, though, I took some pictures outside of the place.  This was right off of the parking lot.

I hope you can all see my necklace.  It is the Heart of God necklace that I bought on Friday at Hershey Farm.  It is in the shape of a heart but has the word God spelled in it.  I'll try to post a better picture of it later.

After we checked out we headed for the Bird-in-Hand Farmers Market.

 

First we went downstairs and looked in the gift shop.  I bought a couple of things there.  Then we went upstairs to the farmer's market itself.  I love walking around there.  I felt like a real country girl.  I got a tray of molasses cookies, a checkbook cover for myself, some candied ginger and the best corn and some pink lady apples. The veggies out in Lancaster are better than anything I can buy here in Philly.  I really should take a trip out to the Farmers Market at least once a month.  Especially since I now have a new car.

The last place we stopped was Kitchen Kettle Village.

 We went to the Christmas shop first.  It was time for our annual Christmas ornament.  Something always pops out at us and we know which one to pick.  Elaine found hers, but I saw a trio of angels that I loved so I bought all three.  I also bought a prism with mistletoe to hang on my door.  I have one for summer with beautiful purple flowers.  This will be nice to change out.  It was $25 marked down to $10.

Then we went to the Jam and Relish shop.  I got mango salsa, tortilla chips and vidalia onion relish.  My favorite things from there.  Elaine bought a dozen cookies.  For her free one, she got me a gingerbread boy.

On the way out of Kitchen Kettle I stopped by the farmer's stand and got a box of peaches.  I do this every year and they are always good.  The farmer told me he had picked them at 5 p.m. the night before.  Can't get much fresher than that.

Then it was time to go home.  We made good time until we got to I-76 which is always crowded.  Then when I got to I-676 we stopped completely and stayed stopped about 15 minutes.  I turned on the news radio and found out there was an accident at the Benjamin Franklin Bridge and the traffic was backed up for miles.  We finally made it to I-95 and home.  Elaine came in for a few minutes and then started on her two hour trip home.

So the sister's get-away is done for this year, but it was a really good time.  I'm so glad we did this.

Before I end though, I forgot to show you one picture yesterday.  We were sitting waiting for a light to change and there was a little Amish boy across the street selling homemade root beer.  He was so adorable.  And since his back was facing us and we couldn't see his face, I had Elaine use my camera to get a picture of him.  It's just precious.

And with that I will end.  I hope you enjoyed coming along with me.  Back to the real world now.

Kathy