It was rainy this morning, but no storms. Mary and I taught our class about ‘Jesus is the vine; we are the branches bearing fruit.’ We had Max and his two cousins, Jack and Josie. They love being together and had a good time in class. Here they are, eating grapes!

After we left church Mary and I went to Eat n Park for breakfast. We haven’t done that since the pandemic. It was nice to just sit and chat. It’s so nice to have someone to talk to that will listen, share thoughts, be honest, and comfort and encourage. It was a lovely almost-two hours!

When I got home, since I didn’t need to eat, I changed clothes and went outside. By then the sun was shining so I trimmed overgrown stalks, pulled some weeds, and cut the grass. It was warmer as the day went on, and by the time I was done I was soaked. But the yard looked great!

It felt good to get a shower, and now I’m in my red star PJ’s, watching ‘Christmas by Starlight’ on Hallmark. I will work in the morning for a short bit, but nothing else planned. Maybe some writing!

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TOMORROW July 3rd is:

International Drop a Rock Day; National Eat Your Beans Day; National Compliment Your Mirror Day; National Fried clam Day; National Chocolate Wafer Day; International Plastic Bag Free Day.

Chocolate is good. I’m good at dropping rocks but not so much eating beans. Enjoy your day, whether you work or not. God bless….

I waffled all last evening and even most of the morning about going to the Twin Lakes festival. I kept watching the weather and finally decided I could go first thing when it opened and leave if it started to rain. So I did my typical Saturday morning change the sheets chore, then headed out. It’s a good thing I didn’t wait, because traffic was bumper to bumper and I sat for about 20 minutes before the park even opened. I was able to park in the park-sponsored lot — first time EVER. Normally I parked in a farmer’s field and risked sliding or getting stuck in the mud.

There were crafts and booths with just about anything you can imagine, including music stages, kids area, winery section, artist and author section, and food all over the place.

One of my primary focuses was to find Noah’s food truck – Tiny’s Tacos – which I did. I said a quick hello and finished looking around. Once I had seen everything and resisted multiple temptations I went back and got fresh-cut fries with cheese. I sat in a covered pavilion and ate before heading out. Just as I got to the car it started to drizzle. So that was timed well!

I was only home about half an hour and the thunder and wind came, and it started to pour down rain. I turned on the TV, and ‘Christmas in July’ is playing on Hallmark in the background while I type. Just now the sun peaked out, but I don’t think our storms are over! I know when I left the park, the line outside the taco truck was about 10 deep. I hope they did well in sales today.

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Chase – the youngest (for now) of the family but growing up fast! I’m looking forward to his coming up to stay a week next Sunday through the 15th. Happy Birthday, Chase! Love you!

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TOMORROW July 2nd is:

National Wildland Firefighter Day; World UFO Day.

I feel like I should be doing something patriotic every day from now until the 4th but don’t know what! I’ll think about that. Today I was listening to holiday-related music – especially Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA and Toby Keith’s American Soldier.

God bless — the USA!!!

You would think with summer here there would be a lot of things to share. Not so. I’ve been busy all day – but nothing noteworthy. I worked at the Greensburg store, stopped for one item at WOW Outlets. Mike P needed me to stop and help with something, which I did. I chatted with Mike and Renee (talking car-shop!) and chatted for about 20 minutes. Also stopped at the bank before coming home.

I had a Panera Bread bagel for lunch, did a load of laundry, fussed around outside doing little things, answered some emails, talked to my friend Teresa on the phone for an hour, then came inside and made potato soup. Swept the floors, changed a lightbulb, and filled the M&M bowls. So there. Isn’t that an exciting day? But I did keep busy all day. We’ll see what I can get into tomorrow!

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TOMORROW July 1st is:

National Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day; National Gingersnap Day; National Play Outside Day; National Hop A Park Day; National U.S. Postage Stamp Day; Camera Day; National Postal Workers Day.

Doesn’t it seem like we just had these days? I’ll stick with the ice cream. Happy first day of July – the year is half over. God bless…

The air quality has been horrible the last few days. I decided I would be pro-active and did use my inhaler twice yesterday. That being said, it ‘wires me up’ and I could not fall asleep. When I got up for a drink at 2am this is the photo I took out my bedroom window. Spooky!

Kelly and I left the house about 9 am and did some serious research shopping. We both did buy a few things but have a fairly clear picture of what we both want to accomplish for our respective parties. It will help that we can share the plunder! We started at Michael’s, then WOW Outlet, then Ollie’s and the neighboring Dollar Tree. Joanne Fabrics was next, then Walmart, Sam’s Club, and the other Dollar Tree. We didn’t spend much money but again we know where we are headed. She left for home about 2pm and I went to work. It’s 8:20pm and that’s mostly all I’m doing today. We did finally stop for lunch at Chick-Fil-A – which was of course yummy!

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TOMORROW June 30th is:

International Asteroid Day; National Meteor Watch Day; Social Media Day; National OOTD Day; International Cream Tea Day.

For most of the world every day is social media day! And OOTD is Outfit of the Day. What will YOU wear tomorrow? Watch out for meteors and asteroids! God bless…

My sweet daughter came up tonight and we are shopping in the morning for the Loyalhanna Review Publication party and Peyton’s grad party. WOW Outlet has a ton of Red/White/Blue stuff and that’s what we both chose! So I’m just going to post the national holidays and catch you up tomorrow!!!

TOMORROW June 29th is:

National Bomb Pop Day; National Handshake Day; National Camera Day; National Waffle Iron Day; International Day of the Tropics; National Almond Buttercrunch Day.

Buttercrunch sounds good. So do waffles. I’ve never been good at taking pictures. So – I’ll just go shopping with Kelly and call it good! God bless…

A few things to do at work – but it was a busy morning. Finished paperwork for Mike G; got a call from Mike P; stopped at a few stores to handle little chores. Kelly called me right when I was zipping into WOW Outlet. She had some ideas for Peyton’s grad party that coincided with my idea for the LR Publication party. So we are working together on that. I’ll use them first and then pass everything to her for August. Good plan!

I was surprised that a) the new Smail Ford dealership is so huge! and b) the Kia building is gone! They demolished it to build a new building for the Mazda franchise. Kia will go in the old Ford store building. Lots of changes!

Running errands had two purposes – one of which was to stay close to the chiropractor’s office so I didn’t have to go home and come back. I popped into McDonalds and got a very small milkshake. It was the size of a small sippy cup. But it hit the spot and kept me going until I got home at 1:30pm.

On the way home I got gas for the car, and for the mower. I had to do that very last because the smell of gas would over power the car! I had hoped to weed what today but it was too wet. Maybe tomorrow or Thursday.

I was excited to get my sunflower comforter delivered today! The Crooks room needed an upgrade, especially since the quilt on the bed was ‘vintage’ and needed to be preserved. So it worked out perfectly!

After lunch I made a batch of cinnamon rolls for Peyton’s party. I won’t ice them until the day before, but can freeze them in the meantime. I can’t manage to be neat when I make them!

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TOMORROW June 28th is:

National Logistics Day; National Alaska Day; National Paul Bunyan Day; National Parchment Day; International Body Piercing Day; International Caps Lock Day.

Not sure why locking our caps is important. But celebrate whatever you like – God bless!

There were chores and deals to do at both stores, and today I was glad to be of help to Joe, as he just got back from vacation. I stopped at the post office on the way from Jeannette to Greensburg – I needed stamps to mail the invitations for Autmn and Noah’s baby shower, and needed to send a license plate back to PENNDOT. The postal clerk chastised me because I didn’t have the house number on the return address — I took it in stride, because it wasn’t mine anyway! Between USPS and PENNDOT — Yikes!

It was actually a nice day, and I spent some time outside pulling weeds and cleaning up a part of the garden areas. Just when I got inside the rain came, along with thunder and lightening. I may get to do some more weeding tomorrow.

But after lunch and before weeding I did a little office work. I sorted the research documents for Letters to Mary and put them in envelopes on the shelf in the garage. I also cleaned out some of the files in my little filing cabinet by the computer. There were some LTM reference material in there that I wanted to put with the rest. In addition, when we cleaned out the farm in 2021 my step-siblings found a cigar box with letters sent between Charlie and Annie (his eventual wife). So I put them in a smaller envelope and tucked them into the original wooden box that all the letters were in.

I found some cute articles, writings, publications, and cartoons in the file cabinet, and one I txt to Autmn. I wrote it when she was seven! There were a lot of good memories in those files, especially several that I wrote about vacations – “I could drive 500 miles”. There was a trip to Williamsburg, one of a college tour when Kelly was looking, one to a wedding in New York… Lots of fun things to remember.

My AOL email account just had an update, and all the settings changed. The first positive thing I found was that any pictures I sent myself from my phone were automatically saved in a file! It’s normally quite a chore to save them and label them all individually. So, I was happy with that. What else is new remains to be seen!

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TOMORROW June 27th is:

National Ice Cream Cake Day; National HIV Testing Day; International Pineapple Day; National Onion Day (???); National PTSD Awareness Day; National Sunglasses Day; National Orange Blossom Day.

We had our three regular attendees in Sunday School this morning, and our lesson was about making decisions. Sometimes they are easy, sometimes hard, and often confusing. The Bible lesson was Paul & Silas in prison and how they had to decide whether to move on to another city to preach or stay in Philippi and risk going to prison. Decisions ARE difficult!

Our worship leader (songs) was on vacation, and the substitute was ill – so we had no song service this morning. Then the screen computers kept shutting down, and the outlines and scriptures were not on the screens. It was a very strange morning. Two good things (other than the message) were that 1) we got out very early! and 2) they played Aunt Joan’s CD during communion. I LOVED that part!

After church I finally dropped the two Hanna’s Town yard signs off at the site, then came home and had the last of the left-overs for lunch. Although it was pretty warm outside, after seeing that there are storms threatening for the next 3 days I opted to cut the grass. It took me longer than normal, as I kept stopping to drink water in the shade. All done now!

But right before I mowed, I pulled out all my files and visual aids for Letters to Mary. I switched them from the bottom shelf in the coat closet in the garage to an open shelf that was easier access. I organized the books and media information and put it on the shelf, and will look through the reference books and notes and copies of the letters before I put them back. I’m so glad I read the book again. Felt like an old friend!

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TOMORROW June 26th is:

National Coconut Day; National Beauticians Day; National Barcode Day; National Chocolate Pudding Day.

Barcode? Hmmm. Enjoy and celebrate what makes you happy. God bless…

Typical Saturday morning – changed the bed sheets and remade the bed; did that laundry. Had a bagel from Panera Bread for breakfast. The day has been alternately sunny and rainy. Just took these photos of the rain pouring down.

I took some time to clean out the leftovers in the fridge. I cut the rest of the zucchini bread and froze it in separate baggies. Froze the muffin tops and the Panera bagels. Froze the extra loaf of bread since we didn’t eat it. The only left-overs that I have to finish up are half a grilled cheese sandwich and a scoop of egg salad. So I’m in good shape.

After breakfast I went to L&L Fleatique just to look around. Didn’t purchase anything – didn’t need anything! But I saw a funky Halloween ceramic tree (not a fan) and a vintage suitcase make-over. The suitcase I really liked!

I stopped in Jeannette to drop off a check before heading to Walmart, and Sir Rege asked me to grab him some cough drops. He is by himself today so I was very glad to do something nice for him!

It’s been a week, so I took my birthday cards down. So many sweet messages. I love to keep the special ones!

Now here is the weird part. I decided on Wednesday that I was going to re-read Letters to Mary. I wrote it back in 1999-2001, and did research for about a year before that. And it was published in 2014. So it’s been at lease 9 years since I’ve read it straight through, beginning to end. It surprised me! I remember doing extensive research – going to Albion and Girard and Cold Harbor and buying book after book. Going to lectures and talking to reenactors and digging through Mom’s attic. Taking notes and pictures. What I didn’t remember was how tightly it fit together; how the letters told the story and led the characters from 1863 to 1869. I cried and laughed out loud! So much of it I didn’t remember until I read it again. Wow. Why can’t I do that again! I’m not sure where the creativity came from!!! I was so closely connected to Mary and the kids and the community – my parents lived in the house Charlie built! I am going to pull out all the copies of my notes and the letters and look through them. It’s consumed me!

My next chores are ironing and writing out the Baby Shower invitations for Autmn and Noah. I was going to mow but the grass is now soaked! Maybe tomorrow.

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TOMORROW June 25th is:

Day of the Seafarer; National Catfish Day; Global Beatles Day; National Strawberry Parfait Day; National Leon Day.

OK – Beatles are great! Sing along! “We all live in a Yellow Submarine…” (I bet you sang!) National Leon Day surprised me. It’s the 6 month mark until Christmas day – a day when crafters begin their plans for homemade decorations and gifts for the holidays. Who knew? God bless…

I stretched the day out long today. Got up early, but climbed back in bed with my book and read for a while before breakfast! It’s been quite a while since I didn’t get up and run errands on a Friday morning, since it’s my day off!

Since I still haven’t posted about Court Days – Hanna’s Town last weekend – I will recap that with my photos. Saturday I worked the 10am to 1pm schedule, and stayed a while later to help out. I was stationed upstairs in the tavern. The two facts that people seem most interested in about the upstairs are 1) Robert and Elizabeth Hanna and their four daughters totally lived in one room – They obviously didn’t spend much time there because it was an all-consuming task to run the tavern. 2) When you paid to spend the night as a traveler, you didn’t get a ‘room’. You got a space in a bed with 3 or 4 other people that you didn’t know. Fully clothed!

Sunday I went over after church, and worked 1pm to 3pm. Again, I stayed a bit extra. Got to talk to a lot of the volunteers (that have become friends) on both days. Really a great group of people. Saturday I spent a lot of time talking to the midwife and the lady who practiced Herbal Medicine. So very interesting!

Today’s sky is very dramatic – bright sun but dark clouds. Cooler and breezy and anticipated rain. I’m staying in tonight!

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TOMORROW June 24th is:

Global Smurf Day; National Patch Day; International Ragweed Day; World UFO Day; International Fairy Day; Summersgiving; National Pralines Day.

Smurfs! My kids used to love them! Fairy’s are fun – sometimes. That’s it for today! God bless…