Just a quick catch up after not posting yesterday. I did get the house cleaned, did several loads of laundry, and changed sheets on the guest bed. I was half way through my day when Trent stopped to see if I wanted the grass cut. YES! I was so grateful! So basically everything was presentable when Gen got here about 5:30pm.

Grass is cut!

We had such a nice visit! I really needed that. We could share about our challenges, blessings, and kids (and dental experiences…)! Basically, she cooked for us – chicken and potatoes and broccoli – and I provided ice-cream for dessert. Since my birthday is next week she brought be a gift – a book about U. S. Grant’s life and career! And —- a variety of bright colored hi-liters to mark my favorite parts! No better gift for me than a book!

This morning we had toast made with our favorite French-style bakery bread, which Gen brought down with her. We walked around the gardens and she pointed out all good things that she loved – which I really appreciated. She told me to be sure Beth saw how lovely my gardens on the hill are. Gen is even planning to stop on her way home Monday morning and grab cuttings of two of her favorite plants to take back. We took a few pictures before she left for her family reunion.

Me and Gen – early morning

My garden

Me, gardens, and the colonial flag!

I did a few indoor chores, then decided to go to Miller’s Crossing Fleatique – just because I COULD! I even got a frozen Coke. I decided to make potato salad out of the left over potatoes and a few hard-boiled eggs, and then went outside to clean up a few places in the right side garden. That will give the Sedum space to grow.

Thinned it out by the walk – exposing the Hosta and the Sedum.

Trying to thin out by the forsythia

Forsythia half exposed.

Heard some airplanes while I was working, and I looked up to see 3 jets going toward Latrobe. It was strange to see 3 so close, and banking to the right like that. Curious site.

Next I came in and paid a few bills, caught up my check register, answered emails, and now I am posting the Word Garden. I haven’t heard from the ‘kids’ so I’m uncertain as to if they are coming here today, tomorrow or whenever. I’m ready, regardless. There’s always something to do here so I won’t be bored!

Like, reading!

QUOTE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 14th is:

Family History Day; International Bath Day; National Cucumber Day; National Flag Day; National Strawberry Shortcake Day; U.S. Army Birthday; World Blood Donor Day.

I’m usually interested in any history. Not much of a fan of cucumbers. Flag Day is fun! God bless…

On this day in history: (2 today) 1777 Marquis de Lafayette lands in the US and 1789 Mrs Alexander Hamilton serves ice cream for dessert to George Washington.

I am not going to post anything tonight – Gen (from New York) is here for overnight and we are going to make dinner and just visit for the evening. Will catch up tomorrow! God bless…

Today was a work day – and I did have a few things to do. Also had some issues to solve and fix. Stopped and got diapers and wipes on the way home. Cameron was running low, and as he doesn’t have a car (???) he couldn’t get them himself.

I finally got my solar deck lights working. They look really nice and I’m glad I figured them out.

Tiny lanterns

Here are some Cameron pictures!

Making Elephant soup

Again, with the Pepsi bottle!

Early morning smiles

Watching Paw Patrol

Watching it rain

Watching DRAGON KING on his (my old) phone.

I have a lot to do tomorrow before Gen gets here, so I’m going to shut down and get some rest. Have a lovely weekend!

QUOTE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

Tomorrow June 12th is:

National Button Battery Awareness Day; National Jerky Day; National Movie Night; National Peanut Butter cookie Day; National Red Rose Day; Superman Day; Women Veterans Day; World Day against Child Labour.

I like movies, and cookies, and roses. It’d be fun to meet Superman! God bless…

On this day in History:2004 Ronald Reagan‘s funeral is held at Washington National Cathedral

It’s been a busy day, and Cameron is determined to sit under my desk and turn the heater on and off – and push buttons that erase my pages. SO — I think I will forgo posting tonight and catch up tomorrow. God bless!

You spend all this money on toys and books and movies — and they play in a tote bin filled with water, and empty pop bottles!

First, today is Ron’s birthday. Haven’t talked to him in almost 2 years – but Happy Birthday!

Twelve years ago!

Work this morning was light – but I was able to use the new CVR system with no issues. I also checked with Rege about Ella’s surgery. She did fine – but they couldn’t get the whole tumor – it was wrapped around too many critical nerves. The pathology report from the biopsy did not come back yet – but it’s looking like she’ll have to have radiation. I’ll keep you posted as I learn more.

I stopped after work and got ice cream and milk. Came home and made cream of potato soup. Yummy for lunch.

The smaller of two bowls.

After I cleaned up, I pulled weeds for about an hour. It was sort of sprinkling on and off so I didn’t want to tackle a big project outside.

I did the ironing from yesterday’s laundry, and wrote out a card for my friend Roger. He’s in a care facility – he just needs a bit of extra care right now. While I was doing my journal, I had a Hallmark movie on. The main character had a necklace on that I have one exactly like it! And no, it wasn’t expensive!

I have earrings to match but they are more subdued.

When I went up for the mail (all junk!) I snapped a few pictures. The humidity and the sun are making everything grow!

Right side of hill

Left side is OUT OF CONTROL!

These might be pretty – but they are WEEDS!

I saw that Venus and Jupiter should be visible again tonight – so keep an eye out for them!

Hanna’s Town posted that they will be open on July 4th, and will be reading the Declaration of Independence. That’s on my schedule! Come join us!

QUOTE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 10th is:

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Founders’ Day; National Ballpoint Pen Day; National Bed Bug Prevention Day; National Black Cow Day; National Egg Roll Day; National Frosted Cookie Day; National Herbs and Spices Day; National Iced Tea Day; Talk Slow Day.

Cookies – need we say more??? With Iced Tea? God bless…

On this day in History: 1958 Novelty song “The Purple People Eater” by Sheb Wooley hits #1

Since plans were up in the air for today (again), I just kept busy with random chores – no list!

But first, yesterday afternoon when I had Cameron we filled the tote with water again. He does love that. He may sit in it for a few minutes, but mostly he likes to take his little bucket and his watering can and just empty it!

I took Cameron down to Nate’s about 9pm – and on the way home I noticed two lights in the western sky. I was captivated with my discovery! When I got home I looked it up, and here’s the information:

The two bright ‘stars’ in the western sky tonight are actually the planets Venus and Jupiter. They are shining brighter than actual stars and exceptionally close together. Venus is lower and significantly brighter. Jupiter is above and to the left but still bright.

Isn’t this amazing?

The first thing I did this morning was to check the weather – especially for the week. Tomorrow is to be considerably warmer, and rain through the week. So I threw on some old clothes and went straight out to cut the grass. It was still mostly cool at that hour, with a nice breeze. So I got the grass done and am pleased to have that handled.

Grass is neat and cut — and yes, a common ordinary orange day lily!

I showered and had brunch (egg salad), then started laundry. I decided since there was still a breeze I was going to try weeding a few places. My first task was the patio stones by the bottom deck. It didn’t take much as I just did it in May.

All neat and tidy.

Then I tackled under the lilacs by the side fence. It took almost 2 hours but looks super nice.

Top half

Bottom half

From there I went up front and did the smaller maple tree by the driveway. I didn’t quite get the bigger tree done – a lot more weeds over there. So I’ll have to try again another day!

This came out nice

Some of that is moss – but still has a ways to go.

Diane called just as I finished up, and said her daughter got food from the Fresh Market Express and couldn’t use all of it – so I buzzed over and got some of it. There was totally too much for me, and with Autmn and Noah being temporarily displaced I couldn’t save fresh food for her. So I drove over to Sarah’s – where Kathy was – and they looked through everything. Almost everything was accounted for by the time we all looked through it. There was ice cream, and the kids were excited about that!

Quote of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 9th is:

Coral Triangle Day; International Dark ‘n Stormy Day; National Call Your Doctor Day; National Donald Duck Day; National Forklift Safety Day; National Meal Perp Day; National No Apologies Period Day; National Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Day; World Pet Memorial Day.

I don’t think it’s to be dark and stormy tomorrow – but many it’s a Snoopy reference! I don’t generally do meal prep. God bless….

On this day in History: 1861 American Civil War: Tennessee votes to secede from the Union

There were no more storms in the night – but our neighboring town – Scottdale – really got wind. LOTS of trees down, and power outages. Here, we had a beautiful sunset!

Look at the clouds!

In Sunday School our lesson was the first of two shared by Bill Pullen (former minister). It was about God’s will for our lives. Very interesting and makes good sense! Jim is doing a good job teaching it.

Jim, our teacher, and his wife Dianne

I stopped at Big Lots on the way home and checked out the lights again. They did have a few sets – although I wasn’t impressed with the quality. But the price/quality equation was fine – and I have been looking at lights long enough to recognize that: You get what you pay for…. I won’t know if they work well until it’s dark, as they are solar. I can return them within 30 days so I feel like I can take a few days to test them out.

First set…

Second set…

I also picked up a bottle of bubbles. Cameron has this Bluey bubble maker that is super cute – makes tiny colorful bubbles – but I didn’t have any bubble soap. I filled it when I got home and I was having fun playing with it!

Tiny Bluey bubbles

The little butterfly that I had on my deck railing kept falling off, so I moved it. I feel it’s more secure and looks better, too.

The purple butterfly attached to the star.

Autmn is bringing Cameron over for me to watch – they are trying to move some things from their apartment into the trailer today, and that doesn’t work with a 2 1/2 year old that likes to unpack! Hope they get a few loads, anyway.

Silly boy.

And please keep my former boss, Joe’s, granddaughter Ella in your prayers. As far as I know, her surgery for the tumor on her brain is tomorrow. Thank you!

Ella with her mom (Lindsay)

QUOTE of the Day:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 8th is:

National Best Friends Day; National Upsy Daisy Day; World Oceans Day; World Brain Tumor Day (Wow – that’s amazing timing!); Bounty Day.

Here’s a hug out to my best friends! And prayers for little Ella’s tumor – God bless…

On this day in History: 1776 Richard Lee (Virginia) moves Declaration of Independence in Continental Congress

Changed and washed sheets, had breakfast, and balanced my checkbook. I had a two cent discrepancy and kept correcting it backwards. Ugh. Finally got it right – so good for another month.

I needed to get gas in the Mazda, so I did that in town then picked Kathy up. U. S. Grant was speaking in Delmont this afternoon – and we’ve seen him tons of time. He’s a favorite! So we enjoyed his stories and learned a bunch of history in the process. And the fun part was I watched a video on Grant’s Cottage (New York) last night so I felt extra prepared for it.

I was very surprised that I won one of the two raffle baskets. It was a little woven basket with maple syrup, 2 mini-jams, honey, a few note cards, and a ceramic ‘flag’. It was perfect, and I was very excited. I’m still trying to shake off a little anxiety about the kids, so it was a nice treat!

Basket with syrup and jam.

It POURED down rain on the way home, I could almost not see at all to drive. Thankfully the storms did not last long, so by the time I had some fish sticks I was able to spent about an hour an a half outside. I wanted to pull the extra ground cover away from the stone steps under the deck. Cameron loves to walk up and down them all the time. The ground cover makes them slippery, and also makes it hard to see the stone edging. Now they are open and clean.

From the top looking down

From the bottom looking up.

I also dug out some weeds around the two stones by the corner of the deck. It was overrun with weeds. I was glad to accomplish something.

The last thing I finished before starting this was to use the last of my milk chocolate wafers from Smicksburg and did some popcorn. Looks like a trip to Smicksburg is in my future!

Just SOME of the popcorn.

QUOTE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

Which side was SNOOPY on?

TOMORROW June 7th is:

Boone Day; Children’s Awareness Memorial Day; International Supply Chain Professional Day; June Bug Day; National Cancer Survivor’s Day; National Chocolate Ice Cream Day; National Oklahoma Day; National VCR Day; World Caring Day; World Food Safety Day.

I still have my VCR – use it once in a while for fun shows and movies. And I LOVE Chocolate ice cream! Never been to Oklahoma but liked the musical. God bless…

On this day in History: D-Day 1944 

I was up with the birds again this morning – and about now I am losing steam. I started the day (after a shower and breakfast) doing a load of laundry. I did have a full list, including little things like changing batteries in some wall clocks that I look at all the time – and they had stopped. I had a few lilac branches that I had to trim down by the shed. First, they were covering the big purple star on the side, and second, when I mowed the branches would slap me in the face. Good to have that done. While I was in the bottom yard with a trash bag and clippers and a shovel, I attacked the overgrown plants on the corner opposite the shed. It made a big difference – there were huge clumps of wild grasses everywhere (which I dug out), and a half-dead hosta that I cut back, and a few spring stalks that were done.

Looks better….

As much as I hated to do it, I took all the light strings off my deck railings. They were half burned out, and not long enough, and just had too many extension cords. It’s the first time in at least a decade (probably longer) that I haven’t had lights on the decks all year long. I may put something up if I find the perfect thing, but hoping they will be solar so I don’t have to stretch extension cords everywhere.

I did the ironing and got laundry put away, then I had to approve edits on my 2026 submission to the Loyalhanna Review. Just got an email that my story is approved for publication, and I needed to read over it to make certain it was correct. So I’m pretty excited about that and can’t wait until July/August when it comes out.

About 2pm or so I picked up Autmn and Cameron and took them to the house. Autmn stayed and worked, and I brought Cameron home. I have to say for the first time that I can actually remember he was 99% pleasant, happy, and agreeable! It was a lovely day, and I feel there’s hope (for me, not him!). He wanted Scrench Fries (French Fries) and nuggets so we stopped in New Stanton on the way home for that – which he did well eating the better part of it.

No he doesn’t eat with his feet!

We had ‘spa’ day – I filled an empty tote with water from the hose, but it was so cold we carried a few buckets of hot water from the laundry room to warm it up. He bathed his animals, including my yard turtles (which he kissed soundly on the top of their shells). We went straight inside to the bathtub, as he had grass and dirt in his hair and down his clothes. He did have a wonderful time!

Those marks on his face are from M&M’s!

I made him chicken rice for supper and he ate 2 servings – cleaned his plate. We watched a million episodes of BLUEY and one was about safety – which I appreciated because they were issues that Cameron and I discuss all the time – like the hot stove, holding hands crossing the street, jumping on the couch. We talked about them each after they were over. I hope that helps reinforce what we have been teaching him. And it did save me from watching repeats of THE DRAGON KING!

It’s 9:20pm so I’m jumping off here. It sure looks dark out my door without the lights! I do have 2 small solar flowers so that helps!

QUOTE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 6th is:

Butterfly Education and Awareness Day; D-Day; International Tabletop Day; National Applesauce Cake Day; National Black Bear day; National Bubbly Day; National Eyewear Day; National Gardening Exercise Day; National Trails Day; National Yo-Yo Day; World Tetris Day.

I wear my glasses (eyewear) every day for a least a little bit. I haven’t even TRIED a yo-yo in years. My cousin’s granddaughter went outside to take a walk up her road – and :

Yep – just hangin’ out!

On this day in History: 1937 Henry Ford initiates a 32 hour work week

I had one deal at work this morning, and processed it with the new CVR system. I got through it just fine – I did forget to change one small thing but it didn’t effect the processing and all is well. I was happy to have navigated through that.

I came home and had a few household chores – Since the burger grease dripped in the oven, I spent a while cleaning it out and wiping the racks. That was a good chore to get done. From there I scrubbed both bathroom, laundry room, and kitchen. Wiped up the floors and spritzed everything with Lysol.

By then, I heard from Autmn, and she was desperate to get back down to the trailer and get some things done. I picked up her and Cameron at Nate’s and then dropped her off. She sent me a picture – she had part of the flooring laid in Cameron’s room! She’s determined!

Already performing!

And Kelly sent me a photo of a travel mug she found. I think she looked at it yesterday and wasn’t sure – but then decided she WAS sure! So glad for that!

Cameron and I were outside for about an hour or so – it was pleasant and he loved playing in the water and riding his airplane. We came inside for a break, then went back out again. He sat under the lilac trees and played with my lawn turtles for a while.

Autmn arranged for JoJo (her sister) to come down and play with Cameron for a while and keep him busy. It will be a nice distraction for him. He had a piece of pizza, cheese cubes, and green beans for supper, and when JoJo got here they shared some M&M’s I put in the back of his farm tractor!

Since my purple LED lights burned out around my bookcase, I dug the R/W/B ones out and put them back up. I will probably leave them up all summer if they stay lit!

QUOTE of the DAY:

PEANUTS?

TOMORROW June 5th is:

National Donut Day; National Fish & Chip Day; National Gingerbread Day; National Hot Air Balloon Day; National Ketchup Day; National Moonshine Day; National Sausage Roll Day; National Veggie Burger Day; World Environmental Day.

I could go for a donut. And I love fish & chips. Kelly used to love hot air balloons – they used to land in the field above our Mohawk Drive house and we’d chase them when they took off! Ketchup? Has to be Heinz! God Bless…

On this Day in History: My stepfather John passed away in 2021; and Autmn graduated from Hempfield in the same year.