Good Saturday to you from our corner of North Iowa where the heat and the humidity continue. It has been a week to talk about the weather all around us. We have mostly avoided anything damaging but we have 2 families who have damage done to their property in two different states. Definitely this has been a year of winds and large hail and lots of rain.
Joel has been getting in a lot of riding by going early in the mornings. He says there's a lot of walkers out then too. Our beautiful path that was created from the River Road now has a nice bench you can rest on and also a sculpture of a deer, although I'm questioning why we need a sculpture of a deer when we have so many deer around here already that are living and breathing! I'm still walking inside mostly and around 25 minutes. Still baking to use up the blueberries although we froze a few. It's nice to have them for a smoothie once in awhile. Last Sunday we went to church outside but when the winds picked up a lot I stepped inside and sat in the library where I could still hear the service. I had to smile knowing that Joel's books he has written are in that library and are also in our Public Library here in town. Also the bookstore downtown and every Lutheran Church has received one here in town. He is now writing his third book, there is no slowing him down! If anyone remembers me saying that I was putting together articles for a book.... I still am. It's slow going with my vision....but it's going!
Speaking of not slowing down, have you been watching the Olympics? I really enjoy women's beach volleyball but I find it extremely annoying that the men wear loose fitting shorts and tops and the women are all in bikinis. I would think they would protest this that draws attention to their bodies and from what I understand the French even wore thongs which left their buttocks free to look at. I'm sorry but that is just gross and distracting. This is a sport we're watching not some R-rated movie. That's my humble opinion of course. :) Joel was able to watch some archery and we have watched all the gymnastics, some of the swimming and rugby which is fascinating. I did notice when the rowing came on that my body relaxed more just from the amount of noise that went away. It was very soothing to just watch them rowing from a distance. I am adding here that our oldest and son in law and my sister and brother in law have recommended watching the movie, "The Boys In The Boat". Supposed to be great. Last night we tried to watch the trampoline event and we both got dizzy from the camera moving up and down so much so that didn't last very long! I'm always impressed with nations that send one or two athletes and those athletes work so hard to get there and they're so thrilled just to be a part of it. A medal would be wonderful but they're enjoying just being there. They realize what a privilege that is to be there. I think most of the olympians feel the same way. We could say that about living in America.... it is a privilege to live in a country with the freedoms we have, it is a privilege to be able to make choices. it's a privilege to be able to buy a new car. go to the grocery store, turn on the air conditioning, open our fridge and fill our bellies it is a privilege that not everyone in every country has. I know that I have shared before that more than once we would watch young children around the ages four to six digging through our garbage in the Philippines to take out any scraps they found putting them in a bag for their family. At one point a garbage truck broke down outside the cement walls around our house and the man on that truck started a little fire and went through the garbage to pull out pieces of meat or something else to warm up over that fire and eat! You see something like that and you never forget it.
Well back to the Olympics. We have enjoyed the events involving horses the fencing just a little of everything I guess! It was very exciting to see America win gold for both the men's and the women's gymnastics. Sometimes I wish we could see more of the other countries performances but they don't have the time to cover al of it. And the closing ceremonies.....we'll see....Guess we should finish what we start! Haha
Speaking of finishing what you start, Joel finished the wood project he was doing for the local Frank Lloyd Wright house/museum bookcases. He enjoys working with wood so much.
Joel has done some porch sitting, and nature usually provides a show. This week we were annoyed to see that one of God's creatures chewed off ALL of our geranium plants. Leaves and buds and flowers were all over the ground around it. Evidentally the creature didn;t like the taste but kept biting off more and more expecting a different taste? UGH! I told Joel I was glad he paid only $10 on clearance for the plant instead of the original $60. So far the rest are safe from the little bugger. Our pansies are still in full bloom and so colorful. And our black eyed Susan is beautiful! \
Yesterday we went to my sister Kay and brother in law Dan's for birthday pie. She is only three years behind me in age. Healthy andd happy! Happy Birthday Kay!
On that note, it is time to end this Scribbles. Today's writings are presented by a brain working on 5 hours of sleep. HA!
So, I'm grateful for the 5 hours of sleep because it also makes me thankful that I uually sleep 8 hours. Grateful for our flowering plants, grateful for a cool home on hot August days. Grateful for a birthday visit with family. Grateful for outdoor church, porch sitting, and even our annoying animals that are nibbling on our plants. Grateful for the Olympics to watch. Grateful for all the privileges we have in America. Grateful my food comes from the store and our kitchen and not a garbage truck. Grateful for phone calls, texts, emails, and pictures. And so much more......
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