Good Saturday to you from Iowa where the heat and humidity have returned along with too many kinds of bugs. I tried sitting out on the porch and now my ankles are all itchy from the no-se-ums which are just about everywhere even though you can't see them. Thus their name! Nature comes in all shapes and sizes. When we walked along the river we enjoyed a lot of birds and when we walked in East Park there were plenty of geese and a deer amongst the trees which is unusual during the daytime. We had two wild turkeys in our backyard on Thursday. We have a raccoon that likes to visit our backyard and do his business at night. I think he must realize how much it annoys Joel! Looking outside our living room window I can see a small bar of Irish Spring soap in the rocks by the tree the raccoon visits, so I think he's trying to keep the little bandit away with the smell of that! Supposedly animals don't like the smell of Irish Spring. I don't like it either!
Speaking of not liking it.....yesterday was one of those days where things were just a little off kilter. I decided to make homemade whole wheat bread and I think I did something different this time or it could have been the humidity but it just did not rise the way it should have so we have bread but it is very heavy and dense. That won't stop us from eating it though! I like to toast up one slice and eat it for supper along with some banana and a glass of milk. Oh and almond butter for protein! We decided to bring home Culver's yesterday. Joel had a grilled fish sandwich and I had grilled chicken without the bun. Neither one of us were impressed with what we were eating and found it kind of blah. Maybe it was just the cook or maybe it's our taste buds!?! We're going to grill pork chops today. The big thick kind with the bone in. My favorite kind of grilled chop and they're so big you can eat half for one meal and half for another! I also made Joel oatmeal cookies this week so he has a few now in the freezer.
Speaking of food, I was talking with a friend about just that and how we get tired of the food we eat and get tired of cooking. Since most of our food is made from scratch here I don't dare get into the tired of cooking mode. I remember when Joel's mom moved into assisted living she looked in the kitchen there and said well I'm never going to cook again and she didn't. She has spent her whole life cooking, canning, baking, and gardening.....making meals on the farm and for her husband and family and she decided she was done. She enjoyed going down to the dining hall very much and eating there. She never turned on her stove.
Joel finished his wood project of another wooden tray table and he got both of them stained now. They look really nice. He's used different woods. Some he has taken out of a dumpster, some old wood that he had here at home .....most of it recycled wood. That's what he did when he made all the wooden boxes last year too. He's ridden his bike a few times, although he took a break this week due to waking up Tuesday morning with bad vertigo. It all lasted under 2 hours but it made him cautious since he had a TIA two years ago. He saw the doctor yesterday for his VA physical and talk to her about it and she felt it was more of a blood pressure issue than another TIA. Good to know. He's back riding and enjoying nature along the way. I've been walking inside mostly, my usual 25 minutes a day..... did some cleaning and some baking and going through articles I've written. I talk on the phone almost every day to my friend Lana. And I do Wordle, Connections, The Mini Puzzle, and Spelling Bee daily to stretch my brain.
Speaking of phone calls, we talked to our friend Joyce Olson whose husband Merv was Joel's internship pastor back in 1978-79. Joel sent her a copy of his latest book because Merv played such an important part of him writing it. She was wanting to talk to us about it. Merv has been gone 10 years now. Our internship year had a profound effect on our lives and Joel's ministry. It was nice to visit and see how she and her children are doing. I also exchanged texts visiting with my friend Helen that I met while living in the Philippines. We have not seen each other in person since 1976 but still stay connected..... us in Iowa and them in South Carolina. We used to call each other Sisters in Christ and expect to meet again one day together in Heaven! Our time in the Philippines is yet another example of a season of our journey that had a powerful impact on our lives and still does.
As I sit listening to Alexa play George Winston songs I am so grateful....for music that soothes the soul. Grateful for biking, riding, Joel's good physical report. Grateful for the animals and birds we get to see on a daily basis. Grateful for a walk in the park and along the river road. Grateful for homemade honey whole wheat bread, food at our fingertips, and meals that fill our bellies. Grateful for connecting with Joyce and Helen. Grateful for old friends. Grateful for Joel's cookies baked, pork chops on the grill, and refreshing drinks like white grape juice on a humid day. Grateful for phone calls from friends and family, texts that connect us with one another, and emails......grateful for pictures sent by text, and so very much more.
Enjoy your weekend!
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