Busy Happy Day

 We usually eat breakfast in a restaurant on Friday mornings; but since we no longer get a Friday morning newspaper delivered to us (it comes in the mail), my husband thinks he would like to switch to Thursday. That way he can go to the gym on Friday and not have 3 days of not going over the weekend. 

This morning we had the Super Imperial Omelet (to share) at American Table. By the time we left, it was raining slightly. A little before 10 a.m. we headed for North Webster where the Friends of the Library were holding a book sale. What great prices! 50 cents per item. I have never seen them have such low prices for hardbound books and DVD's. I bought Sense and Sensibility on DVD to replace our VCR tape copy. I can't get the audio to work on our machine. I also bought a DVD of Call the Midwife. 

My husband bought a few books for himself. Mostly he paid for some of my heavy decorating books and took them to the car so I could keep browsing and filling up my bag.

The Shaffer book is secular, and the author unfamiliar to me. At 50 cents, not much of a gamble. I can't remember if I have read any Tyndall. Fisher and Austin I have read before.

 The Francine Rivers book is a novel about Amos the Biblical prophet. I have a soft spot for Amos because of the connection to the weeks my husband and I spent in Israel as consultants to the Institute of Holy Land Studies on Mount Zion. I went out with the college students on some of the field trips. We were taken to Tekoa. The bus stopped next to the road, and the occupants found rocks to sit on scattered in a field that probably pretty much looked the way it did when Amos shepherded his sheep. We spent personal time in prayer and devotions. 

We had several stops on Indiana 13 today enroute to the book sale because of roadwork. We came home on some country roads that took us to Old Highway 30. The redbud trees burst into full bloom just this week. It was a very pretty drive.

It got to 80 this afternoon. I sat on the porch for a while. Our neighborhood pear trees are also blooming; my quince bush blossoms are just starting to open up. Tomorrow brings more rain and a drop in temps for the weekend. It won't be porch-sitting weather even next week.

The shadows of the day are the struggles of two friends with heart conditions, one in the hospital in Fort Wayne undergoing tests, the other having been told by his doctor that nothing more could be done to help him. I also learned that the sweet lady who moved with her husband into my former sister-in-law's apartment in July died this morning. She had a stroke several weeks ago; a valve was damaged, and the doctors offered no hope of fixing it. In a senior community, folks struggle with health issues. Death is not a stranger.

Fleurs and New Books

 

My neighbor called to remind me that I was welcome to cut and take some of her hydrangeas. I had planned to do so on July 4th, but the grass was too wet. Yesterday afternoon I selected 3 blossoms. I tried to take them from different spots so there wouldn't be a "blank" spot on her bushes. As I entered my sliding door I saw that my backdoor neighbor was cutting some, also. I am sure he had been given the same invitation. Unfortunately he cut blooms right next to each other. Sure enough there is now part of the bush without any blooms.

 The pink flower below is also a hydrangea. This grows next to the west side of my house; it never puts out many blossoms. There must be a variety of hydrangeas. The pink one looks nothing like the big fluff-ball Annabelle ones.

The 4 books pictured with the blue hydrangea vase I bought Saturday morning at a Warsaw Friends of the Library book sale. Their little storage/sales room is overflowing. The hardbound books were fifty cents each. The one about Shackleton crossing Antarctica I bought for my husband though I will probably read it also.  I had read Hickam's October Sky and hope The Coalwood Way is interesting. I have a video of painting in the manner of Dewberry. I cannot get the audio of our video player to work. It may be because we have a sound bar for the TV. Some day when I feel bored and ready for a challenge I will go over the manual and play around with where to plug things in or what to turn on/off. In the meantime, I can use this book instead of the video. The brushes and paint I bought with the how-to video are ancient. This is what would be called aspirational clutter. I am not quite ready to let go of those things. 

I have had a smattering of moss roses this past week; today there are 10 blooms. Yesterday I also staked up the fallen Veronica (Speedwell). They are easy perennials to grow, but they get top-heavy and fall over in the rain and wind. 

A surprise is that one of the Asiatic lilies has two late buds about ready to open. My lilies did not do this in the previous 2 years.

I was also surprised to see two Knockout rose blooms out front. They kind of sneaked up on me; I saw the new growth but wasn't expecting flowers soon.

My neighbor has daisies? blooming next to the spent peonies. I don't know what the bright green stalks are.

It is a little humid today. Low 80's with a breeze. There may be storms around 9 p.m. to midnight. I hope the rain does hold off as I plan to grill brats. We stopped at Sweet Corn Charley's for some sweet corn. Our first batch of corn last week had flavor but also some worms on the ends. 

Summertime and the livin' is easy. No catfish but brats, sweet corn, and potato salad ahead for us.