Yard Work

July 27th - Tuesday PM - Beautiful Day - 90 degrees low humidity

I will try and update everyone since the last post. Saturday was a very hot day and Lou and I were up early and I took advantage of the cooler morning and scrubbed both decks and the sidewalks, the raccoons had left their footie prints all over and it was time for them to go. We still continue with the nightly routine of scurrying them away.

We finally got relief from the humidity on Saturday and had thundershowers late afternoon. Lou snapped the picture of the rainbow after the rain had stopped. We actually had a double rainbow later.

Sunday we went to church and it poured while we were in church, so we scooted to Lou's house after church and found the basement had water in it, so got that all cleaned out and went out for breakfast and we actually rested most of Sunday afternoon.

Monday dawned with beautiful cloudless skies and low humidity, so we thought it was a good time to resume our daily walks. We went into Wellsboro and walked in the cemetery and then ran errands and went to Lou's house to do lawn work. Actually, we have spent two days there and we could spend every day for the rest of the summer doing things that need to be done to help with the appearance of the flowers and such. We had made big plans on things we wanted to do; however, there are circumstances that prohibit us from spending time there. We did cut down a couple trees and I spent all of my time running the weed eater. When we arrived at Lou's house we didn't start out with very good luck. There are three lawn mowers there and not one of them would start. Thankfully, I took my electric weed eater and that would work. Finally, with the help of the battery charger from the motor home, we got the John Deere started and cut part of the grass. We finally quit at 7:00 and came home for dinner and went back today and finished. I still don't have all of the weed eating done. I did snap several pictures to give you an idea of the beautiful surrounding at Lou's. Edna had beautiful flowers at one time, but with neglect, they like all things don't show as they did at one time. There are several beds that I do try to keep up as I know she would have appreciated it and I know that Lou does.

We had a dinner from our garden, fresh green beans, cucumbers, swiss-chard, all of that went with fresh hamburger that my brother gave us. It was delightful.

Tomorrow we will try and walk in the morning and run into town for some errands and work here at home, with square dancing tomorrow night.

We did have some news from our Marine grandson. He is going to be stationed near Philadelphia for a year; therefore, we will get to see he and his family frequently. This makes all of the family members happy.

Happy Birthday - Krista

July 24th - Saturday - Krista's Birthday

My youngest daughter turns 40 years old today. She was one of my greatest joy as a mother, as I was able to stay home with her when she was born. The older two children were in school when she was born and that allowed Krista and I the whole day to ourselves. Each day brought a new adventure for us, as she was a bright, pretty and happy little girl that loved everyone she came in contact with. This all continued for the first two years of her life and at that time, her father filed for divorce and at that time our lives changed. I needed to find a place to live and employment that would support myself and three children.

Thankfully, all of us were very close and had learned to be very independent. Susie at that time was eight years old and she was the best baby sitter I could find. She truly loved Krista and knew what would make her happy, even Scott found he liked to play dollies with the girls and the girls found that they loved playing with Hot Wheels. We found a cute apartment within walking distance to school, work and the grocery. We were settling in and finding a new life.

It wasn't long after we were settled in our new home that Al came into our lives and Krista found a new Daddy and a bond was formed that never failed. Isn't it wonderful how God has a plan for all of us that is for the betterment of us.

Krista being the last child was quick to make friends by herself and wasn't afraid to tackle something new and different. She might wake up and have butterflies in her stomach knowing she was going to do something different, she didn't let it stop her, she continued with the plan and made the best of it. She went to many different camps, had swimming lessons, took ballet lessons, joined Brownies, went to day camp, along with church and Sunday School.

We moved to Pennsylvania when she was ten years old and there she found another special friend, and that was her Grandpa Goodwin. His birthday was the day after hers, Krista and her Grandpa celebrated their birthdays together each year. Note the pictures above. The picture of Krista and her Grandpa at the kitchen table was Daddy's 75th birthday and Krista was seven. We celebrated that birthday by all of the family going to the Woodshed for dinner, and what a good time we all had together.

Krista was the perfect teenager, never disobedient, was active in church and her youth group and even worked with other children in Child Evangelism summer camp. The only time I can remember Krista becoming upset with her father and me was after we moved to Pennsylvania, and it was time for the Christmas tree to be set up. I came up with the idea of getting a large live limb and attaching it to the ceiling and decorating it. Al thought that was a good idea also, so off we set to find the perfect evergreen limb. Krista came home from school and found the limb attached to our ceiling and was she ever upset???? She packed her little suitcase and out the door she went. It wasn't long until Aunt Joanne called and told us Krista was there and did we want her to give her dinner and then send her home. Kris returned home before dark and found the limb all decorated and decided she rather liked it and shared the news of her special limb with her friends at school.

Kris graduated from high school and was married, had some problems; however, Al and I did not give up on her, and felt that she would remember what she had been taught as a child and would return to the family as before. Our family stepped in and helped care for her new baby, Michelle as Krista got her life straightened out. God did return Krista to the family and when Al had his accident she stepped up to the job at hand and proved to us that she could and would be able to care for her then school age daughter.

Krista got an apartment by herself and proved to herself that she was a worthy person and could take care of herself and would also be responsible for her daughter, that she had just been given custody of.

She shared with Al and myself how much she appreciated our love and the fact that we did not give up on her and she proved that many times over as Al neared the end of his life here on earth. She took a leave of absence from her job and took care of Al during the day while I worked. She would come to the house anytime I called when I needed help with anything. Once again God was faithful to provide for all of us at the time of our need.

This past year she has come through her diagnosis of cancer, taken all of her radiation and chemo and is awaiting the doctor to give her "a return to work slip". She is ready to begin to live life to the fullest once again. She has retained her faith and have learned many of life's lessons the hard way. She is busy getting her daughter ready to set off to college in August.

She is a daughter that we can be proud of and know that she is next door and willing to do whatever she needs to do for Lou, Estee and myself whenever we ask for help. She has told Lou that after her Daddy died she prayed for God to give her Daddy back to her and He did the next best thing, He sent Lou to all of us.

Happy Birthday Kris, we love you.

Erie, PA - Visit with Aunt Marilyn

July 22nd Thursday - Foggy and 64 degrees at 7:00 A.M.

Lou and I were up early and ready to leave the house before 7:00 this morning. Our destination was Erie, PA to visit my one and only remaining aunt on my mother's side of the family and one of my very favorite people in the world. I had not seen her in 15 years, but she has been so faithful to me over the years, with cards, letters and phone calls. She probably is the lady that is responsible for me agreeing to marry Lou when he asked me. She was the first person I called and talked to, as her husband had died very unexpectedly and she married a childhood sweetheart and just recently lost him. She told me to follow my heart, that God had laid the path and it was up to me to follow that path and thank God, I listened to her. She immediately fell in love with Lou also and what a wonderful day we had chatting together.

We traveled up route 86, allowing our GPS in the car guide us. We stoppeed in Salamanca for breakfast near the Seneca-Allegheny Casino and we noted a sign stating they had Senecas for sale and Lou and I didn't know what they were talking about, but soon found out they were a brand of cigarettes and they were $23.30 per carton compared to a brand name at $46.00. Both of agreed we were glad that we didn't smoke.

We passed by a beautiful resort lake names Chartauqua Lake near Bemus Point. Reminded me of Eagles Mere, beautiful home with this beautiful crystal clear lake. Neither of us had traveled this route and enjoyed the drive; however, it would not be a way to travel after dark and we decided quickly, we would return home another way.

We arrived at Aunt Marilyn's house about 11:00 am and I was ever so glad to see her, for a lady of nearly 90 years of age, she is one remarkable lady. She gets up and down as easily as I do and steady on her feet and she can tell more family history that I could be reading the family tree. She also is a world traveler, so she and Lou had much to chat about and chat we did until about 2:30, when we decided we would drive the mile over to Presque Isle. Lou drove and Aunt Marilyn was the navigator. So many things were new since Lou and I had been there. I was impressed by the number of house-boats that were on the lake, and of course, Lou delights in any type of sail boat. We got out and walked to the lighthouse; however, the trees obscured our view and picture taking. We witnessed the damage done by the recent tornado to the Isle, sad to see the damage where one would not expect tornado damage.

After our sightseeing, we drove to one of Aunt Marilyn's favorite restaurants and had a late lunch of a delightful crusted Pecan chicken salad and lava cake and ice cream for desert. After lunch we went back to the house, that is exactly the way I remember their home. How this lady has kept it in such wonderful repair and it was spotless inside and out. Like I said, she is a remarkable lady. We viewed her recent pictures of her cruise to Alaska, and beautiful they were. She and Lou had much to discuss about their respective trips to Alaska.

All too soon, it was time to be back on the road, so after thank yous, hugs and kisses we were back on the road for home; however, this time we took Peach Street (route 19) out of the city and on to route 6. We did take route 59 so we could stop at Kinzua Dam for a bit. It brought tears to my eyes to stop there again, as the last time I was there I was with my Daddy and he so loved watching the progress of the dam and finally the completion of the spillway and dam.

After one other stop at McDonald's for coffee and a sweet roll in Port Allegheny, we arrived home before 10:00 this evening, with a sense of satisfaction and wonderful memories of a special day.

Special note to family: Aunt Marilyn sends her love to all of you, she asked about each of you and we shared your pictures with her. You can see I have added pictures of the house and the part of the large living room where you kids always liked to sit. The only thing missing in the yard is the huge Weeping Willow, it is gone, but in its place is a beautiful maple.

I think this concludes our travelling for a few days, must get caught up on yard work and laundry.

Tyrone, PA Preston and Susie's Deck

July 19th Monday - Tyrone, PA Hot and Humid

Lou and I were up early this morning and left for Preston and Susie’s by 7:30. We stopped in Wellsboro at Subway and tried one of their special order breakfast menu. We found their breakfast sandwich to be tasty; however, their coffee was not as good as McDonalds.

We traveled down Route 287 and found the drive very relaxing and enjoyable. Lou and I are both fascinated by the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania and never fail to appreciate their beauty and solitude. I am always amazed at the many, many shades of green that we can see in our mountains in the summer. We were also to see that the farmers here also need rain for their crops. We noted that the huge fields of corn were rolled up, God’s way of helping the important grain to soak up any dew drops that might be available to the parched leaves.

We arrived at Preston’s house about 9;45 and found Preston already hard at work. We said hello to Susie and I changed into work clothes and we all went to work. We were impressed by what Preston already had done. The framing work was complete and by complete, I mean Complete!! He had stained all of the framing to preserve the pressure treated lumber, plus he had used something new to me, a special sealant tape that goes under all of the metal hardware to prevent caustic damage and then also applied to the top of all of the joices to make a moisture barrier.

Pres. Had designed his deck on the computer using two different colors of decking. It was to have two pieces of a redwood brown for an outside border and a beautiful mountain ash gray center as the primary color. This you can see from the pictures. We worked until noon and then enjoyed a wonderful lunch that Susie had prepared for us. We topped the lovely luncheon off with a desert of fresh blueberries and raspberries with a topping of whipped cream.

Susie had to leave before we had finished our lunch to conduct a walking tour of the city of Tyrone, so after lunch I cleaned up the dining room table and put things away as best I could in her immaculately kept kitchen. I then returned to the working crew. We all worked diligently the rest of the afternoon, having a really good time doing what needed to be done. We made a couple of goofs, but it was all dealt with in fun and we redid what we needed to fix and went on. Finally, about 6:15 we found what Preston said we had been looking for and that was the last screw to be put in. We had accomplished one tier of his three tier deck.

The three of us cleaned up the best we could and went to Stephanie’s newly purchased three story Victorian home and was I ever impressed with this purchase. The stained glass windows were breathtaking and the beautiful hard wood floors. It would be a dream come true for me. She gave us the grand tour from attic to the finished basement.

After the tour of Stephanie’s home we went to one of Preston’s favorite restaurant for dinner. I enjoyed a meal of liver and onions and Lou had a steak salad and we ended our meal by splitting a wonderful piece of Reese’s Peanut Butter pie. After hugs and kisses all around we said our goodbyes and we traveled route 220 back towards Wellsboro and a shower and a freshly made bed.

It was a day of hard work, but very enjoyable for Lou and I, it is always good to spend time with family and be able to do something to help them, as we have been recipients of Preston’s labors many times over.

This will continue to be a busy week and will try and keep everyone posted on our travels.

Lunch w/ Preston and Susie

July 16th - Friday Hot and Humid

Another week is about gone, and it has been another week of intense heat and humidity. As you recall we went to Little Pine Creek to meet Susie and Preston for lunch. All of them had eaten at this restaurant previously and had good memories from the establishment. It is decorated in the rustic cabin style with all of the mounted animals to go along with it. We were the only couple in the dining room and obviously had a waitress that was very new to her position. We ordered salads with different topping; however, Susie ordered a cheeseburger. The food was "alright", nothing to "write home about". One the other side, it was great to have a chance to visit with Preston and Susie. Seems like the time we have to spend together goes very quickly, but we tried to remember everything we wanted to share with each other.

Their daughter, Stephanie has just purchased a wonderful three story Victorian home in Tyrone, and they brought along pictures of the exterior and the interior so we could see what this home looked like. Talk about impressive. I think Lou counted six bedrooms, with several beautiful porches, can't wait to see it in person.

Preston is building a multi-level deck on the rear of his house, and he brought pictures to share with us on his progress. Very impressive for this young man that is a retired art and ceramic teacher. He did all of his plans on the computer that is far above my imagination, but nevertheless very impressive. He is ready to put the decking down, hence the reason for the trip to Williamsport. He purchased a special "artificial wood" for his decking and needed to pick it up in Williamsport. He drove his van to pick up the decking and would need to cut it in shorter lengths to transport it back home. He brought along his chopsaw and was able to plug in at the business and even had a couple of guys helping him along with his dad. Susie and I thought we would sit in an air-conditioned area and wait, but didn't find a spot, so I drove towards the city of Williamsport and still didn't find a spot, so we drove back to the lumberyard as the guys were about finished. Once loaded, Pres and Susie were off to Tyrone, with a promise from Lou he would come down and help Pres put some of the decking down when he was ready. This was wonderful, as Lou had just mentioned he wished he could have been able to help Preston with his deck, so the opportunity presented itself.

Lou and I enjoyed our leisurely drive back home, listening to the February Light book by Heather Trexler Remoff. This was the book about Eagles Mere that I wrote about before. Now Lou understands my fascination with the small tourist town.

Wednesday found us back with the blueberries and we picked almost 13 quarts. We were able to package the majority of them for the freezer, although, I had to save out four cups to make the blueberry dessert that my Susie told me about. This is becoming one of Lou's favorite desserts.

Wednesday night was square dancing and we had a wonderful crowd out. We had three plus squares dancing and once again learned a couple of new things. I am finding more fun in this each week.

Lou and I are so enjoying the view from our kitchen window. This morning, we had eight turkeys playing near the creek with two huge gobblers. While we were watching them, we noted two foxes sitting up on the flat. They were enjoying the scenery also. Lou got me the binoculars to watch them with and being fascinated with foxes as I am, I just simply sat at the table and watched them. Then all of a sudden they both disappeared. They scooted right into a wood chuck hole. Lou was watching them at the same time and both of us were amazed as how quickly they disappeared. We also have young cardinals that are coming to the feeders along wit the young Rose Colored Grosbeaks. it is hard to get our work done for all of the wonderful things happening outside. Yesterday we watch one of my brother's baby calves get his new legs under him. His mommy stayed close by all day long, and kept watching us to see if we were going to render harm.

Tonight is square dancing here and I was able to get all of the grass cut yesterday while Lou was at the dentist and running errands, and now I must get my house cleaned up a bit and finish up dinner. Have a pork roast in the crock pot and I made date pudding for our snack after square dancing and will serve vanilla ice cream with it.

Next week promised to be a very busy week. Lou and I each have dental appointments, going to Preston's one day and driving to Erie to visit my aunt and Lou wants to get up to Horseheads to visit with his son-in-law that just got home from surgery. Sunday I have a part in the worship service, so all in all will be a busy week.

Beautiful Summer Days

July 11th - Sunday - Beautiful Summer Day w/ low humidity

As most of you know the weather here on the eastern part of the United States has been very hot. We had six (6) days of above 90 degrees, with relief finally coming on Friday night with thundershowers.

Lou and I have been getting up very early so we can be at his house to pick blueberries before the heat of the day is unbearable. On Thursday, I had a mid afternoon dental appointment, and Lou went along with me, think we both needed a break from the day to day work we had been trying to get done. We stayed in the rest of the day and I made two lemonaide pies to have for refreshments after square dancing on Friday night.

The group of friends that we dance with on Friday night are very faithful and showed up right at 7:00 pm just as the heavens opened up with rain. I had the air-conditioner in the garage turned on, as we all prefer the cooler, dry air to dance in; however, the electricity went off also, so we danced anyhow and still had a good time. After dancing we enjoyed the pie, which was a new recipe and very tasty. I made a blueberry topping to serve over it along with freshly brewed coffee, it hit the spot for all of us.

Saturday was certainly a reprieve from the hot humid weather we

had experienced, it was a joy to be outside; however, Lou and I needed to get the berries that we had picked frozen. We prepared eight quarts for the freezer, then we were off to the grocery. We also took time for Lou to secure his hunting licence. Had to go three different places to find a place that he wouldn't have to stand in line for two hours. At one point he was about to give up, and perhaps not hunt this year; however, he looks forward to the time he spends with his son, Preston and several other men that he hunts with, and now he is glad that he did stand a wait a bit. Now to send in the application for the doe licence.

After the groceries were all put away, we grilled hamburgers for dinner and ate outside and enjoyed the weather in the final hours of sunlight.

The "varmints" have really been giving us a "fit". We have the three raccoons that come each night and they have now destroyed our fern bed, along with my ground cover by the back deck. Lou and I tackled that bed, cut all of the fern out, replaced the feeders and put down fresh mulch. We finished that job as it was getting dark. We didn't put any feed in the feeders hoping they will move on to happier hunting grounds. The red squirrels are living inside of one of our feeders, the rabbits are eating our garden and the woodchucks are digging out around the rocks in the flowers beds. When we get a chance we are going to put up an electric fence and see if that will deter some of the "varmints".

Today, Lou and I went to Williamsport to attend church. Our pastor is away for a month at school, so we thought we would sneak out one week and attend a church where a former pastor of Lou's is now the active pastor. We attended St. Paul-Calvary United Methodist Church and finally got to meet Rev. Robin L. Baer. Lou had told me so much about her and he had shared our courtship with her, so finally we were able to meet. I was very impressed by she and her church and her church family. It was a very warm and welcoming congregation. Pastor Robin preached from Amos which was to my delight. I feel we never hear enough from the Old Testament and all too quickly her message was over and we all received communion together. It was a delightful day all the way around. After our service we ate at Red Lobster and spent some time shopping in Williamsport.

We knew we needed to be home by 5:00 pm as Lou had to mark out a grave at Whitneyville and was to meet with Allyn to help with the digging of the grave.

It looks like we are going to have a problem getting back and forth to Lou's house for the rest of the summer. The Charleston Road is going to be closed going into Whitneyville, due to a replacement of a bridge, we haven't really figured out how we are going to travel back and forth.

Tomorrow the blueberries will call us and Tuesday we are going to meet Preston and Susie for lunch in Williamsport. We are excited about that, as we haven't seen Susie since we returned from Florida and we never seem to see either of them often enough. Will be a fun day for all of us.

The picture of Lou and Estee is another of the "spoils", Lou has gotten her so she will drink water from his hand when he uses the hose. The picture of the red rose, is called Black Velvet, it darkens as it ages and truly looks like a piece of velvet at its peak.

Aunt Hettie's Book

July 7th - Wednesday - Hot and Humid

With this extremely humid and hot weather, I have been working inside each afternoon. I am catching up on things I have put off in-order to get caught up outside.

Yesterday, my project was a scrapbook for Lou's Aunt Hettie, if you remember we visited her on our way back from Florida. She lives in a personal care home in Herferd, North Carolina. We had promised her we would stop on our way home and take her back to her home town of Gum Neck, NC. We did that and we had a wonderful day with her, hearing stories from she and Lou made the day very memorable. Unfortunately, Aunt Hettie has problems with short term memory, so I told her I would take all of the pictures that she wanted and would make a scrapbook of our day and send it to her.

I made the scrapbook and labeled each picture and wrote a story telling of our day and the memories Lou and I had of the day. She had told me that she loves to read and prefers her Bible for reading each night before she goes to sleep. Lou and I found a wonderful picture story book of Paul's footsteps through the Holy Land, so we added that to her box and got all of it into the mail this morning. We also sent along some extra pictures of our home and flowers so she can see where we live and what things look like here in Pennsylvania. It has been several years since she has been able to visit our state, so know she will enjoy seeing where we live now. She told me she had about worn out the pictures that I mailed her last year.

It has been a joy to do this for her knowing that she will receive many hours of enjoyed from them. I think we often forget our family members in their final days upon the earth.

Another family member that we have been visiting in a nursing home had the rare privilege of returning home last week. This is Brion's father and a gentleman that we certainly have enjoyed visiting with weekly at the Green Home. We pray that his health and strength will continue to improve and he and his wife will spend quality time in their home once again.

Lou's son-in-law had successful surgery yesterday to remove a kidney and of course, all are anxious to get the final biopsy report back on Friday. Seems like our prayer list continues to grow; however, we have seen several people dropped from our prayer list over the last few months. Praise God for his healing powers.

Tonight is square dancing, thankfully we have an air-conditioned place to dance. I often wonder how people survived prior to air-conditioning, the ladies in their many layers of clothing, baking and canning with wood stoves. The men working in the fields, loading hay by hand with their pitch forks, I don't remember hearing my parents complain, as kids we knew we had better have a cold drink for Daddy when he came in the driveway with a load of hay, and he always had a smile ready for us as we handed him a cool glass of ice-tea and mother would make his a mason jar of tea to take back on the hill with him. Grandma Gerow always made switchel when the men folks were haying and of course, being Grandma, she always made sure we had come also.

Lou and I have had two interesting evenings, Monday night when we came back from the fireworks, Estee stayed outside and sorta came and went all evening, finally at bedtime, I went out on the deck to see what she was doing and she was sitting at the base of the cherry tree and looking up, so I got the flashlight to see what was up in the tree, I didn't see anything, so I brought her back in, only to have her dash out again. I went back out and this time something growled at me. I came back in and got Lou out of bed, (he was reading), and told him something had growled at me. He took the gun and followed me out to the deck. I finally found what Estee was seeing, not one but three young raccoons munching on a suet cake and growling at each other... At this point, we closed the "doggie door" and went back to bed. While we were outside, I also heard the foxes down by the barn, Lou had taken his hearing aids out so he didn't get to hear them.

Last night, I was awakened by Estee barking, so once again, I went out and this time these three little rascals were at the top of our lattice work on the deck, all huddled together. I woke Lou up so he could see them up close, and he had to agree they were really cute, and we enjoyed watching them for a few minutes before we returned to bed. Once again, we brought Estee in and closed her door. After we got back into bed, we remembered several days ago, Krista had called and asked us if we had seen a mother raccoon around, perhaps, hit in the road, because she had three babies at her house. Perhaps these are the same little guys. Such is life in the country and we wouldn't trade it for the city.

Happy Fourth of July

July 4th - Sunday - Hot 92 degrees, beautiful cloudless blue sky

This has been perfect weather for the 4th of July, the typical hot weather that we think of when we think of the holiday. Thankfully, we have had a light breeze and the humidity has been low.

Saturday morning, Lou did get the wheels changed on his push mower and gave it a try and found that it was like a new machine, will walk right along, in fact Lou said he almost had to run to keep up with it. I was able to get my house cleaned up a bit and the laundry done while he was gone.

We set off for the Bark Peelers' Convention outside of Galeton, and we went right to the saw mill and watched them saw up a huge hemlock. It was a bit dark in the mill, but were able to capture a picture. From there we moved on to the kitchen, where a lady was making homemade buttermilk biscuits and baking them in a wood stove. We sampled them with freshly churned butter, a delight to withhold.

You will see a picture of a cake that was baked that resembles a tree, the sign will tell you how the care is made. We thought it was rather interesting.

We listened to Sadie Green Sales perform. I have a special interest in this group, as one of the singers was my tour guide when Michelle and I went to Prague.

We toured the rest of the museum and once again found it a wonderful place to visit. We would like to go back in the fall when it is a bit cooler and not so many people, that was we can spend more time in the museum.

We did get to see the "greased pole competition" and the "log rolling competition". Lou and I decided it was much more difficult than it looked.

We stopped at the Ox Yoke Inn on the way home and had a wonderful dinner along with a baked apple dumpling for dessert.

We went to Mansfield to watch the fireworks there. Lou was able to find a parking place by the ball diamond, so we could sit in the car and have a wonderful view. We were able to get in and out quickly and enjoyed the display of fireworks.

Today we went to church, on to George's for lunch where we met two old friends and enjoyed catching up with them on the happenings in their lives. We ended up staying until after 2:00 chatting with them. We stopped to get gas in town and met up with Brion, Janet and Casey, so had a chance to talk briefly with them. They were on their way back to Lou's house where they stayed last night and then they were returning to Camp Hill.

Lou and I spent the afternoon, getting caught up on paper work and what a great feeling that is to have those things out of the way. We had a light supper and Lou, Estee and I were off to see the firework at Ives Run. That was the first time I have ever been over into the camp area. We had a wonderful view from where we parked our car. You can see we all enjoyed the sights and the fireworks were much superior to what we viewed in Mansfield.

Seems like this has been a week for auto accidents. Lou's grandson was also involved in an accident and spent last night in the hospital. He has a compression fracture at c-7 and will be in a brace for six weeks. Lou talked to him tonight and he sounded in good spirits. He will be staying with his parents for a few days. His father is due to have surgery this week to have a kidney removed. We understand all things happen for a reason and I am sure Lou's daughter is wondering what those reasons are. We would appreciate prayers for both the father and the son.