What Doesn't Define You

 I wrote a long time ago about the time when Roy was in his last two years of law school. He had study group on Sunday mornings, which meant I went to church by myself. Now that in itself is nothing cause due to circumstances, I have done that many, many times. What I did back then and it wasn't a conscious thought but became a habit. I would begin from childhood through teenage years, college years, continue into young married and conclude the thoughts to the present (at that time) of all the hard, difficult, not knowing or understanding things that had happened in life. After a full morning of all those thoughts which were hard and heavy, I was just in the best of moods to worship the Lord and go to church. At that time in the early 90s, I did not have the answers or even understand the questions of it all. It would have been bad for me to stay in that state of mind. Not wholeheartedly, but little by little I began to research, talk with a therapist and do the work that needed to be done. It was a long process but in 2017, after the death of my father, I stumbled upon the motherload of help and answers to all the junk that wanted to stay apart of my life. Ugh!

One thing I figured out first on the adventure was, the different stages of telling the story. Early on it was a cry for help, someone rescue me from all of this. Later, it became the cry of seeking answers and having someone pat me on the back and say, "there, there." That led to thinking someone needed to walk along side me while processing and healing. Then the story became a work in progress in that I was in the middle part of the journey. Now, I feel like I look at it as, it happened, it affected me, I have learned from it and these hard, mean and uncertain meaning of things does not define me. 

I stumbled upon a person on FB, Farmer Girl. This morning she gave a description of how she approaches scripture and the like. Her description is very close to how I have done. So much that she writes resonates. The other day her post on Jabez was not the obvious take that took hold many years ago. Expanding your territory, more like a prosperity message that people loved cause it was a veiled message. Farmer Girl wrote of what Jabez bore throughout his life. His name meant pain. So, as she wrote, when he came near just saying his name was saying, oh hello pain. Go to her FB page and she is on Instagram too. God redeemed him and as Farmer Girl writes, your beginning doesn't have to be the definition of who you are. May I insert, Praise God! This is what prompted this blog post. In a baby book that parents began writing down the highlights of shots, first word, first five birthday type things, a secondary book that both my mom and father wrote in, the first words of the doctor to them, well you didn't get the boy you wanted. Wow! And as I have written before around the age of five my father started his journey of hating me because I was more interested in friends and school than him. As an adult I once asked him if he had wanted children and did he want to start a family as soon as my mom did. He said, he really never wanted children and I was a reminder of every early celebration or accomplishment, he could never truly enjoy them cause he had a family to think about. He said your mother wanted a baby, I did not. I can't believe I said to him. "well, you could have taken care of that yourself." Yes, we live the legacy of lack of condom use to deter having a baby. That is his story as well. His mother didn't want a second child. 

If you want to read her post, worth it, on FB, go to her page. The picture of mushrooms in the forest is your go to cause there isn't a title. 

In reading several things about this it dawned on me recently, this freedom from all of that has fallen fresh upon me. It occurred to me that there seemed to be a lightness in my steps and I was interested in things around here that pretty much lost me. The Co^id shot did a world of hurt and last year I finally felt like I was recovering from all of that. Something that got my attention is how much peace and rest our brains need and that is what I have been doing this past year. Since last summer with the heart issues and such I knew life needed to change for me. Now, I have been given a few challenges from my new doctor and I have focused on those to be able to meet a desired result in August. So this peace and rest is what I have needed. In that I discovered a renewed interest in our home. We had been looking at houses but decided to stop that for now. We have great neighbors and a great yard and a great house. Man, there were several houses that were tempting but as wonderful as they are, it is not for us now. Yes, we have six cats and yes it is a full time job to stay ahead of things cleaning wise. We are blessed to live in the mountains and blessed to be near such beauty and yet have it right here in our own front yard. We don't have much of a back yard. 

Well, I must close up but had other things to write about.

Just Living Life

 Today, the first day of May. My goodness this year is going by quickly. We enter this month with cool temps. In fact, in the early evening last night it felt rather cool and made watering go quickly. I had put out seeds in the side flowerbed because rain had been forecasted. It went south, literally, So, with that delay I was out in the cool of the evening or should that be the cold of the evening. We worked efficiently because Roy had his last CBS class of this season. They finished up the Psalms but he is thinking of changing to a Wednesday night class because it works better with our schedule. 

We just returned inside after pulling the horrible vine from hell out of the remaining shrubs. Well, Roy did. I was busy but on level ground, the little that we have. He took out the remains of a rotting stump and we have plans to cut back a bush that is growing rapidly in spite of very little rain. We emergency planted one of the poppy plants in the hole remaining from the stump. It needed to go in the ground as it was the more sickly of the bunch and just by doing that, it helps everything around the top of the steps. With the chance of frost this weekend, I haven't wanted to plant anything in a flowerbed or stump hole. 

Roy is keeping up his water gun, super soaker that shoots water thirty feet, skills by chasing away Dead Beat Dad, the orange cat. He hasn't been around but made appearances lately. The alpha cat of the Feral Fam knows what Roy is doing so he doesn't run away when the water starts flying. He holds position on one of the big rocks. It is exciting to see Blazey back for a visit. He looks good and healthy. Coco is back and she let me pet her the other day. Wow! Something I didn't think would happen. 

For our church's ladies tea I am going to have to switch totally what I planned to wear. Going with something less tea-ish and going with something warmer. My goodness what an up and down spring this has been. After seeing so many ads for those that have poetry in their hearts and it seems to me all you can do in these various wispy, lacey and romantic looks is stand around with those day dream kind of eyes, no smile except that little turn of the lips saying I know so much and I will share with the right one. One model looks like Megan M of Harry fame. Turn and look, turn and gaze...I don't have the look for this seasonal wear but I do like poetry. Back to our tea, I considered buying a hat but so glad I talked myself out of that. I would rather spend my money on flannel shirts from Angry Minnow Vintage. 

I tried Rowe Casa Electrolyte mix and it is tasty. I figure it is a morning drink but maybe with the magnesium glycate it could be more afternoonish.  

****Sunday morning.

After I got home from the ladies tea at church, before going into the house, Roy and I put all the container tender vegetation on the front porch and used the decorative pillows to shield any cold air. I don't think we had any frost by just looking out the window nor did it get as cold as forecasted. No 33 degrees just 37. 

I had the most delightful time at the tea. Ladies from First Baptist and Weaverville Methodist  came as well. Before Covid the three churches did things like this three times a year, one at each church. The decor was vintage aprons. We heard some funny as well as poignant stories of grandmother's aprons. This was not a pretentious event and I so enjoyed it. Usually, teas are not my thing cause somehow and somewhere there is a person in the planning who just wants to show off, not share an enjoyable experience. I had told those people oh yes, I will wear gloves and a hat...thinking of wearing gardening bib overalls, sun hat and gardening gloves. Wasn't even tempted to do something like that yesterday, but I did bring a hat in case you needed one for entrance. Haha! 

Monday morning****

Our pastor was on vacation last week so our guest preacher was the college pastor for PCA at App State. He was so good and with an unlikely subject of death from Ecc 7. We are an older congregation but the twist of how we look at life was surprising and in a way, refreshing. Roy is not a fan of Ecc and so I thought he would fidget all through the service but as usual he took copious notes. He liked it. Probably bad memories of our former church pastor deciding Ecc was the best book to cover after Helene hit our area. Vanity, vanity. People needed to hold onto some hope and although gifted in many areas, bringing hope was not his best thing. Again, it was just a bad match especially after Covid with him, his family and the powers that be at that church. 

We had our Circle JOY meeting and it was so good! Trusting God, what does that look like and the Holy Spirit and His ministry to and in us. Great discussion and encouragement. I love the insights shared in the meeting. I left with such JOY in my heart and as I was leaving, I was invited to go shopping with three friends but I told Roy I was stopping at Reems Creek for more flowers and he was willing to help me with them when I got home. He is always willing but it worked well with his schedule. So they promised to invite me again. 

I am still intrigued with people all over social media that are fighting somewhat invisible fights. It is not that the fights aren't real, they are, some good causes. It seems like us sports fans that when we say our team, but it is owned and managed without our help. We aren't really supporting our team unless we have tickets to all the games, help clean up afterwards and invest copious amounts of money. It might be call vicarious identification. Opposing theologians, political debates real and unreal, best sports person of all time and what is the best color for kitchens. Sometimes I wonder if the people who are fighting this great fight from their basements will be happy if everything they want happens and those opposing conform. Probably not thus I will keep the kitchen in those dated colors cause it doesn't bother me when I am only going in there to grab a snack or a drink. Meh....

Yesterday, a friend's name came up on FB because it was her birthday. I hadn't seen her on FB much and she is hardly ever on FB. So, I felt like I should look at her timeline and the news shocked me. She and her husband were killed, or as they say now unalived in a head on collision in Wyoming July of 2025. We were childhood acquaintances at church. We were both nerds but ran in different nerd circles. 

Roy has made sure we have enough dirt for our spring planting season ahead. Our roses are just popping with color and blooms. We are so blessed to live here. 

A Laid Back Week

 Roy is off for working out and grocery shopping, for those essentials, chicken salad and bread. The kittos and I are now having some quiet morning time, well as long as Baxter is napping it will be quiet. I was thinking this morning, there are two things one will hear consistently around here, get off my desk and I love you. I mean really, why does Roy want to jump on the top of my desk? Nah, it's Baxter. He doesn't care what kind of attention he gets, he just wants attention. 

We finally found a day in between appointments and weather related travel to get over to TN. With temps being warmer here we are several weeks ahead in the growth season but we feel like we are two weeks behind on everything. Our first thought was to do an extensive day in Johnson City, but we came to our senses and just did our shopping in the Erwin area. We were looking for specific tomato plants that have done well the last couple of years for us. Too early... I did bring home some nice sized poppies that we will plant after we get some much needed rain this afternoon. We also went to Food City for a couple of things but they carry a brand of cat bowls that Roy likes for the kitties. We ate our lunch on the way home because we stopped at Pal's. We also made a stop at Windy Hill Farms. They built a larger produce stand this season and we picked up some strawberries, strawberry and chocolate chip sourdough bread, home made pork skins and some Cherokee purple tomato plants. We will be back for sure. I love watching their raising goats reels. So cute! 

It has been a week since our pastor read his retiring letter with tears shed behind the pulpit and in the pews. Thankfully, he is retiring sometime in the summer of 2027. We have met so many nice people and made friends so it is always good to have more than just liking the pastor. He is one of the best I have ever heard and he comes to the pulpit with JOY! 

We went out this morning to throw some dirt down on the incline down into the yard. It was cold out there. We got the area prepped and seeded and put a little water on the area to hold the seeds with all the wind happening. Both of us came back into the house exhausted from the work and the elements. Early evening still had the wind rolling and the cool temps. As for plants we have not planted any in the flowerbeds but have them in containers. Looks like one more close call for frost and by Mother's Day, we are in the all clear. I am really, really tempted to plant the poppies but I know better. 

Tuesday morning now and a big ol' boom of thunder woke me up. Just a few thunder boomers with a soaking rain. We need rain! It clears out or so they say sometime this morning and we will have sunshine in the afternoon. I enjoy having these two days of not having to be anywhere. I did some procrastinated chores yesterday afternoon. One of those being getting things ready for Roy to drop off at Habitat. Mike mowed today and the yard looks beautiful. Roses have done so well and we've prepared a few spots for flowers and we shall see how that goes. Roy got some Cherokee Purple plants and we have planted them for now in the bags of soil we bought. These weeks of spring almost rival my love of autumn but autumn is firmly placed in my affections for the seasons. 

The coming few weeks hold doctor appointments and such. Some I will accompany Roy for them. Especially, those early morning blood work appts cause there is breakfast afterwards at Moose Cafe. My attention span right now is really focused on a few things. My attention span is still minimal most days. I have struggled with our book club reading with the ago ol problem I have had since starting school, if I don't love it, I don't have much energy to doing it. I have liked the books we've read but not really loving them. I should probably take the summer off and try to read those books piling up on my TBR pile. 

Just A Little Catch Up

 Think we have finished with the last two days of cool temps as we head to the 75 degree range today. We put the recently potted cosmos and zinnias on the front porch just in case of frost last night. We took a few minutes last night to pull up that horrible vine that invades every thing that moves or doesn't move out of one flowerbed. We also rescued a small rose bush from being smothered by the vine. 

I have now found my life verse...in a hymn. We were singing O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing on Sunday morning in the service. Since we sing every verse I pay attention more so now but this particular verse brought on a rather big smile cause it is so life affirming and so life defining at this moment in time. 

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise ye dumb

Your loosened tongues employ;

Ye blind behold your Savior come;

And leap ye lame for joy.

I had a great follow up appt with the audiologist yesterday. We fine tuned it a bit and I am good to go. They made a six week appointment but if I am not having any problems I can cancel that one and the next appointment would be in October. 

Saturday night before bed I was reading in Luke all about Zechariah, Elizabeth and Mary. It was one of those reading times where the quirkiness of my thoughts went to the funny instead of the deep spiritual nature of what I was reading. So Zechariah questions the angel, when he should of known better, comes out not being able to speak. Elizabeth soon finds herself with child, John the Baptist. Meanwhile angel goes to Mary and he tells her of God's plan and that even her relative Elizabeth is pregnant. Mary goes to see her, Elizabeth if filled with joy, John the Baptist leaps in her womb and Mary, pregnant with Jesus rejoices. So the Holy Spirit is there amongst them and can we deduce, it was better for them because Zechariah couldn't speak? Haha! Just think Elizabeth and Mary got to visit for three months without being mansplained. 

Thursday

I thought my computer was acting up, no just the mouse. I haven't had time though to really write out anything. There is so much I would love to write about, but I cannot at this time. Not that it is all that interesting but some of it is the fact that those wonderful thoughts go out someplace and I just wait for them to come back. Oh well...

We are back in Bible study and we began today. Our topic is aging well and with purpose. Just a look around the table at each other we decided we were at the right place. Our teacher is so interesting and well studied. A specialist in the Greek language and layman and emphasis too on the culture in Judea back then as we read along. 

We've been careful not to plant anything in the ground but it is so dang tempting. I take that back I scattered some sunflower seeds but I feel like the birds had a picnic. That's okay. Wednesday, we went to our regular Publix shopping and brought that home. We then went to Mars Hill and had lunch at La Fiesta, Houston grade salsa and chips, and then over to TJ's. I found a flat of zinnias. For this I am grateful. 

Let Spring Ring

 The lilac bushes are now blooming profusely filling the air with that lovely fragrance. I cut a few of the blooms last night and now the downstairs is filled with the fragrance of the season. The blooms are helping the air purifiers this morning. The scent met me on the landing of the stairs. Such a brief season but so enjoyable.

One of the benefits of these assisted hearing devices is listening to music. No uncomfortable headphones for me...haha. Since we are on sabbatical for the choir I don't listen usually to music while getting ready for church and since Roy has found an interest in scripture praise songs, I don't want to do anything to keep him from enjoying that. Yesterday, I thought I'll listen to KHCB, Christian radio station in Houston, for their Sunday morning music. All throughout my life I have had a love/hate, no just dislike with KHCB. My mom listened to it sometimes when I was a child. Then as teenager I liked to listen to different pastors preach, and then about college and through young adulthood, it was old fogey music, get with the times! Now, at that time The Gaithers were considered CCM and I can remember my parent's church fighting, I mean discussing, whether the choir should sing any Gaither songs. Think that has changed now. Roy and I would catch Stories of Great Christians in the car if we went anywhere in the early evening. The production of the fifteen minute show was all cliches, with organ music for background sound. They would announce, Stories of Great Christians and then play, on an electric organ in Christ There Is No East or West. When we moved up here at times I would listen to By Request on Saturday afternoons. KHCB is now run by younger people with the same vision as Pete Steygeral and then Bruce Munsterman, who recently retired. Imagine my surprise mixed in with great hymns, great praise and worship music as well as gospel music. What an enjoyable morning of music. What a morning of singing praise to God!. Poor Roy, he only heard me but he said I was mostly on tune when I sang. I sang with Total Praise and felt I was hitting the alto notes. 

 We went to TJ's in Mars Hill. We came home with strawberries and three packs of zinnias. I really wanted to get the whole tray but we still have blackberry winter ahead so for now I am content to plant these twelve plants in containers to be easily whisked away to shelter when the chance for frost comes. 

I replaced the little round white thing under the dome, rubbery ear piece, of my hearing aids. The little tool makes it easier than I thought it would be. You do this about once a month but I decided to do it a few days early in case I had a problem. I have a dentist appointment this week and would just be up on the next floor if anything had happened. Love having most of my doctors in one place. 

Looking through my memories from 2009, I think, on FB, I will leave you with this story. Mustang Sally was our first Mustang but now we have Mustang Sam. 

A Chance Encounter

It was a chance encounter this morning. Such a beautiful day to have the top down on Mustang Sally. I had just been to Tanglewood Gifts to mail our tax return, then to the cleaners, and a return trip back home. I was home just long enough to pick up something and back on the road, still with the top down. Driving down Memorial singing with 92.1 when something fell from the sky and hit my arm. It was a lizard, a chameleon, basically when you get down to it, a reptile. Well it is in my book. I screamed bloody murder and flipped my arm to get the creature off of me and out my car. He landed on the passenger side door and looked as if he would be moving underneath the dash board of the car. I screamed again and I think I was driving, I'm not too sure. All I know is this, the Bible believing, Word speaking, verse claiming side of me came out in full force. If speaking in tongues would have helped, I would have. I HATE these creatures. So I am watching that lizard and speaking over it. Oh such things like, In Jesus Name I command you to stay on that door, no moving! You do not exist or move or have your being at all in this car. God gave man dominion over the earth and since there ain't no man in this car I am speaking dominion over you and you cannot move in Jesus Name! That lizard stuck to that door. I pulled into the North parking lot at church where I was picking up Cassi for lunch. As she came near the door I asked if she was afraid of lizards. She said no and I said get that thing out. Well, by this time I am out of the car doing the little nervous dance when my hero Jerrell Altic comes by my car. We told him the happenings and came over to my car and flipped that pestilence off my door and into the shrubbery. Thank yous abounded from me and Cassi. Cassi and I had lunch at the Ashland House and we sat outside with me nearest the shrubbery. There were some anxious thoughts going on in me like what if that stupid lizard has sent messages to his friends and family and those lizards surround us at our table. Those anxious thoughts left rather quickly though. We sat down for a great visit and great food. I went all Southern and got the veggie plate which had collard greens, corn, sliced tomatoes, black beans and fried asparagus. Yum, yum... and there was room for coconut cake with an orange filling. I went back in the church with Cassi to see Melinda Scurlock. She's tempting me to work in VBS for registration and the snack room by offering me a t-shirt. Girl knows the way to my heart, only thing, the t-shirt is burnt orange. I am worried that I might have to wear a hair net to work with the snacks. I don't know if I am up to that. I don't look good in black net on my head.


A stupid stinkin' lizard fell on my out of the sky. What the heck??? What are the chances? I know that if I was going any other speed than what I was going that sucker would have fallen into my hair and I would have driven into a tree for sure and all would be grieving my untimely death...yes, she beat 9/11 and a bad heart, but she couldn't overcome a lizard near her gizzard.

That's all I have for now.

Ballet, Spring and Remembering

 Many evenings before hitting the bed, I watch ballets. Just snippets and mostly what comes through the time line is the portions of famous ballerinas and famous ballets. Some of the reels are almost documentary like showing how toe shoes are conditioned and used or showing the work that goes into learning some of the hardest moves. Behind the scenes where only the toe shoes are heard and ballerinas that have to lock into one position while the main dancer or dancers perform. What makes me smile is when the female dancer has done thirty two spins in a row called fouettés, the male dancer comes into view and kind of does a ta da move showcasing the dancer's moves but with a sense of, he made it happen. And sometimes, when women in church are doing a lot of hard work, making things happen, covering up screw ups, and all sorts of that kind of stuff, sometimes after doing "spiritual fouettés" they don't even get a ta da. The guys carry on like no mess was made here and if it was, well, that is women's work. You can hear that a lot in these parts. I think about this kind of stuff every April when it is Administrative Professional Appreciation, especially church admins. Love that our pastor calls Elaine the church admin, the CEO and she is. I will add that working in church for female directors of ministries, cause they ain't going to call them ministers in a Baptist church, can be difficult as well. More insecurity or something. Moody and sometimes downright unfair and well...I am thinking of the B word, too. Haha, the B word is Baptist. I watched one of those big blob kind of men, with the gruff, know it all of life and the Bible on Reels. I don't know why so many men who become blob like have the same similarities. I've seen this guy before and his rhetoric is KJV only and Bible men shouldn't be sissies. He was reading out of Jeremiah but he had the wrong reference. He got mad at the congregation for his own mistake. I wonder if he knows that King James authorized that version to unite Puritans and the church of England and King James was thought to be gay or bisexual. Jesus did not speak KJV English.

It is that time of year when it is warm enough to really, really want to plant flowers but you really, really know one shouldn't. Our red bud trees bloomed and then were stunted with cold temps in the past few weeks. Now the leaves are coming out so at least they are doing well. The snowballs bushes have buds on them and the Japanese snow balls are blooming already. My 2020 Covid flowerbed project is slowly returning to grass. It kept me busy during those days and I kind of thought it would work but alas, it did not. Now, we need to move or rather have someone come and move the rocks that surround the area. Since I have a lot of harvested sunflower seeds, I put some out in the side flowerbed. If half or even a fourth of them make it, that's going to be a lot of sunflowers.

The new assisted hearing devices use is going well. Love the Blue Tooth feature and I am excited to actually hear conversations again. I wrote on this previously but I kind of thought at first it would be a difficult transition for me but when I thought of this as flourishing, it hasn't been a problem. Getting a little older, haha, is interesting reading. There are kinds of lists to consult on if this happens, this is what that means. Those lists are at both extremes. Leg hurts, it's nothing. Leg hurts, you have gangrene. Oh no, it's too late. 

Looking back on FB Memories on this date 16 years ago, the memorial service for Dan Duncan happened. It was an extraordinary service for an extraordinary man. He was the founder and leader of Enterprise Products in Houston. Most people have never heard of the company but those in the stock market that love MLP's love EPD. Up here if we mention Dixie Pipeline, people know that because it is the pipeline that supplies propane to this area of the country. EPD owns that pipeline. Anyway, today I thought I would include my thoughts I wrote back then after attending the service. This is the company that Roy worked and retired from. 

God Honoring, God Glorifying- One Man's Life

I have just a few minutes because I need to get ready to meet Casi for lunch but I wanted to get my thoughts down about yesterday. We went to the memorial service for Dan Duncan. Lots of Enterprise Product folks had the same idea we had, go early to Second Baptist, get a parking spot and then walk over to Cafe Express for lunch. The paper said this morning that over 3000 were in attendance. The 3000 heard the Gospel yesterday. I believe the DVD of that service could be sent out and used to teach and many would come to know the Lord. Dr. Young was impressive as always but Jan Duncan, the widow of Dan, gave the eulogy and she knocked that baby out of the park! Wow! Neither Roy nor I had a pen because if we'd had one, we would have been taking notes. She emphasized that we are God's love to those He has put into our lives and that we need to use those gifts God has given us to express His love so that others may know Him. She said to give or to be giving is put into each one of us by the Lord and if we have trouble being generous with our lives, time and money, we have handicapped our hearts. Jan quoted from her favorite book, Conversations with God frequently throughout her talk. The music, just everything was so God honoring and glorifying. I think I am still trying to process all that I heard yesterday in that service.
Afterwards in the reception with the family we were able to see so many friends. I was on a very focused hunt to find Dub and Mary. I played tennis with Mary and her sister Marti. Dub retired from Enterprise several years ago as the CEO. The country life is agreeing with them, they both looked rested and refreshed. In 1999 on a girl's night away, I was sitting on the porch at their ranch house in Brenham, early in the morning, the dew and mist covered the rolling valleys. Only Mary and I were awake and we shared conversation and coffee that morning. Mary went back to the kitchen to bring us more coffee and in those moments alone, I prayed for Roy, who had just been laid off. Actually, this story really begins in the summer of '99. Roy was on a huge project and he called to vent frustrations over progress or maybe lack of progress. I told him, shut it down, come on home and let's go out to eat. We did just that and we had dinner at Escalante's, where Dub and Mary had just been seated. We all had dinner together and Roy and Dub talked about the implementation project he was on. Of course Mary and I talked of much more interesting things. Well to us, anyway, back to the story, when Mary got home from the ranch she mentioned Roy to Dub. She talked about his upcoming interviews in Long Island and San Francisco. The rest of the story is history, good history, and Roy certainly has been blessed. But I love those divine appointments that God has. And to even top it off, the divine appointments were fun.
We also ran into Linwood and John Olson. I played tennis with Linwood and we share the love of Southern fiction together. She is the epitome of the Southern lady. John is one of the first analysts that recognized the problems with Enron. We were able to visit with them a little. We saw the mover and shakers of the city and state, in law, in medicine and in business at the reception. There were others there like us, nobodies, but having the same respect and admiration of a humble, hardworking and honest man. Rest in peace Dan Duncan, well done thou good and faithful servant.

Still Love Me Some Teen Girl Squad

 I still love me some Teen Girl Squad quotes and do find some of them work in everyday conversations even if the person you're talking with has no clue about Teen Girl Squad. The exterminator came this week and as he was spraying the yard he found a dead possum near the back porch but out of the sight line from the window. The ever popular, I met a possum. Good for you line kind of worked because Roy went out there to pick up and dispose of said possum. When Roy returned from that job I asked if the possum was really dead or was it playing possum. 🥁I'll be here all week, thank you! 

https://youtu.be/tHZwHUMeGGQ?si=4RP-4MjF-I4jsOvt

Now I need to spend some time reviewing, once again, Teen Girl Squad on You Tube. It is clearly plain and simple sophomoric humor but done so delightfully. A text or a visit with CourtneyS may or may not include references to these things. I have not told her about the dead possum but did text the picture from Beth Moore's X account of a possum up her tree. 

Our Maundy Thursday service last night so very meaningful. We gathered to remember the new covenant which Jesus put into place within the last supper. The musicians are doing a great job as we miss our music director, Debbie. Talked with her yesterday and she is in good spirits. 

We usually do not root for South Carolina being LSU and Baylor fans but we took SC over UConn. Wow! The ending not on the court cause it was decided but Gene A having a 70 year old acting fit and argument. He reminded me of old men who stand outside waiting for one person to step on their lawn, yell and shake their fist. Even with video evidence that the things he was saying were untrue. He has probably acted that way all his life and from the references to Pat Summit, it sounds so but once you get older and act the same way, it doesn't work. It doesn't look good. It's time to retire. The same ol stale jokes don't translate either. Earlier this week I finished up James Cagney's autobiography. Enjoyed it and hearing the stories that make up some of my favorite movies of his. After he retired, he only came back once when the American Film Institute honored him for life time achievement. He told several stories in the book about big name stars that thought they could still do what they used to and their name would add to a production but he said, sadly, some people do not do well in seeing things how they really are. He gave good advice and it sounds like he lived out the rest of his life enjoying the little things. Although, he was estranged from both of his kids. Now that situation, I'll just leave it there cause that's a rabbit hole I no longer desire to travel down. 

Now, Monday morning and the views are a bright and splendid green from the rain. It was a rainy Easter morning. I wore a black and cream colored Easter dress and boots because the rain made the temps very cool. It just seemed silly to be wearing those bright spring colors. Next Sunday is supposed to be warm, so I think the spring colors and clothes can come out. This must be dogwood winter cause the dogwoods are blooming and soon enough when the blackberry bushes bloom, we will have blackberry winter and then we should be good to go with planting and working in our gardens. 

We watched the Natty game yesterday and so happy that UCLA won. Now I am really happy that I don't have to watch basketball until later this year and that will be sparse. Never have been a fan of basketball, wither men's or women's, but March Madness is different. 

Yesterday's Easter service was low key and high powered. No choir, well that's a given for many churches, but since Debbie is healing from a broken hip our regular musicians played and did a fabulous job. A treat was the middle school young man that played It is Well With My Soul on the saxophone during the offertory. Skip preached from I Peter and Jesus exalted. 

Today, I loved the Joy Circle meeting. We talked about our walk with God. Very meaningful. I look forward to attending every month. Afterwards, I walked around the church and in the parking lot. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.