Love this weather ...

Getting close to the end of the garden ... tomorrow night we'll have stuffed peppers ...

Today has to be one of the most beautiful days ever!  Up early and to church; home and enjoyed sweeping the porch, shelling seeds from some dried hollyhock pods to plant for next year, and getting a light lunch on the table.  Wendell's on the porch listening to the Colts game.  It is DEFINITELY a front porch day here!

It's been a mixed week for me ... Some sorrow and some pleasure; some heat and some cold.  Two church friends died this week; one from our "old" church in Worthington and one from Freedom church where we attend now.  

Marilyn Burnside was such a dear person; she had such a wonderful smile!  We really became close friends when we attended Disciple Bible Study with her for three 9-month sessions.  (You really get to know someone in a group like that!)  At her memorial service Friday there were lots of slides shown of her with her family and friends.  Such a rich, full life she led!  And she was such a good person and a true Christian.  Someone to emulate for sure.  

At our Freedom church a true leader died, Ken McCollum.  He was the president of our administrative board and had been an educator in Owen County for more than 30 years.  Very well respected in our congregation and community!  He was a big fellow, taller than Wendell.  He stayed active in a senior softball league until just last year, with he and Jane traveling all over the U.S. to games (and Ken played golf wherever he went, too).  Ken will truly be missed at our little Freedom U.M. Church!

The week started out very hot; in fact Tuesday and Wednesday had record high temps.  Then on Thursday the weather turned and that night we had a near record low!  Brrrrrrr!  (We pulled our quilt up!)  Can you guess which part of the week I enjoyed the most?  The down side of course; I HATE to sweat!  LOL!

Wednesday night the Holy Hookers met here for a light dinner buffet and some hooking time (and some knitting and crocheting).  It was a good evening and the group decided on new meeting times.  We'll meet two times a month, once in the evening and once during the day.  We'll see how it goes.  I'm excited about this change!  TWO opportunities to hook a month.  You know, even if that was the only time each month I hooked, I could get a lot done that way!  

Yesterday I went to Hoosier Hills Rug Hooking Guild in Washington and that was a good day, too.  There were 13 members present and we had a really fun day with not too much "meeting" and lots of hooking, visiting and eating!  I believe the sharing of our work is the most important aspect of our meetings.  The fact that we're from such a wide area (Evansville, Tell City, Washington, Winslow, Bloomfield, Olney, Robinson ... and Worthington, et. al. ) brings lots of different ideas to the table each month!  I so enjoy that group!

Here's a picture of a table of wool one of the women brought to show off her dyeing skills.  Wonderful!  This sort of thing makes each meeting worthwhile.  Jan Cabel also shared her book on dyeing with flowers and plants with us.  And there were also lemon bars, blueberry muffins, coffee cake, and other goodies!  What more could a person want!?

Wendell and I are going to try to get to Madison some day this week.  We love going to the Thomas Family Winery there for a fruit, bread, cheese and wine lunch.  And Madison is great for walking downtown with different types of shops and some house museums thrown in, too.  (We never did get time away after our 50th anniversary party like we wanted ...)  It will just be a day trip but I'm looking forward to it anyway.  And we plan on getting up to see the kids in Michigan very soon, too.  That's my life this week ...  You have a good week, too.

Keepin' on ...

Just now getting over a summer cold.  Ugh!  Today is the first day I've felt back to normal.  And so we mow!  The grass is dormant but the weeds aren't!  It is a beautiful morning.  I'm sitting here in a long sleeve shirt and shorts!  It will soon be shed for a short-sleeve one and off to do the grass after the dew dries.

Week ago last Friday we went to Rantoul IL for the Half Century of Progress show.  First time we've been.  It's a tractor thing ... We decided it was a test to see if we could still "do it".  And we lasted until well into the afternoon.  I have NEVER seen such a large tractor show!  The demonstrations were awesome with combining, picking, plowing, discing, tilling, planting ... on and on.  Lots of flea markets.  Lots of food booths.  Lots of TRACTORS.  Tractors of every age.  There was even draft horses working in one area. The show took place on the old Chanute Air Force Base.  Does that tell you anything?   there was not a tree in sight.  And it was in the mid-80's.  (It's still in use as a municipal airport and National Guard place.)  I'm posting a few pix below.  

Funny thing happened.  When we got in and parked there was a school bus picking people up in the lot.  We figured it must be some distance to walk in so we got on.  After the bus chugged along and picked up people until we were loaded, we proceeded to drive the distance of perhaps 1/2 a block as the crow files and they dropped us off at the admission gate.  We could have walked in and seen half the show in the time it took us to be shuttled in!  (Well, that might be an exaggeration.)  Perhaps if we hadn't been on the front row of the parking lot the shuttle would have been useful (?).  Just a good laugh to us to start the day.  The number of people on golf carts and atv's was amazing.  Don't people WALK anywhere anymore?!  No wonder our country is in such a mess physically!  (And I'm not slinging stones because you who know me know I could use a good walk every day ... and that day I got a good one.)  It was annoying to be dodging the golf carts though, and we decided "been there, done that" when the day was through.

We went through Elnora's show grounds last night.  Both of us had been so sick of being sick we had to get out for a drive.  That steam/tractor show doesn't open for a few days and it is already about filled up with exhibits and campers!  Amazing!  The way we're both feeling, we will not be working much, perhaps Saturday only.  But it made me excited about going through the flea markets and seeing some of the demonstrations Saturday before I have to work in one of the admission gates.  I see it's going to be hot that day though; 87 degrees!  ARGH!  I hate to sweat!  LOL!

Am getting ready for some hookers to visit next week.  Hope we have a good evening.  And decide what our future will be ...

Have a blessed week, what's left of it, and I hope you don't catch my cold!  Here's a few pix from Rantoul.

Here's a Case tractor from 1976.  We ALWAYS have to check the Case equipment area very carefully ...

This guy was "driving" his tractor from a really old wagon.  The huge flag shown in the background is the largest flag I've ever seen!  It was hoisted and held between two cranes.  We could see it from several miles out; we knew we were headed in the right direction when we spotted it. 

"Jeeps on the Farm" was a special tented exhibit with Willys jeeps adapted to several different uses.  This one with the sickle bar mower was unique I thought ...

Here's a soybean field being harvested by several different pieces of equipment.  I wanted to ask someone how they got the corn and beans prematurely ready for harvest like this but didn't want to show my ignorance.  All around the landing strips at this airport were fields of mature crops ready for the demonstrations.  Awesome!  These fields would be just LINED with golf carts and atv's with people SITTING and watching...