The Last June Weekend

Here is a quick peek into my weekend.

Friday was a warm and sunny day. Chary and I went for an early walk to avoid the heat.

When we got home, I enjoyed watching the little hummingbird, who comes to the feeder in our backyard every morning. 

Friday afternoon,  Charly and I ventured out to another thrift store.  We found some books there but not a lot else.  Charly's books are at the bottom of the picture.  Mine are at the top.  

Saturday was more of the same, until the evening when I attended a virtual Zoom conference on racism that a friend invited me to. It was very interesting and it is always good to learn about the experiences of others, and consider way I can personally make changes.  After the Zoom conference, Charly and I took our evening walk, I made a couple of masks and...

...then did some reading and finished this book - my third book for June and my 21st book for 2020. 

Sunday morning, Charly and I took another early walk, then had church at home once again.  We received an email that in-person church for our congregation has been postponed until at least August due to significant spiking of COVID-19 here in Salt Lake City (we keep setting new daily records for infections), so we will be doing at home church for a while longer.  Our old congregation, which meets just a few miles away, started back to in-person meetings, only to have to cancel meetings due to a family in the congregation testing positive for the virus.   It seems like our nation just can't get over this virus.

A couple of days ago, we had a light switch in our downstairs storage room go bad, so we had our electrician stop by Sunday afternoon to fix the faulty switch.  We don't usually have work done on Sunday, but this electrician has been doing work for us for quite a while, and he said he was booked out a couple of weeks and wanted to get the bad switched replaced for us ASAP because a bad switch can be a fire hazard, so he stopped by when he had a few minutes and took care of the problem. 

Sunday afternoon, I did some indexing of military records from 1917.  I made another couple of masks, then took a short nap.  I tend to get sleepy on rainy afternoons...

...and Sunday afternoon and evening was cloudy and rainy.

We had steak for  Sunday dinner.

Charly cooked the steaks to order for each of us, while I made the rest of the meal.

In addition to steak, we had long grain and wild rice and ranch potatoes, as well as salad and corn on the cob.  It was quite a good meal. 

After dinner, Charly and I watched TV.  We enjoy Masterpiece on PBS on Sunday evenings.  Later, I decided to go outside and have an evening walk by myself. 

It was still cloudy and a bit rainy, but it felt good to get outside and walk around the neighborhood.  The rain brought the temperatures down to about 60 degrees and I had to wear a sweater as I walked and listened to a podcast.

I sincerely hope this coming week will bring light, love,  understanding and hope to our nation and each of us as individuals.  The Fourth of July is coming, and the birth of this great nation is always cause for celebration.  Have a good week.  Stay safe and well and I will see you again soon!

Good Things from the Week

For me, the best way to get through crazy times like our society is currently going through, is to focus on things, even small things, that are going well. Here again are some of the best things about this past week.  Please join us over at Susanne's space, Living to Tell the Story, to focus on the good. 

Mask Making - As any reader of my blog knows, I have been making masks for months.  I shave now made over 312 and sent a batch of 105 to the Tohono O'odham Native American Nation earlier this week.  I expected to take a break from mask making, but my elderly aunt contacted me and asked for masks so I made some and got them in the mail to her.  This morning, a friend texted and asked for masks for her family.  I will take those to her tomorrow morning. I decided to make some more masks to have on hand for anyone who asks, especially since our Governor has now made masks mandatory around here.  Added bonus, I was able to get more elastic and some great cotton fabric on sale, all of which I am using for masks. I still hope to get my sewing machine in to the repair shop for a good maintenance overhaul and cleaning soon. 

More Walking - Charly and I have increased our walking lately. We are going for walks both in the morning and the evening.  Josh has also wanted to go for walks, so between walking with Charly and Josh every day,  I have been walking more this week, which is fine with me. 

An Interesting Book - I finished this non-fiction book this last week.  It is a book about older people (60+) who are basically living so much on the financial edge that they live in vans, trailers or RVs and travel the country in search of seasonal work.  I enjoy reading true stories, and this was a good one, however, it was also a little unsettling and depressing to read about hard-working people who are basically homeless at the end of their lives.  

Texting with My Oldest Son - I exchanged friendly texts with my oldest son a couple of days in the past week, which may not sound like a big deal, but after years of having a rocky relationship, it is wonderful to hear from him and have friendly exchanges.  Charly has been hearing from him more too.  

More Work Hours for Josh - Josh asked for and got more work hours, which is great for him.  He is trying to work as much as possible and save as much as he can.

My Ever-Helpful Husband - I took this picture earlier tonight as my husband was unloading the dishwasher.  Earlier today, he helped, as he always does, with the weekly cleaning.  As I have said many, many times before, this guy is the love of my life and my greatest blessing.  

Summer Monday This 'n That

Yesterday was Father's Day. This is the photo collage I posted on Facebook to wish Charly a Happy Father's Day.   These are some of my favorite pictures of Charly with our kids and grandkids. 

I got Charly some new speakers for his computer for Father's Day.

Josh gave him the movie Midway, which Charly and Josh saw together and which Charly said was his favorite World War II movie.   Charly also got a "Happy Father's Day" card from out second daughter and a text from our oldest son. Oldest daughter has gone off the grid for now.  She does that sometimes.  

Charly loves KFC so we decided to get a bucket of chicken Saturday night.

There was enough for Sunday dinner as well. 

Charly loves Red Lobster Cheese Biscuits, so I made some to go with the chicken from KFC.  They were delicious - in fact the entire meal was.  

We are still having church at home, but our congregation will begin meeting again in July.  Our meetings will be every other week for 45 minutes. The first week of the month, those in our congregation who are 60 and older will meet and the third week of the month, those 60 and younger will meet.  I have decided that because of my age, I can "double dip" when in comes to church, so I will go one week with Charly and one week with Josh. Neither of them like to go to church alone.  Here is the message we listened to Sunday morning.  It is a pretty powerful address regarding religious freedom and COVID -19. 

Sunday evening,  I finished my latest batch of masks. These 105 masks are going to the Tohono O'odham Nation (Native American Community) in Sells, AZ.  I mailed them off Monday afternoon.

I have now made over 309 masks. 155 maks have gone to Native American communities through the Facebook group SewingfortheNavajoNation.org, 25 went the the Fourth Street Clinic for the homeless in Salt Lake City, and all the rest were given to family, friends (including blog friends), work colleagues, church congregation members, total strangers and pretty much anyone who asked for masks.  

When Charly and I went out for our walk Monday morning, we saw this nice message drawn in chalk on the sidewalk.  "Be Kind" is always a good motto to start the week with. 

This week, I am reading this book on my Kindle. I hope to finish the book by the end of the week. It is a true story of seniors (people over 60) who can no longer afford homes and apartments and travel in vans, RVs and travel trailers full-time chasing seasonal work to survive. It is really interesting, and a little depressing to think that  people who had worked hard all their lives could lose it all and have to live like this.  The inspirational part is how resilient and upbeat these people are as they spend their Golden years on anything but a year-round vacation. 

COVID-19 rates continue to go up here in Utah, as well as other places.   The state epidemiologist said the state might go back on lockdown if the rate of infections doesn't slow.  Masks may be required.  That's OK with me. 

As far as everything else going on, I found this modified Venn Diagram that shows pretty much where I am.  Nuff said.  (The one exception is the Tiger King. I haven't watched it at all. Don't want to. Don't care about it). 

Another Week of Friday Faves

I am a little later posting again this today, so let's get started right away.  Here are some of my favorite things about the past week.  Joining again today with Susanne, over at Living to Tell the Story for...

Rain - We had some cool and cloudy days this week. The day this picture was taken, the clouds opened up in the evening and it rained almost all night.  We had a very dry April and May, so this rain is needed and appreciated.  It also cooled our temperatures down, so the past few days have been very pleasant and unseasonably cool.

Mountain Hike - Wednesday afternoon, I asked Josh if he wanted to go on a hike. We went to this scenic mountain trail which runs along Big Cottonwood Creek and is only about 15 minutes from our home.  It was a cool, but sunny afternoon - just right for a hike.  I hope to go back and hike this short trail again soon.  

My Little Garden - Some of the little tomatoes in my garden are ready to harvest.  I have eaten some of them and they are delicious.  I also have peas, green beans and raspberries out there, which we will be enjoying soon.

My Hummingbird Visitor - I see this little guy out at the hummingbird feeder almost every morning as I am eating breakfast.  It always makes me happy to see him.

Delicious Recipe - I tried this recipe for spaghetti pie that my good friend Karen - Happy One - shared on her blog, Life is Good.  It was a big hit with the entire family. Thanks, Karen.  

Beauty in My Neighborhood - I saw all these flowers one day on our evening walk.  I love all the flowers around here.  Seeing them everyday blesses my day and makes me happy!

Josh's Birthday - Yesterday was Josh's 24th birthday.  He had the day off because his hours at work are still reduced during this pandemic. He wanted cookies from Crave Cookies instead of cake, so we got some of those (biggest cookies I have ever seen - $27 a dozen!!!). We also let him choose where he wanted to get a take-out dinner from and he choose Texas Roadhouse.  There were gifts, (World War II movies on Blu Ray for this history buff) and a really good conversation (about the past and the future) that ended with gratitude and expressions of love all around.  

An Inspiring Friend - My friend who has been inspiring and encouraging me in all my mask-making, finished up her masks for the Navajo Nation and sent them off yesterday. She posted this picture on her Facebook page.  She made and donated 545 masks.  Her texts and porch visits have kept me going and has made this sewing project enjoyable.  She is a much more experienced seamstress than I am, and she sews more quickly, but it has been fun to share fabric, supplies and encouragement.  She is going out of town for a few weeks to help her parents in another state and I will miss her while she's gone. 

More Mask Making - Here is the reason my Friday Favorites posts have been later getting finished - continued mask sewing.  I am up to 91 in this current batch.  My goal is complete 110 finished by Monday or Tuesday, and get them in the mail to the Navajo Nation.  I will post my finished totals next Friday.

Bargain Fabric - As my sewing has continued, I began to run short on fabric and was so pleased to find this fabric on the clearance rack in the notions department of a nearby Walmart.  I got a yard of each fabric, which will be put to good use as I finish my last 20 or so masks. 

Mid-June Weekend

Saturday morning dawned warm and breezy.  This is the view of my patio garden from our dining room as I ate breakfast Saturday morning. 

Charly and I took our walk Saturday morning before the temperatures climbed too high.  I love the beautiful flower gardens in our neighborhood. Walking there is a pleasure.  

Saturday afternoon, we met up with an old friend of Charly's and his wife, at this lovely park called Liberty Park.  We hadn't been to this park for many years. We sat at a picnic table (wearing masks) and visited for about an hour.  We hadn't seen this friend for about 42 years when Charly was one of the groomsmen at his wedding.  His first wife has since passed away and we had never met his new wife.  We enjoyed the visit and getting acquainted and reacquainted.  I wanted to get a picture of Charly and his friend before we parted, but alas, I forgot.

Saturday afternoon, when we got home from the meetup with friends, I went to Walmart for a few things.  More people were wearing masks at the store today.  More people seem to be taking seriously the news that COVID-19 rates are spiking in Utah.  The governor of Utah has again asked residents to be more vigilant about social distancing and mask wearing.  Charly and I always wear masks and try very hard to keep a distance when we go out shopping. 

Sunday we had church at home again.  Our congregation is made up of lots of older people, so still no word on when we will be able to go back to church.  We have our own service here at home, then do our scripture reading and Come Follow Me study.  

Charly and I went for a walk after our church service.  It was then that I saw all the flags out up and down our street, so I came home and put our flags up.  

This is the flag in back of our house....

...and this is the flag I have on front door.  Both can be seen from the street.  I love flying the flag because I love this country. 

 I indexed some church census records from 1914, 1920 and 1925 and listened to a Jody Moore class. 

Josh and Charly wanted cheddar jack brats for dinner.  I had a rather upset stomach all day Sunday and knew my stomach wouldn't handle cheddar-jack brats, so I fixed myself a grilled cheese sandwich, but I did not take a picture of it.  

I sewed more masks Saturday night.  I took a day off from sewing on Sunday, but did cut out the fabric I will sew into masks tomorrow. 

After dinner, I watched a Father Brown mystery on PBS and decided to get one of the original G. K. Chesterton books and read it, so I ordered one from Amazon.  

Later we went for another walk around the neighborhood. The weather was beautiful.  Not too warm, or too cool - just right for an evening walk. 

This is another one of the delightful garden areas in our neighborhood.

That was our weekend, much like every other weekend lately, basically more of the same.  To be completely honest, I have felt a bit down today.  Haven't felt physically too well either, but all of that is part of life - half good, half not so good.  The only concrete plans for next week are sewing more masks and celebrating Josh's birthday on Thursday, June 18. 

Hope your weekend went well and that the coming week is a good one for us all!