Fourth of July Weekend

I hope everyone had a good 4th of July weekend.  These are some of the many flags I saw flying in our neighborhood during our early morning walk on Saturday.  I love the patriotism of this area.

In addition to seeing all the flags, I enjoyed seeing all the beauty in my garden and my neighborhood this weekend.   I am loving all the beautiful summer flowers all around my home.

There is also a lot of deliciousness in my garden right now.  All of my tomato plants are loaded with fruit.  I also have fresh peas and raspberries, and expect some fresh green beans soon.  This weekend, I harvested some of the peas and tomatoes that were ripe. Everything fresh from the garden was so good. 

Charly has been doing some painting out on our patio, and he worked on that Friday and Saturday. Charly is such a neat and meticulous painter. He took Sunday off and will finish this project on Monday.

Our 4th of July was fairly low key, due the virus.  Even fireworks in our area was cancelled, so Josh and I decided to go an evening hike. This trail is just north east of downtown Salt Lake City, in an area called City Creek Canyon.  

The trail goes off of the north end of this lovely city park known as Memory Grove where there there are a lot of monuments for soldiers from Utah who died in the various and wars from the past century - World War I and on. Josh and I enjoyed getting outside and hiking this trail on the evening of the 4th.  Charly was tired from the painting project, so he opted to stay home.

Charly and I went on a lovely walk Sunday morning.  Due to summer heat, we have started walking as early in the morning as we can.  We have also been taking a second walk later in the evening. 

When we got back home, we had our home church and watched a wonderful message.

After church, I did my scripture reading and Come Follow Me study.

I got the slow cooker out...

...and started a pot roast for dinner...

...using this recipe that cooks the roast in Coca Cola and chili sauce.

I found the recipe in this cookbook, that I recently got at a thrift store. 

We had the post roast for dinner and it was delicious!  The recipe is a keeper.

I also did some indexing of family records from the 1920s and 1930s.

I finished these masks, which I made for my daughter and her husband.  They will go in the mail tomorrow.  I made two masks for each person in the family since I think we will be wearing them for several months to come.  Also, masks will be required for my grandkids when they go back to school in August. 

That was our weekend.  It was low key, but an overall good weekend.  I hope your July 4th weekend was good too!  Enjoy the week ahead! 

Faves Near the Fourth

I lost track of time again, so I am getting my Friday's Fave Fives up a little later again.  I also had some issues with Blogger making my text super tiny, so I am experimenting with a larger text. Better late than never on a Friday's Fave post and I am grateful to be joining again with Susanne and friends linking over at Living to Tell the Story to look for the good in the week.  Here are my favorites this week. 

Election Day - This past Tuesday was our Primary Election Day here in Utah. Most of the candidates I voted for didn't win, but no worries, I am just grateful for the privilege of making my preferences known at the ballot box.  I look forward to voting in the general election in November.  I love my having the opportunity to vote. 

Cool and Rainy Days- The beginning of this week brought our area rain and cool temperatures.  We are back up to sunny summer weather now, but having rain and highs only in the 60s for a couple of days was nice. 

Library Pick-Up - I checked out a book from the library, for the first time since the pandemic closed the libraries in March.  The library opened for curbside pick-ups in May, but this was the first time I took advantage of it.  It was actually super quick and easy.  It only works if you know exactly what book you want, but reserving online and picking up curbside by appointment was a breeze.  I will not hesitate to use this service again. 

This Book - This is the book I picked up from the library.  I started reading it and after the first chapter, I knew I needed my own copy of the book, so I ordered it from Amazon.  All I can say is that this is a powerful true story that is teaching me a lot.  I may do a review when I am finished with it, but if you want more understanding about some of the things going on in our nation right now, this would be an excellent book to read.  There is always something to learn from the experiences of others. 

More Mask Making - After making and giving away or donating over 300 masks, I thought I would take a break from mask making, but as masking wearing has become mandatory in many areas, I received requests from several friends and associates, so I have continue with mask making. The masks pictured above will be going to my daughter and her family.  Masks are going to be required when school starts up again here, so I want to make sure my grandchildren have plenty. I plan to sew some more today.

Sewing Store - This awesome sewing store opened about two blocks away from my home, just before the pandemic broke out.  With all the mask sewing I have been doing, I find this is one of my new favorites, and I visit it at least once a week for fabric or supplies for mask making.  

The United State of America - I know this country is imperfect.  We have plenty of problems to overcome, but this is the land of my birth and I am grateful to live here.  I am grateful for the freedoms and opportunities available to all who live here.  I am grateful that as a nation, we are willing to acknowledge mistakes of past, try to correct them, and move forward with faith in a bright future. I will always believe in the basic goodness of this country and always say,  God Bless America!