For Today...

Outside my window: Partly cloudy skies and continued cool temperatures. Today's predicted high is 71 degrees. The flowers continue to flourish. Lilies and roses are especially lovely this year. I had to take down my hanging basket with the cucumber and tomato plants. It just wasn't doing well. I put the pot inside a larger pot, really drenched it (even though I've been watering 3x per day!) and moved it onto the deck where it receives far fewer hours of direct sunlight and it has popped back to life. Last night I also took down the hanging basket of red, white, and purple trailing verbena with the hope that the same treatment will perk it up.

On my mind: The same things on everyone's mind these days...inflation and rising gas prices. I'm doing what I can to stretch each dollar. I don't worry, per se, I know God is in control, but I also don't believe God expects us to just sit back when he has given us wonderful minds and bodies to do the work of living. We are told to be good stewards of the gifts we are given so I am trying to do that. Being frugal, trying to get the family to not be so wasteful, doing without some things we've taken for granted, but are in reality luxuries, making do, being content with what I have and being at home more.

I am thankful: We were able to get together as a family yesterday and celebrate Father's Day with a simple, homecooked meal. I made meatloaf, roasted and seasoned potato wedges, and corn-on-the-cob with homemade chocolate chip cookies and ice cream for dessert. It was a beautiful day so we ate and visited on the deck and later all of us but our son-in-law and my stepfather went for a walk around the neighborhood.

I am remembering: the men in my life who have been cast in the role of father. I have had an adopted father, a stepfather (though he came along when I was in my 30's), a grandfather who served as a father figure during my earliest years, and in the last few years, my biologic father has joined the cast. None of the men were  or are affectionate "daddy" types. They were good men, but flawed. In one case absent. In another, overbearing and controlling. Even the grandfather who was better than all the rest, was the one who manipulated things so that I never knew my birth father until I was 55 years old. It's all left me with rather conflicted feelings when it comes to Father's Day.

In the kitchen: As mentioned, lots of cooking from scratch and since it's summer, lots of lighter foods, fresh foods...veggies and seafoods. Last night we had grilled skewers of shrimp seasoned with the Maine Seafood Seasoning I bought in Bar Harbor back in 2019 when we visited during our cruise. We had corn-on-the-cob and sliced veggies with peppercorn ranch dressing with the shrimp. It was delicious!

I have enjoyed: going to used book sales. I went to a HUGE one on Friday with a friend from high school. It was fun to look at the books and nice to catch up with her. After all the clearing out of stuff I've done, I restrained myself and only bought one bag of books and a couple were cookbooks and a couple were for the kids. I also found 3 good devotionals and picked them up so I'll have them when I need to start a new one. The sale Saturday was at our local library and not nearly as big. It's run by a handful of retired teachers and librarians (my mom is one of them) who want to support the library, but are not as energetic as they once were. It was "sneak preview day" so I paid a $5 fee to get in and have first crack at the books...well me and about 20 other people. Again, I was pretty restrained and only came home with one bag of books, about half of which were for the kids.

On this week's agenda: I am planning to go today and put in applications at a few places. Then I will be babysitting Colton and Leah all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday while my daughter trains for her new job.

Leaving you with this thought: