The Journey Continues...Back to "normal," June 29 - July 4

 Tuesday, June 29

After breakfast we took the bicycles across the river for a walk/ride. It was already getting hot by the time we got started.  Owen rode the whole road from parking lot to parking lot, about 2 miles round trip. Needless to say, nobody kept up with him. We strolled along with the younger kids until they were ready to turn around.  Unfortunately, the eagles did not make an appearance and I did not get any pictures.

David is a masterful packer.  He had everything packed and ready to go shortly after 11.  I fixed more quesadillas for their early lunch because that was all I had on hand.  They were on the road by 11:45.

I was scheduled to meet Bonnie, Mary Ann and Mary M for lunch at noon.  We went to Casa Fiesta in Lenoir City.  We haven't been together in over a year, so it was great seeing them and catching up on our lives.  I hope we can do it again before summer is over.

When I got home, Bill had already made some progress on cleaning up.  We got our room back and the priority was to get those sheets turned around.  We had an easy supper of left-over catfish with left-over corn and a salad. We enjoying watching Miss State win the 2nd game in CWS in a big way, 13-2!

Wednesday, June 30

More sheets and towels to wash today.  Bill helped with vacuuming.  A quick survey of the garden showed that things are progressing well.  I harvested Swiss chard for supper. 

Cucumbers

Tomatoes look good, but might not be ready by July 4

Zucchini is over-achieving

Purple-Hull Peas

I had a noon lunch with Marie.  We met at Pei Wei in Turkey Creek and had lettuce wraps.  Afterward, I did a little shopping for myself before coming home.

I felt like cooking, so I made Air-fryer fried chicken thighs, braised swiss chard from the garden and served the corn and black bean salsa again.

We ended the day watching Miss. State beat Vandy again to the it all in the CWS.  This is the 1st national championship for any Miss State team.  It was exciting!

Thursday, July 1

New pastor, Rev. Linda Bass, starts today.  I met with Sandra, Ed and her to discuss tech/media for worship.  We also discussed some of the mechanics of order of worship and communion.  It was a good session. I think we will be very pleased with Pastor Linda.

I spent the afternoon working on this blog.  The promised rain finally came late in the afternoon and continued during the night. Supper was reheated chicken with brown rice, gravy and peas.

Friday, July 2

The overnight rain cooled the air and we expect a couple of days of nice weather with below average heat and humidity.  It was a good morning for a stroll through the park.  It was too wet to work in the garden.  I enjoying a relaxing day of not doing much. The Matzeks left early in the afternoon for a long weekend with Park and family at Wolf Lake (near Yazoo City, MS).  We went over later in the afternoon to get LeRoy who will have a sleep-over with us while they are gone. 

We decided to try grilling catfish again.  This time I used my old cast iron griddle on the grill.  That worked much better than the wire rack we used last time. We had a completely grilled supper - catfish, grilled summer squash from the garden and boiled new potatoes finished on the grill.  It was a beautiful afternoon and evening to enjoy deck-sitting and wine-sipping.

Saturday, July 3

We slept with the window open and woke up to a cool 60 degrees.  After breakfast we walked, this time down the road by the dam.  Since late spring, construction has been underway to repair/replace the 50+ year-old turbines.  We had an up-close look at the old turbines.  I wish we had taken the time to show this to Owen.  We were privileged to see an eagle flying over the river today.

Turbine blades

Interior view of the turbine hub

In the garden, the zucchini is producing well and I found an almost ripe tomato.  It was close to the ground, so I picked it.  I was afraid that the bunnies who get inside the fence would take a bite.

I had two pieces of left-over fried chicken and some brown rice that needed to be used. I used that as the basis of a bowl meal, with sauteed green beans and water chestnuts, garnished with mandarin oranges and cashews.

July 4 - Independence Day Holiday

We had a good crowd at church to welcome Pastor Linda to Trinity - 73 in attendance.  There were about a dozen Sproul family members to help the total.  Pastor Linda had a good beginning!

I worked on ribs off and on during the afternoon.  I had a rack and half to cook for a shared holiday supper with the Brocks.  Once again, I was too busy to remember a picture, but they were picture-perfect good!  Kathy fixed our old favorite French Potato Salad and a cold cucumber salad.  We watched the Capitol Steps on PBS until 9.

When we got home, we took our garden chairs next door to watch the Bolt family fireworks.  They did a great job.  We could also see fireworks from a couple of other neighbors.  I like seeing the neighborhood displays more than seeing a big production with all the crowds.