A Blogiversary...and Stuff

It was seven years ago today that I began blogging, at the urging of two friends who were then bloggers themselves but have since discontinued their blogs in favor of Facebook. 

I can't really lay claim to a seventh anniversary of blogging, though, because I took a year off in 2014-2015, when my brother-in-law was going through some serious health issues and needed our help. So, really, I can claim only six years. 😉

After my year away from blogging, I didn't know whether there would still be anyone who would even notice my return to it, but there were some dear blogging friends who were back visiting and commenting as if they'd been there all along, just waiting for my return. It warmed my heart.

✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻

There haven't been many photos from the summer to share on the blog, but following are a few miscellaneous images to document some of our activities. 

The above photo was taken in July at the annual Friends of Israel Prophecy Conference at Winona Lake, Indiana. Doug and I have been attending at least some of the sessions of the conference for several years. The picture shows us with one of the staff members of the Friends of Israel organization.

✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻

Back in the sixties, the one place in town that would hire high school graduates with no prior experience was Lincoln National Life. The pay wasn't great; and many of the young women moved on to better-paying jobs after gaining the needed experience. So, generally speaking, we were all in our late teens and early twenties. It made for some great camaraderie among coworkers. Several of us even vacationed together a couple of times at Michigan dude ranches.

Carole, Mary, Dorthea, Sandy, Linda

In 2005, the dude ranch friends organized a reunion when Mary, our only out-of-towner, came back to town to visit family. Since then, it's become an annual tradition to get together when Mary comes to town. The photo above is from this year's reunion on July 22nd.

✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻

A new restaurant recently opened in our area, and we made plans to go there with our friends, Jim and Sandy, on August 12. Sandy decided to stop at the restaurant that afternoon, to see if they took reservations. When she pulled into the parking lot, she parked next to a classic car. Two men were standing nearby, and one of them (Don, as she learned later) quickly approached Sandy's car and opened the car door for her (apparently thinking she looked like the type that might bang her door against the classic car next to her).

Sandy asked Don and his friend (Dick, as she learned later) if they knew whether the restaurant took reservations. They said no but offered to hold a table for her.

Well, they weren't holding a table for us when we arrived for our dinner date, but they showed up while we were eating. They presented Sandy with a DVD of a movie called "Clerical Errors," in which Don had played the leading role.

Don Offerle and my friend, Sandy

I did a little poking around on the internet after I got home, and it turns out that Don had appeared in two other movies, as well, before suffering serious injuries in a bicycle accident in 2015. In addition, I found this interesting article which had appeared in our local newspaper in January, 2016. It's a little long, but it made me glad I'd had this brief encounter with this gentle soul.

✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻✻

Well, that's it for this anniversary post. I want you all to know how much I appreciate you. You're the ones who deserve a pat on the back!