Catching Up

This post will cover an assortment of pictures and life updates that haven't been mentioned here since I've cut way back on my blogging. 

I'm going to begin with my oldest great-nephew, Curtis. The last time I posted anything about Curtis was in 2015, when he graduated from high school. That's largely because, with his involvement with college and the activities that go along with that period in the life of a young adult, I didn't see him again until his wedding last year. And now he's a daddy. I'm still trying to get my mind around that. But here are some pictures to prove the reality of it.

Curtis & Gaby on their wedding day

Proud parents of newborn baby, Magnolia Thea

Curtis' First Father's Day as a Father

Gaby and her new daughter

The next three photos are from Ouabache State Park, one each from April, May, and June.

The Redbud trees are so glorious at the park in the spring.

This one was taken two and a half weeks after I'd had a total left hip replacement. Doug had fitted the walker with a footrest which allowed me to keep my feet elevated, thereby reducing the swelling.

Ouabache State Park is home to a small herd of American buffalo, the newest member of which is this little calf, born on June 6. She has become the most popular attraction at the park...or at least the most popular attraction in the buffalo pen.

The next picture was taken alongside the street leading to our house in the retirement community where we live. It's not a great photo, but I include it because a quail is a relatively rare sighting for us. They're generally shy and not seen out in the open like this.

Quail

Summer Fun

It's been, for the most part, a hot and humid summer in our area; and it seems as if it's flying by. Kids will be returning to school next week! It's been rather an uneventful season for us, which can be a good thing at our ages. :)

Here are a few photos from local events that just seem to scream "summer fun." The first was an outdoor concert with Christian music artist, Guy Penrod, who was a member of the Gaither Vocal Band for many years. There was no charge to attend the concert, but a love offering was collected for the benefit of area food banks.

The outdoor venue gave an intimate feel to the concert. Guy even came down off the stage and walked through the audience at one point.

This second set of images is from Harlan Days, an annual summer festival in the small town where Doug and I live.

I hope summer has been kind to you.

Winter's Arrival

Winter has arrived with a vengeance! It brought snow and bitterly cold temperatures with it. I thought I'd share just a few photos with you today.

There is a cemetery across the road from our house. During the years that we've lived here, we've observed some of the different ways people grieve the loss of loved ones. Some have annual gatherings at the grave site on the birthday or date of death of the deceased, often with balloons and flowers and other tokens of remembrance and affection. 

The first photo in today's post shows one such group that had gathered during a snowstorm on December 23, to raise their beer cans in a toast to their departed friend or family member. 

On one occasion, in the first year of their grief, this group stacked their empty beer cans around the tombstone of their friend or family member at the closing of their meeting. We haven't been over to the cemetery since the 23rd, to see if any of the cans are still there from this session.

On Christmas Day, Doug and I drove the two hours to see Doug's brother, Dennis, and take him out for a Christmas meal. Very few restaurants are open on Christmas, and we have a long-standing tradition of taking Dennis to a truck stop which never closes and is just about halfway between his home and ours. This year was a bit more challenging because the weather was terrible between Dennis' apartment and the truck stop. There were frequent snow squalls and near-white-out conditions.

I shot this through the windshield from the back seat during one such snow squall.

This is another shot, with a little better visibility.

As we returned to Dennis' home after our meal, I snapped this shot of a house that I'd noticed earlier. It looked so pretty in the snowy setting.

I hope you've all had a blessed Christmas and will have a safe and happy New Year's celebration.

Here And There

These are a few more images from October, the first two from our yard and the last three from a visit to Doug's brother, Dennis, in Michigan.

The leaves pictured above were caught in one of those long webs that stream through the air in the fall, seemingly attached to nothing except your face when you walk into one. The leaves looked like a small kite, floating to and fro in the wind. Doug spotted them and suggested I get my camera. I'm glad he did.

Since I had the camera out anyway, I walked around the yard to see what else might suggest a photo. The crabapple tree seemed a likely choice.

The tree is loaded with fruit this year and will provide food for the birds and squirrels this winter.

The following three photos were taken on October 28, during a trip to Michigan to visit Dennis.

The fall colors were so pretty as we took Dennis on a scenic drive of the back roads near his home. The image quality of the above photo isn't the greatest, but it's not too bad considering that I was shooting through the windshield from the back seat. 

We visited John Wilson Park in June, and I wanted to come back and see what it looked like in the fall. I was glad we did.

The Greenfield House in Athens, Michigan

On our way to John Wilson Park, we passed this house and that beautiful tree. It was close to the park, so I just walked a few more steps to get this photo.

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

This 'N That

About a year ago, Doug and I began walking neighborhoods in the small town where we attend church, handing out booklets that contain the complete Gospel of John and the complete book of Romans, in an attempt to get at least a portion of scripture into the hands of anyone who is interested in having it. Our motivation is the biblical promise that God's word shall not return void, "...but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11)

Last Tuesday, we decided to drive the three hours or so to Bearing Precious Seed, the publisher of these booklets, to pick up another order and to tour their printing operation. We were amazed at the size and scope of their ministry.

Bearing Precious Seed Printing Facility

Tyler spent about an hour and a half with Doug and me, giving us a thorough tour.

A small museum displaying equipment used in the beginning.

BPS ministries include what they call Seedline, which is a is a means for the local church to have hands on involvement with Bible publishing for the world. This is accomplished by taking the printed page and collating it, folding the covers, putting the Scripture in the cover, stapling it, cutting the book and boxing them for the Field.

FirstBible International is another of their ministries, involving translating and publishing Bibles to provide a Bibleless people group with a reliable first Bible. Once that goal is accomplished, the next desire is to reproduce that Bible so that each individual within that people group has his first Bible.

It was a great visit and worth every minute of the travel time. As an extra bonus, we were able to work in a visit with my cousin-in-law, Anita, on our way back home.

Now, for a little change of pace, the following pictures are from today:

It was cold this morning, and this rabbit had managed to create a warm nest of leaves.

The rabbit pictured above was in the back yard this morning, having burrowed into a pile of leaves under a tree. Doug saw the dark spot and got the binoculars to see what it was. It looked as if the critter had even managed to throw some leaves on top of himself as a sort of blanket. Of course, my eyes aren’t as good as Doug’s, even with the binoculars. So I got my camera out and took some pictures of the mystery critter, then enlarged them on the camera’s LCD screen, to see what it was. It did have a face like a rabbit, but the ears looked more like a squirrel. So I told Doug I thought it was a squabbit. When I got the photos downloaded to the computer, though, it was obvious that it was a rabbit.

And, now, one last photo from today...a sunset shot taken from the moving car as we drove to church tonight for the evening Bible study:

You may have noticed that my posting has slowed to a crawl lately. I think the winter doldrums have hit me harder than usual this year. But it's February, after all. The end is in sight. And the sun shone beautifully today.

White-tailed Buck and Station 66

On November 10, Doug and I visited Doug's brother, Dennis, in Battle Creek, Michigan. After a meal in a restaurant, the three of us were taking a drive around the area when "eagle-eye" Doug spotted this beautiful white-tailed buck just emerging from the woods. I hurriedly pulled my camera from its case and snapped two quick shots before the deer vanished back into the woods again.

A favorite stopping place for Dennis is Station 66, located in a rural area outside of Battle Creek. They have lots of goodies there, but the thing that drew us on this day was ice cream.

And it was worth the stop!

Binder Park Zoo

July 14th was Doug's brother's birthday. For the occasion, we took him to the Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek, Michigan, something he's been wanting to do for some time.

I know that there are strong opinions regarding the confinement of animals in zoos for the pleasure of the viewing public, and I understand that. But I also appreciate the opportunity to see animals up close that I might never see in their natural habitat.

This post will just give a sampling of some of the things we saw that day.

This Llama was in a petting zoo area.

Bald Eagles

Purple Loosestrife growing in a swampy area

A peacock seeking food dropped by diners in a picnic area

An African Painted Dog

There was a large area where several compatible species roamed freely. The next four pictures were shot from an overlook some distance from the animals.

Addax, also known as the white antelope and the screwhorn antelope

Damara Zebra

Grant's Zebra (on left) and Damara Zebra

Grant's Zebra and young foal

This flower caught my eye as we exited the zoo.

Shrine Horse Show

Last weekend was the annual Shrine Horse Show in Columbia City, Indiana. Back when I was in grade school, my best friend's father was a Shriner, and he took Connie and me to the show with him every year. 

The show grounds were beautiful, with a grassy hill overlooking the show ring. The hillside was cut into tiers, providing flat places for people to set up chairs or spread blankets from which to enjoy the show. For those willing to pay the price, box seats were available at ringside. Vendors sold food and equestrian supplies.

In those days, the hillside was so full of spectators that it was difficult to move around without infringing on someone else's space; and the box seats were always full.

I hadn't been to this show in many years but wanted to go this year because a woman, Laura, who boards her horse, Cruz, at the stable where I ride was going to be showing. 

Things weren't the same as they'd been all those years ago. The hillside was totally bare of spectators. There were no box seats. Vehicles could park at ringside, where the boxes used to be. The class sizes were very small. During the Saturday afternoon that we were there, the largest class we saw had only six horses in it.  

But it was still fun. 

These first two pictures are of Laura and Cruz. Since Cruz is a pinto, I'm including a photo of each side.

Laura and Cruz

Laura and Cruz

An interesting thing about Cruz is that, although his face is completely white, which usually results in two blue eyes, his right eye is brown.

The next two pictures are of another pinto. This one was a stranger to me, but I thought he was pretty.

The next horse isn't a pinto; but, in the interest of fairness (and because I really liked this horse), I'm including two photos of it, too.