Summer, summer, summertime!

Hello Friends - When I was in junior high, we did an adaptation of the play You're A Good Man Charlie Brown.  I played the part of Lucy - my first, and last, starring role in anything theatrical!  Anyway, Snoopy sings the song Suppertime.  The chorus goes, "Supper, supper, suppertime" and he sings it while he is dancing around.  This is how I feel about summertime.  It goes so quickly and it always seems I have so much on my to do list! Hard to believe that summer vacation is 5 weeks old!

My brother Rob and his family came to visit from Texas last week.  They had been in St. Louis all week and came to Kirksville for a couple of days before heading back to Texas.  They were pretty exhausted from traveling by the time they got here, so we had a pretty low-key visit.  They all stayed at my house and it was cozy, but manageable.  It went very well.  It isn't often that all three siblings are in Mom and Dad's house at the same time, so these are special memories.  Becca, Rob's daughter, will be 12 in August and is becoming such a beautiful young woman.  Ben is a pretty funny kid, even though traveling is very difficult for him.  He was fascinated by all the fans in my house.  He would wander from room to room and turn each fan on and off.  He would then make the same comment about each:  "That's an awfully nice fan."  He did this repeatedly throughout the 2 days he was here.  He also has such good manners!  If you asked him to do something he didn't want to do he would reply, "No mam." and walk away.  Rob and Jenn are doing a fabulous job with both of them.  Notice I am in none of the pictures...........I was in the kitchen fixing the food and when we were done with the meal, Tracy was in the kitchen cleaning up...........Oh well, they know what I look like!

The question comes up repeatedly:  How is my love life?  The answer:  Good, very good, great, BIG SMILE!  I can honestly say that this is the most unexpected life change!  For years I thought I would never trust or open up to another person ever again, but that is not the case.  It proves that when the right person comes along, you just know!  Oh, and, NEVER SAY NEVER!  John has been wonderfully kind to both Andrew and I.  Recently we went to John's parents' house for a fish fry with his family.  Andrew and I arrived before John, but felt comfortable enough to go in and start preparing the watermelon we had brought.  We hadn't been there 5 minutes before I cut myself with the knife Shirley gave me to use.  Now, this wasn't a small knife cut!  This was cutting off the tip of my finger!  I was able to move away and wrap it up with a paper towel so the watermelon could be saved, but the injury was worse than any cut I have had.  Once I took the paper towel away and saw how much blood there was, I felt faint...........this is when John and his 2 daughters arrived!  Nothing like a little drama!  Luckily, there was a nurse there, Mary, and she was able to get the bleeding stopped and wrap it up.  There was no need to go to the hospital since there was nothing to sew back on and we were able to stay there for the evening.  Thank you goes out to Nurse Mary (I don't even know her last name) and the Henderson clan for helping me through this.  I guess there is always a story with every event..........and I will never, ever be allowed to cut a watermelon without hearing about that night again!  My finger is fine, growing back nicely, and even though I don't have feeling in it right now, the doctor feels sure I will eventually get those nerve endings back. Here is a picture of the fish Andrew caught later that evening.

This last picture is of the roses that John bought me later that weekend.  I can't think of the last time I have had a dozen red roses from someone other than my mother or father and it was RIDICULOUS how happy these flowers made me.  I feel young and silly again..........at the tender age of 47!  Life is GOOD!

Until later friends - Just Julie