June fun

Nathan and Grace had some new ideas

for their clubhouse area...

and went to work.

Nathan build a stone wall along the path

as you enter their territory

complete with a gate and super sling shot!

Good thing they have a mama who sews

and has a stash of scrap material.

They designed and made a clubhouse flag.

They also updated and typed the posted rules

for the clubhouse!

My butterfly bush was dreamily fragrant this year ...

I loved how the delightful smell drifted to the house!

We created a nerf battlefield in our side yard.

We've been enjoying it as a family and even

had some friends over for covid safe

outside nerf battle and homemade popsicles.

Grace and I have been making a lot of homemade

popsicles and frozen bananas. yum!

The first weekend in June was junk days for 

Cherrytree Township where my mom lives.

We helped her and another widow by taking

 their junk to the dumpsters for them.

As we pulled in with the first load, a lady and her

husband were wheeling bikes to the scrap metal

pile.  I jumped out and asked if they were still good.

Both bikes needed some TLC, but have some life

left in them and will work for the kids to ride

until bikes are back in stock.  Yeah!

We tried out a new part of a trail from Oil

City to Franklin one day.

Grace and I have been growing out our hair

for 2 1/2 yrs with the goal of donating it to

Wigs for Kids.  We reached our 12" in April,  

but salons were closed ...so we ended up with 13"

to donate by the time we got it cut mid-June.

Together, we donated 104" of hair for wigs.

Is your mouth watering?

I LOVE LOVE LOVE when strawberries are ripe locally!

They have been sooooo good!

We picked a lot for the freezer, glace pie, jam,

popsicles and to eat fresh!

And the berries were right on time to be picked the day

before Father's Day.

Matt only likes a few kinds of pies and strawberry glace

is one of his favorites.

We honored Matt with some of his favorite foods

and activities on Father's Day!

Our church resumed meeting in person the first

Sunday in June.  I've been very blessed with 

all the ways they have worked hard to follow 

guidelines for safety during this pandemic.

One new thing that is happening to meet these

needs is a Sunday evening outside service.

So ...we spent the last Sunday of the month

hiking 7.5 miles along the Allegheny Gorge

with a picnic lunch and dinner...then attended the

evening outside service and stopped for ice cream

at our favorite place on the way home

 ...a great summer day! 

Matt and I play a game of cards most days.

One morning this week, a scarlet tanager was 

flitting from branch to branch on the trees

near our back porch where we were sitting

for our card game.

I keep a journal on my desk open the the current

page with an on-going list of things that make

me smile, bring me joy, or that I'm thankful for ...

I try to add 2 things a day to this "Ledger of HIS LOVE" ...

A few things on my list this month are ...

Matt helping a man at the mower shop unload his equipment.

Being on first name basis with the farmer who grows our strawberries.

Matt waking me up during the night to see our yard sparkle with fireflies.

And the beauty of this scarlet tanager.

I encourage you to take time to look for things

for your own list even if it is just a mental list!