Saturday, August 1
For the past several weeks, we've been thinking about doing some craft work to spruce up the house a little. Barbara mentioned several things that she had seen on Pinterest, but we never got going on anything.
When we were visiting Leah and Ryan last week, we saw a refurbished window frame that the kids use for a prayer board in their entrance hall. We had the thought that we could borrow that idea and make ourselves a prayer window for one of the rooms in our house (since all our prayer lists seem to end up in different places).
Last week, we drove out to Yantis to see our friends Reed and Lu Ann, who own a little store called Things We Like. We told Reed what we wanted to do, and he led us to just the right window frame for us. We took it home, set it aside for a couple of days while we thought how we wanted to decorate it, and then this morning we turned the garage into a shop and began work. With lots of sanding, painting, and "antiquing," we came up with the following piece which now hangs on a wall in the living room.
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Sunday, August 2
Today was the day we were supposed to leave for a mission trip in the Brownsville area, but for a number of reasons, we had to back out of those plans. Instead, we joined the congregation at Yantis First Baptist Church for the regular morning service. Barbara took this photo while the Praise Band was leading the worship through music.
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Tuesday, August 4
While riding Taz out to Yantis for the weekly prayer meeting at the church, I stopped at Lake Fork to take a couple of photos of a gorgeous sunrise over the lake.
After prayer meeting, I rode back to town and Barbara and I decided it was a perfect day for Taz riding, so we hopped back on and rode through Quitman and then up to Coke and across to visit our friends Pete and Shirley. Shirley has a gorgeous fig tree in her yard, and she invited us to help ourselves to some of the late crop of delicious figs.
When we left Pete and Shirley's place, we took one of the back roads to Yantis to check with the preacher on a couple of things, but Brother Craig was out doing visitations, so we went to the senior citizens center and joined friends Charlotte, Jerry, Diane, and Lu Ann for lunch.
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Thursday, August 6
Barbara got a call this morning from our Kansas/Texas friends Gene and Michelle. They were in Tyler, but would be returning early in the afternoon and wanted to know if we had time to visit. We arranged to meet later at the house, after their medical appointments and our afternoon nap. We had a nice time of catching up with Gene and Michelle, and also gave them their first "selfie" experience.
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Thursday, August 7
Today was a kitchen day. We each had recipes we wanted to make, and with nothing else we wanted to do, we cleared, and then cluttered, the cabinets. Barbara's canned some of the figs we got from our friend Shirley, and then started on a newest creation for Cousin Ladd, a Pinto Bean Pecan Pie (a recipe we got at the Bush Brothers plant when we were in Tennessee last month), while I tried my hand at creating sausage rolls (a treat we discovered at a Czech bakery/store in West, Texas, when we returned from our San Antonio trip a week or so ago. Who says travel isn't educational?!!!
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Saturday, August 8
We spent today preparing a meal for tonight's get-together with church friends Reed and Lu Ann, and David and Lorri, our former pastor family from both Liberal and Yantis. These kinds of gatherings are always fun, and our time together tonight was no exception.
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Sunday, August 9
This was a full day of church activities at Yantis FBC, with the Praise Band leading the music, and Brother Craig bringing another powerful sermon.
After the morning service, we returned to Mineola for lunch and a nap before returning to Yantis for a church business meeting, followed by a trip to Braum's with friends Maylene, Mary, Reed, and Lu Ann.
After all of our socializing, we said our goodbyes and made the 35-mile trip back to Mineola. Just about the time we got home, we realized that today was Taz's second birthday. What else was there to do on a beautiful, warm night but to get on Taz and ride across town for a birthday celebration at Sonic?!!! Taz didn't get to share in the ice cream treats, but she did have a drink of high octane gasoline earlier in the day, so that evened things out.
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Monday, August 10
This was a Friends and Taz day for us. We started with a Taz ride out to Yantis, via Quitman and Coke. Bumpy roads and sharp turns don't make for squared-up photos, but you can get the gist from the following.
At Yantis, we joined the lunch bunch at the community center. Since it was Monday, Reed and Lu Ann were both a part of the bunch.
Later this afternoon, we heard from Gene and Michelle, who were spending a large part of the day with medical appointments in Tyler. We arranged to meet them at the Mineola Wing Dinger's for an early supper.
On the way home, we stopped at Autumn Wind Assisted Living Center to see our former neighbor Addie and give her a special birthday gift, a small teddy bear.
After a busy day, we were happy to spend a quiet evening at home!
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Tuesday, August 11
Happy 91st Birthday to our dear friend and neighbor Addie!!!
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Wednesday, August 12
Happy 84th Birthday to neighbor and good friend John!!!
We spent the morning on the run, starting with a quick visit across the street to see John and Wanda and offer our birthday greetings to John and deliver a jar of figs that Shirley had sent to Wanda.
Next on the agenda was a trip to the bank, then a drive to Quitman for a Sonic Stop and a short visit at the hospital with friend Jenny.
From there, we drove up the road a bit to the Waldo Way Dairy Farm to see what they had that we couldn't live without. Waldo Way Farms is one of the best kept secrets in the Mineola area.
Then, it was on to Yantis to shop at Things We Like and visit with Reed and Lu Ann who, once again, had exactly what we needed for some decorating at the house.
We then stopped at the new J&J Meat Market in Yantis for a few items (friends in the Yantis area, if you haven't been to J&J yet, you really need to give those folks a try...friendly service, great quality products, and very good prices.
On the way home, we went to What-A-Burger to get lunch-to-go, took it home and ate it in the comfort of our own place.
I cooked up a pot of spaghetti sauce this afternoon, and then while it was simmering, we drove over to Ladd and Angela's house to drop off some things for Maddey. Ladd was out working and needed some help unloading hay roles, so we pitched in with a "little" assistance.
This evening, we decorated the dining room with our newest purchases from Things We Like, including a new window frame and screen that we have been refinishing. The old Ice Box that has been in the family for years had been the storage place for many of Mother's cookbooks, but Barbara transformed it into a pantry for canned goods.
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Thursday, August 13
Another busy day...While Barbara worked on pictures for the journal/blog this morning, I went to the kitchen and cooked up a mess of refried beans and some sausage balls. When that was done and the kitchen was put back in order, we went out to the garage to clean it up and transform from a crafts room to a storage place for the car and Taz.
This afternoon, we had a short visit with TJ, Michelle, and the kids from Shamrock at the house which gave them a chance to try out the Bush's Beans pecan pie and some exotic suckers we had bought for the kids. But...ask if we remembered to take pics...nope.
Tonight I attended a rehearsal of the Lake Country Symphonic Band at Mineola Middle School. During our break, I was able to capture this shot of the setting sun through the woods across the road from the school.
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Friday, August 14
This morning, we rode Taz to Gladewater to join other East Texas Patriot Guard Riders in honoring the life and service of U.S.Navy veteran W. Vonceille Taylor, who was a gunner aboard the USS Pennsylvania at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He later served aboard the USS Thompson during the D-Day Invasion. Mr. Taylor was a true hero and a member of the Greatest Generation; all who represented the PGR were honored to be present at the service this morning.
While Accelerated Diesel and the transmission specialist said they couldn't find any engine or transmission problems, Big V exhibited the same bad behavior she showed on our return trip from New York in July...but, she waited until we were just a few miles from home to show off. Under the circumstances, all we could do was get her back home at Our Little Lot until we can find someone to run some computer diagnostics on the engine/transmission systems and see if they can get those two systems to start playing nice with each other.
On the way home, we stopped at ETMC to visit our friend Jenny, but found that she had been moved into a respiratory isolation unit, so we only got to speak to her from a distance.
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Saturday, August 15
We took some time for ourselves this afternoon and attended a showing of Mission Impossible, starring Tom Cruise, at Mineola's historic Select Theater. The original series was one of my favorites, and we're not particularly Tom Cruise fans, but we were pleasantly surprised with the movie...and, we thoroughly enjoyed the bucket of hot, buttered popcorn.
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Sunday, August 16
We attended the morning service at Yantis FBC this morning and then returned home for lunch and a bit of rest.
A little storm blew in around 2:30, dropping some much-needed rain and freshening up the area around the house.
Around 2:45, we hopped in the car and drove to Rockwall to meet up with Heather, Andy, Alexander, and Abby so we could have a meal and pick up the kids to bring them to Mineola while Heather and Andy got busy with their new school year activities.
On the way home, we stopped by TJ's house so she could see the kids.
And then it was on home to unpack the car and have some good grandkids times, beginning with some serious Taz Time!
And have our first selfie together...
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Monday, August 17
Happy Birthday to friend and neighbor Wanda!!!
First on our hit parade of activities this morning were Gramps' pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon for breakfast. When the kitchen was cleaned up, the kids joined Grams to help bake a cake...
The Kids' August visit almost always coincides with Wanda or John's birthday, so they sliced off some of the cake they helped bake this morning and took it across the street to share with our neighbors..
After all that work in the kitchen this morning, we decided we'd go to What-A-Burger for lunch...
And then it was back to the house for an afternoon of arts and crafts activities, including building catapults and creating hand-fashioned Tootsie Pops.
This evening the kids enjoyed 45-minute Taz rides through parts of Wood County that they had never seen.
When we got back from our Taz rides, Alexander and Abby helped Grams make homemade root beer ice cream, a dessert that was inspired by their comments during a previous visit.
While the ice cream set up, Alexander and Abby helped make the salad that would go with our evening meal of spaghetti and meat sauce.
And to wrap up the day, we all joined in for a late night walk around the neighborhood...
It was a very fun and very full day! No one had to be rocked to sleep tonight!!!
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Tuesday, August 18
While Grams and the kids caught up on some sleep, I set the alarm and got up at 5:20 this morning so I could ride out to Yantis for prayer meeting. The sun was just appearing through the clouds on the eastern horizon as I crossed Lake Fork on the 154 bridge, so I pulled down to the water's edge and shot this series of sunrise photos.
After prayer meeting, I returned to the house where we all had breakfast and then gathered together everything we would need for a day at Splash Kingdom, near Canton. The kids love to go to Splash Kingdom, and we've decided that we like it enough that we could go there unattended.
During the day, Alexander and Abby hit every attraction, some multiple times, but Grams and Gramps limited our time to the wave pool, the lazy river, and the cabana.
When we had closed down the park, we returned to the house to clean up and change clothes...
Eat some supper, enjoy a dish of root beer ice cream, and watch a couple of movies.
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Wednesday, August 20
Everyone slept in this morning, but when we were finally all up, we had breakfast and then the kids packed their luggage and loaded the car for the trip back to Rockport this afternoon.
When everything was in order, the Taz rides began, with Alexander taking the first ride. While Alexander rode, Abby busied herself with some arts and crafts fun.
Our one-hour ride today (the longest ever for the kids) took us to Quitman, then behind the Lake Fork Dam to Alba, back across Highway 17 around Lake Fork to the Lake Fork Marina, down Highway 515 to the 154 intersection, and then over the 154 bridge to Quitman and down Highway 37 back to Mineola.
Alexander is a quiet rider...not talking very much, but taking everything in while he enjoys the ride.
Abby is more of a talker and joker on the Taz rides. Also, she likes to do photography along the way, and today's trip gave her opportunities to see many parts of Lake Fork.
We got a later start than expected and ran into some stormy weather, so we were a little behind schedule when we met Andy and made the kid transfer in Rockwall. There wasn't much time for visiting, as their family had a get-together with Andy's school faculty this evening, so we shared hugs all round, said our goodbyes, and they headed for Richardson and we turned around and drove back to Mineola.
On the way home, we decided that we would have fried bologna sandwiches using the bologna that we bought at J&J Meat Market in Yantis last week. I opted for a fried egg on top of my slab of bologna, but Barbara felt she wasn't quite ready for that just yet.
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Thursday, August 20
Hallelujah!!! we got some great rain today...all the excitement we needed after a busy first part of the week.
A visit to see Leslie at Naturally Nails and a trip to the post office and then Walmart completed our day.
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Friday, August 21
While we were shopping at Walmart yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from one of the PGR ride captains wanting to know if I would sound Taps at a funeral near Bullard this morning. I told him that it would be an honor to do that, so this morning we got ready and drove the car to Bullard (would have taken Ta, but the weather was a bit iffy). We arrived early enough that I got in some good warm-up time and Barbara had lots of time to take photos of the mission.
Just as the service at Mt. Selman Cemetery started, the rain began to fall. Luckily, I was stationed under a large magnolia tree, so I didn't get too wet.
After the service, we found the nearest Sonic and had some lunch before returning to Mineola.
Our friends Reed and Lu Ann came over this evening. Lu Ann knew that Barbara had a special rock collection, so she gave Barbara a rock that she had in her own collection for many years.
You might say that the Gammills and Littles have formed a rock-solid friendship. Or, you might not say that, but someone out there is surely thinking it. We were so excited about adding the new addition to the rock garden in the living room that we forgot to take pictures of the people. Oh well...there'll be another opportunity.
It's always a treat to receive photos of the kids and grandkids. This evening we received these shots of the first day of school for Heather, Alexander, and Abby.
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Sunday, August 23
This morning we were at the worship service at Yantis FBS, where I played trumpet with the Praise Band.
After the service, we drove to one of the hospitals in Tyler to visit Maylene, one of our church members, who had been admitted last night. Our friends Reed and Lu Ann, were not far behind us, so the four of us got to have a nice visit with Maylene and her son before we returned home for an evening of rest and relaxation.
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Monday, August 24 - Wednesday, August 26
These days were full of activities, mostly the stuff of daily life, but no photos. Barbara did work out a new recipe on Wednesday, a Blueberry Danish dessert using blueberries that we got from the Blueberry Farm north of Quitman during the summer.
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Thursday, August 27
This morning we delivered plates of the Blueberry Danish to neighbors John and Wanda, and Dorothy. We took a plate to Addie at the assisted living facility, but they said she had gone out shopping, so we drove to Brookshire's and found her sitting at the front of the store, waiting for the others to finish their shopping. We visited with Addie a bit, gave her the new dessert, and then said our goodbyes to her.
Our next stop was at Aunt TJ's to drop off her dessert, and then we returned to the house to rest up a bit for activities later in the day.
I had a surgical procedure on my nose scheduled for early tomorrow morning, so we went to Tyler this evening and checked in at a motel so we wouldn't have to get up so early tomorrow.
After checking in, we drove a few blocks to the Jalapeno Tree Restaurant to join a large contingent of East Texas Patriot Guard Riders for the monthly meet and eat get-together.
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Friday, August 28
We were up and about early this morning. After we checked out of the motel, we drove to the Dermatology Associates office, getting there with just minutes to spare. Unfortunately, we were at the wrong office and had to hurry back across Tyler the the surgery center (which was about three minutes from where we spent the night).
After getting checked in and receiving my "death bracelet," we sat in the waiting room for a few minutes and then were taken to the surgical suite, where all my information was reviewed and I received shots to deaden my nose and right ear.
A few minutes later, the surgeon came in to slice a section off my ear for a biopsy, and then begin work on the squamus cell cancer on the left side of my nose. When she was done, she bandaged my nose and sent me to the waiting room to wait until the pathology report came back.
While we were in the waiting room, Barbara got the camera out and we had some photo phun of our own.
I was feeling no pain when we left the surgical center, so we drove out the Old Jacksonville Highway to Scooter Pete's cycle shop and the Patriot Guard Riders Shack to look for a vest for Barbara. Norma, the operator of the PGR Shack was very helpful, and within 30 minutes or so, Barbara was the proud owner/wearer of a new vest with the beginning of a collection of patches.
At Scooter Pete's, we found a cup holder to attach to Barbara's handle grip on Taz, something we've been wanting for the past two years.
By the time we were approaching Mineola, the pain-killer shots were wearing off, and I could tell I was going to be in for a rough time. When we got home, I headed for the Tylenol bottle, and later had a Hydrocodone cocktail before heading to bed and trying to get as much sleep as possible.
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Saturday, August 29
Today was a do-nothing day for me while Barbara played nurse to my impatient patient.
Any day is made better when we receive grandkid photos, so we were pleased to get this shot from Mike showing Ava and Jack watching a movie that we had sent them.
We were planning to go to church tomorrow if at all possible, so while I slept the day away, Barbara came up with a photo that we could show to folks to "explain" why I looked so bad.
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Sunday, August 30
The swelling around my eyes was going down and I felt well enough to go to church this morning, so I covered my wounds, attached the card showing me at a worse time, and we went to Yantis for the morning service. Folks seemed to enjoy our weird sense of humor
We haven't done much reporting on our hummingbirds this year, so I took a few minutes this afternoon to step outside and take a few pictures, and then Barbara designed this collage to show them off.
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Monday, August 31
We closed out the month with a Mundane Monday...paid bills, did laundry, cleaned house, took care of some business, and then for fun, made a run out to Yantis to join the lunch bunch at the community center (but didn't get any photos...what were we thinking?!!!
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With Love, From Mineola, Wood County, Texas,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
