Sunday, July 1
What better way to begin a new week and new month than being in our church in Yantis! Because of a hectic July schedule, we took the month off from preparing and delivering our children's sermons, but we did enjoy great fellowship, music, and an inspiring sermon.
Excitement doesn't exactly abound in Mineola, so many times we have to make our own. Tonight was a drive to Quitman (a whopping 8 miles away) to visit the Dairy Queen and get a peanut butter malt (for me) and a caramel malt (for Barbara). Be still, our beating hearts!!!
++++++++
Monday, July 2
Some Mondays are just Mondays, and then others can tend to get worse. We started the day by driving to Lindale for a regular check-up with my dermatologist, Mrs. Wilson. During the course of the appointment, I mentioned a place on my left cheek that felt especially painful to the touch. Mrs. Wilson went ahead and did a scraping to send in and said that it looked suspicious and might be a basal cell carcinoma...the pathologist would let me know later.
We drove back home and spent the rest of the day taking care of beginning of the month business. Barbara organized all the monthly payments and I organized the paperwork for some of our annual expenses that come due in July.
Other than that, just another hot, summer day in Mineola.
++++++++
Tuesday, July 3
This was a moving day, of sorts. Since the Lake Country Symphonic Band will be playing a concert at the civic center on July 4, we voted to move Big V into town and get a choice parking space for the concert, fireworks, and other festivities.
Getting Big V unhooked from its permanent utilities and ready to roll takes about an hour, and doing the reverse procedure for setup at a new location takes about the same. Add in travel time from Mineola to Holiday Villages of Lake Fork and then back to Mineola, and we spent a good portion of the day. But, Big V sure did look fine sitting in the civic center RV park!
This evening we enjoyed one of the greatest blessings we could receive on a hot July day...a cooling, productive, and very welcome rain storm...
++++++++
Wednesday, July 4
Happy Independence Day, America!!!!
Today was all about this evening. There was food to prepare and deliver to Big V, and lots of Big Red ice cream to mix and freeze for whatever guests would join us for the evening's festivities.
The weather even cooperated with us today. After days and days of super heat, today was relatively mild, and the evening was even better...a perfect time and place to join our Mineola neighbors for a Fourth of July celebration,
For the first time in over 50 years, a community band provided the pre-fireworks music. Director Mike Holbrook really put us through our paces as we played a full program of patriotic music for an appreciative and enthusiastic crowd. And the fireworks? Probably the best show we've ever seen, and that is saying a lot!
The beauty of having Big V at the civic center was that we didn't have to wait in line an hour to leave and go home...we WERE home, and we thoroughly enjoyed a peaceful night in Big V.
++++++++
Thursday, July 5
All good things must come to an end, and with the coming of the morning we had to start unloading everything that had to go back to the house, putting it in the car, and making multiple trips to the house to put everything away. While we were breaking down Big V, Mike Holbrook came by and gave me a new 9-volt battery to replace one that we gave him last night for some of the electronics system. That turned out to be a Godsend. As I was preparing to take the last load of stuff back to the house, the car refused to start. Mike was still on the property, so he came over and helped jump-start the car. I drove straight to Walmart to have a new battery installed in the Equinox, then took the load of "stuff" back to the house. Barbara and I then went back to the civic center and we drove the car and Big V back to Holiday Villages and Our Little Lot.
The fun was over, the temperatures were climbing back to full-blown July status, and we were ready to return to the house for air conditioning and some well-deserved rest.
We did drive up to Quitman this evening to join church friends at Speakeasy, a very nice coffee/sandwich shop on the town square, for an hour or so of fellowship, visiting, good music, and personal testimonies.
++++++++
Friday, July 6 - Saturday, July 7
As we have said so many times, some days are just days, and these two days were just that...nothing out of the ordinary.
++++++++
Sunday, July 8
After church this morning we drove to the far west side of Fort Worth, checked into a hotel, and then spent the evening visiting with Leah, Ryan, and Kaiden, who came up to see us.
++++++++
Monday, July 9 - Thursday, July 12
Sisters Days
Sister Nancy picked Barbara up at the hotel early this morning and the two of them headed off to Roswell to have some Sisters Days with older sister Carol. Barbara's photos tell the story...
While the girls were away doing whatever they were doing, I left Fort Worth and drove to Yantis to help count the money from yesterday's offering and then take it to the bank. Then it was back home for a couple of days of housecleaning, catching up on the laundry, and doing yard work.
On Tuesday, Cousin Logan and I drove up to Emory to take part in a veterans dinner and program. It was quite an experience to mingle with veterans of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and all of the military operations including those that are ongoing.
Tonight I joined Ladd, Angela, Logan, Jarhett, and T.J. for an ice cream social at a local peach farm. T.J will be moving to a new facility in Birmingham, Alabama, tomorrow.
On Thursday I drove to Cleburne to pick Barbara up and drive us back to Mineola to set up housekeeping together...again.
++++++++
Friday, July 13
We got gussied up this evening a drove up to the Land's End Country Club to join, a select group from the area for a night of fine dining, great music, and even, gasp-gasp, dancing.
When we returned home, we found that John had sent us this photo of his grandson Bowman. They had gone to a San Antonio area production of The Wisard of Oz, and Bowman had his picture taken with some of the cast.
++++++++
Saturday, July 14
The publisher's proofs for the new church directory finally arrived by email. Barbara, who chaired the committee, and Maylene spent a couple of hours proofing the proofing the proofs to check for errors.
++++++++
Sunday, July 15
It was another busy morning at Yantis First Baptist Church. While I practiced with the praise band and then worked on a solo for the offertory, Barbara and her committee continued proofing and editing the material sent for the church directory.
After church we went to Oak Ridge Marina on Lake Fork to have lunch with some church friends (and found another table full of more church friends)...it must have been the place to meet, greet, and eat...at least for today!
++++++++
Monday, July 16
Monday morning means a run out to Yantis to count money and make a deposit for the church, but today Barbara also had some responsibilities as she and Mary continued proofing the church directory materials to be sure the church address lists and the directory lists corresponded..
When we got back home, it was major housecleaning and baking time to prepare for visitors for a couple of days.
++++++++
Tuesday, July 17
We spent today making last minute preparations and cooking dinner for our special guests. David and Jan Jividen, daughter-in-law Kelly's parents, would be staying over tonight for their first trip to Mineola as they were driving home to Arizona from an east coast trip to see family.
The food and fellowship we shared this evening were wonderful, but the uncontested highlight of the night was a FaceTime visit with Kelly, Ava, Jack, and Benjamin. (Mike was at a meeting.) It was the first time that they had ever seen their grandparents all together, and the first time for the grandparents to spend time together with them.
++++++++
Wednesday, July 18
After a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and sausage, David and Jan took off on another leg of their journey back home. Barbara straightened up the house while I made up a brown-in bag chicken dinner that we later took to Larry, one of our church friends who is recovering from knee replacement surgery.
When we got back to the house, we prepared a couple of special birthday packages...ice cream treats in a box...that we will be taking with us on a trip tomorrow.
Once that was done, we started preparations for a trip to New Mexico for a few days. It's been a long time since we've both been "back home," and there were some things planned there that we wanted to be a part of.
Then, it was time to do some serious packing for a fun trip.
++++++++
Thursday, July 19
Good news for the directory committee...the proofs have been accepted by the publisher, all authorizations have been approved, and the new directories should be delivered to our house in about three weeks. This thing is gonna finally happen!!!
Several days ago we found that our "adopted" sister-in-law, Nancy Terpening, was celebrating a special birthday with a surprise party (that everyone but Nancy knew about) at the Methodist Church in Artesia on Friday evening. When coupled with yet another birthday party for one of G-Ma Terpenings great-grandchildren on Saturday, we decided that we just had to get away from Mineola for a few days and renew our family ties in New Mexico.
After packing the car this morning, we took off across I-20 West for another adventure. We knew that we would have a bit of a late start this morning, and we received word from David and Jan Jividen about an interesting stop they had made in Cisco yesterday, so Barbara arranged for a stop for the evening at a hotel in Snyder for the night.
Meanwhile, we booked it on towards Snyder; but we made a stop in Cisco where Dave and Jan had discovered Waverly's, a small family-run coffee shop with a beautiful history and message. Cisco is also the site of Conrad Hilton's first hotel. Imagine! All of this in tiny Cisco, Texas!
The fun stuff had to end, so we climbed back into a very hot car and continued across West Texas to Snyder for the evening. Temperatures varied as we went through the different small communities, but they were ALL very hot!!! We definitely had not picked the optimum travel day for this part of the country!
We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Snyder tonight...had wonderful Mexican food at a local family-operated restaurant, and then spent the evening playing Phase Ten, our new frustration game of choice.
++++++++
Friday, July 20
After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, we climbed back into the car and headed toward Roswell, New Mexico. We stopped for awhile in Tahoka, Texas to try to locate one of my fellow teachers from our Liberal days, but Lonnie was in San Antonio for the annual coaching clinic, so we'll just have to try it again one of these days.
We made it to Roswell without incident and checked in to our hotel. Later, we met Barbara's sister Carol for dinner at a local restaurant...
And followed her to her home for a few minutes...
...Before heading to Artesia to meet most of our "adopted" family and celebrating Nancy's surprise birthday party...
++++++++
Saturday, July 21
We got a very early start this morning. Carol had an early morning flight from Roswell to Houston, so we got out at dark-thirty to drive across Roswell, pick her up at the apartment, and deliver her to the airport. Since we wouldn't be able to visit at the airport, we got Carol inside and then drove back to the hotel to get some more sleep.
Later, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then began a morning of shopping and shop-looking...even found some new clothes and some hats (and had fun trying things on).
This afternoon was the party for 6-year old Miriam at her house. Warren and Barbara Yehl were genial hosts, and we had a lot of fun visiting with our "adopted" family as we celebrated Miriam's big day.
After the party we grabbed some food and returned to the hotel to eat and kick back and relax for the evening.
++++++++
Sunday, July 22
We got up early enough this morning to have breakfast with Paul and a couple of his children and pay our respects to the local UFO aliens...
And then we loaded the car and headed up to the mountains to one of our favorite towns, Ruidoso, New Mexico. One reason for leaving fairly early was to attend church at the J-Bar-J Country Church, a special New Mexico church home. While attending the church about ten years ago, we met Barradine Cole and her husband and built a fast friendship. Barradine's husband passed away a few years ago, but she still attends the church, so we were blessed to see her there and spend time with her over lunch at K-Bobs Restaurant, another of our favorite eating places.
We spent the rest of the day playing tourist and doing some sightseeing, and then when we returned to the Best Western, we went out to the gazebo for some trumpet time.
++++++++
Monday, July 23
This was another day of sight-seeing around the Ruidoso area. Our goal was to find a park or scenic area where I could spend time playing my trumpet, but that didn't pan out, so we just drove around and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and cool weather...much different than the 100+ degree temperatures in Mineola!
This evening we went to another of our favorite area attractions, the Flying J Ranch, for a great chuck wagon dinner and outstanding music and entertainment.
++++++++
Tuesday, July 24
Another day for local adventures in the Ruidoso area...When we were driving up the other day, we saw a sign advertising an Iris Farm and Fairy Garden. Since we have about a kazillion iris plants around the house and Our Little Lot, we thought we'd check it out. We picked up our friend Barradine and went out on a new adventure. The iris farm was about 25 miles out of Ruidoso toward Roswell, but it was a beautiful morning for a ride, so the miles didn't matter. The Fairy Garden was interesting, but our biggest question was why would someone go to so much trouble. Only a few iris were still blooming (that's been the story of our lives this year...getting to the flower beds a month too late), but we did get some handy hints on how to do a better job of trimming and transplanting our plants.
Driving back toward Ruidoso, we pulled off at San Patricio, home of La Rinconada, the Peter Hurd Gallery. Barbara, Nancy, and Carol had stopped there a while back on their Sisters' Days, and Barbara thought I should see it. The small, unassuming building houses some beautiful works by Peter Hurd, Henriette Wyeth (his wife), and their son, Michael Hurd. And Barbara was right...I DID need to see it. Anyone traveling in the area should take an hour or so to see this jewel in the Hondo Valley of New Mexico!
After traveling all morning it was time to stop for lunch. Barradine suggested one of her favorite places, Dickey's, on the outskirts of Ruidoso, and boy, was she ever right in her choice...we had great food and fellowship outdoors in a beautiful setting.
With our sight-seeing done and a good lunch in our tummies, it was time to take Barradine back to her house and say our goodbyes, at least for now.
And then head back to the Best Western to arrange for a day early departure tomorrow and beginning packing and loading the car.
++++++++
Wednesday, July 25
We had originally planned to go home tomorrow, but not knowing what the weather might be like between Ruidoso and Mineola, and the need to be home before Friday caused us to change our plans. The management of Best Western was very understanding and let us cancel our last night without penalty, so this morning we finished loading the car and hit the road.
Everything went well, and 12 hours and 15 minutes later we were back in Mineola and unloading the car.
++++++++
Thursday, July 26
There was no time to sit back and cool our heels this morning. First thing on the agenda today was to get to naturally Nails and let Leslie have her way with our out-of-control hair.
Next, we had to take care of some last minute business and bill paying, then unpack and get the washer and dryer going...then, we got to sit back, cool our heels, and get caught up on email and snail mail.
++++++++
Friday, July 27
Dr. Meads is a great dermatology surgeon and this time she only had to dig once to get the tumor out of my left cheek. That was the good news. The bad news was that she had to make a long and deep incision to cut out what everyone initially thought was two small tumors, but turned out to be one large tumor (about the size of a nickle) that had split and was sending two tendrils to the surface of my cheek. Thankfully, the whole left side of my face was thoroughly deadened, so it only looked ugly and painful (for a few hours, anyway). 23 stitches later I made my out of the office and out to the parking lot.
Since I wasn't feeling any pain, we decided to stop at Kohls to look for some summer clothes (since it seems that it is going to be summer in East Texas for at least the next 18 months), and then headed home to get some rest.
For several years the Lake Country Playhouse has wanted to stage the musical, 1776, but because of the cast requirements, it just hasn't been possible to put it all together...until now.
Our good friend Chuck Roy, owner, editor, publisher, and janitor at the Community Chronicle, was in the cast, and we promised him we would be there, even though he offered to pay us twice the cost of admission if we wouldn't go.
Tonight's show, the fifth in a series of six performances this month, was played to a sold-out and wildly appreciative and enthusiastic audience. Mineola never fails to astound us in its appreciation for and respect of cultural endeavors!
We were still worn out from our travels this week, so we didn't waste any time falling asleep as soon as we got home.
++++++++
Saturday, July 28
As if we hadn't gone enough miles this week, we headed out to Tyler once again this morning, but it was for a very special occasion. Since last fall, I have worked occasionally with Jerry Nickerson and some of the other men from our church on a construction project to build three dormitories at Breckenridge Village, a group home for youth and adults who are mentally challenged. It has been a labor of love, and now that the project is nearing completion, the leadership of Breckenridge Village decided to throw a Thank You party for the volunteers.
We all met at the chapel and enjoyed a history lesson on the founding of Breckenridge Village, comments from some of the residents and an inspiring, if not tear-inducing video of some of the residents telling us how we have impacted their lives, as well as a wonderful barbecue dinner with all the trimmings.
Whatever we have given through our individual and collective labors at BV was more than repaid by the words and tears of gratitude that we received today.
When we were finished with the dinner, Barbara and I did a walk-through of one of the dormitories I helped build...
++++++++
Sunday, July 29
We went to church in Yantis this morning, but because of our travels and my surgery, we didn't have our regular children's sermon and I wasn't able to play trumpet with the praise band...and wouldn't you know it, Chad picked out some of our favorites for the music service this morning!
This afternoon was time for rest...it has been a long and tiring week, and we weren't about to do anything arduous or challenging.
++++++++
Monday, July 30
Just another busy Monday around our place...We went to Lindale early this morning for Barbara to get her annual mammogram, then drove to Yantis so I could count money and make the church bank deposit.
Later, I took Taz in for its annual inspection so I could get the new registration and tag.
++++++++
Tuesday, July 31
We celebrated the end of another month by driving to Quitman to complete the registration and get new tags for Taz. The clerk wasn't at all amused when I said I didn't want to wait until the last minute, so I was coming in at 3:00 instead of 5:00.
We left Quitman and drove up to Sulphur Springs to visit with our friends Pat and Joseph, who live up the road a bit in Winnsboro. Barbara and Pat first met when they were in cardiac rehab a few years ago, and have been fast friends since. Joseph had a stroke recently and is in a rehab unit for a week or so until they can get him ready to return home.
++++++++
Wrapping up another month in Mineola,
Jim/Dad/Gramps and Barbara/Mom/Grams/Gramsie
