I like Thursdays: June 29, 2023

 

Happy Thursday and welcome to another day of gratitude.  "I like Thursdays" are sponsored by LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color.  Be sure to visit other happy posts via her blog!

It's almost July!  It hardly seems possible.  But happily, we've been getting lots of rain this past week and the garden is looking full and lush again.  You could almost hear the earth sigh in relief and the birds and bees appear happy and busy again.

Our prompt this week from LeeAnna is about county fairs.  Our county fairs around here tend to be closer to the end of August and I think originally celebrated the harvest.  The Kutztown Folk Festival isn't a county fair but it's one I've visited many times.  Many of the old time crafts are featured.  But the best part is the quilt building.  Yes, I said BUILDING!

The quilts are all for sale plus there are quilting demonstrations often held there.  THE BUILDING IS AIR CONDITIONED as well for those of us who mind the July heat.  The quilts along the back of the room are the award winners and they are auctioned off near the end of the festival.  One went for about $15,000. one year.  

And speaking of Kutztown, Pa...my brother who has lived in Maryland for the last 30 or more years loves the news from this region which he says is always strange and unusual.  Here's a good one for him.  A few days ago, my alma mater, Kutztown University had to issue a security bulletin for the students and staff.  Apparently an aggressive cow was wandering around the campus.  Of course you may have already heard of this since it apparently made national news.  Trust the NY Post and Fox News to bulk up the story:

‘Aggressive cow’ terrorizes students in Pennsylvania college town, police respond

Actually the cow headed off in the woods that evening despite police and the farmer's attempt to catch the cow.  But wait!  There's more!  Cow was back on campus yesterday.  The cow eluded police again.  Stay tuned for more exciting updates!

Have a safe and happy weekend!

I Like Thursdays: June 22, 2023

 

Happy Summer everyone!  Well it's Thursday and I'm back to posting for "I like Thursdays."  Bloggers join LeeAnna to celebrate the good in life.

Last week was just really busy but I'm back now.  Here's some things I like!

Scott McGillivray's show, Scott's Vacation House Rules is back on tv and I always enjoy his humor and the banter between him and designer, Debra Salmoni.

After what seems like an eternity, PBS Masterpiece is back on our local channel.  Mom and I are watching Ridley.  The opening episode was okay.  We are waiting to see how this one plays out.

Speaking of British shows, a bunch of my family have these lengthy conversations about them.  My husband won't watch any of them so he is left in the dark.  Conversations begin like "Did you see...."  and end up with us trying to recall other series that featured the actors.  It's our kind of fun!

We finally got rain!

The gardening neighbors were texting things like "Yahoo!"  and "DANCING!"   The garden feels like it's dancing too.  There is no substitute for real rain in a garden and everything has perked up!

Our prompt this week is about our childhood and the ice cream truck.  We didn't often get the truck in our neighborhood and I don't really recall it ever being in the city where my Nana lived (and where we spent most of our time).  My husband doesn't remember the trucks being in his area much either.  What we did have were lots of drive-in little ice cream places that sold soft ice cream.  Hubby and I had a lot of fun reminiscing about those locations last weekend when we ourselves went for soft ice cream.

To be honest, money was tight for both our families.  We were more likely to get ice cream at home than from the truck or the ice cream stand.  Nana was raising her three younger children plus my brother and I and that's a lot of mouths to feed.  The dessert she served most often was watermelon.  Pop would pick melons up from local farm stands and it fed us and some of the neighbor kids too.

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!

I Like Thursdays: June 8, 2023

 

Happy Thursday!

Time to roll out our list of things we like!  Please join us by visiting all the bloggers via our hostess, LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color!

First thing to like:  my husband's rapid recovery from hand surgery.  Even the physical therapist is stunned by his progress!

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Garden visitors!  We've had a number of folks stop by the front garden this past week, mostly because of the impact of the Missouri Primrose blossoms!  It's so funny because all of them purposely walked by our house to see the garden.  One woman showed me that she keeps photos of our garden on her phone.  She even remembered the Suffrage Garden of 2020!  

Another couple believed they were destined to own the house.   Our address was the last 4 digits of their telephone number and they considered that a sign.  They lived a half mile from us but always made sure they walked by the garden.

Visitors like that are one of the benefits of having a garden.  You get to meet more neighbors!

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Lana's prompt this week is about ice cream memories.  We didn't have many childhood rituals about ice cream.  But the best ice cream was at my Nana and Pop's house because they bought novelty things that we loved...fudgsicles, ice cream bars, sandwiches, etc.   My maternal grandparents lived on Sixth Avenue; my paternal grandparents live on Fourteenth Avenue.  My brother, sister-aunt, brother-uncle and I walked the long alley from Nana Betty's to Nana Elsie's to visit.  We were always greeted with Nana Elsie's novelty ice cream.

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Wishing you all a safe and happy weekend!

I Like Thursdays: June 1, 2023

 

Happy Thursday!

Well it's time to be share our positive thoughts as part of "I like Thursdays."  Please visit other bloggers at Not Afraid of Color, LeeAnna's blog!

Best news this week is that my husband had successful hand surgery yesterday and is home and recovering.  He's managing the pain with just Advil and now we just need to make sure he doesn't get an infection in the incision.

This week's prompt is what kind of ice cream do we like?  Well my favorite flavor is mint chocolate chip and it's been my favorite since childhood.  But these days, I've got a lot of novelty ice creams in the freezer because my husband likes them so much this time of year:  ice cream sandwiches, nutty buddy cones, and the vanilla ice cream on a stick--coated with chocolate.

Other wonderful things:  little Gavin (age 5) goes for bike ride (he is still on training wheels) each evening.  I get a knock on my front door so he can give me a hug.  Best gift of my day!

Wishing you a safe and happy weekend!