Things to save

 For my own safekeeping in case this computer crashes.  Documents I've saved to my computer for various reasons.

June Books

July is upon us! What a year so far!

Letters From Home by Kristina McMorris -- a decent story about several young people during World War II - it actually had about 4 main characters - Liz who was asked to write a letter for Betty who ended up joining the WAC; Morgan who went to war with his brother Charlie, and Julia who was torn between an internship and marriage.  Not my favorite story, but parts of it were interesting if not a bit predictable.

Come Home by Lisa Scottoline -- I think I've now read all of the fiction books that this author has written. My library had them all. In this one, Jill Farrow, a pediatrician, is involved with her former stepdaughter's father's death. The former stepdaughter thinks her dad was murdered, but Jill is skeptical. Abby asks Jill for help which causes Jill to delve into her ex's life, and it's pretty exciting. Good, fast-paced book.

Code Name Hélène by Ariel Lawhon -- an interesting story about Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, the New Zealand born, Australian woman who worked with the French Resistance during World War II.  Good book; fascinating leader!

The Split by Sharon Bolton -- I enjoyed learning a bit about ice (glaciers) as part of this story takes place on South Georgia, where Felicity Lloyd has taken a two year assignment with hopes that her ex-husband, Freddie, won't find her in that remote Antarctic island. The other part of the story takes place "nine months prior" to the earlier chapters when Felicity is attending therapy sessions with her therapist Joe, back home in Cambridge. Pretty good story; a bit different.

The Most Dangerous Things by Laura Lippman -- five neighborhood children in Baltimore had fun together for a short time in their youth, but then something happened that no one wants to talk about. This book is a mix of voices from the children (now adults), their parents, and flashbacks to what happened that summer when everything changed.

You and Me and Us by Alison Hammer -- Alexis and Tommy head to Destin, Florida, with their daughter CeCe soon after Tommy's cancer diagnosis. He wants to spend his last summer in the place where he grew up, and where he met Lexie all those years ago. I knew this would be a sad book from the get go as it addressed two of my biggest fears in life: letting go of a beloved parent and partner in life. Pretty good book.

(So, I recorded this book last night - June 14 - and woke up to shocking news that a high school acquaintance/Facebook friend died yesterday. He had had surgery recently due to his Crohn's disease, but he posted a few days ago that after 14.5 days, he was headed home. He was so excited to see his 8 year old daughter and wife again. He had mentioned his daughter really missing him. And now he's dead and Lacy is without her father in her life and Jennifer is widowed. I have cried off and on all morning. Tommy wasn't a close friend, but he was well-liked and caring and I enjoyed his Facebook posts. My sister and her family went to church with him all these years, and he was always cheering on the church kids. In recent years he'd even taken on the role of getting the Christmas program planned since the older lady who had done that for years wanted to step down. He was the librarian at a local public high school in the "bad" part of town, but you never heard those words from him. He loved his "kids" there and like most of the rest of us, hated that this school year ended without proper goodbyes and rites of passage. He will surely be missed in so many places: home, church, school, community.)

Unyielding Hope by Janette Oke and Laurel Oke Logan -- Lillian Walsh is preparing to follow her father to Wales after the death of her mother, but she gets sidetracked when a solicitor tells her that her birth parents' estate needs to be settled - and that her sister whom Lilly thought dead for years is alive! After tracking down Grace, the sisters help children who had been taken from England to Canada, and had less-than-ideal experiences with those who were supposed to make these children, family.  A decent story.

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate -- an ok book about a formerly enslaved woman Hannie who ends up following her former mistresses' daughter and their adventures. That part was OK. I liked the modern part with Benedetta's struggles to teach her students in a low-income area of Louisiana, and how the past and the present(ish) came together. Not my favorite of hers, but good enough to keep me reading to the end.

Being Known by Robin Jones Gunn -- book 2 in the Haven Makers Series; this one focused more on Jennalyn, mother of 2 young children, whose husband Joel is super-busy with his restaurant. An easy read; good reminder of the importance of friendships.

The Queen's Secret by Karen Harper -- "A Novel of England's World War II Queen" ; I enjoyed learning more about Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, later the Queen Mum, in this book.  I'm not so sure about the secret part, but learning more about the royals in this way was pretty good.

Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks -- I've read a couple others of her books about the elderly Jane Prescott, former ladies maid who saw things and solved mysteries in her younger years. This one took place when Rutherford's Department Store was getting ready for its yearly Miss Rutherford's pageant (thus the American beauty part of the title.) These are easy reads, and pretty cute books.

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby -- I wasn't sure I'd finish this book by the end of the month, but I did with a few hours to spare! This book focused on Jane Austen's sister, Cassandra, though Jane was featured as Cassandra reflected on their years together. Pretty good story. 

Book from Bill

My dad knew he had a book that his Air Force friend Bill gave him when the two were leaving the base where they had become friends. In this book is the most thoughtful inscription. I typed it up because it's hard to read these pictures, and I wanted to keep the words in memory of William H. Zahrndt, my dad's friend.

To David B. Fuqua, a unique and exemplary man in every way, as a token of my esteem, I give this book to you and the very act of giving it becomes a salutation for all that you are.

Never in the Air Force or in civilian life have I met one with such admirable qualities and traits which I, frail human that I am, have tried and failed to achieve. You are living proof that the goals I sought can be attained.

Thus, knowing you has served, in a rather unorthodox manner, as an inspiration to me.

(continued on back flyleaf)

While some may show scorn or derision for your dedicated and sometimes ascetic manner, I can only praise you for it.

All your admirable qualities, e.g., your incurable optimism, your patient and understanding manner,  your staunch resistance to worldly temptations and all the other outstanding traits with which your Creator has so richly endowed you, these I can only stand by and admire and, yes, perhaps even envy. But be that as it may, my only words of advice to you is to persevere and not be influenced by the ways of the crowd.

Knowing you has been a pleasure, an honor and yes, a privilege. May you continue to walk with God throughout your life; and most of all, as we have helped each other, may God help us both to attain the faith "to move mountains" and overcome the world as Christ did on the Cross.

Your war-ravaged

life-weary pal,

William

Selfies and USAF pics

Yesterday was my birthday, and I was a bit sad about not having Michael or Zach and Sophie around to take selfies with me as we've done occasionally in past years (not every year, but some.) I was walking around the property behind our house which belongs to Andrew's parents who live beside us, and enjoyed seeing these clouds from the west. They later gave us a half inch of rain, and we'd already had nearly 2 inches earlier in the day (thankfully, most of it in the wee morning hours so it didn't make the whole day rainy.)


I was in a bit of a silly mood and decided if the kids weren't around for pictures, I'd take some with the horse. Only I'm not really brave around animals so I wouldn't get super-close to Skip in case he decided to bite me. I did manage a couple, and was so amused by this one that I doctored it up with text and graphics, and shared it on my Facebook story.

When you hit the fire on your phone, it kind of sparked like you were getting burned which I thought was cute.

Thankfully, Sophie and Zach did call later, and Sophie stuck around for about 40 minutes of Messenger games and these: 

It was a joy to hang out with her! I miss taking her places and watching her interact with all the "best friends" she makes at parks and museums. 



I was visiting my parents today, and my dad showed me this picture of his Air Force friend from when Bill was back home in South Dakota after their military days. He's the one I mentioned a few posts ago. I took a close-up of the small picture in order to focus on Bill.

I also saw this newspaper clipping of my dad which I wanted to save and compare to the yearbook picture I found at Ancestry earlier this week.

Sorting Finds and Gadets

Earlier this year I went to my parents' house several times, and we enjoyed sorting through old pictures they had collected over the years. Included were several files that my grandmother had kept, and I found letters my mom had written her parents and siblings while she attended boarding school 600 miles from them.


This Valentine included a tiny picture of her, and she sent it home to her parents and little brother. (The two boys born after her were at boarding school with her at this point. She's the oldest of 4.) The picture is about the size of a fat thumb, and the valentine says something about "be my Valentine." I thought it was a cute especially seeing my mom's photo on it.

I sorted many things at my parents' house into piles for each of my siblings, but I took a lot home with me to sort as well.


Something for Daniel's pile. He was a huge Hulk fan back in the day. This looks to be Hulk and David Banner. See how, ahem, muscular the Hulk is? 

For awhile my upstairs had little piles like this where I sorted things into Pictures of Mema, Pictures of Mama, Pictures of Me, on and on.  I had Papers about Mema and Pop, Papers about Pop's Parents, Letters from Momzi, and so forth. I even had smaller piles of pictures to send my uncles or cousins. Even some extended family got fun mail because Momzi (my great-grandmother) often mentioned her children and grandchildren so my mom's cousins greatly enjoyed letters from loved ones gone way too soon.

Among all this stuff, I found this cute letter from my mom's youngest brother:

Here is her brother playing with some cousins in South Carolina. The family liked this when I posted it on Facebook a couple months ago.

And, of course, the Mystery Lady who was among my grandmother's pictures. I wonder if she is an aunt. My sister pointed out how much like HER this aunt looks...different hair, but I can totally see that! Even Will and Michael said, "is that you?" when shown this picture!

I found this cute picture of me and Pop.

And here is a picture of my dad's family with my dad looking disgruntled for sure!

My brother started going through old video tapes, and recorded parts of them on his phone, and then shared snippets with our immediate family on Messenger. We had some good laughs at those. His doing that prompted me to find a cassette tape Daniel and I made over two decades ago on a stereo-system my dad had at the time. I remember it had a way to record our voices and then we'd play the tape and record our voices again, and again, and again. Each time we did a different part...and we're not all that great, but it was fun playing this final recording and hearing something that sounded like at least 6 people were singing, but NO, it was just us!   I'm not sure this will upload and play correctly, but here is a bit of that.

I took the video on my phone, and I videoed the stereo that was playing this cassette so ... 

By contrast, my mom and her dad used to sing together in church, and while I'm not in love with how super-high this song (chorus part) is for my mom, I love hearing her and Pop singing here!  He was such a joyful person; the world definitely needs more folks like him in this oft-gloomy world!


My mom was 20, and her dad was 45. She actually was not married at this time so the Fuqua is not correct for the time of the recording, but is for when it was labeled and emailed to her (which was sometime in the last couple of years).  And she used to sing at this church for years after she was married, and, thus, a Fuqua so, there's that.

Speaking of gadgets - 'cause I kind of was with talk of stereos, right? -, I downloaded Zoom for Andrew the other night because the church youth leaders were wanting to hang out since they'd not seen each other in a few weeks. Andrew normally loves being with these people, but quite honestly, Zoom was a bit overwhelming for him.

He said he much prefers in-person visits with these dear folks!

Pearl Monroe

One of our local news people posts a lot about his family on Facebook. I've been following Chad since before he and Meredith married, and since then they have added two sweet girls, Carson Parry who is 5 and Pearl Monroe who is 3. He frequently posts cute videos and pictures of his family which I enjoy

.

Well, this morning I looked at Facebook and was shocked to see that little Roe Roe was diagnosed with leukemia last week! Chad posted a very faith-filled message and pictures.


His message begins:

"We all will have storms in life. It’s not “if” but “when” we will have them. This is the storm of this season and we know God has this.

Our beautiful, spunky Pearl Monroe has leukemia. After a few doctor visits for aches and pains she was diagnosed last week and started treatments immediately. 

It’s been a whirlwind the past few days with surgery, medicine and getting use to our new normal. The GOOD NEWS, — this leukemia is highly curable but it’s going to take several years of fighting."

 


Take a look at the rest of his message if you want, but more importantly, please pray for this family if God brings them to your mind. They have strong faith in God, but this is hard for them especially on the little one having to undergo treatment.

Also, the family is expecting a little boy in the spring so I'm sure it's extra-hard on Mama Meredith at this time.

*sniff*

July Firsts

Another July has come and gone.  I wanted to post a few firsts that happened in July 2015.  One morning, I went over to my parents' house, and my mom met me at the door, "They are taking the Confederate flag down!"  (In Columbia, South Carolina, that is.)

10th -- I decided to document that my parents had turned on the TV for this occasion.

18th  -- A few days later, there was some talk in my county about the Confederate statue coming down. (no rebel flag flies here; just a soldier statue has stood near the courthouse for over one hundred years.)  This is an area I walk frequently. In fact I joke that I "walk my errands" because I often park at the library and return my books there, walk the few minutes to the post office to check my work place's mailbox, drop by the bank, and so forth.  We often go to free concerts around the square here, and the children's museum where I take Zach is right beside the library.  So when they talked about having a rally to support the Confederate statue staying (and since I was in town that weekend), I drove up there to check things out.  Who would come?  How would they act? Would I see a counter-protest?  Nothing much happens here so I want to see! (I live about 3 miles from these pictures.)  Man, was it ever h-o-t.  Of course this is July in North Carolina so that's not surprising. Still.  I felt I was crying sweat. 

The old Alamance County courthouse

The statue honoring the Confederate soldiers

Plenty of people brought these flags, but none flies here

I saw a few African-American men, and I made a point of lingering near a couple of them to ask their thoughts. I enjoyed hearing what they had to say.


21st -- Totally unrelated to those first two, and honestly I'm not sure my liberal Mormon friends would like being on the same blog post as Confederate flags, but this all happened in July so ...

I was invited to their newly-turned-8-year-old daughter's baptism, and I drove to Durham for the event.  I met Nancy through her blog, and I found her blog through Bridget's blog. I've never met Bridget despite reading her blog for many years (she lives far, far away), but Samer - my Syrian friend - found it for me years ago when he was looking for an article about Ramadan in Syria to show me what that holy month was like in his country.  So, anyway, I have now met the entire* Heiss family, and they are really sweet!

Me and the three oldest children

Andrew holding Zoë, Nancy holding Benjamin, Rachel & Miriam (posing)

Andrew's mom and dad (not pictured) were in town from Utah for the event

Benjamin, their only son, chose me as a playmate and, at one point, I was twirling him around at the reception. I later apologized to Nancy because I can honestly say I don't ever recall twirling children at church functions in the past, and this here was a place full of mostly strangers.  Nancy assured me it was fine...and, hey, it was pretty fun for me to play with the kids that evening. I loved meeting Reid and Karen, Andrew's parents, from Utah.  I have seen their comments on Nancy's blog or on Facebook so it was neat seeing them in real life!

* who am I kidding? Just the entire Andrew and Nancy Heiss family, shall we say?


25 & 26th  -- Andrew and I going to the mountains is certainly nothing new, but we had never been to Grayson Highlands State Park in Virginia before.

After walking and climbing rocks, this water felt so good. And it was so clear!

There are a few pictures from other places we went near Grayson Highlands that we have been before. But I'll still include the photos since we are talking about our trip to the mountains on this post.

Creeper Trail

Whitetop Mountain

River in Damascus, Virginia, where I text and checked Facebook

29th -- Lastly, I took Zach to southern Guilford County to see the calves and get some ice cream at Homeland Creamery. He wasn't impressed with the farm smell at first, but he liked that the calves came out to greet him, and he enjoyed his strawberry ice cream.

Did you do any new things this July?  Or any old favorites? Do tell!