50th Anniversary Banner

appl

This weekend is the 50th anniversary of my church, Cincinnati Mennonite Fellowship.  It will be a celebration weekend to look forward to.

I had the honor, with help from my friend Diane, of making the anniversary banner.  Between eye surgeries, it took longer than I'd planned, and yet, here we are.

The weekend's theme is "Our Life Goes On."  I wanted lots of faces, plus a recognition of some of the things we do and have done.  A list of the pastors, including interim pastors.  (One served in both an interim and full time role in different years.)  

The applique toward the bottom right is the mural recently painted on our building.  One of my favorite transferred photos is the Zoom screen during the pandemic, when we shared our service with another church.

My dream from the start was to have little fairy lights beside the river, but I'm satisfied with the sparkly rhinestones instead.

Of course you can enlarge it for a better look.

Found

 

I found this old wall hanging this morning when I was looking for Halloween decorations.  I don't even remember making it. but it's definitely my work.

Good news from my North Carolina family.  Yesterday a clean-up crew from Virginia arrived in their neighborhood.  And then - a utility crew from Kansas City came and is working on replacing wires and broken utility poles. 

There is hope of getting power soon.  And with power, the ability to pump water from their well.  For them, there is hope, but they realize they are some of the lucky ones.

Family Is Safe

Just a peek.  All will be revealed in a few days.

My Asheville family is accounted for, and they seem to be in good spirits.  No power, water, cell service or internet, and maybe not for a while, but they are safe

It was hard to wait for word.  Finally, a two-word text from a borrowed cell phone. "I'm ok."   Then the next day, a  text from a neighbor saying "Sarah and Winnie are ok."  When they could get out, there was a broken call from a parking lot.

And then, something called "disaster roaming" was instituted.  Basically, it  allows any cell phone to access any available network, regardless of provider.  Since that time there has been communication, and that has been good for this mama's heart.

Their house has minor damage but the dam on the small lake where they live didn't fare as well.  Traffic is one lane, and they are hoping the road holds up. 

Neighbors have been helping neighbors, and I hope that spirit continues.  Sarah and her chain saw have been busy.

Fall Came

 

Yesterday, when I wasn't paying attention, fall arrived.  Maybe I missed it because it's been so hot this September.  Now for the rest of the week the temperature will drop into the 70's, and maybe, just maybe, there might be rain.  It's been dry here for so long.

Afterr a couple of days of occasional looking, I found the Halloween fleece throw that I've been missing.  I knew just where it was, but . . . it wasn't there.  I found it in a tote in the basement, just that one item in the tote.

Tomorrow is my one-week post-op visit following my latest eye surgery, and I'm nervous, for no real reason.  I'll be glad to have the appointment over and to be back in my car heading back home.

But for tonight, I'm ready to turn on Monday Night Football.  The Bengals often don't fare well on Monday nights, but maybe tonight will be better.  Those of us in Cincinnati are still not quite over the officiating last weekend.

Tennis Ball

 

A memento from Sarah and Winnie's visit with the dogs:  a tennis ball behind my bedroom door.  The dogs enjoy chasing tennis balls down the hallway.

The latest eye surgery is over and I'm feeling well.  The remainder of the tube shunt came out easily and the stitches went in nicely.  The concern is that the cornea will heal once again, but I feel confident this will happen.

Our hot and dry weather continues.  Perhaps next week there may be rain and cooler temperatures, and both will be welcome.

Sad news today that another high school classmate has passed away.  We had a small class of forty students and a loss is always someone we remember

Football

 

It was the perfect day to sit in the sun and watch my grand guy play football.

Note for reference:  his mom is six feet tall.

I always think about how much my dad would enjoy watching the games.  My dad often spoke of his high school football days.  He said he would go to practice and games with other players in a wagon pulled by horses.  It seems impossible, but surely I'm not making this up.

He loved going to local high school and college games, and if the family was short on money that week he would wait until half time, when there was no longer an admission charge.

I'm not  much of an emotional person, but I always do get emotional thinking of how happy my dad would have been to watch his great grandson play.

How Did I Miss This?

 

For weeks I've been examining my shriveling pumpkin vines, and this week I was surprised to see a tiny pumpkin not quite as big as a baseball.  And then tonight I was watering - again - and found this pumpkin tucked beside a container of petunias.  How did I miss this?  It's not big or glorious, but it's s pumpkin.  With a beautiful stem.  I hope the deer stay away overnight until I can spray some Liquid Fence around it.

It is dry, so dry, with no rain in sight.  I'm discouraged, and tired of watering.

And I'm discouraged that on Monday I'll have yet another eye surgery.  I've been doing so well, finally, at recovering from the last one and the news of this one was a surprise.  The remaining piece of the tube shunt was supposed to remain in place, causing no problems, but it's working its way out.

I keep telling myself that at the end there may be another package of the animal crackers I had last time but the rational part of my mind just isn't finding comfort in that.

And my hair!  It's getting just plain rowdy.  In the spring I was losing a lot of hair, which is common after an illness.  That's stopped, and some of the hair growing back is coming in twisty.  It's not all bad, it looks like my hair has body, but it's kind of weird.

Joanne, this is what I get for being envious of your curly hair.