Today was a day of rest though not a Shabbat. We went nowhere and did little that could be considered work other than prepare meals. We read and studied. We watched and listened. We prayed, praised, and sang. We rested.

We watched (on our phones) as our pastor became ordained by the Rio Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church.

©2021 Thomas E Williams

©2021 Thomas E Williams

It looked like there may have actually been sunshine a little further to the South than I could see from my patio. In fact the day turned bright, sunny, and hot at 93°.

We had around 30 at OTHG* today. This was my first day as club president. I think it went well – even though I don’t really know what I’m doing.

Over The Hill Gang isn’t a traditional senior center. It receives no government funds, so the members pay a small sum for their meals.. Our only meal is on Thursday but members may come and use the facilities throughout the week. So if they want to gather for games, book club, bible study, et cetera, they may.

It really wouldn’t be a day at our place without a few games of Fast Track. And we did play several games.

The sky is still in reruns

Grandies* is slowly getting back to normal. We discussed business. We did roll-call, where we each update everyone on what is happening in our lives. And we had a devotion presented by Ella.

Some of us stayed and played canasta after the meeting – just like we used to do before covid.

Bill, Karen, Ella, and I went to Margarita’s Mexican Restaurant after Grandies. I ate most of the salad that wasn’t covered in guacamole. The  guacamole had onions to which I have a bad allergy. The food was good and plentiful.

Ella had prescriptions to pickup at Wal-Mart.

As long as we were there, we also purchased a few groceries.

I’ll be glad when sky rerun season is over. Though I am thankful that we aren’t having temperatures in the upper 90s and lower 100s.j

The peace lilies that Ella planted are fixin’ (getting ready) to bloom.

I was busy making bread. So, a one pan meal in the Instapot was the way to go. A  cup of rice, a can of mixed veggies, some diced kielbasa, and some veggie stock. Served with a glob of melty butter.

Last night I peeled, cored, and sliced 6 apples. Apples, a hand full of walnuts, and raisins ( I have large hands) went in to slow cook over night. A little salt, brown sugar, and enough water to make a slurry.  This morning I stirred in a yellow cake mix and broiled until the top browned. I was attempting a cobbler but failed. So I’m calling this recipe “Failed Cobbler,” it is mighty tasty.

I had hoped that yesterday’s sunset in a cloudless sky would last through the night and we would waken to clear and blue overhead. But alas, clouds have once again overtaken us.

As usual we began our day by reading a devotional from “The Upper Room“. It is a way to center ourselves before the busyness of life distract us.

Also, as usual, we played several games of Fast Track. Today was my day. I won them all this morning. Late this evening we played more. I only won half of those games.

Sitting in the waiting room at our heart doctor. It was just one of the twice a year check ups. Ella will follow up with an ultrasound. She has a valve that doesn’t completely close so they monitor that. And it has been too long since my last stress test. They will be scheduling one for me soon.

We had one nurse applying electrodes to Ella while a second was asking me questions. Very efficient use of time.

Lunch came a little late today. After the doctor was done with us we went to IHOP.

Children’s sermon using bread as an example in sharing.

Pastor’s sermon today “Transforming the Neighborhood” 2021-06-06
By Cross Tracks Church, a United Methodist Community

The whole back of our truck-box filled with food, clothing, and miscellaneous items to take to Operation Liberty Hill. There are also 4 tall kitchen size bags full of aluminum cans to take to the recycling center.

Charlotte’s small SUV also has items for the Kids Summer Snack Program. Those will be taken to Operation Liberty Hill also.

Yes, that is the sun.  After a week or more of hiding from us, Sol reappeared this afternoon. There are unsubstantiated rumors that the sun had been placed under witness protection. While others point to the fact that the sun and moon were both missing and hint that there was some interstellar hanky-panky going on. Personally I’m just glad they’re back.

A misty dampness in the air and full cloud cover to begin the day.

If you recall, some short time ago I mistakenly double ordered 6 dozen eggs and ended up with 144 eggs added to the dozen I already had on hand. I scrambled 4 dozen, sorted then into sandwich bags, and froze them. This morning I took some from the freezer and defrosted them in the microwave. This was a test of sorts. I wanted to make sure that the process had worked. It did.

Ella had a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. Our regular doctor had referred her because her white blood cell count was higher than normal. They drew more blood today.

It was after two o’clock when we left the doctor’s. We hadn’t eaten so we stopped at IHOP for lunch.

This afternoon Ella beat me badly and repeatedly at Fast Track..

We almost had a bit of sunshine at sundown. However a short time later it began to reason again.

©2021 Thomas E Williams

Another lovely(?) start to the day. If you check the tail end of yesterday’s journal, you will see that we had one humdinger of a storm after sunset. Lightning and thunder without ceasing on into the early morning hours. As close as I can determine we received just shy of one and a half inches of rain overnight.

Pancakes, cheese omelet, and bacon for breakfast. Yes, my pancakes are rectangular. My griddle is rectangular.

Today is Thursday and that means OTHG*.  Today there were only 26 people at OTHG. That’s very low attendance. Possibly it was due to the storms.  We’re had a lot of rain in the last couple of months and rivers and streams are nearly full. It doesn’t take much for streams to overflow the roads at the bottom of hills here in the Texas hill county. It’s not unusual to be cut off from leaving or returning home.

The other news from OTHG is that I’m the new president. I didn’t ask for it. Someone nominated me and I didn’t withdraw my name. So, when it came time for the vote and only my name was listed, I won. Ella is also now on the boarf of directors.

Both Ella and I had doctors appointments for early afternoon. However, we received a call from the doctor’s office telling us that the elevator was out of order. We rescheduled for Monday.

This is the door.to our apartment, Welcome to the North Pole.

It is only 5:33 p.m. and much much darker than it should be. There is a little lighter darkness on the western horizon.

7:46 p.m. and it looks much the same.

Good night y’all and God bless.