Summer Sunrise

I awoke this morning a few minutes after five o'clock. The light coming into my room had such an orange tint to it that it looked like there was fire outside.

I grabbed a camera, stepped out on the deck, and pointed my camera eastward.

While photos don't do it justice, this is what I saw.

An hour later we were having another rain shower! Overnight and this morning put .6 inch rain in my gauge.

I'm thankful for the wonderful moisture we have received over the past few days.

Today is Tuesday

Tuesday means it is Ladies' Bible Study Day. Today was special because niece Tina was able to schedule a ride in the handicap accessible bus and join us.

We are a small group, but leading the lessons has a special joy for me. That is because these women actually read the book of the Bible we are going to be surveying for that day! They are so well prepared that I have to really make sure I am prepared (which is good for me).  Today's book was Daniel.

We have a concern because my sister Grace just learned she has cancer. From what little we know at this point, it should be very treatable. She has to see a specialist before she will know what happens next. But Grace is a faithful Christian and many, many more people than just our little study group will be praying for her

This is the most recent picture I have of Grace. (Sorry, Grace, that I wasn't a better photographer.) We were decorating graves for Memorial Day, and she had done
some clean-up, picking weeds.

I so hate that she has to go through this.

I know God never promised us trouble-free lives.

Our Bible studies have certainly underlined that fact--his greatest prophets and faithful servants met the greatest obstacles.

But Tuesday has given me joy in the midst of concern.

This Morning

This morning I woke up early. Not an unusual thing in the summertime, with daylight arriving early and leaving late (which I love). After my morning getting-ready-for-the-day routine, some breakfast, and the daily morning dosing for my various medical issues, I watched TV while waiting for the day to warm up.

We had about an inch and four-tenths of rain earlier in the week, and last night had another tenth.



The petunias are coming along nicely (please ignore the view across the alley
of the hoarder's backyard).

By ten o'clock the sun was shining, it was pleasantly warm, and a perfect morning to be outdoors. I had two last plants that needed transplanted, and it was time to do it.

One was a lone, leftover petunia. I just put it in a small pot I hadn't planned on using this year.

The other was a rather large tomato plant.

I had decided this year to grow tomatoes in the two large corner pots on my deck. I bought two sizes of tomato plants (different varieties), in hope that the fruiting season would thus be extended. One is a nice, healthy, sturdy, but small yet, plant and the other was a large plant. I planted the small one at the same time as I was planting flowers.

There was a problem with transplanting the big one. It was in a large, tough plastic pot with an equally tough attached cage. I thought about just leaving it in the pot it came in, but really wanted it in the big pot.

This morning Chad was working in his backyard and I called down to him for help. He performed successful surgery on the plastic cage and got the tomato extracted. It is now living in the big pot and I hope I'll get a nice tomato crop from it.

Now I'll just be worried about hail and wind storms!

Having finished my little planting chores, it was time to relax and enjoy a cup of coffee on the deck.

There is a lot of humidity in the air, and the clouds began rapidly building up. Between ten and eleven o'clock we went from sunny to cloudy. The clouds were moving fast. I watched a large black cloud move in and then, just as quickly, it moved over and was gone. But there were more following it. I sky-watched for awhile before I came in. Clouds are always fascinating.

And that was my morning.

A Little Something for Sister Grace's Family (And Anyone Else Who Is Interested)

Whew! I have, at long last, finished scanning and editing the last of the photos from my Mother's old album. The album had ended at about 1950/51, but a few extra pages were added that had a scattered selection from the '50s.

Among these extras were some photos taken the summer of 1953, which Grace spent in Texas with our Aunt Zudie and Uncle Bailey Thames. Aunt Zudie was our father's only sibling.

Aunt Zudie made Grace a lovely, full-circle dress, which she is wearing in the pictures. Grace was fifteen years old that summer.

Grace is holding Aunt Zudie's little Pekinese dog.

Edward Thames is our cousin, Conetha his wife. I don't know who the boy between Grace and Aunt Zudie is.

Aunt Zudie, Uncle Bailey, and Edward just acting a little silly for the camera.

Grace and Aunt Zudie. Aunt Zudie was named for a relative named Missouri, but who was nicknamed Zudie. Aunt Zudie's parents just skipped the Missouri and went straight to Zudie.

Can Anyone Identify This?

I pulled this picture out of the big group photo of Teagues (my father's grandmother's family) and McLaughlins. This is Red McLaughlin as a youth. He is holding a rifle with a very long barrel.

My question is: What era would this rifle have come from? Would it be Civil War era? (Both of Daddy's grandfathers fought in the Civil War.) I'm guessing the photo was taken between 1919 and 1923. His sister, Zudie Lee, was married in 1923, and in the group photo she is without her husband, so I'm guessing she wasn't married yet.

And, just as a random fact, on the Ancestry website there is a feature that tells what a surname means. McLaughlin is an anglecized form of an Irish or Gaelic name that means "Son of the Norseman"--which isn't surprising considering the red hair and blue eyes of my father, and the tall McLaughlin uncles he had. I always figured we got more from the Vikings than from the people who lived in Ireland before the Norsemen came.