For Father's day this year, I made a photo album for my Dad. It included photos of him from his childhood, and into adulthood, as well as lots of family photos.
One photo was of Dad in his scouting uniform. I tried to upload that photo here, but was not successful. At any rate the point of the story is to talk about Dad and scouting.
As the town we grew up in was very small, there were few opportunities for young people. Boy scouts was about the only thing in town. My brother was in scouts, and Dad was the scoutmaster. How I longed to be a boy so I could be in scouts, too.
I remember how they were able to go off on scouting jamborees. They went to scout camp. And, best of all, they went all the way to New Mexico! How I longed to travel, even back then. To get to go to Philmont...Wow. I was just in awe, and very jealous.
But, now I'd like to direct you to my brother's site. He shared a story about Dad, cooking, and scouting that I had never heard. I'm just amazed that I never heard this one before. Dad loves talking about his past, and for me to miss a story.... Of course, since this one is about Dad cooking, he may have been hiding that one. He may not have wanted to let on that he could cook in the first place.
So travel with me now to www.tgraypots.blogspot.com and get the story.

Here is another group shot of the women in my Bible study. They are such a fun group of women.
At this particular gathering, we all met to eat (we like to do that!), and swim. One of our members sat on the edge of the pool while the rest of us played in the water. The "sitter outer" decided that we all needed to participate in a competition of synchronized swimming. She divided us up into two teams of 4 each, and then we had to come up with a routine to perform for the "judges" that chose not to get in the water.
It's a wonder we did not all drown. We laughed so hard at one another, and ourselves. It was quite fun. Whoever said that laughter was good for the soul knew what he was talking about.
We are so blessed to have each other. While life has dealt each of us our hand, and not all the hands have been full of aces, having each other makes it all bearable. Thanks be to God for these women, and the impact they have had on my life.

Slate's 15th birthday

It's taken me all week to get around to doing this, but last Sunday was Slate's 15th birthday. Slate is my nephew. He has Cerebral Palsy, and a heart of gold. Everybody loves Slate...and he in turn, loves everybody.
My brother's entire church community, and even the town of Seagrove got together to give Slate a birthday party he will not soon forget.
Ever since Slate has been able to talk, he has loved firetrucks, and frankly, any large rolling thing. Tractors, semis, lawnmowers...if it has wheels and is large, he likes it. I remember when he was young, and just starting to talk, he loved garages. Everyone's house he went to, he asked...Do you have a garage? Can you open the door for me?
Well, the town of Seagrove opened the doors of the firestation for Slate on Sunday, and gave him a ride to his own birthday party in the big green firetruck. The smile on his face says it all. He was one happy kid.
The party was held at a friend's house, Bill. Bill missed church (a rarity for him) on Sunday to stay home and start cooking for Slate's party. He cooked ribs and pork loins on the grill. Man, was that some good eating! There were trimmings to go along with the pork of slaw, potatoes, and wonderful pinto beans. Desserts were several homemade cakes, one "storebought" birthday cake with a tractor on it, and 4 coolers full of homemade ice cream. It was hard to stay awake on the 3 hour ride home after all that good eating, but it was worth it.
But, besides the good food, it was just a wonderful gathering of people there who showed their love for Tom and Slate, just by showing up. Slate had asked that another member of their church, Bobby, come and play the electric piano and sing. He was gracious enough to do that, and had Slate join him for singing after dining. The rain held off long enough for everyone to enjoy the games provided, the food, and the fellowship. What a great group of people, and an outpouring of affection.
My husband, father, and step-mother had debated making the trip for the day simply because if was so long for us. But, after arriving, we were so glad we had done it. I just would like to say a big thank you to Bill & Sue for being such gracious hosts, and to the community of Seagrove, and Seagrove Methodist Church for sharing this special day with all of us.

I went across the river today to go to Eagle Island and get some fresh butter beans and peas. I got a bushel of each, and brought them home and got busy. To me, there is nothing better than fresh veges. We have certainly had our share over the last week. We went to the Farmer's market last Saturday. We finished up everything we had bought by Thursday. We had to eat out on Friday, and that was the first day I ate meat last week.
Tomorrow we are headed up to Seagrove for my nephew's 15th birthday party. We can't get to Seagrove without stopping in at David's produce on highway 220. It's peach season now, so I hope to get a few peaches. The late frost did hit them pretty hard this year, but hopefully they will have some.
My brother has really been making me aware of trying to eat food grown closer to home. David's produce isn't in my own back yard like Eagle Island, but it is on my route this week. I'm sure that counts for something. Surely they will have some good local watermelon! Yum, Yum.

Dinner

What's for dinner? Eggplant Lasagna using fresh eggplant. I made it the laziest way possible. I peeled the eggplant, and threw chunks into the food processor. Then, I mixed the processed eggplant with jarred sauce. It was then layered into the pan with noodles, sauce, and three cheeses. Making it the easy way does not make it any less palatable. I'm still expecting it to be pretty tasty! Add a little fresh baked bread and a small ceasar salad. Should be perfect after my water aerobics class. I'm sure I'll be hungry after that!

This has been a good week for fresh, local veges around our house. My neighbor and I finally had no other obligations on Saturday morning, so we were able to visit the local farmer's market, which is only held on Saturday ams around here.
We came back loaded, and she cooked Sunday night...fresh butter beans, corn, tomatoes, cukes, fried pattypan squash, yum, yum!! Last night was my turn, and we had peas, yellow squash with onions, green beans with new potatoes. I even made us some zucchini bread for breakfast.
Tonight, we'll go for the eggplant in the form of eggplant lasagna. It doesn't get much better than this. I'm just not sure what we'll do tomorrow night when we run out of vegetables. We don't have enough leftovers to serve, either! What pigs we have been! The only question on my mind was "Where's the fried fatback to go with this?" Would you believe my neighbor has never even eaten fried fatback? She doesn't know what she has been missing!

Cigars, anyone?
An interesting side trip while in the Dominican was a local cigar factory. We were able to see the process from pressing the moisture out of the tobacco, tying it up to dry, chopping, rolling and storing in the walk-in humidors. It was quite interesting. The owner of this facility was a woman, the only woman cigar factory owner in the D.R. She only exports them, though, they were not for sale. However she did pass out a few samples. There were many flavored cigars, vanilla, cherry, sambuca...
What I really wanted was a box. The boxes were all very attractive. There were solid wooden boxes, inlaid wooden boxes, tin boxes with scenes from Carnival, which is very popular in the islands.
So, don't ask me to send you any cigars. I only got a few, and I have already shared them with my cohorts at work. Maybe next year...

Bible study group

God has blessed me with this amazing group of women. He brought us all together to fellowship with one another, and to study together. Many of us have been together several years. A few have left us to pursue other things, and we have lost one to death. Last year we invited two newcomers to our group. How fortunate for us, and how blessed we have been by our additions. Time marches on, things change, people move on, but by the grace of God, some friendships last a lifetime. Thanks be to God for this wonderful group of women who have blessed me in so many ways.

I have just recently returned from a medical mission trip in the Dominican Republic. This is Cathy's story.
Cathy was assaulted several years ago and left with a very severely broken leg. She was treated at the time, but developed a serious infection. Somewhere along the line, they put plates and screws along the bone to fix it. This worked well, but she was still having problems with infection. The plates and screws were eventually removed due to infection, and she can walk, although she is somewhat stiff legged. Post-operative physical therapy is not exactly available there.
The local hospital charged Cathy lots of money for her surgeries. Her family had to mortgage their house to pay. They eventually lost their house, and the family now lives nearby with relatives.
MMI (Medical Ministries International) became aware of Cathy thru one of the volunteers last year. MMI goes all over the world to give free medical care. Cathy was treated last year on an MMI trip by Dr. Sutton (above photo). She still had infection then. He returned this year and took me with him. Cathy is still plagued with infection. We operated on her again at the beginning of the week, and sent her home with IV antibiotics. Every morning before work, and every evening when we returned, we walked down the hill to go to Cathy's house and treat her with more antibiotics. What a joy and a priviledge for us. The family treated us so well. We were welcomed into their humble abode and offered food and drink. They were very happy to have us there, and on our final night at camp when people share their stories, Cathy's mother came up the hill to thank MMI and Dr. Sutton for all their help. She talked about the blessing her family received from us. I'm not so sure who received the most blessing...Cathy and her family, or all of us working with MMI. My thanks to MMI for the opportunity to serve.