A Taste of Summer

          And now February is here.

          It's frightening how fast life is passing by and that may be because I'm on the downhill side, heading for eternity by the seat of my pants, bingo wings flapping and hair whipping in the wind. Do you know what else is frightening? Hell. Despite what you may have heard or what you wish, it is not and will not be a party place.

          "Peg! Are you going to preach at us again!" you exclaim.

          No. No, I'm not. I just listened to Dr. Robert Jeffress speak on eternity and he read a passage from John Thomas' HELL—That Hideous Doctrine, and it both terrifies and saddens me that some of you will be there.

          "Peg, I don't believe in all that," you say.

          For your sake, I hope you're right. I'm okay if there's nothing after we leave this world, but what if you're wrong?

          Google it and see what lies in wait or I can send you a copy.

          I just finished a four-part class on How to Share Your Faith and I'd love to have a chance to practice on someone...

          How about an update on my last letter blog?

          That beautiful lefty Jody said to me, "I missed you on purpose," talking about the snowball she threw.

          Then she told me the white circles on the trees mark the edge of the state game lands. So there. That mystery's solved.

          However, no one has ventured a guess as to what the bars on our GPS mean. They seem to have something to do with the circles on the compass beside it. Two of the circles are blue as are the last two lines above the 51 and 46 if that makes any difference.

          I worked on glass this week. I decided to make my Miss Rosie a cute bunny for Valentine's Day and I thought she might actually like to have it in time enough to enjoy it before the holiday came around! Wait, is Valentine's even a holiday? In any event, I know her. Once the day has come and gone, down come the decorations. I was late getting her birthday rooster and Christmas wreath to her — and let's not forget that I still owe her a witch's boot from Halloween!

           I used textured glass this time too but didn't get any little shards like I did with the ribbon on the Christmas wreath so I didn't suffer any cuts. There was a lot of frustration involved in cutting the glass though. Well, not so much the cutting as the breaking. The ear on the right has a deep U in it and I knew I'd never be able to break it without breaking the ear but I did try to take some of the 'meat' out of it — and ended up breaking the ear.

           Sigh.

          Luckily, there was enough of the same glass that I could re-cut the ear.

          Then! Oh my gosh! Then that stinkin' foot! It's not even a deep V there where the heart sits but don'cha know that I broke his foot off! Doggone it! 

          "Can't you piece it together?" my cute little red-haired brother asked.

          "Sure," I told him. "But you'd always see the crack." I thought of the gnomes I'd made at Christmas time. One of them had a broken hat but I didn't see it until he was done. Rather than fix him I thought, I'll just keep him. It's about the only way I ever keep anything for myself.

          "No! Tape and solder it," Richard clarified.

          "Oh. Yeah. I could. If I wanted a seam there."

          I didn't have enough of the same glass to cut a new leg so I had to change glass and start all over again. If I break it this time, she's just getting a heart! I told myself. But I didn't break it and I ground the ear out rather than try to break it. Boy! What a job that was. Miss Rosie! You're lucky I love you!

          I had the bunny ready to go but you know what? I wasn't crazy about the pink stripes in his ear (I meant to reverse my pattern and use the other side) and I really didn't like the white tail. I couldn't do anything about the ear. I didn't have any more of that glass. That's a drawback to using scraps, so I was stuck with it. But I did cut a new tail!

          Finished, this bashful guy is about 9 inches square.

            And Miss Rosie does love him!

          Right now, I'm working on a few simple two-piece hearts to give away. I saw a picture of one done in the prettiest shade of blue and I rather liked it. But it's not traditional so I'll save that for another day.

          Speaking of making things...

          I made Miss Rosie a bracelet several years ago. At the time, I was fairly new to bracelet making and I made it too big thinking it would be okay. It's copper and she could just pinch it together. Well, she wore it to church not so long ago and I looked at it and thought, I can fix that!

          Yeah. I know. I'm a slow thinker. I should've thought to fix it for her years ago! I guess I can console myself with the adage better late than never.

          I asked for the bracelet and got it home and I'm looking it over and realize I don't even remember how I put it together anymore.

          Sigh.

          Well, I'll just take a bite out of this elephant (a euphemism for a job that seems daunting), and cut the ends off.

          I cut the ends, straightened the wires, and started pulling the weaving out when it hits me. 

          I ONLY HAD TO UNDO ONE END!

          OY!

          Don't laugh! In this case, better late than never is no help at all! I'd have to go with my original plan to shorten both ends!

          Sigh.

          I did just that, adding a heart and a hook for her to fasten it. I used my wrist to check for size so I hope it fits her. She won't see it until after this edition goes to press.

           

          A trip to town, on two different days, netted these two pictures.

          "Let's see if they're working on the bridge," Mike suggested.

          They weren't. Not this time anyway. But we met Bob, another member of the crew and had an interesting conversation with him.

          "When you see Duane tell him he missed cookies," I said.

          "I will," Bob assured me. "I'll pretend to brush crumbs from my face," and he brushed pretend crumbs from his face. "What kind of cookies were they?"

          "I don't know. I've made them all kinds. Chocolate chip, peanut butter, Dream Bars, pumpkin roll..."

          "Chocolate chip!" Bob says.

          I can guess which his favorite is.

          "Will we see you very often?" I wanted to know.

          "Not too often. I have to go around to all the job sites."

          "Tell Duane when you'll be here and I'll make you chocolate chip cookies!" That's just how I am. 

          A day or so later we hear a truck go down our road. "I bet they're working at the bridge now," Mike said. "Let's go take a look."

          Sure enough, Duane and his dad Greg were hauling stuff in. 

          "We're going to start here Monday," Duane told us.

          Guess who'll be making cookies for the guys on Monday.

          Michael complains because he thinks I spend a lot of time on my computer. But since he's learned the joys of scrolling through FaceBook he spends as much time or more on my computer as I do!

          Recently he saw a post for a bread recipe that could be used for buns and rolls as well.

          "Mmm-mm," he said. "Don't these look good?"

          I stopped what I was doing and went to look. "Yep. Let's look at the recipe," I said.

          Mike clicked on the post to expand it and it looked easy enough. "How do I print it?" he asked.

          I touched the screen to take us to the page but there wasn't a print button there either. I closed the window and when we went back to FB, the post was gone.

          "I knew you didn't want to make it for me!" and my testy husband stalked off.

          I sat down and went to work. I know my way around the computer and the internet a little bit, found the recipe again, copied, pasted, and printed it, then I went to work making it. I turned half into buns, the other half into cinnamon rolls. Half the cinnamon rolls I made with brown sugar, the other half I used white 'cause that's what my mother always used.

          The cinnamon rolls were better than the buns. They were just okay. The dough has more sugar in than the recipe I use — which has none! It also calls for oil and I used canola oil. I'm wondering if that didn't give it the flavor that neither one of us cared for. But they're not so bad that I'm gonna throw 'em out!

          Will I make it again?

          I don't know. It's always fun to tweak a recipe. 

           Our church has a new sound system! Gone are the big ole black speakers on a stand in front of the dais. Gone are the trip hazards that powered the speakers. Sleek new white speakers now hang on the walls.

          Duey and Bill, the technicians, were still there when I arrived at the church for training on the new system. 

          Of course, I had my camera with me and took pictures of the colorful and well-organized tool kit. I won't call it a toolbox because it was more like an attaché case.

          Bill was under the counter, adding a power strip to bring the on/off switch close to the front so none of us would have to crawl under the counter to reach it. Besides, it was a potential head knocking issue.

          "You'd be surprised at how quick you learn after you hit your head a few times," I told 'em. I was thinking of the shelf Mike and I put just inside our kitchen door. I bet we hit our heads on the corner of that thing three or four times — maybe even half a dozen, I don't remember anymore — before we learned and seldom hit our heads anymore.

          "Yeah, but we don't want anyone to bang their head," Duey said.

          They take all the fun out of it, don't they.

 

          Did you know that you can put a phone number with an extension in your cell phone? I was given a number but didn't want to have to remember the extension so I Googled it. You can find anything on the internet, can't you! Turns out you put a pause at the end of the number by adding a comma then the extension number. It works!

          We haven't seen as much of our friends and neighbors the Kipps lately. They used to stop by on their way home from their morning walks and visit. Lately, it's been too cold for Miss Rosie to walk or the roads are sloppy muddy and they don't want to track the house up.

          "They could wipe their feet," you say.

          Yep. But their feet aren't the issue. It's Tux. He gets mud all up his legs and even onto his belly. I appreciate that they are considerate like that. Especially since I hate housework. But we sure do miss their morning visits!

          Here I was out for the mail and spot them almost to the Robinsons' barn.

          I have some room left and no more news. But you know what I do have? I have a file of pictures waiting for you to see. Ninety-six of them! These are from July and August of 2019. Who couldn't use a taste of summer in the middle of winter. And with these pictures, we will call this one done!