Good Things

Someone sent me this photo of the merganser and her babies.  

No babies on the pond at Family Reunion today !

I've been busy these pat few days. I have a CLEAN oven !!  I think mine was the worst looking one in the county!  I dreaded the cleaning process, hate harsh chemicals, and just scraped up the spills after they hardened for quite awhile.  Then my daughter suggested that I check out the manual that came with the stove to see if it had a self cleaning feature.  Well I was pretty sure it didn't.  I had never seen the little lever that locks an oven door during the cleaning process.  SO out came the manual, and it DID show a little lever but it was hidden until the stovetop was lifted and one reached around under there somewhere and found it. What a find!  No chemicals, no elbow grease, no crawling half way into the oven to scrub.  Of course I chose the hottest day of summer to decide to run the oven at some outrageously high temperature for 3 hours!  But it was worth it.  After the 3 hours every bit of gluck in there was turned into a fine powdery ash that just wiped right out.   Wow !!   You probably know all about this but to me it was a first.
Now I have a brand new looking oven.  Amazing.  Den came home with a big basket of blueberries and thought a nice pie would be great.  Are you kidding...and chance messing up that new oven?   Well maybe in a day or two  but right now I just leave the light on so I can look in as I pass by and appreciate CLEAN!

Another good thing is the nice picnic table my good husband made for us.  Years ago we saw one that was made so that one didn't need to crawl over the bench to get seated.  We thought it was great and he was always going to build us one.  Finally the resources became available at the same time the ambition to build it kicked in. Another feature (this his own idea) was wheels on one side so it can be moved around the yard or just driven out of the way when mowing the lawn.  I took this picture of it before the wheels were added and guess I'd better get another now that it is completed.  We christened it last night with great picnic of mostly fresh grilled veggies that I gathered up from the garden and the farmer's market yesterday.  Our sweet neighbor came down with corn and her wonderful concoction of peaches and blueberries for dessert.  We sat around listening to the fire crackle and crickets singing, just enjoying a lovely star lit evening, so thankful for cool country evening after a super warm summer day.


One more 'good thing'.  Today was Family Reunion day. This is Den's family, and a large one it is.  This is an annual event on the last Sunday of July.  Cousin Tim has us all at his house in the hills where there is usually a nice breeze. They have a great pond for the kids to swim in and a lovely home with a huge country kitchen.  A large gathering of four and sometimes five generations meet and share a wonderful potluck meal and much love and lots of catching up.  We always walk in the door to the mouthwatering aroma of fresh baked bread and rolls.

There is much to be thankful for today.  Many good things abound.  There have been many sad times too but God, true to his word,  has promised that there will be 'Joy in the Morning'!   I am thankful for the 'Morning' he is giving me just now.   Blessings to you!