Beautiful Evidences of Friendship

Here is another glimpse of my accumulating birthday cards received this week. Family and friends have sent many Facebooks posts, face-to-face greetings, gifts, and comments here on the blog. I know of at least one more card that is en route..... 😉 People have been so thoughtful!!!

..... AND Gary has something very special planned that is yet to happen! 

😉❤️🤭

The arrangement of flowers from some of our kids is holding up very well. The milky white roses are my favs of the bunch.

My good buddy Judy F. took me to lunch this week. We dined at Southern Pig and Cattle (at my request), which happens to be a favorite with her, too. Not only is the pulled pork and cole slaw very good, but at no extra charge one can get a vanilla soft serve ice cream cone at the end of the meal, which you get to create yourself! Of course, if you make it too tall, you need to start licking it quickly before getting back to your table or a disaster will ensue! 

Judy is a marvel! She wore the most beautiful white floral top and did not get a drop of BBQ sauce on her clothes. Me, I'm not that brave. I wore a dressy red and black top, just in case any BBQ sauce would find its way onto me. (which, thankfully, it did not)

This was a 'girlfriend lunch', which means I left Gary at home to fend for himself. He heated up a bowl of soup and then showed remarkable integrity by not eating my Chocolate Bavarian Creme donut during my absence. 

By way of explanation, when we do our big grocery trip, we are in the habit of buying a box of these small donuts (our most favorite!!!). After putting all the groceries away, we sit at the table to each enjoy one of the 6 donuts.  

When I left for lunch with Judy, the last two delectable delights were left unattended with Gary. But as I said, he demonstrated remarkable restraint and strength of character by not touching either of them in my absence.👍🏻

Another celebration happened this week, although it was not initiated because of my birthday. Gary and I met up with 5 friends for lunch at Cracker Barrel. There were 3 guys and 4 gals. All of us gals blog and have 'followed' each other for years. Here we are.... do you recognize any or all?

left to right:
Bob and Mari, Terri, Pam and John, 
with me and Gary in front of them

Mari's blog is:

My Little Corner of the World

http://marislittlecorner.blogspot.com/

Terri's blog is

Your Friend From Florida

https://tdorsaneo.blogspot.com/

Pam's blog is

Closed Doors, Open Windows

https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com

and you are reading my blog right now:

Journal Memories

https://myjournalmemories.blogspot.com/ 

We were delighted to have husbands attend with us (who were also a  notable help with the transportation for those traveling anywhere from 6 to 1,200 miles!)

This cheerful occasion gave Gary the opportunity to set the record straight with his announcement that he is a very private person and he never dreamed he would become "blog fodder." 🤭

Of course, Gary is not alone. All the husbands represented at our lunch table (as well as the 2 who have passed away in recent years) have been, or are, "blog fodder." All of these men are consistently presented in the most cheerful and winsome light as some of the more interesting "blog fodder" that we girls share. I'm sure my readers will agree. 

Gifts were brought, including Cherry Berry Jam from Michigan and a wood Resurrection Scene handmade by Pam and John's son, Benton, a very talented artist with wood. 

The semi-circle piece of wood represents the stone the angels rolled away when Jesus rose from the grave. What a clever and tasteful decor for this Easter season! I am thrilled to have this in our home, as were the other girls with the ones they were given.

It's been a good week here. As you have the time, do scroll back up in this post to click on the provided links to the blogs of my Cracker Barrel lunch friends. 

Here is an apt verse regarding our choice of friends:

Walk with the wise

and become wise,

for a companion of fools 

suffers harm.

Proverbs 13:20

 

I am thankful for my friends! I'm closing this out now so I can have some toast with the Cherry Berry jam Mari and Bob gave to all of us!

Until next time, grace and peace!

Barbara