Blessings in Abundance

 

morning rainbow outside my front door

Every morning before we ride our bicycles, it's my habit to step out onto the front porch to check the thermometer and determine if there's going to be a headwind. To see a huge rainbow was a delightful surprise. (It was a double rainbow, which you can see fading if you look closely.)

The rainbow reminder of God's Presence was welcome. This week became unsettling when I realized it was time to dispose of outdated  paperwork that had a lot of my late husband's handwriting. 

The paperwork was a "trigger," as the counselors refer to it -- a reminder of hurt. God's grace helps us to cope, how to adapt, when that happens. He has done that for me, many times. 

Moving on to more pleasant activities this week: we once again enjoyed a lunch at the historic Yearling restaurant with people who have not been there before. 

The first time we came here, the earthy, rustic outside put us off a little.

As a city girl who was raised living near international airports and sophisticated corporate office buildings, I've learned to appreciate simple, unrefined settings. The locals refer to it as "Old Florida."

We arrived about 30 minutes before the restaurant opened; but even with its simplicity, hospitality was provided with sheltered seating where patrons can wait.

Antiques stirred up memories. My maternal grandfather worked for, and retired from, Gulf Oil back when they had offices in Tulsa, Oklahoma, before they moved their operations to Houston.

John and Pam

Our lunch friends arrived shortly after we got there. Many of you will recognize Pam and her husband from her blog, Closed Doors, Open Windows. With that introduction, I encourage you to visit her blog by clicking on this title, Friday Foto Friends~A "Wild" Lunch.  I've described The Yearling in previous posts, but she has done a much better job than me.

John and Gary at our booth

After ordering our food, we girls got up to walk around and take pictures while the fellas (who have met previously several times before this visit) got caught up with guy-talk. 

my lunch

In keeping with the habit of many bloggers, I snapped a picture of my food. When eating out, I often order what I don't usually eat at home. This time it was a side of collard greens (something Gary's surgery prohibits him from enjoying).

dessert

Pam and I shared dessert, a creamy orange delight. Aside from one bite for Gary, the guys did not have any dessert. 

It was a great visit with good people that was enhanced with the realization by all of us that The Yearling restaurant is pretty much at the half-way point between their home and ours. Good to know!!

Later that afternoon, Gary decided he wanted dessert. Our truck needed no GPS to find one of our favorite haunts....

Another highlight for me this week was a FaceTime visit with one of my sons. He lives hundreds and hundreds of miles from us, so these visits are a good alternative to plane fare, gas prices, and hotel reservations. 

Last weekend he ran a half-marathon through the California Redwoods, so he and Gary had a lively conversation on FaceTime about their marathon experiences. "Blended families" are not always easy. This visit did my heart so much good.

Gary's birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I gave him two jigsaw puzzles of classic cars. The first one was completed this week.

food trucks

Autumn has finally arrived in North Central Florida. I'm still wearing my Bermuda shorts and Crocs sandals, but slightly cooler temps and traditional fall activities are filling our days. This weekend is the annual Fall Festival in our +55 retirement community. 

The festival is made up of vendor booths for arts, crafts, food, home improvement businesses, Medicare consultants, and so forth. There was also live band music, oldies (of course!).

apple pie for me

Our favorite vendor is the dentist who hands out slices of pie for free!

pecan pie for Gary

Admittedly, neither of us use this dentist, but we surely do enjoy his pies!! (not all providers accept all insurance)

Gary waits for me

While Gary agreed to take me to the festival because of the pie, he was good to wait for me on a bench at the bocce courts while I walked through all the craft vendors. This is what true love does! 

one of 2 packages of popcorn

Somewhere in all of that I picked on the hint that Gary wanted some popcorn, so I came back to his bench with two flavors.

dish towel purchase

As I've said many times before, I don't shop like I used to. But a kitchen probably never has enough dish towels, so I bought three (3 for $20 was not a bad price). Two have a Christmas theme; I'll probably include them in a post during the holidays.

the "Twirlers"

The last attraction at the festival was a performance by the newly-formed majorettes group. Only four now, they did a fine job of reminding us of our high school and college days featuring choreography with batons.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Barbara

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