Not many things have been tasting good lately, but when nothing else tastes good, a banana is always sweet and delicious!  Hooray for bananas!!

I love sitting on our deck and being amazed by the many shades of green in nature: the trees, the grass, the corn…

When I am facing challenges, and feeling worried, the kind and helpful nurses from Crossroads Hospice always know just what to say to make me feel better, and to help me worry less.

The perfect weekend pick-me-up:  getting together with my closest friends and their families for a day of laughter, reminiscing and good food  (3 kinds of bacon, prize-winning blueberry pie, cherry crumb pie, bratwurst, the best deviled eggs, corn salsa ….)

I am so grateful for the boys (now young men) who have been good friends to my daughters, during their “growing up” years.  It was not unusual for my 2 daughters to  be the only girls in the group from the time they were 6 or 7 until now.  The boys never excluded them from any games, or activities, and treated each of them like “one of the gang.”

I love watching the YouTube videos made by my friends and former students.  The videos always make me laugh, and I can watch them over and over again.  Thank you, Alexander, Ricky, Mario, Alex, David, Jon, Gabe!

I thoroughly enjoyed a long-awaited visit from my good friend, Tim, from Pittsburgh.  He brought his lovely wife, Dee Ann, and his daughter, Adriane with him.  We spent hours reminiscing and catching up on all that has happened in our lives in the past 25+ years.  Such a great time!

I love telling visitors about the flamingo sent to me by my dear friend, Carol.  They smile and nod, and then when I show them the flamingo, and they see that Carol wrote my address on the flamingo’s back, and her return address on the flamingo’s underside, and slapped the postage on the side of the flamingo, their mouths drop open, as they exclaim, “we didn’t know she actually mailed the flamingo all by itself….  not in a box!!!!  We didn’t know you could do that!  That is so cool!!!!”  Then I tell them she fastened the flamingo’s legs to the stem of the flower she game at the flash mob performance.  And they giggle!  Thank you, Carol, for such a thoughtful and conversation-provoking gift!   I love it!

Every day I am awestruck when I look at the gigantic basket of flowers from the flash mob performance.  So many individual flowers, each with a name and many with a note of thanks, or friendship, or good wishes!  It is truly a gift which keeps on giving!

I appreciate the thoughtfulness of good friends, and friends that I don’t even know.  The good friends who send cards and letters; the friend who has opened a Ruth (Radney) Barnes Benefit Fund at Huntington Bank; the friends who sent financial contributions after the flash mob performance; and the Inky Impressions Stamp Club of Wooster for their beautiful hand-made cards!

Each day brings new surprises and joy!