We got a nice shower on Thursday night and it seems the overcast skies have stayed around for most of the day on Friday. The temps haven't been uncomfortable at all with warm morning in the 60's and late afternoon somewhere around 75. Now in the sunshine when its been direct has been rather warm. This warm up will probably be the last hurrah for this summer as September is here tomorrow and we are just a little over 2 months before heading South for the winter, oh well.
We have been starting the day around 7:30 which is kind of nice after all those 6'ish wake ups but I must get back in that routine again as I'm usually on the pickle ball at 7:30 in Seminole. Speaking of pickle ball I got a shipment of inside balls for my proposed pickle ball ministry at our church here in the mountains. I'm just waiting on the portable net to arrive so we will set up one side of the multi-purpose worship center for play. That will require us to move some chairs each time we play but will be nice this winter when the snow is blowing outside.
After our morning routine of a few quiet moments and a lite breakfast of oatmeal and fruit we got ready and headed out to Sparta for the Allegheny Cares to drop off some household goodies for the needy, a stop at the post office and then by the library for new reads before stopping at the bake shop for some bread and finally a stop at the grocery for some items we missed getting in Galax the day before. It was after lunch time before we got back so we had a salad and finished up the last of the bakery bread as we now have 3 new loaves to work on. There is no wonder we can't lose this spare tire as we have become breadaholics especially the bread made by Becca at the Backwoods Bean Coffee Shop in Sparta. We are having guests for a few days and this is an added highlight to our eatin', especially the sourdough bread, Oh well!!!
I fired up the riding lawn mower after lunch and gave the yards all except the backwoods yard a mow. The new grass I seeded a week or so ago is finally starting to show some color and the moss is finally taking a back seat due to the extra fertilizer and lime I've been applying. The gardens are looking better and the new lettuce and spinach seedling are putting on extra leaves. The Swiss chard is really looking good and I will be able to pick some while our guests are here for them to try when we do steak night. That really is a nice side dish to any meat or main course.
Well Nancy was in the kitchen all afternoon with making a cheesecake ahead of our guests arriving this afternoon as well as preparing a delicious spaghetti sauce from fresh garden grown garlic, oregano and basil. I could smell the sauce as I mowed. We were having another gang from our church and just good friends; the Dalton Gang, Gerald and Kay(Mechelle's folks) Karin and her friend Roger and eventually her daughter Katelyn came by after work. Kallie missed out on the festivities as she was hard at work. We had a sumptuous supper of spaghetti, garlic bread, salad and Kay made a freezer of homemade berry ice cream which was awesome for dessert.
After clearing the table we soon made way for a highly charged game of sequence between the guys and gals. Now I must admit we(guys) have been the butt of many comments about what lousy sequence players we are and they mostly have been true but the past 2 times we have played the game the end result has been different in our favor. Roger was a big help in our raucous victory over the gals last night and its nice to be able to rub it in. GUYS WON!!! I know many who read this ramble pull for the gals to be victorious and I hate to disappoint you but GUYS WIN AGAIN!!! That's 2 in a row they have lost and I'm afraid their string of victories are becoming less convincing. We broke up early as a few were tired especially after being hit hard by a second loss in a row, LATER
