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Rainy Days and Flooding...

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Always bring me down.   Yes, I know that's not the right lyric.  (Maybe you didn't know...unless you are of a certain age you might not know the Carpenters and that's a darned shame.)   This month has been an exceedingly strange one.  Hot.  Wet.  Cold.  Clammy.  Windy.  Rainy.  Soggy.  Moist.  Damp.  Totally unpredictable.   At the start of the month (and how can it almost be over already?) we had horrible heat and rain.  Storms that flooded areas and brought down trees.  (Yes, we still have the two downed trees that take out part of our driveway and the street.  I've got to call the tree guy again today.  I knew it was going to be a while due to the massive amount of damage that had gone in the area, but it's been nearly 3 weeks, sigh...)   Last Tuesday when I drove back to PA, I left the office early.  I left early because there had been storm warnings.  Warnings that incl...

Dear Kim ,

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I'm writing this blog post to you because I don't have your email address and I blocked the number that you sent a text to me on. I had a few things I want to say to you so I thought I'd start here.    You, a person that I don't know, or perhaps you are a bot, sent me a text last week asking me if I'd be interested and discussing the property I own in New Jersey. You, some random person or AI creation, just decided send me a text? On the off chance that I might want to sell you, someone I don't know and doesn't even have a last name, my house and land. Who would do that? Well I guess you would! (Whoever or whatever you are.) I suppose it might seem like a good idea to somebody to randomly text a person and see if they might want to sell you, a random stranger, a plot of land.    I am sure you got my name, number and address from public records. You probably just searched the public record and saw that the property officially became mine in 2022. But let ...

Chips & Pickles (Pickles & Chips)

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I like food. I am fat. Even when I was at my absolute finished, which wasn't that thin, I was still fat. Now I am not at my thinnest, which I doubt I will ever be again, and I am still fat. And I still like food.  I can't decide if I would be thinner or fatter if I didn't have the multitude of food allergies that I have. Would being able to get anything I wanted to make me more discriminating and/or eat less? Or is the fact that I am restricted to certain things that makes me eat more of what I can eat? This question will probably never be answered.  I do have questions about two food items that I can eat and that I really like. Maybe someone out there can answer them for me. Let's give it a go shall we?  B&G bread and butter pickles : In my book these are the best pickles out there. I prefer the chips over the sandwich slices but will take either. They used to be relatively inexpensive. And so did their sweet relish. That changed around th...

Morning Observations from the Mountains

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It's another summer day here in the Poconos. As usual I got up early to go for a walk before it got too hot. Thankfully the temperature here at 5:00 in the morning was only around 66 degrees.  Today is supposed to be a little cooler (but not that much) than it has been over the past several days where temperatures came close to hitting the triple digits. Not at all what you want in the mountains in the summer! (It’s SUPPOSED to be cooler here!) As a matter of fact, it was so hot and humid that are pest control company rescheduled our maintenance appointment due to the heat. However the heat didn't stop the company that asphalted the driveway at our next door neighbors. Are they crazy? Hot asphalt on the nearly 100° day? Glad that's not what I do! (And I really am glad that my son is working in retail. Yes there may be annoying customers, but at least he's inside and an air conditioned building.) Anyway, here are some of the things that I saw, smelt, and heard at this ea...

Who Was John Kilbury?

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  Since America has turned 250 it's been a renewed interest in those who served during the American Revolution. I have known for most of my life that I was a descendant of a man who fought in the revolutionary war. His name was John Kilbury. (And no, that's not him in the photo above...You should all KNOW that would have been impossible.  It is  however a photo of my grandfather,  Clinton Kilbury, who is the reason I am related to John.) I know all of this because I am a member of  the DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution). I joined as a young woman (perhaps even a teen I can't remember), because my mother told me I had to. Yes, I did what my mother told me I had to do.  My mother was a member and also served as a chapter secretary because her father's sister (that would make my mother’s aunt), Bertha Kilbury Latham did all the research and became a member of the DAR. So I guess I owe a debt of gratitude to great aunt Bertha!  I never met the ...

Dear Bishop Budde,

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  I am not brave.  I want to be brave, but I am not. I have read  Receiving Jesus: The Way of Love  first because I couldn't find a copy of  How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith.   (I did eventually get a copy and read it.)  I read both books slowly and contemplatively.  They are not one and done books.  I go back and review parts of them when I feel them calling me. But I am not brave.  I have been inspired by what you have written, but I am still not brave. My desire to be brave is held back by my nervousness, anxiety, and general fear of the unknown. I don't know if I'll ever be able to conquer that.  On Sunday July 12th you will be speaking at All Saints Episcopal Church in Bay Head, NJ. That is a church that my father attended pre-COVID during the winter months when his "summer" church (St. Simons by the Sea) was closed for the season. I've never attended a service there. I would like to hear you...

The Importance of July 9

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  On July 10th, 2021, we celebrated the 95th birthday of our dear friend and "Aunt" Julie at the church where she had been so many things...a member, a chorister, an associate pastor, a mentor...the list goes on.  Her actual birthday had been the day before, but it was a big party and so it was held on a Saturday.  My mother, who had long been a friend and "adopted" Julie into our family when she discovered that she had no family in town to celebrate the holidays with (she has plenty of actual family, just not NJ) came up from the NJ shore, where she and my father had moved, to celebrate and give a fond farewell.  "Aunt" Julie was moving back to her hometown of Waynesboro, PA, to spend the rest of her years where she could view "her" mountains and truly be home.  She had retired (or perhaps I should say that Covid had forced her to retire) from her position as Children's Chaplain at St. Joseph's Medical Center (Hospital) in Patterson, giv...