Pea Pickin' Time Again!

Well, it's pea pickin' time again! Some of our friends very graciously invited us to come out to their place again this year and pick black eyed peas. Yesterday was the day, so out we went. Ever watchful for snakes, we picked about 10 gallons of black eyed peas. We were just going to shell them by hand, which is fun but time consuming. Some friends from church called late last night and offered to help us shell them with their electric pea sheller. I had never heard of such a thing, but was very happy for their help. That is one neat contraption! It has small rollers at one end that kind of squish the peas out of the shell without smashing them. Peas go into a bucket under the unit, and shells go in the trash can at the end. Way cool!

Summer is quickly coming to an end. It is a bittersweet time, as I enjoy having Aleisha home, but am also ready for her to go back to school. I can't believe it starts Monday. However, there are many things going on between now and then (and have been all week).

Monday was chorus rehearsal and show run through. Tuesday, we were in Amarillo, helping Newton (my brother) and Laura (his wife) move into their new home. I got to set up her kitchen for her! Then on Wednesday we picked peas. Tonight my quartet, Star Struck, and Richard's quartet, Dynamite, are singing at King's Manor Retirement Home in Hereford, TX. Tomorrow is dress rehearsal for the Prairie Winds (my chorus) annual show, and the show is Saturday night. Sunday is our first Sunday with our new group of AIM (Adventures In Missions) students, and we are having a pot luck lunch. Then we are going with the AIM students back out to Keith and Julie's to pick more peas for the widows from church. The peas will be bagged and delivered by the AIM students. Richard and I are going to prepare all the dry ingredients for a recipe of corn bread to be delivered to each lady with her peas. All she will have to do is add the wet ingredients. Then school starts Monday! Whew!

THEN, next weekend, we get to go to Nashville, see lots of family, and celebrate the marriage of my cousin, Paige, to her fiance', Zack. We are super excited to see everyone and can't wait!

I pray all of you have a wonderful day and enjoy whatever it is that keeps you busy and out of trouble!

Bad Blogger...

Bad, bad blogger! I acknowledge it has been a REALLY long time since I have updated my blog. AND I promised pictures!

Now that we have that out of the way, I don't have to feel guilty about it anymore! Whew! What a relief.

We had an absolutely wonderful time in Alaska! If you ever have the opportunity to go, DO IT! I have never seen anything quite like it. Here are a few pictures of what we saw and did. If you would like to see more pictures, feel free to look at the album Alaskan Cruise .

First formal night at dinner

HUGE glacier in Glacier National Park

View from the top of the Mt. Robert's Tramway in Juneau. That is our cruise ship, MS Westerdam, at the bottom. The tram goes about 1000 feet up to the top of Mt. Roberts.

Kilisnook, an Alaskan brown bear, who lives in the Fortress of the Bear in Sitka. He was rescued as a cub when his mother was killed for breaking into the kitchen of an inn to forage for food. While he may look here like a cuddly teddy bear, he is 18 months old, about 6 1/2 feet tall, and weighs about 600 pounds. When full grown, he will be 9-10 feet tall and weigh over 1000 pounds.

The food was amazing, the scenery spectacular, and the ship was incredible.

Well, it has taken most of the afternoon to get a few pictures, captions and paragraphs aligned the way I would like, and I learned a little about HTML to boot. Hope you enjoy it!