Looking back, looking ahead - faves of the week

Alba Avram Mayıs 03, 2022

This past week seemed to whiz by. There has been so much going on and so many things to accomplish as the school year draws to a close, but it is always good to look back at the past week and the good things I have been blessed with.

We had cooler, cloudy days, with a bit of rain thrown in the mix, which is just fine with me.

The evenings were lovely with golden sunsets like this one.

The pool is clear and blue, although the water is still too cold to make swimming enjoyable.

This little bird was sitting on our wall one evening, and seemed to be posing for me, so I took his picture.

The cooler temps these past few days have meant that we could cool the house with open doors and fans and that means saving $$ on air conditioning, and I always love the fresh air!

I received and signed my teaching contract for next school year. I will be at the same school, and even got just a bit of a raise.

It was "free food" night on Wednesday, at Joe's Real Barbecue - a dining icon here in Gilbert, Arizona. Every May, this great little restaurant, owned by a local entrepreneur, opens its doors to everyone in the community and gives all comers a free meal which consists of a barbecue chicken or pork sandwich, cole slaw, baked beans and a drink. It is an immensely popular event and the lines are usually long, although they do move quickly. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is fun and happy. The owner of the restaurant, now well advanced in years, stands on the sidewalk out side, greets those who line up for his give away and thanks them for their support. Charly and I went and really enjoyed our "free Joe's."

It was teacher appreciation week last week, so in addition to free barbecue from Joe's, we got coupons for free and half-price pizza and Organ Stop and Papa Murphy's both excellent pizza places.

I am loving this book this week. I recently read Janette Oke's first book, Love comes Softly and wondered what took me so many years to discover it! Now I am on to the sequel and am enjoying it as well.

Coming up this week - Mother's Day, of course. I already received this in the mail from the family of my oldest daughter. Love it!

Mother's Day is one of the two days (the other day is Christmas) each year, when we got to talk to Josh in Mexico on skype. Here is a picture of our Christmas skype call. He emailed last week and told us we will get to skype with him about 5 p.m. his time on Sunday, so we are anxiously looking forward to that!

My oldest daughter, shown here with her sweet family, will celebrate her birthday on Monday. She was my first and best Mother's Day gift thirty-something years ago.

My oldest grandson also has a birthday this coming week, on Tuesday. This good looking guy will be nine. He is a great kid and we sure enjoy spending time with him and his family whenever we can.

No birthdays in this group, but I love this cute picture of my second oldest daughter with her two cute girls. Even when they bring worries and challenges, what great blessings children and grandchildren are!

Finally, I will leave with this thought for all of the great women (many of whom are blogging friends) who have helped, loved and inspired me. Have a truly wonderful Mother's Day - whether you are a mother or not. You are awesome!!