Some happenings,Mayberry stuff, and critters

This is a painting called "God's Creatures" by a fella named Blaas, as usual, courtesy of the ARC online. For some reason it reminds me of one of my daughters. :-)

So, how is everyone? We've been having very busy days. God's answered the prayers for my husband's employment for another week. I hope my cousin is able to find work soon. Seems like everyone has at least one family member who's experiencing the backlash of change.


So, we've been having very busy days and nights. Both the kids and myself are in full swing in the summer semester, plus all the outside stuff. And visiting folks and folks visiting us, critters, and having a little fun in it all- we've been going at full tilt. It's been fun, but it makes the time fly even more.

Mama was telling me about her Aunt Annie (I got to meet her once that I recall, she was sweet!). She used to cause Grampa to harumph loudly and she would laugh and get all the kids laughing. She said she was really good at Chinese Checkers and that they all had a lot of fun playing it with her.

Mama also told me that the Italian side of the family would come over from time to time and all sit around the big table (I wonder where they put all Grampa's books...) and it would be an all day thing. They'd eat a bit and talk and laugh, then eat a bit more. I wish mom went into more detail like Uncle Mark does, but at least I've got something this time. ;-)

Mayberry diners and drug store counters

Great. I'm stuck in bold again. Grr. Ok. When I was a kid in Mayberry, we lived just over a block away from the Post office on Main Street. So, we walked all over the place. One of our favourite places to go was to Roses. They had all sorts of things for kids with a small allowance and they had a great little lunch counter in the basement that sold fries at a reasonable price.
My mom would give us money for the pool (at the top of our street) and we'd usually have a little left over. Wolf Drugs and another drug store also had good fries. But if you ordered grilled cheese, make sure you told them "no mayo" or it'd be all blobed on there thicker than the cheese- that was a rude awakening the first time we ate it. We felt so jipped. The lady didn't believe there was anything wrong with that sandwich.
Also, they had those really great practical jokes for sale there. You know, the bug in the icecube, stink powder, itching powder (which got us a spanking), whoopie cushions (which didn't work very well, but were funny nonetheless), etc. There were also these sticker packs with gum in them that had all these fake brands that were very funny to us. Such as Toad instead of Tide, and the pictures were very close to the real thing.
Within walking distance of Mount Airy Jr & Senior High Schools was a Drug Store called Randleman's. They had good cherry soda. And the absolute best strawberry milkshakes in the world could be found at the Dairy Center. And that one is still in business. They have good cheeseburgers and fries, too. It's on Lebanon Street right off of 52 south. Turn at the Big Man Shell (or whatever it is now, produce?) go to the stop sign and take a right. You'll go down a hill and when you start going up again, Dairy Center is on the right. It's been there forever.
On Friday nights, a special treat would be the buffet at Ray's Starlight Resturant. O'Dell's (pronounced Oh-Dales, for your northern speakers) had good food, too and they're still open these days. I discovered them after I switched to the county school (which I liked much, much better). It's on Highway 89, going toward Toast, on the right. They still have car service, too.

Well, it finally let me out of bold! Hooray!:-) Well, our little Persian kitten died from Leukemia. :-( He passed on just as my daughter was reading Psalm 23 aloud on the way to the vet. He was such a sweet little guy.
I look at it like this. God heard the cry of this poor little critter and didn't let it die alone in a ditch somewhere. No, He put it with a family that would love it; so this poor, neglected creature could know love. So he would have care and tenderness for a few short days. So he wouldn't be dirty and cold and infested. So he could be warm and breathe (he had pneumonia, too, but was getting better from that) and so he could be held tenderly when he cried. And as his little body shut down, he had compassion and soft speech, a heating pad (he had gotten so cold), and tears wept for his suffering.
How much more does God love us?

I wonder as I am stuck in bold again without even clicking on it, whether I should look into other blogging sites for my blog...

So, on our second trip to the vet with one cat and two dogs who needed shots, we saw these two cute grey and black tabby kittens in a birdcage in the vet's office. I commented to the girl at the desk that they were adorable. She said they were free to a good home. The kids looked at me with those kid eyes and we came home from the vet with three cats and two dogs. :-)

So, I guess I'd better get back to studying now. I hope everyone has a blessed week.

Rose