May 21, 2005

BCS Graduating Class of 2005:  Geneva Skrivseth, Kristi Dickerson & Darlene Diem What a day we had Sunday!  First off, we had to get to church about a half a hour early so we could practice our singing a bit more before the service.  Carl had a really good sermon on "Heaven" encouraging us, like the old negros in their spirituals to look forward to the wonderful place God has prepared for us.  Our group sang four spirituals and Carl had picked out four more that were played over the speakers.  We came home to a dinner of fresh red potatoes from the garden with browned butter, a garden salad and my masterpiece, broiled pork'n'bean sandwiches.  The wife is still withholding her judgment on them but they tasted just like the ones my sister Karen used to make. 
Magnolias are really blooming right now..  Ina Sue took a little nap then went with some of the neighbor ladies over to a bridal shower for Lillie Hochstetler.  We were surprised to find out that it was actually for Mrs. Lillie Sommers....  We pray that they will find true happiness in sharing their lives under God's direction.  In the evening we went to the Commencement exercises for Barnwell Christian School.  Geneva Skrivseth, Kristi Dickerson, & Darlene Diem all gave good graduation speeches and graduated proudly.  Our congratulations to all of you for a job well done!  After the service everyone was invited to stay for a delicious snack.
Ina Sue pruned all our azaleas Monday was the end of the Strite family diet plan.  Nevin, Duane, Karen, and I all committed ourselves to losing 20 lbs. in 4 months.  Mom signed up for 10 lbs in the same period.  When I got on the scales the evening before, I was hitting my weight goal squarely.  After the graduation snack I jumped a couple lbs so I had to do a bit of fasting to end the day at 1 lb beneath the weight I was aiming for.  Unfortunately,  all the rest of the participants in our contest also lost the prescribed poundage and therefore were not required to pay me money...  Ina Sue did her normal washday duties while I spent the day at work.  In the evening, I mowed part of the yard and worked a little at weeding in the garden.  Ina Sue spent the evening pruning back our azaleas.  We were in bed by 10:00 but I wasn't sleepy so I got up and made 5 doz, chocolate chip cookies for the youth thing Thursday evening.
The funeral of Dr. James E. Brown Tuesday was the 3'rd anniversary of Gideon & Jerry's deaths.  It still seems almost unreal....  I found myself attending another funeral today.  My old orthodontist from Augusta for whom I worked many a Saturday in my younger years passed away from a stroke.  I drove over to Augusta from work and met Dads, Nevins, and Kent for the funeral.  When I got back from that I worked in at the shop for the rest of the day then went in to the jail for Bible study in the evening.  Ina Sue said that they were feeling pretty lonely without me all day so when I got home we played a game of Phase10 together.  Fun.  (The loser was supposed to make the winner their breakfast of choice tomorrow morning)
Betty is finishing doors at the school I got up Wednesday morning and made my family eggs-a-la-goldenrod for breakfast. (Even though I won the Phase 10 the evening before.... Go figure!)  I had a service call up in Orangeburg first thing so I went directly there from home.  Ina Sue dropped Carolina off with Dorcas then went to the school to help paint.  From there she went Walmart & grocery shopping.  I had a long day at work and ended up working a bit late.  When I got home we quickly wolfed down a supper of grilled chicken breast salad then hurried to prayer meeting.  Lloyd Oberholtzer led a discussion on the last two verses of James.  After church we drove in to Barnwell and picked up some groceries at Reids.
Chad & Randy put up plywood in the gym. Thursday was long and busy.  I took off from work to help at the school.  Nevin & Kent came over and helped me put up most of the rest of the trim.  We weren't quite finished with everything but we ran out of trim....  Ina Sue brought grilled chicken salad in for us for dinner along with freshly baked bread sticks.    I didn't get home from the school until about 4:00.  Ina Sue spent the afternoon making up food for the youth tonight.  I weeded in the garden for a while then made a quick run to Bilo in Denmark for some fresh canteloup & grapes for the party.  The youth were singing at the nursing home tonight and we were asked to provide the snack afterwards.  Ina Sue also fixed cold taco salad.  I had never had such a thing but was pretty impressed.  The youth seemed to like it too.  After the food we played a number of games of volleyball in the new gym.  We really enjoyed that.  Home around 10:30
Nevin & Kent helped us on Thursday I spent most of the day Friday in the shop, making up quotes and taking phone calls.  Ina Sue cleaned, visited the neighbors, and sewed.  After I got home we went to the church to clean it.  It was a fairly big job and it was after 9:00 by the time we got everything in order.  After we got home I made test batches of two recipes that I'm thinking of taking to the carry-in at Hephzibah on Sunday.  We are planning to go to Charleston and to the beach tomorrow.
Some of my balloon creations... Saturday did not turn out the way we had planned but we had a good day anyhow.  Carolina Sue woke up with a bit of a fever and a cough/cold.  It was drizzly and chilly outside and the forecast in Charleston called for showers, windy & a high of 70 degrees.  We decided to call off our trip and have a day at home.  In the morning I took Carolina Sue with me and we drove over to the church to blow off the sidewalks.  Then, on to Denmark where we enjoyed touring the Jim Harrison gallery and spending a little time in the park beside Dale's store.  We dropped in on Nelson's bakery and bought some sweets then picked up a free hotdog from a nearby stand.  Finally we headed back home.   Oh, I also stopped at Brookers and picked up a hefty closet rod to replace the one that collapsed on me a couple days ago in our closet. 
Fresh batch of carrots from the garden. Ina Sue made us Puerto Rican egg subs for breakfast.  They were delicious!  Fluffy eggs with peppers & onions & plenty of melted cheese with slightly toasted french bread....  Wow.  After dinner I worked on fixing up our closet  then while Ina Sue straightened and replaced the clothes in it, I worked on weeding some more in the garden.  I'm afraid our garden caught the lion's share of God's curse in Genesis.  It certainly uses up the sweat from my brow anyway....  Ina Sue worked on making up a couple batches of angel biscuits for a church party in a week or two. 
Making food for the men's carry-in dinner at Hephzibah tomorrow After I came in and got cleaned up I worked on making up food for tomorrow's dinner.  My old church at Hephzibah has kinda started a tradition of always having a carry-in dinner on Mother's Day where the men prepare the food.  I've heard other years of all the gourmet creations that show up.  This year I was invited to come over and help honor my mother.  (The carry-in was delayed for two weeks because of a lot of people being missing on Mother's day)  I fixed a Swiss cheese and green onion Bread Ring, a bowl of Salmon Potato Salad (fresh red potatos & green onions) and a bowl of Creamy Mint Carrots (again fresh from the garden with sprigs of garden mint for flavoring in the sweet glaze)  It was getting fairly late by the time I had the kitchen cleaned up again and all the food in the fridge.

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