Special Times with Family

 

August is a special time for Greg and me since it's the month for Greg's birthday and our wedding anniversary. 

We celebrated our special days together, and also with family.

Our anniversary came first, and relatives sent us anniversary emails and even...

pretty flowers with balloons.

Greg also gave me some...

 beautiful, unique anniversary flowers.

We went on a little anniversary trip to Fancy Gap, Virginia where we had a tasty lunch at-

FYI: www.thegapdeli.com

Afterwards, we went to Poor Boys Variety Concrete Store (on Facebook.com) in Cana, Virginia... 

where I got Greg a neat yard statue since he loves gardening and working outside in our yard.

A few days later, it was time to celebrate Greg's birthday. He received nice birthday cards, emails, and gifts. 

We had two very different celebrations. 

One part of our family came to our house...

for a birthday dinner...

complete with cake (and ice cream) for dessert.

The second celebration was at-

The Peppermill (FYI: www.the peppermillnew.com) in Abingdon, Virginia with another part of our family.

Photo of the four of us taken by our wonderful waitress.

Loved the healthy salad!

We then went to our house for...

a birthday cake for Betty and Greg since Betty's birthday is close to Greg's.

We had our refreshments...

in our new gazebo. This was very special for Greg and me since this was the first time that we'd ever gotten to use it. 

We got our unfinished gazebo just a few weeks ago, and Greg and I painted it ourselves, but we're still not quite finished with it. The gazebo was something I'd been wishing for, for a long time. Getting the gazebo is solid evidence that with positive thinking (and a little elbow grease!) dreams can and do come true!

~"Time spent with family is time well spent." -Unknown

After my father passed away, I consulted an excellent psychic who told me that family was important to my father, that family meant everything to him, which comforted me because I had never realized how much he cherished our family.

Now, especially, it's so important to enjoy our time with family and friends, and to remember them, and also our loved ones who have passed away, in our prayers every day.

Special note: Starting in September, I'll be writing mini-blog posts for "The Art of Positive Living" on the second and fourth Sundays of each month. Posts for my other blog, "Spirit Photographs," will still be published the third Saturday of each month. With this schedule, I hope to free up some time so I can work on books that I'm planning to publish sometime in the fall of this year. Also, please see the widgets above for information about my current books.

Positive thoughts: "The love of a family is life's greatest blessing." -Eva Burrows

"Family. Like branches on a tree our lives may grow in different directions, but our roots will stay as one." -Unknown

Thanks for visiting! Until Sunday, September 11, 2022, Becky

A Celebration Tour

 

Greg and I have had some recent good news, so we decided to celebrate by doing something we had been wanting to do, but had never made time for, which was a more in-depth visit to downtown Abingdon, Virginia. This would be our celebration tour.

Abingdon has so many wonderful little shops that it's unbelievable! We spoke to one girl who has lived in Abingdon all of her life, but she said she had never seen many of the shops until she started working in one. We suddenly didn't feel quite as bad, since we have lived near Abingdon for less than two years, and had never seen most of the shops. Better late than never!

Before visiting the shops, we decided to have lunch. Greg noticed an old house with with someone sitting on the large porch and a sign in the yard, and we decided to check it out. It was, thankfully, a restaurant.

The Peppermill

WE found out that this house was built in 1908, and that the small house to the right had been a children's playhouse.

The chicken salad sandwich and sweet potato fries are the best!

From our vantage point on the porch, as we were enjoying lunch, we noticed this beautiful piece of artwork on the building across the street. As I've said before, Abingdon is a very arty place.

After lunch, as we were walking down the street, we passed by the impressive St. Thomas Episcopal Church...

which is made of stone. As one visitor said, it looks as though it should actually be located in England.

Greg and I love antiques, so we decide to go into Zephyr Antiques.

We're glad we did since they have so many nice things!

This sign looked intriguing, so we thought we'd go in and check it out.

Salt of the Earth is a place you can go and "Relax-Restore-Rejuvenate." They offer massage therapy, infrared sauna, salt therapy, etc., and they have several healing types of items you can buy such as salt lamps, essential oils, etc. Looks like a great place to go and unwind! 

I went into this cute little women's clothing boutique, Forget Me Not, which had some really neat things, including...

this cute cap advertising the nearby Virginia Creeper Trail.

Greg was waiting for me outside the next shop I was going to see, Market on Main, where I enjoyed quickly looking around the 65 booths that had a large variety of things including clothes, jewelry, household items, toiletries, pet treats, etc.

I didn't feel sorry for Greg, waiting outside, however, because apparently he was enjoying his time watching girls walking their dogs, etc.!

We decided it was about time to go home, but first, we needed to stop by Anthony's Desserts to get take-home snacks. Greg got a brownie, and...

I got this delicious sugar cookie.

On our way back to our car, we noticed that this restaurant which used to be a hardware store was being remodeled, and will be open by Memorial Day weekend.

This building which used to be a furniture store is being turned into a restaurant, Foresta, which is "upscale Mediterranean with an Italian flair." 

Things are looking up in Abingdon!

Although we visited several wonderful places, there were others that will have to wait until later.

The Tavern is one of those places that we want to visit on a future trip to Abingdon. It's the oldest building in town, and it's a popular place to dine.

This shirt sums up everything nicely-

An adventure awaits!

Kit-Cat update:

Our little partly-feral cat recently had to have emergency surgery since she could not have her kittens due to a damaged pelvic bone. The vet said she only had a 60-70% survival rate even with the surgery. Several of us were praying for her, and thankfully the surgery was very successful! We credit our prayers and Dr. Jay at VCA Animal Hospital in Abingdon for saving her life. Now, she is fully recovered and better than ever!

Positive thought: "Prayer changes things."

Thanks for visiting! Until Sunday, June 6, 2021, Becky