birthday gift from Paris

Look twice.  These are spun spheres of 6.5 cm (2.5 inches) bought in a "le cousin paul" shop by my son and daughter-in-law while in Paris earlier this year.  There's only one shop in North America where they can be bought--in Montreal.  You pop them over tiny tree lights to glow.  Great to have this color in my life!

bring your own bag winner

If you bring your own reusable bag you can enter a weekly drawing for $25.  After 30 shots at it I was thinking about quitting.  I looked at all those red tickets in the raffle wheel.  What if I give mine a slight twist?  Pure chance?  The little twist?  Two days later I got the call.  Twenty-five dollars!

I no sooner hung up the phone than I thought of spreading my good fortune.  Several times a week I benefit from those faithful, low-wage clerks.  So I bought six small cans of Planters Peanuts and gave them to the persons I see most often and one to the Leola Food Bank.

I got more fun out of that $25 than sometimes I get out of $250.  Giving makes me say something about myself and makes me vulnerable to others.  In accepting the recipient says something about themselves.  Face to face exchange--a rare thing.

birthday gifts abound

With my birthday on June 29, my daughter's on the 10th and my grand-daughter's on the 18th, here's a few of the gifts flowing through the house.   The box my fitbit zip arrived in.  About the size of a silver dollar, this computer chip rides with me in my pocket to count all the steps I take--that is, literal steps with my feet.  It tells me how many calories I burned.  I can log in what I eat, etc.  And my health should sustain a while longer, maybe decades longer.  Thanks, family, for the gift.  Hunch:  probably cost pretty much.  Two-- how to shop these days?  Order two shoulder bags online and send back the one you don't want.  I kept the bottom one, and used it daily already at the Hymn Society conference in Richmond.  Three, and most exciting--one of Leah's 2nd birthday gifts.  Art work by Dorcas

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Family boarders

My daughter and family moved intra-Lancaster City in mid-June.  While the U-Haul and vehicles held their household items, they camped out at Monterey for two nights.  Wonderful family time!