Another gorgeous morning

This morning's sunrise was breathtaking!

It is my bro-in-law's birthday today and when I think of Harvey, I think of pumpkin. It is that time of the year when people's hearts turn to all things pumpkin. But Harv especially liked the scented candles which smelled like pie. Justin was quite fond of his paternal grandma's pumpkin bars (I wonder who has that recipe...), now that I think about it. Justin remembers making pumpkin bread with chocolate chips last year, but can't remember if he used my recipe from Shady Lane Home, or not. My recipe was called Harvest Loaf, flavorful and moist.

Ten years ago at this time, Justin and I drove to Ft. Lauderdale, my first time ever driving so far by myself (as the primary driver, I mean). My sister-in-law, Marian, and her family lived there and were being visited by Harvey and Barb, and their friends, Steve and Sue. Having recently been separated, I'd just gotten my hair cut to the style still in place today. For some reason I remember those two events together. 

Barb N. remains the beautician who does it for me, as I follow her from shop to shop. Glad she's settled down where she is now for several years. Only this a.m. I got another compliment on my hair style from a lady in The Palace lobby. The summer has pretty much left my hair and now it's showing more salt than pepper. What to do? What to do?

This morning's Bible study was quite good, covering only a small portion of the page. The discussion and 'sharing' was excellent and free-flowing, which was really good to have. Fellowship can be a difficult topic particularly for those who have not been long-time members of our Synod or for those who have forgotten some things. 

One item for discussion was about funerals which was an excellent venture. One lady remarked how when her son died a couple years ago, the pastor at the church he attended did such a nice memorial service for him. His rough and tumble friends came as did his ex-wife with their sons. Since then, several of the friends have become or are becoming members, as did the wife. The children, who live a couple doors down from the church, attend regularly. I am not sure if they in the school or not, but could be. What an amazing blessing came as a result of her son's death, in his 30's. I wept!

Instead of going to our usual Long Horn for lunch, we went to the Olive Garden. One of the ladies feels like she has been "picked on" recently by the waitress besides now being charged for the soft drinks. Of course I was not aware of anyone being singled out for poor service or anything like that but I heard that last week she opted out of lunch due to the others going to LH. The suggestion for another restaurant had to come from someone other than Judy or me, so while I was in the restroom, they made the choice of Olive Garden. It usually does fall to me as some folks have problems making decisions, but I do not!

I had the chicken scampi while most of the others had the soup and salad. The endless salad, with one lady taking home the remainer in a to-go box. The waitress seemed hesitant to do that but the lady indicated she'd taken whole salads home the previous two times. I don't know their standard practices here, just as we didn't know about LH's practice of charging adults for drinks when they order from the kids' menu!
                                 
Justin and I enjoyed the leftovers from Chilis and Olive Garden along with our pork from Saturday's dinner with the ladies. He wants to make some biscuits for us tomorrow upon which we will serve the leftover London broil from Sunday night. We also have some mashed potatoes to have our broil with if we so desire. The dishwasher is filled with Rubbermaid containers as the fridge is being emptied!