Welcome.....
To my world of the weird, the strange, the unexplained.........
no, I'm just kidding, this is a happy place......OK, maybe I am just a little weird.
Anyone else see how bright red the sun is right now? I tried to take a
photo of it, but my camera actually would not register it, I guess
because of the brightness? As it started to set, I managed to get these
few photos, but still doesn't show the brilliance of it....it looks
almost like another planet. Maybe it's Nibiru.. well, let's hope
not...either way , it's beautiful.
I had lunch with my ladies of '67 today at the La Cocina Mexicana. We had a surprise dinner guest, Carol Jeanie Clark Marks,
who came home from Branson, MO and joined us today Also, Theresa
Crouch! So good to see you both. We ate outside, it was such a pretty
day and wasn't too hot. We had great food and a wonderful visit with
each other...sending out lots of love to those who could not make it
today, we missed you...I hope you all are having a fantastic day!
We were outside sitting in our swing last night, just enjoying the
evening, and something landed on my shoulder, I started to freak out,
because, you know, I thought it was a big spider..I started to brush it
away and it didn't feel like a spider, then it jumped again and landed
on my leg, it was just one of our little tree frogs..so I just let him
sit there and then he jumped onto BIll's knee and stared at him for a
long time.. 
:)
There are lots of them around here, they live inside an old bird
bath/fountain that I made into a planter, it is right by the swing.
soon, he jumped onto the side of my craft room and onto catching
insects.....
I would like to thank my many family members who have served our country
on this Memorial day: First of all my son, Preston Phillips, who is
still serving, my twin brothers, Kim and Kent McKelvey,,
my sister-in-law, Sylvia McKelvey, my son-in-law, Cary Yandell, my two
uncles, Bob Westman and John Westman, Jr., my dad, Bob McKelvey and my
step dad, Milo Knight....If I forgot someone, please forgive me, it was
not intentional..Thank you to ALL of those that have served our great
county to keep us free and safe.
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| Preston Phillips |
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| Kim and Kent McKelvey, and yes, there names were switched, Kim is on the left and Kent is on the right. |
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| Sylvia McKelvey (Kim's wife) |
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| My uncles, Bob Westman and John Westman, Jr. |
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| Cary Yandell, my son in law |
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| My dad, Bob McKelvey, the short one on the left. |
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| My step dad, Milo Knight |
Keto crustless taco pie...its what's for dinner, along with homemade kraut and dill deviled eggs....yummy!
Shelley and some of her cath lab nurses/friends, she loves her job and her team. She's the third on from the left..
We are so glad we decided to come home today. We stayed at the
campground and made breakfast and then came home...AND NOW.....we are
under a tornado watch.until 10:00 tonight. My son just called me from
Collinsville and told me to be careful, that it was coming and it was
bad. (he mostly wanted to talk about the Game of Thrones finale though.
:) ) Anyway, everyone be safe here in Illinois, this storm means business..* Update...storm was nothing at all, it had lost it's energy by the time it got here, so we just got lots of rain..
It was a beautiful day and evening camping, just loved it! We were going
to stay another day, but an unexpected storm hit last night. It was
supposed to be here tonight. Our motorhome was actually shaking. The
awning outside sounded like the next gust of wind would rip it off.
Bill went out in the pouring rain, lightening, wind and all and got it
down at 4:00 a.m. Bless his heart..so here we are everything is drenched
and its 49 degrees. Might be a day of Scrabble in the camper, or we
might just go home. Mother nature pulled a dirty trick on all of us.
The campground is completely full. That is all.
Bill enjoying his coffee by the campfire at Carlyle lake tonight...a perfectly beautiful night!
Congratulations
to our granddaughter, Hannah Phillips, on her graduation from Fort Knox
High School yesterday! Way to go! Love this picture of my son and his
beautiful family!
Lying here in my hammock on this beautiful, warm day..
Perfect! Here's my view.
Just a gorgeous evening tonight, everything is so green after the morning rain..
I sent Bill to the store a while back for something, and he also came
home with a can of diced clams..just one little can..lol...so because I
love a cooking challenge I started looking on Pinterest...and found this
stuffed mushroom recipe and I had everything here, so with our
herb-crusted lamb chops and Greek salad, we had clam, cheese onion,
pepper and garlic stuffed mushrooms cooked in a lake of butter in the
oven......SO good! So except for an hour walk in the sunshine, that's
actually about all I accomplished today...I hope you all had a good
one...sorry no pictures, Bill was waiting at the table with his knife
and fork..
We had this delicious shrimp, sausage skillet dinner tonight! It was wonderful! I hope you all have had a good day!
Since it's Mother's Day, and I miss my sweet mama so much, I thought I
would share with you things about her that most people don't know. I
was looking through some old photos today feeling, nostalgic and sad,
but grateful that I had this wonderful woman for my mother and best
friend I love her so much, and truly feel the loss of her daily., So
here goes: My mom was a trained, professional singer. She traveled
with a band called the Reveliers and was their star performer
She also performed around the Centralia area (her home town), such as
the Band Shell where live entertainment was performed often and of
course, sang at church... She was a very private and quiet person most
of the time, but had this wonderful sense of humor, and would do
anything for a laugh when we were together. She loved Clay Aiken when
he was on American Idol, she kept pressuring me to watch him for
ages...finally I did, and I became a fan too..We went to many,many live
concerts, met other fans, who remain friends to this day, and we used to
joke that we were "groupies"... 
:)
She loved the Red Hat ladies, and boy, did she know how to wear a
hat! She had two older brothers, Bob and John. She knew how to play the
steel guitar. Both my grandma (her mom) and my mom turned prematurely
gray at a young age. Most of all she was always beautiful, even as a
young child. Best of all, she was the best mom ever to me and my 3 brothers.. If you stayed to read all of
this, I appreciate it very much, everyone have a great Mother's Day.
I had lunch with my Red Hat sisters today..it's always a great time. In
fact, I totally forgot to take our monthly picture, too much talking
and laughing. I hope you are all having a great Friday! Also, thanks to
our hostess, Joan Bourland-Foltz, we all have a new red hat, a new scarf, or a beautiful handmade hat stand...
It must be a little boring in the cow pasture....I was just walking by
and they all gathered at the fence and just stood there...lol..they have
such sweet faces..I think I'm being stalked by cows......
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| Shopping at the flea market |
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| Debi trying to ride this bike lawnmower, she had to have help from these gentlemen though...at least she didn't fall off, but she couldn't GET off, Sally had to help her pull her leg back over the bar.. |
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| The Kaskaskia Dragon |
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| Walking among the neanderthals |
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| Lunch at Witt's smokehouse |
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| After some more shopping around town, we stopped for ice cream at Culver's |
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| Last stop the Cross at the Crossroads |
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| A very faint rainbow around the sun |
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| Oops, I forgot the picture of the whole dragon |
Had a fun day trip with my team members from Country Creek Treasures
today...We went to Vandalia first, hit a couple of flea markets, then
had our pictures taken with the Kaskaskia Fire Breathing Dragon, which
is listed as one of the unusual tourist attractions in Illinois. After
that we drove on to Effingham, IL, and had lunch at Witt's Smokehouse,
delicious food! We went to the Country Peddler's where we did some more
shopping, and then to Good will, of course. We followed
that with ice cream from Culver's and our final stop was the the Cross
at the crossroads, a beautiful 200 foot metal cross, surrounded by stone
monuments with the ten commandments.......of course, some of us had
already been here a few times, but it is always very impressive...all in
all it was a fabulous day, with lots of craziness and laughter...I hope
you all had a good day on this gorgeous 72 degree, sunny day!
