Well, here we go again. We say goodbye to spring; not that we can tell the difference with all these hot days.

The sisters are gathering again to celebrate being sisters. The month of June we gathered at the home of Mary Jo Crider. A day in the country is a treat for me. Even though I live in Wardsville with a small meadow lined with trees out my front door. The traffic noise reminds me I’m in town.

Mary Jo takes good care of her place; in fact, she had the driveway graded since we were there last. Lucy and I both discovered the hard way that they had put a speed bump in. Pam’s husband Darrell calls them cuss bumps. I did some as I went over it.

We gathered around Mary Jo’s farm house table. We greeted each other, claiming our spots and getting our drinks. Those in attendance were Lucy Branson, Mary Jo Crider, our hostess, Shirley Huffman, Linda Crider, Pam Hale and Susie Kleffner.

Breakfast consisted of homemade monkey bread, homemade banana bread and fresh cantaloupe. The food was delicious as usual at Mary Jo’s. Of course, the meal was woven with conversation.

We talked about shopping online and how to keep you information safe. How can you be sure of the quality of what you’re ordering? Read the reviews. But how can you be sure they are real reviews? The only way to be sure is to place one small order and see what happens. I even have a separate checking for shopping online.

The subject of snakes came up again. Most of us are skittish around them, but a few are terrified of them. Sometimes you have to act instead of running away. Sometimes you can go tell your men to take care of the snake but sometimes you have to take care of it yourself. One sister used her egg basket to attack the snake and another used her flashlight. The snakes have to be disposed of especially when you find them in your chicken house.

Lucy is so much better. She went to bed hurting as usual and when she got up the next morning her pain was gone. She felt and looked so much better. She had so many people praying for her I guess God decided that was the only way to get us all to shut up. I hope He remembered the Thank You prayers.

When you have something scheduled the same day every week and you have done it on that day for years, isn’t it annoying when people want/need to schedule their once-a-year event or visit on that day of the week? Yes, we think it is! It’s hard to choose when everyone is counting on you to be in both places.

Shirley’s son Ronnie and his wife Lisa went to the river. Lisa started down to the river bank with her fishing pole. Ronnie said “You’re wasting your time. The way the river’s running you won’t catch anything.” About a half hour later, she came back with a huge catfish. She handed it to Ronnie and said “Skin this, pilgrim, then I’ll bring you another one…” This is a quote from an old western movie.

We talked about stores where you can buy rosaries. I found a rosary I want to buy from EWTN, the Catholic TV channel. It is to use when praying for our county. Each bead has the initial of a state. And down the back of the cross the words United States is carved across and down. I want one of them.

We spent the entire day sitting around the table. There was a clock in the kitchen that crowed every hour. It made me smile every time it crowed.

Shirley finds things on the internet which she thinks will be of interest to us. She prints them out then reads them to us sometime through the day. They have been funny and informative; some even sentimental. Thanks for keeping us up to date.

Shirley also has half of the embroidery done on her state bird quilt. Her embroidery work is so beautiful. Good job, Sis.

We played couple games of greed. As always so much fun, laughing and picking on each other. Pam won both games.

By now it was lunch time. Mary Jo did not disappoint. We had BBQ ribs, with au gratin potatoes and succotash vegetables with Jello cake for dessert. Good job, Mary Jo.

Lucy told us about all the get-well cards she got from the kids from Visitation School. Lucy has volunteered and donated to the school, and the kids all know her when they found out she was not doing well they took time out of their school day to make the cards and write notes for Lucy.

As we talked about growing up. The stories are passed down seem to change. There are 21 years between Georgia, the oldest and Lois and I, the youngest. The world changes a lot in 20 years. Most of the stories that the middle kids lived through was passed down to Lois and I by our mom. So, when the older kids are talking about these things the stories are different, sometimes they seem like entirely different stories. Sometimes we forget this and almost fight over who is right. Almost.

Well, that’s enough for this time. Enjoy the beginning of summer and we’ll see you in July.