NOTHING OLD

about this news, Reader Dear.   It was this very morning that The Yard Man woke me early to prepare for a trip to his Uncle Jesse's memorial service. 

We stopped at a minute market and bought gas, two bananas, and two cups of truly awful French Vanilla coffee. 

And then we set out for the two-hour drive that would get us to the Beautiful Valley.





We put The Monkees* in the Cd player, cranked up the volume very loud, and had a fine sing-along.  The cloudy weather didn't seem quite so cloudy.  The time zipped by.  Before we knew it, we were at the church.

Because we had left home so early, we were some of the very first to greet Uncle Jesse's family.  We had two more hours to fill until the memorial service was scheduled to begin!

So we left the church and went out and shopped for food.  "I've got to get some whoopie pies and moon pies while we're here in Belleville," said The Yard Man.










And we shopped for drink.  "I want to stop at that winery!" I had said, as we drove past it on our way to the church.








By noon we were back at the church, in time to watch the story of Uncle Jesse's life in pictures (It might look like Santa, but it's Uncle Jesse!)

The memorial service featured some very fine music by a few of his grandchildren.

And the meal in the church basement, following the service, featured some very fine coffee!
(The scalloped potatoes were pretty yummy, too)

The final photo that I took,
as we drove out of the beautiful valley and headed home with our moon pies and our Alexander Red wine and our heightened memories of Uncle Jesse, features a yellow-topped Amish buggy.

  "Now if I were ever to be Amish," I told The Yard Man, "that would be the buggy for me!"

......
In an attempt to stay current, I suppose I must carry this tale to nightfall:
By the time we arrived back home, late this afternoon, that heavenly body that makes the earth glow had broken through the clouds. The Yard Man snatched up the last of the light to hitch up his loveliest horse--his best worker, the horse that readily obeys his every command*--and set about cleaning up fallen limbs from the long, hard winter.

**A person, with the very same name as the one that horse is called, set about posting a blog entry.
It features some very current news!
......
*Courtesy of the Post Master