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“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” – Psalm 27:1

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of sound mind.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

“Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” – John 14: 1, 2.

A perfectly beautiful summer day in June. You can’t even lie out in the grass and find shapes in the clouds. There aren’t any. And anyway, the grass is too dry and prickly. We did have a bit of rain, but not enough to make the grass look greener. I guess we’ll have to spray paint it so it looks better, you think?

I was going to till the garden yesterday afternoon. I did pull some weeds. It seems that does well. But I decided not to till. I’d just lose moisture and the garden doesn’t look too bad.

And anyway, a much larger factor in not tilling the garden was my hurting feet.

I thought last week my feet felt a lot better. But Sunday morning, when I went out in the shed to feed the horse, I had flip flops on instead of shoes. I should have known better. I stepped on a hard dirt clod. My foot slipped, I lost my flop, hopped around on one foot trying to regain my balance. And somehow in the process I hurt my foot pretty bad. I actually thought I broke a bone behind my one toe.

It is grossly discolored and swollen but I don’t think it’s broken after all. It just hurts really much. And my other foot hurts in sympathy. Isn’t it good I have only two feet?

Oh my! It’s happening! Three little boys are coming up the path. It just warms my heart to see that.

They brought a note for me and made a bee-line for the toys. How sweet!

But I had to break it up after awhile. It was time to go get Erwin. Of course, Jamin wanted to go along. He has before, but three boys? Am I up to that?

Well, Jamin’s mom came and convinced him that he could some other time. Not an easy task, but yes, she figured it wasn’t a good idea for me to take three little boys.

So anyway, I’m still not sure if I want to mow the yard. It really looks scraggly. Today would be a good day, well, if it would not be for my foot, I guess. It isn’t overly warm or windy.

But like sister Dorothy said, with the price of gas, do I really want to mow when parts of it you can barely tell if it’s been mowed or not? Good point. So yeah, I believe I’ll leave the mower parked for now.

I have plenty of things to work on in the house. The thing is, where to start?

Last week, one evening, I went to granddaughter Julia’s lemongrass party. I’ve never been to one. I knew it was about essential oils, etc. Also I knew they had a healing balm. That was mostly the draw. That and because it was Julia’s party.

I didn’t know what to expect. Well, huh, first off we all did a facial. Sorry girls, but I don’t think lemongrass or any other grass will help my face. But anyway, it was fun to pretend my wrinkles will go away. Anyway, I like to think of them as laugh lines and a sign of wisdom gained with age. As if.

But anyway, the younger ones liked it and it is helpful for skin disorders, such as the bane of teens, acne.

Anyway, I wanted the healing balm, thinking it might help hubby’s psoriasis. We have tried so many things, seems all it did was drain our pockets.

It is discouraging to say the least. Every morning it’s five, at least, band-aids on his fingers to protect the tips as he works.

I was impressed with their products in the fact that the scents aren’t so overpowering.

Lavender is supposed to be a soothing, calming thing, but so often it is so strong. I can’t abide it. Quote a few of their products have lavender, but it is very subtle.

So anyway, this is such a quiet afternoon. I’m actually glad I really don’t have to shatter the quiet with my noisy mower. Maybe I’ll just go put in some recliner time.

In closing: Sin takes you where you don’t want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you can pay.

How about this refreshing drink for a quiet, relaxing afternoon or after you are done with a hot, sweaty job.

1 cup evaporated cane sugar (more if using regular sugar)

1 1/2 cups fresh lemon juice (about 6 medium)

1 cup sliced strawberries for topping

Lemon slices for garnish, if desired

In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Place strawberries into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Pour pureed strawberries into sugar water. Add lemon juice, stir well.

Pour strawberry/lemon mixture and cold water into large pitcher; stir well and add ice.

Pour into glasses and top with chopped strawberries and lemon slices, if desired.

1965: The school is housed in the former Humble Oil Co. building on Route 45 on the south side of Mattoon. 

1950: Proof that flash photography has become a national hobby is the Mattoon plant of the General Electric Co. which manufactures flash bulbs almost exclusively. A few incandescent or regular light bulbs in larger wattages are made here also. 

1989: Pat and Rodney Williamson are ready to dine. Owner Leonard Losch looks on at Ellen Kay's. 

1992: A bicyclist pedals along East Rudy Street where a row of new duplexes were built, next to a subsidized housing project. 

1992: A group of children wait in line to challenge the winner to a game of tether ball at the E. Rudy Street housing project. 

1985: aerial view of downtown Mattoon. 

1977: Acquisition of the Douglas Nursing Center will complete another phase in Wesley Tower's total care package. 

1991: The CTA office is carpeted, air conditioned, well-lit and features work stations designed around employee needs. Telemarketers generated $435 billion in sales last year. For each customer who says yes, 99 say no. 

1959: The Eastern Division of the CIPS is completing a move into the new building in Mattoon. The structure has 36 offices and 23,000 square feet of office space. 

1988: Burtschi is the first store in Illinois south of Springfield to offer Hummel figurines. 

1963: A new line of paving equipment is exhibited by the Mattoon Blaw Knox plant at the Construction Equipment Exposition and Road Show, Chicago.

1959: In an effort to better serve the growing needs of the Midwest, Southwest and Far West market for flexible metal hose and tubing the American Brass Co. built its American Metal Hose Division plant in Mattoon.

Millie Otto of Arthur is a member of the Old Order Amish. Contact her by writing to 1584 CR 2000N, Arthur, IL 61911.

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See what's going on in Millie Otto's world in this week's My Amish Home column.

See what's going on in Millie Otto's world in this week's My Amish Home column.

See what's going on in Millie Otto's world in this week's My Amish Home column.

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