I’m sitting here waiting for it to warm up, so we can get some flowers planted. I haven’t felt like doing much lately because of a root canal that has been acting up. I had a specialist do it because our local dentist knew it was going to cause some trouble and it has. It is now getting better with antibiotics, but it has made me feel pretty lousy. However, when we were in Cedar Falls at the doctor I did get Virgil to stop to pick up a couple of lilies and a butterfly bush that he was glad to replace. It was because of the snow-scoop, that it was pulled out. Some of our outside jobs will wait because Craig, our oldest son, is coming today to do some fix-up things, like the screens upstairs and staining the deck. So now I’m hoping for some good weather and also a good weekend. Then he will go back to KC to collect his family and back again.

Our family will be meeting in Des Moines to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary. Also very special is that it also is the 25th anniversary of Kevin and Michelle’s wedding. They were married on our 35th wedding anniversary, which for all of us makes it all special. I know it will be a memorable time. No big celebration, but a love of family, no amount of money can buy. My husband doesn’t like a lot of fuss about birthdays or anniversaries, but he seems to be enjoying this for Kevin and Michelle. Also just having the grandchildren around is something we can’t get enough of.

This excerpt was in an anniversary card we received.

WHAT IS

MARRIAGE?

Marriage is the union of two people in love.

And love is sheer magic for it’s woven of Gossamer dreams, enchantingly real.

That people in love are privileged to feel……..

But the “exquisite ecstasy” that captures the heart

Of two people in love is just a small part

Of the beauty and wonder and miracle of

The growth and fulfillment and evolvement of love…..

For only long years of living together

And sharing and caring in all kinds of weather

Both pleasure and pain, the glad and the sad.

Teardrops and laughter, the good and the bad,

Can add new dimensions and lift love above the rapturous ecstasies of “falling in love”…..

For ecstasy passes but it is replaced

By something much greater than cannot be defaced

For what was “in part” has now “become whole”…..

For on the “wings of flesh,” love entered the soul.

-Helen Steiner Rice

With kids and grandkids around I’m going to bake these bars I’ve made for years.

MELT-IN-THE-MOUTH SQUARES

(Makes 30 2-inch

squares)

1/2 cup butter or

margarine, melted

1 cup graham cracker

crumbs

1 cup shredded coconut

1 package (6 oz.)

chocolate chips

1 package (6 oz.)

butterscotch chips

1 can (13 oz.) sweetened

condensed milk

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9X13-inch pan. Make layers using the seven ingredients above in the order given. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool and cut into bars.

“Love is a priceless gift.”