July 2026

 Dear Family and Friends                                     July 30,2026

Golly, it seems like a very short summer for our household.  Dan and Cathy are preparing to leave for Utah the first of August to return her four little grandchildren that they had brought to spend the summer here.  It seems that their school begins in the middle of August.  What ever happened to the ‘day after Labor Day’ start up?  Oh well, so be it.  Although I didn’t have much actual time with them, it was good having them around, especially the little 3 year old.  She was left with Grandpa Dan when the older ones were taken to the local YMCA to enjoy its summer program.  She followed him everywhere and was his little helper.  He seemed to enjoy her.  I did too.

Cathy is remarkable!  She seems to have super-human energy that she gets from somewhere that keeps her going with all of her responsibilities.  Her grandkids were rambunctious but she managed them well and even tutored them. She enjoyed feeding the missionaries and others weekly.  She was glad to pick up children and others for church and activities, while expending much time and energy in fulfilling her church calling as leader, teacher and adviser of the young women of the ward.  It’s a position she excels at and handles extremely well.

When one of her newly baptized young women had trouble at home, she left.  Without a place to stay, she came to Cathy for help.  Cathy asked me if I would mind letting the girl stay in my extra bedroom for a few days, until they could get things worked out.  I was happy to be able to help.  So I had a ‘houseguest’ for a while, but she was no problem at all since she ate and spent her time with Cathy.  As owner of this house, Cathy could have just told me someone would come, but she asked for my permission.  Such a sweet thing for her to do!  I am becoming more and more impressed with my daughter-in-law’s capabilities and think Dan made a good choice, even though their personalities are completely different.

Dan is also remarkable in his own way and gets his energy from different sources.  He rises early every morning and walks by himself for at leas 4 miles every day.  He plays golf with friends once a week.  Even made ‘par’ in half of the 18 holes one day.  Conveniently, we live in a golf community, so the course is practically in his own front yard.  He uses this energy to help him stay in shape.  Like Cathy, Dan also has a church calling which he manages extremely well, too.  Being a stake high councilor requires energy of a different type in order to fulfill his duty of traveling to and speaking at the various, distant outlying wards of the stake.  It is called “mental energy.”  He derives this energy from his studious study of the scriptures plus other bits of information gained from various other sources.  Dan is a ‘trivia-retainer’ person who would do well on “Jeopardy” but he uses this stored-up knowledge to embellish his talks.  Just because he is ‘brainy’ he is neither a nerd nor a hot-shot know-it-all.  He is a sweet, humble servant of God who uses his mental energy to better perform in his portion of the Lord’s vineyard and wherever else he may be needed.  

Dan likes to do tough crossword puzzles but not my word-search ones.  He says they are not challenging and provide no learning.  That’s fine for him, but I like my word-search puzzles and so do others, so that’s all I care about.  In fact, I think it’s ‘challenging’ to create new ones now and then.  I also try other styles, but can’t figure out how to make a crossword.  For the 24th of July I made a simple match-up type using words connected with the early history of the church.  I was glad the bishop let me insert a copy into each Sunday bulletin and I will include one for you with this letter.  I realize that it will be meaningless to non-members, unless they might see and match ‘covered to wagons’ or ‘sun to bonnets.”  I also add to my store of homemade puzzles ones I obtained from other sources.  They are especially good for those months without a holiday.  I see on the calendar that August has nothing and that Labor Day in early Sept. is the only one until Halloween at the end of October.  So I will fill in by using some picture puzzles of my own creation plus those of others, which I think you will find to be quite entertaining.

You know, I continue to marvel at the weather here in Florida.  Things that I think are unusual, Dan our retired weatherman, says are quite common in Sebring.  Things such as thunder without rain and downpours that happen suddenly and then are gone 5 minutes later.  We had one like that occur while Dan and I were downtown one day last week.  We had gone to the DMV to see about getting another handicap placard for the car.  We have been temporarily using the one from Oregon and switching it back and forth between cars, so figured it was time to get another from Florida.  After waiting, we were told to come back with a birth certificate and proof of residency by an electric or water bill showing my current address. Wow!  So, we left. The weather that day was a bright and sunny, windows down, 92 degrees. But just as we stepped outside I felt a couple of drops and before we could get to the nearby car, the rain was coming down full force.  I got awfully wet, the windows were open so things inside got terribly wet too, but poor Dan got absolutely soaked before he could get the wheelchair into the trunk and was able to get into the car and close the windows.  What an experience!  But true to form, even before we were on the road for the full 5 minutes, the rain had stopped.  And that’s common?  Incredible!  

Well, I think I had better end this letter now, so I can get it to Dan for his editing and preparation for Email, before the first of August when they leave for two weeks in order to take the grandchildren back to their home in Utah.  My, it will be quiet here after the kiddos are gone, but I’m sure they had a good time here, even though it was a short summer.  So I will bid you a fond farewell from a heart that’s full of love for you and ask that our Heavenly Father bless you with His love, that you may be kept healthy and happy and able to enjoy the wonderful life the Lord has given you.   Until we meet again next month.     Love,  Marie