There was so much wedding excitement in Mendota last week that we thought and talked of nothing else.   (Well, I did go on a bit about Japanese Beetles in this post.)

Something really nice happened to me during the days surrounding the wedding.   My forever friends, Katie and Lisa, pulled up in the driveway riding in a car I did not recognize.   When they got closer, I saw that it was their Aunt Dottie.  She got out of the car and held this out…

For no reason, other than she said “I just wanted to…” she made me this basket. Whew! Dottie is really Dorothy….she is a “Millard”…Dorothy Millard Dye. My father said “those Millards can do just about anything with their hands.” It is true.

I love my basket!! I will treasure it. She put energy, heart and I would imagine prayers as she wove this basket. Her hands…her thoughts. She knew she was giving me something special, and that is how I’ll treat it. Oh…it will be a useful basket. It won’t be put away where I can’t see it. It’s pretty and I’ll place towels in it, and each time I look at it, which will be often, I’ll think of Dottie’s kindness. I had been looking for something like this, so it’s perfect. (I’ll show you that tomorrow…or the next day….whenever I get the bathroom clean!).

My cup runneth over. My basket runneth over. Thank you Dottie. You are a treasure, too.

And as we go back to normal in Mendota…here’s my Mountaineer Half Runners. Still organic…which means I’m still picking bugs off.

By the calendar, I should have green beans on July 6. Thus far, I’m growing lovely vines! Vines and bugs. Got ten Japanese Beetles off already this morning. I’ll be out there at noon again interrupting their honeymoon. I can imagine…a female beetle sets up on a leaf…sort of like a pretty girl laying her towel out on the beach…and then the guys start to show up. Unfortunately, this scene is interrupted by me! Gloved hand, soapy water…romance is destroyed! Don’t mess with a Southern woman and her green beans.

Thank you for reading Rivercliff Cottage, and thank you, Father, for people like Dottie.