Dear Reader:

Yesterday I was surfing the net looking at Autumn pictures when I came across this photograph and felt hauntingly homesick…for childhood again. How many of you remember singing “Down by the Old Mill Stream” when you were young? It was a camp favorite to sing around campfires and social gatherings.

As soon as I saw this photo I started humming it, trying to remember the lyrics, and the fun responses to each lyrical line.

“Down by the old ” (not the new but the old)

Mill Stream (not the river but the stream)

Where I first (not the second but the first)

Met you (not me but you)

You were sixteen (not seventeen but sixteen)

My village queen (not the king but the queen)

Down by the old (not the new but the old)

Mill Stream (not the river but the stream)

…………………………

It appears looking through several renditions of the folk song…that lyrical changes and added stanzas can be found throughout the history of the song (written in 1908.) It became the most popular song sung by Barbershop Quartets harmonizing the refrains.

Isn’t it funny how one image or a stanza of music can whisk you through time to a particular moment? I believe that these are the moments that helped define and guide our lives…the best of life.

This is a fun social version of this song….with lots of personality!

Down by the Old Mill Stream – YouTube

It slowly dawned on me yesterday that tomorrow will be the official middle of September! What happened? It can’t be! All these unexpected medical detours have sent me scurrying around and I have basically missed half my favorite month. This has got to stop…and I am the only one who can stop it. It is time to return to the path of September with all its beauty and promise of fall.

So eye surgery or not (tomorrow)….I plan to make the most of this day and every day left in the month before my next favorite month arrives. I might be a little late….but “Hello September”…I have missed you!

(Officially) Fall arrives just before my birthday. I always looked on it as my favorite birthday present. The arrival of Autumn with all its senses of smell, sights, sounds, touch, and taste at the forefront of life! Bring it on!

Since Brooke will be occupied recouping from her first eye (cataract/lens) surgery today and follow-up visit tomorrow…Anne (who just flew in from Maine Tuesday) is planning on spending the night on the B&B side and taking me for, hopefully, the last medical procedure for awhile. Thank you God for giving friends!

So until tomorrow….( Still no news but I am busy baking cookies for our return this afternoon to DSS….it will lift my spirits higher than the eagles….never fails not to)

Walsh sent me the “Dingle Bro’s” motivational thoughts on life and courage. I will smile all the way through this last eye procedure.

Rutledge:

“BE BRAVE BOO

BOO…LIKE CAPTAIN

AMERICA”!

Lachlan: (1) “When it comes to this whole life, grip it and rip it.”

Lachlan: (2) “Life is like a cup of pudding; It’s messy, but worth it.”