Hunter Farm

Linda Salmon’s Ordinary Good Day, written Nov 3, 2008, age 72

Many things have changed since 1990 [when the first Ordinary Day book was compiled], especially 7 more grandchildren, since Torrey was born in 1989, but some things are much the same.

I still get up about 7:00 AM and have an English muffin and cottage cheese and orange juice for breakfast. Now a special treat is a TWO egg omelet, sometimes with a little cheddar cheese inside. I still read the Pocono Record while I eat breakfast, but I usually don’t have any coffee. But BEFORE I have breakfast I take a half hour walk back in the woods with our 5-year-old female German shepherd dog Princess. This is because I am supposed to wait an hour after taking levothyroxine for my thyroid before eating breakfast.

On most Mondays and Wednesdays I work 5 hours at the Pocono Mountain Public Library 9 miles away. I do new book processing and also withdrawals as we have run out of room on our main shelves and 7 small storage rooms for all our acquisitions. I also put out children’s books for special seasons on special cards, with Thanksgiving books about to go out now. I like this work, which keeps my library degree worthwhile. And I get to check out all sorts of new books.

On Tuesdays I go food shopping (to get the 5% discount for seniors) and often do a wash too, that day. I like hanging clothes on our “solar dryer” wash line, especially sheets, but I do use the regular dryer when winter sets in.

On Thursday afternoons, Tom’s youngest daughter Teri comes to our house from 4 PM to about 5:30 when Tracie picks her up. Teri is 5 now, but Tom and Tracie thought she was too young for the new all-day kindergarten so she is waiting a year. (She goes with him to Oxford School on Tuesdays when Tom teaches music there). Before Teri comes I usually take out 3 wooden puzzles from the library for her to do. She also like to play with design blocks, Dupox plastic blocks and the dollhouse. Sometimes she will created a pretend meal using the plastic kitchen set. She always wants Peter or me to read several books to her, and sometimes we look at a book of flip cards with objects to count and objects to match.

A really good day would be in the summer when I would go to the lake in the afternoon, or earlier this fall when my beloved vegetable garden is still producing tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash, and green beans. I love going out to pick veggies each morning, and earlier to tie the tomato vines to the large tomato cages Don and Jennifer gave me recently. But by mid October I am ready to put the garden to bed and to cover the garden dirt with leaves we have raked.

One some weekends we enjoy trips to the Northeast Philharmonic Orchestra concerts in Scranton. We treat ourselves to a dinner in a restaurant those nights, going with some friends who also attend these concerts. Other weekends we sometimes have a few friends over for dinner, or attend conce4rts or plays tat the grandchildren or Tom are in. We have attended the fall band competition Rachel is in as well, but I usually skip the football games.

On Sundays Peter and I sing in our 12-14 person choir at Trinity Episcopal Church, and practice afterwards too. We have a great group to sing with. I sing alto and Peter sings bass. Rachel and Tom sing alto too, but sometimes Tom sings bass when needed, or tenor, or even falsetto soprano. Tom now plays the organ once a month after taking lessons for several years. Peter, Tom and I are also lectors who read the Old Testament and non-Gospel New Testament lessons, about once every six weeks. Peter is now chairing the Search Committee for a new rector for Trinity which will take time this next year. We enjoy the friends we have made at church. I am also in charge of getting people from Trinity to serve at the food pantry the first Wednesday each month. Recently we have served 85 families on those days, luckily with the help of members from other churches.

We don’t watch much television, except for baseball and the World Series. I do watch NBC World News most evenings. I really miss the PBS News Hour which we no longer can receive since 9/11, as the signal is no longer strong enough to reach here. Then I read one of the many books I find while doing book processing at the library. We are both often in bed by 10 PM, reading a bit longer before we fall asleep.

So that would be a snapshot of our lives in 2008. In 2009 we anticipate a safari trip to Kenya, sponsored by the Philadelphia Zoo to celebrate being married 50 years. So life stays exciting, as we hope Obama & Biden win tomorrow in the Presidential election of 2008.