It’s not as chilly on the deck as it was Saturday morning and I am not joined by a dear friend who brought Bill’s Donuts for a working breakfast. It’s a beautiful morning with a brilliantly clear sky of blue, only faint wisps of clouds, and a bevy of birds bathing the world in their combined chorus.

I started on the deck at 7:00 AM with my coffee and bagel to Zoom with Joshua and David in London, and David’s Bostonian parents, Anne & Phil. It was our first Sunday Zoom group in several weeks and it was so nice to resume our weekly morning chat.

The Quartet alternates between lounging about the deck to dashing madly to the yard toward some offending creature that dares to enter our borders.

The wisteria has reached its peak and the blooms are beginning to scatter about the deck.

After 1:00 PM, I’ll join other guests at Carillon Park to resume the Dayton Heritage Day Festival, my favorite event of the entire year.

I am still elevated from last night’s Steve Martin & Martin Short show at Fraze Pavillion.

Today, many of my Hoosier family and friends will enjoy the racing in the oval brickyard for the Indy 500. I remember hurrying home after church to prepare the Sunday Memorial Day cookout at Grandpa and Grandma’s house near Lapel. I’d sit in the garage while Grandpa Leroy prepped the grill, the old black radio, paint-splattered and always seeming to be on its last leg, crackled as we heard the announcer keep us abreast of the details.

Of course, the ritual of Jim Nabors singing “Back Home, Again, In Indiana” is still a cherished moment for me. I always marveled at how well THE ANDY GRIFFITH’S SHOW Gomer Pyle could sing so beautifully.

And then, Tony Hall’s, “Gentlemen, start your engines…” In 1977, the sentence was altered as the first female Indy 500 driver, Janet Guthrie, joined the line-up.

Enjoy the long weekend, remember all the brave souls who gave their lives for our country’s cherished freedoms, and make it a great day!