It is the first day of September. In twenty-four days, I enter my sixtieth year as I turn fifty-nine. It’s odd to think that the 50s are almost a thing of my past.

After several cooler days, we are actually expected to hit a high of 83 degrees today. Sunday, the 90s return and remain with us through Thursday when they drop to the mid-80s. I prefer the warmer weather over the kind that requires sweaters, jackets, and pumpkin spice drinks.

I have no specific plans for the Labor Day weekend as the community of Kettering prepares for its annual Holiday at Home celebration. I do love the energy that surrounds the neighborhood with the preparations and then, the event itself. I try to get over to the festival in Lincoln Park, one block away from The Haasienda, to grab a few goodies I enjoy.

Today, my maternal great-grandfather, Virgil Brewer Barmes, who was born June 15, 1902, to Jesse Delmar Barmes and Emily Laura Brewer Barmes, died on September 1, 1971. It’s hard to believe he has been gone fifty-two years. By the time I was born in 1964, he was living at Dewart Lake in Indiana’s Kosciusko County near North Webster and other lake towns. A few years before his passing, he built a house north of Lapel, Indiana in southern Madison County and I got to spend more time with him. Grandpa Virgil was, like my other maternal Clary and Jones lines, filled with laughter and the love of practical jokes.

On with my day.

Make it a great day!