Hallelujah!

Well. I am busy losing things. yesterday I lost my favorite turquoise ring. I carefully surveyed the entire main floor of the house. No ring. I then went to the gym and complained loud and long about it. I got home and tried my best to remember if I could possibly have lost it in the car or in Alexandria. It was a bit loose on my finger so it might have dropped off. I decided to look around the house once again... and, there it was, innocent as a new-born babe next to the stove. I must have taken it off while cooking for fear it might slip into the komla.

I decided I better call Karen w and let her know as I had complained loud and long to her. I called and she said, "Oh, I'm so glad. I prayed that the Holy Spirit would show you where to look.. both for the ring and for your swiss army knife." Wow. I had been praying for the same thing, so I was encouraged.

That made me decide to look for the knife again. I had given up on that, as I had convinced myself that the suitcase was clean as a whistle and knife-less. I had had a niggling sensation the last couple of days that I should look in the shoes that I had had in my stuff. I show you above a picture of my Birkenstock with my swimming shoe stuffed inside. i took them apart and looked in them thoroughly... and THERE WAS THE KNIFE. Hallelujah.

Wow. It's hard to express the joy that I have. I can now snip threads, file fingernails, unscrew screws, cut open packages, etc., etc. without having to look for tools. I am a happy camper.

Take care and give glory to God for his attention to the little stuff. Hallelujah fer sure.

Book Club Books

As my loyal readers know, I belong to a book club. The last two books we have read were extremely fun for me. Fun isn't just the right word... rewarding might be better. The first was "Broken for You" by Stephanie Kallos. This was a first novel for the author... but she certainly hit the jackpot as far as I was concerned. One of the things brought out was the care with which the Nazis in WWII kept records of the confiscated possessions of the conscripted Jews... and the raw destruction of the Jews themselves. The novel is a tour de force.

The second was "Astrid & Veronika" by Linda Olsson, also a first novel. A very interesting read, but not quite the tour de force of the other. It gave us lots to talk about, though.

We are now reading "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood, the Canadian author. This is a novel that I like, although some of the others by this author are not favorites. The conversations we have around it should be a blast.

Take care.

Hollow Head

Well, the magic of four is pushing me to blog even though my head feels hollow. So I will tie up a few loose ends. I think Karen l thinks Karen w gives me a hard time because it seems worse in print than it is in person. We tease each other loud and long at the gym and I love it. The exercise I get at the gym is sometimes (!) minimal, but the belly-laughs are great.
I was all dressed and ready to go to the gym this morning when I realized I didn't have a car at hand and it had gotten late. George had an early dentist's appointment. I would ordinarily have called Karen w but the time had gotten away from me. (All this fuss when the gym is only four blocks from my house. For pity sake,,,, why don't I walk?)
I am trying to get used to Naomi living on the West coast again. She has some entries on her blog, so check it out.
The hollow sound from my head is drowning out all thought, so sayonara. Take care.

lanyard

I'm not even sure that is what this affair I wear around my neck is called. I remember making a deal like it from plastic strips at girl scout camp when I was young. You could put a whistle on it for use in games... or whatever you wanted. Now they are offering them as mementos of places. I had one I liked with two pens on it that I lost in the airport shuffle of taking off my shoes, jackets, purse, etc., etc... and finally the lanyard. I didn't put the lanyard back on for some reason and it was lost.

At book club I was roundly roasted for wearing my Yorktown lanyard. I had never really thought of what it looked like, I only thought of its utility. I have now made one from black grosgrain ribbon. Black should be chic, right? Can all those Parisians be wrong?

I find that it is a great thing to have a pen at hand during the day. I suppose I have at least 200 pens collected around the house, but when there comes a sudden idea or the thought of something I need at the store, having a pen around my neck is a great stress reliever. I don't have to start the hunt for a pen or pencil... it's right there, around my neck.

I have also discovered that I don't think much about how things look as long as they are utilitarian. I'm sure that is a character flaw, but at 77 I am not going to worry about that particular flaw. There are many others that take precedence. Not being able to hula loop is surely more serious. Or my aversion to dusting. Or.........

Another thing that I had on my old lanyard was the adorable small Swiss army knife that George gave me last Christmas. I knew I couldn't go through the airport with a knife so I tossed it in my suitcase... the one that was to be sent. No can findee. I am desolate as I loved it. It had a tiny scissors that I used constantly, and a small screwdriver. I will have to find another one.

Enough, already. Take care.

The magic of four

It was that fourth pathetic comment from the last blog that got me off the dime! The picture is a showing of the only artwork that got accomplished on the trip to Virginia. I was addressing the envelope of the card for Matthew's birthday - with the ubiquitous marking pen I wear on the lanyard around my neck - when I realized I had printed "John" instead of "Matthew." Hmmmm. So I constructed this concoction to mask my mistake.

I think back to the times when my mother would call me Anna first. (Anna was her little sister.) Then Fran. (Fran was her older daughter, my sister.) Then, finally, Loretta.. my actual name... which everyone used to designate me even though it was really my middle name. I have a long and checkered tale about my name which I won't bore you with here. (Do I hear sighs of relief?) I advise you all to get a name and then stick to it.

I managed to complete the talk on Chicano/a art (sometimes it's called Chicana/o art... you can chose which you like the best.) at the Art of the Lakes meeting. (In Spanish a woman would be Chicana and a man, Chicano.) It is such a large and varied subject that I just managed to touch on a bit of it. But I did it. That's the important thing. People were complimentary.

I get tired quicker after my health adventures of the summer, but I seem to be able to do very well in a slower and more measured way. Well, remember the magic of four! Take care

Well, my body's back....

No. That's not me behind the boat, but dear Matthew a few days before his 6th birthday. We spent a a few days at beautiful Lake Anna in Virginia. Quite a different experience from camping out in Northern Minnesota. The "kids" rented a house with three full baths... just to give you an indication of the size of the place. The culture shock was great! A horde of young kids (Under 13) and old kids (Under 45) and young old kids (Under 85) had a ball together. Lots of water skiing, tubing, just riding along to shout encouragement... and then our marathon watching of "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. All in all a wonderful few days of fun in the sun.

We got back to Yorktown on Sunday, the day before Labor Day, so we had time to do laundry and rest up after our vacation.

Now that I have pictures available for posting, I feel so much more like chatting. As we always say - nice to go, but great to get back home, too. I'll share more pix as time progresses and the grey cells in my brain allow! Take care.

Last Gasp from the East

I am all packed and ready to go. As usual, I get all ready and then come down and sleep in the recliner, just like I do at home. We are starting to the airport at 3:45 am. sigh. We should get home in the mid afternoon tomorrow if all our flight connections go well.

Matthew has been celebrating his birthday for several days now with all kinds of meals out and parties. The big party is tomorrow, but we will have to miss it as we will be winging our way home. All is going well with him and we have had lots of fun with his gifts. We gave him a microscope and an owl and several other small gifts one of which was the movie "Charlotte's Web" which we watched tonight. Friday night is pizza and movie night. Fun. The star gift so far, I think, is probably a pair of remote controlled helicopters which he is having a ball flying. He has gotten the gist of it already and they go zooming around the 20 foot high living room like real zoomers. Fun.

Thanks for your comments. I will be back at a more reasonable rate after I get home. Take care you darling people you.

Tuesday

I have nothing much to say, but I will try to say it in an amusing fashion.

My cell phone works in a highly suspect fashion on the east coast. What I do hear is interrupted by static and spaces, and the calls automatically quit after just a bit. I heard (in this bizarre fashion) from Karen W. She says the trip to Mpls was awesome fun. Not only hearing and seeing Joyce Meyers, but going shopping and having slumber party time with the girls. Such fun. Joyce Meyers is a woman who speaks on TV and has her own conferences and broadcasts each day. She's great. I tuned in to hear her this morning and got a good word.

I also heard from Naomi. She heard from John, and they were surprized to realize that they were both in Mpls. That is the joy of the cell phone. It is always the same phone number no matter where you are. They didn't have time to get together, but at least they breathed the same air. John is gone for the week to North Dakota and Naomi just finished attending the wedding of a friend. She will soon be back in Portland.

All those of you out there whom I love... take care!

Thursday

I haven't figured out how to do pictures on this computer, so you will have to wait for those until I get back to my own stuff.

I forgot to mention that I sat through a Lord of the Rings Trilogy showing at the lake. Wow. Five of us sat glued to the set for the whole thing. Such fun.. and then I had the additonal plus of watching tennis when I got here. I tell you, I am a world class couch potato. I will REALLY need the gym when I get back. I was going to say that I was BECOMING a world class couch potato, but I think I have arrived.

Took Matthew to the bus this morning. I am to put stew in the crock pot this afternoon. You understand, it is all ready to go.. all I have to do is turn it on. I have a rough life.

I am envious of those of you who are heading to the cities for Joyce Meyers. Have a blast. I can watch her here each morning... so I see the announcement of the get together in St. Paul. You lucky ducks, you. I will expect a detailed account when I get back.

Take care.

State of Virginia

We are happily ensconsed in the great family home of our son and family. We had fun at Lake Anna, two plus hours away, for a few days with lots of waterskiing and boating of every kind. i don't suppose I have to mention that I didn't waterski, but to relieve some of your worrisome minds... I DID NOT WATERSKI. It was tempting, though. Everyone was either trying or succeeding or using a tube.. but us old folks, we kept our heads, and stayed in the watching category.

Beautiful territory. Brought back memories of the first time I waterskiied as a teen-ager. It took me two days to succeed, but I kept at it until I got up. I am amazed at the patience of my cousin who also kept at it until I did succeed. Thanks again.

Naomi et. al. have successfully completed their trek to Oregon. Happy that they had a safe trip. Now it is to get busy and find a job! Ah, the energy of the young.

Youse guys need to comment, now, so I have encouragement to keep posting! take care.