hippity-hop

Home again!

This is one of the awesome pics from the aquarium. When I got home and heard that our It Figures gym is in dire danger of disolution, I felt as though I was being threatened by a similar fate as was this young fella.

What would we do without all the laughs? To say nothing about the exercise? We have to rally around and figure out what to do to save our wonderful meeting place.

I was very tired after our trip home. I sank into my great recliner for an extended snooze. When I got up, I was not able to do much of anything except return to the comfy spot. Finally I went to the gym this morning but promptly went back to the chair after I returned. We are planning a trip to Mpls. tomorrow, so I better perk up!

Great to be home! Take care.

hi ho

Well. I hate it that I can't have a picture for you. I'll be home next week so I will put something great in then! Right.

I had a down day yesterday, but today I am feeling well. I made a batch of negrinhos, Naomi, and it didn't turn out very good. lumpy. Hopefully it will taste good. This stove is so mysterious and I had it on too hot, I think. Oh, well.

We are going to go to Ben Franklin to try to find styrofoam balls for a planet poster for grandson. Then we may go to a driving range so George can try out some of his clubs. It has been so cold here, or rainy, that the golfing has been hard to come by.

We also have to meet grandson's bus at 3:30. Life is great! Looking forward to seeing you soon.
Take care.

Nauticus visit

Yesterday the five of us visited the USS Wisconsin and the Nauticus museum. If you are reading this blog, Dana and Naomi, I saw some Koi fish swimming and identified by name in the fish tanks. Brought back a nostalgic Scrabble twinge!

The Nauticus is a museum of the history of the navy. It was extremely interesting and designed to be hands on for children (and adults!) One of the most fun things was to use one of the undersea deals they use for exploring shipwrecks. They had prongs to reach out and pick up stuff much like the deals at the supermarket to pick up stuffed animals.

It's hard for me to remember I am in Virginia where so much of early American history took place. All of a sudden I will be struck by a name and realize THIS IS THE PLACE THAT HAPPENED. Quite a thrill.

I am really missing Naomi today. It was great for all of us to be together at once. Take care.

Safe and Sound?

Well, safe. How sound will have to be for others to say. Our trip went without a hitch, but after getting up at 4 Fargo time we were already tired by the time we arrived in Norfolk at 12:05 Norfolk time. Our flight had made such good time that we arrived before the ground crew was ready for us. Then the motor in the mobile stairs didn't work and they had to borrow one from another airline to get us off the plane! Worked just fine, but took about 25 extra minutes!

Matthew is off to bed now and the rest of the crew is watching TV. I have already seen the movie so I thought I would blog a bit.

George and I are still just resting up. Beth and John made a scrumptious Thai dinner for Nay's birthday. Beth baked an angel food cake which we had with strawberries and whipped cream. Let me tell you about it when I see you, KB. We had a great time and it was fun for all of us to be together. I have already seen Stuart Little 2 twice with Matthew. Fun.

Take care.

On our way!

We're on our way once again attempting to make it to Virginia. As you might remember on the last trip we thought we were going to Virginia and wound up in the hospital in Fargo with George having a gall bladder-ectomy... or whatever. So now we are trying again!

This is my painting in progress. I am having fun once again. I painted this on a canvas panel that once held a portrait. I gessoed it and started over! Voila. It's never over until it's over.

Fran is back. She sounds as though she had a great time! Now she is trying to get herself organized enough so that she can start the art thing with a new rug and some other projects. We are definitely into art, as Fran's two daughters and my daughter are also artists! We're a frisky bunch. Naomi plans to be out in Virginia, too, so we can celebrate her birthday together.

If we can weather the extreme cold and make it to Fargo, it should be fine. I'll try to blog while I am in Virginia. Take care!

With a smile, Fran!

Hopefully I have satisfied my sister. I hadn't realized that I wasn't smiling as I was most interested in managing a picture of my nose. Sorry.

She has had quite a trip and promises to tell us all about it. I am planning to go to Virginia to see the family, so I will also have a trip to tell about. You should all be on the edge of your chairs.

Take care.

A Stitch in Time

Saves Nose! I will have these stitches removed this afternoon, and soon the whole episode will be over. It will be interesting to see how much of a scar remains.

The Great Super Tuesday is behind us. This is definitely the most energized the populace has been in a long time. Democracy is on the rise! Wahoo. It is extremely interesting to watch the electorate rise up and vote. I watch with interest as each state does its thing. And the people running keep on giving their pitches to all of us. Whom I will finally wind up voting for in the general election depends on who is running in the parties. I am an Independent, so they better woo me. Right.

See ya at the gym. Take care!

By a Nose

It's interesting to have the parts of your face spiffied up occasionally. I'm like the movie stars. I have had my eye lids done and now I've had a nose job! I had a squamous cell carcinoma removed from my nose and I should have thought ahead and got hold of one of those Groucho Marx noses to wear. Too bad.

This is a very temporary condition. I am to wear this bandage for two days and then wear a bandaid. Eventually the doctor said there won't be any sign of this major surgery. Right. We'll see.

My next adventure into facial surgery will be to have cataract surgery the end of March. Such fun when you get old. Wahoo. I will not only be able to open my eyelids, but see through the eyes. That is a definite plus, you must agree.

Take care and stay warm!

whew

If these apparitions don't scare you, nothing will! My daughter and her dog went out for a session of cross country skiing during that REALLY COLD session we had last week. Please notice the paw protectors on el doggo... and the glowing eyes. wow. the skier's eyes were surrounded by ice on her eyelashes, but that does not show up on the picture. Hardy Minnesotans! wow.

She has started a new blog with several of her friends, and if you go to the Naomi link on my blog, there is a link to the new blog there, I believe. She and her doggo are now in Minneapolis.

George is still coughing, but we hope his bronchitis will soon be better. I am fine except for a sprained middle finger on my left hand. It is amazing how much work that finger does. Until a finger or toe is sore you have no idea. It is even noticeable in the typing of this blog. ... and opening the car door or picking up stuff. It is used a lot. I fell in the fluffy snow and had trouble getting up. I had to get at just the right angle to get enough leverage to hoist my aging body back to my feet. Oofta. Luckily I had my cell phone with me if I couldn't have gotten up I could have called for help.

Oh, yeah, and the other night we had a carbon monoxide scare. Our detectors went off at about 2:30 a.m., so we went outside and called 911. The lights were sort of dim and I guess the electricity was just faint enough it caused the detectors to sound off. We had the sheriff, the first responders and other folks in attendance, but it was caused by the blowout of a circuit breaker somewhere. After everyone was pretty sure it was the faint electricity which caused the problem we went back to bed about 4 a.m. Luckily there was no harm to my computer, but I had a terrible time reprogramming my TV and my VCR/DVD. sigh. These new addictions to technology take some attention.

We are going to have warmer weather this weekend. Hopefully not so warm that we will have melting problems. ... Then back into the deep freeze. Wahoo. Take care.

Rats

I just

finished writing a long blog entry and then it disappeared into that oddity called cyberspace. Bummer.

I was remarking about the beautiful cold sunny day. No wind, but about zero degrees. And the fact that Fran used good sense to change her plans again. It is, afterall, a woman's prerogative!

We read the book "love walked in" by Marisa de los Santos for book club. Donna liked it and Carol and I thought some of the writing was good, but we thought the plot was contrived and way too predictable. The fact that so many of the characters were stunningly beautiful also was a bit off-putting. That combined with the over use of movie references overcame the positive parts of the book for us.

We are going to be reading "Water for Elephants" for our next book. I have read it and have a copy of the book which I cannot find. Bummer.

Then we are starting a marathon read of "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. It is Oprah's pict and is a tome. One needs to go to the gym to establish good arm muscles just to hold the book. It has good reviews, so we will see.

Have a good cold day! Take care.

Book Club

We have book club today. I don't know just what to think of the book we are reading. It has a few strengths and many weaknesses in my opinion. I will be eager to hear what the other readers think of it. I will let you know later.

And then it is to pick another book. That is always a challenge. Any suggestions?

We have doctor's appointments this morning, so up and on my way. Take care.

Hi Ho

Just a quick note to let you know we're still alive and kickin'. We have been embroiled in health issues and many doctor's appointments, etc. As Naomi says, we need a social secretary to keep track of it all.

I last told you I was going to the eye doctor. Discovered I need cataract surgery, so we have been busy getting that started. The target date is March. George is busy with a herniated disc and the pain all down his right leg, and all the attendant work to decide what to do about that. And so on and so forth. Naomi has been here to help us with some of this, and we are doing well. It's just that I haven't had the moxy to chatter on about it. I will soon be back to my normal (!) self. Is that good or bad? We'll say good.

More later as George has a myelogram today and I am the appointed chauffeur. Take care.

wow - Memories 11

You have stirred up the pot stirrer! Hmmmm. What should I blog about today as I now have 8 comments on the last blog? Eight. Good heavens.

I think I will write about something from my youth. I was a child with bad tonsils. As they had the theory then that they shouldn't remove tonsils until your tonsils were not infected I had a big problem. I usually missed one day a week of school sick at home with a pesky sore throat. Finally, the summer I was 15 my tonsils were good enough that they removed them at the hospital. I immediately drank tons of ice cold water, and then my throat would not accept anything else for a long time. I have the idea of two weeks, but that doesn't seem feasible.

When I finally recovered enough to have malts and shakes, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. That must be one of the reasons people love to have their tonsils out! Another perk of being "weller" was that I finally got to go a summer camp.

The folks let me go to Girl Scout Camp. My first summer camp adventure. Six of us slept on canvas cots on board floors under a canvas tent. There were many such tents as this was a large camp.

I was a stranger to all of the other Girl Scouts there, so when I met a girl from another town I was nice to her (of course) and she promptly became my shadow. I was raised to be nice to people. She latched on to me as she didn't know anyone else, and the other girls were not very nice to her as she was a scholarship student from their town. One day we split up as I was taking lanyard making and she was in a pottery-making group.

All of a sudden the air was rent with terrific screams. They seemed to go on forever. We found out later that the girl whom I had befriended had bit another camper 18 times because the girl had said something disrespectful to her. 18. As a human bite is one of the worst bites for infections, I was certainly glad that I had been nice to her.

The moral of this story is be sure to be kind to those you meet because it is hard to know what the consequences of nastiness are. Besides... we should be nice. It's so much more fun than nasty. Take care.

New Year!

This green should wake you up! Green is the color of new growth, and that is my prayer for all of us this year. I hope that we will allow new ideas and actions to flower into beautiful new inspirations.

My brain has been on vacation as I have been reading too much. My new chair is so comfortable that I have taken a quiet vacation sitting and reading. You know how a dog looks when he comes out of the lake and shakes the water off his coat? That is how I feel today. I am shaking myself and getting back in the game. I will have to limit the HOURS spent in the comfy new chair! I have an appointment with the eye doctor today. Perhaps new glasses will also help.

Take care. And may all your resolutions be good ones and be carried out! Aye, there's the rub. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Ah, the misery of mis....

To all of you who know Freddy, this is for him. He eschews the use of computers, so he will not read this himself, but those of you who have heard our contentious conversations (!) will be able to relay the information to him. Perhaps I will print it off so he can read it.

Our latest excursion into the world of "mis" was talking about mischief. It turns out that mischief is a word in its own right which is harm or trouble, especially as the result of an agent or cause.

We got into this whole discussion because I once said something about Fred's contentious demeanor. In other words, his argumentative behavior at the gym. Then I got to thinking about misdemeanor. Misdemeanor is somewhat the same as misbehavior. So demeanor could just mean behavior. Misdemeanor has come to mean something specific in law enforcement. As does gross misdemeanor.

I looked in the dictionary and there is a list of over 200 "mis" words at the bottom of the pages. "mis" is a prefix when applied to various parts of speech, meaning "ill,"mistaken," "wrong," or simply negating: mistrial, misprint, mistrust.

However, there are some words which simply begin with mis like mischief or miserable.

As you can see, I am hard up for a subject right now. The "chif" will say good night before she becomes miserably mischievous. Take care.

The Pressure, the Pressure!!!!!!!

The truth of the matter is that I sometimes have nothing to say. I know that to some of you that seems almost impossible, but there you are.

I suppose I could always take refuge in a memory post. I have lots of that written up which I have not yet shared.

Or, I could just talk a lot of blarney as I usually do. Then you could comment on the mindless quality of what I said, and we would all be happy.

Actually, having the new chair has given me such a comfy place to read, that I have been immersed in stories. I am rereading a series of mysteries by Nevada Barr in which the heroine, Anna Pigeon, is a park ranger. Each volume tells of her adventures in one of the National Parks. I am presently reading about Carlsbad Cavern and its environs. Fascinating. This is the sixth book in the series, so you can see I have been reading feverishly. The first five dealt with the West Texas back country, Lake Superior, the Anasazi, A wild-fire in a California setting, and an island off the coast of Georgia. She is a woman who has dealt with widowhood by escaping into the wild.

One of the fun sidelights of growing old and losing some of the memory synapses in your brain is that you can re-read favorite books without remembering the details. And so I am saving all my favorite series for later perusal. This series caught my eye about at Christmas time and I am gobbling up the adventures.

I suppose I have ten or more such series of books. I am well supplied into the future. New chair, lots of books, trips to the gym, friends that get on my case when I don't write my blog. What more could a woman want? HMMMMMMMMM? Take care.

What's in a chair? ME.

All Naomi had to do was sit in my chair and she promptly herded me to the furniture store so George and I could get new chairs. My chair looked ok but was broken. I had sort of brain-washed myself into putting up with it, but Naomi was absolutely appalled. George's chair wasn't bad but the fabric was wearing out, so we decided we could just as well buy two new chairs and be done with it. They are of the softest leather and JUST GREAT.

We consider it a Christmas present to each other. Lazyboys rule!

We're supposedly going to have some snow this weekend, so we will sit in our cozy chairs, eat pop corn and watch movies. Life is good. Take care.

Christmas memories... 10

I wish I were having a memory this year with this fellow. When we were with him last we gave him this owl - to bring the mail, a la Harry Potter. Sadly we have had to send his Christmas presents via regular mail ... but we hope to see him soon in the new year.

When I was a child, Christmas was a big deal. Before we could open our presents on Christmas eve, we had supper, the women would wash the dishes, I would lie on the couch - sick with anticipation - and then we would gather in the living room. Each of us had a special poem or song which we had learned for the Christmas program at church, dad would read the Christmas Story from the Bible, and then - finally - we would get to open the presents.

One year I opened all my presents when I was alone in the house. I very carefully removed the wrappings and then carefully rewrapped each present. What a mistake that was. It removed the anticipation and excitement. I never did that again and I caution all children to resist the urge!

I remember some of my gifts. When I was very small I got a beautiful pale blue cradle for my doll. I think my dad made it of orange crate wood. Mother had made a gorgeous pink silk quilt and pillow to fit in the cradle. While we were under the shadow of the depression, many of the presents were "homemade" items. Still the best of the presents one gets.

One of my favorite presents was a big fluffy "adult" pillow for my bed. I also got a bottle of lilac scent Eau de Cologne. The trouble came when the two collided. I spilled the fragrance on the pillow. I never appreciated perfume again and never used much even as a young lady. It took much airing out of the pillow before I could stand to use it once again.

I love the Christmas story. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. To send his son as a baby in a stable is so awesome. It's all turned so upside down. I love it. No kingly triumpant trumpets before a powerful potentate! No.. a baby in a barn! When we returned from Brazil, I complained that I didn't have a creche scene as I had left our old beat-up dime store version for someone in Brazil. The cry went out and I soon possessed a collection of creche scenes. But they are only important to us if the occasion they remind us of is part of our faith story.

I present to you God, the baby. The baby starting on his journey. If you have faith as of a mustard seed this journey can be yours. Take great care.

Wonders Never Cease

I ceaselessly read about the wonders in the electronic gadget world. i don't understand much about it, but I am amazed by the complexity and helpfulness of what is available for sale.

Then I have an age old problem and find a simple solution to it that tickles the socks right off my feet. I could never keep my blue hymbook open and on the rest made for it... it would collapse and fall onto the keys. Yesterday I amazed myself with my brilliance. I put the Minnie bag closer on the top of the pages. Yippee. No more problem.

It is small victories like this that keep me going. A non-electronic solution. It's amazing how thrilled I feel even just looking at the picture. All I have to do now is play the piano. That is an entirely different problem.. But now I can at least attempt it!

Take care.

snow not so bright

I woke up today with a high blood sugar count (for me). I tried to remember what I had eaten yesterday and realized in the furor of the day I had really eaten four meals rather than just three.

I had two teeth repaired with new fillings replacing those which were fast coming undone. George had the four new tires on the sweet buggy allined or something, and in the middle of all of that, I sat and enjoyed myself in Cherry Street Books. Book stores are so marvelous. I held myself back and only bought two new books. The one we are reading for book club and one other. I feel virtuous. I have my eye on two others, too, but they will have to wait awhile.

Anyway... I was thinking back over my day and realized that we had stopped for coffee between teeth and tires and I had an English Muffin. Then later, I still ate lunch. No, no. That is not permitted. Too many carbs for this little lady. It was really an adventure drinking the coffee, too, as my top lip was completely useless. I had to flop it over the cup and hope for the best. I did well, however, as I did not spill on my shirt as I usually do!

Anyway, back to the snow not so bright. Even when the sun is not "out" brightly, we have confidence that it is under the clouds waiting to wow us once again. Patience is what is called for. Patience is one of the qualities that is most difficult to develop. Some people have more trouble with it than others. I'm not sure, but I used to be much more patient than I am now. I seem to have grown into a feisty old lady. Wahoo. Here I come, so you better.. Take care.