Wildlife in the neighborhood

Hello,

I went out to put out the recycle items. I stuck my hand down into the garbage can we use for plastics, glass and cans. All of those are separated into their own plastic bag. I was reaching for the bag when I realized that things were a mess in there. "Did that Leroy just throw things in here willy-nilly?" I wondered.

Then I saw this black and white animal lying down there. "Whose cat is this?" I thought as I started running through the possibilities in my mind. Suddenly I noticed a long naked tail attached to the body.

"Wow!" I realized, "This is a possum."

I called Leroy right away. "Just roll the can over and let it out," he suggested.

"Don’t you want to see it?" I asked, "I can wait until you come home at noon."

At noon Leroy took the can out by the bushes and tipped it over. I took pictures that I hope are good enough for you to see this animal. I was quite impressed with its cute ear.

I feel a little sad because I think this poor creature has been in the can for two days. We heard a noise outside the other night and did not know what it was. The possum appeared to be sleeping when I first looked at it so I think it just kept quiet if we were around. "Playing possum" you know. After it was free I tried to get a good frontal picture and it bared its teeth hissing a little before running away.

I think we have done our good deed for the day.

Paula

Leroy's Day

Hello,

Leroy got a sideways compliment today. Aren’t those the best kind? One of the visitors in the congregation asked if his sermons were online. She lives in Washington D. C. and is visiting her daughter’s family. She has been here before. Leroy will email his sermons to her. I did have to say, "Leroy that is amazing. I think your sermons are good, but I do not want you to email them to me. I probably would not read them."

Leroy’s hand seems better today, however he finally realized that he did not have to shake hands with it. He did say that some people squeezed too hard. So finally today he used his left hand. Maybe by next Sunday healing will be more complete.

Today is the wedding anniversary of my parents. I do not know why I have been thinking about that. My mother died a bit over ten years ago and it is 21 years ago since my dad died. I would still like to be able to talk to them, but maybe someday that will happen.

It is beautiful here with the ice on the trees and fresh snow on the ground. Soon it will melt and we will think that is great driving weather.

Tomorrow Leroy and I go to Des Moines for our Kenya shots. We will have doctor’s permission slips in hand for the yellow fever shot, since I am over 60 a statement of my good health is required. Leroy, who is not yet 60, has the statement also, just in case. In case of what, I am not sure. It is starting to make this trip real. For some reason I have not thought much about it. Now it is only a little over a month away.

Paula

My Plans

Hello,

I made a list of things to do today and did almost none of them. But I have no real reason for not doing them. It rained starting in the night and then got cold so it became freezing rain. Is that an excuse?

I did make bread today. Leroy pronounced it good enough to give one loaf away. We will do that tomorrow when we return the pans to the Ukrainian couple.

I also walked downtown to get more bandages for Leroy’s hand. We were there yesterday, but neither of us had any money. That is required to buy something so I went again today. We could have continued to use the pads and tape, but Leroy would rather try a big bandaid. Leroy says that his hand feels much better today. Personally I think it is his attitude that is better.

Because of the ice I walked on the grass most of the time. It was not as slippery as I thought it might be, but I still did not want to risk being on the pavement anymore than necessary. It was nice to get out. Leroy walked to church as well as the nursing home so we both got some exercise.

Now I am trying to decide if I should walk home from church tomorrow. I suspect I will since I do not think it is to be very cold. Again I will probably walk on the grass instead of the street or sidewalk so it should be fine.

We had planned to take a family picture in MN, even though the Padre family would not be there. As it turned out Jen was not there either. I think the picture is good of all the adults. Brian had the camera on a tripod, set the timer, and ran into place. This picture is the best of the lot. I think the adults look good even though Miriam was sick. We can fake it as we get older. The kids look like life goes on, so what.

Paula

Christmas Day

Hello,

Leroy and I woke up, remembered it was Christmas, and surprised each other with the gifts we had given. I was not sure that was possible any more.

We called Miriam and Andy including them in our devotions by singing "O come all ye faithful" together as I played the piano. I was really thinking about Stephen in Kenya since he always likes to have a sing time when we are together. If we had a laptop computer that was in the living room we could have gotten this done with them too. We did have a nice visit with Sarah, Stephen, and Lexi on the webcam. I am so grateful for this invention. Later we also visited with Miriam and Andy and girls on the webcam. With Brian we greeted them on the phone as they were traveling to Nebraska.

Our company came in the afternoon and we had quite a pleasant visit. The woman had told us that her husband was not a social person. I think he is probably really an introvert. He talked along just fine and had some interesting things to say. I suspect he would not have been so comfortable if there had been more people in attendance. I am happy they helped us eat up some of the sweets around here.

Today, Leroy had the stitches taken out of his hand. He was initially pleased to have that done, but he flexed his hand and some of the incision tore apart causing it to bleed. Later he put the back of his hand to his face forgetting about the vulnerability of it causing a lot of pain. He now feels a little discouraged. Also the Dr. reported that his "bad" cholesterol is too high and we should stop eating cheese. We love cheese, but we will cut back on it.

It warmed up here so we tackled the ice on the drive and sidewalks. Leroy worked at that, but found that he had to just use his left hand. He also seemed to get tired quickly. I pounded away and after the third trip outside managed to eliminate most of the ice from the sidewalks. The drive is clear. Yeah! It is to get colder again tonight with accompanying precipitation.

Paula

More Generosity

Hello,

The pastor, of the Russian/Ukrainian congregation that meets in our church building, just brought us a pan of cabbage rolls, a big dessert, and some of their special sausage. The cabbage rolls could feed a family of four at least. I did have some things to give them. I had just made granola and we had been given some cookies and candy so I passed on some of that. Leroy said, "We must have them over."

I agree, but I mostly don’t think about it. I must put on the mantel of hospitality that I seem to have dropped since we have moved around more.

Yesterday I did call one of the couples in the congregation who I thought would not have family here and invite them to our house for Christmas dinner. After some negotiating we settled on afternoon coffee/tea and some dessert. I was going to make a cherry pie, but I will put that off for another time since we have much too much food in the house that is ready to eat.

We have been getting snow but it stopped after not a great deal had fallen. The sun is out now so we are trying to get some of the ice off the drive. I am so pleased to see the sun because it lifts my spirits. It is very difficult to eject this ice even with the rock salt and sun. I do not like to use that salt stuff as I am not sure it is good for the environment. I think maybe we should just put on some sand and hope that adds enough traction.

For Christmas Eve, I will be singing at the smaller of the two congregations. I will also go to the service at the bigger one. It is a special day so I will go twice in one day and hear the same sermon, something I usually avoid.

Paula

Christmas Greetings 2008

I am including a picture that Leroy took of Sophia and Jen. It makes me think that we should deal with life and God in this way. We, like Sophia, are on a fabulous ride and we have to be thrilled, laugh, and trust completely. So simple and so hard!

About a week ago Leroy and I put up our Christmas tree. I got up the boxes of stored ornaments, decoration, and the tree. That ugly Christmas tree could be seen through the box. "Why did we keep that thing?" I wondered, "Why do we even have it?"

When Leroy came home I talked, "I don’t want to put up that tree."

"Do you want a live one or an artificial one?" Leroy wanted to know.

"I really want a live one, but call the tree farm and see how expensive they are? I wheedled Leroy because I do not like to use the phone.

He called and reported, "They are $3.50 per foot or $7.00 per foot."

"Oh let’s buy a live one," I joyfully said, "We can afford that."

"But I will not drive there today because of the ice," Leroy stated firmly, "it will have to be tomorrow."

"But I want it up today," I wailed, "I brought everything upstairs."

In the end we decided to just put up the old ugly one and it became beautiful as it was festooned with lights, garland, and ornaments. See the picture of our tree as it now appears.
Is there a lesson in this too?

Merry Christmas and God bless you all for the joy that you have added to our lives.

Paula and Leroy

Really Going Home

Hello,

Early Wednesday morning Leroy and I again started on our homeward journey. It was not bad going through the cities, a little slow as roads were just slushy. It seemed frosty on the road when we finally got to the country. I saw a sign proclaiming Fairbault 24 miles. We were going almost 50 MPH so I thought it would not be long before we got there. Then I noticed that the car in front of me was slowing quite a bit. I checked out the situation and noticed that the road seemed to be covered with ice. In the dark it was hard to tell. After that we went 40 MPH until we passed a car in the ditch with its lights pointing up at us. Then everyone slowed down to 30 MPH. We proceeded at that speed until confidence came back and we would go almost 40 MPH again. Then another car would be in the ditch with its lights on so we would all slow down again. About 10 miles south of Fairbault the road was better so we could again go 50 MPH. It was in Iowa that we went the regular speed with periods of slippery areas. We saw more cars in the ditch from the day before. They might have had yellow tape on them or there was snow on them. We were just grateful that we had turned around and waited a day for an uneventful trip.

We now have about an inch of ice on the ground with perhaps two inches of snow on top of that. We have had negative temperatures with significant wind to make going out a serious excursion. Leroy and I did walk downtown this afternoon. It was not so windy, but we thought it felt cold.

Leroy had a strange spot taken off of the back of his right hand on Thursday. It was a little more of a deal than we thought it would be. He has five stitches holding the skin together. I changed the bandage Friday.

Leroy said, "Would you hurry up with this. I do not feel good."

"Just don’t look at it any more," I suggested.

"I have to sit down," he said as he sank down on the stool.

"I’m trying to hurry," I assured him.

The next thing I knew Leroy was lying on the floor. He had eased himself down there rather than fainting, but it was close.

I admit that it was not a pretty sight, but it did not bother me much. The strange, but good thing is that he has had almost no pain with this wound.

The tissue was sent to the lab for testing, but we do not know the result of that yet.

Paula

On the Road

Hello,

After a nice morning spent with the family we decided to leave just after lunch. As we left, snow was starting or continuing depending on when you consider that it started and stopped. We needed gas so we slid into a gas station. We were both thinking it would be no fun to spend 5.5 to 6 hours driving in these conditions. I decided to call someone in Chariton to see how the weather was there. "Are you on the road?" she immediately wanted to know.

"We just started," I meekly stated, "Since it is snowing here we thought we should find out what it is like in southern Iowa."

"Don’t come here," she responded, "school closed early as did many other things."

With that Leroy and I drove back to Brian’s house and they graciously agreed that we could stay another night.

Miriam and Andy were flying to Utah in the evening. They started checking their flight that was getting delayed. After a fruitless call to the airlines Brian drove them to the airport. Seven minutes after they got there they learned that they could fly out the next morning or spend the night in Denver. Brian went back to the airport and brought them home too. Thank God for cell phones!

Even though Ben Franklin stated, "Visitors and fish stink after three days" Brian and Jen put up with us for that extra day. It gave us the chance to play that great marble game one more time. Leftovers were soon all gone. We were all glad to sleep in our own beds when we finally got home and those Minnesota people enjoyed some well deserved "peace and quiet".

Paula

More Minnesota Doings

Hello,

On Monday Leroy and I went shopping because Leroy needs new shoes and there is a store close to Brian that often has shoes that he likes at a good price. We took Olivia with us to give her an outing and lower the number of people in the house. Well she fell asleep soon after we got started. I was driving Brian’s car since that is where the car seat is. The roads were slippery and I have not really driven much since we have been back in the US. I was quite uncomfortable with the unfamiliar car, roads, and slippery slush. We made it to our destination without mishap, but grumbling from me. Of course the cold woke up Olivia. I felt badly about that since it was not a long sleep for her and I knew we would all be happier if she slept longer. After all this effort Leroy did not find any shoes he liked. More grumbling came from me.

On the same trip we had been asked to return things at two different stores for one of our children who will remain nameless. Neither Leroy nor I like to return things but since we were out it seemed practical. I somehow have the feeling that returning items is an imposition to the store. Miriam tells me that is a silly thought, but it seems to be buried deep in my soul. My mother hated to return things, if we did not like something that was just "tough". I can still remember a coat that I did not want to be seen wearing. I was old enough that I wore it for more than one season. Horrors!

Before we entered the first store I asked Leroy if he would return the items. He very firmly refused. When he is so forceful I know there is no hope for talking him out of that so I returned them. It was not so bad, no one made any remarks or whatever I might have been expecting. Leroy had a list of things that we needed to purchase for Brian so we did that too. He took Olivia in the cart with him. She was the perfect traveler for which we were grateful.

The other item to return was at a store that has a difficult to exit parking lot. Again I asked with little hope, "Would you return this and I can stay out here with Olivia so it would go faster?" He said, "Yes." Miracle? He was quick and for some reason traffic was light allowing me to get out of the lot without trouble and we were soon back at Brian’s warm house.

In a few minutes Leroy came into the room and announced, "Would you believe that I have the recite for the return, but not the gift card?"

So that meant another trip back to the store that is only about a mile away to see if we could find the card in the parking lot or if not if they would cancel that one and issue another. Leroy refused to go. I reluctantly said, "I will go, but I do not like it." Just so the world would know.

Miriam emphatically insisted, "I will drive, ask and get this done if someone will watch Nora." So that is what happened. I went along since I had already planed to be out. We did not find the card, but since we had the recite it was easy to get a new one.

Night times were easy because we play games as a group and that is good, no running around in the cold.

Paula

Minnesota Weather

Hello,

On Monday Leroy and I got up at about 6:30 to walk the dog. I usually walk the dog in MN and in Utah so I think these animals know who I am. When it is morning they often park themselves outside my room and wait. We did not check the temperature, but because there was snow and cold we put on long underwear, boots, wool socks, hats, scaves, and warm gloves. Almost instantly in going outside the nose hairs froze. About half way through this walk Leroy put his hand up to protect his face. I started walking rapidly, almost running. "What is this running about?" Leroy wanted to know.

"I am getting cold," I said, "and we still have about 10-15 minutes to go." We walk a loop so we had to finish. Can you imagine we did not see another person or dog or even a track of any such creature.

When we got back to the house someone informed us that it was –10 with –40 wind chill. I had talked about taking Sophia with us and Brian said, "No it is too cold." Good thing he said that. But then we might have turned around right away instead of doing the whole trip and causing my cheeks to feel as if they could fall off.

When Miriam went out later in the day she said, "This is awful. Why do people live here?" Utah has a much more temperate climate in spite of being in the mountains. I will admit that my coat was so cold that it crackled. When I visited in Utah the last time both Miriam and Andy complained about the cold while I thought it was nice there.

Yesterday, Miriam called and said they were in a better place now. "It is snowing and Olivia is outside just wearing a sweatshirt having a good time trying to catch snowflakes."

Paula

Minnesota Trip

Hello,

Before I talk about that MN trip, I should let you know that when we came home there was a message on the answering machine. Leroy called to find out that he had not been chosen from the interview that he just had. All candidates had been rejected. One additional church had done a phone interview with Leroy, but they said they would do nothing further until the new year. We are still waiting to be surprised by some perfect fit.

People in the church knew that we needed to leave for our trip so they made sure that we were early in line and we did not have to help clean up! They shooed us out the door so we could beat rain, ice and or snow.

The wind had come up and the temperature was dropping. It was a bit of a struggle to drive, as it required steering into the west wind because we wanted to go north. It was below freezing and I noticed that the wind side of my body felt cold when I was driving. I did not speed, but kept going right at the limit. We only made one stop so it was one of our quickest trips. Occasionally, we would be enveloped by sudden dense snow showers that would stop just as dramatically as they had started. It was only at the southern edge of The Cities that it began to snow in earnest. We were happy that it just was another half-hour of driving before we reached Brian and Jen’s house.

Miriam and Andy were already there and we entered a lively group complete with two little girls running around. We exchanged gifts that night since Jen had to work or be at a soccer game on Monday and we were all leaving on Tuesday. This was indeed a fast trip. The adults learned that children under two are not as tuned into opening gifts as they will be next year. Also the best gift seems to be the one someone else is holding, especially if that someone else is another little girl.

Paula

Interview is Over

Hello,

Leroy believes that he did ok in the interview, but he also knows that they interviewed two other people. They did say that they would not be able to pay him at the level of his experience, but could he live with that. He indicated that it could be possible. We will just wait patiently for results. At the moment the church here has no new candidate names so we will probably remain here through January. If they should find someone before we find a new location we do have some money saved for this possibility plus we have two state side children who have room for homeless parents? The trick there is how long can they tolerate us and how long can we stand them.

I am pleased with myself. I made some gift tags from old Christmas cards. I took the pictures and cut around them with a special scissors that makes a nice scalloped edge. Some places the edge was longer than the scissors so it took almost more skill than I had in me to make it look like a continuous row. I had run out of gift cards so I was able to save time and recycle at the same time.

We will be driving to MN tomorrow and I am hoping that the ice happens somewhere that we are not. It is not to snow more than two inches so I do not consider that a problem.

I was on my way back from the library when I heard a train whistle in the distance. I walked up the street to be near the tracks when it came by. It is great to see them whoosh by on important business. I guess I just love trains even if they never choose to stop here.

I indulged in an activity that I rarely do. I read a book this morning. My mother always yelled at me for reading so I do not easily allow that to happen if I have something else I "should" be doing. I will be making a vegetable salad for the potluck tomorrow, one that marinates over night. In addition I will be packing my few clothes as well as making fastnachts dough and saffron bun dough that we will put in the refrigerator and bake at Brian’s house. I figure that is enough work for one evening. Surely worth half a day’s wages. I suppose I could have packed earlier, but mostly I forgot about it. The food prep I wanted to do as late as possible so it is fresher.

Paula

Leroy's Interview

Hello,

Leroy has an interview this afternoon. He just said, "I am feeling a little nervous about this." He said this in spite of thinking that this church is not going to pay at his salary level and he is not sure that they want to change very much. So does that mean he should go there anyway if asked? Who can say? It would be a permanent place or as permanent as any place can be. Does he want that? He still likes moving around. As with anything there are always pluses and minuses.

I spent some time cleaning up our desktop on the computer. I, of course, always put things away in their proper place, however Leroy… I have instead created a folder for him and stuck all of his stuff in there and out of my sight. Yeah!

A woman in the congregation has her mother’s Betty Crocker cookbook from the 1930’s. It has a fastnachts recipe in it. It is not like my recipe that I got from someone in Lancaster, PA in 1974. It does not have potatoes in it nor do they make it the night before frying the donuts.

I walked home from the women’s meeting last night. It was only about 3-4 blocks from the house, but many of these women felt that I should not be walking. I am not sure if they thought ice or molesters might be a danger. Anyway I had no difficulty and I got to see the brilliant moon in all its glory.

I did not get out my skis the first day we had snow and now it is almost melted. I am sad. I should have done it one of those cold days because after all I just go around the yard so I could go inside when I needed to do so.

I am getting together a pile of things that we will be taking up to Brian’s. At first I thought we would not be taking up many things, but now Leroy tells me that he thinks the car will be full. How did we travel with our three children and their clothes in the same size car that we have now? I must have been more efficient in the old days.

We got a Christmas card from a guy who went to the seminary with Leroy. I look at them and think, "They look so young. Don’t think I want to send them a picture of us." Usually we are a bit smug and think that others have gotten older looking and we haven’t. Another idea shot down.

Paula

I Won

Hello,

I won a $25 gift certificate at a local flower shop that we visited on Thanksgiving Day. "I can get another plant!" immediately came to mind.

Now I am thinking, "Should I use it as a gift for someone else?" I know that I am more drawn to the plants than anything else, but can my house and husband live with one more?

Internet ads from Lufthansa in Slovak come to my in box. It is magic, how do they know that I can read it a little? I could change them to English, but I enjoy the challenge of understanding some with no pressure to really understand. Today they had a deal for me to go from New York (all of you could have understood that) to South America (you might not have understood that). Because I know I am not going I do not spend much time looking at it I just leave it in the Slovak and I let it keep coming to my in box.

I gave my neighbor an advent calendar that Sarah and Stephen had given us. It is in French. I believe Tatyana was quite pleased with is since it is only pictures behind the doors and the numbers are universal. Later Tatyana showed me a sheet from school requesting that they make an ornament for the building. Her daughter’s was to be a French gingerbread boy since that is the country they "are" this month. Later she showed me a paper that had the numbers (1-10) written in French. Because I had two years of French I could read those numbers. When I did that father Viktor rolled his eyes and snorted, "What French? Emily is to be learning English!"

Last night at choir practice the person who was to play the triangle was gone. I was selected to play it. It is really two very tiny cymbals. It was not easy to hold one of these in each hand, read the music, sing, and in addition turn the page. Helpfully the woman next to me held the music and turned pages. That helped a lot, but I still had some trouble since I do not know this song so well and my triangle line was at the top of the page and the voice part near the bottom.

Challenges! Challenges! I can feel my brain cells regenerating, or at least something is happening up there.

Paula

Gifts

Hello,

We are exchanging gifts with our stateside children on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. We will leave Chariton right after church, the annual meeting, and the potluck. Hopefully the time will not be too late when it is all done. We are also hoping for good weather in Iowa and Minnesota. The report is not the best, but only about two inches of snow.

I have wrapped or prepared all of the gifts that I have in the house. I am not a gift wrapping person therefore I am saying thank you to that talented person who invented the gift bag. Bag that I believe in using over and over again.

I think all children should go from infancy to age 4 almost instantly because so many things are for infants or age 4+. We have purchased some small things for the two older children and the rest of the gift will go into their college funds. All of Nora’s will go into the fund since we feel that she will not notice that she is not opening something.

Tonight we are not doing a craft at the advent gathering, but bringing a special ornament that we can talk about. Leroy announced this last week just before the worship service. "When did he get that idea?" a friend wanted to know.

"Probably as he was standing there," I replied.

Sure enough that is when the idea came. Guess it is good to think on your feet. Leroy and I picked out one of the ornaments that we had gotten in Slovakia. Because it has meaning for us and because it was at the top of the box!

Just a little complaint, on Tuesday Leroy has a service at housing for the elderly so we have to come back earlier than we would without that. He has tried to get a replacement, but it has not worked. A part of me thinks he should just skip it since I gather that others sometimes do that, but that is not a part of Leroy’s character so we will wave good-bye to our children about three hours early. I both like and dislike Leroy’s standards!

Paula

Worship for Assisted Living

Hello,

This afternoon Leroy and I walked over to the assisted living building so he could have a worship service with them. I go along to play the piano. It was a cool 15 minute walk with the wind directly in our faces the last three blocks. Leroy had on something that covered his face quite well. I however felt the force of the wind and cold temperatures. I had put on some windbreak pants so my legs were fine, but Leroy said his legs were cold. On the way home it was great to have the wind at our back pushing us along.

I walked on the grass in many places because the sidewalks were slick. Or we walked on the street where they had put out sand. Sometimes I clung to Leroy’s arm hoping he could hold me up if I started to fall and if he fell first that I would land on top of him. Does he have enough flesh to stop me from breaking a bone? I am not sure.

These people in assisted living are lively compared to those in the nursing home. Mostly got around on their own, talked, sang, or joined in on the Lord’s Prayer. It seemed that they were not sure that we would come since the weather was so bad consequently people had not assembled by the time we got there. That was not really a problem since we have to get situated.

When we came home we had popcorn and apples. It was so refreshing.

I forgot to tell you that it was a small miracle on Sunday that my hair actually looked better than it had for two days. It was not at top form, but above the ground floor, so I was happy. It must have been that shampoo that guaranteed 90% more curl and no frizz. Then I put a little product on it that was supposed to volumize followed by a brush that seems to have the same purpose. The picture is what it looks like today so you can see how short it is.

Paula

Video Upload

Hello,

Brian and Jen suggested another way to upload a video and it went very fast, or at least much faster than two hours. Now I have decided that if you want to see the video you must contact me. I will not put it on the blog in a public place, but I can invite you to see it. I am pleased that I got it done. I feel that I have leaped a hurdle successfully.

After church someone asked me, " Are you going on the tour of homes?"

"I had thought about it, but have not gotten a ticket yet," I replied.

"Why don’t you come with us we are taking one other person. We can stop and get your ticket on the way to your house," she encouraged.

"That would be super," I said and added, "Leroy did not want to go because he thought last year was enough.

However when Leroy came home for lunch, I told him what I was doing and he looked sad.
"I feel left out," he mourned.

"Why don’t you call and see if they would have enough room for you," I urged, "I do not think they would have left yet."

There was still one seat left in their car so Leroy went too. We had a delightful time visiting in the car and enjoyed looking at the decorated homes. I was glad that we were with someone who knew the countryside better than we did. Two of the places were out in the country and I do not know that we would have found them by ourselves.

I have not put up Christmas decorations because we believe in doing that closer to Christmas Day. In addition I can say that some people have a lot of stuff. I can not imagine dealing with it yearly much less moving it around with us.

Paula

Learning More

Hello,

I now have a gmail account in addition to hotmail, juno, and yahoo. Do you think that is enough? I canceled my premium juno account. I hope they will just leave it as Juno free, but I am not counting on it. I use my Juno account for most of my business stuff. Also, some people can not get mail from me in Hotmail or Yahoo. I am spending some time today learning about the new account.

Last night Leroy and I watched a stupid movie that made us laugh. I went back to the library today and checked out a couple more, hoping for a laugh or two. Again it was fine to walk to the library but coming home into the wind took some fortitude.

I think my haircut is much too short, there is no curl and almost no body since the air is so dry. I would like to stay out of the public eye for about two weeks until I grow some more hair. In the summer at least I could wear a hat to church and leave it on. Now I wear my head wrap and take it off when I am inside. I will be singing a part of the liturgy so I even have to stand in front of people. Last week I hid behind the piano, hair looked good, however fear required some cover. This week they would like me to be at the mic at the lectern. Such exposure! Maybe I should wear a sign explaining the hair? I do not have any scarves that I wear in my hair and no wigs. I need a personal hairdresser because I am almost helpless when I have to do more than wash, dry, brush and go.

Paula

Advent Wreaths

Hello,

The Advent wreaths were beautifully made. I was so impressed with what people did. It does help to be working with mostly adults. They seemed to have ideas and they just leaped onto the project. There are some crafty people in the world. Ironic that two non-crafty people were somehow in charge of this. Leroy and I laid out all of the supplies ahead of time and just showed them what was available. I guess that demonstrates that sometimes leaders do not have to know how to do it, they just have to organize and lead.

When Leroy announced it he said, "If you do not want to make a wreath you can just stay in the dining area and visit."

I think some people breathed a sigh of relief. There are others in this world that are not especially motivated to make some of these things. That meant that we had just enough rings so we did not have to make do and cut up any Styrofoam. Yeah!

As for the candles, they did their own thing with selecting colors. I was sure they would all want blue. Very few of them actually chose blue. Many went for purple and some even chose four different colors. It is such a waste worrying about anything. At 60 I guess I would have to say that I am a slow learner since I still worry as if it makes a difference. However what joy and relief comes from a wonderful outcome.

Yesterday bundled against the cold, Tatyana and I walked to the library. She got a library card and checked out 7 books that she can read to her kindergartner. I think both of us were quite pleased with the outing until we started to walk home facing the wind. At least she has lived in Alaska so I figure she can handle cold.

I walked across our lawn and noticed that either one deer went through twice or two deer walked there. There were also rabbit and squirrel tracks along with some bird tracks. I suspect that mice are out there too. In one spot it looks as if they had a meeting to discuss possibilities.

Paula

Waking Early

Hello,

"Good morning," Leroy said as I accidentally bumped his knee.

"What time is it?" I wanted to know as I looked around at darkness.

"It is about 5:00," he responded.

"Please don’t greet me so early," I gently murmured as I prepared to go back to sleep.

"I am getting worried about the craft for the advent event tonight," Leroy sighed, "so I have been awake a while."

"I think it will be alright," I assured him, "I will go back to the stores and we will make do with what is in town or I will just drive somewhere else."

Within a couple minutes I could hear that Leroy had fallen asleep, leaving me wide awake stewing over the possibilities.

On Sunday when I said I would buy the supplies for this advent wreath venture, I never thought it would be so hard to do in town. We have been grappling with this since Monday. We have contacted people who were out of town for one reason or another, begging them to pick up some of these supplies. We have gotten some that way, but not all. There are not enough rings of one size, not enough candles of the proper color and the greenery costs a lot or it looks cheap.

Considering that we are now getting an inch of snow an hour I am not driving anywhere out of town. Most trips would be at least 30 minutes away on a dry road. The place that I really wanted to go to is more like 50 minutes. So, this morning I got plenty of cheap greenery and candles of a variety of interesting colors. The great this is that they were all 30-50 percent off. I figure that I will tell people to be flexible and they can talk about me when I am gone.
Leroy is starting to wonder if we will even meet tonight. "What! After I put in all this effort?" I wailed.

Paula

Health

Hello,

Leroy and I had annual physicals this morning. Everything seems good for both of us. Leroy is having a couple of skin growths checked out next week. We walked breathlessly to our appointments because we left the house a little later than planned. If you have walked with Leroy you know that he can really put on the speed. I had to trot a little to keep up. At one point Leroy said, "This should raise our blood pressure."

"Not if we are in good shape," I responded.

Well my BP was 116/64 and Leroy’s was 100 over something. How is that for good shape? I thought my pulse was a little high at 84 but no one in the office thought that was out of line. Our weight was heavier than at home, however we weigh naked here and before breakfast rather than after. Guess we will be good for a while, unless we fall on the ice in front of a truck.

I was pleased to help Tatyana with papers that her kindergarten daughter brought home. One of them is a form to put in the titles of books that they have read together at home. That is not a difficult task when you read English well, but daunting when you do not. Tatyana and I are going to the library tomorrow to find some books that she can share with her daughter. I had talked earlier about going to the library. At that point she was not ready, now she is ready.

Hair is the strangest stuff. I thought I would get a cut before I went to Utah, but did not have the time. Then I thought maybe I would get it cut in Utah, but again did not get that done. At that point I was thinking it looked quite fine. Last week was not a good week to get a hair cut besides it did not look so bad. Yesterday my hair looked terrible by the end of the day so it is being cut today. Just how I made it this far I can not imagine since three weeks ago I thought it was looking long.

Paula

After Thanksgiving

Hello,

We had a great visit with Brian, Jen, Sophia, and Cloe (dog). I do miss having a pet, but my significant other is not into that idea at all. Brian did ask, "If something happened to us would you take care of Cloe?" I assured them that I would be happy to do that. I believe that Sophia is not less important, but has already been taken care of.

I was hoping for snow while they were here since I thought it would be great to have Sophia ride on the sled that Leroy’s dad made. We brought the sled into the living room and Sophia sat on it several times. It then snowed, but not until Saturday night. By Sunday morning there was a nice amount of snow, however they felt compelled to start home since they had no idea how long it would take. I was disappointed, in spite of understanding the urge. I had also wanted them to come to church so I could show them off to the congregation. But I am glad that they made it home safely. As with many things there are multiple feelings and I just have to let those feelings settle allowing the good ones to rise to the top.

Sophia did a lot of running, walking, giggling, and exploring. It was great fun to see her. Makes us want to live closer to all of these granddaughters. If we were rich enough we could buy houses in all their neighborhoods and come for some time each year. How’s that for fantasy?

I am excited because Brian and Jen got a new webcam. They gave us their old webcam that is more powerful than our current cam. The new cam that they purchased can track their movements. Sounds amazing to me. When we talked to Miriam she said it was definitely a better picture than we had before. Leroy will take the other one to church and use it there sometimes. Just think we now own two webcams. Are we part of the cutting edge or what? But then we do not have an IPOD. I think that means we still could make some progress.

Paula