Garage Sale Coming

Hello,

The Ely library sponsors a garage sale each spring. It was started when Leroy and I lived in Ely. The price to have your name and items on a map is $5. That has been the charge from the beginning which was some time before 1999 when we moved away. Some people complain about the cost, but I am happy to say they are in the minority. Others suggest that we should raise the price. All things considered, I do not think we make much money from those fees. We print maps, pay for ads and put up signs. It is such a busy time and that takes people power as well. The Friends of the library does have a book sale and money is made from that. Most of those books have been donated so that is a big plus. Again a big deal of human effort goes into storing, sorting, and displaying these books. At the end there has to be a disposal of unsold books. Even though it is a lot of work, but am happy to help people cut down on the items they have in their homes. I believe it should make they lives lighter and freer.

Perhaps I should start a neighborhood garage sale in my neighborhood. Do you think people would come? Do you think people would participate? I will think some more about that before I volunteer to do something about it.

I will include

two pictures of Leroy’s bike so you can see how special it is. He has liked everything about it.

Paula

That New Bike

Hello,

I would show you a picture of that new bike, but Leroy rode it to work today. He borrowed my bike lock even though the bike will be inside. His bike is neon greenish yellow. “Amazing!” I exclaimed when I saw it.

“It was either this or black,” Leroy stated, “and I chose this one.”

Does he want to live on the wild side? He also tells me that the bike was so light to ride. He would like not to put a rack on it for his bags. Today he took his lunch in a backpack. How long do you think that will be the way? I personally do not like to ride with a pack on my back. I would rather have the bike take the load. Course he also has no lights or a computer or a front or rear bag which all add a little weight. But he will get some of those things just to be safe. I figure with this color bike he will be noticed.

I sewed up a stuffed animal that had a seam opening. I even had thread that was a close match. This animal is from the library. There was talk of throwing it away as no one else had any sewing skills. My skill is minimal, but I think it looks ok, it certainly looks better than it did before I started. If not I will give it away.

I am rereading The Boston Girl for our book club. On my own I rarely read a book twice. The second read does give me some new insights. I liked this book so it was not hard to make myself read it again. I suppose the big incentive is to keep reading new things because there are so many good books out there waiting to be found.

Paula

New Bike

Hello,

Leroy went bike shopping at one store yesterday and purchased a bike. I thought that was fast, but he tells me that he knew what he wanted. He will pick up the bike today. He did not get all of the accessories that go on it, but that will come in time. The rack, lights, water bottle cage, and computer are some of the examples of things that he will want to replace. We are both happy that he has gotten this done. I know he has missed his own bike.

We are disappointed that the insurance is paying so little for the replacement, but glad to get a little help. Because he had to have receipts and solid information about what was taken it was not an easy task to deal with it all. He did have the information for much of it, but they took off for depreciation so that lowered the return. What happens when there is a fire and you do not have the proof of most or even any of that? I should ask the agent.

Just looking at the devotions for today that have the verse from Proverbs 12:25  “Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.” I do not remember ever reading those words before, but they are good ones to know. My kind word to the insurance company is thank you for helping as our agent did work diligently for us.

Paula

Church dedication and the Garden

Hello,

Before I get to the garden report, it was indeed fun to go to the church dedication. The building addition looks to be a great facility. I found it interesting to seeing the “old” part of the church which brought memories to the front of my mind. Then there was the joy of seeing people I had not seen in a long time. Without people the building would be a shell containing dust. We were uplifted and refreshed by being there.

In the late afternoon we went to the Coe College Handbell and Choir concert. It was also a good experience. Music is good for the soul. We met a friend there and she walked home with us. She had a longer walk than we did, but she got a ride to the event so it might have been about equal walks.

Today I walked down to the community garden with my parsley that has struggled to survive the winter in my house. I planted it, hopefully it will revive now.  I stopped to pick some dandelion leaves and a few flowers. We have eaten them in the past and I thought I would try that once again.

I stopped to visit with a neighbor across the street showing him my harvest. I believe he was less than impressed as well as a little skeptical. He did invite me to let him know what I did with them and how we liked it. So even at 81 he seems willing to learn something new.

He had me wait while he brought out a picture of his mother. She was quite an attractive young woman of Native American and African descent. He remarked proudly that she knew what tribe she was affiliated with. He probably knows little about his African heritage as he never mentioned anything about it.

Paula

Rain

Hello,

We have had some much needed rain in the last two or three days. The wind made it all quite exciting at times. It is colder than I like, but we can manage after all, it is not below zero. I even went out and weeded after the rain quit. It is so nice to get those unwanted plants out of the ground when it is wet. Most of the roots went with the rest of the plant and I believe that means I will not have to repeat the process so soon. I am satisfied!  I am also pleased that the tulips which I “rescued” from the church after last Easter have gown and are spreading around beauty. What a nice gift to the neighborhood.

I have a Christmas cactus, cyclamen, bromeliad that I got from my sister’s house. At the moment it would appear that all of these plants are adjusting to their new home. I also brought home four amaryllis and they too seem to have settled in without complaint, although I put them outside and it has been rather cool.

Tomorrow the Ely church is having a dedication of their building expansion. The church added on when Leroy was there and now the new addition will dwarf the old. It is amazing that we have come back to this area where we spent more time than any other in our marriage. We are going to spend a good bit of time in Ely for the festivities. Seeing old friends will be a wonderful thing. It will be fun to see what it looks like inside the building. It was a large addition. The town of Ely is growing and that helps for growth in other areas. The library would also like to expand, but we are land locked. I suspect some option will come to mind as a way to do it in the near future. Growth is both exciting and challenging. Me, I just float along with what happens next since I am not in charge.

Paula

Music in the Night

Hello,

Last night Leroy and I were sitting quietly lost in our own worlds of reading good books when we heard a dinging sound coming from the IPod. Having never heard such a thing before I thought maybe one of our children was trying to do Facetime or video chat. Not so! Instead it was a notice from the music app that son-in-law Andy had added. I tried to turn it off because I was not really interested in listening to any music or dealing with new songs at the moment. I did not succeed in turning it off instead somehow I gave the song a thumbs up and it proceed to play away invading my quite time. I then tried to turn the IPod off to get rid of this unwanted intrusion, but it would not shut down. I tried every button I could think might work. No luck! Just music, music, music. I suppressed any nasty thing I might have had roll though my head at this moment and expressed my frustration to Leroy who felt he could help. Leroy also struggled, but he was not as exasperated as I was. I had visions of us burying this small machine in a remote place so we could sleep without the serenade. Finally he was able to stop it, however he could not tell me exactly how he had done it so I cannot duplicate it if necessary in the future.

I am making bean soup for supper. I soaked the beans and then put them in the crock pot this morning. Because I was washing clothes and my washer is additional counter space, I set the pot on the floor using the same outlet as the microwave. At noon I moved the crock pot only to learn that it had not heated. Luckily it did heat when I plugged it in at the counter outlet. In my mind I had already headed out to the store to get a new one. I can put that off for a while, maybe even years as I believe that outlet on the floor is loose and it might not have connected to electricity. The wind very effectively dried my clothes. I am grateful for good clothes pins that held on through the rigors of constant blasts.

Paula

Spring Cleanup

Hello,

It was spring cleanup in our neighborhood with the Coe and Mount Mercy College students. The plan was to work in the community garden as well, but it rained so we stayed out of there. Leroy stayed home since he does not feel well. He has a head thing which he believes is caused by spring blooms. He has taken some allergy meds for it, but does not feel well while taking them so he quit.

I did go help, at first I was with three Coe students. One of them had to quit early so then it was just with three. We met a man and his eight year old daughter and they wondered if one of us would join them. I agreed to do that. We did not fill our bags either the trash or the recycle, but we certainly found a bit of trash.

I was moving some things around in the house after our company had all left and found the attached picture of my grandmother. She had a good supply of black hair that was still with her when she died at 87 years old. The last time we met, my sister Carolyn and I talked about how she would ask us to look for gray hairs and pull them out. Coloring hair was not her style apparently pulling was, but I believe she was proud of the black that she managed to hang on to.

On the back of the picture it says Christmas 1968 in my mother’s handwriting. I think my grandmother would have been 85 when the picture was taken.

I believe that all of her children turned grey long before that age.

Paula

Still Here

Hello,

Just wanted to let you know that I am still here, but not writing much at the moment. Our two daughters traveled back with us in an auto caravan. Miriam, Andy, and girls spent the weekend with us. Sarah and her girls are here until Saturday. So I have been quite busy which means occupied mentally and physically. It has been so good to have them visit. Brian and his family went back to school and work. The others had spring break and a more planned time off.

It was sad to say good bye to my sister, but wonderful to see her extended family. Is this when families get together and celebrate life as many have told me? It seems that way.

Sarah and her girls are gone now to visit one of her high school friends so I have a little time to write before we have choir practice tonight.

I am impressed at how many people can sleep in our small apartment.  Nine, just in case you were wondering.

Our landlords graciously lent their camper and it was used one night, later I will give you the tale of the experience.

Now I am making rhubarb (frozen rhubarb) crisp for Sarah and us too.

I think the moment I will miss my sister the most is when I try to pick up the phone and call her.

Paula

A New Journey

Hello,

My sister died this morning. I do not know what it will be like not to have an older sister to talk to, one who has many of the same memories that I do. It will be a lonely road without her.

Paula

Weather

Hello,

We are warm today. I am not sure how warm because our thermometer has been in the sun several times that I looked. My body knows warmth no matter what it registers.

I have seen that for the strength of my bones I should jump. So I have been doing some. Today I used the rope and managed to jump 40 times. It makes such a difference to me if I land on either feet or just one foot. I did some of both types jumping.

Today I got my teeth cleaned. Because I exceptionally good at collecting unwanted passengers on my teeth I so enjoy this clean feeling. I should hire my own personal hygienist and have this done about every two months. Maybe then it would be a quicker job. I often wonder if they sigh when they see me come because it takes so long to finish the job. When we lived in Moorhead, MN, I went to the school for hygienists and they could not finish the job in the morning, but had me come back in the afternoon as well. I remember that my mouth was tired, but cleanest I have ever been in recent days.

I had all windows open today, but the wind is so strong that I have closed two of them. We do not have the screens on some of the windows and leaves and the odd small twig made their way in. I did so like having the windows open. It lifts my soul, but maybe that was the jumping.

Leroy is still riding my bike. He is waiting for spring sales. I give him my unsolicited opinion which was that he could just go buy one at full price and enjoy his ride more. He tells me it takes him longer on my bike because it does not fit him very well.

Paula9999999