Games

Hello,

Leroy and I played an old game last night, double solitaire. It has been years since we have done this. Leroy even managed to beat me several times when we each had the same card aimed at the same spot. Seems to me his ability to focus and interpret quickly is greatly improving. He sees the therapist this morning. Yesterday we did a routine with a ball that she had done. I have to confess that I got rather tired doing it, but if it helps I will do it some more.

Yesterday the phone rang with daughter, Sarah’s number on the id. I answered, “Hello, Sarah.”

Natalie informed me, “This is not Sarah. It is Natalie. We want to use Skype or Facetime to talk.” This girl has come a long way to handle all that so well.

We tried to use Skype, but it was an update for Leroy and I. For some reason we could not hear them, but they could hear us. The button to fix that was well hidden in this new program. We decided to go back to the classic program, however now we could hear them and they could not hear us. At that point we just used the phone line and muted the talk on the computer. It ws not long before Sarah’s phone battery died. We did some looking and typing. In a bit I realized we were in the classic version so I knew where to look for a sound adjustment. Now we could both see and hear on the same devise. How is that for playing games? Hopefully my brain is growing from all that, otherwise it was a bit frustrating even though I felt proud that we could solve it in the end.

I was please to see that our children live in the country’s fittest cities according to one source. DC is # 1 with Minneapolis-St. Paul # 2. Salt Lake is the lowest at #8. I will say that I see a lot of people walking or using bikes in all those places. Some of the rating is based the percentage of the population that lived within ten minutes of a park. I do use the parks extensively when visiting the first two places, walking there not driving.

Paula

Leroy's Jobs

Hello,

Leroy has the afternoon off so he made a list of jobs. He tackled the first one which was to put the new handlebar ends on his bike. When they did not fit or he could not tighten them enough he got a bit disgruntled. The shop will do it, but he wanted to do it. However by moving on to cracking some walnuts he raised his spirits. Because he was working so much on a Sunday I thought I had better do something too so I swept the leaves off the deck. Course there are now 5-10 leaves that have drifted down.

Leroy is going to sharpen knives and pick out walnuts. I will join him on the nut picking task as I can do that even though it is not my favorite thing. I like the finished product better than Leroy does. I eat nuts daily. Am I related to a squirrel?

Leroy also went on a search for his seminary class graduation picture. He had it out last winter, but then when someone gave him the names of people in that 45 year old picture, he could not find the picture. I was impressed that he found the picture in the second box in which he looked. Now he cannot find the list of names. Is there a trend here? He managed to name all but fourteen out of perhaps 50. He is requesting that list of names once more from the classmate who supplied it before.

While he was in that picture box I managed to toss about ten of them. There are also some that I am going to send to my brother and my niece. Then there is a pile to take to MN when our family gets together in December. I thought the grandchildren might be interested in seeing some of them. I could even give up a few of those. Somehow the load will get lighter.

I also found some postcards from Auschwitz that I am giving to a teacher who uses our library to get materials for her WWII class. Now do you know anyone who would like a book of Russian art?

Paula

Glad about Facebook

Hello,

I had tried, with no success, last year to contact one of my college friends. Today I got a friend request from her on facebook. It was so much fun to reconnect. We just did a little message chat, but still it was great. I was so excited that I immediately called another college friend. She had tried unsuccessfully to contact the lost friend by phone, snail mail and email. We are now hopeful that we will be able to connect in person and face to face. If the computer had not been invented and become such a part of our lives would we have made this connection? We have all moved since the last time we had gotten Christmas cards. How did people find lost friends back in the old days?

Leroy is preaching tonight as the pastor who is doing the weekend services had something that he wanted to attend tonight. Is your sermon good? I asked Leroy.

“Good, but not exciting,” he replied.

The choir is singing tomorrow and I do not go to church more than once a weekend if I can manage. I will hear the sermon just a different version of it.

I did go to church this morning for a women’s breakfast so I was there once and that is enough for the day.

This afternoon I went to the garden and collected tomatoes, broccoli, cilantro, and dug some onions. I shared some of everything except the broccoli since it did not seem like such a large amount. It is so wonderful to get all of this produce from the garden at the end of October. I do not see a freeze in the forecast so there will be more days of good eating ahead. The cilantro is like phoenix rising from the ashes as this must be the fourth time it is just reproducing. Right now it is at the best eating stage.

Paula

Outside

Hello,

The first load of laundry was done and ready to hang before it was light out. But before the second was done the first was on the line amid a chorus of squirrels in at least two trees as they worked to get through the tough walnut shell. There was a whole lot of scratching noises in the air with tales tucked over their heads in the cool morning air.

Leroy went to the doctor for a check up this morning where they found a whole lot of wax in his ears. He said it took a bit of time and effort to extract it. It seems to be a yearly cleaning chore now.

He is going to have his hearing checked anyway even though this should help quite a bit.

In the afternoon Leroy and I took a walk to a park in our neighborhood and witnessed close up the bike trail that will be coming soon. We are both quite pleased with that. We can get to the lake without using the road very much. It is not much fun to have people want the piece of the road that we are on, at least there are marked bike lanes for much of the way.

Our garden in front of the house is beautiful with collards, Swiss chard, kale, Brussel sprouts, and broccoli. How did those two veggies get such names? Do the Swiss and people in Brussels even eat them? Do they call them by the same name that we do?

Paula

Autumn Planning

Hello,

I got my shingles shot. It cost $100 less than expected so I suppose the insurance supplement covered that. It was a much gentler experience than the pneumonia shot. So far my arm is not complaining. Hopefully if I ever get shingles again they will be a mild variety.

I also did a little shopping while I was out. Is bleach a necessary substance to have in the house? I have used all that I had, but it seems that it takes a very long time to use a bottle. Perhaps I should get just a small amount. I noticed one was touted as being splatter proof. Just how does that happen?

This afternoon I switched my summer and winter clothes, assuming that I can manage if we have a hot spell before winter moves in. I even managed to eliminate three things. It probably should have been more, but I was just moving rather than sorting.

Tonight we are having bean soup. I am out of cornmeal so I will not make cornbread as planned, but will perhaps do biscuits. Leroy requested the soup as he likes to have it left over for his lunches. Makes his lunch plan simple in thought and work.

Last night was a spook walk in Ely where I work. The library was the place to turn in a vote card. Our door counter recorded 250+ people as entering from 1:00 to 9:00. Most of them did not require library services, just a treat and smile. It was easy and fun, however I am happy that I do not have to work so late every night.

On the way home there was a dead deer occupying about a fourth of my side of the road. Luckily I saw it in time to swerve over without hitting any approaching cars. I took that as a warning to be on the lookout for more live animals.

Paula

Motion

Hello,

At Tai Chi this morning I managed to slip into my own world. I suspect that is how it is to be always, but usually I am too concerned about staying with the group. I started slower and just keep my own pace without trying to catch up. I was proud of myself for being able to remember the entire sequence on my own. It was all more meditative than usual. Now if I can learn to let go and capture that more frequently it will be great.

Today feels like fall with leaves falling quite regularly. The sound of leaves crinkling is a great soul soother as I walk around, consequently at the moment I am not bothered by people who do not rake. I remember raking leaves with the kids playing in the garden cart that at one point could hold all three of them. When I was growing up out on the farm we never raked leaves that I remember. The wind must have blown them away. On some levels we just let the earth be however it wanted.

Leroy went for an eye doctor appointment after having two therapy sessions. The doctor thought he was doing very well and would be able to get rid of the additional patch on his glasses in the near future. At his therapy he tells me that they flash lights which he has to find as well as words that are in a crowd of other words.

It keeps him hopping by going to work and go to all of these appointments, but he is managing quite well. One drawback is that he uses the car instead of the bike because of time and distance constraints. In the future it will be done, but then will it be so cold that he does not want to use the bike? We will see. He still walks to church several days a week so that keeps him moving.

Paula

Music in the air

Hello,

Yesterday was another full day. If I had not told a friend I would help at the choir concert, we probably would have stayed home or been outside more. We did ride our bikes over to the church where Leroy could lock them in the shed safe from any prying eyes or hands. It was a nice ride. From there we walked to the choir venue. I have not been on the bike for about a month. I had thought of riding to work one last time on Saturday, but it was still quite dark and cold at the hour I would have needed to leave. Coming home would have been great, but I do not have the possibility as my DC daughter does of renting a bike one way and leaving it on the opposite end.

Going back to the concert, it was a good music experience. Then I realize I should go to more of these. Also we helped with ushering and refreshments. After the concert, Leroy was quite happy to spend quite a bit of time talking with someone he knows, but does not often see. That is also a plus as well.

I could even listen to music more in the house, but I almost never think to turn it on. My mother always worked in relative silence and I seem to have picked up that habit. I remember she said that if she turned on the radio we children just got louder and louder. I also remember looking behind the radio which was a bit large, for the people who were talking. It was always a bit of mystery. Really I suppose it still is. I do not totally know how all the wireless stuff happens. Perhaps that is how life is best lived, with a bit of mystery.

Paula

Time Escapes

Hello,

Since we have been home from vacation, I feel that I can barely catch up. I will be working for the next two days with Sunday off. However on Sunday we go to church and then a concert in the afternoon. Hopefully I will relax while listening to music or at least be fully present which in itself is relaxing. Because I will also work Monday and Tuesday, it will be Wednesday before I once again have a full day off, but wait, I have a doctor appointment in the morning.

In DC we did one thing we had never done before. We visited the Pentagon. It was a walking tour with just minimal time to stop and read through the explanations on the displays. Apparently too many people like to take these tours and they keep them moving with a guide in front and a guide in back. The time and size of the group was also carefully regulated. No wandering off allowed. I did learn some things that I had not known before.

We also took a quick trip in the national arboretum. It is 400 acres so we saw but just a small piece of that which included the vegetable gardens and some ferns.

We always enjoy our visits to their neighborhood library where we can see how things work in a different place as well as find some books to read while we are there. We also tried to see Natalie play in a soccer game, but it was cancelled because of another activity in the park.

Stephen gave the sermon at his church and did a very fine job.

Paula

Home From DC

Hello,

I brought my entertaining arms home. The girls will survive, but they enjoyed flapping at my sagging upper arms. It was also hysterical when I moved my arm as in waving. Leroy was really quite disappointing because poking his triceps caused hardly a jiggle. Who knew I was growing built in amusement?

Today I would not be up for such abuse as I have sore arms. One received a flu shot and the other was the recipient of a pneumonia booster. The flu shot is not much of a hot spot, but the other is letting me know that it has been ambushed. I am happy to ward off such illness as I can, but I will be even happier a week from today or perhaps sooner.  I also plan get a shingles shot, but will wait until my arm feels normal as I do not know how much reaction there will be. My doctor told me that because I had shingles about ten years ago the immunity from that has worn off. I am hoping that the insurance will pay for some of it, but if not I will just get it anyway as it will be much cheaper in many ways than getting those shingles again.

We took the girls to the Natural History Museum. The highlight for me, and I think it impressed them as well, was when a person in the butterfly nursery caught the butterflies that were out and moving their wings. My mother had always told me that I should not touch a butterfly as it damaged their wings. I suppose this person was very careful. In the same area we were able to hold a worm that was a relative of the tomato worm as well as a grasshopper that was quite large. Leroy and I both did this, but the girls could not quite manage to do it. I thought about how many tomato worms I have killed, but now I needed to be careful with this critter. They are quite attractive.

Paula

Exciting Dinner

Hello,

Leroy and I discussed what to prepare for supper. We say supper instead of dinner. It is a word we both grew up using. He had talked about pizza yesterday, but now he mentioned waffles. I convinced him to go back to the pizza idea because I had a kale pizza recipe that also used lemon. The lemon in the refrigerator was getting tired and almost expired. The kale in our front garden is beautiful. Leroy gave in fairly easily. Even though this recipe was very basic I wanted to boost the ingredients.

We were out of peppers and mushrooms. Leroy volunteered to go to the community garden for peppers. Here might be mushrooms there, but we might not be alive to tell you about them so we ignore such. I convinced him to ride his bike which he has not done since he hurt his knee at the end of July. He did ride and he said, “It was fine except for the brace pulling against my leg stroke.”

While he was gone I cut up some tomatoes and proceeded to put them in a pan to make a quasi sauce for pizza. Tomatoes were not on this pizza according to the recipe. I also mixed up the dough from whole wheat flour, that is fairly normal, but I do not make it often and I did not use a recipe.

I cut up onions to add to the mix, also not in the recipe. By the time Leroy came home, I had burned the sauce, but decided to called it browned and tipped it out of the burned area.

Leroy squeezed the lemon, and cut up the kale, putting it in the frying pan along with some garlic. By the time that was ready I had flattened the dough on two pans, added tomato paste and pizza spice to the sauce that I had made, and spread it around on the dough. We sprinkled on some onion, green peppers, added the kale mixture and TVP that was a little more liquidish than I liked. Shredded cheese topped it all

Earlier Leroy had also put water on some TVP (texturedized vegetable protein), but it had not absorbed all the water, but we used it anyway. The oven was hot so we put them in, set the timer, and waited.

When we got it out of the oven we were unable to get it off the pans. I realized I had forgotten to add oil to the dough. Finally with much persuasion, it came off one pan. We promptly ate that. The other we had to tackle with progressively stronger spatulas. The pizza tasted, according to Leroy, “Ok.” I liked it a little more than that, but I was grateful that we did not have guests to eat with us as getting it to our plates was such a struggle.

This all gets exciting because I start getting bossier and louder when things do not come together as I think they should. Leroy just keeps plugging along. Luckily he rolls with whatever I dish out.

Now we have settled in for a quiet evening of reading.

Paula

Bringing In Plants

Hello,

Leroy was at the church this afternoon so I brought five plants into his office. I used to take many of them to the library, but will only have three there as it was too many plants for some tastes. The morning time was spent hanging out clothes and doing a final scrub on the plant pots. I also checked all of the leaves for bugs or spider webs that might house baby spiders. My self-appointed summer job of squash bug killer helped me to gain the skill and confidence to tackle all bugs with my bare hands. How I have changed! There was one critter that I gently pushed off the mother-in-law’s tongue. It stayed on the work table for a small amount of time, perhaps getting orientated before it crawled up the side of the bucket. I thought it was quite fine looking. 

It stayed with me for a long time even as I dipped my brush into the water.

I think the plants look quite fine in Leroy’s office. Hopefully they will do well even if it is on the north side and there will be much light, but little sun. Then there is the added interest of Leroy watering them. Do you think he will remember or water too much?

On my way home I stopped to get a flu shot only to find out, after I had filled out all of the paperwork, that my insurance does not have a contract with this pharmacy so they would only do it if I paid for it. Since I know the insurance will pay. I declined.

I had hoped to have it before traveling to DC for a visit with Sarah’s family. It seems that traveling exposes one to different germs. Course the flu shots do not really come to full strength until after two weeks so I am already too late. But when I think of it, I like to get it done as it is hard to say when I will think of it again.

Paula

The Road of Surprises

Hello,

It was great to drive to work at noon Monday with the normal amount of traffic on the Interstate. I blended in happily thinking I was joining my usual friends. As I merged from there to highway 30 I noticed that the pickup truck in front of me was going five mph slower than I am accustomed to when I get on this stretch of road. Still following him, I put on my turn signal and got off on the exit ramp only to find the truck pulling over in front of me at the last possible second before he would have to go farther down the road. The ramp splits into two lanes before we get to a stop light. The truck chose first the left lane and then at the last minute swerved into the right lane. Both lanes are required to turn right.

I stayed in the left lane because I make a left turn at the next stop light which is quite close. After the first stop light that truck came over into the left lane only to make a sudden brake and turn all the way over to the right, cramped hard to make a u-turn, moved across in front of me, smiled as he went by in the lane facing me.

He must not have known what he wanted to do and just made all decisions while moving around. Because of all his moving around I had stayed back a ways so I was not in any danger, just astonished. Life is always full of surprises.

Paula

CROP walk and Community Garden

Hello,

Yesterday Leroy and I walked in the CROP Walk. We pray that the money is used in the best way possible to help people on this earth. It gives us a satisfied feeling of doing something in the face of such large problems that do not show an easy solution. Our congregation had 20 walkers which I believe is a larger number than usual. For some reason there were just a few when we first came here. Giving was down a bit from last year, but that could be because people are looking inward a bit more as we approach a building renovation and organ purchase. Both of which are big ticket items. All of the needs bring to mind how much to keep for oneself and how much to pass on. I suppose there is never a time in life when one stops considering those issues.

This morning I went to the community garden. It has been a long time since I have been there as I have ceased waging war on the squash bugs. Some of the zucchini are still blooming. There must have been some zucchini, but I did not see any pickable ones today. Hopefully someone has picked and enjoyed them as last Monday, Leroy said, “There are some small zucchini that are not ready yet.”

I just said, “Oh, and forgot about them.”

I did not pick green beans even though there were some nice ones. The plants are wet and I was always told not pick when wet as they rust.

I did find a few tomatoes. Again I think someone is picking them right along as I mostly see green ones. There were some on the ground that I brought home or shared with a woman who said she will eat any vegetable. It is cool enough that no one is sitting on the porch so it makes the sharing much harder. I also left a nice amount of okra for her as well as bringing some home. I just realized I can share the okra with a guy on our street who likes it. I just leave it on his porch. I will do that when I am done here. I picked little broccoli shoots and brought them all home. The next delight was to pull/dig some green onions. I also shared some of them. I was pleased to see that someone is picking collards and Swiss chard. The cilantro is growing like crazy as it keeps reseeding.

Fall gardens are nice because the bugs have gone elsewhere. Where do bugs go for the winter?

Paula

Driving on Friday

Hello,

On Friday the bridges in the city were still closed except for the Interstate Bridge. Leroy’s boss came and took him to work because they could get back into the museum. One of our cars was in for a checkup. Leroy called me about four to tell me that I could come get him so we could get the car home. I set out to the interstate only to see that cars in the direction that I wanted to go were stopped. I had heard tales of people being on the “380 parking lot” for an hour. I did not want to risk it so I headed in the opposite direction and took the long way around. It really was the long way around. Besides the distance, I had to stop for almost every stop light that I met up with. Also there were a lot of cars jockinging for the same spot from time to time. Then as I got closer to the museum there were some streets that I could not use as they were still blocked for flood control. By the time I got there, I was ready to melt into a heap. It seemed it would have been better to ask for other help to pick up the car and let Leroy come home with his boss who drives through or close to our neighborhood to go home.

As Leroy got in the car he commented, “I could have come home with Dave since he is ready to go home now.”

We drove up the easy way to get the car and moved without slowing much or stopping. After we got the car we both drove a car home, but used the streets which were jammed with drivers looking for that alternate way around. I was tired, but happy to be home at 6:30.

Today, Sunday, the bridges are all or mostly all open. Tomorrow will be a regular day moving around the city. Blessing indeed! It reminds me again that I am not grateful enough for the things that work.

Paula

Beggar?

Hello,

Yesterday as I came out of a store I heard a woman in a car talking to two people who were walking to their car. I could tell that she was talking about men who were in the trees or bushes. It seemed to be not good. I walked over to my car and as I opened the door a guy suddenly was talking to me. He was standing back by the end of the car. He seemed to notice my start as he said, “I will not hurt you. I have run out of gas and I need to get to a neighboring town.”

I just kept looking at him as he hesitated then he said, “I just need a little more to buy gas.”

I was considering giving him five dollars when the woman in the car drove up and started yelling with hostility at him, “You should go. You are just begging. This is illegal.”

“You stay out of this, it does not concern you,” he retorted.

“That other guy ran away when I accused him,” she said.

In the meantime the man who has been walking to his car came up and he strongly told the begging man, “You should apply for work as a company is hiring.”

It all came to a standstill then. I looked at the asking man and he looked at me. At that moment I decided and said, “I will give you two dollars.”

As I handed it to him he said, “God Bless.”

Where is God in all of this? What is the right thing to do? Would anyone help me if I needed it?

I remember a friend talking about her son who accidently got off at the wrong platform on the EL in Chicago. He did not have a dime or a phone on him. He asked people to give him the fare so he could get back on, but it was a long time before anyone did that. At that point he learned a new appreciation for desperate people. If people had known that he was rich but just did not have the funds would they have been more generous? We ultimately never know the circumstances of another. Are we all just afraid that someone is getting rich from begging? I do suspect he was a homeless man, although he looked fairly clean, who might live somewhere around there. If I am asked at that place again, I will be less willing to give, although is that right? I have no trouble giving from the community garden, but this did not sit as easy.

Paula