Home From St. Cloud March 30, 2023 Hello, We came home from St. Cloud, MN yesterday afternoon. I know most people go south in the winter, but we and one other couple “bucked the trend” by visiting two couples who live in that wonderful city. It was a solidly good choice of a thing to do with being a tourist, talking, laughing, and eating. We learned some things about the city and the area. There is life even if the snow is deep. The weather was better than expected with most days in the 40-degree F. level. The sun on the snow was beautiful. Leroy, and one of the women and I walked three of the days. She took us on two walks around their respective neighborhoods and one along the Mississippi River. Each was quite nice. I can say that Leroy and I got our 10,000 steps all but one day. It was great to see the fast-flowing water, some ducks, geese and up on a tall pole a rather large, but unidentified woodpecker.

We had visited a museum that showed many of the local birds and animals in the area it was great to see that as well as an exhibit about World War II. On the day we returned it was 2 degrees so we did not get in any outdoor walking. However, it is noticeable as we traveled south the snow amount got smaller and smaller until it was no longer there. I was amazed by the coleus that I have in a pot. They grew a lot while I was gone. Apparently, they did not miss me. Both the white and the pink cactus have a new blossom open. I like coming home to plant beauty.

Paula

Dressing for the weather

Hello, Dressing for the weather might seem easy, but it can be tricky even if layers are used. The temperature was about 40 F. when I left for church. I should have checked the temperature so I would know what it would be on my walk home. I was quite comfortable on the way to church, but too warm on the way home. It is good to dress in layers, but what to do with the layers when it is time to remove them? I will have to figure that out. It does help when I have my backpack so I can put gloves, hat, or scarves in it. Today I did not have such. We will walk to church again tonight, hopefully I will be more at the proper layer level. Leroy has some trouble with this when he rides his bike to work. He mostly dresses for the cold and then is too warm on the way home. My house plants in the sunny windows need so much more water than those in a shadier area. One of the pots with coleus in it had a drooping branch. After a good drink this morning it has revived. I will have to water everything well on Friday before we leave. Leroy has a doctor appointment so I can do that while waiting for him to return. I did not get this sent yesterday. Dressed ok in the evening, but still a little warm. We have Wednesday evening meals before the service. Leroy and I were signed up to serve. We arrived early so we could eat ahead of time. For some reason there were no volunteers to help with set up so we did some of that. Much had been done, however we added to the total. As soon as was necessary we started to serve. There was a pizza option and we helped with that. The pizza was not cut through so we had to do a lot of cutting before handing it out. After the serving there were not many to help with clean up so we got into that too. I stayed down longer than Leroy because I had gone to the service at noon. A service once a day was enough for me. We had choir practice after, making it a full night. I can say with certainty that we were very tired. It was even more of an effort than usual to walk home. Paula

The Right Thing

Hello, I have several email accounts, one of them is strictly for money issues. If you had asked me, I would have told you that I look at that account often. However, I learned the truth because there was an email that needed attention. It expired after a week because I had not tended to it. This morning I called the company and told them that I had not checked the email until today. The person assured me it was ok, but it does not feel that way to me. 1when talking to the representative, I had forgotten to have my account number handy so I was asked some security questions. One was about the color of one of our cars. I guess I was so agitated that I did not really listen and gave the wrong color. He then repeated the year and make of car and I gave the correct answer. “Oh, for heaven’s sake.” After all that I learned that I was talking to the wrong department so I had to make another call to a more local person. Finally, this afternoon I read the new resent email and followed instructions for an electronic signature. It is fast on one level, but slow on the uptake. I now have a new resolve to look frequently at that email account. The problem is that it can be days before there is anything in there. It will have to be just a routine that I adapt. Can I do it? I certainly hope so. Paula

Sheets on the Clothes Line

Hello, We hung out sheets and other light laundry today. Our bedroom now smells great. I am ready to get into bed and snuggle in it. It was still freezing when we put things on the clothes line, but it is up to 60 F. now. Lovely! Our weather station has some trees on it and one of them is supposedly blooming. We are not quite that deep into spring. When it is the first day of summer the leaves are green in fall or autumn, the tree has colored leaves, and in the winter no leaves. At least I know when it is the new season on the calendar if not in nature. We delivered all but a small amount of the newsletters today. I plan to finish tomorrow, but it might rain. Will see what happens. It is not good to have those papers out there getting wet. It is illegal to put them in the mail boxes, so they are on the steps or inside a porch if it works that way. The wind today did keep it feeling a little cooler, but it was not windy like it has been in the last few days. Wind seems to be a constant. Paula

Family Visit

Hello, Last night we met my brother and his family as well as my brother-in-law for a visit and a meal. I was to be responsible for the reservation at the restaurant. I do not like to make phone calls so I put if off. We could not get an answer at this place so ended up there and learned that it was closed as they were on vacation. Groan! I felt so responsible for this glitch in timing. We went to another place and had a very nice visit as we waited to be seated and then during the meal. It was maybe even better than the original place. It lightly rained almost all the time on the drive to the place. That is not such a deal, but I feel requires more concentration. Leroy, who was not driving, did take a short nap. He is working five days this week. When we made a plan for this week, I assured him that I would drive and he could sleep both drives which is a bit over an hour each. On the way home the rain was much more serious. In the dark it required serious concentration for me to see the side of the road. Leroy assisted me with turns and from time to time keeping in my lane. After about fifteen minutes in the country the rain was pinging against the car. We believe it had become sleet. It was coming down so thick that it was difficult to see. The wind required me to steer against it or into it depending on the angle of the road. I was happy when someone would pass me on the four-lane road and I could follow their tail lights as long as I could see them. It was about another twenty minutes later and the sleet turned to snow. It was much quieter and I did not really need the windshield wipers. I was especially alert over any bridges or overpasses as I was watching the temperature go down and those surfaces often freeze first. It never got lower than 33 F. degrees so it was good. The roads were warm from the 47 degrees in the daylight. So that was good. We did not really see snow on the grass and cars until we were back in our city. Then I felt quite secure. Leroy did stay awake for the entire ride home. I was grateful as I like a little company when the going is harder. Paula

Church and Talk

Hello, Leroy walked to his early morning bible study because he wanted to get some steps and with the organization of the day it would not have happened if he had driven there and on to work. He also told me that he did not know where to put his bike during supper, church, and choir this eveing. He had one bike stolen from the church area so he did not feel comfortable locking it up there. I walked to church for a study, stayed for a concert, followed by a service which also was followed by a meal. That gave me much time to visit with people and that was good for my soul. The concert was by a singer from one of the local colleges. He has a wonderful voice. He sang some new music by an Iowa composer which included the poems of an Iowa author. The poetry was based on farm life. I found it quite good. After I came home, I delivered more neighborhood newsletters. I do not think it is half done but it is now a good start. Leroy will be working for the next three days so I will have more time to get deliveries made. We are going to Minnesota at the end of next week so I want to get it done before we leave. If it does not rain or snow much, I should be able to do that. I will go back to church tonight so I will get a lot of steps today since I already have 11,000. Walking up and down from people’s houses gives me many steps. I even get a bit of hill work. Paula

Family Photos

Hello, We had some family pictures taken in 2009. I had originally intended to have them up on the wall or some place in separate frames. While I was showing them to people before they were in frames, I had them all laid out on a table. Someone suggested that I put them all in formation and all in one fame. I am so happy they said that and arranged them for me. We have the fourth set of family pictures to go in that frame. At first when the frame came home, I had it in the living room, but could not see it very often so I put it in the kitchen close to the table. Now I look at those pictures every day because I do not skip meals here, unless I am gone for the day. It is such joy to look at the smiling faces of people I love. We had pictures taken at Thanksgiving. It has taken quite a long time to get things all organized but today I took the frame and new photos to the shop to have the new replace the old. I will not get them back until the end of the month. I am so ready for that. I am including a picture of the bare kitchen wall

and a shot of the first group that we had done.

That year we had the photographer print up the pictures and I might go back to doing that as it was so well done and balanced. At the store she did tell me they would clean the frame and the glass. I did dust it before I took it in, but did not check for spots, etc. I suppose kitchens are a bit of a risk for photos. Pictures are good indeed. They lift my heart. Paula

Laundry Carts

Hello, Who knew there is a plethora of laundry cart designs. I was serious about getting those with some donations to the drop in homeless shelter. It is a place where they can do laundry and take showers. There were no carts so clothes often ended up on the floor. One company had 33 laundry cart styles to choose from! This afternoon I met with the person who suggested it as a need. It took a bit of searching to find the style that she wanted. We ended up ordering two of them from a big box store. Leroy and I also made a donation to this project. Any extra money will be spent on laundry soap or shampoo. I am so happy to do this. It helps me to feel that I am contributing something of value. Leroy went with me on this trek because I thought we could use his tablet to order, but it did not make a good internet connection. We had to use a computer in the office. Fortunately the terrific help of the secretary there, was able to get the order aqccomplished. After we got the order done we walked to the library which is about half a mile. That was a nice walk, but the bag was a bit heavy with books and Leroy’s tablet. I only checked out two books, but he checked out four books. I carried the smaller weight to the library and he carried the full load back. Paula

Time Change

Hello, Who decides when it is time to move the clock ahead or back? It seems to come out of nowhere. We managed to get up early, at least Leroy woke me up. We had church choir this morning and that means going 30 minutes early to warm up and practice. I was happy to arrive at church as the wind was strong and cold. We did not dilly dally. Brian and family are in Poland now. I think it is a good time to be there since they only have the travel time adjustment when they get back. Leroy and I have traveled, changed time, come back changed time, and then had to change again with the semiannual time change. That was more then I would ever like to do again. I have been ready to eat an hour early for all meals and snacks so far. See I am flexible. What I will be like a few days from now is a guess. We should not have too much trouble going to bed early as we seem to have adapted to an age when it is quite natural. This morning on our walk to church I was rather surprised to see a homeless person out at that early hour. I assume homeless because of the things she had with her. We do often see them by this convenience store, but not so early when it is so cold. I believe they have some money so they come to buy as this place is open earlier than most. Much of the food there is not good for a steady diet. Paula

Today is a day off

Hello, Yesterday was such a busy day. We had to stick to the schedule to make it all happen. One added thing was that we missed two papers that needed to be turned in to our tax person. So that meant a trip across town. It was quite nice today with a light schedule. I found myself wanting to go some where or do something. Guess I am never satisfied. I did finish a book. Even though it was fiction it had such a serious topic of trafficking native girls. The author had a forward about how pervasive the problem is. It was certainly not uplifting to know about that. To a degree, I am not surprised as it is always the vulnerable who are preyed upon by the greedy. Not quite sure what my role should be in all of that. My next book is going to be much lighter. I could use some humor. Not necessarily proud of that need, but I feel mostly helpless in the face of so much of this. We did pay the car insurance yesterday. Then today we could not find the cards that go in the car or in our wallet. After a hard search of a file, I found them. Nice to now we can find a few things. Paula

Steps and More Steps

Hello, Yesterday, I walked to church twice and then had a long walk with a friend. My steps added up to 18,521. I will admit to being tired and glad to stop. I would like to take some from yesterday and add them to today. I have been on a 12-day step streak. It feels important to get the rest for today since it is over 7,000. We are getting some snow and I had thought to go out and shovel, but it keeps melting on the sidewalk. It is beautiful on the trees. With the temperature at 36 F. I am surprise that so much is hanging around on the grass. Leroy called to report that the museum is closed. He is going to stay since he figured he would have no trouble coming home. I agree as the street looks good here. He is so lucky because he does not have to clear snow off the car as it is parked in the garage at work. At least I did not have to think about coming home late in the day from work. I was out this morning before the snow came. I had both a Dr. appointment and delivered our tax papers. We like to have the tax papers in long before this, but we still needed one report. A bit of my memory is that we already had that paper, but it disappeared. Could that be that we would misplace it, lose it? I am happy to have those papers out of here. With a bit of luck and some searching I figured out how to save a photo from and email to the phone. Now I just want to get a print made. Paula

Where is … March 8, 2023 Hello, I have a booklet from our weekly study that I will take back with me to save paper, etc. Where did I put it? It was a logical place so I could find it a week later, but not have it in my way since I do not like clutter. There is a fine art to hiding something from yourself and I seem to have perfected it. After looking in the most logical places and not finding it, I moved on to illogical places. Then I moved on to berating myself for such an ill-chosen place, whatever it is. From there I had a talk with myself about beating up on me. A bit after that I looked in one more place. Oh, there it is! When I bring it home today, I will put it in the first place I looked, because it must be the most logical. Do you want to bet on where I will actually look next week? I do not. On a more positive note, I cut some of the leggy coleus that Leroy has at the museum. The cuttings look splendid in the jar as they grow new roots while soaking up the sun and the atmosphere in our house. One sprig looked quite sad and wilted. I moved it along with another that had a shorter stem to a smaller vase. Cutting the bottom of that stem seemed like a good idea. I am quite pleased with the result as the leaves keep coming back to life with the addition of water. There is rebirth and renewal. Now we could just master that for people the world would be a better place.

Paula

Spring Garden?

Hello, Leroy and I went to a talk by a Master Gardener. There was interesting information on container gardening. I learned I should be more careful about cleaning pots when I reuse them. It was also fun to reconnect with a friend who was there. Now we are both focusing a bit more on gardening. We must get some more seeds. I have been wondering about starting some lettuce in a protected area. When we lived in St. Paul, MN, I remember a man telling me that you could start onions in March in MN. I still wonder how he did that. My winter onions are just now starting to look a little green. Leroy is also turning his attention to the community garden. We did not get everything out of it before the cold was too intense. So plants are still hanging around, perhaps harboring insects of various qualities. We do deliberately leave flowers and leaves by the house to encourage some winter homes for insects, hoping mostly give a home to those that we like. It looks a bit unkempt by the house, but it is only temporary. Because, of course, in the spring and summer it is wonderful looking. No, it isn’t, again, we barely come up to the acceptable standard of weed free, etc. We know others who get seed catalogs and they are already turning to the idea of planting. There is something so satisfying about feeling the soil on my hands. This must be true of others as well. Paula

Following the recipe

Hello, I had a recipe for a crustless veggie quiche. That had a great appeal today because we had all of the ingredients and it would need the oven, warming up the kitchen. First it called for 7 egg whites. I like to use the whole egg. Leroy thought four eggs sounded like a nice substitution. That was the biggest change. After that Leroy said as he finished cutting the mushrooms, “It is a little more than a half cup so I am just going to put it in?” “Ok,” I amiably replied. Then when he cut up the orange pepper, which was supposed to be red, but no red in the house, he said, “Oh there is only a little pepper left. I am going to put it all in.” Again, I agreed. It was supposed to have garlic powder and we had chopped up garlic. It was a guess as to how much, but we forged ahead. After we had it in the pie plate, Leroy said, “That does not look like enough cheese. We should add more.” We did follow the suggested oven temperature and cooking time. Have I trained Leroy well? Paula

Competitors?

Hello, Yes, Leroy and I compete against each other. For instance, we do not like it when one of us gets ahead of the other in terms of steps taken. We are both ok with each of getting more than 10,000 per day, but we do not like to be the lowest if less than that. When we play games there is definitely a sense of competition. Generally, we can still speak to each other, but the loser is basically disgusted. We do cooperate in many other areas. Often when we eat out we share some of the meal with each other. For instance, one of us might order a salad and the other soup. The helps us not to be over fed. Plus we get to sample more things. At breakfast we often share an apple, orange, and banana. I like that because then I get more fruit variety. We also often wash dishes and dry together because we do not have a power washer, but use the old-fashioned hand method. Leroy is also very good at putting lotion on my back. I will return the favor if he wants, which only happens occasionally. We share bed and blankets, but sometimes someone will take more than their share. We do not easily share a hymnal, mostly because our eyes do not operate on the same level. I believe that when Leroy retires completely, we might have to have another computer as we often want to use it at the same time. We feel that we can manage with one car at that point, but who knows? Paula

Not the proper size

Hello, I seem to be the in between size for a number of things. First there is my new bike which is really a little small for me even after a handle bar adjustment. The seller tells me it is because I am right in the middle of what is available. Going too big does not appeal to me in a bike. Leroy is determined that I find a better fit so I want to ride more. Perhaps it can be done. Then there is clothing. I just bought two cuddle duds bottoms. One is too large and one is too small. The too small is going back and the medium size is staying because it is so comfortable. It bags a little here and there, but I can live with that. Maybe people will think that I lost weight rather than that I do not know how to find the right clothing. Should I try to gain weight? Should I try to lose weight? It is a sad question. For now, I am just going to stay the way I am and hope to find more things that fit well enough to feel good while I am wearing them. I do not do well with tight clothing, but I am learning that a fairly snug fit is warmer. Paula

Walking Into the Wind

Hello, The sun was out and it seemed warm in the sheltered area by the house. I started out wearing my packable down coat which is not so warm. It was unzipped, but it was not long before the zipper came up which was followed by raising the hood. My lighter gloves were ok. Too bad I do not get extra steps for the extra energy that it takes to keep going forward. I was going to a study at church and had just barely gotten there when it was time for the study on the stations of the cross. There was a nice group of people there, most of whom I knew. That is one of the best things about being in a place for a longer time, to see familiar faces. Then there was a concert/prelude to the mid-day service. The flutist played a regular flute, followed by an alto flute which had a curved part. She also had a sub contra bass flute. That certainly expanded my flute knowledge. It was beautiful. The service was meaningful. It was followed by a light lunch. One of the best things was having some time to visit with people. I earned over 7,000 steps so maybe I did get some credit for waging battle with the wind. I am going back to church tonight for choir practice. Leroy will go to church service before that, but I do not generally go twice in one day. Paula