🙂 We have two spectacularly beautiful beautiful trees at church, on either side of the front steps. I took my camera Sunday, guessing correctly that they would be in bloom.
😦 Last year they both froze at blooming time and had very few blossoms, and apparently that hurt part of one tree. Most of it no longer blooms with showy pink blooms, but instead with simple white ones. While I was photographing the other tree, an elder pointed out to me how the roots are damaging the foundation and the tree will probably have to be removed.
😦 Continuing bad news on my father-in-law’s health. He keeps having a new diagnosis of something else wrong with him every few weeks, and he’s clearly going downhill physically and in terms of his memory. He and Mom celebrate their 60th anniversary in June, and we’re planning a big party. It would be nice if he would live long enough for that, and be healthy enough to be aware and enjoy it, since that’s only seven weeks from now. (I expect him to live long enough to see it, but his rate of decline is increasing, and his communication skills are decreasing.) They married as teenagers.
🙂 My husband finished a major project (church-related) that he has been working on for months.
😦 I won’t really “get him back” (in terms of having him not overworked) till about the time of my in-laws’ anniversary party, however, so I’m still counting the weeks down.
🙂 A really nice visit with my favorite brother and sister-in-law (when you have five brothers, you’re allowed to choose a favorite).
🙂 I have a funny idea for a plot line for a new story I’m trying to work out. I’ll share it with you next week and you can help, too!
😦 I’m finding that even without working 15 hours a week, I’m having trouble getting this lengthy list of writing work done.
🙂 I’m grately the Lord has provided for the freedom to do all this work, but I’m amazed at how I ever got Poppy written–but of course, that was the grace of God.
🙂 Meeting coming up, outside of my control, that could determine my writing life. I’m honored to do the project if the opportunity comes my way but intimidated as well. I’m not sure what the prayer would be–that I would get the desire of my heart no matter how hard it is, or I’d be relieved of the burden?
(I thought I was relieved of the burden and then the project resurrected. Odd, that, but the whole situation is. But, this sure feels like walking in the spirit! 🙂 What do you think?)
🙂 So delighted for the Daily Breeze’s Pulitzer but also thankful the question of pay is coming up to hit paper owner in the face. It’s a tough financial world and model out there, but the United States of America NEEDS a strong fourth estate. Someone has to do the digging and a workman is deserving of his hire.
🙂 Heady week with our paper winning the Pulitzer. We needed the morale boost. But things are still hard.
😦 Lots of clouds and gray skies all week, but no rain. We’re seriously dehydrated.
😦 Annie Oakley has some kind of boo-boo. She’s eating and seems “ok,” just a little sore/tender in her hind quarters area where there also is a scab. I’m watching her closely, just want to make sure there are no signs of an infection going on.
🙂 Off to see Carol today and check out her new place — I also want to talk to the staff about their policy that doesn’t allow residents off the premises unless they’re escorted by staff (I presume I can take her out of there today for a couple hours). That’s never been the case at any of her other places where she’s always been free to leave with just signing herself out.
Carol loves going out to walk, going to the library, Starbucks, CVS/99-cent store — or wherever she can on her own. She’s going to go stir-crazy if she’s confined like that, I’m afraid. Residents also don’t have keys to their rooms there, so she can’t even lock her own door (she leans toward paranoia anyway, always afraid someone may steal her things, which means now she’ll be carting all her belongings around with her whenever she does get to go out).
So this place may not be a good fit, but I have no idea how hard/complicated it would be to move her yet again.
Ah, I got a free account. Yeah, 99 cents isn’t much but that was just for the 4-week trial, then you get hit with a $10 bill every month. Oh, the irony. 🙂 🙂
😦 🙂 Last day of the sale of my folks’ things. House sold, except for the final closing.
🙂 Seeing an old neighbor in a surprising way. My husband’s group doing a couple of musical numbers to honor a family whose husband/father/etc. died. It is nice to be able to do such things at the spur of the moment. One of the perks of retirement.
😦 🙂 10 hours of babysitting today, while Emily was at LPN training “clinical” (working with patients, today on a maternity ward).
The 😦 is because the day started when the little guy woke up earlier than he usually does, which was much earlier than I wanted to get up, & for the long hours.
The 🙂 is because we had a pretty nice day. Chrissy & I kept him occupied with a couple new games he has, & by a lot of outside play.
And also a 🙂 because he fell asleep & slept for the last hour before Emily got home.
Tomorrow Emily will be working, so I’ll be babysitting about nine & a half hours. But Lee will be here, as well as Chrissy in the afternoon.
😦 Just got a prayer email from church that one of our favorite older ladies (90s?) had a stroke and is in the hospital.
She’s been a special friend to Norma and I got to know her several summers ago at church family camp. We’d never spoken before as we sat so far away from each other in church on Sunday mornings. So it was fun to get to know her that summer week at camp.
And ever since, she always dashes over after the service to sit and chat for a while (she comes and sits with her extended family of lots of kids, grandkids, etc.).
😦 😦 Sad. She is still conscious, though is having trouble speaking
Elvera came in asking something about what she was wearing, compared to last Sunday.
I have no idea what she wore last Sunday.
I told her she looked good.
That’s good enough.
🙂 When I was writing my comment above last night, I’d forgotten that Forrest’s gramma was going to take him for a couple hours (which actually started an hour before Emily leaves, so it only trims off an hour of the day). His dad is supposed to have him for some time this afternoon, but that’s a wait-&-see kind of thing. And then we never know how long he’s actually going to keep him. (His dad was also supposed to have him yesterday, but blew it off.)
🙂 Chrissy made her delicious pancakes for dinner last night. Pancakes are her specialty, & she does them “just right”, not overcooked nor undercooked, but moist & fluffy. She uses a recipe I’d found in Joy of Cooking many years ago.
🙂 Fun date with Tim to the Western Development Museum yesterday – they had a new Franklin Expedition exhibit. It was interesting, but not very large.
🙂 Finally saw Tim’s brother whom we haven’t seen for years and met his fiancee. They are getting married in August.
🙂 Fiancee has brought a lot of joy and life back to Tim’s brother
😦 Brother seems to have become a Buddhist 😦
😦 The 2+ hour drive down became 4 hours on the way back with the temperature hovering around freezing and lots of wet, blowing snow mixed with rain.
🙂 Got to see daughter and dragged her along to supper with the extended family 🙂
🙂 She’s doing well – has joined a female football team and is now an offensive lineman (line woman?) Silly girl – hope she doesn’t get a concussion! 🙂 😦
🙂 Saw a fisher this week – they’re quite elusive and I have never seen one before! 🙂
I have never seen a fisher. I am one, though. That is something I have always thought would be cool to see. That and marten and mink and wolverine. From a distance, of course.
Pancakes are tricky to make, at least for me. The best results I had was using an electric skillet my mom gave me one christmas years & years ago and which I no longer have. I’ve seen them in the store since and been tempted to buy another, updated one, but haven’t …
🙂 Good message on Rom 10:1-4 this morning — One amusing point he made was that in a world that’s fond of quoting “judge not” from the Sermon on the Mount when it comes to voiced Christian ethics, it’s amazing how many of those very same people then pummel & hammer Christians or anyone else deemed to fall short of THEIR ethics and standards (he used the example on social media this week of the atheist celebrity who publicly went after the woman who killed a giraffe and posted a photo — I’m not fan of killing animals unless it’s necessary & the photo bothered me, too; but this celebrity was relentless in going after her with a vengeance, berating her endlessly to the point of prompting death threats against her).
😦 He also pointed out that to the extent we hold others in “contempt,” we are getting too comfortable in our own self-righteousness.
😦 Norma was feeling tired and didn’t come to church today. I’ll have to call her later to catch up, she said was OK, just really tired …
🙂 It was “unplugged” Sunday at church, something we’re now doing on the last Sunday of every month — singing from the hymnals, no screens, no electrified instruments. I like it.
Kare, I used to like to play football, too. Just ordinary backyard football with the neighbor kids.
The first time we ever played flag football at school (this was after I was already accustomed to backyard tackle football), I thought it was the lamest thing ever. 😉
6 – we played flag football with our youth group on Sunday afternoons – girls were allowed to tackle, but guys weren’t. We didn’t do much tackling, but it sure was fun!
I’ll confess, I & the neighborhood girls I grew up with gave tackle football a try. I remember my aunt and uncle laughing about hearing our body collisions outside the open window on some fall nights
Wandering Views 
🙂 It’s finally spring.
🙂 We have two spectacularly beautiful beautiful trees at church, on either side of the front steps. I took my camera Sunday, guessing correctly that they would be in bloom.
😦 Last year they both froze at blooming time and had very few blossoms, and apparently that hurt part of one tree. Most of it no longer blooms with showy pink blooms, but instead with simple white ones. While I was photographing the other tree, an elder pointed out to me how the roots are damaging the foundation and the tree will probably have to be removed.
😦 Continuing bad news on my father-in-law’s health. He keeps having a new diagnosis of something else wrong with him every few weeks, and he’s clearly going downhill physically and in terms of his memory. He and Mom celebrate their 60th anniversary in June, and we’re planning a big party. It would be nice if he would live long enough for that, and be healthy enough to be aware and enjoy it, since that’s only seven weeks from now. (I expect him to live long enough to see it, but his rate of decline is increasing, and his communication skills are decreasing.) They married as teenagers.
🙂 My husband finished a major project (church-related) that he has been working on for months.
😦 I won’t really “get him back” (in terms of having him not overworked) till about the time of my in-laws’ anniversary party, however, so I’m still counting the weeks down.
🙂 A really nice visit with my favorite brother and sister-in-law (when you have five brothers, you’re allowed to choose a favorite).
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂 Going to sleep to the sound of falling rain.
🙂 Waking up to birdsong..
🙂 Cheryl’s very nice book.
🙂 Lots of writing to do!
LikeLiked by 3 people
🙂 I have a funny idea for a plot line for a new story I’m trying to work out. I’ll share it with you next week and you can help, too!
😦 I’m finding that even without working 15 hours a week, I’m having trouble getting this lengthy list of writing work done.
🙂 I’m grately the Lord has provided for the freedom to do all this work, but I’m amazed at how I ever got Poppy written–but of course, that was the grace of God.
🙂 Meeting coming up, outside of my control, that could determine my writing life. I’m honored to do the project if the opportunity comes my way but intimidated as well. I’m not sure what the prayer would be–that I would get the desire of my heart no matter how hard it is, or I’d be relieved of the burden?
(I thought I was relieved of the burden and then the project resurrected. Odd, that, but the whole situation is. But, this sure feels like walking in the spirit! 🙂 What do you think?)
🙂 So delighted for the Daily Breeze’s Pulitzer but also thankful the question of pay is coming up to hit paper owner in the face. It’s a tough financial world and model out there, but the United States of America NEEDS a strong fourth estate. Someone has to do the digging and a workman is deserving of his hire.
Bye.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Heady week with our paper winning the Pulitzer. We needed the morale boost. But things are still hard.
😦 Lots of clouds and gray skies all week, but no rain. We’re seriously dehydrated.
😦 Annie Oakley has some kind of boo-boo. She’s eating and seems “ok,” just a little sore/tender in her hind quarters area where there also is a scab. I’m watching her closely, just want to make sure there are no signs of an infection going on.
🙂 Off to see Carol today and check out her new place — I also want to talk to the staff about their policy that doesn’t allow residents off the premises unless they’re escorted by staff (I presume I can take her out of there today for a couple hours). That’s never been the case at any of her other places where she’s always been free to leave with just signing herself out.
Carol loves going out to walk, going to the library, Starbucks, CVS/99-cent store — or wherever she can on her own. She’s going to go stir-crazy if she’s confined like that, I’m afraid. Residents also don’t have keys to their rooms there, so she can’t even lock her own door (she leans toward paranoia anyway, always afraid someone may steal her things, which means now she’ll be carting all her belongings around with her whenever she does get to go out).
So this place may not be a good fit, but I have no idea how hard/complicated it would be to move her yet again.
LikeLike
michelle, that sounds exciting … whatever it is … 😮
LikeLike
😦 Well, it seems I’ve hit my “limit” and can no longer read stories on my own paper’s website without paying 99 cents for more access. Argh.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That is rough.
LikeLike
Ah, I got a free account. Yeah, 99 cents isn’t much but that was just for the 4-week trial, then you get hit with a $10 bill every month. Oh, the irony. 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
Sheesh, Donna! 😦
😦 🙂 Last day of the sale of my folks’ things. House sold, except for the final closing.
🙂 Seeing an old neighbor in a surprising way. My husband’s group doing a couple of musical numbers to honor a family whose husband/father/etc. died. It is nice to be able to do such things at the spur of the moment. One of the perks of retirement.
🙂 Snowbird friends home for the summer.
LikeLike
Well, it was supposed to be the last day. Apparently, the sale will go one for a bit longer. It is difficult to be out of the loop, so to speak.
LikeLike
😦 🙂 10 hours of babysitting today, while Emily was at LPN training “clinical” (working with patients, today on a maternity ward).
The 😦 is because the day started when the little guy woke up earlier than he usually does, which was much earlier than I wanted to get up, & for the long hours.
The 🙂 is because we had a pretty nice day. Chrissy & I kept him occupied with a couple new games he has, & by a lot of outside play.
And also a 🙂 because he fell asleep & slept for the last hour before Emily got home.
Tomorrow Emily will be working, so I’ll be babysitting about nine & a half hours. But Lee will be here, as well as Chrissy in the afternoon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
😦 Just got a prayer email from church that one of our favorite older ladies (90s?) had a stroke and is in the hospital.
She’s been a special friend to Norma and I got to know her several summers ago at church family camp. We’d never spoken before as we sat so far away from each other in church on Sunday mornings. So it was fun to get to know her that summer week at camp.
And ever since, she always dashes over after the service to sit and chat for a while (she comes and sits with her extended family of lots of kids, grandkids, etc.).
😦 😦 Sad. She is still conscious, though is having trouble speaking
LikeLike
😆
Elvera came in asking something about what she was wearing, compared to last Sunday.
I have no idea what she wore last Sunday.
I told her she looked good.
That’s good enough.
LikeLiked by 3 people
🙂 When I was writing my comment above last night, I’d forgotten that Forrest’s gramma was going to take him for a couple hours (which actually started an hour before Emily leaves, so it only trims off an hour of the day). His dad is supposed to have him for some time this afternoon, but that’s a wait-&-see kind of thing. And then we never know how long he’s actually going to keep him. (His dad was also supposed to have him yesterday, but blew it off.)
🙂 Chrissy made her delicious pancakes for dinner last night. Pancakes are her specialty, & she does them “just right”, not overcooked nor undercooked, but moist & fluffy. She uses a recipe I’d found in Joy of Cooking many years ago.
LikeLike
🙂 Fun date with Tim to the Western Development Museum yesterday – they had a new Franklin Expedition exhibit. It was interesting, but not very large.
🙂 Finally saw Tim’s brother whom we haven’t seen for years and met his fiancee. They are getting married in August.
🙂 Fiancee has brought a lot of joy and life back to Tim’s brother
😦 Brother seems to have become a Buddhist 😦
😦 The 2+ hour drive down became 4 hours on the way back with the temperature hovering around freezing and lots of wet, blowing snow mixed with rain.
🙂 Got to see daughter and dragged her along to supper with the extended family 🙂
🙂 She’s doing well – has joined a female football team and is now an offensive lineman (line woman?) Silly girl – hope she doesn’t get a concussion! 🙂 😦
🙂 Saw a fisher this week – they’re quite elusive and I have never seen one before! 🙂
LikeLike
I have never seen a fisher. I am one, though. That is something I have always thought would be cool to see. That and marten and mink and wolverine. From a distance, of course.
LikeLike
Pancakes are tricky to make, at least for me. The best results I had was using an electric skillet my mom gave me one christmas years & years ago and which I no longer have. I’ve seen them in the store since and been tempted to buy another, updated one, but haven’t …
LikeLike
Mmmm, pancakes… 🙂
LikeLike
::roll:
A female football team?
LikeLike
Chas – 🙂 yup – she says she loves it because she gets to hit and tackle people – she’s a funny girl.
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂 Good message on Rom 10:1-4 this morning — One amusing point he made was that in a world that’s fond of quoting “judge not” from the Sermon on the Mount when it comes to voiced Christian ethics, it’s amazing how many of those very same people then pummel & hammer Christians or anyone else deemed to fall short of THEIR ethics and standards (he used the example on social media this week of the atheist celebrity who publicly went after the woman who killed a giraffe and posted a photo — I’m not fan of killing animals unless it’s necessary & the photo bothered me, too; but this celebrity was relentless in going after her with a vengeance, berating her endlessly to the point of prompting death threats against her).
😦 He also pointed out that to the extent we hold others in “contempt,” we are getting too comfortable in our own self-righteousness.
😦 Norma was feeling tired and didn’t come to church today. I’ll have to call her later to catch up, she said was OK, just really tired …
🙂 It was “unplugged” Sunday at church, something we’re now doing on the last Sunday of every month — singing from the hymnals, no screens, no electrified instruments. I like it.
LikeLike
Don’t underestimate the girls, Chas
LikeLike
I would be afraid of a girl who is a tackle on a football team.
😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ooh, ooh, ooh, I’ve seen a mink! Never seen fisher or marten, but I’ve seen a mink and I’ve seen muskrat (three times).
LikeLike
Son number seven tells me that son number one is now engaged. He saw it on Facebook. I sure am out of the loop.
LikeLiked by 2 people
She’s really a gentle, girl with a sweet spirit – but she loves to do different things, Chas.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Donna – Chrissy uses our electric griddle for the pancakes. Works great!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, the secret ingredient, see?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wouldn’t bet on a team with gentle guards and tackles.
😆
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gentle in some circumstances, not in all? I’ll raise you, Chas 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to laugh (still do) at the idea that a female president would bring a more peaceful world. Um, no … Not really. 😉
Women never forget
LikeLiked by 1 person
Does AJ allow betting on here? I’ll bet he doesn’t. 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oops, forgot about the pickled pigskins stuff.
LikeLike
Kare, I used to like to play football, too. Just ordinary backyard football with the neighbor kids.
The first time we ever played flag football at school (this was after I was already accustomed to backyard tackle football), I thought it was the lamest thing ever. 😉
LikeLike
6 – we played flag football with our youth group on Sunday afternoons – girls were allowed to tackle, but guys weren’t. We didn’t do much tackling, but it sure was fun!
LikeLike
I’ll confess, I & the neighborhood girls I grew up with gave tackle football a try. I remember my aunt and uncle laughing about hearing our body collisions outside the open window on some fall nights
… 🙂
LikeLike