Working backwards

Tuesday in Manty was a lovely day, with high temps in the 80’s, windy and even a crash of thunder to startle us at one point. Lynn did not hang her wash out today as it was predicted to be a stormy one but that really did not materialize. In fact, her wash would have been dried in no time at all in the wonderful breezes. Oh well….instead, we went to have breakfast at Warren’s Restaurant, although one of us actually had breakfast!

From there we went to Hartmann’s Garden Center where Mom found some flowers to plant in her window box and I found a lovely glass candle holder on sale in the gift shop. And made a friend, who enjoyed looking at the pretties as much as I did! We also made a trip to Wal*Mart to get a few things but we were warned of a pending storm complete with hail so hurried through the store to avoid being pelted. That never did happen so we rushed for no reason. After dropping off Lynn at her home again, Mom and I came back and wrestled our purchases up to her apartment. Whew! Who knew “Bonanza” was such a fun show to watch in the middle of the day?

Since I had trouble going to sleep last night, it felt good to take a short nap before having dinner at The Green Street with Lynn, Jill, and Danny. Perch! At long last, I had my perch, and no bones caught in my throat, either. Oh, so good! Mom was tired so opted to stay home but I brought her a piece of poppyseed torte and a perch filet to enjoy at home.

Earlier at Wal*Mart, I got a bottle of Tylenol PM to take for sleeping, normally breaking one in half at bedtime. That might have been my problem last night, as I had not brought any along for this trip. Tonight will certainly be a good sleep!

Monday morning some of us met for coffee at Manitowoc Coffee before heading out to the curb to watch the Memorial Day parade. What a delight it was to see the patriotic parade, soldiers and sailors and even Civil War re-enactors march along ‘main street’. (I took many photos but have not a way to unload them here, will have to wait until I am at home or perhaps on Jill’s computer, if she has a place to insert my photo card in her printer. That would be awesome!) Lisa and her family joined Mom, Lynn, and me to wave and put our hands on our hearts when the flag came by. At one point, when packing up, I realized my purse was not with me, and I rushed back into the coffee shop building to see if it was in there. Sure enough, one of the shop owners had just discovered it hanging on a chair and asked me, “Are you looking for this?” I hugged and kissed her and wished her God’s blessings for saving me losing my purse. Love love love this small town culture!!!

In the afternoon, Alayna and I attended a graduation party at church while the rest of the family went to Lisa’s house in Sheboygan for a cook-out. Naomi’s party was a true delight and I enjoyed chatting with some ladies there, some of whom are life-long acquaintances and one, a Facebook friend! We stayed about an hour or so and then headed to Lisa’s, arriving in time to eat again. They had a bonfire going in the backyard which was most welcome as it was NOT in the 80’s for Memorial Day! Lisa made apple and cherry ‘pies’ on her bonfire using a camping tool called Camp Chef, with simple slices of bread and pie filling. Yummy! Angelo, was, of course, adorable as all get out, laughing at himself in the mirror on his bouncing seat. Love it!

When we got back to the apartment, I watched a couple episodes of “House” before Mom and I watched the reunion show of M*A*S*H last night before going to bed, and, as mentioned, I had troubles going to sleep.

Sunday was graduation in the afternoon at MLHS and I got to see so many people that I knew. Family members and extended family from the in-law side of the family, folks I knew from FG days, and met Lisa’s pastor from where the boys attend school. She introduced me as the “auntie who writes the thank you notes” for the tuition help her family got for the boys’ education. I began to thank him some more and got choked up, explaining, “I cry easily…” and he said, “It must run in the family!” which made us laugh! She is just like me in that respect. His wife will be the boys’ teacher this next semester, both in the same classroom for 2011-12.

It was a quiet evening on Sunday, as we were tired from our full day of worship, fellowship, and then more fellowship around a large table at “Fork and Knife” restaurant with the family and Tom and Linda. The waitress did a fine job taking care of all of us, with Lori and David leaving right from there for home. Lisa and family were there, too, as they stayed overnight at the hotel where Lori was, enjoying the pool in the evening after Danny’s party, which was on Saturday. A nice weekend all in all for them.

As I mentioned, I have tons of photos to share but they will have to wait until I can unload them somewhere. We were in the news paper, my family was, either at MLHS graduation or at the parade. Celebs all!