A phew phun photos from my June trip

Saturday morning, Mom, Lynn and Justin enjoyed a lovely breakfast repast on the ice cream-cone shaped concrete patio at PK's Coffee Shop. As we sat there, the owners came out and began installing the umbrellas for the tables. It finally was time for the sun to shine! It is so lush around their shop, as you can tell by the background foliage and such. I had a lovely Diet Coke and a sugar cookie, and took home a chocolate-covered rice krispie treat for later!

Eating again, this time at The Green Street Tavern with my family. From left is Lori; our cousin, Barbie; Lynn at the head of the table; Auntie Marie; and Mom. Barbie's spouse was going to come but he felt he'd be at a hen party so stayed home. We had to eat early because Barbie goes to bed around 8:00 pm due to her work schedule. Poor thing! She might as well be a farmer with those hours!

Here is a photo taken Friday at The Oar House (I believe I am wearing the same shirt today as I have on in the photo, bought at Younker's! Justin insisted I had already owned that shirt, but he is off by a few colors....) In the back is Linda J., me, and Joanie. Seated is Georgia, who is Linda's sister, and then Lynn and Lori, Kim's sisters! Such great food, too bad more people do not go there to eat! Lori owns the same shirt that I do, and she is wearing her own, not mine.

I am thinking about selling advertising space on my double chins!!! I complained to Kathy B., when I began losing weight, that my chins got flabbier---what is up with that??? She told me there are exercises found on-line to do in order to tighten up the chins and neck. Anyway, Tommy coaxed Linda into pulling my shirt down just as he took the picture....it could have been much worse with even more advertising space available!!!

Let's back up a bit

Time got away from me as did access to the Internet so I did not keep you all up with my visiting news in Manitowoc. Let's see now---where did I leave off? Ah, yes...taking Mom to the dentist! Lori and I both took her because we wanted to see if our family friend, whom we knew as Mary Beth, would be working that day. And she was! Mary was so very excited to see us, just could not believe we were there in the flesh. She took a break and we joined her in the staff dining room so we could visit properly. Mom was busy getting her teeth cleaned while we chatted. Lori and Mary were in the same grade from grade school through MLHS. I had hung out with her younger brother who was three years older than I am. Being kids, it did not seem to matter that he was a boy and me a girl, or the age difference. Alex and I had all kinds of fun playing by the creek, riding our bikes all over the place, basically just hanging out. We did, in fact, get to see Alex on the Sunday of the church picnic as he came upon our gathering on his way to walk by the lake. Such great fun seeing two people from our pasts, from the same family, in a week's time! Thank goodness for Facebook---sure helps us to reconnect via the Internet and in the flesh!

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After getting back from the dentist, with Mom coming out with no cavities and a brilliant smile, Lynn joined Lori and me for a trip to The Oar House where we met Linda J., her sister, Georgia and our shared friend, Joanie. The six of us basically had the place to ourselves until much later when three others came in for lunch. We wonder how they can stay open as there has never been more than six or so people eating there when we've been in the dining room. I am getting a complex over it! They have the most delicious 'treatment' for perch, almost like a shredded wheat coating on the perch plus the most delicious onion rings I have had in a long time. Oh yummy! We had good laughs to go with our good food. A photo was taken which will be posted later so you can put names and faces together.

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Lori's son, Dusty, had broken a bone in his leg, or ankle, attempting to master the skateboard on Monday evening. With Lori over at Mom's already, David had handled it in his own way, taking Dusty to the ER the following morning. Sadly, he felt Dusty was old enough to handle the exam and treatment on his own (David did not get the mother's manual, it seems...) so did not really know which bone was broken nor did he view the x-rays. He did not speak with the doctor regarding the treatment, relying on Dusty to repeat what the doctor had said. What Dusty did report was that he might need to have surgery to repair the break. David had to take Dusty back in to the ER very early Friday morning as Dusty was sure he'd been bitten by a brown recluse spider. His toes were swollen and he thought he could see bite marks on the end of his great toe. It seems it was the same doctor who treated the break who saw Dusty and was NOT happy with the care being given him. Evidently Dusty had been told to keep his foot elevated and packed with ice, which would have helped with the swelling, but he does not remember being told that. It did seem funny to us back home that he'd be out running around with his friends the day after breaking a bone, but that's just us, I guess. So, as you might guess, no spider bite to be found, but he absolutely must keep it elevated and take it somewhat easy.

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The two guys were driving to Manitowoc from Holmen in the afternoon on Friday. Justin had finally arrived mid-afternoon after considerable delay. His plans were somewhat 'altered' by his father's female friend who absolutely insisted that Justin get back from WI in time to celebrate Father' Day. She bought him a new plane ticket (I ate the return portion of his existing flight). She was even going to rent a car for him, which I found simply amazing since he is not 25 years old yet, and even paid down part of his credit card for him to cover the insurance. Well, that didn't work out when it came down to it, but he took it upon himself to get to Manty via the airport shuttle. Friday turned out to be a hot day so Lori, Lynn, Mom, and I sat outside to wait for his shuttle to arrive. Lori was just dying from the heat but I enjoyed it! Justin kept me updated on his status as he got closer to Manitowoc, even reporting seeing my niece's offices in Sheboygan when dropping off another passenger. Sweet! It was great to see him and we had to make the most of our short time together. Fortunately Alayna could join us for dinner which was really great for the cousins and his grandma!

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Mom did not join us for dinner on Friday, saying she just didn't know what to order any more. This time we chose Nikko's Thai American Restaurant, where Mom said they have great stir-fry. I had yet another great perch meal, me ordering from the American-side of the menu. Many of the others had the Thai menu, Justin's being just a smidge too 'powerful' for his taste. He had the option of ordering the strength of his sauce and chose the hottest one. Lesson learned for next time! He feels that if he had something to dilute the sauce with like sour cream or milk, it would have been 'cooler' for him. But, we ran out of time for him to eat the leftovers. My perch was made with a tempura-style coating, very lightly done but I couldn't eat it all. Jill took my remnants home with her leftover chicken cordon bleu.

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Kerry did not arrive at Mom's until early Saturday morning. She was bringing much of the foods to be prepped for the graduation party and upon her arrival, got busy making the sloppy joes. I had cooked my meat the day before so was out of the way for her working. Justin and I went to Copp's for the balance of the taco salad fixings and then went to Kohl's where I bought Justin flipflops and undies. There I ran into my friend Dolly's daughter, Kristin, who is friends with Justin on Facebook. They were born only one day apart! She is soon heading to Korea as part of her education and we wished her safe travels. I know her mommy is concerned about her trip but.......

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Tomorrow I will try to add the photos taken at Alayna's graduation party which can tell the story better than I can. Or in conjunction with me, perhaps! Today I went to buy my new flooring for the bedroom/office. Mike Kelley is picking it up on Thursday and will bring it over to acclimatize for a few days. That buys Justin and me a few extra days to get things moved out of my room and my 'mission control' center set up in the guest room for the time it takes to replace my floor. Can't be without my 'big' computer for very long, as it is newsletter time now and must be able to do my word processing and printing from it. I think I need it, anyway. Might just be me being dependent upon the big one! We shall see...

Oops! I poked a hole in the sky!

Finally I made it 'home' to Orange Park late on Monday afternoon, more than 24 hours after my bro-in-law, David, picked me up at Mom's! Yes, travel by air certainly has its adventures, or, should I say, all travel, has its adventures? This time it was a mechanical problem causing our departure delay, something which was reported the first time as taking only 10 to 15 minutes to repair....times about four or five! We were given the option of getting off the plane if we feared for our connections in Minneapolis, and I did since there was only 45 minutes between flights for the on-time arrival. Knowing I would never make it, I 'deplaned' in MKE with many of the other passengers, and got into line to try to make new arrangements. Their announcement to the already testy passengers was literally, "Hey, folks, it's a Sunday night in Milwaukee..." so basically we should not get our hopes up. Some did not take that attitude very well with one traveler using his golf language without restraint. Personally, I would have hauled him off, and who knows?, they may have after I got back on the broken plane!

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As we stood in line waiting for the agents to help us, another man trying to get to Jacksonville said he was calling Delta directly, using the "HELPLINE" number the staff posted on their board. The nice lady on the phone helped me arrange travel once I would get to Minneapolis, assuring me that getting to MPS was my best bet, since they are a Delta hub. She also told me I would have overnight lodging provided (Embassy Suites!!!) and a meal voucher. Nice! Another thing she told me was that I would get my luggage in MPS but that was not the case. Rats!

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A free shuttle took us weary travelers from the MPS airport to the hotel. My room was simply a delight and while I would have loved to have my nightie to wear for sleeping and my toiletries for the obvious reasons, the desk clerk provided me with what he had in order to make me 'tolerable' the next morning. I have a cute deodorant to use in the future for traveling, plus he gave me a single-use tooth brush and packets of tooth paste to prevent dog breath. He apologized for not having a brush for me, but that was just fine, I don't use a brush. My food voucher paid for part of my meal in their lounge where I enjoyed, and I mean ENJOYED mini-steak sandwiches with chunks of real steak. Perfection!

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Once back upstairs in my room, I got all comfy in my giant-sized bed, having set my alarms on the phone and on my nightstand (so weird to have a bedside clock!). The TV offered a multitude of stations but not WGN so no "Barney Miller" this Sunday night, instead a nice series of "Law and Order" to put me to sleep. Fortunately I had taken a Dramamine when I ordered my dinner which would help me fall asleep, and I did drop off, probably, right after 10:00 pm. I had been up REALLY early seeing Justin off for the airport in the wee hours on Sunday morning, and was not able to fully fall back to sleep after that (more on that another time!). Sleep felt very good and I awoke without help from the electronic alarms. I did have to chuckle when setting the one on the nightstand because it brought to mind a "Seinfeld" episode involving an Olympic runner missing his big race due to a malfunctioning alarm clock...

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The hotel shuttle took me back to the airport with plenty of time to spare. I had to check-in at the desk for boarding passes and seat assignments, where I also asked the question as to the status of my luggage. Man, how I wish I had not put the laptop in the suitcase! But I just didn't want to carry more than I had to. By they way, it did survive the trip, carefully packed in the same foam padding that protected Alayna's painting on the trip up. There was even time for breakfast in the airport, a cold Burger King croissant sandwich. I know it has been a VERY long time since I last had one of those, but I really remember them being a hot sandwich....

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With time before the flight and on the plane ride to Atlanta, my connecting airport, I had plenty of time to read. Yes, you read that correctly. Justin bought and read the entire "Overton Window" book, which came out on Tuesday, he bought it at the airport in JAX. He left it behind for me. I was already involved in another book, "Not Unto Us" which I had bought at NPH, but I can pick that up again once I am done with 'The Overton Window'. Halfway there already!

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Martie graciously came to collect me from the airport since Justin was working today. He was planning to come to get me last night already and was not a little bit relieved to know he could go to bed instead of staying up to collect me. Justin asked me if I minded 'cooling my heels' at the airport once my plane landed since he had to work until 5:00 pm. Of course I would not mind, I am an excellent waiter, but he made some calls and I made some to friends, to see who could pick me up at 2:39 pm. A couple of my friends who would ordinarily be accommodating have out-of-town company, another had a class, another was on the ice pack with an aching back....Justin finally managed to get through to Martie who was more than glad to come for me. As she drove up and totally missed me (had to go around again!) it had begun to rain. We drove home in nearly torrential downpours, complete with thunder and lightning. I was soaked to the skin for the second time in a week, as I got my suitcase out of the back of her car. No sense both of us getting soaked, right? At least its warm here, over 90 during the rain storm. I believe I must have poked a hole in the sky as we descended for landing! Martie said the sweetest thing to me as we drove along: "Now things will seem more normal...I don't know, I am just all mixed up with things when you are gone!" Who could ask for better than that???

It's almost time for me to go....

It’s been quiet on my blog for a few days because I have been doing my best to keep up with Facebook, grabbing Internet wherever I can. The other day I took Mom to get a haircut, which looks cute, by the way, and borrowed Internet at the booty shop. Lori and I got online after some intervention by the manager at Perkin’s Restaurant this morning where we had a late breakfast with Mom. Mom had lemon meringue pie for her meal, which Lori said has to stop! No more dessert as a meal! I had a wonderful new menu item, not potato pancakes, a steak biscuit cup thingy. Can’t describe it other than to say it was like a pot pie only smaller, served with Hollandaise sauce. Very tasty!
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We went to Festival Foods in search of the discounted butter we heard about only to discover it was not on special after all. Somehow we managed to fill our little carts with purchases, including some Diet Coke on special. The check-out lady was a former co-worker of Mom’s and it was nice to see her. It seems she is having similar back problems to those Kerry had around Easter and forward, now cleared up, and I told Mary Beth about the success Kerry had with the cortisone shot. I hope they can help her like Kerry was helped.
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From Festival we went to Wal*Mart to pick up Mom’s new scrip,called in by the doctor after we saw him yesterday. Strangely that was all we bought! When we got home and carried most of the purchases upstairs, Lori left us to go on a bike ride along the lakeshore. She brought her bike with her from Holmen and drove to the marina to start her 10 mile round trip circuit. Lori loved it, said it was just beautiful and enjoyable. Manty really has a lot to offer.
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Mom and I just stayed home the rest of the day until it was time to go meet my auntie and cousin for dinner. Once more I had a perch dinner at The Green Street. Tomorrow I am going to the Oar House with Linda J., her sister, and another friend from First German, Joanie, plus anyone else who would like to come. Justin arrives in the early afternoon and perhaps I will be home when he pulls in. His father’s girlfriend is renting a car for him so I can go off and enjoy myself and he will be a big boy, driving himself to Grandma’s!
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At some point I will have to pick up my ingredients for making taco salad for Alayna’s graduation party. I did buy the salad dressing since I found it at Festival and grabbed it. Kerry will be here tomorrow night, too, and likely making her sloppy joe’s in the kitchen so it would be best if I got mine made and out of her way. We don’t assemble it until just before it’s served so that will be simple to do once we get to the hall. So looking forward to seeing everyone there and having a great time feting our little girl!
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Tomorrow a.m. I am taking Mom for her dental appointment. It’s great for me to be able to be Mom’s driver and take my turn since my other sisters do it otherwise. We did get her hair cut and have one doctor visit taken care of with the dentist tomorrow. Only a few more days and then this family can get back to normal when I am gone….

Another fun-filled day

Yesterday morning I met Mona and Allie at Perkin's for breakfast, our usual meeting place. Allie filled me in on her track stats and plans for the summer before she had to leave to go work out before babysitting. That's a good girl! Mona and I spent more time chatting, discussing books, believe it or not, which is so strange for me. Mona said she could not even begin to try counting how many books she reads since it is not momentous for her to do so. Like Linda J., reading constantly!

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John and she celebrated 25 years of marriage last year without a party or other recognition, so this year, after Arno has died, they decided to take a trip to GA to fulfill a "Bucket List" item of John's, panning for gold! I am not sure if he actually got any gold, but Mona managed to find some semi-precious stones elsewhere that were then carved into necklace-sized jewels for her. She showed them to me and they are absolutely gorgeous stones, including garnets, hemitite, obsidian, and tiger's eye. A quick trip down and back by car, a nightmare car ride, according to her, but now can check it off the Bucket List for John!

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After our breakfast I went over to Wal*Mart to have a camera developed (disposable type) and looked at the cameras that were shown in the sales flyer. I found an inexpensive purse-camera, Canon Power Shot for less than $200 with accessories. This was a camera I had been lusting after even since my cruise to the Mediterranean in 2007 and now I have one! My "good" camera was accidently left behind on the table when I left so that is why I bought a disposable one for graduation. At long last, I have the more portable camera for quick shots. Justin will likely beg my digital EOS from me, but I already surrendered my 35 mm Canon to him.

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Mom and I went over to get her hair cut, again, like mine. I told the beautician that Mom had to swear to style it before going out or she couldn't get it cut my way. Otherwise, the style would look manish on her. Mom promises to take care of it so okay then! Linda, who uses the same beautician, is going to schedule her hair cut and Mom's on the same day so she can take Mom over to get hers cut. Thanks, Linda!

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When we got home, we were waiting for Lori to arrive. We timed it just right because shortly she pulled into the parking lot. Lori came bearing freshly picked strawberries from Holmen, and got busy making Bisquick biscuits to make shortcake for dessert. Lynn and Jill joined us for dinner at the Charcoal Grille, which was fantastic! We came back here for dessert and Alayna came by to say "hi". Today she was going to Eau Claire for her college orientation with her daddy (sniffle, sniffle...). Lori slept in Mom's living room with the door opened to the porch for cool air and all was well. No fighting, no arguing about the TV being on and her seeing flashing lights. She could read and sleep as she saw fit. All is well!

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Oh, and by the way, I have finished another book since I got here, St. Dunstan's and John, a history of the churches on the St. Johns River. That's five for the year thus far!!!!

Alayna getting her diploma

I could not be more proud of Alayna!!

Another wonderful day!

The hits just keep on coming around here! Last night Mom and I stayed home and enjoyed leftover hamburgers and/or hot dogs for our dinner. Kerry had already left to get back to Oshkosh in time for a wedding shower and Jill was in her apartment. Lynn had the two darling little boys overnight so they could join us for the church picnic today. Worship was held outdoors at 10:00 with the school band accompanying the hymns. They do a fine job of it, playing multiple stanzas of the hymns, in one case, 6. Not bad for grade schoolers!
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The readings were moving for me, two of them based upon the loss of a child and the return to life of each one. The widow at Nain and the boy living in the house with Elijah and the widow. Toward the end of the service, we had a prayer for a young Hmong mom who died at age 28, leaving two little ones behind. After the service, the congregation Chairman spoke to the assembly. Then pastor came back to announce they had just gotten word that one of the 4th graders had succumbed to his brain tumor and died this a.m. His teacher, Karen, was seated next to us and as soon as I could, I went to her to offer hugs and comfort. The other teachers came over as well and I saw many people wiping their eyes following that announcement. It was no surprise that he was dying, but it is always startling news to get.
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The picnic went on, as Pastor mentioned in his sermon, life and death co-exist in this world. It does seem somewhat odd, though, that we do simply go about our business when we know that in another household, hearts are breaking. It is a tough concept to embrace, that life is going on even as the world seems to be crashing down around us. Huh….The food was delicious, at least mine was, and it was so wonderful to see more of my friends and ‘family’ again. I visited the tables to see if folks needed anything, sampling their desserts as I went along. Pastor Rosenow saw me coming and threw himself over his plate like a live grenade…there was nothing there I wanted to taste anyway!
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The boys had a great time playing in the bouncy house and visiting the fishing pond. Lynn and Jill walked them down to the lake and back before Lynn took the boys home to their parents in Sheboygan. Alayna stayed for a bit and then left for more graduation parties. Hers is next week and we are so looking forward to that!
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After we were nicely stuffed and had laughed enough, sitting with Linda and others, Mom and I decided to come home. We arrived here about 2:00 0r so, which is so early for a church picnic. Not like the old days when we were kids! I do believe, however, that we did not have worship in the park beforehand, so would not have gotten there until after church was over at 11:30 or so. We would eat first, play in the creek until we ruined our new outfits bought special for the picnic, and then played the organized games with our grades. “Things are radically different now” as my cousin, Ronnie, would say.
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I took a rest while listening to the programs I downloaded in the park yesterday and believe I may have snoozed a bit. Mom likely did, too, in the living room. Lynn came over for a bit and we had some leftovers from the fry outs this past weekend before enjoying our blackberry pie purchased from the Amish booth at the garden show yesterday. We meant to take it to the picnic today but forgot so we enjoyed some this evening instead.
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Jill was coming up for a slice of pie, too, but thus far has not showed. Mom was covering it with wrap to keep it from drying out too much. It was “hot” today and I got some sun on my face---72 above zero at least!!! It felt jolly good, too! I was envious of Justin’s sermon he was going to hear today, referencing the movie “Pay It Forward”. Pastor Hoyer sends out a ‘teaser’ on Thursdays about his sermon for Sunday and I would love to have heard it. Ours heard today was good, too, but I have a special place for Pay It Forward and what it means. I wonder how Phil worked that into his sermon?? I wonder if it is available on-line????