A blessed Memorial Day

Today was marvelous in so many ways. This morning my plans were changed from the original because Lori adjusted her plans to arriving today instead of later in the week.  I was planning to spend the afternoon at Linda's and having dinner with Tommy and her.  Linda said she was like Gumby---flexible so instead she swung by and picked me up after 8:00 to start our day together. I hustled to get myself presentable and did so in less than 10 minutes. It can be done!!

We hit Festival running and even "ran" into some people we knew from church shopping for picnic foods. The parade was cancelled this morning due to bad weather predicted so people were making alternate plans. Just like I did!  Linda's daughter and family are coming tomorrow to celebrate the twins birthday so we picked up some items for that party. I got some more caramel puff corn and some Diet Coke. Oh, and a package of peanut squares.  Yum!

When we got back to her house she helped me get hooked up to her laptop so I could work on the church newsletter. What a blessing!!  While she got her stuff together for tomorrow's party, I worked and talked!  I'm good that way, as is she. I can't wait to try her recipe for making twice baked potatoes for Justin and me when I get back home. Those potatoes will be part of their celebration feast for Madison and Cassidy. 

Linda and I had a great afternoon watching the documentary "Honor Flight", fitting for Memorial Day. We cried almost all the way through it.  It was a perfect "Kim and Linda" day!  We enjoyed cheese and sausage crackers for our afternoon repast, with a peanut square for dessert. Good treats!  Linda took me back to Mom's to wait for Lori to get there. 

Lori and Dustin arrived about 4:30 and plans were made to have dinner at The Charcoal Grill.  We had to wait for Jill to get home from work as the ice cream parlor was quite busy.  It turned out to be a lovely day anyway so business was brisk. Mom even got talked into joining Lynn, Jill, Danny, Dustin, Lori and me for dinner. Our meals were great and the time together special, in my opinion.  Now it's time for bed!  Good night all!

A trip to Howards Grove

My nephews were in a school play, a musical at St. Paul's, Howards Grove Thursday night. Oh, what a good show it was and how fun for me to see them in a school production for once. Twice the Christmas plans to see them in their service were dashed---once by weather and once because they were sick. They did a good job in this production,as did their classmates and director/teacher.

In the center in the blue plaid shirt is Manny, who had a speaking role. Their grandma, Lynn, was quite helpful in getting the two boy's outfits together. Gabe played President Jackson but I didn't get a nice picture of him in his role. 

Mom and Jill sat in the chairs while Lynn, Noah, and I sat on the bleachers. Angelo enjoyed the play and being 'busy' with things. He is such a cutie pie!

These two can hardly contain themselves after the play! I didn't get a chance to read the bios on the wall of the gym but Lynn said they wrote something flattering to her and thanked God for their blessings. So nice! 

 On the ride home, we witnessed this lovely sunset which begged to be captured. In fact, Lynn, in her car ahead of us, called to make sure we saw it and took a picture of it. Mom, with us, could not believe Lynn would use her phone while driving. No matter how old we are.....

My forgetful sister

While Lori is here in Manitowoc, she is sleeping in Mom's bed. Mom does her best sleeping in the chair anyway, she claims. Besides, Mom is up with the birds and if Lori was sleeping in the living room, well, that wouldn't work very well. We earlier risers are quiet so that Lori can sleep, as she stays up late and reads. 

When she got up Lori wanted to have an early lunch before she headed for home. First she had to pack her stuff up and we loaded it in the car, remembering her giant kite for Nolan. We went over to Perkin's to have our lunch, Lori treating Mom and me. I took part of mine to-go and as we were checking out, I saw that they had cheese soup as their special. The nice young lady got me some to-go which will go nicely with my leftovers. 

Lori dropped Mom and me off at her apartment and began her long ride home. She had to get there in time to meet a limousine which was taking her Bunco team to their site this evening. One of their friends has a connection which is how they got the limo service for their end-of-year gathering. I know she would really hate to miss that.  

Later in the afternoon, Mom went into her bedroom for something and discovered that Lori left a pair of earrings behind on the dresser. I could mail them to her, but before I could say the words, Mom exclaimed, "Oh, no, she left her computers!"  That girl somehow packed up her suitcase but left a laptop and Kindle behind, and their power cords. Mom instructed me to NOT call Lori, fearing she would drive off the road trying to find her phone, so I sent David a text message to tell him. He couldn't believe it but did not tell me what to do with the machines. Lori had mentioned the possibility of making a return visit so that is what we will go on. Last summer when she left here she accidentally took Mom's set of keys with her, always something! 

Happy feet and tummy

What a great day we had today!  This a.m. we ladies went to Sassy's to have our feet attended to, Mom's treat. Lori drove Mom and me over to the salon, meeting Lynn there. When we pulled up to let Mom out, one of the ladies came running out to scoot her along with her walker into the salon, as though time was short. It was not but nevertheless....The urgency was rather comical. Unfortunately Jill was not able to join us as it's a work day for her. 

After we were all finished, polished and dried, we reconvened at Culver's for some lunch. That was nice for the four of us. Mom usually goes here for lunch with Linda when the two of them go to the beauty shop each month. I like their single Butter Burger. From there we went to the ice cream parlor to have a treat with Jill. She made me a lovely cherry sundae, the special of the day. Oh, my, such a wonderfully refreshing treat!

This evening Jill, Lynn, and I went to Bible study at church, a study about creation and Genesis, lead by a teacher from the area Lutheran High School. Man, this is so interesting. Tonight the discussion was about dinosaurs and the Flood. That was the quickest hour of the week, and the attendance for this session was good. Tommy and Linda were there, too. It compares Creation with the theory of evolution with scientists backing up the Bible. Quite interesting!

Lori wanted to eat out for dinner but since we had this Bible study tonight, we waited to eat until after the class was done. Lynn opted out, didn't want to go and eat at this hour, while Jill, Lori, Linda and I went to Harborside to have dinner. Linda had eaten dinner already but came along to hang out with us. We had delicious food, of course, and due to the hour (after 7:30), we had good service as well. Lori and I are accustomed to eating at this hour where most of our family is not. Lori was gracious enough to take Linda home after we were done eating as Tom had gone along home. He was not invited, that lucky guy. I greatly appreciated the time spent with my sisters and my friend today, no matter the hour. 

Another full day, well-fed

Today Lori and I went to Manitowoc Coffee to have a treat and a drink. I managed to get my free soda card from my wallet (on Saturday it was stuck too tightly to get it lose!) and I was pleased to see peanut squares offered today. Lori likes coffee and she had a bowl of soup on this very cold day. It was not breakfast time when we were there, just so you know, as she is not an early riser. Especially when she is on vacation. So it wasn't odd to have soup, nor was it odd to have a peanut square.

After enjoying the ambiance of this coffee house (if I lived in Manty, I'd live in this place, I think) we went across the hall to Ivy Trails. I'd seen part of the shop Saturday with Lynn and Linda but saved some of the snooping for today. Lynn had mentioned that she needed a new lamp for her living room and I think I found one for her. Only $50 and it's unique. All about the unique for me, and hopefully for her. I just love this shop!

Lori dropped me off at church for Bible study where I met Linda. We are studying II Kings, this the 2nd last class until summer recess. These ladies are all so well-informed and knowledgeable about their Old Testament studies. Most humbling to be in this class. 

While I was in class, Lori went shopping some more, going to Two Rivers to buy a kite for a little guy she loves back home. She also checked out a resale shop along the way. I got busy making dinner. Before I came to Manty, I asked Mom what dishes she was particularly hungry for and her answer was spaghetti. Really? That is so easy to do and I was glad to make it so. 

Justin told me some of his secrets for making the jarred sauce so flavorful and I added those items to my sauce. Jill provided veggies for us, as my spaghetti with meatballs served Mom, Lynn, Lori, Jill, and me. With a bit leftover for another time. I am glad to make a dish Mom was hungry for and have her eat a plateful of it! And now, time for bed. Good night all!

Green Street at last!

This morning started out great with a visit from Linda. She was over at church first counting the offerings from yesterday and then popped up to Mom's for a bit. I was able to bestow a gift upon her, sent along in my luggage from Nancy to her. It was a collectible teapot that Nancy's mother had had. Linda told her at one time that she collected teapots, which I was not aware, so as Nancy was going through her mom's things, thought Linda would appreciate this one. And she does!!  

She stuck around at Mom's for a while as the cleaning lady was busy at her house on the other side of town. Linda doesn't wish to get underfoot. Mom and I were waiting for Lori to arrive, hoping for around noon or so, so Linda went her own way. It turned out Lori didn't arrive until closer to dinner time, as she had a doctor appointment to go to before leaving her home, four hours away. Since we ladies had time to kill, Lynn picked us up and off we went to have ice cream at Jill's parlor. 

 My cherry sundae, the special of the day

Notice Mom is wearing her coat. It was so cold today!

Lori loves to eat out as much as I do. Her request for dinner was to go to the Green Street Tavern which we did, the 'we' being us four girls. Lori, Lynn, Jill, and I enjoyed a fun and delicious time together. The owner of the place greeted me as we were leaving, knowing I come from FL just to have Green Street perch. He said, "We'll be seeing you again!" Mom wanted nothing brought back for her, not even poppyseed torte. Her loss. 

Lori and I sat at the table and talked once we got home to Mom's. Mom is sleeping in the living room while Lori is here because she sleeps her best in the chair anyway. Lori likes to stay up later than do Mom and I, so she gets Mom's room where she can read and not bother anyone, and also have the window open for fresh air. Mom and I like it warm but Lori needs to be cool. Lori therefore sleeps later so will have to be quiet in the morning. It works out, just for these couple of nights.  I'm just glad I get to see her and spend some time with her on my visit.

Making a joyful noise

Last night for dinner I made my now famous sausage, peppers, 'n onions. Kerry was here and provided a pack of brats as did Jill, plus she had peppers needing to be used up. A couple times Kerry offered to help me in the kitchen but I assured her things were well in hand. She says it's been years since someone cooked for her so I am glad it was me this time. How unlikely is that?  I should not ask that since she did spend some time with me here in 2010 and we may have dined in at least once. I bought a package of pretzel rolls to serve the sausages on, but miscounted the number in the bag. Wouldn't you expect there to be six buns and not five in a package? 

Here are the brats, now browned, covered in veggies, and ready to be 'steamed' with the broth over the top. Sure wish I would have gotten a beer to use but the broth works, too. 

This morning we went to church, early service. Jill had to go to work immediately after and Kerry came back here to Mom's to wait for us to get done with Bible study before she left. This is my 2nd study in the two full days I've been here which is fantastic. They do the breakout session things, too, for the classes but somehow here, I don't mind it so much. Supposedly it is a device to help people get to know each other better. The pastor's father-in-law sat with us, the president of MLC. He liked one of my answers and gave me the nod for what I came up with, which was nice of him. 

After class, our little group put our heads together and decided to go have breakfast at Perkins. Mom, Lynn, and I met Tommy and Linda there since we stopped at home first to say good-bye to Kerry. The J's beat us to the restaurant because of this, of course. To accommodate our number, we were at the corner table which is a long walk for Mom who doesn't like to bring her walker inside if she doesn't have to. Sometimes she should, though, so that it's not so hard on her. Anyway, Tommy treated us to breakfast and was most entertaining. I loved the time spent with them.

Lynn dropped Mom and I off and went home for a bit. She was coming back later to pick us up for a sacred concert at church tonight. MLHS presented their school year ending concert, "The Church Year in Song".  Most of it was wonderful, but I think the expectation (at least mine and Linda's) was more familiar hymns rather than the choral anthems and the African songs. Yes, I know we have churches and missions in Africa, but at the LWMS Convention 34 flags are carried in representing where our Synod has missions. Not all of them are in Africa. The directors and choirs like to sing those type of songs because they get to bogey and jive a bit. It wouldn't be as much fun to sing in Russian or Apache or Chinese. It's not for me, but otherwise, the concert was nice. Got to see some folks I know from other congregations and it was a wonderful way to end my first weekend in Manty!