Weekend Windup

Last week was a busy work week.  That's good, I'm not complaining. But I was happy to see Friday arrive.  I worked out at the Endoscopy unit all week.  No lunch or breaks during those days but we get by. So you can understand my happiness at leaving on Friday afternoon.  I ran out to the car as soon as I was done and gave a sigh of relief at home.  About an hour later I realized in my haste to escape, I left my phone in the unit.  Of course it's closed by that time and nobody will be there until Monday morning.  So I made a call to the hospital and they hooked me up with security and the nice gentleman met me over there and unlocked the building and I was able to retrieve the phone.  Crisis averted. How did we ever survive all our lives without a cell phone? Anyway, that was my beginning of the weekend.  Also this past week I was again bitten by some kind of bug..probably a spider...that left my leg a mess:

A bit swollen and a bit of a mess but I've been on an antibiotic and it's getting better.  I don't even remember getting bit but obviously it happened.  I'm blaming that on my bad memory with the phone...that's my story anyway!  Thankfully the rest of the weekend has been good.  We hit the opening Saturday for the Farmer's Market and scored some sourdough bread and some "Had to have" items:

This is going to  my sister's house.  It will look super cute on her front door.  It would be easier to pass up if the person running that booth wasn't a co-worker! Ok, maybe not but I know Midge will love it.

This little piece of fence will find a permanent home here at the Pines and I can decorate it for lots of holidays.  I didn't take a pic of the bread we bought but trust me, it was good!  I completed a little project in the kitchen. I have a couple of shelves that housed a ton of cookbooks.  I went through them and only kept a few and the rest are going to my Granddaughters who want some, then to work and any left over will go to Goodwill.  Feels good to get rid of stuff!

Bye-Bye books!  One other thing that happened over the weekend was replacing the top of the back deck gazebo. I had ordered one earlier in the year.  I was so excited to find one in red that I didn't realize it wasn't the right size! (I think I need to slow down a bit)  I reordered another one and it finally came yesterday.  We were getting ready to put it up when we saw it was missing the separate top part.  NO WAY!  Another call later and now I'm getting another one next week. (Hopefully) Here's a pic of the box"

It was pretty smashed up so I should have known something would be wrong...can't anything be easy these days? I know this is small compared to other stuff going on in the world but it's still a thorn in my side in my world! Ok, no more whining!  On to a happy thing.  As we plan for our celebration of life for Mom in a few weeks I found a book I gave her years ago and asked her to fill out.  I'm so glad she did.

It's filled with lots of information about her childhood, memories of her past and her life as a young mother and wife and then as an older adult and her challenges and her strong faith.  I'm going to copy some of the entries and frame them to put on the tables for everyone to read.  My Granddaughter gave a similar book to Jack and I to fill out and seeing how much I treasure Mom's I'm going to get hers done and hopefully she'll enjoy that.  The weekend has gone by fast and I will leave with just a few pics of some of my flowers:

Things are growing quickly in our wet and warm weather.  Oh, one last thing since I haven't blogged in a week.  The Goodyear Blimp made pass overs to several hospitals in this area.   It was a nice thing to do to thank the front line workers:

Hi and Bye! Have a good rest of the weekend!

Pomp And Circumstance

A miracle occurred yesterday.  I had an outdoor event here at the Pines and the weather was perfect.  Sunny, 70 degrees, a slight breeze...no rain, tornado, power outages (which are actually things that have happened in the past!) and a good time was had by all.  At least by me anyway!  What was this miraculous happening?  Our Grandson, Anthony, graduated high school and we hosted a party for him.  He had a party at his house the day before with his friends but they wanted to have one here for family and older folks so we could do the semi-social distancing thing. 

A corner of honor was set up.  Looking at the photos is like watching your life pass in front of your eyes.  Time flying would be a good title! How he went from this:

To this:

A young man as tall as his PawPaw!  I don't know why I would be surprised because we watched all our own kiddos go through the same thing. There are days I still can't believe how fast they have grown!  Here are a few pics of the day:

Outdoor was set up with tables and chairs.

The food was setup in the dining room. Cameron helped get it ready.

The cake was not only pretty but pretty tastie too!

There was a lot of corn hole going on! Good form Anthony!

Family pics....sister Summer, Grandpa Jerry and his Nana Kaye and his Mom Stephanie.  On top of this celebrating we had a few other things to celebrate.

Our Granddaughter, Driana, got engaged to her boyfriend...now fiance'...Jon!  Congrats you two! Not only that, Driana also finished nursing school and will start working as an RN at a Cleveland Clinic hospital.  Oh, and she found a super cute house to rent.  Now that's what I call a full week!

A proud PawPaw!  So now we have 2 Granddaughters that will get married next year.  Let's see who gets to the alter first...Driana or her sister, Summer! The race is on!  So graduation happened in a very private ceremony for just parents and the graduate and I don't know if  "Pomp and Circumstance" was played.  Hearing that song as the kids march in always makes me teary eyed anyway so I'm glad we had our own pomp going on here at the Pines and we could gather and celebrate with these kids who will never forget the way they had to graduate in 2020...the year where nothing is as it used to be.  Congrats kiddos! We love you! P.S...Thanks Mother Nature for a perfect day!

Saying Goodbye And Moving Forward

I wrote a blog post a few years ago about "Hellos" and "Goodbyes".   The hellos are always easier and usually come at happy times.  Those darn goodbyes though are what make the valleys of life hard to travel.  On June 1st we said our goodbye to Mom.  I could say that 2020 will be the year remembered as a time like no other.  But I would be wrong.  There have been many times in this century like no other.  Wars, disasters, weather catastrophes, terror attacks , and other news worthy events are the valleys we all have traveled. My Mother would be the first to say: "Been there, done that, got the T-shirt".  Through it all she showed strength, grace, and a "DO IT" attitude.  So when we were preparing her last wishes we were also in the middle of a pandemic, protests, and the violence of riots, looting, and property destruction all around her neighborhood.  Her funeral could only be attended by 10 people.  We had to limit who could attend and in our family that's not easy.  Mom was known and loved by many more than just family.  She was very involved in her Church and when the Priest gave the eulogy there was no doubt that he knew her personally. Even though the Mass was attended by only 10 people, it was still filled with a sweet spirit of love. However, I felt Mom deserved better than that small gathering and seeing how events of that week led to another funeral yesterday that allowed hundreds to attend I just had to shake my head.  As a light rain fell we stood and said those final goodbyes at the cemetery and came back to her  home for a luncheon attended by family.  Mom said in one of the video chats that when she came home we would have a party.  So that will happen in July when we have a celebration of her life that we will share with how ever many want to come. Hopefully that day will be filled with many happy hellos that would make her smile.  So now we move forward as life goes on and the world keeps spinning.  The pandemic has changed many things but slowly we're getting back to Summer activities and also celebrations like Graduations, weddings, and Independence Day.  We have 2 Grandkiddos who have graduated high school, and one who earned the titled of RN.  Lots to be thankful for here at the Pines.  We are half way through this historic year so I'm hoping that the next 6 months will be played out on a high hill instead of a low valley. 

Sweet Dreams.