December 31, 2018 - New Year's Eve
The tradition continues. We get everything done in the morning and meet back at the house in the afternoon. Claude cooks and prepares bounteous amounts of food and then carries it to the basement. He sets up TV trays for each of us. We move a trash can in near us. I bring down a crochet project. Then we nestle into our comfy room for 9 hours of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. We look forward to this night all year long. We have learned to begin at 3pm so that we are done around midnight.
I also took this picture during the movie and posted it on our family Facebook page with a comment that I didn't realize they had 'dabbing' during these years!! Our Andie, who teaches 1st grade, commented that she had a student who told her, "Dabbing has been around since the time of Jesus!" Then my sweet Mum-in-law who is 89 commented, "Ok! I have been around almost as long as Jesus-what is dabbing?" Andie commented back that it is a silly dance move with a picture of kids dabbing today. Bonnie commented she learned something to which Andie replied, "Starting the year off right with personal growth! Now you can do your own victory dab!" I just love that we can all visit together across thousands of miles so quickly.
Claude and I began watching the Northern Exposure television show. He purchased me the full set of DVD's and, when television is lacking in something we want to watch, we fall back on old favorites. We particularly enjoyed that Wednesday evening episode where Chris Stephens makes a catapult with the intent to fling a cow that will then be butchered and consumed by the residents of Cicely, Alaska. He finds out this was already done on the Monty Python movie "The Holy Grail". Very discouraged he ends up finding and old upright piano in Maggie's home which has recently burned down. Maggie tells Chris he can have the old piano and Chris then uses it to fling the piano instead of a cow. The look of wonder on everyone in Cicely's face as that piano flies through the air in slow motion is delightful to watch. You would really believe they weren't actors at all. Chris expresses what he has learned from his discouragement in finding someone already flung a cow and his joy in finding a piano to fling when he says, "It's not the thing you flight, it's the fling itself." Very profound thought!
Tuesday, January 8, 2019
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, one of our joys is being able to attend the Louisville Kentucky Temple. To do so, one must have a current recommend. To get a recommend one must have an interview with a member of the Bishopric in the ward (congregation) that attend and another interview with a member of the Stake Presidency in the stake (group of congregations) they attend. In December Claude and I went through that process and renewed our temple recommends which expired December 31, 2018. Tuesday, January 18th, we headed to Louisville to attend the Temple. We tried to do that in December but upon arriving at the Temple found it closed. We should have checked our calendars as they always close for two weeks in December. We thought it was over Christmas that they would be closed but not so. So we were ready and desirous to go in January. We got to the Temple and it was open with lots of cars in the parking lot. Then we went to the recommend desk. You present your recommend and then are allowed to enter the temple. The Temple President was at the recommend desk training a new person on this process. Pres. Daetwyler scanned my recommend and then looked at me and said, "This is a new recommend, isn't it?" I assured him it was. He told me it has not been activated. The stake clerk is supposed to do that and it was not done. He allowed me to enter and asked me to be sure to get with the stake clerk to get the recommend activated. When I was Stake Relief Society President, Pres. Daetwyler was President of the New Albany Indiana Stake. He knew me and was comfortable letting me enter. Then he scanned Claude's recommend. Hmmmm...he asked Claude if his recommend was new. Claude said yes. It seems his recommend was activated in my name. Oops!! Claude was also allowed to enter and we were instructed to be sure to get with someone to get that cleared up in the computer systems. Goodness. We enjoyed a lovely session at the temple and Claude sent out eMail's on Wednesday to begin figuring out how to get this corrected.
Thursday, January 9, 2019
Claude is the Stake Self-Reliance Director and I am one of the Stake Specialists. There is a missionary couple that serves in Kentucky and Indiana helping with Self-Reliance. They suggested we meet and have lunch. It seems they found a restaurant in their passing through Georgetown that they wanted to try. Well...sure...we want to have lunch. The restaurant was Fava's in downtown Georgetown. We met them and had a great lunch together. We introduced them to our favorite at Fava's. It is Frickles, fried pickles. The very best we have ever eaten in any restaurant are found at Fava's. Not sure what they use to make their batter but the Frickles are light and very tasty. They also make their own Ranch Dressing to dip them in. Such a good treat.
Friday, January 10, 2019
I also spent several days taking down Christmas decorations in our home. They were the last I took down. I helped Claude get our exterior decorations in before a big wind came. Then I went to City Hall and took down all those decorations. So the interior of our home came last of all. I found this cute Christmas tree ornament, took a picture and sent it via text to Bailey. She was looking for a pickle ornament as she plundered through our Christmas tree. I told her there was one on there somewhere. Legend says the pickle ornament is to be the last one put on the tree. The first child to find it gets an extra present. Some believe this tradition comes from Germany but others say that is not so. I'm thinking Bailey knew that tradition and was hedging her bets. Now I may need to remember this next December just in case she can find the pickle ornament in all those ornaments. We have a very full tree.Saturday, January 11, 2019
Saturday morning I woke up and made sure we still had some left over buttermilk. I made a little pan of homemade buttermilk biscuits using my Mother's recipe. When Claude woke up, he would enjoy these treasures. They turned out pretty good for not making them in forever. I found the cane syrup and mixed it with butter and suddenly I was a child again. This is how I loved to eat them in Louisiana as a child when my mother made them.
Now, Beattyville is very small and very rural. We stopped in Winchester to find some dinner. I knew there would be a Dairy Queen within walking distance of the hotel but we thought we might like to find a nice restaurant and have a nice dinner together that evening. We found a great Mexican restaurant, not a chain restaurant, in Winchester and really enjoyed our dinner. Then on to Beattyville Claude drove.
The hotel was old but very well kept up and clean. We had a room on the ground floor and settled in for the evening. It was so nice to relax and enjoy each other's company for an evening.
As the evening wore on we decided to walk across the parking lot to the Dairy Queen for a little dessert. It was raining a bit. We noticed a school bus in the parking lot. It seems two bus loads of kids from a school in another county stopped there for a dinner break. LOTS of tweens and teens. Lots of chaos as they placed order after order and the poor kitchen crew tried to keep up with those orders. We simply got in line and waited our turn. Their adviser or chaperone or adult-in-charge came up to us and said, "I'm so sorry." Really, the kids were being well behaved. We got our order and managed to find a table and sat down to eat our ice cream and watch all the energy in motion with these kids. As we left the Dairy Queen, this nice leader of the pack asked us if we managed to get food. We assured him we did and we even found a table we could sit at to eat. Such fun.
There was a Rite-Aid Pharmacy in that parking lot as well. We went over there for some water as the Dairy Queen was completely sold out of bottles of water. This marked down Christmas item was on sale on a shelf! I was surprised that anyone would want to purchase what appeared to be a living dead Santa. Alas, I was to learn that this is a character from a movie "The Nightmare before Christmas". Never saw it. Remember hearing the name. And, yes, people will purchase this as a Christmas decoration for their home as it brings memories of a movie they love. Not I though. I do not even do skeletons for Halloween.
Sunday, January 13, 2019
The snow never materialized. Lots of rain and very cold, but no snow or ice on the roads. Claude and I enjoyed our night away and the ability to sleep in Sunday morning before preparing to go to the Beattyville Branch and speak to them on the Self-Reliance Initiative. We totally enjoyed this opportunity and experience. This is a very tiny congregation and they love having visitors. Claude and I love to go there.
Monday, January 14, 2019
This is our eldest child's anniversary. I posted these two pictures on Facebook to wish Nissa and Todd a very Happy Anniversary!! The first picture is the first time we met Todd. The second picture was our trip to Michigan in September 2018 in front of their new home.
We were able to visit with Bishop Holt and get that part of our temple recommend fixed. On the way into Georgetown we tried a new restaurant "Tienda San Juan". Fortunately, there was one person in there who spoke English. We know a few Spanish words but it was very nice to communicate with the nice man behind the counter. This restaurant started out as a food cart on Broadway in Georgetown. The building they are in now has been a restaurant for many different people since we moved to Georgetown. I anticipate this version will stay for a long time. The food was good. Simple menu of about four different items fixed several ways and a little grocery for things the Latinos would need to cook with as they did in their home countries. Some breads that looked really yummy. We will go back here again.
Thursday, January 17, 2019
In the evening we had our Stake Self-Reliance Committee Meeting. It was really a good meeting. The icing on the cake that evening was getting Pres. Denninghoff to finish off the Stake portion of our Temple Recommends. Now we should be good to go to the Temple.
Friday, January 18, 2019
This was a sad day. Our Nissa and Todd live out the country in Holton, Michigan. The left for work and drove not even a mile from their home when a herd of deer jumped from behind trees into the road. One broadsided their car and totaled the car. The force was enough their side airbags dropped down to protect them. They were not hurt. Todd called the police to report. Then he managed to get their car back to their home. They called the insurance company and they declared the car totaled. So the Tyler's now had to shop for another car. Grateful they are okay. So sad they had to car shop. They had a good car that Nissa loved. They did find a very nice car on February 2nd. Yeah them!
Had the opportunity to play for a baptism. These are always tender occasions and I was grateful for the opportunity to play for Natalie's baptism.
Sunday, January 20, 2019
This was a cold and snowy day. We have not had over a few inches of snow at a time this entire winter. This snow was preceded by sleet which is where the real trouble lies. Snow one can usually drive on if one is careful. Sleet or freezing rain are really just ice and one does not drive on that well at all. Claude was able to get us to Church so I could play the organ. Thank heavens for his driving skill. Neffie, my youngest sister, and her hubby, Mike, were to arrive this day. They were attending a family wedding in Indianapolis and planned to drive down Sunday and leave Tuesday morning very early to get back to Indianapolis to catch their plane. I alerted them to the weather we were anticipating. Our original plan was to meet them for lunch in Georgetown after Claude and I finished attending Church. Then I would go to the nursing home and pick up Papa for the day. With the bad weather, I had no desire to take Papa out of the nursing home that day. Neffie and Mike also had a family member that wanted to have breakfast with them in Indianapolis before they left there. So we all determined to use Plan B, we would hurry home and they would meet us there without Papa. Fortunately, everyone drove the roads find, slow, but fine. Claude and I were able to get the ice off the driveway, front porch and clear all other doorways of any snow that had blown up against them. Lots of very strong winds with this storm. We enjoyed a quiet evening catching up with Neffie and Mike. Very nice evening. I don't see my sisters very often. They come to stay and visit Papa the one time a year we make a big trip out of the country. They usually come after we leave and leave before we return. So visiting like this was a treat.
Monday, January 21, 2019
We enjoyed a chance to sleep in a bit and enjoy a nice breakfast, then I went into Georgetown to pick up Papa. Mike road along. Papa was very happy to be out of the nursing home for a bit. To have family visit was a real treat. Mike and Neffie showed him pictures of their home and told him about raising and harvesting pecans. Papa loved this so much. I pulled out DVD's Papa made of his very old 8mm movies. We watched these and remembered when Neffie and I were very young. Some of them Neffie wasn't even in school yet. This is a fun way to visit with Papa. These were before sound and if you have sound Papa just gets frustrated because he can't hear. So we watched and talked very loudly and had a good time. Claude made a nice lunch we all enjoyed. I made a chocolate/banana pudding cake for dessert. Mike and I got Papa back to the nursing home in time to have his dinner there. Then Claude and I introduced Neffie and Mike to The Chase, one of our favorite games shows. It comes on in the afternoon so we record it and watch it in the evening. We had several of these we had not watched and we all enjoyed trying to guess what the answer was before the contestants. It was a good day. With the exception of us having so much fun I forgot to get any pictures. I truly regret this and it would have been fun to have a picture of Papa with his girls at least. Silly Moi!!
Tuesday January 22, 2019
Today was Miss Raelyn's 3rd birthday. Oh My Heavens!! Here is a picture of her on her birthday. Look at that grin. We have trouble on the way!
Had a meeting with Signature Health Care regarding Papa living there. These are supposed to be held quarterly. There really was not a lot to discuss. We talked about his health and how is doing with mobility, etc. They had a physical therapist come and watch him dress himself to be sure he could still do that okay. They determined he should continue doing that a little longer. No issues to report. They did ask about how he interacts with his roommate. I assured him he didn't and that was a good thing. I do believe they are like oil and water and will not ever understand each other or be patient with each other’s infirmities. It is a good thing Papa has gone so deaf he doesn't hear Matt and they don't talk at all. Hope the nursing home does not try to force this issue at all.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
This is just plain funny... I woke up this day feeling miserable. I was sneezing and blowing something fierce. We were to do Self-Reliance Training in Georgetown before Church. Then I needed to play the organ for Church. Then I needed to go to the nursing home to visit Papa where many of the residents just can't deal with germs of any kind. I could not accomplish what needed to be done this day with all this sneezing and blowing. The only solution I could think of was to take an antihistamine. However, these always make me sleepy, very sleepy. Doesn't matter the brand or strength, I will go to sleep. I took one pill instead of the two suggested. It stopped the blowing and going for sure but I could tell I was getting very sleepy. Made it through the Self-Reliance training and the beginning of Sacrament Meeting. I would start to dose and recognized what was happening and move a bit to keep myself awake. Sometime during the second speaker and just before the rest hymn it happened...I fell asleep. I sit on the stand behind the organ so it is easy to get back to the organ for the rest hymn. So the second speaker sat down. Then my old Mother Gene kicked in when the chorister stood up that I was asleep but should be awake!! Oh yes, people noticed. I heard a few chuckles. I quickly roused myself and slid onto the organ bench. Fortunately, I leave the organ set with the next hymn to be sung ready at the organ. I really woke up while playing the first verse. Goodness. I did manage to stay awake the remainder of the meeting. But it was a funny moment in my life that I don't think I'll ever forget.
Thursday, January 31, 2019
That Polar Vortex really left us with some very cold days. This day as I drove in to visit with Papa, I took this picture of the creek at the dam. The thing was the top of the creek was frozen in places. That water is always moving so it takes a lot for it to freeze like that. It was a beautiful scene but bitter cold. We had wind chills in the minus teens and only in the low single digits during the day for a real temperature. That is hard of those of us that live in Kentucky. The Scott County schools were closed Wednesday, Thursday and Friday so the kids would not stand out waiting for their buses in the cold. They would get frostbite in 15 minutes at best. So, I post this picture so you can see the ice but you can't feel the cold in the picture. There were places in the United States with minus 50 and more. Yuck!!
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