Fillin' Time...

We have had a LOT of rain this year...again. Last year was the rainiest year on record. This year the numbers are matching up about the same. Some people are talking about the Ark Encounter needing to be prepared to help us all float away. Another friend share that this might be Seattle, Kentucky or Georgetown, Washington, it really didn't matter anymore based on the weather. This comment was made on a particularly gray day. This was posted on Facebook and I found it hilarious. A farmer in rural Kentucky has a great sense of humor about it all. The poor farmers are suffering. This is just too much water and, where some should have had one bailing of hay to be ready for feeding in the fall, they have not been able to do that yet. With that in mind, one really appreciates this farmer's good sense of humor about all the rain.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. I told Papa on Monday that I would bring him out to my house for a visit if the weather held. I picked him up at 10:30am after doing a grocery run. I drove him on back roads to get to our home. We took Hwy 460 east and found 922 north. We followed that till it ends at 620 and took 620 west to Hwy 25 and then on to our home. Papa enjoyed the ride.

When we got to our home, I had him take his place on the sofa and then I brought him a Dr. McGillicuddy root beer. I retrieved the Opry DVD's set and asked him to pick which on he wanted to watch first. This is where you have to understand that Papa has lost a lot of his reasoning ability. He wanted to be in the car riding. He started to explain that he really didn't care because he doesn't like to watch television. I then again showed him what I was asking him to pick and explained it was his DVD's of old country music. These are the same DVD's he started to show at the nursing home when he could no longer play his guitar. I begrudgingly picked one and I put it in the DVD player and cranked up the sound to a volume he could hear. It didn't take long for him to realize he was listening to music he loved and watching the actual stars perform these numbers. From that point forward he grinned and often said, "I really love this. This is real country music. I used to sing this." Etc., etc., etc. He really enjoyed the afternoon. I brought him a banana to eat and he scarfed that down even though he assured me he didn't want anything to eat, he just wanted to listen to the music. Later I took him some ice cream and a chocolate cookie. Definitely not the balanced meal he would have had at the nursing home but missing one of those will definitely not do him in. I took this picture of Papa having a nice afternoon of old country music.

We finished the fourth DVD at 3:30pm and I packed Papa up and took him back to the nursing home. I assured him we would finish the other DVD's some other day. He had a good day. 

A friend from my Louisiana days posted this map. I had never seen it before and really thought it was cute. 

After depositing Papa, I drove on to meet Claude in Lexington for dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We had a meeting with the stake presidency to review all the changes to the Self-Reliance program and how we would make it work in the Lexington North Stake. It was a good meeting and lasted about an hour and a half.

On the way home we stopped at the Love's Travel Plaza in Sadieville to top off our gas tanks. Gas prices were jumping about 30 cents per gallon again. Sadieville had not done that yet. A man got out of his truck with a bird in his hand. Okay, I have seen lots of animals at gas stations as people travel. They take them out to run and do their thing. But, I honestly don't ever remembering a bird at a gas station before. This was a beautiful pink cockatoo. When the man came out of the store, I just had to tell him how well trained the bird was. It never even tried to fly away. He encouraged me to hold out my arm and this beautiful bird hopped right over to my arm and looked right up into my face. I talked to it and stroked its feathers and you would have thought we were old friends. So cool.

Then he told me he had other birds in his truck. He also had two dogs and his wife! Goodness. He took out a beautiful parrot. Then he said he had a bird that would do tricks. He took out a ladder and a white cockatoo and that bird did some tricks for us. The bird would spread it's wings to be an eagle. It was absolutely delightful and such a fun way to end a long day.

These birds were all rescue birds. They were all headed to Chicago. It was a unique and fun encounter. Clearly this gentleman loves these animals and they love him.

The Marx Take on Europe...

Our Marx Family took a vacation trip this year with Michael's family. It is a Disney cruise in Europe. I thought I would take the messages and pictures I get as they can send them and make a Blog entry about them. Here goes...

They left Tuesday, June 11th and drove to Indianapolis. This is the Mini's at the Indianapolis airport. This is their first time flying. Well, Hayden flew to Utah when he was 6 months old and he flew in a tiny plane that Claude was taking an flying lesson in. But this would be their first time flying they get to fly to Chicago and then to Rome. 

Andie popped us these pictures of the kids on the plane in Indianapolis. I think they are going to enjoy this experience.

They had a little wait at O'Hare in Chicago. Fortunately, someone had the presence of mind to bring a deck of cards. I asked Andie if Hayden also took his poker chips. She said he did try!!  Then they were off on the BIG plane to Rome.

Once in Rome, Andie sent an eMail when they got on the hotel's WiFi. 

Ciao! 1 message

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Andean Marx	Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 12:07 PM
To: Mom <1800mom bellsouth.net="">, Dad Christensen
We are here in Rome, safe and sound!  Have WiFi at the hotel so I thought I'd send a quick email. Flights went well and M had a car booked for our transfer to the hotel so we even got to find a guy holding up our name.  Woohoo! We walked this city a bit and explored until our room was ready.  Shared a few Panini's and got our first gelatos.  We can walk to the Colluseum from our hotel.  The hotel is tucked in a little cobblestone side street with lots of little restaurants in walking distance.   Michael is checking trip advisor for restaurants and found one that is called Papa's.  H is on the other side of the room playing on his phone and chimes in with his croaky voice..."I heard that place was tolerable.". , We grabbed afternoon naps since everyone struggled to sleep much on the plane. Going to explore some more this evening and have dinner. Possibly near the Trevi fountain or the Spanish steps since both are supposed to be quite a sight at night.  We shall see!   Love, the Marx's

I was actually off to visit with Papa right after receiving this eMail. One of Papa's things is saying, when asked how he is doing, "I'm tolable." He leaves out the 'er' part. It is one of his things. Hayden was making a Papa joke. I shared what Hayden said and Papa laughed really loud. 

Ciao , part 2 1 message

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Andean Marx	Thu, Jun 13, 2019 at 12:38 AM
To: Mom <1800mom bellsouth.net="">, Dad Christensen
We napped well and successfully navigated the city this evening.  H and I have had three gelato outings under our belts already fr three different places.  Walked past the Parthenon and Trevi fountain this evening and had a late dinner off a side street at a little family place. We are now ruined for antipasto in all ways. Lol!   Tomorrow is an all day tour of re with a private guide.  Vatican, Colluseum, Parthenon, etc.   H wants to buy a sword and I want a kitchen apron of the David statue.  So high class momentos abound... Joyce and the Pennsylvania crew arrive tomorrow.  Same hotel that we are at but different timing.  We catch each other at some point. Maybe over gelato...haha!

At some point Andie and Michael had the Mini's take this picture of them kissing in Rome. 

This was the kids reaction at their parents behavior!! Priceless. 

Gelato anyone?? 

Buonasera 1 message

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Andean Marx	Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 12:28 AM
To: Mom <1800mom bellsouth.net="">, Dad Christensen
Jam packed day in Rome.  We had a a private guide for most of the day.  Met Analisa at the VATICA

Re: Buonasera 1 message

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Andean Marx	Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 12:40 AM
To: Mom <1800mom bellsouth.net="">, Dad Christensen
Gah!  Early send... Spiacente! Met guide at the Vatican.  Toured highlights of the Vatican museum.  Then Sistene Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and St. Peter's square.  All stunning. Lunched at a little place loaded with college students and then our guide took us to one of her favorite gelato places.   Walked through Rome to see four rivers fountain and toured the Parthenon.  Then it was off to the Colluseum.  That was also stunning.  Hard to find words for how amazing these structures are so we just ooh and ahh in between gelato stops.... Saw Joyce and Romanoffs briefly this evening.  We got lost in the city (again). Tonight we grabbed a cab after admitting defeat so we could be sure to get to the Spanish steps.  Wow, wow, that was quite a climb but the view was worth it.  Then back down to find dinner a bit off the beaten path.  Bruschetta, pasta, pizza etc.  More gelato afterwards because... priorities.  Popped upto the rooftop of our hotel for a little glimpse of the Colluseum lit up.  Now settled into the room to rest up.  The goal is to get up early enough tomorrow to tour the forum and Palatine hill where Rome was born.  Then lunch and gelato to go while we pack up.  We have a car to the port at 12:15. Internet is super slow tonight so probably no pics.  Love you both!

What does a first grade teacher do when in Rome? Purchase a book for her classroom, of course! 

Spanish Steps 

Our Bailey being herself. Love this girl. 

Andie says they will never enjoy antipasto in the States like they did in Rome.  

More Gelato!! 

And, the Colosseum. 

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Arrivederci! 1 message

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Andean Marx	Fri, Jun 14, 2019 at 11:22 AM
To: Mom <1800mom bellsouth.net="">, Dad Christensen
We made it to an extremely quick trip to the forum this morning after breakfast.  Back at hotel pack

Okay, no more contact till they have WiFi again.

This was our next eMail from Andie:

Hola! 1 message

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Andean Marx	Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 1:28 PM
To: Mom <1800mom bellsouth.net="">, Dad Christensen
Made it to Barcelona.  We are exhausted but have had an amazing time this far.  M is now shopping in the official botega for the Barcelona futbol club.  Personalized jersey splurge!!!! Day at sea tomorrow and then on to Venice.  Love to you both, -A

We next heard from our Touristas in Venice!

They scored a ride in a gondola.

And that evening, the Mini's opted for dinner brought to them in their hotel room while the parental units had a lovely date night in Venice. How cool is that?

Andie sent her dad a note for Father's Day.

-------- Original message --------

From: Andean Marx <himarx2@gmail.com>

Date: 6/20/19 1:50 PM (GMT-05:00)

To: Dad Christensen <christensen13@bellsouth.net>

Subject: In honor of belated Father's day...

And being raised by a tomato loving father, I would like to be sure you know that I am eating every fresh tomato in sight at all ports of call.  These beauties are from a fresh street market in Nice. Hope you had a wonderful Father's day!!!

And the communication was they are beginning the long journey home.

Arrivederci Roma! 1 message

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Andean Marx	Mon, Jun 24, 2019 at 11:11 AM
To: Mom <1800mom bellsouth.net="">, Dad Christensen
We are at the airport and waiting to board the plane.  Exhausted but thrilled with the trip overall.  Flight was delayed an hour due to storms in Chicago.   No biggie for us since we had a four hour layover so there was plenty of wiggle room to still get our flight to Indy.  Now that the planes, trains and automobiles return trip has begun we are all looking forward to sleeping in our own beds many hours from now.  Catch up soon!

I am most anxious to see pictures and hear of their adventures. Especially how the Mini's enjoyed this trip.

In the early evening we received a text from Andie, "We are back in the USA! Delayed in Chicago now but through customs. Woot!"

At about 10pm Monday night (June 24th) I received another text from Andie, "Sadness! After multiple delays, our flight to Indy has been pushed to tomorrow. We are grabbing a cab to a hotel for the night and will try again in the morning. Gah!" 

A little later we learned they had a bit of taxi confusion getting to the hotel. They were definitely over the transit part of their trip. 

Tuesday, June 25th they were back at the airport for the 8am flight to Indianapolis. Then we got a message from Andie that it worked this time with this picture of Hayden.

Our Andie is very claustrophobic. She sent a text from inside the plane.
We are boarded! Currently composing a heartfelt thank you to my doctor for my prescription. This is not a large plane! Three seats across, so but a puddle jumper but the smallest plane so far. But we need to get home...our clothes are starting to smell, ha ha!

I sent her a "You can do this. Happy you are on a plane!!" text message. To which Andie replied,
"If I cannot keep eating authentic Italian food and wandering UNESCO World Heritage sites U want to be home. I have no use for this Duncan donuts at the dirty airport lifestyle. Haha!"
I encouraged her to think she was in a car and not a tiny airplane.

About 45 minutes later Andie said, "Sadness! Plane is just now closing the door. Maintenance issues had to be resolved. Looks like we are leaving in a few.

And about an hour and 15 minutes after that Andie sent this text, "Landed in Indy! Woot!"

37 minutes later we received this picture.

At 2:36pm EST Andie sent a test saying, "Home safe and sound!"

What an adventure they have had. Bailey somehow thought their drive home would take them by our home. Not so little one! But we will catch up with them after they have a day or two to rest and catch up at home. Can't wait to see pictures and hear their stories.

A Few Notes about Daily Life...

Monday, June 17th, I finally did something I have wanted to do for a long time. It was for Papa. He loves watermelon. His thing was it always had to be an enormous watermelon. There was a place in Arkansas he could get the biggest watermelons I have ever seen. We had a family reunion once in Indiana and there were 21 of us there. The watermelon Papa brought fed all of us and then some. Amazing. Anyway, he loves watermelon. They never serve it at the nursing home. And, he has no teeth to chew it. So, I blended up watermelon and put it in a cup with a straw and took it to him. He was so very happy to get to taste watermelon again. It was a good thing to do.

As I left the nursing home Tuesday, June 18th, I paused to take a picture of this sign. How many hours of my life have been spent here. It was under a different name and ownership when we first put my mother here. I wanted this picture so that when it is all finished, I have this to reflect and write about. I enjoy the flowers planted this year. They are very pretty. 

Also on the 18th, I was finishing my shower and put my hand up to turn off the water. It doesn't show really well in this picture but my ring finger was swollen and the skin was purple under the water. I have absolutely no idea why or when this happened. I showed it to Claude and he could tell immediately something was wrong. The knuckle bone above the ring stands out further than that same finger on my right hand. That could be arthritis. I believe something might have stung that finger because by the next day the swelling was down and color was normal. Funny thing was it never hurt or itched or stung at all. Strange. 

Sunday, June 23rd, I asked Aubrey to send me a new picture of Nelson. I don't get pictures from her as often as from Katelyn. She sent me these two. One is a .gif file of Nelson waving to us. These other is that amazing grin of his. Such a happy little boy.

Today, June 24th, Claude paid off our home! This is just amazing. It feels very, very good. 

Conversation Threads...

I have had three fun threads of conversation via text and eMail's in the last few days. 

Thread #1:

Our friends, the Soressi's, youngest child is getting married. I remember when Grant was born and Jan carried him around in a sling. He was a lug of a child, very solidly built. We have enjoyed Grant and watching him grow over the years. Can't believe he is in his twenties and getting married. 

After receiving the wedding announcement, I sent Jan an eMail to make sure the address on the envelope was the one I should send a gift to. Jan responded it was their apartment and the bride-to-be was living there. Then Jan shared this tidbit with me about Grant: "I have to laugh when Grant told me about their registry because he had originally had requested 2-ply toilet paper. I thought of you giving him that roll of 2-ply when we were moving to Colorado. He still has it!" I responded to Jan accordingly: "Well, let me tell you...I have a gift card to Walmart that I am putting a note that it is for 2-ply toilet paper. There is another card for McDonald's because that is where Grant loved to eat. Hope he gets a kick out of it and Kim learns a bit about why we love Grant!!" 

Let me just state that his was one of the most fun wedding announcements to purchase gift cards for. 

By way of explanation...When the Soressi's spent a night with us one time, Grant's comment when they left was that he was happy because we used 2-ply toilet paper. Hence the gift of 2-ply toilet paper. Also, we were visiting the Soressi's once, it was Grant's birthday, we told him he could have dinner anywhere and he wanted McDonald's. Hence the McDonald's gift card. Hope they enjoy these little gifts of history as much as we enjoyed giving them.

Thread #2:

My dear friend Laura enjoyed each of her grandsons coming for a week with them, one at a time. When Benny was there I received a message from Laura indicating they were all sitting on the front porch when they heard a noise. Eventually Benny decided he should relocate. Laura went with him. Then the mother skunk appeared and Howard, Laura's hubby, decided they should close the front door and leave well enough alone. Lots of chuckles over that.

Next, Daniel came for his week with his grandparents and I receive another message from Laura. I seems they now knew that the mother skunk had three little babies living under the porch with their mother! Yike! What was their course of action? They purchased skunk odor shampoo and body wash, etc., just in case and determined the skunk family would be gone by September. They would just be careful and watch this little family grow. Claude and I assured Laura that she and Howard were much nicer than we were. We would have found a pest control company to move this furry black and white potential for stink to another location. 

Later that day, I received another message from Laura. There were not three babies...there were six babies with their mother under her front porch! Oh My!

Wouldn't you know it, by later that afternoon, they had an accurate count of seven babies with their mother all residing under their front porch. Howard was able to get video and they were so cute tumbling out of the tiny hole that allowed them to get in and out from under the porch. 

Daniel named one of them 'Bean' because he only had white on his head instead of down his back. 

I sent Hayden and Bailey a picture of one of the babies and told them they were residing with the Carter's under their front porch. Bailey's reply, "Aw, can I have one?" I assured her she could if it was okay with her mother and father. Yeah, right! Then I shared my exchange with Bailey with Laura and thanked her for being the kind of friend that gives me a little something to stir the pot with my family!

Laura tells me today that most of the babies have already disappeared. They have only seen Bean and one other baby in the last two days. Such is country living. 

Thread #3:

The third thread of electronic conversation was with my son, Jake. It all started Saturday, June 22nd, with this picture I sent to Jake.

This is Jeff Daniels, the actor. Jake has admired him for years. He encountered him as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in the movie "Gettysburg". He has followed his acting career for years. When Jake graduated college, he applied for and was accepted as an apprentice at The Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, Michigan. This is a theater Jeff Daniels started in his home town of Chelsea, Michigan for young people wanting a start in the acting profession. Jake enjoyed this experience very much and landed a role in one of Jeff Daniels plays. Jake still lives in Chelsea. So, when our AARP Magazine arrived with Jeff Daniels on the front, I quickly took a picture and texted it to Jake. Jake saw the magazine in his barber shop but did not get a chance to read the article. Claude and I read the article and responded to Jake that we thought it was a good one. I took picture of the three pages of the article and sent it to Jake so he could read it.

Jake has also paused his use of Facebook because of all the negative that comes out during an election period. As a result, he doesn't get family pictures and posts. I took this opportunity to send him pictures of the Marx family at the Colosseum in Rome, the soccer stadium in Barcelona and a couple of the pictures in Venice. I expressed that his Dad was just a bit jealous of this trip. Jake reply, "Meh. Who needs Europe? I get to stop by my coworker's daughter's graduation party this afternoon." To which I replied we would attend a wedding reception that night after I finished sitting with Papa and I was tracking my friend Laura's experiences with her mother and baby skunks. Which I emphasized with, "Life is just riveting!"

A little later Jake sent a text expressing the difficulty of finding an appropriate card to give to his co-worker's teen-aged daughter to congratulate her for graduating. He said he chuckled reading some delightful cards but they just weren't right from him to this young girl. I applaud his sensitivity to that. 

Then I received pictures from Katelyn of her girls. It seems Raelyn felt it was picture taking time with her and her little sister, Emelia. So I sent them on to Jake. 

Be still my heart. So happy that Raelyn loves her baby sister. 

I shared how riveting my afternoon visit with Papa was with Jake by sending this picture.

Bless his heart. He takes these little cat naps a lot more often now. Even when we go for a ride it is not uncommon for his to get quiet and I realize he dozed off for just a bit. Then he'll pick up his Kindle and start to play his game and swear he never was asleep. Or look out the car window and start up his dialogue about his life again. He is slowly winding down. Jake's comment, "Well, naps are good." Yep, they sure are.

Then I tried to share my 'Epic Facebook Post Fail'.  It was this picture with this comment: "My own personal Hairy Potter!!" You see, I came home after visiting with Papa and Claude was sitting in his spot on the sofa. I sat in my spot on the love seat. I listened to whatever he was saying but I was looking intently at him. Finally I paused him and told him I had this need to take this picture and post it on our family Facebook page with a comment about my own Harry Potter. Claude was happy to oblige and suggested I use 'Hairy' instead of 'Harry'. We were in stitches over how funny we were being. So the picture was taken and the Facebook post was done. We waited for laughing emojis from our kids.

We received not one laughing emoji.  Instead there were comments of concern about what happened to Claude. Really! That was not what we expected. So I responded that a tree branch caught him when he was mowing under the trees on the hill. Still no laughter. 

Then I thought I would share this experience with Jake about the Epic Facebook Fail. Jake assured me it was funny. He said his brain just auto-corrected the 'Hairy' with 'Harry' and he missed that piece of the humor. He assured me the Internet is making us all hurried readers making it harder to pull off the puns. 

Okay, the even funnier part of this was I was texting back and forth with Laura while texting with Jake. When I typed the explanation of the Epic Facebook Fail, I inadvertently typed it on Laura's text thread. She received it with the last thing we talked about being the skunks. No frame of reference for her at all. So I had to send her the picture of Claude and then she understood and she really got a chuckle out of the silliness of it all. Such a good friend.

I explained to Jake about sending the explanation to Laura first instead of to him. Which brought he and I back to the subject of skunks and Jake shared: "I got charged by a chipmunk this morning while doing my crossword puzzle on the porch. Aggressive little critter."

My response was: "What is up with the animal kingdom! Neffie and Mike have this going on in Oklahoma." Their hive had a swarm. When the hive gets too big they make a new queen. The old queen takes part of the hive residents and swarms to make a new hive." Neffie and Mike were going to retrieve the swarm so they had this for a new hive of bees themselves. They already have two other hives. 

And I shared: "Meanwhile in Tylerland these are making an appearance!  

Sunday Jake and I continued our text thread with him responding that he thought the Jeff Daniel's interview was good. I followed up with more pictures of the Marx family taking a gondola ride in Venice. Jake's last experience with Venice was reading Lord Byron's poetry. 

In the afternoon Jake sent me this picture. It is his first attempt at making red beans and rice. I loved the idea of what I thought was polish sausage in the beans. Jake tells me it was andouille that was made in Michigan. No matter, it looks simply yummy to me. Jake is a good cook...like his Dad.

Those are my three threads of electronic communication. I do love that we can do this and share picture with our info so quickly. It is fun and I do enjoy keeping up with the family and friends. Posting this gives a bit of the flavor of what is amusing to us and how life intertwines across the miles. Neat!