Fall is in the Air...

Sunday, September 27, 2020

After finishing my Blog and other things on my lap top last Sunday, I went outside with a good book and sat on my deck. The wind was blowing through the trees on our hill and there was no other sound. Just wind through the trees. It was such a peaceful feeling. Add to that the temperature was great and there was no humidity. The sky was blue. Just a perfect afternoon for sitting on the deck enjoying this land on which we live. Claude woke up from his nap and joined me on the deck. We totally enjoyed this quiet time enjoying life. Before I came inside, I took this picture. It is nice to live in a place where you experience the change in seasons. This year, with all the upheaval because of Covid-19, it is particularly nice to relish the change of seasons. Hope for the future. Life moves forward. All good things.

Someone also posted this on Facebook. It is from a Jewish book of prayer. The word 'Kaddish' is used and that means: an ancient Jewish prayer sequence regularly recited in the synagogue service, including thanksgiving and praise and concluding with a prayer for universal peace. In this case, this is a form of the Kaddish recited for the dead. I find it simply beautiful. So many people struggle with the loss of a parent or loved one. Sometimes that is because of the way they lost their loved one. Sometimes it is no sure foundation of understanding about the purpose of life and the reality of life after death. I was blessed with a beautiful passing when my Mother died. That has allowed be to be very peaceful about death. I am sure Papa's passing will be different. But having experienced Mimi's passing, I believe it has helped prepare me for his passing in whatever form it happens. But I love this expression of how the dying would like for you to grieve after they pass. I hope it touches others who read it and need, or know someone who might need, this to help them through their grieving process.

And then, for something totally different, this was a meme posted on Facebook. Meme's about Covid-19 are not nearly as prolific. But this one was amusing to me.

Monday, September 28, 2020

Claude gets a new pair of 'diabetic' shoes each year through Medicare. They must be ordered from J&L Pharmacy in Georgetown. The Pharmacy notified Claude it was time and they would secure the prescription from our doctor. They set an appointment for this morning for him to come in and have his feet measured and order this year's pair of shoes. Claude asked if I would like to join him. Well...of course!!

After getting me a biscuit at Hardee's, we drove to Georgetown and did our walk. Then to the nursing home to leave a package for Papa. Then to J&L to get Claude fitted for his new shoes. I received a text that my blood pressure prescription had been refilled. So we drove to the CVS Pharmacy to pick that up. Then off to Lexington where Claude and something to do for about an hour. I stayed in the car and waited. Claude had a coupon for BD Mongolian Grill for his upcoming birthday. We went there for lunch. Then we visited Meijers. Claude wanted to put a brisket in the freezer in case we have company for Thanksgiving or Christmas. We very well may not. But we want to be ready and briskets are often not easy to find. Claude found a nice brisket and some bison burger, I picked up new face towels for our bathroom and 7 Christmas presents. Then we found the little glass ramikens we wanted and checked out of Meijer. Back to Georgetown and to Lowe's for the next load of mulch for the yard. All this time the weather report was for thunderstorms. Amazingly, we did all of our errands and didn't hit real rain until on the way home from Lowe's. That was a real blessing. 

When we pulled up in the driveway, we found a package sitting on our front steps.

We had recently watched the movie "2001 Space Odyssey". I previously posted about watching that and the dialogue I had with our son, Jake, about the meaning of the movie. Now...sitting on our front doorstep was a miniture of the monolith in the movie. I took this picture and sent it in a text to Jake referencing our concern after watching 2001 Space Odyssey. Jake's response was, "Take heart. Aliens sufficiently advanced so as to appear godlike probably wouldn't use corrugated cardboard." This young man is so like his father with quick retorts. Then Jake sent a follow-up text, "That said, if this box's physical dimensions use the ratio 1 by 4 by 9, say hi to Jupiter for me." Oh my!! I pulled out a ruler from my kitchen drawer and measured this box. I was 5 x 19 x 13. I told Jake we are safe! 

I did open the box as it was addressed to me. Couldn't even think of what it would be. I had not ordered anything. It is not my birthday. No reason for me to get a box in the mail that I could think of. When I opened the box and read the packing slip inside I remembered. I purchased 5 different ways to watch Time Out for Women. When you do that, you receive a free tote bag. Each year this is one of the highlights of Time Out for Women, "What will the tote be like this year?" I was happily surprised to see this year's tote. I really like it.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

This day was my sister's birthday. Arliss June Lawrence Gulbrandsen would turn 69 years old. 

I spent this entire day working on my laptop. I have set a goal to go through and scan my son's correspondence notebooks and picture albums. He has them stored in our basement. I want to give him a thumb drive with all of this data on it. I will also have his originals. Then he can determine if he only wants to keep the digital or if he wants both of them. This is a labor intensive project. I finished one trip Jake and I took to Virginia to see places at the end of the Civil War. Jake has a strong respect for Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. He was a Union officer. It was fun to go back through the trip we made to Petersburg and Appomattox. I enjoy these times with my son. He is very well read and knowledgable about these things making it fun to learn through his eyes. I am now working on a photo album. I had no where to go on Tuesday so I dedicated that entire day to doing as much as I could. I will keep spending as much time as possible to get this accomplished. I have family history photo albums we brought back from Utah and I need to get those scanned as well. Lots to do and it is all time consuming. But it always feels really good when I complete a project like this.

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

The last day of September!! This month has literally flown by. 

We started our day with a trip to Georgetown. I received a phone call on Tuesday saying my eyedrop medication had been refilled. We decided to get that picked up. We had a biscuit at Hardee's and then to Moss Park in Georgetown for our walk. I determined I would look for great fall color pictures and take some and send to Papa. During this walk we passed a pine tree shedding its needles. There was a gold carpet of needles underneath and lots of gold needles getting ready to fall. First fall picture for Papa was taken. It was really cool this morning so the walk felt very good. 

Claude needed to pay for our two cars licensing for the next year. We stopped at the Courthouse and Claude was able to get that completely taken care of. This was very nice as he planned only to leave it off and they would mail him when their work was complete. This is another of those things that is a bit odd because of the virus. The Courthouse is closed for these types of things. Therefore, it was a pleasant surprise for Claude to find someone who looked at the paperwork he brought and tell him he could go to a certain place and they would complete it for him. Nice!! Then to the nursing home to leave a treat for Papa. Finally we went to Walmart. Papa's bank statement can only have so much money in it. It was right at the top of that amount when his statement came. I wanted to get some of the things he uses so the balance will stay where it needs to. I purchased some of the candy he likes, some socks, razors and two pair of pajama pants and two long sleeved t-shirts. These will be given to Papa as he needs them. Often Claude and I just purchase these things ourselves but it was helpful to keep his bank balance in a good range.

Home we came. Back to the laptop to do more scanning!!

Thursday, October 1, 2020

This was laundry day. I spent my entire day scanning and doing laundry. Claude fixed us nice chef salads for dinner and I did stop and sit to have dinner with him and watch a little television together. Then I got up and did my ironing while we finished watching television. One riveting day I tell you, absolutely riveting.

Claude got the Ring door bell camera to work and we each put the app on our telephone and made sure it worked. We are old and don't do all the things that modern technology suggests we all should do like lemmings. But this seems like a good idea in todays climate. We don't have lots of issues out in Sadieville but with the tension in our world today, this we felt was a good idea.

Friday, October 2, 2020

This day was to have started with Claude taking a flying lesson in Lexington. He received a phone call about an hour prior to when we were leaving telling him they had a problem with the plane's radio. They called him back at 10:30am to tell him not to come and they rescheduled. While we are happy they are fixing the radio, it was sad not to spend that time watching Claude soar through the air over Lexington in a little airplane. He loves getting to do that. We'll do that now in the middle of October.

This allowed me some unexpected time to get some scanning done. Yea!!

In the afternoon we headed the Jeep west. We stopped in Georgetown to take a walk and pick up a burger for dinner. Then we sped on toward LaGrange. Hayden was playing in the Oldham County High School band at the football game. Each family is only allowed to purchase two tickets. We figured this year would be a no go on seeing Hayden with the virus and the restrictions put in place to allow the kids to participate but hopefully stay safe. Andie and Michael gave us the two tickets they purchased for this game and we accepted those. Masks were worn the entire time and every other row of bleachers was blocked off. We sat with no one right by us at all, in our masks the entire time, and enjoyed a very brisk evening watching a pretty good ball game and hearing Hayden play in the band. Usually Hayden will come after half-time and sit with us through the 3rd quarter when the band is usually allowed to get refreshments and have a break. Couldn't do that. But we enjoyed listening to the band play and watching Hayden perform.

One of the kickers for the OCHS team is a girl. I heard the coach call her Hannah. This is something I have heard of, girls on co-ed football teams in high school, but I had not ever seen. I only saw her kick once during the game. 

The band usually marches back to the band room after the game. Hayden did that and then he met us at the Jeep and we drove him home. We found the lights out except for a small one in the family room. Andie was asleep on the couch waiting for Hayden to come home. Hayden and I stood over here a talked about waking her up. She never stirred. I bent over and kissed her on the forehead, she never stirred. I asked Hayden if we could get a selfie with all of us so we had proof we were there. He took this selfie as our evidence we did stop at the house.

Hayden locked the door behind us as we left to head back to Sadieville. It was fun to be out in the fresh air. We used our new stadium seats and really liked them. That is probably the only use they will get this season. All the changes to respect that corona virus. 

Saturday, October 3, 2020

This morning we packed for a quick trip we need to take. We busied ourselves being sure we finished tasks and didn't miss anything in our preparation.

In the afternoon, we scrubbed up and headed to Shaker Village in Pleasant Hill, Kentucky. We had an appointment with Melanie Maurer, a friend from Church who is a photographer. We were getting pictures taken for our 50th Anniversary year. We would have had these done close to February 13th. However, I had that unfortunate fall and jammed my three front teeth into my gum in August 2019. These teeth had to be removed and I was wearing a flipper to fill in those spaces. I asked Claude if we couldn't wait until I had my implant bridge so that I looked a bit more natural. He agreed. Melanie posted that she had mini-photo sessions. I quickly booked us for one of those mini-sessions. Today was the day. Melanie is one of the sweetest people on the planet. She helped us stand just right and even got Claude to have a real smile. We should have those pictures in about 4 weeks. 

As we left Shaker Village, I had Claude pause along our route home to take a few pictures of the beauty of this day. It was a gorgeous day in the 60's. A few clouds and a gentle breeze. What fun we had. These situations can make me nervous. You want it to be just right. You may not have this happen again. So we need to be sure our hair is right, our clothes are right. That we compliment each other in what we wear. Etc., Etc., Etc. After leaving a very positive experience with Melanie, I wanted a few pictures of the lovely day. Here they are. The first two are actually in Shaker Village. The third was taken from Hwy 68 as we crossed the Kentucky River. The last one was a nursey in Nicholasville, Kentucky. It was one gigantic pumpkin!

In family news, Jacob will be going back to work in the office on Monday. He has been working from home during the pandemic.

I received a letter today with lots and lots of forms in it from Signature Health Care in Georgetown. They hope to open the nursing home for in-person visits. Lots of hoops to be sure this will have on October 14th. But they are actually giving me a date they are aiming for. However, today we had 1275 positive cases today. I believe this is a new personal best for Kentucky. We learned yesterday that Pres. Trump and his wife had tested positive. They have taken Pres. Trump to the Presidential Suite at Walter Reed Army Hospital. He will work from there for a while. There are several senators as well as several of the White House employees that have tested positive. What a time we are living through.