Catchin' Up...

Wednesday, April 7th, was our son-in-law, Todd's, birthday. He is married to Nissa, our eldest. I posted this on Facebook for Todd's birthday.

"Claude Christensen and I want to wish our son-in-law a very Happy Birthday  today. He loves Michigan and is a most excellent tour guide of that State. He loves his Green Bay Packers. He loves and is devoted to his family. And he is just an all round good guy. Happy Birthday Todd Tyler. We love ya bunches!!"

Saturday, April 10th, as we drove back into Eagle Bend, Claude paused the car so I could take a quick pictures. It appears someone is building a home on one of the empty lots in Eagle Bend. As of today they have added a lot of rock to form the foundation of this home. It will be fun to watch them build it.

Now for one of life's little ironies. As I find things that will make nice Christmas gifts through the year, I go ahead and purchase them, wrap them, keep a grid with what I have purchased on my Google Drive. This helps Christmas not be so hectic and it spreads out all that Christmas buying. Claude and I watched a documentary by Ken Burns on Ernest Hemingway. It was a three part deal and was excellent. Our son-in-law, Todd, loves Ernest Hemingway. They made a DVD of the program. I sent a text to Nissa to be sure they were DVD capable. She said they were. So I ordered the DVD on April 10th. April 12th I received an eMail saying the DVD was shipped and giving me a tracking number. April 14th the package arrived at the Indianapolis FedEx facility at 11:55pm. April 15th there was a shooting and eight people were killed at that FedEx facility. Now the tracking tells me No scheduled delivery date available at this time. No concerns as the package is a Christmas present for pity sakes. It is such a sad event to happen. 

Monday, April 12th, while driving into Georgetown, Claude stopped and parked the Jeep so I could walk down a bit of Hwy 32 in Sadieville and take pictures of the red bud trees in full bloom. They grow randomly through the wooded areas. Sometimes it is just a little tuft of color. Sometimes there is a full spray of color across a section. When I got to where Claude parked the Jeep, he had picked out a couple of spots I should take a picture of. Enjoy!!

Tuesday, April 13th, I was able to take Papa for a second car ride. Before I can take him, I have to go through the check-in procedures to be sure I am okay around residents. You stand at a monitor and answer some questions. Then the camera on the monitor takes your temperature. If everything is okay, you get a sticker that says "Pass" to put on your clothes. This lets the staff know you are okay to be in the building. Glen Redmon was standing in the lobby as I did this. Glen is a pastor for a little church in Stamping Ground. He is also the chaplain and a Quality of Life leader for the nursing home. I have known Glen since January of 2006. As I put on my "Pass" sticker, I said to Glen, "Do you suppose this is what the judgement will be like? Will we answer some questions and then get a "Pass" sticker if we did it right?" We both got a chuckle out of that.

For this drive I took Papa up Hwy 25 to the end of the new by-pass extension. We drove that to Hwy 460 and then across 460 to Frankfort. My goal was for us to see the flowers blooming at the Frankfort Cemetery. We did a 'cemetery tour' in 2018 and 2019 in the spring as all the flowers and trees bloom. We would go to Frankfort and check the blossoms there followed by a drive through the Lexington Cemetery. Papa loved these drives with the blossoms and all the very old headstones. There is something peaceful about a cemetery. I took these pictures of the Frankfort Cemetery. We did no go to the Lexington Cemetery this year.

After the cemetery, we drove south on Hwy 60 to Sunset Memorial Gardens. This is where Mimi is buried and Papa will be buried there beside her. I wanted to be sure her flowers still looked good. Papa was happy to see this place again. I pointed out where he will lay beside Mom. He was pleased, again, to have that in his mind. He likes the views in this little cemetery and he loves the big tree they will rest under. Papa commented again that he never imagined he would be buried in Kentucky. He was sure it would be Louisiana. I told him that to me, where you are buried is not as important as that it is a safe, nice place for my remains to rest till the resurrection. Papa said, "I never thought of it like that." I know these things roll around in his mind. With his memory so poor, it helps to give him some peace about these things for a brief period of time.

I am pleased to say that I now have a standing appointment each Tuesday at 1pm to take Papa for a drive. Please join me in praying for good weather every Tuesday. So happy I can now see Papa in person. His laughter as we drove was a pure delight. 

Thursday, April 15th, these pictures were taken of Raelyn learning to play soccer. This is her first foray into team sports. I loved the exuberance with which she did her warm up exercises. Emelia is in middle and last pictures. 

After Katelyn sent these pictures, I shared one of Bailey when she tried out soccer and suggested Katelyn share the picture of Bailey with Raelyn. Raelyn loved it. It is fun to keep the cousins close even though miles separate them.

The other picture I received from Katelyn, was Raelyn in her school class. They were studying worms. Please note how Raelyn in right in the thick of things! I responded to Katelyn: "This just brought back a cute memory. When you and Nissa lived with us and Grampa would so on a business trip, he would ask you what he should bring back to you. You always said, "Erms!" You loved gummy worms. You should share that story with Rae!" Katelyn assured me she would buy some gummy worms on her way home and share the story with Raelyn.

Friday, April 16th, was the birthday of a dear friend from our Denver days. Cindy Axtell Misenar had three children my kids age. She had a boy and then two girls. I had two girls and then a boy. Cindy and I went to Church together. I was Relief Society President. Cindy was my secretary. I came to love this sweet lady as though she was my sister. Her hubby, Russ, had Hodgkin's disease. Russ is why I sometimes call Claude, Big Guy. Russ was not a large man and the cancer only made him wither away. He would call Claude, Big Guy. It stuck and I have used that phrase ever since. He would pass away just before we moved from Denver to Maryland. Cindy and I did lots of things together with our kids. They took swimming lessons at the same time. Carla asked for pictures any of Cindy's friends had for a virtual birthday celebration she was hosting for her mother. I only found one picture. It was taken after Russ passed away and was the age her kids were when we left Denver. We were all too poor to be taking lots of pictures to be developed. Cellphones had not been invented with their cameras included. So, we sent this picture to Carla. Left to right: Cindy, Heidi, Russ and Carla. All kids are grown, married and have children. 

This was also the first time for us to clean the Church in over a year! The congregation is split up into teams with a team leader. Claude and I had been the team leaders for several years. Each team has about three times a year that they are responsible to clean the Church building. This is usually done on a Friday or Saturday so it is fresh for Church on Sunday. We seemed to always have February, June and October of each year. Then the Covid-19 pandemic hit and the Church was actually closed for a while. So we had no cleaning assignments and were asked not to use the building at all. Eventually they started in-person services with many restrictions and suggestions that those over 65 at higher risk attend via a Zoom meeting. Now we are allowed to use the building for limited groups of things. So, we need to get back in once a week and clean the building. New teams have been formed and Claude and I are no longer the team leader. We went Friday evening to do our part of the cleaning. Claude did the chapels and I cleaned the four bathrooms. Patty Harmon came and cleaned all the door handles and picked up the trash in all the classrooms that can be used now. 

Saturday, April 17th, I attended a baby shower. Haven't attended one of those for a very long time. This was for Amanda Owens and Noe. They are having a baby boy they will name Allen. Amanda is the daughter of my dear friend, Lisa Adams. Lisa was my counselor when I was Stake Relief Society President. It was a really good shower for Amanda and Noe.

And, Aubrey sent this wonderful picture of Nelson catching a fish! What a great grin on this boy!!

Sunday, April 18th, is Jacob's birthday. Jacob is our youngest child and he turns 46 years old. Man...where did that time go!! Looking forward to a phone call with him this evening. I posted this on Facebook this morning.

"I sat at my laptop Friday morning and looked through pictures of the first decade of Jake Christensen's life. I am sharing some of those with you today because...today is Jake's birthday. Claude Christensen and I love having Jake for a son. He has grown into such a great young man on so many levels. I had the privilege of scan
ning his journals and pictures during this pandemic. I marveled at all his life has brought to him. Happy Birthday, Jake!! May this year and all future years continue to bring you good experiences. Love Ya Bunches!!"

Our family is still playing a daily Trivial Pursuit question. I post a new one each morning from our 1981 Trivial Pursuit game. They try to guess the answer throughout the day. Today's question was special. Here is what I posted on our family Facebook page:

This question was saved for today because today is Jake's birthday. Jake loved Shakespeare. Give us the answer Jake! (Katelyn, watch and learn a little more about Shakespearean things.😉😉)

Art & Literature: Who is the clown in Shakespeare's Henry IV and The Merry Wives of Windsor?

The comment about Katelyn is because she asked Jake at one point if something was written in Shakespearean. Needless to say, this will be a running joke for the rest of Katelyn's life. 

Jake did answer correctly with "That would be Falstaff."

I shared some research I did about Falstaff beer which I remembered being advertised years ago. 

"A little history about Falstaff Beer. The Falstaff Brewing Corporation was a major American brewery located in St. Louis, Missouri. With roots in the 1838 Lemp Brewery of St. Louis, the company was renamed after the Shakespearean character Sir John Falstaff in 1903. Production peaked in 1965 with 7,010,218 barrels brewed, and then dropped 70% in the next 10 years.[1] While its smaller labels linger on today, its main label Falstaff Beer went out of production in 2005.[2] The rights to the brand are currently owned by Pabst Brewing Company. The Lemps chose the Shakespearean character for the name of their new beer due to Sir John Falstaff's reputation as a jolly, fun-loving knight."

Then Jake share this quote: "If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host that I know is damn'd." Sir John Falstaff, Henry IV Part 1, Act II, Scene 4

When Jake was in High School, his only request for Christmas one year was a book of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare. He received that requested gift. Love our son!! Love the little bits of learning we are doing with this Trivial Pursuit question each day.