Hayden, Riverdance, Birthdays, Cirque Italia, A Walk with Jesus...

Monday, March 23rd, Claude had a rough start to his week. He had a PT appointment. He left and came back twice because he forgot something. They tried new exercises at PT and he came home very sore. His troubles would continue throughout the day.

I was up early with him changed and washed the linens on both beds, walked my treadmill, finished the Blog for the week before. Then I got my shower and was ready to travel when Claude returned home. 

This day we would drive to LaGrange to pick up Hayden who made a surprise trip home over his spring break at De Paul University. We left to go to LaGrange. Claude remembered he forgot something he needed at home. We returned home and then headed out again. We had a traffic jam to get through in the Frankfort area. 

 

We have made this run to LaGrange for many years. I was playing on my Kindle. I paused to look up and didn't recognize the usual buildings and landscape. I looked at it for a minute, trying to get my bearings. Then I said the Claude, "Where are we?" I pulled up Google Maps and, sure enough, we were driving to the Icelandic Horses area. We missed our turn completely onto Freedom Way. I told Claude what happened, he found a spot and turned around and headed back to where we should have turned. He said to me, "You better watch me closely today, I'm not having a great day!" Poor Guy.

We got Hayden. He wanted to eat at Chick-filA. We stopped in Frankfort for that meal. Then on the Georgetown to Kroger. Since we had been gone for a week, we needed a few things from the grocery store and we wanted Hayden to pick out what he wanted in the way of food and snacks. 

Once home, Hayden set up the guest bedroom and then his place in the kitchen area. We asked how he wanted to spend his time with us. He suggested watching Castle. We spent our evening watching Castle. We headed to be about 11:30pm. Hayden always stays up much later than that. He is a night owl, just like his mom.

Todd posted this picture of Nissa on Facebook. She is wearing the socks we sent her for her birthday. The package arrived early and she was in her usual evening place after a hard day of work with Baby on her lap. The socks say "The dog is on my lap". Nissa reads books off her cellphone and holds Baby every evening.

Tuesday, March 24th, when I woke up and headed to the kitchen area, this was my view. Vintage Hayden. This has really become his spot when he visits. He used to curl up in one of our chairs. Now he plugs in his laptop and sits in one of the bar stools. He is writing scripts. This is how Hayden likes to visit. He chooses good foods and then sweets and has a quiet, good visit with us doing what he loves. 

We left about 3:30pm to take Hayden back to LaGrange. We stopped in Frankfort for dinner at Zaxby's. Then Claude and I were off to The Kentucky Center to watch Riverdance in Whitney Hall. Claude made another wrong turn but we got there in plenty of time. They are doing some constructions. All but one elevator were not working. We had to climb from parking level 2 to the balcony. 

Riverdance was a really good show. We have seen them before when living in Maryland. This is their 30th anniversary. They call it a New Generation. There was the Irish dancing as well as musical instrumental number and vocalist. There were also tap dancers who did a dance off with Irish dancers. It was a good evening of entertainment. The back drop for all of this was phenomenal. It was a dimensional screen with magnificent scenes. One particular one was an enormous tree with huge branches and no leaves. It appears to be a real tree on the stage. The lighting around the tree went from morning to daytime to evening. Amazing. We were asked not to take any pictures or video until the encore. 

Wednesday, March 25th, we were set to have a yard work day. In addition, my car sustained some injuries when we hit the 10-foot pothole in Memphis. Claude called the guys at the tire shop. They said to bring it right in. We drove both cars over, Claude checked mine in and then we headed back to Bojangles for a delicious biscuit breakfast before starting yardwork.

I would weed the flower beds while Claude cut the grass. It was very thick and a bit wet. It would take three charges of the lawn mower battery to get through the mowing. As Claude was cutting the back yard, I took this picture after he made one swipe near the flower beds. You can see how talk it was by the difference between the short mowed grass by the flower beds and the talk grass behind. In addition, the things that look like holes are really stepping stones and that is how deep the grass is around them. I took this picture and posted it on our family Facebook page with the caption "This looks like Easter egg hiding grass to me!"

It took us all day to get this work done. Not a big yard but it was the first time this year to cut grass and weed. We were hoping this wouldn't start until April but the weather had decided to make this very spring-like.

With yardwork done, we defaulted to our tradition of having a burger for dinner. The car people called and said the tires should be replaced. They were very near needing that but one tire broke during the pothole incident. They also said the rim was damaged and they had a call in for a replacement. This would take a few days to get to Georgetown. They suggested we bring the car home and then bring it back when the new rim arrived. Time was good for us to go to Burger King for dinner and then to pick up my car. Then home to our recliners for the evening.

Katelyn let me know that she had her exam on her wrist. She will NOT need surgery. So very happy about that. That means she is behaving pretty well with he plastic cast. I am amazed with four kids, a full time job, going to school on-line, an exchange student, a hubby that works the evening shift, etc. that she has been about to be that good with only one hand. Yeah Katelyn!

I did have to get up at 8:15pm for a Google Meets Relief Society presidency meeting. 

Thursday, March 26th, was Nissa's birthday. I posted this on our family Facebook page. "Todd beat me to the picture of Nissa and Baby. But I will use it again in this post because it is sooo Nissa. Today is our firstborns birthday. The child we affectionately call our "Test Monkey". We hope you have a great day and a year you can fill with fun memories. We Love Ya Bunches!! Happy Birthday!!"

Katelyn posted this picture on our family Facebook page about Emelia. "Millies 1st Grade concert. Somebody came out of her shell tonight. She volunteered to do her speaking part she was very excited to be part of the Do-Re-Mi and at last minute one of our Yankee Doodles wasn't able to make it and she chose to step in because she liked the outfit."

Friday, March 27th, was Paul's birthday. I posted this on our family Facebook page. "March birthdays come to an end for our family with this young man. Paul Zakery Thompson (Jesse James MacTavish) is our firstborn grandson. He has earned a great upcoming year. You keep on keeping on young man. We Love Ya Bunches! Happy Birthday!!"

The rim for my car came in. Claude drove it back to the shop. I stayed home to do the final draft of the Relief Society newsletter.

In the evening, we headed to Florence, Kentucky to see Cirque Italia. Our hope was to have dinner at Smokey Bones. The circus was in the Florence Mall parking lot. Smokey Bones was at the edge. I happened to check Google and learned that Smokey Bones is officially closed. Ugh! Not to worry, we drove a little further down to City Barbeque and enjoyed a nice dinner there. Then it was back to the Mall to watch Cirque Italia. 

This is not Cirque du Soliel. They are not quite as polished but they did a great show. This is water-themed. There is a circular stage with a huge vat of water underneath. High above the stage is a ring that drops water to the stage during certain performances. So, at time you water coming up around the edge of the stage from below the stage and water falling down around the edge of the stage from above the stage. It was a high energy performance. 

This was the clown who did oleo acts between stage sets,

The clown gave three people in the audience red plastic cups. They were asked to put them on their heads. He pulled out a wooden cart with a garbage can laying on its side. The lid end is where he high it to make it fire a puff of smoke out a hole in the bottom of the garbage can. He would get in front of the audience and fire his homemade cannon at one of the audience members until the cup on their head fell off. 

This little guy was sitting beside Claude. He was totally mesmerized by the performance. He never fussed. Just sat wide-eyed watching the show. He was a highlight of the evening for me. I kept catching his father's eye and we would grin at each other at the sweetness of this child and what may have been his first circus experience. The dad grinned when I took the picture. 

This is the Bumblebee. It seems there was a movie made in 2018 and he was a main character. I do not remember the move but it must have made an impression. During the intermission, Bumblebee was on the stage. For a $20 donation, you could come up on stage and have your picture taken with him. There was a very long line of parents and children. Claude and I did not do this.

And suddenly it felt like we were at a Jimmy Buffett concert. The girls came out with beach balls and the audience had fun beating them around. They did come out with one HUGE beachball at the end. It made it all around the big top.

This final act had two wheels that spin around on their one. One is at each end of the rods in the middle. At the very end of the act, one guy is on the outside of his circle as it turns walking with the turn. The other guy is inside his circle walking to keep the entire contraption spinning. As a final act, the guy on the outside puts a bag over his head and walks on the outside as the circle spins. Amazing. 

It was a good circus and we did enjoy ourselves.

Saturday, March 28th, we had a good morning at home getting things done on our to do lists. 

In the afternoon, we drove to Frankfort to see Experience Easter: A Walk to Remember. This was done by the Frankfort Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was so reverent and so very well done. They used the entire inside of the building. You entered and walked through to a place for a short video. Then you had a guide dressed in New Testament clothing who quietly walked through the entire exhibit. There was such attention to detail in all the displays. We were allowed to take pictures without a flash.

I love this statue by Thorvaldsen. The original is in a church in Copenhagen, Denmark. Claude and I have been there. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been given permission to display replicas of this statue in several of their visitor centers near temples. In Rome, Italy, the statue of Christ is also accompanied by eleven of the 12 apostle and Paul as the twelfth apostle. The statues of the apostles and Paul and also in the church in Copenhagen. 

Gethsemane. This was my most tender point in our visit to Israel. It was so good to see these displays and remember the feelings we had in Israel. 

I loved how they had a stone to roll over the door so you felt you were entering the tomb where Jesus was buried. When you went through the door, there was a bench there with a linen cloth folded on it. Very tender. 

This lady had a nice display to give a brief telling of a Seder meal. There is a Haggadah on the plate at the front of the table. The plate in front of the lady has the symbols that are eaten during the seder meal and she shared what each represented. 

This man played Nicodemus. 

We very much enjoyed this experience. Extremely well done. And...the bonus...Laura and Jessie were there with Howard. Howard was working the parking. We got to visit with Laura and Jessie before we went in and after we finished our tour. So good to see Laura driving and out and about.

Claude took me to Cattleman's Roadhouse for dinner. How I enjoy their salmon and steamed broccoli. However, after returning home, it didn't digest as well as it went down. I hurled it all. Did not tell Claude. He was so happy to provide one of my favorite meals. 

In the evening, this add came across my Kindle again. I shared it with my family and asked if they could spot what the editor missed before publishing this ad. (the figure has 6 toes)

Sunday, March 29th, was Palm Sunday. Since we have General Conference next Sunday, we held our Easter Sacrament Meeting program this Sunday. No classes were held after. Claude wrote the program and it was beautiful. The choir sang two numbers. The Primary kids sang Gethsemane. It is such a moving piece of music and to hear it from a child's voice is very special. To top it off, the kids on the right side of the stand started to sway to the music. Claude and I both enjoyed a grin at that. There were scriptures read and other readings as well as many congregational hymns.

After sacrament meeting, Claude helped Bryce Christensen give David Adams a priesthood blessing. David was to have hernia surgery on Monday. It is always moving to watch the priesthood in action. Grateful for this opportunity for Claude and Bryce to use their priesthood power. 

We enjoyed lunch at Schlotsky's. Yum! And...I kept it down just fine.

Other than walking the treadmill, we enjoyed a quiet rest of our day. 

Making New Memories While Enjoying Old Memories...

Monday, March 16th, saw me a bit tired as Sunday night sleep was not happening. I spent my time awake relistening to the Relief Society Birthday Devotional talks and highlighting them. I want to use quote as part of the Relief Society newsletter for April. Good use of the time when one can't sleep.

I had a very productive time at my laptop. I finished my Blog for the previous week and got all pictures labeled and put in their appropriate files. I ordered Nissa and Paul's birthday gifts through Amazon. I placed a hold our our mail as we would be traveling the rest of the week. I updated my contact/password list. And, I was able to update the April Relief Society draft newsletter with the Relief Society Devotional activity. 

In the midst of all this, I was able to hurl two times. Where does this come from? Then I packed for our trip and rested for the remainder of the day. Ugh!

Just to keep life interesting, we had a few snow showers during the day. Oh My. Winter wanted to make at least one more little statement before shutting down.

Tuesday, March 17th, was our Andie's birthday. I posted this on our family Facebook page: "Well, I went thru my phone pictures and cropped these of Andean Christensen Marx to share. Why? Because today is her Birthday! Join me in wishing Andie Christensen Marx the happiest birthday ever! We love ya bunches!!"

Claude read that Broadway Dallas was having the play "The Neil diamond Musical: A Beautiful Noise". We love Neil Diamond. We have been blessed to see him a couple of times in live concerts. Amazing performer. I checked it out, we talked about best options and determined a road trip was the way to go. Several people were surprised we didn't fly down. Well, when you are retired and can put some days together, driving sometimes makes a lot more sense. Besides, we love time driving like this. No expensive plane tickets, no rental car, we would have 4 nights in hotels. Road trip was our choice. 

We began our little road trip at about 9am with a quick drive-thru Bojangles. As we left Frankfort, Kentucky area, the snow started to come down. It was cold enough for a coat. We were really looking forward to the 70's and 80's that Dallas weather was promising. 

When we got to Lawrenceburg, there was a long back-up of traffic due to a wreck on the slick roads. The road we were on was the by-pass around Lawrenceburg. We got off that and drove through Lawrenceburg to when it joins back with Hwy 127. Alas, there was a wreck on that road as well. A big truck with a long trailer had slid off the highway and had to be pulled back onto the road. Then we were off again. However, while stopped for this to happen, we spied Big Foot in a field! He is real!!

As we got further south, we enjoyed the red bud trees starting to bloom along the road. So pretty. 

Another thing I love is listening to music we both enjoy. Every now and then, I peek over and see Claude strumming his air guitar. That is how we roll on a road trip. You know Claude is enjoying a particular piece of music is he does this. 

We stopped in Tennessee at a Pilot to refuel the car and to fuel us. They had an Arby's. After how big slow down in Lawrenceburg, we decided the service at this particular Arby's on this particular day was the Lawrenceburg of fast food. The food was good. The people were cheerful and friendly, just really slow. 

Claude and I had a discussion about the possibility of renting a cabin for a month somewhere. I checked out some places but need to do more research. That is always easier for me on my laptop. 

We made it to one of my favorite hotels. This was in Memphis and it is fronts on the Mississippi River. We checked into our room and then decided to walk to someplace for a light dinner. We walked around to the back of the block the hotel is on and found a Subway. We had not eaten at a Subway in a very long time. We enjoyed our sandwiches very much. 

Across the street from Subway was a historic marker for Piggly Wiggly. These are all over Memphis. This one caught my eye as my mother shopped at Piggly Wiggly when I was a tiny child in DeRidder, Louisiana. Fun to know its history is from Memphis. 

We walked back to our hotel and curled up to enjoy our room for the remainder of the evening. 

Wednesday, March 18th, we would drive from Memphis to Mesquite, Texas. Mesquite is on the outskirts of Dallas. I had our hotel there for an easy get on the road on Friday.

I titled these pictures Over the River...And Through the Woods to Dallas we must go! This is the Hernando de Soto Bridge over the Mississippi River between Memphis and Arkansas. 

I found these signs amusing in Arkansas. Look at that phone number. There was another firm that had the number 888-8888. Never have seen that before. 

While driving this day, I was able to crochet a border around another burp pad. I did one on Tuesday also. I also read a Come, Follow Me lesson. While doing this, I found some scriptures to share with Drew. Drew is our grandson-in-law. He would be ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood on Sunday. I saved the scriptures and would write Drew a letter from Claude and me latter. 

We found our hotel located near I-30 and checked in. The front desk clerk pointed me to the area where many restaurants were located. We drove there. Claude was wanting Mexican. We found this local restaurant and enjoyed a very good meal. They gave us these tiny little candies with our check. They were lime, peach or strawberry flavored. Really tasty little things. 

Back to our hotel or the evening. I purchased Mexican Street Corn flavored almonds for a treat. Claude enjoyed them in the evening. I tried two and they were pretty good. 

Thursday, March 19th, this was a down day. Claude was able to take a really good nap while I crocheted a border on another burp pad. 

When it was time to go out for the evening, we decided to try Whataburger. I had not had one of these hamburgers in years. Claude recently read an article about the best value for a hamburger meal. Whataburger came in at the top of the list. This we proven true for us. We both really, really enjoyed our burgers. Too bad there isn't a Whataburger in Kentucky!

We found our way to The Music Hall at Fair Park where the play would be. We were told in the eMail's I had been getting to be there an hour and a half early as it was very crowded. We were there that early and it was not crowded. We found a shady place to park and sat in the car to wait. 

I received an Facebook post from Aubrey about Nelson's play. These pictures were included. How fun he participated in the production. He is so flippin' cute!

The venue provided a tram to drive you from the parking lot to the Music Hall but Claude and I opted to walk. I had my Ticketmaster app open in the car. By the time I got to the front door of The Music Hall, my app had closed and wanted me to login again. Ugh. The nice lady helped me by finding my ticket on her tablet and sending me a link to my text messages. My cellphone was not opening the Ticketmaster app. It was not recognizing there was internet even when we logged onto The Music Hall internet. We got in and all was fine. 

The Music Hall is enormous. It was celebrating 100 years. Clearly it has been renovated many times. There are 3,420 seats in this hall. We always opt for the balcony. We really like that view in most any theater setting. 

No photos or videos were allowed. I took these pictures of the Playbill. I was particularly struck by the "Letter from Neil". Neil Diamond was a part of preparing this play and has watched and approved it. This made it all the more interesting. 

We both enjoyed the play very much. We agreed the two day drive down and back were worth this effort. The young man that played Neil Diamond as a young performer had a voice that was very, very close to Neil Diamond's voice. So many talented performers. I especially liked a scene at the end where the old Neil Diamond and the young Neil Diamond face each other and sing. Very touching. The story is based on Neil's years of therapy. It is excellent and Claude and I would recommend it to others. 

Friday, March 20th, it was time to point the Buick toward home. However, we decided to take a sentimental side-trip journey to Shreveport, Louisiana. This is where I grew up. This is where Claude and I met and dated. We were on a quick mission to have one more Muffuletta. 

Fertitta's was a happening place when I was in my teens. I went to school with Agatha Fertitta. She was one year older than me. During that time, Fertitta's was surround by other homes like the one their restaurant was located in. There was hardly a place to park. Now, there are lots of freeways in Shreveport and they have cut up this part of town. The only thing that keeps Fertitta's standing is it's historic status. It is literally the only building left. We were very happy to get there and each enjoy one more Muffy. As we checked out, Agatha was the person who checked us out. 

Then we found our way back north toward Memphis. I noted a storage unit rental place. They also had a section to rent work sheds. I never saw such a thing. Little metal individual sheds for work. 

We arrived in Memphis and checked into that hotel I enjoy so much. We were in room 1112 with a full view of the Hernando de Soto Bridge. At night, they have a light show for 10 minutes every half hour between sunset and 10:30pm. I totally enjoy this light show. 

Saturday, March 21st, we left Memphis and headed back to Georgetown. Somehow, that last leg of the drive seems to take forever. We did have several backed up traffic spots to wait through. But part of it is that you are just ready to be home again. We stopped at Fazoli's in Frankfort for dinner and th.en on to our home. We unpacked and curled up in our recliners to watch Castle for the rest of our evening. We had a great trip.

Sunday, March 22nd, was a delightful Sabbath Day. It was our Ward Conference. Bishop Bart Barber and Pres. Rex Holt were the speakers. Excellent talks that addressed how we treat others, not to be judgmental but love as the Savior would, charity, the pure love of Christ. Leave the judging to Christ. 

Colton and Jenna Thacker blessed their two little ones. They had lots of family in from Arizona. The Thackers have been married quite a while and could never have children. Jenna could get pregnant but couldn't carry the baby to term. They are wonderful people. This year they learned they could adopt a newborn baby boy. They were so very happy about this. Then, one month later, they learned Jenna was pregnant. She ended up having to spend a lot of time in the hospital and on complete bedrest. She delivered early. By the end of last year, this good couple now had two sons about 6-7 months different in age. Wow!! We were all so excited for them. Their family kept someone here with them to help them through all of the medical and care of this newly adopted son. Sunday, both boys were given a name and a blessing by their father, Colton. Very touching. 

I was asked to play the piano for Primary. This is always a treat. After church, our Stake Relief Society Presidency met with us for a quick catch-up and training. Then Claude drove us through Panera for a salad for lunch. Claude got his nap and I deleted a ton of things that accumulated on our DVR while we were gone. Then I started the Blog. In the evening, we had a Zoom training for the Communications Council. By the end of that, we were both ready to hit those recliners and take it easy for a couple of hours before bedtime.

In Michigan, Drew Roper, our grand son-in-law, was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood. Wish we could have been there. I sent Drew the letter on Saturday with the scriptures. Katelyn sent back to us that Drew has started listening to all the General Conference talks that are on the Gospel Library app. He will listen to one each day. So happy for this little family. 

It was a full, fun week. Made some new memories. Enjoyed some old memories. Now we are off to a new week.