Friday, October 11, 2024, MN

 October has been full of activities most days and although there was nothing on the calendar on Monday, I managed to fill it up with a trip to the dog park - not another dog there for Joey to run and play with, and a trip to the grocery store.  Later on, as I was trying to decide if I would go watch the girls at swim practice, I got a call from Jill asking if I could help out. Charlotte was not aware that it was picture day for swim team and took the bus home instead of staying at school for pictures. So I picked her up at the bus, stopped at the house so she could put her swimsuit on and brush her hair, took her to school. Jill and Norah were already there and Camille was in the pool (Norah does gymnastics on Mondays so she doesn’t swim). Just after I got there, the swim coach came up to Norah and invited her to take a birthday lap in the pool and since she had her suit on, she did. It was so cute - her team members gathered in the lanes facing her lane and while she swam the length of the pool and back - they all splashed her with their paddle boards. When she got back from her lap, they all sang Happy Birthday. She told Jill that when she came up to breathe, she had a smile on her face - that just gives me chills. They went back home and I stayed to watch Camille practice. At the end of practice, she did a birthday lap.  I am posting only one video, just replace the name in the song.

 

I had art class with Genevieve on Tuesday and we did paper quilling - a craft that I haven’t done since the 70s.  As with most projects, there are so many new tools that make it easier and give the ability to do more detail, but it is basically the same. 

Me, Genevieve, Kathy, Ann, and Judy

Judy and I took down our garden totem from art class on Wednesday morning and packed them away for the winter and I cleaned out the garden shed. Joann had been storing a lot of hummingbird feeders and artsy things that haven’t been used in the three years that I have been here, so I got rid of them and made some room in there.

I had a follow up echocardiogram in the afternoon to check if all is going well with my heart function. The results were in My Chart before the end of the day and it actually looks like there might have been some improvement.  I see the cardiologist again next week.

And yesterday was cleaning day at the Bridge household - so nothing to write about except the eleven flights of stairs and 14,000 steps (6.4 miles) that I did.  Deb walked Joey, so I didn’t have to be concerned with that when I got home. I did get ambitious and baked a batch of his liver treats for him in the evening.

I took this picture of the pretty trees in the woods behind their house - just as the sun was getting to the treetops and I was starting my job.

My car was due for an oil change, so I dropped it off this morning and Joey and I walked to the 9-mile Creek Trail and stopped at the parking lot of a church and got an egg sandwich from a food truck. It was a beautiful morning to walk the trail - there is not nearly as much water flowing in the creek now because we have had no rain the whole month of September and into October.  The morning had a real feeling in the air.  I spotted this cute woodland creature trying to blend into the tree.

I joined Judy, Cheri, and Kathy this afternoon to assemble 150 fall greeting cards for hospice this afternoon.  Judy does such a great job of designing and preparing them, all we have to do is glue on the inside greeting and add a little bling to them, and leave with a good feeling that I have contributed to a good cause.

Cathy invited me to join her and her group of friends at Tilly’s house (a beautiful home in S Minneapolis that is full of antiques) for dinner and to hang out tonight. Originally, I told her that I wasn’t planning to go - just being lazy and wanting to stay home, but she called this afternoon and said that Tilly was disappointed and hoping that I would come, so I changed my mind and went.  I’m glad, because it is so much fun to just hang around with a bunch of fun women, eating, drinking wine and telling stories.  We spent most of the time around the dining room table - we had pasta primavera that Sandy made, Cathy brought calico beans, I brought green beans with almonds, Susie brought a salad with tomatoes and cucumbers from her garden and home made baklava, and Heidi brought apple pie from Kowalki’s. All was tasty.

After dinner, we headed to the living room where Susie had a bin full of her hand made wool lined mittens for us to buy. She charges $20 for friends, $30 online and they are beautiful - all made from wool sweater that she gets at thrift stores.  I bought a couple of Christmas gifts.  Also, Sandy had brought a huge box of antique tea and shaving mugs that she got from a relative’s collection after they passed away.  I took only one just because it was from her - I just don’t have a lot of room for displaying pretty items any more.

As we left the house, we were asked to take apples from Sandy’s tree and house plants to reduce the number to be tended while Tilly is gone to Florida for the winter.  It sure is nice to have a group of girls to hang out with and I’m glad that I changed my mind and went.

Sunday, October 6, 2024, MN

 I have felt very sad and heavy hearted this week as it gets closer to the time that Joann was leaving and I was helping her with last minute preps and packing.  Her son got here on Friday and she left for Nebraska yesterday afternoon.

On Thursday morning when I left the building to go for a walk with Joey, I noticed two cop cars in the parking lot and a cop walking to his unmarked car.  I learned that my friend Sheila had passed away during the night.  She was always a ray of sunshine in this place and greeted everyone with a big smile and a hug, in spite of her health challenges of kidney failure (dialysis several times a week) and physical challenges (scooted around in an electric wheelchair).

And then it’s sad when we see the family come and empty out their apartments and they are gone.  Another resident was moved to assisted living a couple of weeks ago and we watched his family empty his apartment.  It is truly the downside of senior apartment living.

Yesterday when I was on my way home from watching Norah at swim practice, I got a phone call from my sister-in-law Sharon.  She and her daughter Rachael were on their way to visit Reanna who is going to college in River Falls and they invited me to meet up with them for dinner.  We met at the Tamarack Bar and Grill in Woodbury and had a lovely visit and good dinner.  It turns out that Reanna has a long weekend to go back home on the 24th, just when I am planning to head to Stoughton again, so she can ride with me and save Rachael a 4-hour trip to pick her up.

We celebrated Camille and Norah’s birthday at Lois and Dennis’ house this afternoon.  They baked and decorated their own cakes and Ben and Dennis fried Walleye from their fishing trip for dinner.  It was so tasty and I’m happy that they shared.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024, MN, IA, MN

 I was loaded up and out the door by 9:30 Sunday morning, heading for Amana Colonies, IA to meet up with Bob and Penny coming from Kansas City and my cousins Jonnie and Mary who came from Stoughton.  The reason for the meetup was that Jonnie made these great Chiefs yard signs for Bob and since they were really heavy, she didn’t want to ship them.  She called a few weeks ago to see if I wanted to go on a road trip to KC with her and we came up with the plan to meet in the middle instead.

Our timing was good and we all arrived within a half hour of each other, checked into the historic Hotel Millwright, walked across the street to the Brewery and heard the local polka band doing a practice run for next week’s Octoberfest.  It was fun catching up. We then walked over to the Brau Haus restaurant for dinner.  

Once our cars were parked, that’s where they stayed until it was time to go back home.  Bob, Penny, and I headed out for a walk on the nearby trail - Bob did an out and back and Penny and I continued on for the 3.2 mile loop.  After showering, we met Mary and Jonnie for breakfast at the Hotel.  And then we walked the streets of the little historic woolen mill town and went into most of the little shops: woolens, bakery, toys, ice cream, florals, local made arts, furniture, etc.

After our shopping, my brother Ray’s foster sister Joanie who lives in Cedar Rapids came to meet up with us, have a drink, and talk for a couple of hours.  She and Mary and gone to elementary school together for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades and then Ray’s family moved out of town. It was great to see her again, it had been since 2015 when Ray died that I had seen her.

The colonies are a group of seven villages that were settled by German immigrants that were escaping religious persecution.  It was a self sufficient community, growing the own foods, building homes and manufacturing everything they needed to live. It became a historic landmark in 1965 and is a big tourist attraction.  It is very pretty with lots of flowers, pumpkins, and antiques.

Saturday, September 28, 2024, MN

 What a week this has been!  Since Ben was out of town and Jill had surgery on Tuesday, Lois and I have been helping out with the girls.  I was there after school on Monday and Jill took Camille to swim practice (4:45), Lois took Norah to gymnastics (4:30) and I took Charlotte to swim practice (7:15-8:45).  Tuesday morning, I was out of the house by 5:30 to get them off to school.  They have their routines down and got ready, tidied up their rooms, came down and packed their own lunches, ate breakfast (I made pancakes), and got their backpacks ready and headed out to the bus stop. Same with Charlotte.  My job was easy, just keeping track of time.

Jill’s surgery went well and she is in recovery mode for a couple of weeks.

I helped Joann pack up her  canned goods in the afternoon - six boxes full of cans and packaged foods, probably dating way back in time.  What a shame! I know canned goods last a long time but I sure wouldn’t want to eat any of it.

I started my new cleaning job on Wednesday, for a very nice couple who have a very nice home not too far from me.  All went well and I finished in three hours, got paid promptly, and got some very nice feedback when Cassie got back home.

Thursday was another helping out day. I made enchiladas and Mexican green rice for dinner, got there after school and took Camille and Norah to their swim practice - Lois did the late shift with Charlotte. Dinner was liked and much appreciated.

Friday was Joey’s haircut day and I hung him from the shower curtain to do his legs and face and that all went well.  We took a break after that and I had a 2.5-hour phone chat with Tom.  Several times we were cutting off the conversation, ready to sign off and one of us would come up with another topic - I guess that’s what happens when we don’t talk that often and we have a lot of catching up to do. 

After the phone chat, I got ready to finish cutting Joey’s back and sides, secured the clamp-on brace that restricts his movement to the table and realized that it was broken - the nut kept coming out of place when I tightened the bolt that holds the post and it would not stay in place. I managed to finish the job without it but he still needs a few tweaks where I missed a spot here and there.

Today was a swim meet for the girls and they each competed in three events.  It was Camille and Norah’s first meet and they were pretty anxious but ended up doing really well. They left the meet with first, seconds, thirds, and a fifth.  Now that they have a meet behind them, they will be more confident and keep working toward improving their times. I didn’t get many pictures.  This is Norah and Camille cheering Charlotte on in the 200 yard backstroke - she took first!

Monday, September 23, 2024, MN

 I picked Norah and Camille up around noon on Saturday, as they are having a sleepover with me while Charlotte is having her birthday sleepover with friends. It is giving me the opportunity to celebrate twins’ birthday a bit early.  We went to the Mall of America where they spent some time on the climbing wall and I gave them each $30 to spend. Norah made it to the top of the most difficult wall and the attendant told her that she was now part of the 1% club.  They bought goofy fluffy Nike-like slippers with the money and the last gift was a stop at Grandpa’s Candy Store where they could pack as much candy in a small box for $5 - they loved it.  We watched Despicable Me 4 that evening.  I slept on the couch and they took the bed - settling in after about 30 minutes of goofing off.

Jill arranged for them to have a private swim lesson Sunday morning, as they needed some extra practice on diving in order to be ready for next Saturday’s swim meet - their first.  

I’ll be helping Jill out this week, as Ben is out of town on a fishing trip with her Dad and she is having a hernia surgery on Tuesday.  I will help with getting dinner ready and take Charlotte to swim practice today and be there bright and early tomorrow morning to make sure they get to the bus on time. It’s been a while since Lois and I have had Granny Nanny duty, although we both help out whenever we can.

Friday, September 20, 2024, MN, WI

 I just got back from spending two days with Patty and Susan at the Pineview Campground at the Fort McCoy Army Recreation Facility in Wisconsin.  It’s always so nice to hang out with these long-time friends and we have so much fun just talking, a little sightseeing, eating and just plain being together.  We stayed in one of their destination trailers and it was very nice accommodations.  Susan got the bedroom and Patty and I slept in the loft the first night, but it wasn’t very comfortable, you could barely sit up, and the AC got way too cold during the night.  We opened up the king sized foldout couch the second night and slept much better.

On Thursday, after a leisurely start to the day, we drove to Neillsville and visited the Highgrounds Veterans Memorial.  Pat and I had both been there on a Miata drive years ago and Mike and I attended the dedication ceremony for the Vietnam Veteran Memorial way back in 1985 but Susan had never been.  It is a very impressive place and worth the visit.

We had a bite to eat at a nice little diner in Neillsville and then went to Black River Falls and walked the Main Street and did some browsing in a couple of shops.  Our next stop was at the Wegner Grotto in Sparta - a collection of unique concrete, glass, and porcelain sculptures that were constructed at the home of Paul and Matilda Wegner between 1929 and 1936.  They were tastefully done and I’m glad that we stopped to see this collection of unusual folk sculptures.

 

Sunday, September 15, 2024, MN

 Backtracking the events of the past week, starting last Sunday.  I spent most of the day at home and had a nice, long chat with Tom after breakfast.  He is about one week away from getting back ‘home’ to Apache Junction and the news of the last few days was about wildfires in the Superstition Mountains, not too far from there.  The Lost Dutchman State Park is evacuated and that is less than 5 miles from him.  He checked with Shiprock RV park and they said there were no issues there.  Fingers crossed that all in the area stay safe and the fires get under control.

There have been more than three cases of Covid reported in my community so the staff has canceled all group activities for the week, including Genevieve’s Art Class that was supposed to be held on Tuesday and locked the doors to the community room and library. Dang - I find the locked doors to be ridiculous, as we are adults and hopefully responsible to protect ourselves and others by quarantine, masking, and distancing. What ticked me off the most was having the library locked, preventing access to books and the puzzle that I have been working on and is mostly used on an individual basis.

I have spent several days helping Joann pack up her apartment, as she has recently gotten a diagnosis of Stage 4 pancreatic cancer and plans to go live with her son in Lincoln, NE.  She also ended up in the hospital on Monday, so her friend Jayne and I have been packing and taking loads of boxes to the thrift store to donate.  I also took a carful of stuff to the consignment shop for her.  One thing I’ve learned from this - whatever you do, stop being a packrat and take care of your own excess stuff. I must have put 300 pens and pencils in boxes and tossed over the counter pill bottles and prescriptions (taken to pharmacy for disposal) dating back as far as 2014.  It is so hard to be trying to make these decisions regarding stuff that does not belong to me and she is lost - has enough to worry about just getting through the days and preparing for her end of life.  It sucks!

I picked up another house cleaning job that I will do once a month.  It is for a young  professional couple who are getting married in February.  They have just bought their first home and are in the process of having it all painted and new flooring installed, then getting settled.  I will start on the 25th.  It is a beautiful home, nestled in a nice wooded neighborhood of west Bloomington - I feel it will be another easy and rewarding job for good money.  

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had a presidential debate on Tuesday and I felt that she held her own and got him doing his usual ranting of lies and attacks.  The news reports the next day agreed with me.  It sounds like that will be the only debate they have leading up to the November 5 election. Heaven help us if that PIG gets elected.

I met Mavis, Mary, and three of their friends for a birthday lunch for Mavis on Thursday at Olive Garden in Eagan.  We spent two hours talking and eating - it’s always nice to see them every now and then.  Deb and I went to Champps in Eden Prairie that night, sat out on the patio and had a beer.  It was a very active day socially.

As I was watering the flowers Friday night, I spotted this adorable Hummingbird Moth (yes, there is such a thing) flitting around sucking nectar from them.

Deb and I just got back from a walk at the Cedar Avenue Bridge trail and it was exciting to see lots of avian wildlife.  As we walked across the bridge, we saw Egrets, Herons, Pelicans, Anhingas, Geese and lots of ducks in the marshy area near the Minnesota River. It was a great way to wrap up the week.