Saturday, September 12, 2020

It has been another week of getting out for walks, doing a bit of shopping, watching Longmire and Schitts Creek on Netflix, and preparing for our upcoming move. The apartment is starting to show it with boxes staged here and there and everywhere. Last Sunday, I replied to a post on Facebook Marketplace and picked up about 15 moving boxes and packing materials. A good find - the ultimate recycling - I will do the same when I am finished with them.

It has been a cool, cloudy, and sometimes rainy week. Nighttime temps have dropped as low as 42 degrees and daytime temps have been in the low 60s. There is definitely a feeling of fall in the air.

Tuesday was the first day of school for the grandkids - they started at a new school for this year - a public charter school that is offering both in-person and virtual classes. Classroom sizes are small - 14 in Norah and Camille’s class and only 12 in Charlotte’s. They have adjusted well and seem to like everything about it. Hopefully, after there are some solutions to this COVID-19 thing, they can get back to their regular public schools in their district.

Yesterday, we met up with Pat and Roger at Great River Bluffs State Park just south of Winona, MN. We had each picked up some lunch at KFC and sat at a picnic table, ate our lunch and caught up on the news before heading out to walk some of the trails. Other than the two trails that went to a North and South overlook, they were poorly marked and we had trouble finding one of the loop trails. Eventually, we stumbled on a nice trail and had a good walk and talk. It was a cool and cloudy day but we still had a good time hanging out together, as always. I sure do miss being around Patty, but then 2020 has been the year for NOT being around friends. It has been the year for NOT doing a lot of things - especially being around friends and family in person.

We watched the girls this afternoon so Ben and Jill could get away by themselves for a few hours. We fixed tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and got some resistance because the sandwiches weren’t quite like what they are used to - we were generous with the cheese and it dripped over the edges of the bread. They resolved to eat it anyway just so they would get to have dessert.

We took a walk to the Lake Harriet Upper school campus so they could play on the playground a bit before it got dark out. Back at home, we had root beer floats, tuned in a movie, and all was quiet in the house - except for the crunching sounds made by popcorn until Ben and Jill got back home.