Monday, May 27, 2024, MN

 My trip to Urgent Care resulted in a series of blood tests to check for inflammation, infection, thyroid level, and Lyme Disease and I have gotten most of the results back by now and all are in the normal ranges.  I’m thinking it is old age or arthritis and I will just take pain relievers when necessary and resolve to the fact that my 76 year old body just plain hurts some (recently most) of the time.  

The City of Bloomington has a program that gives free compost to residents who participate in their compost collection program. Since I live in a multi-unit building, we don’t participate. I was looking for information on where I could purchase the compost and found an application form for donations. I checked with the staff here and got approval to apply and we are getting a delivery of bulk compost dropped off here on Tuesday.  Residents will have to distribute it between the vegetable and perennial gardens and it will do a lot to improve the soil and keep our plants healthy and beautiful!

After my morning walk yesterday, I got to thinking - what am I going to do with this day?  I considered a ride to see Anderson Gardens in Litchfield, but the day was gray and cloudy so I ruled that out.  I did some cleaning, went through photos, and then I decided I was hungry for ribs.  I went to the store and bought ribs and got them in the oven and invited Deb to join me for dinner.  Shortly before she came, Cathy invited me to join her for a drink, so I invited her over and we sat and chatted for a while before having dinner.  What a pleasant evening!

Friday, May 24, 2024, MN

 Tuesday was a busy day for me, starting at 6 am and still going strong when I got back home at 8pm.  I took a nice long walk, did laundry, cooked chicken and pasta to make chicken salad for dinner, went to Ben’s house and got Yoshi for a walk before meeting the twins at the bus stop, hung out with them and got them fed before gymnastics, took them there and watched them for the next two hours, took them home, then came home myself.  Most days for me have much fewer activities so that one wore me out. The girls have gotten so much stronger and more controlled and experienced and it was fun to watch them.

I heard from Pat while I was at the gym and he told me that Tracey would be released on Thursday (48-hour notice). He filed an appeal as he doesn’t feel that she is physically able to do what is needed to be at home.  He attend a meeting on Wednesday with her care team and her parents and he was surprised at how well she was doing. Some feeling has come back to her left arm and leg and she walked into the room with a walker, sat on a chair and was able to get back up on her own.  This is great although they still want to work with her to be able to go up and down steps and get herself into the bathtub.  

Speaking of feeling worn out, I am wondering what is going on with my aching body. For several weeks now, I have been hurting most days and taking a pretty steady regimen of pain relievers.  Yesterday, I sent an email to my GP and they suggested I see someone soon, as my symptoms sound a lot like Lyme Disease. I don’t recall getting a tick bite but I was exposed to ticks and found some on me earlier this spring. Of course, no appointments are available to see her or an associate, so I guess I’ll be heading to Urgent Care later today.

This is all going on just as I’ve been wanting to get in the gardens, but I feel so stiff and sore that I haven’t been able to.  

Saturday, May 18, 2024, MN

 I had planned to take another trip to Stoughton on the 8th, but canceled because Tracey is not at home yet and also because my car’s Brake/ABS/VSC lights are still coming on - I can’t get it in until the 17th. My calendar was wide open but I didn’t accomplish much.

Cathy invited me to meet her and her group of friends at Brassa, nice southern style restaurant near Lake Harriet. It turned out to be a fun evening with six gals at the table, then Karen left and Jody showed up and took her place.  Since they put us at a corner table and weren’t too busy, we sat there for 2.5 hours talking about lots of subjects. I’m so happy that she invites me along, as they are a great group of gals and like to have fun.

Our family gathered at Olivia’s for Mother’s Day Brunch and had a lovely time. The girls looked so nice and it’s always nice to get together.  After brunch, we all met at their house, as it was their weekend to catch up on lawn chores.  Lois, Dennis, and I didn’t do much, as were all having physical issues with achy joints, but we did little chores here and there to help out.  The twins and I planted Jill’s urns on the porch and I helped with watering while they worked their butts off putting mulch down.  After the work was done, we sat on the deck and enjoyed an Amalfi Mule made with Vodka, Ginger Beer, Lime Juice, limoncello, and topped with mint - a refreshing summery cocktail.

I took my car to Costco on Monday for tire rotation and learned that the tires are wearing unevenly so it needs an alignment in order for the warranty to stay in effect.  Also, while driving to Costco I realized it is also due for an oil change, so I called Eric’s and added those to the Friday appointment.  

I took Joey with me when I dropped the car off and we walked the 2.1 miles back home, a little longer than our usual morning walk, but doable. That is if you don’t take a wrong turn and add another half-mile onto the walk.  After turning down a street and realizing the other street didn’t go through because of railroad tracks, we ended up having to go farther west and then another couple of blocks back east to get home. It also started to rain lightly - we got a little bit wet.  

My neighbor, Leslie offered to take me to get the car when it was done - that was so nice! I was planning to call an Uber. They weren’t able to fix the electrical issue, as they just figured out the problem late in the afternoon and needed to order a switch. I will take it back there on Wednesday and wait while they change it out. Fingers crossed that takes care of the issue. 

Norah and Camille had their 4th and 5th grade spring orchestra concert on Thursday night and it was cute - short but sweet.  

I’ve been working on the reunion stuff this week; getting photos together and printing up name tags. Jonnie is making photo boards for each of the Peckham siblings so we are asking everyone to bring photos to add to the boards.  For those that we know are coming, we have about 70 people showing up. 

Monday, May 6, 2024, MN

 We had a couple of beautiful summery days last week so Joey and I walked the Bloomington Ice Garden trail - a pretty wooded walk that has a wood chip surface and goes around a marsh area.  It’s not a real long walk and we never saw another person but did see some wildlife - a turtle on the path, a Red-tailed Hawk watching us from his perch on a branch, and some noisy Sandhill Cranes - two males vying for the affection of a female.  There are some majestic Oak Trees along the path that haven’t leafed out yet. It just feels good to get out in nature and away from the residential streets where I usually walk.

Ben called me Friday morning a little after 8:00 to see if I was interested in meeting him at Staring Lake for a walk - all of his kids were already off to school and he had a little bit of time before his work day started. I scrambled to get dressed and met him at the park at 8:30. I love those walks and the opportunity to spend one on one time with him.

I went plant shopping with the building manager, Roni (she had the pocketbook) and Sherry, a resident from Building 2 (she volunteers to take care of their potted plants) on Friday afternoon to get plants for the decorative pots at the front of our buildings. We shopped at Bloomington Garden Center, a quaint little family owned shop near the Old Cedar Bridge trail that goes over the Minnesota River.  Their plants are so healthy and their prices are comparable to the big box stores.  We had fun shopping and Joann and I planted up the pots later that evening. I have lined up a few people who are willing to keep up with the watering. 

Charlotte had a swim meet on Saturday morning and she improved her scores on each of the five events that she swam in. Ben brought her to my house later in the afternoon for a sleepover. I made a Cajun Shrimp Stir Fry for dinner that she really liked and I will definitely make again. 

When I asked her what she wanted to do on Sunday, she said she would like to go to a Farmer’s Market. I looked around and found that there was a farmers market and an art show at the Franconia Sculpture Garden, about an hour’s drive from here.  She was up for it but when we got there, it was a little disappointing - a very small market with only a few booths and the sculpture gardens seemed like junk made into bigger junk.  A few of the sculptures were kind of cool but many were on disrepair and hadn’t been maintained very well.   We stopped at a wayside at Marine on St Croix on the way home and she spotted this cool tree. It’s a wonder that it’s still upright.

 We played Farkel and watched Taylor Swift videos when we got home and the family swung by to pick her up around  4 pm.  

Wednesday, May 1, 2024, MN

 The days have been rainy, it is much needed around here but I am tired of the gray wet days and relief came yesterday with a perfect spring day. The tulips are in bloom everywhere right now and the flowing crabapple buds are starting to pop open. 

I met with a few people who are interested in the perennial gardens on the east side of our property last Friday and we agreed that Monday afternoons would be a good time to meet up and do projects in the garden. That didn’t happen this week, as it was pouring when 3:00 came around.

Charlotte’s 6th Grade Choir concert was last night and the band and orchestra also performed.  The kids have practiced a lot and did a great job.  Funny - there were too many kids on her row on the riser and they were grappling for space during the performance.  Charlotte is in the third row just above the director’s head and to the right of the dark haired boy. She actually had the space advantage at this point. Ha! 

I drove through sloppy, fairly heavy rain to get there but it had cleared when I had to drive back home.