Sunday, October 27, 2024, MN

I actually have something worth writing about this morning.  Yesterday was a very full day for me, starting with a swim meet with Norah and Charlotte competing.  All of their events were before noon, they did well with overall improvements in their times. Camille didn’t swim because she wasn’t feeling well after getting vaccinations and blood draws on Friday. Norah’s arms were hurting but she wasn’t feeling ill.  So here is an example of the ‘twin’ connection and how real it is for identicals:  Ben coached them before their blood draw, suggesting that they look in another direction and not watch it happen, Norah was having her blood drawn and Camille was watching - she fainted and then threw up when she got home. The anxiety of seeing what Norah was experiencing had a physical effect on her.  Also, Norah was sad and withdrawn at the last two swim meets when Camille wasn’t there - the emotional aspect of it.  They have such a tight connection to each other and their parents are working to help them disconnect and be more independent of each other.

I just walked in the door to my apartment and was getting ready to take Joey out when Patty called to say that they were heading west on I-90 and would stop for the night in Rochester if I could come and meet them and hang out for a bit.  I suggested that they continue west to Albert Lea and I would meet them there (a little closer for me and not out of their way).  So we got in the car and headed south and met them at the Walmart parking lot.  We headed to the Skol Woodfire Grill, had a cocktail, and chatted for an hour and a half.  They checked into the Comfort Inn for the night and I headed back home.  I’m so happy that she called, as it is always great to see my good friends.

Friday, October 25, 2024, MN

 RAIN! We finally got some rain last night, it came down pretty steady for about an hour.  It even felt good to walk in it a bit - I did get soaked though.

It’s been a busy week, starting with a meetup with Ben and Yoshi for a morning walk around Staring Lake on Monday.  It was so good to be with him again - it’s been a couple of weeks as he has been doing a bit of traveling. We stopped for a coffee at Smith in Eden Prairie after our walk.

I was hostess for our Stampin Up group in the afternoon and I made a tasty pumpkin pecan loaf to share. We finished our cards in no time and talked, ate, and planned our Christmas party.

Elaine and I had dinner at Willy McCoy’s.  Joey spent quite a bit of time alone that day.

I had both of my cleaning jobs this week, so today will be low key.  I told Ben yesterday that I must be doing something right, as I haven’t been hurting from these jobs lately with the exception of my hips - that comes from the vacuuming. Cassie has 3 rooms with a longer shag-like carpet and it is really hard to push the vacuum on it.

Sunday, October 20, 2024, M

I’ve got a lot of catching up to do today, as I haven’t written in a week.  Starting last Saturday, I met up with some of the Stampin Up ladies and we made Christmas cards.  Carrie sends all of the materials to make 15 cards, 3 each of 5 designs.  We furnish the supplies and assemble the cards.  Now, I am 15 cards ahead of the game for this Christmas.

The weather has been summer-like beautiful again this week after a brief cold spell. Still no rain though.  There is some bright color scattered here and there, but the lack of moisture has made things dry up mostly.  A couple of the trees that I see outside my window have lost most of their leaves already.

Norah and Charlotte competed in a swim meet last Sunday (Camille wasn’t feeling well) but there just wasn’t enough room at the pool for spectators, so I watched from the comfort of home.  They both swam in three events and took a first in one and placed in the others.  

Deb and I took our bedding to the laundromat on Monday and used the giant machines to get that chore out of the way - not my favorite thing to do, but at least we had each other to talk to.  When I got back home, I switched out my bedding and I think I jumped the gun - the nights haven’t been cooling off as much and I was a bit too warm and had to turn the ceiling fan on.  I also switched out the clothes in the closet from summer to winter.

I ordered new glasses at Costco this week - yes, I just got new ones this spring,  but they are not the most comfortable and I wanted a pair that transitioned outdoors.  My health choice card covers the expense, so nothing out of my pocket.  Just as I was leaving the store, Shirley called to see if I could get in for a haircut as she had an opening.  She had to cancel my appointment for last week due to health reasons, and I learned that she has Stage 3 endometrial cancer.  Dang - she already had the necessary surgery but has to follow up with chemotherapy and radiation.  This has to be difficult for her, as she is on an all natural plant based diet and is pretty anti-chemical in her lifestyle.  I wish her well in this challenge.

Tillie send a bunch of wool sweater scrap to me with Cathy and I tried some out on making hats for my felted gnomes.  They turned out pretty cute and I will try to incorporate in other ways.  The guy in the middle has the sweater hat.

Ben and Jill took Charlotte to NYC this week (her 13th birthday trip) and I haven’t heard a word from them.  I’m guessing that they have been busy sightseeing and have put their phones away for a few days.  They are due back home today and I’m looking forward to hearing about their adventure.

It was such a beautiful day that I decided to take a drive down country roads and see if I could find an apple orchard and maybe a nice trail to walk with Joey. I found the  Montgomery Orchard outside of Montgomery MN 40 miles or so south of here and bought some apples for myself and for Ben and family.  I didn’t find a place to hike, so we stopped at a dog park on the way back home so Joey could run and romp.  I followed this pretty 1953 (?) Chevy 

for a long time - he was just out there enjoying a country drive too.  I love it.

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.