Spring Break, Part I

Since there is a lot to write and the house is full of family, I will probably add to this as time permits, a little at a time. My daughter and son-in-law landed at Indy Airport right on time last Thursday afternoon. We went right to Buffalo Wild Wings to avoid the basketball crowd in order to get in Denis's wings "fix". (Apparently they don't have BW's in their neck of the California woods.) We were also doing a bit of a celebration because it looks, preliminarily at least, as though Megan has landed a job--the first one she applied for! After BW's, there was a little shopping and, of course, Culver's for ice cream...then home for rest and bed. Long day for them! The next morning--Friday, Megan's 32nd birthday--we packed the car and headed for Zion, IL, to pick up the children after school. (Zion is about 5 hours away, north of Chicago on the lakefront.) We were met by their stepmother and then met them at the bus. Megan and Denis got a short tour of the house before we packed everyone in my little car and headed southward. We stopped at Golden Corral (our second choice) for supper before leaving the Chicago area. A couple of hours later, we decided to stop for the night in Pontiac, IL. Nice motel! Unfortunately, Grandma forgot to pack the children's bathing suits for the indoor pool. It's just as well. We were tired! On Saturday, our destination was to be Springfield, IL, for my sister and brother-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary party. First, we drove around Pontiac for a look-see. We lived in Pontiac for 8 years when Megan was little. (We left the summer after her third grade year.) The place has changed a little, but it is still a delightful little town. We got to the party venue in Springfield about 45 minutes ahead of the party time. My nieces and thier families were there setting things up. All we had to do was wait for the guests and honorees to arrive. Since the occasion was also Megan and Denis's first anniversary, we (my nieces and I) had a cake for them, too. It was cold that day, but pleasant to be around family. the biggest surprise of the day was when our 88-year-old aunt (my mother's sister--our last living relative of their generation) came, unexpectedly, with our cousin. We don't all get together very often! My grandchildren behaved like angels, God bless them! After the party, we checked Meg, Denis, and the kids into their motel, provided by my sister and husband, then went to a nice restaurant where family was gathered for dinner. We ate well! I rode back to my sister's with family, and Meg and family went back to their motel. It had been a very long day, but totally delightful. Sunday was cold. Since we are rarely all together with the children in Springfield, we determined that we would see as many Lincoln sites as we could. Monday would have been a better day to do outdoor sites, but New Salem (where Lincoln spent six years as a young man) would not be open then...so off we went to Petersburg. We spent some time in New Salem and toured Lincoln's home on 8th Street. The outside temps definitely determined the enjoyment. Megan and I had both been there, but the children and Denis hadn't. I'm not sure anyone was terribly impressed, but I sure liked it in spite of the cold. Monday, we went to the Lincoln Presidential Museum. This was the second visit for me, but I enjoyed it more than the first time--not sure why. (Maybe because I had the children with me.) There is one theater program called "Ghosts of the Library" that is awesome. There is a real person behind panes of glass, but through special effects, magic happens. We all enjoyed that, and it set the tone for the rest of the museum. I think American-to-Be, Denis, probably learned a lot about our 16th President that day. Tuesday, we headed for home. Before we hit the interstate, we went to Lincoln's Tomb. Always awesome for me. The trip home was unenlightening. I was squished between the two children in the back seat (to keep them from fighting), while Megan drove. (The only other alternative was to have her sit back there--but her back is worse than mine and her legs longer. It would not have worked.) We made frequent stops--lunch, potty, snacks, leg-stretching--and arrived on Walton Drive in Plainfield almost exactly at 6:00 PM. It was a very nice excursion--expensive for everyone, including my sister and brother-in-law--but this is what we do. I am just happy that we were all able to be together for this occasion. God doesn't promise us endless times together!

Getting Ready

I've been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...getting ready for my family to arrive from west and north. I've known about this for months, but do you think I got stuff done in advance? HA! My garage bedroom (where my daughter/son-in-law will stay) is clean. The living room is clean. The kitchen is almost clean. Three more rooms to go--and they'll be here tomorrow!

I always have great hopes of having a perfectly clean home, which is somewhat stupid since no one every really inspects the place, and it's "just" family. Plus, the house is usually a wreck when they all leave. Still, I have my pride! It's amusing, though. In the beginning of the cleaning process, I am going to do EVERYTHING. But then as the deadline gets closer and closer, I start bargaining with myself: Okay, I won't be able to wash the whole kitchen floor. I'll just get the dirtiest spots. Or...maybe no one will notice how really filthy the carpet is if I spot clean it. Or...gosh, the ceiling fan blades are really dirty, but if I just keep them moving, no one will be able to see that. You get the picture. In any case, the next few days will be very busy, and all I really want is for us all to enjoy each other's company and get from Point A to Point B and back safely.

On another note, looks like the tragedy in Japan has been pre-empted by problems in the Middle East. Newsflash, folks: there will NEVER be peace in the Middle East! There has been turmoil there for millenia and it isn't going to change. The jihad mentality is beyong European comprehension, and I would be very happy if we could find a way just to stay out of it all. The world has changed a lot just in my lifetime. Right Makes Might no longer works when a major rebellion to depose a leader can be orchestrated by social media and airplanes can be used as weapons to bring down buildings and a whole strong nation in the process. I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but we are all at the mercy of the world economy. When something happens in one part of the world, the rest of us suffer. No heads in the sand anymore! Don't get me started on the prices of gasoline...

Had lunch yesterday with two of my female former students, both of whom are just two years younger than my daughter. I had them both in elementary school, then again in high school, and they were conscientious students. Both are mothers of young'uns now. I have kept up with them and so many others via Facebook. We had a nice luncheon. What delightful ladies they are!

Every onward and upward. I still have a lot to do so had better get at it!

That Was Then...This Is Now

When I was younger, a bad day was one in which things didn't go right. Had a flat tire, or my students gave me fits, or my once-husband and/or daughter snarled at me for something seemingly out of my control. When I talked to older folks to inquire how they were doing, I was always somewhat amused by their response: "I have my good days and my bad days." Only they weren't referring to flat tires or errant students/children/spouses. They were referring to how they felt, physically. I didn't get it then, but I think I do now!

It is sad to have to be an eyewitness to one's own physical deterioration. My mind's still okay (I think) but my body just doesn't respond to my brain's requests! For instance, I need to get down on my hands and knees to do some yard work...and to wash the bathroom floors. My knees don't like that! Five years ago, I could do it. I can still do it now, for a little bit...but it takes twice as long, and getting up from the floor becomes a problem.

My once-father-in-law complained, "My mind's gone!" I just chuckled. Artie was in his 80s but seemed pretty sharp to me. What I didn't know then (but get now) was that he was an eyewitness to his own mental deterioration. He KNEW his mind was less than it once was and could do nothing about it. And that's the bad part. When you can see yourself slipping and can't control it, there is a sense of loss. As we Baby Boomers age, things just change. I don't like it very much but need to stop whining about it, so I will just say this: IT SUCKS!

Thank you. :)

Another Day of Blather...

With all of the hype about the nuke plant disaster in Japan, it isn't lost to me that WE are the only country in the world to drop nuclear bombs on Japan that caused horrible destruction, radiation sickness and decades of cancer produced from the exposure. And now we supposedly care?? What total hypocrites we are!

Social media spreads word quickly. I got the news tonight that one of my friends and school coleagues died suddenly today. He and I had been in touch several times in the past year. His wife had a massive heart attack last year which put her in a coma, and they finally pulled the plug on her after at least a month...and now this. Jeff's parents are good friends of mine--go to my church. My heart hurts for them...and for me.

I haven't been able to get much work done around the house because I just don't have much energy, but I did get my rear in gear this afternoon to clean up a little around the front door. One thing I noticed was that the windows on the storm door at the front were dirty. It took a little ciphering, but I eventually figured out how to get the windows and screen out for cleaning purposes. OMG! What a difference the clean windows make! The door was installed in 2001. This was the first time I did the cleaning thing. Ten years?????

I have errands to run tomorrow and lunch with a friend. Have to fit a funeral into my schedule this week, so I need to be more productive. My family will be here at the end of next week and I just need to be ready!!

My Heart is in Japan Right Now

I have watched a lot of international news coverage of the earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan. One correspondent was talking to what sounded like a young Japanese woman by phone yesterday. She was in Sendai, at the heart of the devastation. She sounded quite calm and was reporting what she knew, but apparently the "outside" world has more information than she because she was without power and water...and she mentioned that she/they hadn't had the courage to leave their home. At the end of the conversation, the correspondent asked her what she wanted the world to know. Only then did emotion come into her voice. In quiet desperation, she said, in a tearful voice, that there were people who had lost their homes and everything, and for countries to please send help. She wasn't asking for herself. Only others. And my heart broke for her.

I lived among the Japanese when I was 10 years old. My father was to be stationed in Sasebo on the southern-most tip of the southern-most island of Japan (Kyushu), and we were to go with him. This was a mere 12 years after the end of World War II--12 years after the United States had dropped devastating atomic bombs on two cities in Japan that ended the war and broke the spirit of the Japanese people. (Yes, I know all about Pearl Harbor and the Bataan Death March and all of the other horrible war experiences that Allied forces suffered at the hands of the Japanese military...and yes, I know that use of those nuclear weapons saved many American lives...but the long-term suffering created by those bombs will forever be etched in my brain.) I'm fairly certain that there had to be resentment against Americans in those days, but if there was, it didn't show. They were a "conquered people" and behaved with the humility and respect that one would expect from that. (Think about your relationships with people who have harmed you. Isn't everything okay after they have apologized and behaved as if they were truly sorry?)

What you won't see on the news is hysterics from those in the affected areas of Japan. Their culture forbids that. They are a stoic people who suffer in silence. There is none of the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth that you sometimes see--even in the US--of people in dire straits. They have honor to protect. (Trust me: even as a 10-year-old, I went to bed every night thanking God that, by accident of birth, I was born American...but sometimes I wish we Americans were more about honor than self!) I remember one day in Sasebo that my mother trusted me to go down to the town alone. I walked past a Japanese "Papa-san" who had obviously been drinking. All he did was bow. I would NOT have felt so at ease were I passing a drunken American sailor!

We have had our own disasters in the US. I'm not sure that we ever adequately prepare for them in the same way that the Japanese do. Japan is earthquake-prone and well acquainted with tsunami. We could learn a lesson from them, but being stubborn (as is OUR culture), we probably wouldn't learn for long. Unless we are smacked in the face with that stuff every day, we would pass it off, in time. (Of course, if we WERE smacked in the face with regular disasters, some of our religious leaders would say it is our punishment for keeping God out of schools and government. Don't even get me started on that!) Mother Earth is a powerful force that we mere mortals hardly understand. All we can do is roll with the punches and pray for deliverance.

My heart is in Japan today...

Bucking the System

I've never been a trendsetter. You can tell by my wardrobe that I've never put much store in trying to impress people with my personal style. (I had a short-term boyfriend in high school who commented on the new skirt and sweater that my grandparents had bought me for helping them out at the farm, by saying, "You look nice. Usually, you dress like somebody's grandmother." Ouch! That's one of the reasons Doug Knighton was only short term!) Well, now I AM somebody's grandmother, and guess what? I DO dress like that!

I watch a lot of television shows about people remodeling and/or flipping houses (most of which take place in high-end neighborhoods in California). Many "flippers" just decide to gut the kitchens and throw out what look like perfectly good cabinets to me. "Too dated," they say. What is dated about wooden cabinets?? And I ask myself what is wrong with me that I can't see throwing out something that expensive and that useful when you could make them work. Put that money to use somewhere else! But this is what I've noticed about the modern trends in kitchens:

1. Everybody who's anybody is "upgrading" to stainless steel appliances. (I don't like stainless steel. It shows every fingerprint and water mark.)
2. You just HAVE to have granite countertops. (Granite countertops are extremely expensive, heavy, and require a lot of solid cabinets underneath in order to support them...plus they need special care.)
3. No one has vinyl sheet flooring anymore. Travertine tile, complete with grout, is all the rage. (Tiles break if something is dropped on them. Hard to keep clean, too...not to mention all of the kitchen dirt that collects in the grout lines.) If you don't have tiles, you have laminate flooring or hardwood. Sorry--not practical for a kitchen!

As should be obvious by now, I don't have a high-end house, and I won't be having a modern-looking kitchen!

Okay...so what am I getting at? My dishwasher gave up the ghost the other day. This afternoon, I went shopping for a new one. My kitchen cabinets are painted beige. All of my appliances, including the dishwasher, are beige. Now, after the 16 years since my dishwasher was installed, my color choices are stainless steel, stainless steel, stainless steel, white, or black. Some of the more expensive ones come in bisque (the new beige). Since I can't afford to replace all of my appliances at once, I had to consider my pocketbook and how things would look with a hodge-podge of colors. So I chose black. Thus, my kitchen with it's relatively new sheet vinyl flooring and beige appliances will continue to be "dated" and out of step with the modern world. Unless I win the lottery, who is going to really care???

The new 'shwasher arrives tomorrow. I'm clearing a path under the sink and around the stove so it can all be moved easily. This house didn't have a dishwasher when I bought it. I had to have a carpenter come in and move things around a bit to make room for one. I'd been doing dishes since I was about five-years-old and figured that in my OWN house, I could have a dishwasher! (My sister Shari was the washer and I was the dryer. I also had to put the dishes away, which I thought was much more to do than Shari. I think we fought all the time we were doing them those many years, but I don't think we ever broke a dish. I hated doing dishes! I begged my mother to buy a dishwasher--which were pretty primitive in those days. Her response was, "I already have one! I didn't think it was particularly funny....)

So there you have it. My outdated kitchen is outdated by choice!

Oh Dear...

Almost another week has gone by, and I am somewhat at a loss for words. (Can you imagine that?)

I have done very little this week. I did go to the Ash Wednesday service at my church on Wednesday evening. Received my ashes and took Holy Communion...and came home feeling good.

I also joined my friends Ryan and Bonnie Holly for lunch on Thursday. We ate at Olive Garden in Avon, then adjourned to the Hobby Lobby store nearby so Bonnie could show me what to do to re-mat a picture for my living room. (Bonnie is an artist and has done a lot of that sort of thing.) When I got home, I spent the rest of the day loafing...as usual.

Thursday evening, I discovered that my dishwasher is dead. It had been making some strange noises, but I really didn't think it was going to go belly-up. Figured the refrigerator would go before it did. I got out my handy-dandy little house journal to determine out how old it is. Sixteen years, with only one repair. I was ready to call for a repairman before I discovered that, but adding up things in my head, I guessed that I would have to pay for the service visit, only to have the repairman tell me that I need a new one...so I decided to cut my losses and just go for a new one to start with. I was going to shop today, but didn't. Tomorrow, I guess...

Today, I woke up to a call from my friend Patrick of Salvation Army fame. He can be a jokester sometimes, so when he told me that Japan had an 8.9 category earthquake, I scarcely believed him. I mean, 8.9 is almost unheard of, so I thought he was kidding. I hopped out of bed and changed the channel on my TV. Sure enough! Not only did Japan get hit with a devastating earthquake, the tsunami that occurred an hour later wiped out huge chunks of coastal areas. I have watched live footage of that quake. It seemed to go on forever...for a couple of minutes, perhaps. I'm betting that it was the longest minute or two of their lives!

I lived in Japan as a child. Looking at the pictures of that nation, I can tell that it is not the same Japan that I left in 1958. My heart goes out to the Japanese people for whom I have the utmost respect. I seriously doubt that television coverage can do justice to what they have suffered. The magnitude of what has happened there will not be known for weeks, but it won't be pretty. I suspect that death estimates are way low, at this point. I can only imagine...

California--places I have been to--has also suffered some tsunami damage. There were a couple of deaths, at least one of which was due to simple stupidity. A man was out filming the tsunami waves and got washed out to sea. What part of THE BEACHES ARE CLOSED did he not understand????

To add insult to injury, I learned today that the venue for the 50th anniversary party we have been planning for my sister and bro-in-law for months just went bankrupt and has closed its doors. My nieces are now scrambling to find another so they can get out an invitation correction. The party is in two weeks!!!! Good thing we Covill women are flexible!

Ryan and Bonnie went to Tennessee for the weekend to visit their son and family. Hope they are having a good time. Also, my friend Judy is driving to Chicago tomorrow with a Sunday School friend for an adventure. I am praying for all of them for safe travel!!!

Things That Make You Go "Hmmmm

This post will seem disjointed because I'm not exactly sure what it means, if anything.

How many times have you experienced a deal where you just read a word in print at the exact moment that someone on television said the same word? And it's not a common word?? Happens to me a lot. Not frequently, but a lot.

My church has been doing an all-church study called "Out of the Stands and Into the Game". For six weeks now, the graphic on the projector screen has shown athletic logos. Today, the logo was a picture of a baseball player who had "Bautista" on the back of his shirt. That was obviously the man's last name. But how often do you run into the word "Bautista"? I saw it many times over when I was in California and toured the San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist) mission in a town by the same name. Interesting to me that I should be exposed to the name in California and again at home. What does it mean? I don't know!

I do know that as my daughter, son-in-law, and I toured the two missions in CA, we were totally in awe of the time of the establishment of those places. The San Juan Bautista Mission, established in the late 1700s right on the San Andreas Fault, has had daily mass celebrated there, uninterrupted, for 213 years. I am in awe of that. But there was something else...

Megan (my daughter) isn't totally a believer. She is working on that...but as we toured the two missions, she and I shared some unexpressed emotions. She didn't take pictures in the sanctuaries, even though they were most photogenic, having respect for the holiness of the places. I mean, God was present in those places, and we felt it. I bought rosaries for my Catholic grandchildren and finally found a font of holy water to bless them for Easter gifts for the kids. I'm not sure they will totally understand the moment, but I did. Once, when the mission bells were tolled to call the faithful to worship, I puddled up. I didn't know it at the time, but Megan did, too. I'm not Catholic but I have total respect for the ancient missions that helped to create California. It all starts with respect.

I don't know what the "Bautista" exposure means to me, but I'm sure it is a sign of something. We are challenged at church to pray the prayer of St. Francis every day during Lent and then report how our lives are changed at the end. I'm up for that.

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi:
Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon:
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grand that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen

Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me, When I'm 64?

I guess the answer to the above question is YES.
Today, I am 64. Don't know about the "need me" part, but I have certainly been well-fed! Had lunch and dinner with friends, a gift of a bottle of wine, a stained glass hummingbird feeder, plus a lovely flower arrangement and candy from my daughter and son-in-law. A zillion people wished me a happy day on Facebook. A dear old friend sent me an e-card, and my Sunday School friends sent a card via snail mail. Got phone calls from my friend Pat, my sister and one of my nieces AND my grandchildren! (Thanks Nathan and Kendra for having them call!). Judy and Phil (my dinner hosts) even had a little cake for me, with a 6 candle on one side and 4 little candles on the other. I feel so very remembered and cared for. I am so blessed!

As people remembered my birthday, I am well aware of how many birthdays of theirs that I missed this year. I'll try to do better. Promise!

Another Day in Paradise

Yesterday was lovely here. The sun was shining and the temp went up to 50 degrees. All of the snow, except for those horribly filthy black mountains in the Walmart parking lot, is gone. The best part of the day for me, however, was stepping outside to hear flocks of sandhill cranes flying northward overhead--waves and waves of them. Yet another sign that spring is on the way! I used to think that those flocks were geese, but one of my friends set me straight. The sounds they make during migration is a trilling noise--definitely not the honking of geese! (They are too high up in order to identify them by sight.) In any case, the cranes and the weather did much to contribute to my good mood!

I delivered myself to the hospital lab in the afternoon to have an ultrasound on my carotid arteries. No pain involved--just having to lie still for awhile. I'm sure glad the technicians know what they are doing because the things on the monitor just looked like gray lines to me! The main technician was training a student. She scanned the right side of my neck, then let the student do the left side, which she then repeated just to check on him. At the end of the session, she asked if I would mind letting the student do one more quick scan, just to show him my "beautiful" vertebral artery. Apparently vertebral arteries are hard to find, but mine was quite visible and she wanted him to find it for himself. I got to see it. Good for me and my beautiful vertebral artery!

Today is my birthday. My Facebook "friends"--mostly former students--have all wished me a happy day. Any day that I can wake up to sunshine (or simply wake up) is a good one. I will be having dinner at my friends' house--Judy and Phil--and generally trying to accept being 64 years old. How did this happen?????