it's still summer!

 

Miss Sunny knows we're packing to go camping, she keeps a close eye on us coming and going out the door, afraid somehow she'll get left behind.  Even Suri, who can barely do the stairs, has been huffing up and down, following us as we pack the camper and truck.  We try to sneak, because it's sad.  (my son-in-law asked yesterday, on the family chat, who's going first, Suri or me...as in GOING.  I said maybe we'll join paws and hobble over the rainbow bridge together...). In any case, I feel her pain.

The itty bitty camper that brings me so much joy, I am just in love with it.  The beds pop out in the front and back, making it seem roomier inside.  The best part is there's a bathroom!  No more heaving myself up off an air mattress in the morning and limping as fast as my little legs can carry me to the bathhouse.  Middle of the night?  not a huge-0 deal anymore!  It's the little things...also, just turning on the kettle in the morning and making that first cup of coffee, ahhh.  There's also a refrigerator that runs on propane, so no more messing with coolers and ice.  It's kind of like playing house, I just love it.  

I promised myself I wouldn't start having wandering camper eyes, the ones that see newer nicer ones and sigh...nope, I am happy with ours, and will do everything I can to take good care of it so it lasts us for years.  

The maple tree has an inkling that summer is on it's way out...dang.

Still smiling...super excited about going camping, even though no kids are coming with us.  They all have big weekend plans, a Labor day youth conference, but Molly and Josh might come to visit us, hope so.  

Ah well....Paul is antsy to get going, but we're not supposed to check in until three, and it's less than two hours away.  (aren't we lucky, the eastern shore of Lake Ontario so close?  The southern shore is only half hour!). He is gone to our water jugs with town water, much less iron-y than our well water, we use it for coffee so we don't ruin the kettle and espresso machine.  The dogs are fit to be tied, can't settle, know something's going on, Suri is doing her nervous panting thing.  I tell you, our camper is nice, but put two Labradors in it, and it gets small fast.  We won't have electricity this time, so no air conditioning running...hope it doesn't rain too much, so we can have it all open and unzipped...because wet dogs who swim in the lake, ugh.  But it's okay. :)

I didn't sleep too well last night, woke up like twenty times, but I was able to fall back to sleep.  Heartburn from the cauliflower crust pizza from Aldi, which is delicious btw.  I added more pepperoni and fresh basil, yum.  I also air fried some fresh chicken breast chunks, dipped them in sauce, mmm.  Camille made a homemade pizza, pepperoni with hot honey.  Anyway, I think the steroid shots may have made me restless.  My heart was certainly beating a bit harder in the evening, but it is fine now.  

My knees do feel a bit better today, and what a good time to get the injections, before camping!  I want to be able to go on walks and enjoy it!  If you can walk without pain, take a minute and thank the good Lord!  Thank Him even if you can't, though, because life itself is a gift.  We ALL have trials and tribulations, tests and difficult times!  It's easy to be thankful when things are going well, but when we understand that God only wants our best, and He sends things for our best, to test our faith, then we can have peace even when we don't understand it.  

Okay, enough blathering for now...I am not bringing the laptop with me, so no blogging until at least Sunday or Monday...but I'll be making cupcakes Sunday, because Monday is Tennyson's fourth birthday party here at our house, and I am very excited!  There will be no silence that day, ha!  Have a really nice weekend!

big surprise!

 Let me tell you the list of titles I mulled over:

1.  I'm spending all of our money!

2. In fact I am NOT a big fat baby.

3.  It's a good thing I love needles!

4.  I'm a Christian, and I'm normal...

5.  Appointments lead to more appointments...

6.  I'm old!

7.  I'm too young!

Confused yet?  Okay.  This fine morning, I drove Miss Cam to her test, then went to Walmart, in search of a birthday present for Tennyson, and a wedding card for Paul's co-worker.  I dawdled and meandered as much as I could before my knees hurt too much, then rested in the car...drove to Starbucks, got an iced Americano, then to Aldi.  I had rested up enough for a trip around a small store like that.  

Back in the car, it was 10:49, I decided to finally-inally call the dr. about my knees/back/mobility issues.  Well, the receptionist said, we have an eleven o'clock open, can you come in?  Since I was five minutes away, already in the small city, I said I could.  Now, Cam was due to be done with her tests at noon, so I thought no problem.

To the dr. I went, surprised to be going so soon, glad to be going quickly before I could try to talk myself out of going, (anyone else always tempted to cancel dr. appointments?)  glad to be getting it over with, dreading the heck out of it, but being a big girl and just walking in all normal-like.

X-rays first, then of course Miss Cam texts me, she's all done and ready to be picked up...um, I am in the MIDDLE of an appointment, oops, so sorry.  Poor girl had to wait for me.

The dr came in, sat down, looked straight at me, and said, "You have some of the worst arthritis in your knees that I've ever seen.  You are way too young for knees like this."  He mentioned thinking something else MUST be going on for them to be so bad.  I told him I was heavier previously, and that I had 16 kids.  WHAT?  How many twins?  none?  Are you Mormon, or Mennonite?  No, I said, I'm a Christian, I'm normal.  (This is when I lose track of what he's saying, wondering what the heck I meant...I'm normal?!)(Completely no offense meant to any Mormon, or Mennonite!)

I told him my back hurts too, and that I've got pain running down my leg, down the back of my knee, making my lower leg and foot ache...he said I've probably got a spine full of arthritis.  I then mentioned the hip, at the risk of sounding like a really old granny, but he had me lie on the table...one press in the right spot, OUCH!, and he said it's bursitis.  

He thought some cortisone injections might help, and who am I to say no to a nice long needle?  His assistant came in and set it all out, then left, saying the dr would be in to give the injection, which took a good fifteen minutes. I sat there looking at them and deciding whether to just leave to get Camille or hide under the exam table.  

But I'm a big girl, and I took my shots.  The ones in the knees were fun, because after the first one you know there's a second, but the hip shot took the cake...the Pain Cake.  If you ever get one, don't say I didn't warn you.  

So I left there with an appointment with a spine specialist next month,  a follow up appointment in three months to see how things are going, and three boo-boos with bandaids.  

He said he doesn't like to jump right into surgery too fast, likes to see how things are first.  I told him I'd have my knees replaced tomorrow if I knew that was the whole issue, so we'll see what the spine doc says.

Also, #1. is very true, it's expensive!  We have good insurance, but a high deductible, and the copays add up!  

I picked up poor Camille who had been waiting for me outside on a picnic table for over an hour (she passed all portions of the New York State Equivalency Test, so she's done with high school!). I felt so bad for her, I offered to take her to lunch anywhere she wanted to go!  We also had to celebrate that she was done with her testing.  She chose Chili's.  It was really fun, strange with just the two of us, but nice.  I made her go into Ollie's with me after, she hates that store, but I got some Tide for a decent price, and good book for one of the grandchildren (buttons to push for the farm animal sounds!), and some purple gumballs for Tennyson's birthday bag.

Home...ahh, home.  I put some towels in the wash, and vacuumed the stairs and downstairs hallway and the guest room, as one of Jon's friends might be staying here.  

I am not hungry for dinner, even though I only had one chicken crisper...(but that's because of the chips and salsa, dang it's good).  I bought a cauliflower crust pizza, sounds good, but later I think.  

We're going camping tomorrow, I have to finish packing...oh, it smells yummy in here, wax warmer pumpkin spice....:). I ordered a rechargeable book light from Amazon, so I can read when we're camping...no electricity for this site on this trip.  It's supposed to rain Saturday, and we're right there on the beach on Lake Ontario, we can listen to the rain drum on the camper while we stay dry and cozy, and read our books...

I drove by the prison today...can you imagine living across the street from this wall with guard towers?  It's the only city in the USA with a maximum security prison within city limits.  

Anyway...off I go to putter around....don't like to sit too long in my chair.  Here's the thing:  I try to be healthy.  I swim, I go places and walk as much as I can, I never sit too long without getting up and doing something, I eat pretty healthy, avoid cookies and cake and chips for the most part.  I mostly eat meat and veggies and a little bit of fruit once in a while.  I can't help wondering what I've done to be in this kind of shape...what could I have done better...but that doesn't help.  I am SUPER thankful, by the way, to live in this country where I can get such good healthcare.  There are things I don't like, but there are things I love...calling and getting an appointment for in TEN MINUTES.  

Ah well....rambling on and on, because shh, my chair is SO comfy, and Old Kitty is purring on the arm of it, Paul went to the dump, Cam is washing her bedding, no one else is here...but, I have to get up and move a bit...have a good afternoon!

ode to silence...

 Back when I was knee deep in small children, beneath the surface of taking care of them....the listening and talking and teaching and washing and cooking and driving and playing, there was a longing...for five minutes of peace and quiet.  (I remember thinking At least Paul gets the drive to and from work...). Sometimes I stayed up far into the night, to get that peace and quiet, and paid dearly in fatigue, I never seemed to catch up on sleep, but ha, that's a different story for a different day.

The tape recorder which is my life has fast-forwarded, into a place where silence is now the rule.  The two kids who still live at home are out and about this fine evening, and Paul is in his new office playing his guitar.  Orange Guy kept me company on the arm of my chair, now it's Miss Kettler, Old Kitty.  The whole-house fan is on, like huge loud white noise, and it's quiet except for his music and strumming of his guitar.  

I am not tired of the quiet yet.  I am still in awe of the novelty of it.  I do not get bored.  I finished a book, The Hunter, by Tana French, and really liked it.  

My day was wonderful.  Camille and I headed out bright and early to get her to her state equivalency test.  I dropped her off, and stayed there in the parking lot with my window down, listening to the construction across the street, while reading some of my book.  I had my dr. appointment to go to, didn't want to be too early.  

The appointment was very uneventful.  My arm is so much better now, diagnosis:  carpal tunnel and tendonitis.  I'm to call if it gets really bad again, use pain killers, arthritis cream, ect.  Not really worth going to, but whatever.  I told the dr. I didn't sleep for over a week, then as soon as I called, it got seriously better.  

(Now I just have to call about my knees...)

Next, I went to the local coffee place, just down the road from the prison.  I had ordered two pounds of coffee, he roasts it fresh when you order it, and it was ready for pick up.  Freshly roasted coffee in the car, a heavenly aroma.

After that, I went to Kohl's, 50% off the clearance.  I hobbled around and found a few nice things, a Yankee Candle for Suzanne's shower gift basket, some Pokemon pajamas for one of the grandkids, a book, and two cute pumpkin bowls.  

I really wanted a coffee, an iced Americano, to read my book with while I waited for Cam to finish, I was in the Starbucks drive through when she texted and said she was done....oops, she had to wait a bit.  (She passed both parts she took today, btw!)

Home...ahh, home...Sonja was here getting some sun...we went in the pool for a bit, then she had to go to work.  Camille and I made dinner together, she had vodka pasta, I had hot sausages with fresh tomatoes, basil from the basil plant, and chopped onions, on some fresh spaghetti squash.  (I made some for Paul too)

The camping list is out on the counter, and several things are checked off.  I've made some trips down the deck steps and am getting it packed.  It's hooked up to the electric, so the refrigerator is running, we'll switch it to propane when we leave on Thursday.  

I asked Paul:  Are you excited about camping?  Excited?  um...I'm glad to go...  Me:  Okay, I'll take it.  :)

The dogs start knowing something is going on, they see us packing, they get excited for sure.  Especially Suri, good old Suri.  Did you know that Little Miss Sunshine is eight years old now?  

Wasn't she just the cutest puppy?

Monday was a busy day here, I was almost knee deep in small children!  I went to the store with Kathryn and her three little ones, then came back here with her.  Grace was already here in the pool with her three little ones (well, Maeve was taking a nap).  

Ruth and Rhys with their chocolate ice cream cones.  I'll tell you a little secret:  Aldi Specialty chocolate ice cream is incredible.  Cream, skim milk, sugar, egg yolks, cocoa..that's it.  It's delicious.  Don't ask me how I know.  :)

So don't feel too sorry for me, some days there's not a speck of silence to be had, ha.

Tomorrow morning, Camille and I will once again set out to go to the small city, so she can take parts 3 and 4 of the test...I'll probably go to Walmart in the mean time, to get something for Tennyson's fourth birthday, his party is here on Monday...the day after we get home from camping.  

Jonathan and Camille are home now....so I'll sign off and talk with them...heaven knows we need to take these opportunities when we have them, before we know it, they'll be up and moving out, too!  Have a good night!

life just might be...a beach

 You know what they say about too much of a good thing?  Well, they're wrong.  I went to the beach on Saturday....it was glorious.  If you haven't been to the shores of Lake Ontario on a sunny, breezy cloudless summer day, you don't know what a good beach day is.  Yes, I've been to the ocean...to the North Sea, and the Pacific, and the Atlantic, and the Gulf coast, and had some lovely days.  But this freshwater lake with vast sandy beaches...especially when you consider that you can just park and walk right over to the sand, no parking blocks away.  There are shady grassy areas with picnic tables and grills, right next to the beach.  

Anyway, I went yesterday for Miss Lydia Eleanor's birthday party, she's nine years old now.  She visited with me, along with Miss Ophelia, who is four and a half, while Molly and Josh headed up to the lake to set things up for the party.  I cut up cheese and packed up grapes, pepperoni, crackers, along with a cooler of drinks.  I also put ribs in the smoker for later, which is a whole 'nother story.

Camille and I headed up to the beach with the girls, letting them take turns singing us songs and telling us stories.  It's less than half hour away.  

I did not swim yesterday, but I did enjoy the sunshine with the grandkids...all 15 of them were there!  I SO wish we had taken a picture.  

This fine day, 80-something degrees and sunny, brilliantly blue sky, I went to the beach again...same beach.  This time I drove to Ben's house, and rode with him...it's 19 minutes from his house.  I brought my chair, a bag with a towel and an extra seltzer, my straw cup with ice and seltzer in it, and nothing else.  Oh, a baggy of peanuts too.  

Most of the kids and grandkids were there, my sister and her husband and some of her daughters and their families were there too.  I went swimming with Wulf and Tenny, and sat in the sun and enjoyed watching them all run around and dig holes and build castles and play with their dads and uncles and moms and aunts.  

Then, it was time to pack up and go home, and lo and behold, it was only Paul and I here for dinner...I heated up some ribs from last night in the air fryer, reheated some leftover fresh green beans we bought from the farm stand, and some roasted sweet potatoes with roasted potatoes.  

It's too quiet here.  I saw Sonja briefly on Friday, I'm sure I'll see her more frequently at some point, but oh dear it's different.  Jonathan and Camille are at a barbecue tonight, so it's just us and the dogs and the cats.

We're going camping next weekend, Paul and I and the dogs...just us.  It will be fun, but so different.  

Not too much going on, except for fun and exciting things like replacing five more windows...can you believe that five windows cost two thousand dollars?  Shoulda-woulda replaced more of them a few years ago, but what can you do?  A bag of tortilla chips at Aldi went from .79 cents a few years ago to $1.95 now.  Same with bread.  

Anyway.  Today was a magical day.  It was in full color, just vibrant and amazing.  Too bad I only took a few pictures...

Ruth and her little sister Maeve

Baby Blythe

Here's an oldie...remember when I had five daughters born in five years?  Margaret's the oldest, the middle back row, then Kathryn next to her on the right, then Evelyn Joy with the curls in the other red sweatshirt, then Suzanne in the front leaning in, then Miss Sonja K.....

Ruth and Rhys, cousins...at the birthday party...I did not get ONE picture of Lydia, on her own birthday.

Suzanne's fiance' Zech, and Benjamin

Grace and Sam, Suzanne (in the black tank and sunnies...baby Maeve in front of her...Ashley in the forefront...

A party!

Declan with his party horn...

Declan, cousin Ophelia, cousin Blythe

Declan and Feef...

Suze, Ev, Mariel

Cousins Denzel and Blythe...

Auntie Camille with Blythe, Auntie Evelyn with Denzel

And...the other evening, a fire on the deck...Paul looking up at the sky...someone's feet, ha.

Cam, don't hate me...it's cute!  (She made a s'more!)

and.....goodnight!

just a rambler....

 This fine chilly August morning, which nips of autumn, right down to the cozy sweatpants, is quiet.  The symphony of cicadas and crickets that make up a hot summer morning have gone quiet, and there's a faint tinge of gold on the maple trees.  I'm wondering where I stored my slippers, haven't worn them in months. Summer is for bare feet, but brrr.  

Camille and I went to the library yesterday with Walter, he's Jonathan's friend from the Netherlands who is staying on a bit after the wedding.  (Now they're gone camping and hiking in the Adirondacks).  Cam got some books to brush up on her math skills for her tests next week, I got a new Tana French novel and a few other books.

The afternoon was one of those perfect dark and cozy reading days.  The rain poured and drummed on the metal roof.  Camille made brownies for Evelyn's birthday, I decided we needed chicken pot pie.  I make the crusts in the food processor, just whisk the flour and salt, then add the butter, then dump it into a bowl and toss it with ice water, so it's extra flaky.  Five cups of flour, four sticks of butter, and shh yes, no wonder I'm fat ha.  

For the filling, I added several boneless chicken breasts to one and a half cartons of chicken stock, to simmer...with some rosemary.  When the chicken started to shred, I added cubed potato, then thickened it up with corn starch and flour mixed with cold water, stirred that in....added one bag of frozen carrots, peas, mixed veggies.  I let it cool a bit, then rolled out the pie crusts...on the tops, salt, pepper, rosemary, then into the oven on parchment covered cookie sheets (so they don't drip butter all over the oven).  

I messaged Oscar that I made it, and he was welcome to come have some, he did.  Sonja was working, and I know he likes it.  

So I took healthy food and made it unhealthy, but oh dear, it's so good.  

In between making that and doing some puttering around, I did read an entire library book, After Annie by Anna Quindlen.  Was it a good book?  Well, I read it in one afternoon.  :)

 Miss Lydia is having a birthday party at the beach on Saturday, I'll be bringing some snacks and cupcakes...summer is supposed to be making a grand return, with sunshine and warmth into the lower eighties.  

So I have an appointment next week for my hand/arm.  Of course as soon as I made it, the symptoms calmed down and let me sleep better at night, but I'm not complaining about that.  It's still clear there's something wrong, my ring finger is achy and numb right now just from typing.  If I press on my wrist, it hurts, and I still can't really make a strong fist without having shock-y type sensations go down my arm.  At the risk of sounding like an old lady with a whole boatload of complaints, wherein one would regret asking a simple how are you?, I will expound on my sufferings, because...it's my blog, and I can cry if I want to, ha.  

My knees!  I have said for a while now that if I'm on my feet for too long, my knees sort of don't want to bend when I go to sit down.  This is not ideal when I need to go to the bathroom!  Bend, knees, bend!  They also hurt really badly when I'm on my feet for too long, not just the knees but the muscles or tendons that run down behind, and the fronts of my calves too.  I don't know if it's arthritis or something in my lower back, because it's both legs, although mostly my right leg.  I cannot put into words how absolutely frustrating this is.  I WANT to do things!  You know I love going out and about and dawdling and meandering through stores, now by the time I get to the register, oh my goodness, my legs are killing me.  I even wondered if it was my heart or something, but then why would then not want to bend?  Unless it's two things, because as Sam always says, "Two things can be true at once."

In Aldi the other day, we had already gone to the thrift store, and my legs were hurting...then a lady with just a gallon of milk asked to get ahead of me.  Of course, go ahead!  She proceeded to pay in cash and count out the coins and drop a few, and oh dear, I was finding it difficult to be pleasant!  It's a different thing, when your body hurts.  

I plan to run it by the ortho dr. I'm seeing for my arm, see if she has any ideas...I hate not knowing, and having X-rays and images and and and...appointments.  I do hate dr visits.  (I like to figure out exactly what's wrong before I make the appointment)

Enough of my whining, for now anyway.  Grace and her three kids, and Kathryn and her three are coming over in a little while.  Grace, Kathryn, and I will attempt to talk, to solve the worlds' problems while we drink our coffee, the kids will jump around and want drinks and need to go potty and get into little fights and play nicely together and get hungry and want to go outside and want to get more toys out and come sit with me for stories, maybe I'll rock a baby to sleep...a fantastic day all around.  

Now, I need to cruise the internet for a bit and read the news, some other blogs, then get up and vacuum and mop the floors, wash the pot pie dish that's soaking in the sink....putter a bit before the children descend...:). Have a really nice day!

ah, to be young again!!!

 

Last night we celebrated Miss Evelyn Joy, my eleventh child, now 25 years old...here she is with Grace, my sister's granddaughter, of course besties with my girls....

Rosie (Darius' and Adrian's sister), Grace (Sam's wife), me, my daughters Kathryn, Margaret, Evelyn, Emily, then Grace, and daughter Camille

Nora is in this one, she's a good friend to my girls, and to me too!

They were going out to dinner, and I jokingly asked if I was invited...:). It was way too much fun.  I can't even tell you how much we laughed.  We went around the table and said nice things about Evelyn, which is always an encouraging thing to do.  

Here are a few more wedding pics, and if I already posted them yesterday, so sorry.  :)

Sonja with my oldest son Benjamin

Sonja and I...

That dessert table:)

So Sonja's room was empty for like two minutes, before Paul started moving his office in there.  These things were still in there on the wall...

This is my daughter...such a good girl.  Paul decided to leave them up:)

Not sure if the videos will work or not...the after party, there was karoke...and no, there was no alcohol...

Ah well...the house is pretty quiet today...I don't mind...have a really good day!

wedding bells!

Getting ready...(photo credits strykingphotography)

That's Joe and Beth in the background, and Elise...and Paul giving away one his beautiful Sonja...

With fifteen of our kids...Mariel, Abigail, Molly Rose, Emily, Joseph, (Oscar), Sonja, me, Benjamin behind me, Paul, Sam and Jon behind, Evelyn, Margaret, Kathryn in the back, Charlotte Claire, Suzanne in the back, and Camille...

Ten of our daughters...(without Mariel)...Kathryn, Abigail, Molly, Em, Sonja, Evelyn, Margaret, Char, Cam, Suzanne...

With four of our sons, Jon, Samuel, Oscar, Sonja, Paul, Benjamin, Joseph 

The sweetest little flower girls, Rhys and Ruth, cousins..

Paul and I with the new couple...

Cam, Char, friend Erika...The cake, the cupcakes, the macarons...mmmm.

 Aww....lovely.

I didn't get a better pic of the cake to upload, and I'm tired of trying...I'm actually really tired ha.  It was such a good day, but as we all know, these good days fly by so fast, you don't know how it is actually over and done with.  

Friday, oh dear, I had to frost the cake, the cupcakes, make the pulled pork for the rehearsal dinner, which was supposed to go in the crockpot first thing...well, I was dawdling around the kitchen at 9:30, pulling things out for the frosting, when I happened to see minced onions and thought those would be good on the pulled pork...OH NO, THE PULLED PORK!  I had forgotten to start it...oops.  I had almost 14 pounds, so I cut it into fourths and put it in two crockpots with a sprinkle of vinegar, some maple bacon salt, brown sugar, freshly ground pepper...and phew, by ten it was in there and my fingers were crossed.  The dinner was at six, and we decided that if it wasn't looking mighty done by four, we would take it out and oven bake or something...maybe instant pot....but it was absolutely fine.

We made the macaroni and cheese on Thursday, Margaret and I...14 blocks of cheese through the food processor, two blocks sliced up because it was soft cheese...Margaret made a topping of butter, panko bread crumbs, garlic, grated parmesan and Romano, oh it was good.  

Back to Friday morning:  I was having a new issue, which had lasted all week and was getting worse:  symptoms of carpal tunnel.  My hands have been fall-y asleep-y for years, like when I'm driving, I'll shake them out to wake them up...and when I'm sleeping, one arm falls so asleep I have to dangle it over the bed for a while to wake it back up, ect.  But this, this was something else.  I couldn't even make a fist with my left hand, much less pick up a drink or open a door handle....I had ordered a wrist splint to sleep in, which seemed to help the first night then not after that.  It gets so bad at night that I cannot sleep, the pain runs up and down my arm, my wrist aches, oh dear.  Friday, it was very bad...the middle three fingers going numb, all the carpal tunnel symptoms.  

Camille was SUCH a help.  She knows how to make buttercream, so between the two of us, we made three double batches.  She figured out how to pipe rosettes on the cupcakes, and did most of them for me.  I worked on the cake, she helped me turn the table as I did the finishing touches.  

We managed to get the cake to the wedding venue without wrecking it, which was a miracle...we got halfway there and started to list off all the things we forgot, and had to turn around (mint for the lemonade (Evelyn did a fantastic lemonade bar, blueberry basil?  Strawberry mint?  I can't even remember the flavors...)

Anyway.  The wedding was lovely.  The rain held off, but it was a bit windy...but perfect for an outdoor ceremony.  There was charcuterie, and coffee, along with the lemonades, then later the dinner:  a pesto grilled chicken, baked potato bar (chopped green onion, bacon bits and butter for me!), a salad bar, watermelon with mint, soft warm dinner rolls with butter...all so good.

The very best of all was the goodness that came forth in the words spoken in that wedding feast.  Marriage is a gift from God, and to esteem each other, respect each other, lay down our lives for each other (our strong opinions, needing to be right, having the last word).   It's a good work, and it's a glorious blessing for two wholehearted young people to marry and build a good home together.

There are more pictures, but they aren't loading well, so that's it for today.  Today, which as been busy enough....but don't forget about yesterday, that was busy too!  Lots of the kids and grandkids came over...we grilled burgers, had corn on the cob, and some baked potatoes...love having them over.  

This fine morning, after being awakened by a meowing kitty at 3:30, then the dog wanted out an hour later, then getting up at seven to be ready to go to the airport, oh dear am I tired!  My arm doesn't want me to fall to sleep, then it wakes me up hurting...I do have an appointment for next week...

Anyway, Miss Charlotte Claire got to the airport on time.  Camille and I dropped her off and headed to a nice local coffee shop, and Char texted that the line to check her bag was really long...then that her bag was ten pounds over but they didn't care...then that there was a beautiful Golden Retriever walking around for everyone to pet....now she's probably in Chicago, heading to Amsterdam, then Frankfort...all by herself.  She is hoping to come home for Christmas, then she'll be home again next summer.

I won't even say how hard this is for me.  I'm super glad for her and think it's good for her, but ouch.  Same with Sonja, love that she got married but waking up yesterday morning and that empty room, oh my heart.  shh, I cried.  The room isn't empty anymore, Paul finally has an office!  Yay, his desk and treadmill and guitars and amplifiers and bows and arrows all moved into that office with him.  Our room seems so big and roomy!  So today when we went to Costco, I splurged on some nice new cotton sheets, came home, washed them, vacuumed and cleaned our room, and ahh, nice clean brand new sheets on the bed.

Tonight is a celebration for Evelyn's birthday, to which I asked if I was invited, and was told sure, you can come...hey, I'll take it:). Out to dinner for sweet Evvy's birthday?  Why not?  :)

So it's been a fantastic rainy day here in central New York, all chilly and fall-like.  Camille has been cleaning her room, I've been cleaning mine and puttering around...the wedding prep was fabulous, but it's nice to have it behind us!  

Have a really nice day!!!!

wedding prep, countdown days flew by, it's today!!!!

 

Five of my girls and two friends (Sonja's bridesmaids, Nora and Grace...). Char, Margaret, Cam standing, then Sonja, Nora, Grace, and Evelyn...wedding prep.

Camille's macarons, not pictured:  the salted caramel macarons...

The cake...it's the style, a plain-ish cake...this will be adorned with fresh flowers today...

The rehearsal dinner...

The rehearsal...I LOVE this picture...

Sonja and daddy...love it...

The ceremony is in an hour, have to get dressed and out the door...next post will have wedding pics!  Have a really good day!