The Mantis Menace

Yes, that's a praying mantis on the hummingbird feeder. I happened to look out my kitchen window to see this huge guy on the feeder. Soon I observed the hummingbirds dive bombing him to try to get him to fly away. However, he was determined to stay and actually did stay on the feeder for 3-4 hours. Finally, after fighting numerous wars with no winner, he flew away in hopes of finding easier prey.

PS: Something has happened to my blog site and I am not able to manipulate my pictures nor am I able to comment under each one. I'm going to have to work on this and call my IT expert, Erin. Hopefully by my next blog, things will be worked out.

All My Grands

Remember that Madeline Kahn song in Blazing Saddles, "I'm Tired?" She was wiped out for other reasons, but it perfectly describes Deke and me after being gone for a week to NC. I don't know, maybe it's our age, but traveling, cooking,laundering, shuttling, painting, hammering, playing, shopping, etc just about did us in. We had to come home to recover! BUT it was all worth it to see our newest granddaughter, Megan Hope. She is precious and has a head full of hair- a rarity in this family! She is so small and so innocent and so precious and she's our newest granddaughter to love and nurture for a season.

Erin had a list of projects to do, but we only completed a short list of them while there. One of the projects Deke tackled was constructing a bench seat that fits between some bookcases Erin had bought. Deke did the construction- I did the finishing work. He also reconfigured Jon's closet space that Erin couldn't get to before this. If you remember, she completely reorganized their walk-in this past year with multiple dividers and rods. He also replaced the tracks to two broken closet doors and repaired multiple broken parts on the camper (Jon had moved the RV to the driveway so that Deke and I could have a bedroom at night). The camper was perfect; it was a wonderful retreat for us and served us well.

I tackled the girls' bedroom, cleaning, sanding (raised stenciling) priming and painting the walls and trim. It was a full 3-day job but the end result was fresh and clean and pretty. In between, we shopped, ran errands, shuttled kids to various activities, went train-watching, did the laundry, played euchre, swang (I refuse to accept the participial variant) on the swings, cooked, cleaned, made multiple trips to Home Depot and Lowe's, drank tons of sweet tea, viewed the Guilford College campus stick art (watch for future blog) and in general loved being with the family.

On Friday, Deke and I traveled farther east to see Mark, Lori and C-Bear in their new home. It's really lovely and in a beautiful setting near a lake. We had a relaxing day and evening before leaving for IN on Saturday. We chose to make the trip in two days, stopping near Huntington, WV, before arriving home on Sunday afternoon.

She's 96!

Opal is a good friend who lives in Delphi. She's my dad's 1st cousin's wife. It that's too much to digest, just say she's a dear relative. Since moving back to Indiana 8+ yrs ago, Mom and I frequently visited with Opal and we were able to catch up on the family news. After Mom went to the "home" my visits with Opal have lessened somewhat, but I still keep in contact via email etc. I've seen a lot more of her this past year after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had to have a mastectomy. I sometimes take her to her follow-up Dr appointments and physical therapy sessions.

Recently she had her house painted, and the fumes from the chemicals caused her to become very ill. She called me sounding like a frog, and we decided that she needed to come stay with Deke and me for a few days. Her family is in Indy and southern Indiana so it would have been hours or days for them to come to her rescue. It's been just a delight to have her here. She was no problem at all and I think we all loved the opportunity to be together. Today is her 96th birthday. She is a wonder. Still lives alone in her house of 60+ years, still drives, keeps apprised of the country's politics, works a computer like a geek, reads my blog and my family's blogs regularly and is as sharp as a tack. Her surgery has taken a toll on her but her spirit is as resilient as ever.

I took her home today just before noon. She will get all cozy in her newly painted house (now odorless) and spend much of the day catching up on her emails. She might even take a nap.

Happy Birthday, Opal! You are truly one-of-a-kind.

Bye, Kirk

Kirk leaving from Indy airport

She's 89

We celebrated Mama Jo's birthday with a big bang. Kirk (my brother) was in town for the festivities and we were joined by Russ and Carole Siler (Mom's 1st cousin) Deke and all of the assisted living residents so it was a resident/family affair. We held the celebration at noon in the main lounge of the assisted living facilities and served Arni's Pizza and Arni's famous salads to the attendees. Of course we also scarfed down cake and ice cream to top it off. Mom seemed to enjoy the time although her memory of the event lasted only a moment. When I told her she was turning 89, she caught her breath and said that was just impossible; she certainly didn't feel like an old woman. It was a poignant moment for all of us and one that we can store in our memories for a lifetime.

The Cake

Kirk sitting among the residents



Kirk, me and Mama Jo



Mom's table at assisted living



Deke with Mama Jo



Mom and I together



Kirk's Kiss



Russ and Carole with Mom



The two "sisters" who have similar mannerisms