We have had absolutely beautiful fall weather since early September. We continued to have warm temperatures in the upper 70s and upper 80s and we even set a few daytime and overnight high temperature records. During that time, the trees displayed their beautiful fall colors.

Unfortunately, the beautiful weather included no measurable rain for the entire month of October. We made up for that in the past 24 hours with 4+ inches of rain last week, then 7 inches of rain last night, and severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings both times. I think that gets our area out of its drought status! The storms were followed by a cold front, so I don’t think we’re going to experience any more days in the upper 80s this year. It was wonderful while it lasted, but now it’s time for hot chocolate and snuggly sweaters and blankets.

*The title quote is attributed to William Cullen Bryant

With Christmas not that far in the future, I started thinking about our holiday decorations. Ironically, now that our children are grown and Ted and I are retired, it seems I no longer have time for craft projects. That’s a shame, because I enjoy doing a variety of crafts. It surprises me how many holiday decorations I’ve made over the years.

Before we had children, I worked for the U.S. Bureau of the Census. Tabulations for the first computerized decennial census were in progress, and computer punch cards were everywhere. My office mates and I (and lots of other people with access to used punch cards) made Christmas wreaths from them.

Years later, my friends and I became interested in pinecone Christmas wreaths. FYI, a great place to find free pinecones is in cemeteries. They plant a lot of evergreen trees in cemeteries! I made two wreaths for our home and eight more as Christmas gifts.

When our kids were little, I knew they would enjoy an Advent calendar, so I made a calendar and the required 24 ornaments. When she had children of her own, Kari and I made Advent calendars together so she could hang one in her house as well.

I gave one of the calendars to Thom. Some of the ornaments showed wear, so Katie made replacement ornaments for their children to hang. The tradition continues!

My mother taught me to knit and crochet. I enjoy knitting, but crochet? Not so much. Still, when I see a pattern I really want to make, I’ll crochet. One year, I crocheted Christmas angels.

I admired the tatted Christmas ornaments that Ted’s mother made, so she taught me to tat. I’ve made countless tatted ornaments for myself and to give to others as gifts.

One year, I saw a ceramic Nativity set I liked, and I decided that I should make one. I’d never worked with ceramics before, and most people seem to start by making a mug or an ashtray. I didn’t want either one, so I reasoned that making a 15-piece Nativity set wasn’t any different than making a mug or an ashtray–I just had to do the same things to more pieces. I made a Nativity set for Ted and me and two more to give to our parents as Christmas gifts that year.

Another year, I made felt appliqúed stockings for our (at the time) three children. After Kari was born, I thought she should have a matching stocking, but there was no way to match the older felt stockings, so I made counted cross-stitch stockings for all four kids. Surprising and gratifying to me, they still hang them. I can’t speak for Thom’s stockings because I don’t have a recent picture of his Christmas decorations.

Jeff lent his counted cross-stitch stocking to his grandson, Ollie. Does that make it a “heritage” stocking from Ollie’s great-grandma (me)?

Kathy hangs both stockings–the felt appliqúed one and the counted cross-stitched one.

Kari hangs hers near a table-sized Christmas tree.

Just thinking about these projects makes me want to make something new, but now that the children are grown and I’m retired, I don’t seem to have the time. How can that be??!! I think I should set a 2025 goal to make some new craft projects.

Missouri has only two weeks of early voting, and Ted and I wanted to vote early. We went on the second day and found ourselves in an unexpected traffic backup–something that has never happened to us when we’ve voted in the past. It took us at least 45 minutes to move 0.2 miles on I-70 to the exit ramp, and that was less than one-third of the distance we needed to go. Considering that when we eventually arrived at the Election Authority building, we’d have to find a parking place and then stand in line to vote, we decided to come back on another day when the crowds (hopefully) diminished a bit.

Since then, the local news reports have been filled with information about the large number of voters turning out for early voting and how backed-up the traffic and voter lines are in St. Charles County. One report informed us that St. Louis City has a smaller population than St. Charles County and has 8 early polling locations. St. Louis County has a larger population than St. Charles County and has 14 early polling locations. St. Charles County has 2–yes, 2–early polling sites, and both have traffic jams and voter lines that circle the buildings. After a few days, the news included information that more poll workers had been added to the sites, police traffic control was on-site to help with traffic, and an additional day of early voting–Monday, November 4–had been added. Even so, the traffic and voter lines on TV didn’t look any shorter than those shown in earlier reports.

When you’re a meteorologist (or married to one), lots of things are about the weather. We’ve been having absolutely gorgeous fall weather with much higher-than-normal temperatures in the upper 70s and upper 80s. A cold front was expected to bring severe storms last night with colder weather behind it–not to mention that today is Hallowe’en. (Note: the forecast “verified” in meteorological speak–we had severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings at 2:15 a.m. last night.) Ted and I figured that: (1) fewer people would want to stand in a long line surrounded by puddles in upper 50s/low 60s cloudy weather with nicer weather coming back tomorrow; and (2) lots of people wouldn’t want to be tied up at the polls late in the afternoon with trick-or-treaters expected after 5:00 p.m., so we picked today to vote. We came prepared with lawn chairs, extra jackets, water bottles, and snacks.

Sure enough, the line on I-70 was 0.1 mile shorter than last week, and we made faster forward progress. Not speedy; just faster than last week. We inched our way to the Election Authority building for 57 minutes before we parked the car, having traveled a whopping 0.75 miles in that time. On our way home, I took this picture of the traffic backup near the corner of the street that is home to the Election Authority building (left side of picture). On the right side of the photo, the line extends down the exit ramp and onto I-70. The Election Authority building is on a dead-end street, so there’s only one way to get there once you’re near that street, and the streets from the other two directions were also backed up.

We finally reached the Election Authority parking lot, and then it took another 5 minutes for a traffic guide to indicate where we should park and to inform us of the one-way route around the building to exit after voting.

After an hour of mostly idling the car, we were surprised to see that the line of voters wasn’t that long. This is what we expected–a line that went all the way around the building. (Photo credit to online news 3 three days ago.)

This is what we got. There were only about a dozen voters behind me when I took this picture. Where are all those people from all those cars??!!

It’s probably best not to be an undecided voter when you arrive at the polling place. Every candidate and every ballot issue has a sign and none of them really contributes to a decision-making process: “Vote for me!” “No, vote for me!” “Vote YES.” “Vote NO.”

It only took about 30 minutes to go through the line, check in, pick up a ballot, and vote. There were far fewer people inside the building than when Ted and I voted here in 2020 during the pandemic, and everything went very smoothly, with no disruptions. (I think the traffic cops held up the traffic to slow access to the building. In other words, I think we idled in the car in a traffic line instead of waiting outside the building in a people line.)

Based on my observations, the election site and the ballots are secure. The curbside voting and drop-off ballot boxes were staffed, guarded, and secure. It looks like St. Charles County will have a fair election. And, of course, the people here are what TV commentators have been calling “Midwest nice.” 🙂

We voted and headed for home. It took us only 18 minutes to drive the same distance that required nearly a full hour in the other direction.

When the political ads started playing on TV this evening, I wondered why they were still playing, since I’d already voted. Then I remembered that there are still four more days to vote: Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, November 5. Get out and vote!

P.S. We left the extra jackets, lawn chairs, and snacks in the car. Thanks to the crummy weather, traffic control, and extra poll workers, the voter line didn’t circle the building, so we reached the front of the line relatively quickly.

When Ted and I updated the interior of our house in 2022-23, we deliberately chose not to re-hang artwork or to set out decorative objects that we were getting tired of looking at. We also decided to simply leave the affected walls and surfaces bare in order to provide incentive for us to shop for new things.

It takes patience to find something that tells you, “This is the one.” We’ve been browsing in a variety of places every now and then–not too often, because you have to give the stores time to put out new stuff if you don’t like what you see. When I see furniture ads on TV, I don’t look at the furniture–I look at the artwork on the walls and at the accessories on the tables. If it looks appealing, we check out that store.

Last weekend, we went to Main Street in St. Charles to browse at the annual Mosaics Fine Art Festival. We weren’t sure we wanted a mosaic piece, but we’ve seen beautiful mosaic work on our travels, so it was worth a look. Not only that, but the weather was beautiful for a stroll through a festival. Surprise! We saw just about every variety of art–except mosaics!

After walking the half mile up Main Street where the displays were placed, and then the half mile down Main Street to get back to where we started, we liked only one thing. Wouldn’t you know it? We saw it at the third booth we visited! The walk gave us time to think it over, though, and to come back after some time had passed to see if we still liked it. This piece said, “Take me home,” so we did.

We hung it the next day, and it looks just as good as we hoped it would. It was made by an artist from Iowa. He titled the piece “Out of Balance.” We had to make a decision about which horizontal line to level when we hung it, because none of the horizontal lines is parallel to any of the others–therefore, they’re “Out of Balance”! It goes well with the vases Kathy bought from the Chicago Art Museum and gave to us for Christmas one year. We like it!

P.S. The small bowl in front of the vases is also from Kathy. She’s so artistic!

It takes 2-3 weeks to receive the official copy of the title for a new car in Missouri these days, so Ted and I went back to the dealer a few days ago to pick up the title for my new car. While we were at the dealer, I walked over to the “trophy wall” (as I call it) to see if our picture was included. It was.

That’s our salesman, Scott, standing on the right side of the “I ♥ Spirit Lexus” sign.

When we go back for the 5,000 mile free maintenance visit, I’ll check to see how long they keep these photos on display. After all, that countertop has a finite length.

While we were visiting my Aunt Ruth on our Wisconsin road trip, she showed me some family pictures.  One was a portrait of my parents’ wedding party.  (Aunt Ruth and my mother were sisters.)  Ruth asked if I’d like to have the picture and I gratefully said “yes.” 

I have a wedding picture of my parents, but not of their wedding party.  The bridesmaids are (left to right) my dad’s sisters, Lenore (Lynn) and Geraldine (Gerry).  Of course, my mother is the bride and her sister, Shirley, is the junior bridesmaid.  I think the groomsman on the left is my first cousin once removed, the son of my grandpa’s sister and therefore my mother’s cousin.  I have no idea who the other groomsman is.  My dad is in his Army Air Force uniform because he was on furlough from active duty.  After serving in Europe and North Africa, he was expecting to be sent to South Carolina.  While my parents were on their honeymoon, however, Japan surrendered, and active combat ended.  My dad was released from service, but not discharged.  He remained in the Air Force reserves until he retired as a full colonel at the age of 60.

This is a picture of my grandpa on his 90th birthday with his five children–my mom and her siblings.  My grandma died eight years before this and Donald, the sixth child, died at the age of eight from a ruptured appendix.  In the back row are my mother with her brothers, Rollie (left) and Gibby (right).  Grandpa is in the center and my aunts, Ruth (left) and Shirley (right) are in the front.  This photo was in a frame for nearly 40 years, and I didn’t want Aunt Ruth to damage it by removing it for me to take a picture of it, so there’s some glass reflection in my photo.

This picture was also taken on my grandpa’s 90th birthday and shows him with his brother, Garry.  My great-grandpa immigrated from Germany to Wisconsin.  When he was settled, my great-grandma followed with their three young children–my grandpa (Lorenz), his brother Garry, and his sister Lydia.  What courage that must have taken for both of my great-grandparents!

Ted and I have a photo gallery in our house, and I plan to frame these photos and add them to the gallery with other family photos dating from the very early 1900s through our latest addition, our great-grandson.

It normally takes Ted and me about nine hours to go from Kiel to our house, but there was so much road construction along the way, that the trip was longer this time.  Driving I-55 from Chicago to St. Louis includes Route 66 travel. 

We had a happy adventure on our way home when we stopped for gas at Wally’s in Pontiac, IL. 

I’ll let a screenshot from Wally’s website describe what you’’ll find at Wally’s.

I took some pictures in the store.  It’s so big, that it’s hard to show it in a photo, but try to look all the way across the store in the picture below.  It’s not Wall Drug (South Dakota), but Wally’s takes the gas station convenience store to a whole new level!

There’s an entire room offering a huge variety of ice-cold beer.  (For people who are going to drive?)

The wall art at the entrances to the restrooms is impressive.  That’s a 1955 Plymouth Belvedere towing a vintage Shasta trailer, in case you’re wondering.

Buy a t-shirt and express the joy of Wally’s.  Wallelujah to all!

A vintage Winnebago motor home is parked in the store.  It’s a perfect backdrop for the camping gear you can buy at Wally’s.

Wally’s mascot bear is “driving” the Winnebago.

After this stop, Ted and I were refreshed and ready to hit the road for the last stretch to our house.  It was a wonderful nine days, and we loved seeing our friends and family members in person again.  There were so many laughs and so many good memories to be shared at every stop, that we are still feeling the joy of the fun we had with everyone.  Long live the American Road Trip!

Our last stop on this trip was a visit with Ted’s brother, Gary, and a reunion with Ted’s high school classmates.

We had a funny experience as we drove to Gary’s house. I was driving through a small town on a state highway and, as I passed an intersection, a black van marked “Sheriff” pulled into the traffic behind me. That was fine; I hadn’t been doing anything wrong. As I continued driving, I noticed a string of three identical black vans behind me. I knew the first one was the sheriff, but as we crested a hill, it looked like the second car also had a light bar on the top. With a sheriff–or possibly, two sheriffs–directly behind me, I made sure to drive no faster than the 55 mph speed limit.

As we drove through small town after small town, I repeatedly adjusted my speed from 55 to 45 to 35 to 25 to 35 to 45 to 55 again. The three black vans stayed right behind me. As we rounded a curve, I identified the third van as another sheriff! I don’t think I’ve ever been followed by three consecutive sheriffs! Ted and I laughed about it and I continued driving exactly at the speed limit, forcing the officers of the law to do the same or to–gasp!–break the law by speeding to pass me. We wondered if the sheriffs were getting frustrated at having to drive at the speed limit. Do they (slightly) exceed the speed limit like the rest of us when there is no one to see them?

The sheriffs’ convoy followed us for nearly an hour. I could have turned onto a side road, let them pass, made a U-turn, and come back to the highway, but frankly, it was kind of amusing to keep three sheriffs within the law. We were going to arrive two hours before Gary would be ready for us anyway, so we had plenty of time to dawdle our way across the state. Eventually, however, I had to turn to go to Gary’s house, and the sheriffs continued on the state highway and probably followed someone else. Well, it was fun while it lasted.

Now, back to our visit with Gary. A few years ago, there was a fire in Gary’s apartment building.  It wasn’t in Gary’s apartment, but there are only four apartments in the building, and they all had water and smoke damage.  When the damage was repaired, Gary was able to move to a different unit than his original apartment.  He (and Ted and I) like this unit much better because the window views are open land rather than the cul de sac on which the apartment is located.  This is the kitchen/living room area.  There are three bedrooms along the right side of the apartment (obviously, not shown here).

On our first night together, we went out for pizza and then played sheephead, a popular Wisconsin card game.  The next night, we went to a more upscale local restaurant that featured Early American decor.

The ladies’ room had an old-fashioned, comfy appearance.

Ted and I planned our trip to include time for me to see my college friends while Eileen was in Madison for a UW football weekend, and we planned our time in Kiel so that Ted could attend his high school class’s annual reunion lunch at the Altona Supper Club. Our kids used to chuckle over the term “supper club” when we traveled with them to Wisconsin. I have no idea why these restaurants have that designation, but a Google search says that “supper clubs are an iconic mainstay of Wisconsin, filled with comfort food and good conversation.” This noon meal included all the Wisconsin noontime “dinner” goodies—a variety of meats and seafood, potatoes, salad, vegetables, dinner rolls, and dessert–and everything was delicious.

Three class reunions were taking place simultaneously at the supper club.  Ted attended his 50th class reunion, but that was the only time after his high school graduation that he’d seen his classmates until now, so it took us a few minutes to locate someone he recognized.  After we picked up our name tags, things became easier.  Without them, Ted admitted there were very few people he recognized on sight.  It was a nice gathering, and Ted enjoyed talking with some of his old friends.  The midday reunions have been held annually for several years, and a group picture is taken every year.  Ted is the third man from the right in the back row.

Before leaving this part of Wisconsin, Ted and I stopped at the Gibbsville Cheese Factory to buy some “real” (i.e., not supermarket) Wisconsin cheese to take home with us.  Gibbsville offered a new version of Ted’s favorite, super sharp cheddar.  The “Special Reserve Super Sharp Cheddar” brought a smile and a quick “That’s really good!” from Ted.  He bought six pounds of it to take home with us.  We also stopped at the Oostburg Bakery to get some bakery favorites:  hard (this does not mean firm or stale) rolls, filled coffee cakes, and Danish pastries.  

Of course, we needed a picture of Ted and his brother on our last evening together before Ted and I left in the morning for our long drive home.

Holmen, WI is a small town near La Crosse.  It’s where my favorite aunt and three of my cousins–including two more of the six Girl Cousins–and their families live.  Sadly, my (also favorite) uncle died a year ago just two months before his 98th birthday.  One of the Girl Cousins—Lara—was traveling out-of-state on business, so we didn’t have a chance to see each other this time.

Ted and I stayed in an interesting hotel, themed on Wisconsin wilderness, fishing, and hunting.  The supports for a ceiling overhang in the pool room, as well as the wall above the overhang, were painted to look like tall evergreen trees.

We didn’t try sitting in this chair, but it looks like an early attempt at ergonometric design.

On our first day in town, we had dinner at Aunt Ruth’s house and one of my boy cousins—David—and his friend, Deb, joined us.  Later, Jim, Lara’s husband (she’s the Girl Cousin who was out of town), came over for a little while.  The following day, Aunt Ruth treated all of us to a dinner cruise on the Mississippi River.  “All of us” included Aunt Ruth, David and Deb, Jim, Ted and me, and Linda—the second Girl Cousin at this stop—and her friend, Paul.  At first, I was puzzled that we had to be at the dock by 9:30 a.m. for a dinner cruise, but I soon remembered that, in the upper Midwest, people eat breakfast, dinner, and supper, so dinner would be served at noon.  As we entered the park at the boat dock, we passed this “Sister City” garden.  La Crosse has six sister cities and each of them has a portion of this garden designed to represent itself.

The weather was perfect for a river cruise, and we saw one beautiful sight after another during the three-hour cruise. The boat had a paddle wheel, and the captain assured us that it was a true paddle wheeler—the paddle provided the power to move the boat.

A short distance upriver, we passed through—not under—a “swing bridge.”  As a watercraft approaches, the bridge rotates (swings) ninety degrees to allow the boat to pass, as the boat in the left part of the photo below is doing.

After the boat passes, the bridge swings back.  In this picture, it is nearly completely closed.

There are 27 locks and dams on the Upper Mississippi River between Minneapolis, MN and Cape Girardeau, MO.  On our river cruise, we passed through Lock & Dam 7 twice—once going upstream, then again going downstream.

Here’s a picture of a barge making a delivery upstream.  According to the captain’s narration, most barge traffic serves either the Upper Mississippi River from Minneapolis, MN to St. Louis, MO or the Lower Mississippi River from St. Louis to New Orleans, LA.

These homes have a beautiful river view.

Here’s a picture of boathouses and houseboats.  Do you know the difference?  A houseboat has an engine; a boathouse does not.  😊  Boathouses are technically not for habitation, but some have amenities to make them more than simply a shed.

Ted and I have traveled along the Mississippi River from Menominee, WI to New Orleans, LA, but this is the first time I’ve seen a Mississippi River sand beach.  It reminded me of all the glacier-formed sand-bottom lakes that I enjoyed while growing up in Wisconsin.

It was a great day to be outside on the deck.  Not too hot (upper 70s) and not windy.  Here’s part of our group.  From left to right, Paul, Linda, me, Deb, and David.  Ted took the picture.

The dinner was delicious.  Turkey and chicken, mashed potatoes, carrots, coleslaw, dinner rolls, and carrot cake.  David managed to extend his arm far enough to get all of us into his picture.  Again, left to right you can see Ted, me, Jim, Aunt Ruth, Linda, Paul, Deb, and David—or at least the idea of David. 

After all the passengers had left the ship, one of the crew members took a picture of our group.  Once more, left to right, you can see Deb, Ruth, David, me, Jim, Linda, Paul, and Ted.  We all had a wonderful time and repeatedly thanked Aunt Ruth for the treat.

Jim, Ted, and I visited with Aunt Ruth for a little while after we returned to her house.  As with our other visits, our time together ended too soon.  Jim had to run some errands, and Ted and I needed to head for our next hotel.

Ted’s and my third stop on our road trip was Lake Geneva, WI, where I was able to visit with two of my Girl Cousins from my mother’s side of the family.  (We have boy cousins, but our brothers don’t have much interaction among themselves.)  Years ago, we girls named ourselves the “Girl Cousins.”  Once we had a Girl Cousin Weekend and it was a blast!  We talk about having another one, but we’re all too busy to organize it, so it hasn’t happened yet.  Donna lives in Lake Geneva and Judi lives in Brookfield, about an hour away from Lake Geneva.  Donna moved to Lake Geneva a few years ago, and Ted and I hadn’t seen her new house, so we had a tour.  Jon builds large, intricate, and detailed model boats and we enjoyed seeing some of his collection. 

Donna served her Grandma Drott’s outstanding lasagna for lunch, and Judi contributed lemon bars for dessert.  Then we got down to business, telling funny family stories for several hours because, as Judi said, “Nobody understands the craziness of your family better than your cousins.”

Judi also came in a new car. Mine was one week old; hers was two days old.  Ted and I left home for this road trip only five days after I picked up my car and, with trip prep chores to do, we didn’t have time to do more than figure out how the essentials on the car worked:  gas cap opener, bright/dim headlights, cruise control, radio, etc.  We decided to wait until we returned home to program the garage door opener.  Judi said they did the same before coming to Donna and Jon’s house for this visit.  We both have lane assist in our new cars and noticed that it’s firm, but easily overridden, if necessary.  Just for fun, as we drove to Donna and Jon’s house, we both (in our own cars) had held our hands just barely off the steering wheel to allow the car to turn itself on a curve.  I even let mine do an S-curve.  It was amazing!  Almost like a self-driving car!  Then we each (again, in our own cars) heard a warning beep and had a warning light with a message:  “Driver does not have hands on steering wheel.”  Oops!  It was good for a laugh that we both did the same thing.

Much too soon, it was time for Judi and Larry to go home and for Ted and me to head for our hotel de jour, but first, we took pictures.

Here are half of the six Girl Cousins—me, Judi, and Donna.

Then, our husbands.  All three men are so nice, and they enjoy each other’s company.  We women decided that, in choosing these guys, “We all done good.”  This photo features Larry, Ted, and Jon.

We finished with a group photo.  Judi propped her camera on a chair back, set the timer, and with only one try, we got this picture, featuring Ted and me, Jon and Donna, and Larry and Judi. Good times!

Although we’ve kept in touch, Ted and I have not visited our Wisconsin friends and families since 2018.  It was time to head north. On (to) Wisconsin!

Our grandchildren are growing up and moving away from home, so Sky no longer lives only a few minutes from our house. Our first road trip stop was in Rockford, IL where Sky relocated for his job with Quik Trip.  The apartment where he and Adelle live is charming, in an older house with lots of windows. 

Sky might have enough Lego to build a Legoland of his own.  For his recent birthday, he bought himself the Lego Star Wars Venator—one of the biggest Star Wars kits to date.  It’s nearly as large as the dining room table.  On the shelf behind the table, you can see the bouquets of Lego flowers Sky has built.

Luckily, the apartment has an extra bedroom that Sky can use to store all of his Lego.   The walls are filled with shelves of boxed Lego pieces, all sorted by type and color.  Here are some of the Lego people Sky has—all sorted, of course.  He said he has three more shelves to add to this wall for additional Lego.

The living room, like that in many older houses, has multi-paned windows and crown molding.

When we sat down to visit with each other for a little while, the oversized teddy bear seemed interested in our conversation.

Because the weather was so nice, we decided to take a walk along the Rock River before going out to dinner.  We saw this colorful sculpture.

These benches accommodate adults (left) and children (right).

A little later, we walked past this pretty gazebo.

Before long, the sun was setting over the Rock River.  It was time to have dinner and then to take a guided, personalized tour of the new Rockford Quik Trip where Sky works in a beginning management position, and which he helped set up for its grand opening.

After our visit with Sky, Ted and I stopped for gas.  While Ted was paying for it, a Black man at the gas station asked if that was Ted’s car.  Ted told him it’s my car, to which the man replied, “If that’s your wife’s car, she’s a hot mama!”  Maybe I should change my car’s name from Gigi to Hot Mama. With a full gas tank, we drove to our hotel in Madison, WI.

The following morning, I met with two of the six members of the Orchard Street Gang–the women I shared a house with during my senior year of college. Four of us had known each other from our freshman year dorm days; the other two were wonderful additions to our group. Eileen lives in Marquette, MI, but was in Madison for a college football weekend and to visit her son; Leila has lived in Madison since we graduated from college. It was a great opportunity to see both women, so Ted and I planned a stop in Madison.  Leila was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 15 years ago and is in an assisted living unit, making it the easiest place for all of us to meet, eat, and visit.  Eileen (left) and I are standing; Leila is in the wheelchair.

Eileen brought breakfast food, and we had a wonderful three-hour visit.  There was so much to catch up on—our families, our current activities, and even some long-ago college memories that we shared.  All these years later, we are still BFFs.

In February 1999, I bought my first car—a red Toyota Celica.  I loved that car! (Sorry about the photo quality. It’s a 25-year-old Polaroid print.)

Of course, Ted and I have shopped for and bought cars together since we were married, but we always needed a car for him to drive to work and one in which our entire family could sit.  Even after I began working, I was the one who drove the “family” car.  The Celica was the first car I ever picked out just for me–and titled in my name!  It was pretty exciting to finally buy a car for myself, and the Celica had a stick shift, heated seats, a moonroof, and a 6-disc CD changer. Whoo-ee!

Twelve years later, in April 2011, I traded my red Celica for a red Lexus IS-C.  That’s for “Intelligent Sport Convertible.”  I loved that car. It had such a nice ride that, even on long road trips, Ted and I didn’t feel stiff or ach-y after hours of driving. It had heated and cooled seats, navigation, Bluetooth, and SiriusXM.

The #1 fun factor of my IS-C was the power convertible top.  It was fun to watch and a bit amazing to see how the car top and rear window fit in the trunk and still left room for other things within the cargo net space.  If people were passing by while I put the top up or down, at least one of them would stop to watch and then make a comment to me about how awesome that was.

Thirteen years later, in August 2024, I parted with my red IS-C and bought a red Lexus RC F Sport.  I love this car!  (There’s a pattern in my cars.)  The “RC” stands for “Radical Coupé” and the “F” is for “Fuji Raceway.”  One reviewer begged to differ, saying that the “F” is for “fun, fast, and ferocious.”  That works for me. 

The fun factors in this car include all the new technology (including a touch screen), incredibly comfortable bucket seats that wrap around the occupants, heated and cooled seats and a heated steering wheel, headlight cleaners, de-icing windshield wipers, a moonroof (again), and a low-slung, sporty look.  Ted says he’ll be able to reach more than halfway across the top when it’s time for him to wash it.  Unbelievably, although it’s far sportier than my IS-C, the ride is even smoother and quieter.  And then there’s the F Sport engine that has a discrete growl rather than a near-silent purr. 

I had no complaints about my IS-C–in fact, we never repaired the IS-C because nothing ever broke–I just wanted to ride in something different after 13 years. Although the convertible was loads of fun, the car handled more like a sedan than my Celica—and remember that I loved my Celica.  The RC combines the best of both worlds:  the Lexus luxuries with what some of the reviews call “aggressive” styling.  I went from this . . .

. . . to this.

As I walked into the garage on the third day I had my RC, my car’s name popped into my head.  It’s “Gigi” because I’m a Great-Grandmother (G. G.) and the name Gigi is a perfect fit.

Ted and I celebrate our birthdays and our wedding anniversary at Bentley’s every year. Ted says their grilled salmon is the best he’s ever tasted (he orders it frequently), and I love their pepper steak (which few restaurants even offer). The meal is always worth the 2.5-hour drive each way. We’ve become well-acquainted with the owner over the years, and we have a favorite server.

We belatedly celebrated our 55th wedding anniversary at Bentley’s in July and, as usual, we asked for one of Merrill’s tables. This time, Merrill had some news for us: (1) he thinks he’s going to retire within the year; and (2) Bill, the owner, had a stroke, so he no longer greets guests at the door, although he still oversees the kitchen. Merrill thought Bill’s condition might improve enough for him to greet guests in the future.

We had our usual delicious meal and finished with our favorite desserts. I like Bentley’s nice, thick whipped cream-topped grasshoppers, and Ted loves “The Thing”–an ice cream sundae with walnuts, strawberries, and a hard chocolate coating, topped with whipped cream.

Ted’s birthday will be here soon, and we’ll be back at Bentley’s to celebrate it.

The ranks of retired people added a member in July.  One of the office staff members that I hired during my working years retired, and I was invited to the party, described as a “high tea” for “Her Grace.”

It was wonderful to see so many of the staff and teachers I hired and worked with—still there 12 years later—and it was fun to see that they all enjoy working and celebrating together, just as we did while I was an active part of the team.  I started as a one-woman show, but the Adult Education program grew too large for me to handle alone.  The first person I hired was Jeanette (also retired now), on the left in the photo below.  Her Grace, Sonja, is in the center, and I’m on the right.

The two ladies in the front in the photo below are Lynn and Ellen, who were hired after I retired.  Those in the back row were some of my co-workers:  (L->R) Patty, a lead ESL teacher; Lindsay, a GED teacher (almost invisible behind Lynn); Sonja, an office staff member; Mandy, my second-in-command who took my place; me; and Ingrid, a lead ESL teacher.  By the time we decided we needed a group picture, quite a few people had already left or we’d have a much bigger crowd in the photo.

In keeping with the English tea party theme, the party favors were little cardboard teapots with candy inside.

When I retired, the staff gathered photos of our group from throughout my tenure, wrote a story to go with the photos, and had it all bound into a book titled “A Tale of the Star Kingdom.”  Our AEL (Adult Education & Literacy) program—the “Star Kingdom”—was one of a limited number of the 26 statewide AEL programs that had achieved Star status for excellence.  In the book, I was designated as the Empress.  The current staff made a similar book for Sonja.  In her book, Her Grace, Sonja, was recognized as the Duchess.  Shall I assume that when Mandy retires from the dean’s position that she accepted after my retirement, she will be referred to as an Empress in a similar book?  I hope so.

In addition to the book, invited guests were asked to send stories about their memories of Sonja.  Those stories were put into a binder for Sonja, and each of us who was present read our own story aloud to Sonja and the group.  It was fun to hear all those memories.  Among other things, my story included a trivial but true lesson I learned from Sonja.  It was about candy.  Sonja worked at the front desk and always kept a dish of candy on her desk for visitors.  All of us regularly contributed candy to the dish (it’s not a budget item), and Sonja once told us that:  (1) the more candy there is in the dish, the more pieces individual people take; (2) chocolate disappears very quickly; and (3) nobody likes Dum Dums.

I was still doing PT at Athletico at the time of Sonja’s party, and I couldn’t help noticing that the candy dish on the Athletico counter was filled with Dum Dums.  There was very little difference in the Dum Dum level over my next few visits, so maybe the Athletico staff will learn the same thing I learned from Sonja.

I hope Sonja’s retirement is filled with as much happiness and as many blessings as mine has been.

Due to a variety of reasons, Ted and I, Kathy and Annette, and Kari’s family were unable to get together for our “birthday season” celebration until June 24.  Part of the delay was due to my TKR.  Although my physical progress was rapid, I didn’t have enough energy to tolerate a seven-hour excursion—three hours of driving, plus party time—until then.

Our family celebrates six birthdays in only a few short weeks, so we usually make it a group event.  Mother’s Day falls in that time frame too and, because we celebrated so late this year, we added Father’s Day to the party.  We chose Columbia, MO as our party place.  Annette’s son lives in Columbia and his birthday fell two days after the party, so we celebrated his birthday too.  There were a lot of gifts to be opened! 

Because the weather was very hot (heat index of 105 degrees), we scratched the plan for a picnic in a park like we did for the solar eclipse and met indoors at Shakespeare’s Pizza.  Shakespeare’s has a quirky attitude.  For example, here’s Shakespeare.

This Shakespeare’s location is across the street from the Mizzou campus and has a sign telling patrons “This isn’t the dorm.  You don’t have to bus your own table.”  It’s a very large restaurant with several dining rooms.  Rather than repeatedly giving directions to the rest rooms, the floor literally has an inlaid yellow brick path that will take you from any dining room to the rest rooms—just “follow the yellow brick road.” 

Signage is fun to read.  Here’s the parking lot sign.

This is the back of a Shakespeare’s gift card holder.

And here’s a beverage cup.  Notice how the location of Shakespeare’s is described.  On the other side of the cup, one of the restaurant’s other locations is described in terms of latitude and longitude.

There used to be a red light and a bell above the rest room doors with a sign that said, “Did not wash hands.”  I don’t know if it was in working order, but who would want to take that chance?

Back to our party. . . .  June 24 was a Monday, and we met for lunch, so the restaurant was deserted.  We picked a dining room that was vacant and had a long table that would seat all nine of us.  When we finished eating, we stacked all of our dishes on a vacant table (that doesn’t really count as bussing our table, does it?) and got down to the business of opening gifts and catching up with each other.

Soon (four hours after we arrived, but the time flew by) it was time for all of us to think about heading for home, but first, . . . Blue Stem and the Candy Factory were only a few blocks away.  Blue Stem, our first stop, has a constantly changing display of work by Missouri artists, and Ted and I are looking for wall hangings.  We didn’t find anything we wanted, so we all headed for the Candy Factory, which makes its own chocolate.  After checking all the displays and making our selections we left with fresh chocolate candies in bags.  Then Ted and I headed for our car, but some of the others went a few more blocks to the Peace Nook, another favorite family stop in Columbia. The air-conditioned, nearly-empty restaurant and the large table were a good lunch choice; the company, conversation, and gifts were all delightful; and we all went home happy.  It’s so good to celebrate things as a family.  ❤

My right knee has been bone-on-bone for nearly four years but, with gel injections in my knee every six months and an elastic sleeve to stabilize the joint, I managed to delay surgery until March 2024, when the February gel injection made no difference at all in my knee pain level.  It was time to schedule a TKR—a total knee replacement. 

I made an appointment with my orthopedist to discuss the surgery and to set a date for the TKR.  My only condition was that it had to be after the April 8 total solar eclipse.   There was no way I was going to miss that!! Because I was having difficulty doing so many things—walking more than a half-mile, standing for more than 30 minutes, biking, Pilates, etc.—I decided to do physical therapy (PT) before my surgery to strengthen the muscles around my affected knee and to improve the healing process following the surgery.  I’ve gone to Athletico for various types of PT in the past and have always enjoyed working with their outstanding staff.  This time was no different.  Their attitude begins at the front door.

More detail is provided on Sarah’s (my therapist) laptop.

The pen mug at the check-in desk reminds patients and staff why we’re there.

The mood indicator lets us know how the staff is feeling

In the 22 weeks I worked with Sarah, I only saw one mood change.  I don’t remember what it was, but it amounted to “It’s a ho-hum kind of day.”  Every other day was “happy,” and that’s the atmosphere you can feel when you’re there. 

Most days, there’s some topic under discussion, and everyone—staff and patients—joins in while the therapy continues.  One day, for example, the staff was planning a potluck lunch for themselves and thought it would be fun if each staff member brought a food item that began with the same letter as their first name.  That was an entertaining discussion, with everyone contributing ideas—some realistic, some hilarious!  On another day, during the Olympics, the TV was on.  When Simone Biles performed, therapy stopped temporarily while we all watched her, then cheered for her.  Abbie, one of the therapists, was pregnant, and was going to learn the gender of her baby at her next OB visit.  For a few weeks before Abbie’s appointment, a whiteboard propped near the entrance invited everyone to “Guess Abbie’s Baby.” Staff, patients, and visitors (usually patients’ drivers) could vote for “boy” or “girl.”  “Boy” outnumbered “girl” by about 6-1.  I voted with the minority for a girl.  After Abbie’s visit with her OB, the board showed the results.

Sarah, my therapist, was fun to work with.  One of my friends sent me some goofy goggles to share with her, and Sarah was willing to go with them for a photo op.

The general consensus among my doctor, my physical therapist, and my friends who have had TKR surgery was that the first two months after the surgery are “tough,” but things get much better in the third month.  I didn’t get many specifics about what “tough” included, and now I know why.  As Forrest Gump said, “That’s all I have to say about that”—just like all those people I talked with. 

My first post-surgical PT session was scheduled three days after my surgery. It was very painful, due to the swelling and the surgical pain.  During that session, I had to keep reminding myself that I had actually liked Sarah a lot at my pre-surgical session six days earlier.  With Sarah’s expertise, eight weeks of PT prior to the surgery, and my determination, I made rapid post-surgical progress.  I did my PT exercises every day—before and after surgery—for a total of 22 weeks, with only a few (11 of 154 days) exceptions. 

Thanks to all the PT I did, I needed a walker for only four days, then walked with a cane for a week, and then walked on my own.  When I had my one-month post-surgical visit with my orthopedist, he and his staff were amazed that I was walking on my own without a limp.  They had the same reaction to my physical progress at my next visit, six weeks later.  They told me that, at the 10-week point, many people are still walking with a cane (or at least limping); some still take pain meds; most don’t have the range of motion or the strength in their knee that I do; and most are still doing stairs one step at a time.  Unbelievable!  I’m so glad I did pre-surgery PT!

The two best tools I bought for my recovery were:  (1) an ice/compression machine; and (2) a pedal exerciser.  The ice/compression machine replaced the CPM (continuous passive motion) machine that TKR patients formerly needed.  Basically, it’s an ice pack version of a heating pad attached to a six-pack-size cooler with a water/ice reservoir and a motor that circulates the ice water from the reservoir to provide the added benefit of intermittent forced-air compression.  The ice and compression kept the swelling—and therefore, the pain—down, and walking plus PT kept my knee flexible.  At first, my knee couldn’t bend enough for the top of the stroke on my stationary bike, but sitting on a chair to use the pedal exerciser in a more recumbent position was an easy way to keep my knee flexible whenever I needed it during the day and, unfortunately, the night.

Sarah and my orthopedist used measurements and physical evaluations to determine my progress; I set my own goals.  Success for me included:

  • Walk a mile outdoors one month after surgery.  I did that and walked two miles on the neighborhood streets three weeks later.  On my first outdoor walk after my surgery, I only made it to the second house past ours.  I went a little farther each day until I could walk two miles.
  • Bike at least 10 miles three months after surgery.  I had to wait two months to bike because my knee had to heal enough to support me just in case my bicycle tipped and forced me to throw my leg out to the side to keep from falling.  If I injured my knee before it was sufficiently healed, the chances were good that I’d need surgical treatment to repair it.  At two months, I rode 7 miles on my bicycle, and at the three-month mark, I rode 15 miles.
  • Achieve at least 135o of flexion in my new knee by the end of my PT sessions.  There’s a limit to how far a mechanical replacement knee joint can be flexed.  The PT goal is 120o-130o.   The normal range of flexion for a natural knee is 120o-150o; about 145o is average.  At my last PT session, Sarah prepared her report for my doctor and measured my knee flexion at 141o.  I took that good news home to Ted, and we went out for medium-sized (not small) chocolate-dipped DQ cones to celebrate. 

I am so thankful for all the people—the doctors, the nurses, Sarah, other PT patients, friends, family, and especially Ted, for getting me through this.  I couldn’t have done it without all of you—especially during those first two months!  It’s great to move without knee pain.

I didn’t know there were words to “Taps” until Ted and I were scouting out parks to view the April 8 total solar eclipse. We saw this memorial to the soldiers of Jackson, MO and it includes the words to “Taps.”

My birthday was a few months ago, while I took a break from blogging. I found the photos tonight, and they gave me the opportunity to re-live an enjoyable evening. Kari’s family came to our house bearing gifts for me from them and from Kathy and Annette. Kari has been trying some deep-water exercise classes at the Y, and thought I’d enjoy some water equipment to exercise in our pool, so the two families bought some for me.

First, a weight belt so that I can be upright in the deep end of the pool to do leg exercises.

Then barbells to exercise my arms while I’m upright in the deep water.

And finally, a water bottle sling I wanted so that I can walk without carrying my water bottle in my hand.

I always have fun on my birthday–not because of the gifts, but because of the people I spend time with and the good times we have together.

This car was parked beside mine. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a nicer message on a car sticker.

It reminded me of a quote I found in a book recently.

When you have the choice of being right or being kind, choose kind.

American philosopher, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.

One day I walked into our family room during the few minutes the setting sun shone through the window and directly on our “Wave” sculpture from Hawai’i. It really made the blue color of the sculpture stand out in the room.

Ted and I went out to eat one evening this week and watched this cloud grow all the way home. At first, it was an amazingly beautiful cumulus cloud, but within our 15-minute drive, it developed into a huge cumulonimbus cloud, and we saw a strong thunderstorm on the radar about 40 miles east of us. It was so beautiful, even walkers on the street stopped to talk about it with us.

I worked for the Bureau of the Census for three years as a writer-editor. In those days, we didn’t have word processors or spell/grammar check, so before submitting a text for publication, we proofread it in detail, including capitalization, bold/italic fonts, font size, punctuation, and spelling. Our goal was to publish a letter- and word-perfect document. Today, that goal is apparently unimportant, but even after all these years, I still read like an editor and I can’t help catching textual errors.

For example, the historic district of St. Charles offers ghost tours, and one of their posters says: “Haunted House. Twilight tours after dark.” The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines twilight as “the light of the sky between sunset and full night.” It defines dark as “devoid of light.” In other words, it’s impossible to have a “twilight” tour after “dark.” Merriam-Webster defines evening as “the final part of the day and the early part of the night.” That’s probably a better description of the tour time. Just knowing it’s a ghost tour pretty much tells visitors when it will occur, so I doubt if anyone except me notices (or cares about) that error.

I was astronomically mystified when I was reading a book in which the author told readers that “It was already late June, so the days were getting longer.” The summer solstice, when the sun is at its highest in the northern hemisphere, is usually on June 21. After that, the days get shorter, not longer. Luckily, that error didn’t affect the plot of the story.

During my employment years, I worked with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). I once received a letter from the head of the department thanking me for my “patients.” That letter was generated on a computer in the early 2000s, but spell/grammar check doesn’t always catch homonyms if a word is spelled correctly. In my opinion, that error looked really bad, coming from the department that oversees the public K-12 school system, which includes the teaching of vocabulary, grammar, and spelling. I practiced my patience, because there were no patients working in my local program.

Most confusing to me recently was the care tag in a shirt I bought. The tag said “Reversible garment. Turn inside out to wash.” If it’s reversible, which side is the inside? I just threw it in the washer and it came out clean.

We have a 93-year-old lady in our neighborhood who has been a lifelong Cardinals fan. A few weeks ago, several members of her family invited her to go with them to a Cardinals home game. I don’t know which of the family arranged it, but the seats were in one of the luxury boxes with air-conditioning, food, and all the other high-end amenities. (Maybe someone’s employer had a corporate box.) Peggy was reluctant to go, but the family convinced her that she’d enjoy the evening. She finally agreed, but said she was going to take her 60-year-old jacket with her. The temperatures were in the 90s during the day and in the mid- and upper-80s for the game, so that announcement brought a lot of protests, but Peggy insisted, and she wore her jacket.

The evening was such a success that Peggy didn’t stop talking about it for days, and she still brings it up in conversation. First, the luxury box seat tickets got the group through a special gate without a line. Peggy had her jacket on, and the gate attendant stopped her to chat, complimented the jacket, and asked her for her name. During the conversation (no line–remember?), Peggy mentioned that, although she used to attend games regularly, she hadn’t been to any in the new stadium, which opened in 2004.

As the group moved toward the private elevator that took them to their luxury box seats, lots of people stopped Peggy to talk about her jacket and many of them asked permission to take their picture with her. (She said, “Yes.”) One man offered to buy the jacket from her, but she told him, “No way!” Another man, standing nearby, offered to marry her to get a specific pin on her jacket. She turned him down too. 🙂 The luxury box was a treat and, before long, there was another surprise for Peggy: her name appeared on the jumbotron, along with the information that this was her first time in the new ballpark. Right after that, her son’s family and her grandchildren called her from Kansas City to say they were watching the game on TV and saw her name in lights. She said she felt like a celebrity, and it was the most exciting night of her life. I talked with Peggy the day after the game and asked if she was tired from the late night. “Not at all,” she said, “I’m way too excited to be tired!”

Here’s what all the excitement was about. It was a lot of fun to read all the pins and to recognize so many of the great Cardinals players–especially those from the “Whitey-ball” era.*

A few days later, Peggy had another surprise. The Cardinals sent her a framed certificate to commemorate her first time at the new ballpark.

Several of us in the neighborhood had a little party for Peggy’s 93rd birthday this week. We kept it simple–ice cream sundaes, brownies, and talk–and we all saw her Cardinals’ certificate on the kitchen table. She’s still excited about the ballgame she didn’t want to attend. Isn’t it great to be 93 and still having that much fun–including a marriage proposal at a ball game? Long live Peggy!

* Players’ pins on Peggy’s jacket: Tito Landrum, Rick Horton, Pete Rose, Bob Forsch, Keith Hernandez, Tom Lawless, Greg Matthews, Ozzie Smith, Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, Danny Cox, Jack Clark, Tom Herr, Tony Peña, Todd Worrell, Terry Pendleton.

I didn’t start playing Wordle right away, but I loved it the first time I tried it, and I’ve been playing it ever since. In March, I saw an article online that said the longest winning streak was 968. According to the article, the average number of tries to solve Wordle is four, and that’s true for me as well. I don’t try to guess the word before starting. I just play to solve the puzzle, not to solve it in x number of tries, so I don’t care if it takes all six tries to do it.

My statistics are a little skewed because I started playing before The New York Times bought the game, but according to the current online chart, I’ve solved one puzzle in 2 tries (lucky); 133 puzzles in 3 tries (which, according to the article, takes “skill, finesse, and intellect”); 222 puzzles in 4 tries (average); 145 puzzles in 5 tries (whew!); and 38 puzzles in 6 tries (nerve-wracking). I frequently solve the puzzle in under 30 seconds, but there have been a few puzzles I had to set aside for a few hours before taking a fresh look at them to “see” the word that will fit. Wordle now offers hints, but I don’t use them–that would spoil the fun.

I’m disappointed in my streak record. Twice, NYT has ended my streak when I clearly remember playing the previous day. The longest streak they give me credit for is 457 days, which isn’t shabby. There’s no trophy for the longest streak, so no big worries there. At least they don’t mess with my 100 percent solving success record!

I keep a running record of my solutions, which comes in handy when there are multiple possible words that fit (prune/prone, crush/crash, terse/tense, etc.) and only a limited number of tries to choose the right one. I’m amazed at the number of five-letter words in the English language.

How long is it until midnight when tomorrow’s puzzle will be released?

One day, as I was waiting for the traffic light to change to green, an unusual car pulled up in the adjoining lane. It was a marvel to see, and it’s too bad it didn’t stop a little farther back so I could take a picture of it from the side. Except for a space just large enough for the driver to operate the car, the entire car was filled with trash. Even the windshield in front of the driver had trash on the dashboard up to the driver’s sight-line. The interior of the car–front and back seats–was tightly packed with trash and so was the trunk. I have no idea if this was a temporary situation, the driver’s lifestyle, or a contest entry, but I’ve never before seen such a trash-filled car.

Do you ever think about how many things are arranged in alphabetic order? In many instances, this arrangement keeps things orderly and makes them easy to find, but does alphabetic order ever seem unfair to you when your turn in line is determined by the first letter of your last name? I’ll guess that if your last name begins with a letter in the first part of the alphabet, your answer is “no.” My last name began closer to the end of the alphabet, so my answer is “yes.”

I attended a small, rural, two-room elementary school. Depending on the year, there were 50-60 students in eight grades, with grades 1-4 in one room and grades 5-8 in the other. Our school had two small libraries consisting of three shelves that stretched across the back of each classroom. The libraries included a full set of encyclopedias and several dictionaries, so that diminished the space available for recreational reading materials during one’s four years in that classroom. Because this was true of so many schools in our largely rural county, the county provided a “traveling library.” The county school superintendent and his/her assistant made the rounds of all the rural schools every two weeks to exchange packing boxes filled with about 30 books. In a round-robin pattern, each classroom in each school exchanged its current box of books for a box with a different selection of books that came from a different school.

I have always loved to read and I finish books quickly, so I was always impatient and eager for the traveling library to bring a new box of books to our school. Unfortunately for me, my teacher believed that the fairest way to distribute the new books while keeping order in the classroom was to allow a few students at a time to make their one-book selection. This was done in alphabetic order, always beginning with the “A’s.” I lived in an area of Dutchmen, many of whose names began with De-capital letter-remainder of last name, such as DeBlaey, DeMaster, etc., and my last name began with “S.” Those early-alpha kids always had the first pick of the traveling library books and I was always in the last group to make a selection. The traveling library rules said that when you finished reading the book you selected, you put it back into the box and then had the option to choose a different book from the box. The early-alpha kids frequently failed to finish their selected books in the two-week exchange period, so their selections didn’t make it back to the box until the exchange day, and I rarely had a chance to read everything I wanted to read.

Alphabetically, things changed for me when I enrolled in a large university (35,000 students). Class enrollment was open for several days each semester, and was available in alphabetic order. Naturally, those who were in the first alphabetic group were nearly always able to enroll in whichever course/day/time they chose while those in the last group usually had to make some course/day/time adjustments. BUT, the alphabetic groups changed order each semester. I don’t remember the exact groupings, but if, for example, A-G had first choice this semester, they moved to the #3 spot the following semester; group H-P moved to #1; and Q-Z moved to #2. In this way, once every three semesters, everyone had a chance to be first, second, or third in course selection. What could be more fair while still maintaining order and a manageable number of students enrolling at a given time? There may be other entities that do this, but I’ve never encountered or heard of them, so this was a happy revelation to me as a college freshman, and it’s certainly more fair than always giving the “A’s” first choice and the “Z’s” last choice.

I recently read that the double-space at the end of a sentence is no longer the rule in typing. I assume that’s because electronic devices automatically insert a single space following a period, and it’s easier to change the rule than to fight the power of all the electronic devices.

I, however, learned to type a long time ago and was taught the double-space protocol. How long ago? Well, because I was such a fast typist (I have a high school award pin for “Fastest Typist”), I was assigned to one of the three new electric typewriters in our high school typing classroom. Woo-ee! In fact, at that time, only the IBM Selectric typewriter with the letter ball in place of individual keys could keep up with me without getting tangled. After all these years, tapping the space bar twice at the end of a sentence is so automatic for me that it slows me down to have to remember to tap it only once or to go back and delete the extra space. I’m just going to continue tapping the space bar twice after each sentence I type and let the electronic devices do their thing.

If you’re checking for double spaces after periods in this post, you won’t find them because, even though I tap the space bar twice, WordPress autocorrects me and uses only a single space. The exception is if I compose something in Word (or another format) and copy it to WordPress to post.

You can’t fight the power of big media, and you can’t fight a long-term and harmless habit either. Let’s hear it for double-spacing at the end of a sentence!

P.S. My “Fastest Typist” pin said “70 wpm” but I typed faster than that. The pins weren’t available for any speed above 70 wpm.

Due to strong solar storms, a large portion of the United States had a rare opportunity to view the northern lights this spring. Friends and family from a number of states posted photos showing the stunning display. Ted and I drove north of the city to a dark field to see the show and this is what was visible to us. It was definitely underwhelming!

On our way home, we saw red and green lights overhead and Ted said, “There they are! The northern lights!”

On August 21, 2017, Ted and I, Kathy and Annette, and Kari and Dylan saw a total solar eclipse. In spite of weather forecasts for clear skies in Columbia, MO–halfway between Kathy and Annette and the rest of us–thunderstorms moved in, and we re-located eastward to Warrenton, MO to view that eclipse. It was so amazing, we decided right then to reserve April 8, 2024 for another family eclipse viewing.

It doesn’t seem possible that we made those plans seven years ago, but we followed through and planned a day in Perryville, MO for this event. Our same group gathered, and Theo joined us. In 2017, he decided to settle for the near-total eclipse at home with his school classmates, but the rest of us raved so much about the totality that Theo has also been looking forward to the 2024 eclipse for seven years–nearly half his lifetime!

Once again, weather adjustments had to be made for this eclipse, although not by our group. Early information advised the nation that, of the 15 U.S. states in the totality zone, Texas was the most likely to be clear in April; the Midwest was iffy, but was likely to be cloudy; and New England was likely to be overcast. In real time, Texas was overcast with thunderstorms in the forecast, and the Midwest and New England were clear. Lucky us!

We liked the way we viewed the eclipse last time in a small park in a small city with a picnic lunch, so we wanted to do that again. Ted and I made a trip to Perryville and to Jackson a few weeks ago to scope out the parks, the bathroom facilities, the viewing spaces, and the parking. Perryville City Park was the winner, so this time, we went to a small city (pop. 8,500), but a large park. It took Ted and me less than two hours to make the scouting drive to Perryville, but there were lots of advance warnings on newscasts and on electronic highway message boards in our area to expect heavy traffic on April 8–eclipse day. We decided an early start was the way to go. We all brought food to share and got an early start to Perryville, leaving home just after 7:30 a.m. for the 1:58 p.m. totality event.

That worked out well. The drive to Perryville on the Big Day took three hours instead of less than two hours, and the traffic was definitely heavier than usual, but it moved along at near the speed limit, and we arrived in plenty of time to easily find a parking spot. Unbelievable! As we were parking our two cars, Ted and I saw our next-door neighbors! We emptied our car trunks, selected our viewing area, and then relaxed for a little while and ate our picnic lunch before the start of the eclipse.

Some nearby eclipse viewers wanted a group photo of themselves and I offered to take it so that everyone in their group could be in the picture. They returned the favor for us.

Before we knew it, the time was 12:30 p.m.–the start of the eclipse. We checked the sky and, sure enough, there was a little bite out of the sun at about five o’clock. Repeated progress checks showed the moon blocking more and more of the sun. Our excitement level was rising. We had some high, thin clouds, but the eclipse was clearly visible through our eclipse glasses. It’s hard to believe, but I took this photo at the 50 percent point.

Between 50 and 75 percent of totality, the light in the park noticeably dimmed and became weird. Even in the sunshine, the blankets we were sitting on felt cool to the touch, there was a sudden cool breeze, and the temperature dropped 8-10 degrees–enough to make us feel chilly.

I put my eclipse glasses over my camera lens and took this picture at about 90 percent totality. The sun is so bright that even a mere 10 percent looks like this. I was hoping the eclipse glasses might show a clear view of the dark moon covering the sun, but cell phones aren’t that good yet. By this time we were all lying on our backs to get the best view of the sky; birds were quieting down; and outdoor lights had come on.

Shortly after this, the only visible part of the sun was a thin crescent, similar to a new moon. At that point, we could see the crescent becoming smaller and smaller. As the eclipse approached totality, the park filled with excited voices (including ours), there was an instant of a bright flash when the moon completely blocked the sun from view (the diamond ring), and in that instant, it was as if someone turned off the light switch. Near the end of the video, my camera view becomes erratic because I changed position from lying on my back to sitting up and I forgot my video was still recording. Turn on your sound to hear the excitement, and to watch the sun’s light dim.

In the video, my cell phone camera shows totality as a bright white circle with a black dot in the center. What we really saw was a full-moon-size pitch-black circle surrounded by a strong bright white ring, surrounded by the wispy white corona of the sun. I looked online for pictures that matched what we saw, but I didn’t find any. We (including our resident meteorologist) concluded that the strong white ring was a result of the high clouds over the sun in Perryville. Whatever caused that ring, it was a breathtaking, beautiful sight and the high point of our day. Totality in Perryville lasted a few seconds less than 4 minutes, so we had time to look around and enjoy it. Even so, it ended too soon. Here’s a picture of us in the dark. It’s 2:00 p.m. and the parking lot light is on in the background.

And here’s another picture during totality, but with the camera automatically adjusting the light for a “better” (?) picture.

I took a video of the 360-degree sunset during totality.

About five minutes after totality passed and the sun began to appear, we saw the weirdly-colored sunlight again. It looked like a storm was coming, except that the sky was blue.

When about 30 percent of the sun became visible, things looked more normal, and the sun looked bright again.

We stayed until the sun was fully exposed and then joined the crowds on our way home. Again, traffic moved steadily, just as it did on our way to Perryville–but at only 2-7 mph for three hours. We were excited to move forward at 10 mph for an occasional quarter mile before braking again. After three hours of this, we saw a gas station right beside I-55 and decided to stop. It took 15-20 minutes to drive down the exit ramp and cross I-55–about one-quarter mile. There were at least 100+ cars at the gas station and the bathroom line reached the convenience store door with people constantly arriving. This is about half of the gas station parking lot. You can see the backed-up traffic on the road in the right center of the picture. All four directions of this intersection were backed up like that. (Photo credit to Kari for this picture.)

We opened our ice chests and had a snack to fortify ourselves for the rest of our drive, then spent another 15-20 minutes getting back onto I-55. After another hour of slow, but steady, progress–we’d covered 50 miles in 4 hours!–we reached Festus, where I-55 adds a third lane (St. Louis metro area) and were finally able to travel near the speed limit for our last hour home, arriving at about 8:30 p.m. Kathy and Annette live about 3 hours beyond us, but encountered an accident that halted traffic on I-70, so they didn’t get home until 12:30 a.m.

All of us agreed that, if we’d known in advance how bad the traffic would be, we would still go to the eclipse. In 2017, we saw an amazing total solar eclipse, but this one was so-o-o-o much better! It was worth every minute of the experience–even the heavy traffic. The next total solar eclipse will be on August 12, 2026 and will be visible in Iceland. It might be worth making the trip.

P.S.

To celebrate the eclipse, Ted saw this picture of an eclipse snack on the National Weather Service Employees Facebook page. Start at the bottom with the full “sun” and move counterclockwise around the plate to view the Oreo eclipse.

This man builds four different shadow figures. There’s a musical accompaniment with a narrative as well, so turn on the sound.

Every year, the Missouri Botanical Garden offers a holiday light display called “Garden Glow.” Ted and I decided we should experience it before the lights were turned off on January 6. It was a calm, crisp January evening and we had a beautiful holiday walk in the park (literally).

Everything seems to eventually become an abbreviation these days, and this event was no exception. At the entrance to the garden, the decorators assumed “Garden” and simply announced the display as “Glow.” All of the light displays were prettier than the pictures. In addition, pretty instrumental music played softly throughout the garden all the while we walked.

From a distance, this looked like a wall of hanging lights. As we came closer, we saw that it was a number of individual large trees with strings of lights hanging from their branches.

This display changed color every few seconds.

The Botanical Garden has a hedge maze all year, and it was decorated with lights for the holidays. Past experience has taught me that I get claustrophobic and panicky in mazes, so I avoid them. In this case, I figured it couldn’t be too bad to walk through it because the building where I stood to take the photo on the right was at the entrance, and I could always see it from within the maze. All I had to do to get out was head toward that building. It worked. Ted and I walked through the maze and I could always see which direction to go to get out. The downside was that there were no visible shortcuts, so it took a long time to navigate the twists and turns to get to the exit. It was fun to be wandering between walls of holiday lights with other people also working their way through the maze.

These tree displays also changed colors every few seconds. No matter which color they were, the lights were beautiful.

A projector decorated this building differently about every 30 seconds. We watched for almost twenty minutes, and didn’t see a repeated projection, so we walked on.

This was my favorite display. The picture looks a little eerie, but the blue lights on the huge tree had a magical quality in person. I almost expected to see Christmas fairies.

It was a beautiful winter night and there were fire bowls and refreshment stands with warm beverages throughout the park. Ted and I were dressed warmly and had a wonderful time. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

‘Twas the month of Christmas, and all through the house there were things to be done. I always enjoy having our house decorated for Christmas and eating cookies and candy that, for unknown reasons, we only make at Christmas time. One of my favorite decorations is this tatted mobile that Ted’s mother made.

Thom and I have a Christmas tradition of giving each other a miniature Lego set each year. Based on the price and the online photo, I selected a Santa sleigh and reindeer set for Thom. I thought it was so cute, I ordered one for myself too. The eight bags of pieces I found when I opened the box was my first clue that this was not a miniature set. I think I should have also checked the number of pieces in the set–390!

This set far out-sized the miniatures Thom and I usually exchange. (See the photo on the right, below.) As a result, I had to display it with something larger to keep it from looking like Will Ferrell beside the other elves in “Elf.”

Kathy and Annette invited us to spend Christmas in Kirksville with them. (That sounds like a Hallmark Christmas movie, doesn’t it?) They had a pretty little Christmas tree in the living room.

On Christmas Day, we all wore our Christmas socks. Ted decided to show a little leg; we women were more modest.

Santa was good to us. Ted was happy with a Dairy Queen gift card and a plastic banana split–a symbol of one of his favorite sundaes.

I was thrilled to discover a soft and cozy fleece shirt in my gift-wrapped box.

Kathy’s cat kitchen towel made us laugh.

Annette said the over-sized “Crazy Cat Lady” mug was the perfect gift for her. The towel cat looks less certain of that.

We all pitched in to put Christmas dinner on the table. Annette (the vegetarian) roasted a perfect turkey. What a shame she didn’t eat any of it–it was delicious! Ted poured the wine, and a pumpkin turtle pie was a perfect finish for the meal.

After a long weekend in Kirksville, Kari invited us to join her family for Christmas in St. Charles (another Hallmark movie). It was a happy gathering with a delicious dinner and more gifts for everyone.

I attended one more holiday gathering with some fellow retirees from the college. We enjoyed lunch together and several hours of good conversation. We didn’t do a gift exchange and we had separate checks for lunch, but the holiday spirit was definitely with us. Left to right are me, Liz, Heather, Paula, Terri, and Paula’s husband, Bill. Kathy, Cindy, Elaine, and Yvonne were unable to join us. Bill didn’t say much. He might have been out-talked by five women.

Christmas 2023 is now in the past. The decorations have been put away and the candy and cookies are (nearly) gone. Here’s a picture of my mini Lego tree from Thom. I’m getting discouraged asking for world peace every year, but hope springs eternal, so my holiday wish is once again for peace on earth and good will toward all in 2024.

Dewey’s is Ted’s and my favorite pizza restaurant, and we go there often because we both like pizza. In December, we received an email from Kyle, one of Dewey’s managers.

The next time we were at Dewey’s, we were presented with a bag bearing a gift tag with our name on it. The manager who gave it to us (not Kyle) thanked us for our patronage and mentioned that we were one of their top five customers in 2023. (We like pizza a lot.) We thanked him for the gift bag, but waited until we were home to open it. Our gift was two Dewey’s glasses and a $50 Dewey’s gift certificate. Even better than pizza is free pizza!