Happy Easter!

 

I hope everyone is having a nice day and maybe even enjoying some warmer Spring weather.  It’s been a quiet weekend here.  Yesterday was warm enough that I could get a little yard work done.  In our back yard we have a row of trees that is home to quite a few squirrels.  It suddenly looks like the squirrels decided to tear down their winter nests and there are sticks all over the yard.  Of course, it could have been all those high winds we have been having this Spring too.  Either way, I’ve got quite a few sticks and such to clean up before I can even mow.   

 

Our redbud tree always has beautiful buds on Easter.

Does anyone have any special plans today?  I miss the Easters when I had young children or grandchildren here and we had egg hunts and family get togethers.  Now even my grandchildren are grown and everyone is off doing their own thing on Easter.  I was determined to still do something special even if it is just the two of us, so I planned a special dinner.  I bought a turkey breast so we could have roasted turkey without having a whole turkey for just two people.  I’m going to make home made stuffing to go with it and I even got some cranberry sauce.  I know, it sounds like Thanksgiving doesn’t it?  It is something we love and don’t have very often so it will be a treat. 

 

All these buds should burst into flowers soon.

I want to thank you all for your kind thoughts and prayers for my brother Charlie.  I truly believe positive thoughts do make a difference.  He has his six weeks of radiation set up now, beginning April 19.  He is looking at all of this as one big adventure!  I have such admiration for how he is handling everything and I believe his positive attitude is going to make a big difference for him.  He also just got his first covid vaccination and I am very happy about that!

Enjoy your day today!

Final Covid Shot & a Request

 

Wednesday, three weeks after our first shot, we drove back up to North Kansas City to get our second Covid shot.  We received the Pfizer vaccine and were told that in two weeks we should hopefully be 95% protected.  Of course, everyone still has to wear masks and observe social distancing, etc. regardless of having had the vaccine.  We chose to drive about 45 minutes away to get our shots so we could get them sooner rather than wait an unknown amount of time.  The area where we live has been very slow getting the vaccine and the waiting list is long.  We didn't mind the drive because we enjoy driving through Kansas City once in a while.  Just for fun, I took a few pictures on the way there and back.  You can tell it was a cloudy day.

KC Royals Baseball Stadium and the
 KC Chiefs Football Stadium is right behind it.

Heading into the city you can see a portion
 of the KC skyline, despite the clouds.

Crossing the Missouri River on the
Bond Bridge on the way home.

After receiving our second shot Tom and I each had the usual sore arm and he had no other side effects.  Unfortunately, this time the side effects got to me.  I was down with a fever, headache and general flu type feelings all day yesterday.  I slept most of the day and didn’t even read blogs, so sorry for no comments yesterday!  I’m better today although I still have a headache that just doesn’t want to leave.  I have to buy groceries today since I didn’t feel like it yesterday, but hopefully I’ll be back to 100% soon.  This is one time I’m grateful to feel bad if it means getting the vaccine!  We look forward to feeling at least a little safer in a couple of weeks and maybe even going out occasionally!  I am hoping that anyone out there that has not yet gotten the vaccine is able to get it soon!  This could be our way out of this pandemic.

I have a favor to ask of all my friends here.  My older brother, Charlie, has been diagnosed with cancer and I wonder if you could say a prayer or maybe have some healing thoughts for him.  He had surgery on March 15^th to remove a cancerous tumor inside the salivary gland on the left side of his face.  They also had to remove the lymph nodes in his neck on that side.  Because of the type of surgery, a nerve on that side of his face had to be cut which left him unable to move any part of his face, mouth or eye on the left side.  He now has to wear an eye patch since he cannot blink or close his left eye.  He will be starting radiation treatments soon.  I have to say Charlie is one amazing person of great faith!  He is taking all of this so well despite the discomfort and pain.  Six years ago he decided to move to Costa Rica.  He is a big nature lover, birder and bird photographer.  Costa Rica provides him everything he loves in nature and bird photography.  He also has a blog if anyone is interested:  Retired in Costa Rica .  Thank you so much for any prayers and good thoughts you can send his way!

 

 

 

Birthdays and Graduations and Anniversaries, Oh My!

June has always been a busy month for our family and this year is no different, pandemic or not.  My daughter-in-law, Kristi, celebrated her birthday a couple of weeks ago.  For the first time in three months we went to their house in order to celebrate her birthday with them. 

Last night we celebrated my husband Tom’s birthday with the family.  His actual birthday is later this week but it is easier to get everyone together on weekends.  We went to his favorite barbecue restaurant and then came back to our house for cake.  This was the first time we actually went in a restaurant since early March.  I must say the restaurant did an excellent job of social distancing.  They even had employees in the parking lot telling you where to park and letting the waiters inside know that you had arrived.  We did not go in the restaurant until the table was ready and then they took us directly to our table.  There was a QR code on the table that you scanned with your phone and then you received the menu on your phone, thus doing away with physical menus, so nothing would be shared between people.  It seems like there is a whole new way of doing everything these days.  Tom did have a very nice birthday and we really enjoyed seeing our family again.  He actually gets a double celebration this weekend because tomorrow is Father’s Day here.

Tom's Birthday Gifts

Next weekend our grandson, Gavin, will be graduating from high school!  We were not sure if there would even be a ceremony due to the Covid restrictions.  However, many of the restrictions were lifted in our state last week.  His graduation will be held in a much larger auditorium than would normally be required in order for there to be socially distancing seating.  There are only seven tickets available per graduate and each family will sit together but be spaced from everyone else.  Gavin is our second and last grandchild and I can’t believe he is graduating already!  We are very proud of him!  

Then just two days after Gavin graduates my son and his wife, Chris and Kristi, will celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary.  Time does go fast!  My brother, Charlie, also has a birthday on July 4^th but he lives out of the country and I have already mailed him something.  This is definitely a busy time of the year for us!

Tom and I have been very good about following all lockdown restrictions since they started last March.  We have only gone to the grocery store and have worn masks when there.  We have not spent time with family at all until this month.  Since many restrictions have been lifted, we are not breaking any this month but we are seeing family each weekend.  With the exception of the restaurant last night and the graduation next weekend we are not spending time around large groups of people and even those are guided by social distancing rules.  It is so strange that in these pandemic days there can be a concern about even being with your own family.  I am thankful we are able to see our family now while many of the restrictions have been lifted.  However since the state has opened up, we have seen a slow but steady rise in the number of cases of Covid and there has been some mention of the possibility of another lockdown.  I certainly hope that is not the case but if so, at least we have gotten to see family a bit now before we lockdown all over again if necessary.

 

February 29th - A Memory

This date has special meaning to me.  When I was a child we joked about it being “Leap Day” and said we would not want to be born on this date.  Who wants a birthday only once every four years?  But what if you died on this date?  I never thought about that.

Well, now I’ve thought about that a lot in the past 12 years because my older brother Jerry died on February 29, 2008.  He was 65 years old and died after a five year battle with Mantel Cell Lymphoma cancer.  He went through multiple chemotherapy treatments, an attempted stem cell transplant and many other uncomfortable treatments.  He was treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  He spent several weeks at the Gift of Life Transplant House in Rochester after the stem cell transplant.  There was a requirement that he have someone stay there with him during that time.  Charlie, our brother, and I each stayed with him for half of his time there.  I took medical leave from my job and stayed for the first part and then Charlie came for the remainder of the time.

I don’t mean to write all this as something sad.  I just want to share my memory of someone that was very special in my life.

Charlie, myself and Jerry, Easter 1954

Jerry was a writer and a newspaper editor but more than anything he was a lover of nature.  He settled in Minnesota because he loved the beautiful countryside, lakes and wildlife.  He camped out and canoed as much as he could and he even spent most of one year living in the wilderness with his tent and canoe.  He taught me so much about many things and always listened when I had a problem.  Jerry was a unique and real person in a world that was often very superficial. 

He had requested to be cremated and have his ashes spread in a quiet and hidden part of the Mississippi headwaters where he used to camp.  He was the first member of our family to be cremated and I initially had mixed feelings about it.  Per his request we only had immediate family members there when we spread his ashes.  It was a beautiful and private ceremony.  It could not have been more perfect and well suited to who he was as a person.

When I thought about his death falling on a date that comes just once every four years, I realized that date would have suited him perfectly.  He was not like any other person I’ve ever known.  He would have liked that date.  If it had not been leap year he would have died on March 1st and he would never have wanted that because it was our Mother’s birthday.  It is funny how things work out sometimes.