Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving brought Kirsti and Ryan from Utah!  They arrived the Saturday before and we had an entire week with them!  On Monday, both Sarah and Elise were off work and weather was lovely so we visited our very own Rock Bridge State Park.  The old trail down to the rock bridge used to go right by this natural stage where you see Elise.  The new trail is not far away so she climbed upon it for old time sake

We enjoyed a small hike.  

 

And we brought both Bones and Sadie.  You can see her at the end of her leash in the photo below.  I expected to have to carry her most of the way but I think Bones brought out her competitive nature and she was a gung-ho walker 95% of the time.  You go, Sadie!

 

Kirsti is turning into her mother.  It really was some cool lichen on that log. I took a picture, too...  

Tuesday I had a dentist appointment to fix a broken filling.  Since my dentist is in Boonville, I thought a bike ride along the Katy Trail either before or after would be fun.  BUT, finding enough bikes was a problem, and Steve needing to see the doctor for a UTI unexpectedly squelched that idea.  But, Kirsti and Ryan thought it still might be nice to check out the tiny little town of Rocheport which sits along the Katy Trail.  Well, nice idea, but unfortunately, in the middle of the week in the "off" season, Rocheport rolls up their sidewalks so they had nothing to do while I was in the dentist chair 20 miles away.  Sigh.

We celebrated my 60th birthday AND Thanksgiving on Wednesday, the 25th.  Both Sarah and Elise had to work Thanksgiving so it was the logical alternative.  Here we all are.  In case you don't recognize the family in front - they are Mark and Jenna Packard with two-year-old Tres and five-year-old Brielle.  I teach Jenna piano lessons and she had just had hip surgery and was not able to cook.  Another new face, between Elise and Sarah on the left, is Rachel Neal.  She was Elise's roommate in Indiana and we where happy to have her join us, too.

Here I am opening cards and gifts.

On real Thanksgiving day, Steve, Kirsti, Ryan, and I drove to St. Louis to have another turkey dinner at Emily's house.  Here is Quinn getting excited to eat....

Joe and Vicki were there.  It was so great to get to visit with them.  They are moving to Aurora, Colorado and were currently "homeless" :)
 


 












I love this photo of Steve....

 




















Thanksgiving night, we all headed to the theater to see the "Peanuts Movie".  I went in rather skeptical but came out happy and even a little tearful.




Because Joe and Vicki were staying in the Southerland guest room, the four of us (Steve, me, Kirsti, Ryan) stayed in a lovely Staybridge suite a few miles away that night.

The next day, while Emily and Joe attended the temple and Kirsti and Ryan checked out the City Museum, Steve and I and Joe and Vicki did grandparent duty.  It was so fun.  

The big event of that day was Noah's baptism!  How did he get to be eight years old already???

In spite of starting 45 minutes late (we think that the Bishopric forgot so we had to wait for the font to fill) and having to listen to Papa Joe's talk with running water in the background, it was a lovely event.  Quinn was REALLY curious about the running water and we think he thought HE was also going to get to "go swimming" because when Noah entered the water, Quinn hollered "I want to be baptized, too!" so much that Elise's friend, Rachel, who was also there, graciously took him out of the room and down to the nursery to play for the rest of the meeting.  

Here is a photo of Noah in his brand new suit at McAllister's Deli where we all ate a late supper

 

Steve and I returned to Columbia after the baptism.  Rachel and Elise stayed in our room at Staybridge.  Saturday morning, Elise took Kirsti and Ryan to the airport.  She and Rachel sampled St. Charles a bit before parting ways.  Later Saturday afternoon, Elise, joined us for our Christmas tree hunt at Lowes.



We decorated the tree Saturday night and brought down all the decorations from the attic but that was all.  Every possible minute and energy after Saturday was preparing to leave for Hawaii....

No-Blog November

I will start with where I left off a month ago – with a photo of Michelle and Mike from their visit.

Friday, November 6^th, Steve and I drove to St. Louis for the day.  This time, to watch Lucy and Quinn while Joe was at work.  Emily and Noah left that day for a quick trip to Washington D.C.  Joe and Vicki are moving to Denver and this was the last opportunity for a personal tour of the White House where Joe worked.   We had a great time with the grandkids.  First, we went to Ikea.  



What an awesome store!  Then, we went to Schnucks to get some stuff for dinner and to buy a specific gluten-free cereal that seems to only be carried at Schnucks.  


After amazing naps that afternoon, we fixed and early dinner and then left Joe and the kids while we caught a temple session and returned back to CoMo to prepare for THE CRAZY WEEKEND.

First off, we stopped at Enterprise to rent a car. (more about that in a minute).  Then, I attended a couple hours of a stake Relief Society conference.  Then, I have my fall recital.  Here is a photo of most of my music students.

After the 1:00 recital, after a 2:30 MMCO rehearsal, and after a 3:30 Prairie Strings gig, Steve and I drove to Indiana in the rented car.  Julina was called to be the ward Relief Society President and she was to be sustained and set apart on Sunday and we both felt it was important to be there for that big event.  We pulled into a Red Roof Inn after midnight.  Slept very well.  Attended the 9:00 to noon meetings, ate lunch at Julina’s, and left around 3:30 to return home.  It puts a new meaning to “whirlwind trip”.  Sadly, and surprisingly, I took no photos!

We had two days of “normal” at home before we rented another car Wednesday morning, November 11^th.  This time, it was to Omaha, Iowa, and Wisconsin.  Steve served his mission in what was then the Kansas-Missouri Mission back in 1972-1974 and, believe it or not, we have lived one state away from many of the cities where he was assigned.  This trip was to return to four of his mission areas in Nebraska and Iowa.  It was also to visit my cousin, Charlotte, in Wisconsin.  

First stop, through driving rain some of the way, was Omaha, Nebraska.  Thanks to saved letters home to parents, Steve had the addresses of all his mission apartments.  Here he is in front of his Omaha apartment.

Second stop was to the Winter Quarters Temple and to the visitor’s center next door.  


We entered the temple in a cold rain and came out to a skiff of snow on the car.  Thankfully, just a skiff!
We drove up to Sioux City, Iowa to stay the night and found his next apartment the following morning.  He remembered a fun candy store down the block but, sadly, it is no longer there.  T

These little sun-catchers were in one of the shop windows – maybe in the former candy store?

Continuing across Iowa, we stopped briefly at Ft. Dodge for his next apartment.  The Dairy Queen next door is now closed and appears to be used as an office.

Our destination Thursday was Portage, Wisconsin where Charlotte and her husband, Fred, live.  We arrived a teeny bit later than hoped but still had time for dinner that Charlotte fixed before heading off to see “Little Shop of Horrors” put on by a local theater troop.  Charlotte is their costume mistress.  I had NEVER seen this play nor the movie.  It was great and a well done production.  

Friday, Charlotte and I poured all day over all her family photos – l was looking for pictures for my Fraedrich photo book.  I found and scanned many, many great photos.  Happily, I found photos of other branched of the family, too.  I also found evidence that Charlotte and I HAD actually met previous to our first “meeting” two years ago.  She has a photo of her family and mine standing together in front of our house in El Paso.  She was 10 and I was 5. 

Charlotte and Fred

Charlotte and me


Saturday morning, after breakfast, Steve and I said our good-byes and returned to Iowa, this time to see the “Field of Dreams” in Dyersville.  Too bad it was November so the corn was all harvested.  Still, it was pretty fun to be there.

It was a short drive after that to Cedar Rapids.  Here he is at this apartment.  


We had a bit of time to kill before it was time for dinner and we found a local historical site called Brucemore.  A mansion build in the early 1900’s that was eventually donated to the city.  We were too late for the house tour but we enjoyed walking around the grounds.

Sunday, we attended the Cedar Rapids ward.  Steve brought his mission journal on the trip and, in each city, he reviewed his entries to pick out names and places.  He mentioned a Sister Merritt from Cedar Rapids who regularly fed the elders.  Well, shortly after sitting down in the chapel, an elderly woman approached us and introduced herself.  It was Sister Merritt!  She was so tickled to see Steve  - although she couldn’t have actually remembered him.  We got her address and will send her Christmas cards now. 

After church, we drove east to our last stop – Moline, Illinois.  Cedar Rapids was Steve’s very first area.  Moline was his final. 

Then, it was home via Carthage, Illinois and our regular route when we visit Nauvoo.  What a fantastic trip!

The end of October

The computer is back.  But, for some reason, now it doesn’t recognize our wireless printer!  I suspect Windows 10 and something that was done at the repair shop.  Blaaa.  Maybe I can get this resolved this week even though I hate to take the time.

I am back at Columbia Civic Orchestra rehearsals after laying out the first concert.  Now we are working on our Christmas concert – Nutcracker Suite and a Christmas Suite by Rimsky-Korsakov.  I went to a Hickman Orchestra concert Thursday night since I had two cello students performing.  I can’t believe how large both Rock Bridge and Hickman orchestra programs are now.  Both have about 80 students!   

 

Speaking of school orchestra – Margaret Lawless, the recently retired from Hickman orchestra director who has since moved to Mississippi, was in Columbia for a day on Wednesday.  She had made a trip up to her still unsold house in Moberly to bring a few things back in her van.  I had a chance to see her for a short time during lunch at Flatbranch.  She also invited the recently retired music secretary from Hickman, Sue Ross, who is a lovely lady.  We had a good visit.

 

Halloween!  The ward Trunk or Treat / Chili Supper was Friday.  I brought a crock pot of chili and gluten-free rice pudding for dessert.  Elise and Steve passed out candy from the bed of the truck while I stayed warm inside by helping clean up.  We got done early enough that Steve and I got to watch an episode of Foyle’s War while I mended. 

Saturday’s plan was to spend the day in St. Louis – go to the temple and then hang out with the Southerlands through trick or treating in the evening.  Only, a memorial service for Mary Khrenov got scheduled for 2:00 in the afternoon.  We really needed to attend – show our support to Aaron.  Mary was only 6 months older than Steve but she had numerous medical problems for much of her life.  It was still a shock to learn of her death.  We dropped the temple plan and just drove over after the service.We pulled into Emily’s driveway just as she was working on a photo shoot of the grandkids in their Halloween costumes. 

 

 

 

 

 We didn't arrive in time for Lucy's photo session.  

Here are the kids ready to go around the neighborhood

And, earlier in the week, we got a nice surprise text from Steve’s sister, Michelle, saying that they were flying into St. Louis on the 30^th and would be around for the weekend before heading east for a week of sight-seeing.  So, we enjoyed a visit with them at Emily’s  and they are here in Columbia through tomorrow morning. 

In addition, Joe’s sister, Mary, was also in town for a few days.  Here is her adorable dog, Henry
 
 SO, that was my week.  November is now here.  Wow

no photos, just words

Our computer is in the shop.  We took it in last Wednesday and I really hope to pick it up tomorrow.  We have our tablets and phones but there are just some things that the full blown computer does that I can't do any other way.  Finale - the music writing program, for example.  Taking photos off of my phone for another thing.  I suppose I could upload them to Dropbox and gather them from there but that sounds complicated to my poor almost-60-year-old brain.  And, I didn't take many pictures this past week anyway....

As I look over my journal, it was a pretty quiet, routine week.  Bike rides in the morning to Gerbes, the pharmacy, the bank.  Lessons in the afternoon - preparing students for a fall recital in a couple of weeks.  A wedding on Saturday - only two more to go until I am retired from Prairie Strings.  Lots of projects and movies:  I started an oil painting - actually, I started three because I squeezed out too much blue and didn't want to waste it so I have three skies going.  I brought a few quilts home to tie for Laura Jost's on-going humanitarian efforts. And, I did a LOT of chopping with my paper cutter for her.  Her daughter brought home a bunch of used manilla folders from her work and my job was to cut them down to 8 1/2 by 11 size for use as card stock in the picture book project.  She collects calendars and magazine photos of nature and children and makes picture books for daycare centers.  Remember the quilts I made for all the kids about six years ago?  Sarah's suffered at the paws of Bones and I did a rather slap-dash job of mending it.  Looking back, I can't fault Bones too much because I used an old sheet as the backing which made it fragile and easy to tear.  Sarah brought it to me again with more rips and I just decided to take the back completely off and I will put the patchwork top on a nice, newish comforter she was getting rid of.  But that meant carefully ripping out lots of zig-zagging stitches.  I got that done this week.

I watched lots of movies:

Black Beauty - Elise owns this 20 year old movie and I don't remember every watching it.  It was beautiful.
Nightmare Before Christmas - I caught this on Netflix streaming.  I HAD seen this previously and, for some reason, I felt like I needed to see it again.  Very cleverly done but not a clear message given.
Black or White - another one on streaming.  It was good - had a good message.  It was hard to watch the alcohol abuse, though.
Five People You Meet In Heaven - this was Steve's October film and I LOVE it.
Avengers: Age of Ultron -I didn't catch this in the theaters.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I also watched the Face 2 Face featuring the Piano Guys.  It was very good.

The truck is back from the body shop - looking really nice.  We had a gorgeous cherry-red 2016 Ford Fusion as our rental for three days.

Elise is now settling in to the Noah's Ark room downstairs and the two upstairs bedrooms are back to being guest rooms.

And, that, folks, is all.

It's autumn time!

Follow up from last blog post – the truck will go into the body shop this Wednesday.  Our insurance covers car rental and that is all set up.  The other person’s insurance will cover our deductible and, while I am not 100% sure, will also pay for the repairs.

Beckie’s visit was lovely.   

 game time!

We spent our Monday driving all around the north-middle part of the state.  First we went to the Amish to restock.  We found lemon chips again!  YAY!  Then, we drove to Brunswick (north and west of Columbia) to buy pecans at a King Hill Farms – 

 

 it was a delightful roadside stand that sold more than pecans. 

Brunswick is also the home of the world’s largest pecan!  

  Finally, we continued driving north towards Chilicothe and to an area touted in last month’s Missouri Conservationist magazine as a place to enjoy fall colors.  It is called Poosey Conservation Area and it is a good hour and a half drive from Columbia.   Well, we saw NO color but muted green.    But, it was fun to ride around with both Elise and Beckie for the day.   We saw better color here around Columbia the next day as we drove to Millersburg for lunch at Ranchhouse BBQ. It is not Lonnie Rays by any means but it was still yummy. Heck, all you have to do is look in our backyard for autumn color....

Sarah has officially moved into her apartment.  She is training to be a shift leader at Bob Evans – basically it is one step below a management position – and was putting in long hours this past week so Bones came over Monday through Thursday for doggie day care.  But, she felt he was ready to be in his new apartment on his own Friday and he did really well by himself.  What a champ! 

Our computer monitor died sometime in the night on Wednesday so we spent our morning on Thursday at Best Buy getting a new one.  Unfortunately, it is not completely compatible with Windows 10 – the edges of the screen are not visible – and it is a fix that can't be talked through so we will be computer-less for a few days this coming week.  Thank goodness for our tablets and cell phones. 

I substituted in seminary Friday morning.  Steve and I attended the stake sponsored genealogy conference Saturday morning.  A long-time friend and former cello student, Joshua Couture, was married Saturday afternoon and he hired Prairie Strings to play.  Steve and I went to the reception and knew absolutely no one but the Couture family.  Awkward.  We need to quit putting ourselves these uncomfortable situations. 

I picked up my pots from being fired.  Here they are.  

 

 Funny story – our neighborhood has underground utilities and the city has been working along our street at all the utility boxes for the past several months – replacing cables, etc.   It has involved lots of digging.  So, obviously, there has to be a restoring of all the grass that has been removed.  Which is what the city has done.  Only, somehow, the grass seed was adulterated with a broad leafed type plant.  

As we have walked dogs every morning, I would remark that it looked like broccoli.  Well, this week, that observation was confirmed.  It IS broccoli.  So weird.

 

I finished reading a marvelous book – All The Light We Cannot See.  It takes place during World War II in France.  And, I watched a wonderful movie called “Wit”.  It was an HBO movie starring Emma Thompson who gives a powerful performance of a woman facing cancer.  It made me cry when I watched it and even the next day as I tried to tell Steve about it. And, I watched "Night At The Museum III" and it was surprisingly funny.

Watching movies and eating bon bons?

As I review this past week, it looks like all I did was watch movies – The Elephant Man, Somewhere in Time, The Rewrite, and Martian Child.  Wow, what a slug I was because the only thing I sewed was a doggie harness for Sadie and a quilt top for the humanitarian aid effort.  (no, I didn't eat bon bons).   I hadn’t seen Elephant Man in decades and it was a good watch but definitely dated and the director David Lynch had some goofy effects thrown in.  Somewhere In Time was loaned to me and I had forgotten how cheesy it was.  The Rewrite featured Hugh Grant in a somewhat similar role to the one he played in Music and Lyrics.  Same screenplay writer.  It was charming all the same.  Martian Child is one Elise owns.  I have seen it once and it was certainly worth watching again. 

I got a new phone – still a Samsung so the learning curve is not as bad as it could be when one gets a new device.  The old phone was trying to tell me in different ways that it was getting old and tired or I would probably still have it.  I hate spending money and I hate technology changes. 

I had my last pottery lesson this past week.  We glazed my five pieces and I will pick them up this coming week.  My plan is to sign up for the group wheel class the first of the year and continue to perfect my skills at throwing on the wheel. 

Steve, Elise, and I drove to St. Louis yesterday to attend the temple, to pick up Beckie from the airport, and to have lunch at Emily’s.  It was NOT to get into a fender bender.  But, after Elise dropped Steve and I off at the temple and as she was heading to Lucy’s soccer game, that is what happened.  Our truck is bad 

 but the van that rear-ended us is worse!  

 

Thankfully, no one was hurt.  And, thankfully, the other driver has insurance and there was a police report.  The truck battery was jarred out of its casing and a cable broke so, until the fellow at the tow lot was able to jury-rig a connection, our truck wouldn’t start and it will ultimately have to be more properly repaired. 

While Steve and I were waiting to be picked up after the temple, I took some photos of the beautiful flowers….

 

 

 

 

 and of my handsome husband.