Of capitals and chickens and too many bridesmaids

Sadie had a routine vet appointment on Thursday.  She INSTANTLY started to shake like a leaf once we walked into the office and, while she was very good with all the procedures, the vet accidentally cut two of her nails too close and that will just make next time even more traumatic for her, I am sure.  She is a few ounces lighter this year and all my teeth brushing efforts on her have paid off!  The vet said her teeth looked great. 

Monday, Steve, Elise, and I made a visit to the capital building in Jefferson City and we invited Lizzy Crippen along – yes, you guessed why:  it is another place she had not visited.  

  It had been many years since we had seen it so it was like seeing it for the first time for us, too.  It is such a beautiful building!   

 

 

 

a simple drinking fountain becomes a work of art!

 

 

 

 

 We had hoped to visit Oscars Diner for lunch.  Sadly, they are closed on Mondays so we ate at a near-by Mexican food restaurant.  My stomach rebelled a little and I think I am going to swear off all Mexican food from now on except my own.

Now to update you on some of our creative ventures.  Elise made beautiful Star Trek sugar cookies last Sunday.  

  Works of art and quite tasty.  

 My chicken painting is now dry enough to hang in the kitchen.  The oil color red dries really slowly. 

 

 

  I have not begun a new oil painting since starting my pottery lessons.  I remembered to take pictures this past Wednesday.   

 these two pieces are from the past week....

 Only the bowls on the right are mine.  I WISH I could make tall ones like those on the left.  These are from my first lesson.

My BIG push last week was to finish the wool patchwork quilts so I could take them to Laura Jost’s after taking Sadie to the vet.  They are from wool pieces I acquired way back in the 80’s from Leslie Ethington.  I think she intended to make men’s shirts and suits for Ray!  She gave them to me and I saved them with the same idea until I realized I would NEVER do that!  So, I pre-shrunk everything, cut them into squares, and viola!  

 Seven lap quilts for the VA or wherever Laura sends them. 

Saturday, Steve, Elise, and Steven attended the Renaissance Festival.  I did not.  Been there, done that.  Besides, I had a wedding to play in that afternoon.  And, boy, it was a DOOZY!  We were booked for just one hour:  15 minutes of prelude, three different songs for the processional:  Hornpipe for candle lighters and the grandparents and parents; Canon in D for 5 bridesmaids, 1 ring bearer, 1 sign bearer, 1 flower girl; Bridal Chorus for the bride.  Play Wedding March for the recessional and then a few other pieces and DONE.  Simple and straightforward – except at 2:00, when the candle lighters were to walk down the aisle, we did not get the sign to begin…….for twenty-five minutes!!!!  I don’t know what the hang-up was but by the end, we were scrambling to find appropriate prelude music to play as we all waited.  Finally, they came down the aisle – and First Baptist has a LONG aisle – and lit the candles.  But we still had to play Hornpipe for all the family seating so we must have played it five or six more times….  enough that as the mothers were finishing up lighting the family candles, we switched to the Canon in D.  Only, no one told me that there would be someone to unroll the aisle runner BEFORE the bridal party and that it would take a ridiculously long time.  Needless to say, we played through the entire Canon and even started over again!  When I thought I saw the last of the little kids coming down, we switched to the Bridal Chorus –only, again, it was a bit premature.  But, too bad!  We were bumping up on our contracted hour already and we hadn’t even begun the actual ceremony!  Thankfully, that part was short and sweet and we ended up only being fifteen minutes over our agreed time.  Ugh.  That definitely wins the prize for the longest time playing prelude.

We watched the Count of Monte Cristo Monday night – that was Steve’s September movie.  Elise and I watched the new Far From The Madding Crowd mid-week and we both liked it.  I have come up with a “rest of the story” I would share for anyone who has already seen it.  During my sewing push, I watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.  Cute.  

While walking the dogs this week in the park, we found two "kingdoms of mushrooms" and sent this picture to Noah (who has a HUGE kingdom (his name) growing in his front yard)

 Finally, I will close with some photos of the trail along the Bear Creek. 

 

News of the week

Monday started off with a little outing to Rock Bridge State Park for a picnic dinner with Lizzy Crippen.  

 

 

  Much like Shelter Gardens, she has never seen the state park so close to Columbia.  Neither Steve nor I had been there lately and we were surprised at some of the changes.  For example, when we first moved to Missouri, the path ended right up to the natural bridge.  Later, a boardwalk was built through the rock bridge.  I believe there was a landslide a few years back that caused some damage to the trails and now, the new boardwalk stops right at the bridge entrance.   

 Thankfully, for people wanting to splash and wade, there is a little gate that still allows entrance to the water (whew).  We didn’t do that, however, when we visited, even though it was hot enough.  Instead, we climbed the stairs to the top of the rock bridge.  

Lizzy had a hard enough time with this endeavor so we didn’t visit the Devil’s Ice Box which was further up the hill.  Remember that rocky outcrop that was like a little stage on the way to the rock bridge?  Well, the new boardwalk to completely bypasses it.

Later on that night, we had a knock on the door and it was a former missionary, Tony Carter, on his way to Chicago who stopped by for a visit and to stay the night.  It was great to catch up on his life – he hopes to get on with a theater rep company.  He is a huge fantasy reader and Elise and Tony and I had some good book conversations the short time he was here.

I am still a seminary substitute teacher and Wednesday morning I taught the freshman class.  All the classes now meet in the institute – which is very nice.  Later that morning, I took my first pottery wheel class since 8^th grade.  I found a woman who teaches in her basement studio and her price for four lessons (minimum requirement) was very reasonable as well as the time she could teach (I compared the assorted classes in the area) so I am learning a new skill!  I made two bowls my first lesson. 

Steve and I spent Friday in St. Louis.  We were part of the temple cleaning crew for the noon – 4:30 shift and this time, we got to help reassemble the crystal chandelier in the celestial room!  It was so cool to see it up close.  Next, we attended a dinner (delicious) and training for area stake presidencies and their wives.  Elder C. Scott Grow and his wife did the instruction.  Finally, we babysat Noah, Lucy, and Quinn so Emily and Joe could go out to dinner to celebrate their 11^th wedding anniversary.  It was a really wonderful day.

Most of my day yesterday was spent with a full-mass Catholic wedding down at the Lake of the Ozarks.  Steve spent his day researching vacuum cleaners and gutter covers.  We did get to spend the evening watching Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, thanks to Melanie.  The only other movie I watched this past week was The Age of Adeline.  I loved it! 

My cello studio continues to expand.  My newest student is the youngest Houseman - Alison. 

 

Just a regular old week

Labor Day kicked it off – which is not a regular occurrence – but I taught two cello lessons and mopped the kitchen floor and ran a couple of errands like regular.  But, we built a fire in the outdoor pit and roasted bratwurst for dinner and had s’mores for dessert. Steven and Tamara and Melanie and Sarah and the missionaries joined us. 

   
 

  

Relief Society was Thursday night and I never guessed I would have so much fun playing games.  We rotated around to four game stations:  Pictionary, 5-second Rule, Headbandz, and Catch Phrase. 

Weather has turned autumn-like again (welcome to Missouri) and walking the dogs has been a joy again.  Here is Trissy modeling the zinnias she inadvertently picked as she plowed through the flower bed, excited to be on her way.  

 

Steve and I have been riding bikes every morning and I have been building up stamina so, Saturday morning, we rode our bikes along the Bear Creek Trail to Aldi.  The day was just gorgeous and, for the most part, the ride was great.  It was just a whole lot longer than my legs and knees are used to! 

Oh, how they ached the rest of the day.  

 

 

 

 How wonderful to live so close to such a beautiful trail - and right in the middle of the city of Columbia!

The MMCO had its first rehearsal yesterday afternoon.  It was great to get together again.  And, this year, I have handed over the baton to Virginia Dooley who was reluctant to be a violinist in the group but really excited to conduct.  Who knew???  And, I am playing the bass.  Win-win.   

Last Sunday and yesterday, I played in two weddings – both for brides I knew.  Last week it was for Laura Miller – a school friend of Kirsti’s and yesterday it was for Breck Frerking who was Beckie’s friend at Two-Mile Prairie.  Breck’s was at the Tiger Hotel ballroom and was very elegant.  

 

I have been lax on my movie reviews.  In the past two weeks, I have watched:

Insurgent – good, kind of violent

The Human Experience – not the best documentary I have watched but it had a good message

Leap Year – How did I miss this when it was in theaters?!?! It was totally charming and clean (PG). Loved it!

12-Mile Road – a made-for-television film with Tom Selleck (mmmm, still quite handsome). It was an uplifting, faith-based movie

Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat (with Donny Osmond) – I am not sure how I lived almost 60 years and never saw this musical but this was my first exposure.   Even though the music has been rattling around in my head ever since, I can’t say I was dazzled by it.  I found it rather weird.

Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – Every bit as delightful as the first movie.  Loved it

Foyle's War – This is a BBC detective television series that was recommended to me.  Steve and I watched the first episode of the first season and it was quite good.    

Where does the time go????

An update of our lives the last two weeks.  As we enjoyed a foreshadowing of autumn temperatures one week and a cruel return to hot and dry temps the next, we moved from August to September just like that!

The City of Columbia has made all of their bus routes free from August 21^st until the end of September.  Now that we are a one-car-family, Steve and I thought it might be useful to check out the new bus system.  It is a rather complicated arrangement and it took me the better part of an hour the day before just to figure out which bus to take and when/where to transfer at the correct time.  And, still we had difficulties.  First thing Monday morning, August 24th, we started out walking to our initial pick-up point (Elise had the day off so she joined us) and….. we missed the bus by less than a minute! I was still new at reading the virtual bus locator app I had downloaded onto my phone and we also failed to gauge how long it would take us to walk to the corner of Blue Ridge and Oakland Gravel.  SO, we walked back home and recalculated.  Forty-five minutes later, we caught a different bus that ran closer to home and away we went – riding and transferring our way around Columbia from 9:30 to 3:30.   

 We stopped at Lucky’s Market for lunch, 

 

which took longer than planned - thanks to the wonky ordering system at their deli - and that called for another re calibration.  We ended our day of riding completely exhausted!  Who would have thought that sitting would be so tiring???  

  Our assessment of the whole venture:  taking the bus will be a last resort.  So far, after three weeks of having just the truck, it has worked out fine. 

On our Tuesday morning bike ride around a nearby neighborhood, a beautiful Golden Retriever adopted us.  He followed us all the way home.  He willingly went into our back yard so we could call Animal Control.  Trissy and Bones had to check him out and he was very sweet.  

He had a collar but no tags.  I checked back with Animal Control later that week to see if he had been claimed and the answer was no!  No tags, no microchip, nothing.  But, I am sure he will be an easy adoption now that they have turned him over to the Humane Society.  Just not by me – too much hair!!!

Also on Tuesday, we got a new couch.  Well, it is used but new to us.  It has a few claw scratches from it's previous owner's dogs but they are hardly noticeable and it is PERFECT for our three-dog house.

I took care of my friend’s cats a while back when she went to visit the Iowa State Fair and, to thank me, she took me to lunch on Wednesday, the 23^rd.  She has lived in Columbia for six years and had never visited Shelter Gardens so we went there after eating.  So beautiful!  She was impressed.

 

   

I went out to lunch AGAIN on Friday – back to Lucky’s (it is centrally located) – with the members of Prairie Strings.  I am retiring from the group at the end of this year and we needed to talk business.  I have been in the group for almost thirty years and I am ready to have my Saturdays back.  Especially after this fall where we have a wedding almost every weekend through October!  I certainly won’t miss all the managerial aspects, nor will I miss playing the Pachelbel Canon in D.  But, I just can’t play for a gay wedding and, with the Supreme Court ruling earlier this summer, that will surely happen at some point.  So, time to retire.  And, I think I am done eating at Lucky’s for a long time.  Ho-hum food costing way too much money. 

We went to St. Louis two Saturdays in a row.  Both times to attend the temple.  Both times to visit with Emily and family.  The 29^th visit was a short visit – we didn’t even go to the house but met Emily and kids at the park next to the temple for a picnic.  Joe was at his class.   

 

 The kids had a blast in the sand volleyball pit.

Yesterday, the 5^th, we had a nice visit all the afternoon with not only Emily and Joe and kids but also Vicki and Joe who are here for a week.   

 

The big excitement was the guy cutting down a dead tree in the front yard.  He gave Noah a ride in his cherry picker. 

 

There is really not much to write about the first part of September – buying groceries, paying bills, zzzzzzz  boring.  We had to have a heat-pump repairman come look at our unit on Friday since it was struggling to keep the house cool and it turned out to be a bad capacitor (would that be a flux capacitor???) and, thankfully, we were still under warranty. 

Steve and I have launched a new joint blog – one where we share our discoveries from our family history work.  I don’t think we will do something every week but hopefully at least a couple times a month.  Here is the link:  http://jackmanlambsonyoungfraedrich.blogspot.com/