In the dead of winter, three bright spots shine - the birthdays of Steve and Kirsti on the 17th and Quinn on the 18th. We celebrated Steve's quietly here at home, although we drove out to Ballwin mid-day to be present for Noah's ordination to Teacher in the Priesthood. Steve requested breaded pork chops, gluten-free stuffing, raspberry jello with mandarin oranges, and a gluten-free chocolate cake with white icing. YUM! Kirsti celebrated at Zion National Park with Ryan. Quinn had a quiet celebration at his house on Monday but he was lucky enough to get two birthday cakes!
Quinn's cake made by Emily - a work of art
Emily, Lucy, Quinn, Larkin on Sunday, January 17th
Monday we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday by helping with a massive food distribution effort at an abandoned shopping mall in northern Saint Louis. There were probably over 3,000 cars lined up for the drive-through food giveaway and many organizations sent volunteers including about 75 members of the church. Actually, there were SO many volunteers that we were tripping over each other trying to find something to do. Steve and I ended up passing out oranges and apples. The fruit ran out with an hour left to go and, since other commodities were also running out leaving others with nothing to do, we decided that rather than compete with all the other volunteers, we just left. Overall, it was a gratifying experience and not bitterly cold. A time well spent.
I am SO glad I brought along my portable camp stool to sit on in between cars. It helped my back. Speaking of, I saw the doctor last week and he has ordered an MRI for tomorrow to help determine the next step. I am grateful to report that, with the exercises and naproxen, I am feeling almost normal....until I walk for longer than five minutes and then my gluts tell me they hurt. But, happily, sleeping is good again and I have not had to plug in my heating pad for over two weeks.
I am also happy to report that the neighborhood birds have finally discovered my bird feeders.
the large bird on the left was some kind of woodpecker who particularly enjoyed the suet cake, once the grackles left the scene.
Larkin came over for preschool and temperatures were rather mild that day (precursor to a cold front) so much of our time was spent outdoors - first on a walk with grandpa and the dogs and then with me. She had a lovely time playing "doctor" to the collection of rocks I have on my side steps. The long, skinny rock was a thermometer and she would take the temperature of the various rocks with holes.
On Wednesday, I turned in all the aluminum cans I have been collecting along the sides of the roads during our morning walks and got $6.90 cents for the lot! Steve and I used our Medicare cards and signed up for free membership to the nearby Carondelet YMCA Recreation Center. I am not sure when we will actually start going because of Covid but hopefully sometime later this year. In the meantime, we continue to ride bikes some afternoons (we got two rides in this past week) and take walks every weekday morning and then again later in the morning with the dogs. We both do our stretching and strengthening exercises every day, as well.
We continue to do our ward missionary work - attending lessons either in person or virtually, helping out with baptisms, finding other ward members to help with lessons. It keeps us busy.
Movie report: Elise recommended Ad Astra so I checked it out from the library and we watched it Friday night. Another space disaster movie but not quite as compelling as The Midnight Sky (at least, it didn't keep me awake at night). It was still well made and thought provoking. We enjoyed episode two of All Creatures Great and Small and all three episodes of WandaVision (really weird and kind of confusing - I hope by the end of the season, we will know what is going on!). I also watched Soul again this past week.
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