Sally, the ever vigilant poodle. She loves to look outside and bark at people walking by. And, Steve with the two pups
We had a cloudy, wet week to start with. But, the sun returned by the end, just in time for the first day of spring. Larkin painted a lovely rainbow with a pot of gold at grandma preschool this week. Steve and I had delicious corned beef and cabbage on the 17th and Reuben sandwiches on the 18th. Yum! I neglected to write about Elise and our string duet session last Sunday. She is learning the viola and I asked her to bring her instrument so we could play duets together. To "even the playing field", I played my secondary instruments - violin and bass. It was quite a lot of fun and Elise is really progressing on viola. We started in Book 1 of my duet book and quickly moved to Book 2. The next time we get together, I am pulling out Book 3!
Steve and I filed our taxes on Monday evening - all by ourselves! We had been using an accountant for at least fifteen years because my music studio business always made things complicated. We started with a really nice older woman who worked out of her home and she was just great. Sadly, she passed away while we were on our mission and we used a Columbia accountant firm that took over her clients for the next two years. But, this year, no longer being in Columbia, we wanted go in a different direction. We called Jerald Poulson who served in the mission office with us and who has done tax preparation for many years to see if he wanted to do our taxes. Because he and Jenene live in Houston, he declined but he encouraged us to explore the free tax preparation programs on the IRS website and assured us that he would be available should we run into problems. So, we took the plunge Monday night. It started out poorly as we had problems getting into the MU employee portal to get the amount we paid for my health insurance. Steve's password didn't work and the site wanted us to use Microsoft Authenticator which was a nightmare. One hour later, we finally had the information we needed from MU and the rest of the experience went fairly smoothly and we didn't even have to call Jerald.....Yay for Steve and me!
Safelite came on Wednesday to repair our back car window. It is a good thing we had a garage for him to work in because it was raining pretty steadily at that time. We also had a locksmith come to work on our sliding glass door lock that just kept getting loose. We worried we might need to get a completely new latch but he was able to get the one we had nice and tight. Ever since our horrific experience with the heater repair company recommended by our Home Warranty - which scarred my ability to trust - I have been fearful of finding good, honest, reliable technicians. St. Louis has SO many choices for repair people and who will do a good job for a fair price? I am happy to report that ever since the heating repair debacle, I HAVE found good technicians to work for us: a great HVAC company (our heater has been humming along all winter thanks to them), a super electrician, a great plumbing company, a car mechanic, and now a good locksmith. It is also interesting to discover how many of the above individuals grew up in south Saint Louis. The locksmith told us that as a kid, he used to ride his bike up and down Bates Street! The electrician's mother lives five houses west of us.
We awoke Friday morning to find a strange car parked in our driveway.
The car had no plates. It was locked and full of junk inside. We texted our neighbor to see if they had someone visiting them who had arrived late at night and didn't know where to park their car - nope. I called the police who came to check the VIN number and learned it wasn't stolen (meaning they could not tow it away). I had a string quartet rehearsal at 10:00 so I needed to be able to get our car out. Happily, we have a back gate into the alley and, while it is a tight turn, Steve and I decided that would have to be the way to get out until we could get it towed. So, we hauled my cello and music bag out to the garage. We first spent time taking the tape off of the back window (left by Safelite) and then we put the cello in the back. When I opened the driver side door to put my purse and music in, I was startled to see a man in the passenger seat! I screamed a little. He was a kind of startled as well and, he turned out to be the owner of the car in our driveway. A homeless man, maybe 55 years old, named Greg who had gotten turned around and confused and sought refuge in our garage. We ALWAYS keep the side door of our garage locked and we ALWAYS keep our driveway gate padlocked but, somehow, both were not locked that night. Maybe the Safelite guy unlocked it? Maybe we unlocked it weeks ago? Maybe the rain kept us from locking the gate? I don't know the answer but I believe that guardian angels were looking out for Greg because, once Steve and I discovered him, we felt absolutely no fear of him. We just felt compassion. Like many homeless, he was not completely right in the head. But, he was not drunk or on drugs and he was just a sweet, simple minded guy. Happily, he had his car keys so he could move his car out of the way to allow me to get to my rehearsal. And, while I was gone, Steve fed him some breakfast - which he devoured - and later, a peanut butter sandwich. And, he talked Steve's ear off all morning and was still there when I returned! (but he left shortly thereafter). We realize that this might not be the last time we see Greg.
We went to Columbia yesterday. A long-time friend, and the woman who rented our house while we were on our mission, got married at Parkade Baptist in Columbia so we attended. Here is Elizabeth and Tyler.....
We also made a trip up to the Amish to re-stock my granola making supplies (pumpkin, flax, sesame seeds, etc.) and to see what the out-of-stock store had (LOTS of gluten-free foods). We had lunch at Las Margaritas with Steven and Tamara and we had dinner at Lutz's BBQ with Tracie and Eric Downs. Beckie stayed here at the house for most of the days to keep the dogs company. Weather was sunny and warm-ish and it was a lovely (although tiring) day. Living here in Saint Louis, where masks are mandated, it was a shock to travel outside of this protective bubble. No one wore masks at the gas station in Jonesburg. At the Amish, we saw maybe one or two masks and there was no social distancing. The church for the wedding was packed with guests, row upon row, and hardly a mask to be seen. Steve and I sat, with our masks on, to the side where we could be distanced. The servers at Las Margaritis all had masks but at Lutz's, down in Jefferson City, not a single employee had a mask. I was pretty shocked and annoyed.
Steve and I started watching "The Great Pottery Throw Down" this past week and have seen three episodes so far. I have finally signed up to resume my own pottery adventures (starting in April) and it is so fun to be getting back into that world with this show. Even Steve is enjoying it. We watched "Singing in the Rain" and "Iron Man 3". Both of us have seen both movies but it has been so long that we enjoyed watching them again. And, we saw "Ready Player One" for the first time. It sure paints a depressing possible future.
On the way to teach Southerland music lesson Friday afternoon, look what I saw crossing busy Manchester highway, stopping traffic....
I planted crocus last fall and the first to bloom were all yellow. Just today, I noticed a purple one as opened up. Happy, happy spring!!!!!
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