Growing things

What can I write about?  June is almost over.  It is hot.  We finally got some rain last night and I am glad to not have to water for a few days.  I finally bought a soaker hose and it arrived yesterday and I am wondering why did I wait so long????  It is just amazing - especially for narrow places that need watering.  

I planted sweet peas (the flower) this year with visions of a wall of flowers like my mother always had in our back yard in El Paso.  I have no idea how she achieved such a feat because I have nothing like that.  Here are my mom's sweet peas...

Here are mine

At least I am able to make a tiny bouquet ...

But, hey, I can brag about my pumpkin / gourd patch, though! And I picked my first zuccini and yellow squash this past week.  Steve is picking beautiful, huge blackberries.

In other plant news, back the first of May, I determined that my fiddle leaf fig was getting too tall.  So I cut off the top hoping to stimulate some lateral branches.  I put the stem of the cut off piece into some rooting hormone I had and plunked it into a pot.  Of course, the existing leaves eventually died and fell off but I kept up the watering and viola!  I have a new little fiddle leaf fig plant growing.  

I finally pulled the weeds from the front-of-the-house flower bed, lay down more mulch, and I put in some begonias.  I also put up a sign I got for free from our local library.  To the right of the sign, you can see the beginnings of an elephant ear coming out of the ground.  Our neighbor gave it to me and we weren't sure if it was a viable bulb.  Hooray that it is.

We got to see Beckie twice this past week.  Sunday, Father's Day, she came over for dessert.  If you will recall, Steve had a rogue fever Friday night into Saturday so he was self isolating last weekend.  Beckie's work also had some illness so she was hesitant to spend too much time with us inside so we sat on the deck and enjoyed raspberry brownies and the dogs just relished all the attention Beckie gave them.  To follow-up with Steve, he had two negative Covid tests and never had a fever after that one time.  By Sunday, he felt just fine.

I also got to see Beckie on Friday morning when we took an hour stroll through the Missouri Botanical Gardens.  The lilies are in bloom right now.  

We drove by Tower Grove Park pond and they have the most incredible water lilies.  HUGE and abundant.

 I attended a potluck at the pottery studio Wednesday evening.  Whenever I attend these kinds of events, I always bring a gluten-free main dish and dessert - this time I took Tex-Mex dip and peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies.  When I got there, I found that at least 90% of the meal was gluten-free!  I guess artsy people are often gluten-free or intolerant.  There was so much delicious food I could eat and I drove home fat and happy.  

Steve and I had dental cleanings Tuesday morning.  We had our United Healthcare Home visit Monday morning.  We worked in the temple baptistry Saturday morning and went to the Southerlands afterwards for piano lessons.  Steve has been helping Fred all week with his above ground swimming pool.  It keeps getting leaks so they have been draining, fixing, re-filling, installing a new liner, finding a new leak, draining, taking photos, submitting a claim for a refund.  It has been quite the ordeal! 

We watched two movies I checked out from the library:  Spiderman Into the Spiderverse and MIB International.  

Summer but not summer yet

We had a record breaking heat wave this week.  Ugh, it is not even officially "summer" yet.  I am SO thankful for the new air conditioning unit we had installed last fall because it has worked beautifully all this week.  Since Steven and Tamara's South America trip was cancelled yet again (thanks Covid - that makes the third time), Steven came in to town Sunday evening to spend a couple of days.  He and Beckie joined the Southerlands at their neighborhood pool Monday during the day and then he and Beckie and Emily and Steve and I attended a Cardinals game Monday evening.  It was the hottest game temperature since 2016.  And, it was pretty miserable, I have to say.  Plus, early on, the Cardinals were not playing very well.  Happily, they woke up in the middle of the game and managed to get a couple of home runs and actually beat the Padres so we left hot but happy.  There was a full moon that night so what looks like a large spotlight above the stadium is actually the moon.  In our group photo, I am wearing a personal battery operated fan around my neck.  It sort of helped.  What was even better was Emily's combination fan and squirt bottle that you can see her holding.

Tuesday morning, Steven joined us at the temple for an endowment session.  Then, he treated us to lunch at Wendy's.  He returned to Emily's that afternoon as he and Emily and Joe were going to have dinner at Little Fox where Beckie works.  He left for Columbia from Emily's Wednesday morning.  It was great to have him here.

Wednesday and Thursday we pretty much hunkered down in the house to stay out of the heat.  I taught lessons, Steve made a short run to Aldi and Wal-Mart, I actually practiced and did a little crafting.    Wednesday night,  I picked up Elizabeth Crippen at the airport and she stayed at our place overnight, leaving for home Thursday morning.  

A few months ago, I received an invitation to a 50th wedding anniversary celebration for my cousin Charlotte Reckling who lives in Wisconsin and I thought "that would be fun".  So, Steve and I made plans to attend - drive up on Friday, attend the early afternoon reception on Saturday and drive home right afterwards - and we cleared our calendar for Friday and Saturday, June 17 and 18.  We planned to bring the dogs.  And then, I finally made a hotel reservation and the best price I could get was $200!  Oh, my - but, I decided that it was important that I be there to represent the Fraedrich side of the family.  Honestly, I am not sure how many of the cousins Charlotte has even met since her family grew up in Iowa.  Anyway, I decided to bite the bullet and reserve the hotel room - but leaving it open to cancel since Covid is on the rise.  And, then, gas prices just kept going up and up and we were looking at possibly spending almost another $200 just to drive up and back.  And, considering that I would only see her for maybe five minutes in a receiving line....well, going up to Wisconsin just didn't seem like a great idea any more.  It was a hard decision to not go but happily, Charlotte was understanding.  Hopefully, Steve and I can made the trip this fall and spend some quality time with her and Fred. We would travel during the week when hotel prices are lower and maybe gas prices will also be going down.  So, Steve and I now had two wide-open days.  And, you know me, I filled them up pretty quickly.  I went to pottery Friday afternoon to make things less frantic on Thursday since one of the ways we cleared our calendar was to switch working in the temple baptistry from Saturday to Thursday evening.  I spent some much needed time on civic orchestra business.  I took a very long nap on Saturday.   I had planned to go with Beckie to the Southerlands for the morning on Saturday and watch Lucy, Quinn, and Larkin since Emily had a newborn photo shoot and Joe was picking up Noah from young men's camp.  But then Steve got chills and a fever Friday night.  He tested negative for Covid Saturday morning but, as we all know, that can mean nothing.  Emily thought the prudent thing to do was for me to not come.  I felt badly leaving Beckie to supervise the kids on her own after a long night of work at Little Fox.  Steve has not felt too poorly since getting sick and I have not felt sick at all.  We have a few more home-test kits and he will check this morning and I will take a test, too.  

We watched more movies and shows than we have in recent weeks:  Spiderman - Far From Home was Tuesday night.  I watched The Lost City Wednesday evening - it was pretty funny. Channing Tatum is good at comedy, I think, and to see Daniel Radcliffe as a maniac bad guy was a hoot.  Steve and I watched Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Saturday morning and it was delightful.  While the script added some things outside the book, it was still in keeping with the spirit of the story.  The music by Leslie Bricusse was so lovely.   I wonder what Roald Dahl thought about it?   Steve and I watched another Obi-Wan Kenobi and we started Ms. Marvel.  We watched a Great Pottery Throwdown episode and we saw the final two episodes of Picard.  Wow, that last episode of Picard was just fantastic.    

The heatwave broke Friday morning with a small amount of rain and this weekend has been so nice.  I just wish Steve felt better.  

Back to normal?

Well, it was nice to resume a routine to some degree this past week.  But, we DID do some additional activities like visit the Soldier Memorial downtown.  We helped out a ward family who needed someone to drive their thirteen year old daughter to a class at the Central Library which happens to be right across the street from the Memorial so after dropping her off, we walked through the memorial for an hour until her class finished.  It is a very nicely put together museum that focuses on how Saint Louisians participated in the various wars of the United States through the centuries.  

We got our second Covid boosters Wednesday afternoon.  No major reactions except I felt extra tired Thursday and Friday.

I have had challenges with some of the vegetables I planted.  I guess I didn't keep the soil moist enough on my carrot seeds so I am on my THIRD planting and I am now watering the dirt morning and night in hopes that this time, they germinate.  Some of my corn seeds either germinated and were eaten by critters or were just duds so I have a sparse corn patch.  And, my first batch of green beans were devoured by rabbits I suspect.  I planted a second batch and created a fence around the bed and the beans all came up but then got a disease - a very contagious disease called bacterial blight - and I had to pull up the affected plants.  I had some fungicide powder in the garage and I mixed it with water and sprayed the remaining plants this evening hoping to stem the tide.  I guess we'll see...

Beckie came to dinner Thursday night which is always lovely.  And, I had a studio recital this afternoon.  I couldn't involve my two Columbia students nor my two Arizona students this go-around but Noah, Lucy, and Quinn participated as well as three of my four Saint Louis students.  Karen in the middle is an adult piano student.  Lexi is taking violin and you can see that Eliza is a cello student.  It was a very brief recital with punch and cookies afterwards.  Good thing since Steve and I had to dash home and get home-made pizza ready for dinner with the sister missionaries at 5:00.  

Elizabeth Crippen is here tonight.  I take her to the airport at 6:00 am tomorrow (Sunday) so she can attend her granddaughter's college graduation ceremonies in Oregon on Monday.  I will pick her up late Wednesday night.  

And, this upcoming week will be FAR from normal!  Stay tuned....

 

Travels, Travelers and Travails

Well, it is time to catch you all up on the last two weeks of our life and the title tells it all!

Monday, May 23rd - I traveled to Columbia for the day.  Steve would have joined me but the lawn was a jungle and it had finally stopped raining over the weekend and he needed to mow.  My two objectives were to shop at the Amish stores and to teach cello lessons.   I was able to stock up on gluten free flours and coco and baking powder (I can get it in large bags for practically nothing!).  I also visited the Amish out-of-code store (a.k.a. Lakeview Market) and buy so many gluten free products for very cheap prices.  My cello lessons were with Ethan and Isaac and then with both.  We have a Star Wars medley for cello trio (I play the third part) and we had never worked on it together so Monday was THE DAY.  There are a few rough spots but it won't be hard to iron them out and I plan to put it on my fall recital program.  Driving to Columbia and back in the Kia was a dream.  LOVE that car!

Tuesday, May 24th - Melanie traveled to Saint Louis for the temple and an overnight stay with us.  We met her for an early dinner at the McAlister's Deli on Olive near the temple and then attended the 6:00 temple session.  She left pretty early the next day so she could make an 11:00 massage appointment and, in her rush to drive away, she left her two pillows!  More about that later...

Also, Tuesday morning, as we tried to drive the Element to the mulch site, it wouldn't start.  Happily it was able to be jump-started.  Did we need a new battery?  No time to pursue that thread on Tuesday or the rest of the week....

Wednesday, May 25th - our laptop dies while Steve is working on his journal.  What to do?  Where to take it?  I always used Personalized Computers when we lived in Columbia.  I texted a few local friends and finally determined to try the Micro Center.  However, it is not extremely close by.  But, it IS close to the Trader Joe's where I was going to meet Elise on Thursday afternoon to hand off Melanie's pillows.  

Thursday, May 26th - I go to pottery and throw a bunch of things and then drive to meet Elise (who had traveled to attend the temple) and drop off the computer.  

Friday, May 27th - we travel to Indiana to visit Julina and Alex.  While driving, we finally finish our reading aloud of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  We started reading it after watching the Johnny Depp version of the book-turned-movie.  Since it was a bit different from the Gene Wilder version, we decided to compare and contrast the book with the two film adaptations.  I honestly think that the older version is more true to the book even though I love the more recent actors playing Charlie and his parents and grandparents.  Not such a fan of Johnny Depp when compared with Gene Wilder.  

Saturday, May 28th - I "kidnapped" Julina for the day and we traveled up to Carmel to attend the temple at 9:00.  When we finished around 11:00, we donned casual clothes and headed over to Connor Prairie which is close by.  I had read about it in Midwest Living and suggested we make a visit.  I would describe it as a cross between Nauvoo, the Science Center, and a Nature Center.  It is an historic farm originating in the middle of the 19th century and it has various areas of focus:  a representation of a town in Civil War times that was attacked by the southern army as they made their way through southeast Indiana; a representation of a frontier town in the early 19th century with assorted shops and craftsmen.  In both places, the workers were in authentic wear and acted as if they were really living in that time period.  There was a representation of an authentic Lenape Native American tribal village.  There was a large three-story wooden tower built in the woods that focused on nature.   There was the actual Connor family farmhouse to tour as well as an actual tethered helium balloon that one could ride (for a fairly steep price) surrounded by an exhibit about ballooning through the centuries.  Connor Prairie is geared towards children and school field trips and what sets it apart from Nauvoo is that it is very hands-on - handle and touch anything you want.  Julina and I were both very pleased with our experience and the temperatures were just perfect!

A view of the White River that flows through Connor Prairie

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All of the buildings at Connor Prairie were authentic - and all originally built somewhere in Indiana and just reconstructed for the Connor Prairie villages.  Look at this floorboard!

Sunday, May 29th - We attended church with Julina.  We had a short visit with Shiloh in the afternoon.  She is hoping to move into an apartment on her own by the end of the summer.  I got a text from the Micro Center telling us the news on the laptop - it needed a new hard drive, a new RAM, and a reinstall of Windows 10.  Ugh!  Time to just get a new computer???  We did some on-line looking that evening to see what our options were.  But, we also decided to talk to the Micro Center repair person once we got back home to have him help us decide.  Below are some photos of one of our walks with the dogs during our visit...

Monday, May 30th - Time to travel back to Saint Louis.  We noticed a clicking noise from the engine as we started out but we opened the hood and saw nothing amiss so we headed home.  But, as we were getting off the interstate near our house, the car stalled.  Happily it started up again and we got home all right.  We had planned to stop by the Micro Center on our way to a cookout at Emily's that evening but the car kept stalling at every stop sign or light!  The "check engine" light was on and the oil light would occasionally flicker on but would immediately go off again.  Nevertheless, we decided that while it was parked at the Micro Center, we would check the oil, even though we had only traveled 2,000 miles since buying the vehicle and it had had a complete oil change at that time.  Well, it was BONE DRY!  It was a miracle that we didn't throw a rod and ruin our brand new car!!!!!  We walked to the nearby Target and bought two quarts of oil and put it in which brought it up to half-full.  And, when we started the car, there was no clicking.  We had thought we would just forget going to Emily's and head home but as we drove, the stalling had stopped, too.  So, we decided to go to Emily's (after all, we had three bottles of soda and two bags of chips that we would not eat so we had to go, right?)  It evidently WAS the lack of oil that created all those problems.  I called Kia first thing the next morning and made an appointment for Wednesday to have it looked at.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.  I must update on our other travail, our laptop.  While at the Micro Center, we decided that we would just get the laptop repaired rather than buy a new one.  It would end up costing half what a new one would be and we would basically have a "new" laptop anyway.  Our time with Emily and family was lovely, the evening was perfect, and it was a nice way to close out the Memorial Day weekend.

Tuesday May 31st - Today was the day to address the Element battery problem.  We jump started it yet again and drove it to a nearby AutoZone where a dead battery was definitely diagnosed.  So, we bought a new one (Boy, they are expensive these days!) and now it works like a dream.  Good thing since we needed it to drop off the Kia on Wednesday.  And, we will continue to need it for hauling all the mulch and dirt from the local community compost site for our yard and garden.

Wednesday June 1st - the Kia was dropped off in the morning and then we ran errands:  bought groceries, paid the taxes on the Kia and got our permanent license plates, Steve found two long-sleeved white shirts at Burlington Coat Factory and I found a pair of exercise shorts at the next door thrift store.  

Thursday June 2nd - Kia wasn't able to get to our car on Wednesday but happily, it was ready to go by mid-day Thursday and HAPPILY, were weren't charged anything for the repair (which included a new gasket).  You can be sure we are going to be a bit obsessive about checking our oil from now on, even if it has a new gasket.  Weather was continuing to be amazing so we decided to pack up the dogs, the tent and air mattresses and travel to a nearby state park and camp for the night.   We checked out Robertsville State Park located less than a hour's drive away and it was just lovely.  The campsites were not packed in like they were at Babler State Park and all the toilets were flushable!  We were able to snag a site with a wooden platform for the tent which was nice.  

Friday June 3rd - we picked up our laptop from the Micro Center and it feels like life can move on again.  Amazing how much we rely upon it.  Our phones and our tablets served as stop-gap but wow, a computer is SO much faster and easier to navigate!  

Steven arrived Friday evening because I have one more travel to report...

Saturday June 4th - Steve, Steven, and Joe left the house at 6:15 in the morning and drove up to Chicago for a mid-day Cardinals vs. Cub baseball game.  It takes about four and a half hours to get to Chicago and they drove back home at the end of the game so it was a long day for the three but they had a blast!  I enjoyed puttering in the garden, driving to Ballwin to teach piano lessons to Noah, Lucy, and Quinn, and alternately cleaning house (which hadn't been cleaned in a month!) and watching Avengers Endgame.

Sunday June 5th - and now it is Sunday evening and our travels and travails are over for now.  Aside from the costs, the hardest thing I have to face is that all my Blurb books were on the old hard drive.  I just didn't back them up onto an external hard drive like I do with everything else (journals, photos).  So, I am back to square one with all of my Lamb-e-ump-tum 2021 and five months of my 2022 book.  At least I have the on-line blogs to draw from so none of the data is lost, it will just be tedious to re-create these books again.   

I will close with a goofy photo of Ivan....We were chatting with Kirsti last Sunday at an earlier time since there was a two hour time difference between Indiana and Utah and the best time for both of us was around the time she and Ryan arrived at his parents home for their regular Sunday night dinner.  Kirsti stayed out on the front porch to chat and Ivan was concerned about what his momma was doing so this is him at the front door window! Lucky grandma who gets to clean the glass on Monday....