Strange, but typical, weather

Missouri weather is always a mystery these days, especially in winter.  You can see from the photo below that we have had enough warm days throughout the month to prompt the daffodils to start coming out of the ground.  And, yet, we won't get out of the 30's today.  

We had a "Major Snowstorm" predicted for last Wednesday but only about three inches fell and everything was melted by the end of the day.  It was nice to take our morning walk while the snow was falling down.  I'm not sure you can tell by the photos but it was a heavy, wet snow.

It was a fairly normal week.  Orchestra rehearsal was on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, I wrote thank you letters to the high donors to the orchestra and emailed thank you's to the low-end donors.  Thursday night was a two hour orchestra board meeting.  Plus, I am practicing the February 25th concert music every day so I have done due diligence to the civic orchestra this week.  

I sewed up the rest of the zippered bags that I had cut out so I can deliver them this week at Happy Hookers.  I also sewed up a pair of pajama pants for Steve.  We hauled another round of mulch to the back flower garden when temperatures were in the high 50's.  We visited Menards to get some lumber for a clothes closet project and Micro Center to finally solve the missing power cord problem to a thermoelectric ice cream maker that we inherited.  I am very excited to try the recipes that came with the machine.  We had Herb and Judy Pyne from the ward over for dinner on Friday.  She and I are co-Primary teachers and they both work in the baptistry on the shift right after ours.  But, because of our duties, we never get a chance to visit so it was nice to get to know them better over dinner.  

The Primary workers were treated to brunch yesterday (Saturday) morning and they even had some gluten-free donuts from Britts Bakehouse!  I felt loved.  When I returned home, I started a new adult cello student.  Actually, she was a former cello student who moved to Utah in 2017 but is now back in Moberly.  She and her family had come to the temple and then she came by for a lesson which was mostly getting her cello back in tune, bridge straightened, new string put on.  Then, as they were getting into their van, Steven and Jason Bell pulled up.  Steven had been to the temple earlier in the day and had met Jason for lunch.  It was great to see Jason again and catch up on his life and to have Steven here.  

I saw three movies this week - Steve only saw one because he is not a fan of George Clooney and Julia Roberts OR Jane Austin.  So, I watched "Ticket to Paradise" Wednesday night while he was at youth activities.  I loved it.  I also watched "Love and Friendship" which was based upon a short story by Jane Austin.  Aside from the annoying main character who was just so wicked, I liked it and I loved the soundtrack of period music.  Finally, Steve and I both watched "Top Gun Maverick" Friday night and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.  It is hard to believe that Tom Cruise is sixty years old!  

 

Birthday week

Steve turned 70 years old on Tuesday!  

Kirsti turned 32 on the same day.  

Quinn turned 10 on Wednesday.  

We had Steve's birthday dinner on Monday since Tuesday evening is orchestra and a lesson at 5:30 and it is just a busy night.  Temperatures were in the 60's that day so it was pleasant weather for grilling steaks.  I gave Steve a Culver's gift card and season two of All Creatures Great and Small.  (we are enjoying season three right now on PBS) 

We had nice weather at the first of the week which allowed me to go to the mulch site and collect the finer chipped mulch for flower beds.  I got two loads over the two days and I probably have four more to get.  It rained all day Wednesday (which we needed) and it has been cold and windy ever since so mulch gathering is on hold.  I figure there will be a few more nice days this winter for me to finish the task, as well as my other cold weather yard projects. I am sure thankful we still have our Element for all that hauling.  Plus, it is handy when I need to take Sam Carpintero anywhere that she takes her dog, Blue because he has a bleeding hemorrhoid and I really don't want him mucking up the Kia.  He needed to go to the vet for that problem on Wednesday so I gave them a ride.  

Thursday morning, Steve and I visited the Saint Louis art museum.  He had gone there in the fall with the young men and they visited some exhibits downstairs that included furniture, pottery, and armor and he wanted me to see what they saw.  It was very interesting although I didn't see a single chair that looked like it would be comfortable to sit in!  I love that the art museum is free because it allows poor old people like us who tire easily to make our visits short.

We have a senior missionary couple from Lindon, Utah who are assigned to our ward.  They are also working in the mission office.  We had them over for dinner Thursday night and had a very lovely visit.  After they left, Steve and I started watching an old 1965 movie called "The Agony and the Ecstasy".  It is about Michelangelo's painting of the Sistine Chapel.  Neither Steve nor I had ever seen it so we checked it out from the library.  It starred Charlton Heston as Michelangelo and Rex Harrison as the pope who commissioned the work.  We finished it Friday night and it was pretty interesting.  It was based upon a book by Irving Stone and is historical fiction.  We also watched a movie earlier in the week called "Avenging Angel".  It was given to us by Ray Saniger back when we visited Judy last March.  He plays an extra in the film which is about the early saints in Utah and a plot to assassinate Brigham Young (who was played by Charlton Heston!).  While it, too, is based upon facts, the movie plot is pure fiction.  It was a made-for-television film back in the 90's and kind of cheesy.  And, we couldn't even see Ray!

Saturday we worked in the temple and then went over to the Southerlands to have a belated birthday celebration with Quinn.  We enjoyed ice cream sundaes while Quinn opened his gift from us which included a pin from the zoo and a coupon for a trip to the zoo with us during spring break.  

We have a 2023 Far Side daily calendar and this one popped up and reminded us of Elise's clogged vacuum cleaner that Steve could not fix when we visited her last week.  The vacuum is a Dyson and there are no Dyson repair shops in Columbia so Elise had to call the closest place in Saint Louis.  Happily, the technician was able to talk her through the unclogging!  I don't know if he had a bouffant hairdo like the cartoon....

 

Of visits and visitors

All Creatures Great and Small season 3 has begun on PBS - hooray!  Steve and I enjoyed the first episode last Sunday evening.

Monday was our day to drive to Columbia to help Melanie celebrate her birthday.  We took her to dinner at McAlister's Deli because it was close to Rock Bridge high school where Tamara works and on the way home from KOMU where Steven works.  Sadly, Tamara had some lab work to be done so she couldn't join us but Steven was there as well as Elise AND Beckie who just happened to be in Columbia for a few days to visit since it was her winter break at Little Fox.  We had a nice time.  I brought a strawberry trifle for Melanie's birthday cake.  I didn't remember to take a photo until after Steven left, though.  

Before the birthday dinner, Steve and I visited with Vikki Van Order and we drove up to see Lissa and Jerry Kent.  Lissa is 85 years old and she is still going strong.  

Tuesday morning brought this little guy into our lives for a day.  He was running loose on busy Bates Street and we encountered him on our walk.  

All he had was a collar but no tags.  I carried him all the way from Dewey back home and that was not an easy task.  He wasn't very heavy but it was an awkward carry and I was pretty worn out by the end.  He added a thick layer of stress to an already fairly full day - we had to leave at 10 for the temple and  at 2:30, I was to pick up the daughter of a lady at church and take her from school to home as well as pick up Sam Carpintero and her two laundry loads to do her wash at our place.  I had a cello lesson at 5:30 and orchestra at 7:30 that night.  I called Animal Control in the morning but, because he was not a vicious animal, I never got a follow-up call (that day or ever!  Way to go, City of Saint Louis).  I posted him on Next Door before we left for the temple but only got one false lead and a lot of "poor doggie" posts.  After lunch and a nap, I finally thought to find a place with a chip reader to see if he was chipped and called a few places getting an assortment of answers.  I ended up just driving him to the Humane Society (when I called, they were so understaffed that all I got was a recorded message) with Sam helping me hold him down in the car.  And, that was what I should have done in the first place and avoided all the knot-in-the-stomach stress.  They used their chip reader and, sure enough, he DID have a chip. His name was Shimmer, and they called his owner.  She had actually been to the Humane Society on Monday looking for him so he had been wandering for at least two days!  And, evidently, he is a "frequent flyer" with the place.  But, being an un-neutered male, that is no surprise that he regularly escapes looking for love.  I was surprised that he didn't get into a bark-fest with the evil dog sisters next door (see above photo as proof) because they ALWAYS do with our dogs and with Sarah's dogs.  And, while he was friendly with humans, he was a bit too friendly with our dogs and Linus did NOT like his trying to mount him.  He also peed in a few places in our living room (when he was allowed inside which was not for long) to mark his territory.  SO, aside from being a very cute little dog, I was extremely happy to say "adios" to him.

The rest of the week was fairly uneventful.  I whittled away at our belated holiday cards and finally finished that project last night.  We helped Beckie drop off and pick up her car at the shop Tuesday and Wednesday.  I emptied the two cedar-lined closets in the basement bathroom on Thursday and applied a new coat of cedar oil to the walls to refresh them since they didn't have any cedar smell at all when we bought the house.  Mmmm, they smell very nice now.

On Friday, I drove over to Ballwin to hang out with Lucy, Quinn, and Larkin for a few hours while Emily was away with Noah at Washington University for a day of tests.  Noah has been in a long-term brain growth study since he was about eight or nine and periodically, he goes to Wash U for MRI's and other sorts of testing.  Because it was an all-day thing, Emily needed someone to check in on the other kids.  I fixed them lunch and then we did a craft.  I had some round plastic canvases and some yarn and blunt needles and they practiced their fine-motor skills in creating pictures on the canvas.   Hand sewing is a hard skill to master so, while their creations are not amazing, they still advanced in their abilities.  And, it was fun to be with them.

Because I had an "art night" with some women from church on Friday night and we had a couple over for dinner last night, we didn't get much movie watching in.  But, over two nights during the week, we watched a charming and sweet animated movie called "Ethel and Ernest" that was created by the illustrator Raymond Briggs (who also did The Snowman) as a tribute to his parents.  We checked it out from the public library.

 

Happy 2023!

Sarah was still in town for the first week of the new year so we did some sight-seeing with her.  Temperatures were very mild at the first of the week so, on Monday, she and Beckie and Steve went to the zoo.  I really didn't have a desire to go so I stayed home to work on finances.  They were supposed to have lunch at a place called The Foundry but it was very busy so they went to an Italian restaurant on The Hill instead.  

Tuesday was a "down" day for visiting places as Steve and I had dentist appointments in the morning.  And, I had orchestra in the evening.

Wednesday, temperatures dropped significantly and the wind made it even colder but we braved two outdoor venues:  Cahokia Mounds just across the river in Illinois and the Missouri/Mississippi River confluence.  Brrrrr, it was COLD! (but fun to be with Sarah).

Above is the view of Saint Louis from atop Monks Mound at Cahokia.

Thursday was when Sarah had lunch with Erin, a friend from high school who teaches music here in the city and she had dinner with Emily and family.  I had music students throughout the day.

Friday morning, Beckie came over for one last visit and then Steve and I showed Sarah two Catholic churches - first St. Frances de Sales and then the Basilica - plus the Jewel Box which is an art deco styled greenhouse in Forest Park.  Both cathedrals were still decorated for Christmas.  So beautiful...

One could definitely tell the difference in parish budget between the two churches.  St. Francis is in a poor neighborhood and the basilica is in an affluent one.  Mostly intricately carved wood and paint in St. Francis and marble and mosaics in the Basilica.

The Jewel Box required masks...I have noticed that the settings on my phone camera have been tinkered with so the images are more narrow.  I think I have fixed the problem going forward....

Sarah left for Utah yesterday (Saturday) morning and she made it safely to Colorado last night.  Steve and I had the temple baptistry yesterday morning and then we went to Emily's so I could give the kids piano lessons.  Then home for an amazing nap followed by cleaning and getting ready for the new week.  It was so nice to have Sarah all last week.  Having four dogs in the house was not a big deal.  In fact, our two seemed to be confused as to where everyone was once Sarah left.  Silly dogs.  

Not much more to write about.  Steve and I started a lovely little movie called "Ethel and Ernest" last night.  We will finish it next week and I will give a review next blog.  It is by the same fellow who did "The Snowman".  Speaking of, Sarah and Steve and I watched that movie last week as well as "Up".  

                                                                        

                                

 

Two weeks of Christmas

I hardly know where to begin because so much has happened in the past two weeks.....

Monday, the 19th, we had the Southerlands and Beckie over for an evening of Christmas music.  Here are the three cellos playing carols.  Lucy was on her violin but outside the photo.

We also practiced "In The Stable", a lovely Christmas song with a children's choir.  Our plan was to sing it in Indiana for Alex.  

The rest of the week was rather quiet without Kirsti, Ryan, Alice , and Ivan to fill our days with fun.  Aside from our regular weekly routine, we delivered goodies to friends and neighbors.  We wrapped gifts. Below are photos from our Wednesday morning walk down Leona Ave.  Can you tell that they are imitating the board game Candy Land?  It is pretty extremely decorated, for sure!

We were hit with a winter storm on Thursday that also brought extreme cold so we hunkered down in the house all day.  Beckie and I did venture out to Costco Friday morning to buy rotisserie chickens for our Bethlehem dinner Sunday evening.  We also were anxious for news from Sarah who left Ogden Friday morning for her two day drive to Missouri.  Apparently, Friday through Wyoming was pretty harrowing.  Saturday, on the other hand, was longer but more relaxed.  Here is a cute photo of her dogs on the trip.

Saturday morning, I was feeling pretty lonely for family so I called up Emily and asked if Steve and I could hang out with them for an hour or so.  It was good to go over and visit.  We had Sam Carpintero over in the afternoon to watch "Muppet Christmas Carol" and to have dinner.  Elise arrived in time to eat and Sarah finally arrived around 8:30.  We saved her some sugar cookies to decorate so that is what she did while we watched "Scrooge".    

Christmas morning was quiet and relaxed since church didn't start until noon.  We had a nice breakfast and opened gifts.  

Church services went well.  I played "O Come O Come Emmanuel" on cello, the Primary children sang "The Friendly Beasts" and the teachers helped since we have such a small group of kids, and the choir had two numbers to sing.  I recruited Elise and Sarah to sing in the choir and they willingly agreed.  Bless them!  Steve was supposed to play a baritone/trombone duet of "O Holy Night" with me accompanying but Greg, the trombonist, came down with stomach flu Christmas Eve so the number was axed.  Here we are in the meetinghouse foyer after the services

When we got home from church around 1:30, it became like the scene out of Home Alone with the family running around trying to get out the door.  We were Greenwood bound and anxious to get there.  Emily and Joe rented a Yukon (who I immediately named Cornelius) and they had room for their family plus Elise.  The rest of us - Steve, me, Beckie, and Sarah - plus our luggage plus food for the Bethlehem dinner at the hotel (since no restaurant would be open Christmas night) and food for the family gathering the next day - crammed into our little Kia.  And away we went.  What about the dogs, you ask?  Well, in an extremely sane moment we had a couple of months ago, we decided that bringing four dogs with us would be just crazy so we hired a mother and  her teenage son from our church to come stay at our house with the dogs for the two days we were gone.  Best decision we ever made!  Anyway, back to Indiana - we all arrived at the Home 2 Suites safely.  The Bethlehem dinner was a little later than hoped and we had tons of leftover food.  

Monday, December 26th, we went over to Julina and Alex's for the day.  Steven and Tamara, who had spent Christmas with their good friends in Ohio, arrived around 11:30.  We had gift opening, a tour of Alex's train layout in the basement, a delicious dinner, the reenacted the Nativity story, and we ended with a family sing-along and play along.  Elise brought her viola, I brought my violin, and Julina had a cello which Noah played.  Emily and Sarah divided the piano part.  We sang "In The Stable".  We sang other carols.  And it was a beautiful time.  Here is what Alex said about it:  "It is difficult to convey the Joy I feel and felt during the sing along, it was one of the great moments in my life. I hope that the children that were there will one day experience the same".  This is also what he said:  "It is not hyperbole to say that we may not meet again in this mortal realm. So I want to convey to all of you how glad I am to be sealed to my family, and look forward to the time of the resurrection when we can all meet again and make beautiful music for our Savior. Please if there is anything in your life that would prevent you from being with us at that blessed event, get it taken care of with the proper priesthood authority"    What a beautiful and poignant statement!  It made all the craziness it took to make everything happen worth it.  

Photos from the day:

For the Nativity reenactment, Lucy was Mary, Joe was Joseph.  Steven, Elise, and Quinn were the 3 wise men, Sarah was a shepherd, Lucy was a sheep, Steve was a squirrel (!?!?), and I was the angel.  

After we returned to the hotel Monday night, some of the Southerlands went swimming in the indoor pool while others of us played games in the lobby that harkened back to many, many game nights around the family table through the years.

We all left for home Tuesday morning and arrived in Saint Louis a little after lunch time.  Before saying goodbye to Elise and Beckie, we had one last round of gift opening....gifts that we just couldn't fit in the Kia to Indiana...

Below are a couple of the gifts we received - a seed wreath from Sarah and an adorable hedgehog figurine that I have placed under my fiddle leaf fig plant...

We had not had a chance to visit  historic Saint Charles before Christmas so Steve, Sarah, Sam Carpintero and I went there Wednesday afternoon and had a lovely time.  All the holiday decor was still up and everything Christmas-related was on sale so I snagged two t-shirts for next year.  Plus a cute little squirrel that was meant to be an ornament but he is going to sit on my music shelf all year round.

On Thursday, Sarah left to spend a few days in Columbia to hang with Steven and Tamara and to see friends and visit favorite haunts.  Steve and I watched Lily and Bones here.  The bitter cold snap is over and we have had temperatures in the 60's!!!  SO CRAZY!!!  We have spent the end of the week putting away much of the Christmas decor.  We have also hauled several loads of free mulch from the Carondelet Park mulch site to bolster our backyard turn-around area.  We still have to take down our two last Christmas trees plus put away all the nativities and the outside decorations but Sarah will help us with that now that she has returned.  She will be with us all next week so look for many more photos of the adventures we have planned....