Steve and I are trying to be proactive and make decisions related to aging and end-of-life. In the past year, we have identified a long-term care facility should either of us need to go in one. And, on Monday, we made a decision as to where we will be buried. While the lovely Concordia Cemetery across the street is convenient, it is also expensive. And, it is slated to be even more expensive after the end of this month so we needed to check out Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery just south of us on the Mississippi River to decide if we should be buried there free of charge, thanks to Steve's two years of active duty and ten years of National Guard. The cemetery is acres and acres of white grave markers dating back to the Civil War and it is a lovely, peaceful place and we feel good about being buried there. (the spouse is buried in the same plot as the veteran and the name/date is carved on the back of the stone).
Tuesday was "Clean the Refrigerator Day". Our ice maker has ceased to function other than spitting out one or two cubes every other day and we wondered if we unplugged the fridge and allowed any frozen water lines to melt, that maybe the ice maker would resume it's job. It certainly needed to be cleaned and it looks spiffy clean but, sadly, the ice maker is still not working correctly. It was super hard to find repair individuals to work on Samsung dishwashers and I fear it may be the same for Samsung refrigerators but I guess that is what I am going to have to do...
It sure turned the kitchen into chaos during the process!
Wednesday morning, I met Emily at the Missouri Botanical Gardens for a morning walk to visit and admire the Chihuly glass exhibits scattered around the grounds. St. Louis city and county residents can gain free admission to the gardens on Wednesday mornings which made our time together even better!
Wednesday was a busy day - I drove down to House Springs to pick up more dog food and I drove to a cello sectional in Town and Country (by the temple) in the early evening and ended my day at Marquette High School to hear Noah's orchestra concert. I used up a full quarter of a tank of gas that day!
I vowed I would not drive anywhere on Thursday! Sadly, I had to run a quick errand that evening but the rest of the day was spent at home catching up on so many things. I put up a rabbit-proof fence (isn't that a book and a movie?) around my beans and I planted seven hills of pie pumpkins in the morning. I plan on another "sincere" pumpkin patch this year and I will process the pumpkin to use throughout the winter to stir into the dog meals. That evening, Steve and I started season 3 of the Mandalorian. Loving it so far....
Friday morning, I got a bunch of mulch from Carondelet mulch site, I took a load to hazardous waste and I taught music lessons. In the evening, Steve and I drove to Bellville, Illinois - just a 30 minute drive across the river - to check out their Art On The Square. It is a cute little town and there were over fifty artists from all over the country exhibiting their VERY EXPENSIVE wares. We just had a good time walking around and admiring...and then we shopped for chicken and watermelon on sale at a Ruler Foods (much larger than the one near us). We enjoyed dinner at the Culvers in Fairview Heights.
Saturday was the baptistry in the morning and a ward talent show in the evening. In between I baked a gluten free carrot cake and gluten free cowboy cookies. Funny story about the talent show -
I have a collection of music books for string ensembles that have simple arrangements of popular Broadway tunes. So, from our ward, I recruited a bass, a viola, a violin, a pianist, and two cellos (not including me) to perform "Beauty and the Beast". I decided I would play second violin for this performance since we were pretty bass-heavy. But, as we were getting ready to leave for the show, I just automatically packed up my cello. About three blocks from the house, I said to Steve "The next time I do this..." and Steve interjected "you will bring your violin" and I realized I was bringing the WRONG INSTRUMENT! So we had to turn back and switch. Ugh, my memory is just pathetic these days!
I will close with a cute photo of Quinn at his orchestra concert a couple of weeks ago and by telling you that this week, we watched a very OLD Hunchback of Notre Dame movie - it was so old it was silent! And, comparing it with the Disney version as well as the synopsis of the actual story on Wikipedia, there are similarities but quite a bit of differences. Not a very happy story either way.
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