Not Your Typical Week

We were still in Indiana when we started our week.  Monday was "work in Julina's yard" day.  I pulled up unwanted weeds that were popping up through the yard cloth and gravel covering the bed up against the north and west side of the house.  Steve raked all the collected leaves from the yucca bed by the street.  We worked all morning, took a break mid-day, and I went back out in the evening to finish.  The weather was surprisingly cool and overcast throughout the day making the work more tolerable.  And, throughout the day, the refrigerator in the guest room was unplugged and being defrosted.  The freezer had gotten to a point that hardly anything could be inserted inside.  It took all day Monday and through the night to finally thaw!  Below are photos from our time there, including one of Sally hogging Steve's bed pillow and of yucca blossoms that are really quite beautiful closeup whereas, from afar, I really have no liking for the plant.

I took the below photo after several hours of thawing.  I tried inserting a Yankee candle to help the process along.  It really didn't help that much...

Weed free!!!!!

We left for home Tuesday morning by way of Danville, Illinois - a slight detour north - because we wanted to walk the Kickapoo Rail Trail Bridge just to the west of Danville.  Below is an internet photo of how it looks.  

It is a fairly long bridge but we made it across and back.  It is also quite high above the ground - so much so that we were above most of the tree tops!  Below are my photos...

Continuing towards St. Louis, we next stopped in Monticello, Illinois where our long-time friend Beth Seibert lives.  She moved there after she separated from her husband back in the late 90's.  Her home is the one she grew up in and it is beautifully preserved.  And her garden around the house is so beautiful!  We went to lunch at nearby Allerton Park and Retreat Center with a gorgeous mansion (which we weren't able to tour), lots of statues and gardens.  It was great to spend time with Beth and catch up.

This photo reminds me of maze scene from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

You can see the dogs were with us and, combined with the long walk on the rail trail bridge and all the paths we walked around Allerton, poor Linus just slept all day Wednesday he was so pooped.  So was I on Wednesday.  

Thursday morning, Steve and I met Emily and kids at the Missouri Department of Conservation Powder Valley Nature Center (located at the conjunction of I-44 and I-270 in the greater St. Louis area) for a donut/hard boiled egg/ banana breakfast, an explore of the center, and a little hike.  Temperatures were pleasant and the we had a nice time.  

Friday evening was an Art Night.  We were using acrylics to paint yellow tulips but the blue background was taking so long to dry that the yellow tulips were starting to turn green.  Therefore, we all just took our half-finished pieces home to complete.  But, it was fun to get together...

Saturday was a temple baptistry and Southerland lessons.  Elise came into town that evening and she will go home Monday evening.  Beckie joined us for a Father's Day dinner of hamburgers.  And, Elise, Steve, and I watched the new Dungeons and Dragons movie last night.  It was SO fun!

It finally rained today and I dumped out almost 4 inches!  Prayers answered!

Probably most important happening this week was that my sister, Judy, passed away on Tuesday morning in Mojave, California.  She had just turned 88 on Saturday.  I got to talk to her on Sunday and she sounded pretty good.  She was recovering from hip surgery and it was not going smoothly.  The surgery was back at the end of April and she was still not ambulatory.  Evidently, her heart must have given out because she never woke up Tuesday.  Her funeral will be on Friday, June 30th in Mojave.  I am planning to attend (fly out Thursday the 29th to Phoenix where my sister Juli and niece Amy will pick me up and we will drive to California together.  We drive back to Phoenix on Saturday and I fly back to St. Louis Saturday evening).  I am to give the eulogy / life history and to play a musical number on cello.  The challenge is finding a cello.  I hope to have that figured out by next Sunday's blog...

Below is a photo from March 2022 when I last saw my sister, Judy.  The three sisters, Jeanne, Judy, and Juli.  Judy was 20 years older than me.  And, a curious fact is that my mother, my sister Jerri, and now Judy all died at age 88....