Elise was with us on Monday, the 10th, and we took her to see the beautiful Basilica. It is always just breathtaking. That afternoon, Elise and I went to the church to take advantage of two folding banquet tables side by side to lay her t-shirt quilt on so we could tie it. I put together this quilt clear back in August of 2020 while we were biding out time in Marcia's duplex waiting for our house-signing papers to go through! Elise finally found some backing fabric a few months ago and we finally had the time to do something about finishing it. I still need to bind the top and bottom together and I plan to accomplish that this coming week....a finished photo will be taken.
On our way home from the Basilica, we saw two cars with ridiculously out-of-date temporary plates! I mean, TWO AND THREE YEARS past due, for crying out loud!!!!
Tuesday was a BIG DAY! Sam Carpintero, Genie Monzon, Steve and I went to Nauvoo for the day. Our friends from our mission, the Lucas family, were performing in the Nauvoo Pageant which was why Steve and I were going and we invited Sam and Genie along since they had never been. We arrived around 1:00 and ate our packed lunches while visiting with the Lucas family at the house they were renting for the two weeks they were there. It was so great to see them! We left around 2:00 and let Sam decide what sites she wanted to visit and she chose the Joseph Smith homestead area and the Brigham Young home.
We went to the Family Living Center next (which was wonderfully air conditioned!) and Genie and Sam went to the brick-making station and Sam also made a rope. Steve and I just sat and rested our bones and enjoyed the cool air. (Genie on the left, Sam on the right)
Sam was just recently called to be an assistant secretary in the Relief Society so she wanted to visit the statue gardens and the Sarah Granger Kimball home (where the Relief Society was founded)
Sam wanted to see the Nauvoo temple up close so we went there on our way to the Casey's for ice cold drinks to have with our picnic supper. We set up the food at a shaded picnic table north of the visitor's center only to have a sprinkler come on so we scurried to a table out of it's range. Then, a second sprinkler came on by our new table. We moved to a third table and, guess what? Another sprinkler! We ended up finishing our dinner on a shady curb in the visitor's center parking lot!!!
After we ate, we had about two hours to kill before the pageant started. All the historic sites closed at 5:00 and the visitor's center closed at 6:00. SO, we went to an outdoor presentation by the Nauvoo Brass Band followed by an hour-long show called "Sunset on the Mississippi" on the same stage. Both shows were performed by specially auditioned young college-age people. And, they were super talented! They sang and danced and played with so much energy that, by the end of the show, they were drenched with sweat. They must consume gallons of Gatorade every night!
Finally, it was time for the pageant. Sam has a handicapped sticker which was very useful throughout the day and particularly for the evening's show. We were able to park right next to our seats and Sam got a golf-cart ride from the car right to her seat. We were able to reserve our seats in the afternoon and we did pretty well, considering the numbers of MASSIVE youth groups that were in town to see the show! And, it seemed like all the groups we ran into were from Texas (Houston, San Antonio, Tyler)
The evening was hot and humid and, while it was fun to see the Lucas's perform, I honestly don't ever need to see another Nauvoo pageant during my lifetime. However, should we come again to bring someone who has not seen it, we certainly will NOT drive home right after the show. Nauvoo is 3.5 hours away from St. Louis and that drive home from 10:30 to almost 2:00 was brutal!1! Thankfully, Genie was able to drive the last half!
Obviously, Wednesday we took it pretty slow and easy. I purchased plane tickets for our Christmas trip to Utah and I finished up and submitted a job application for a part-time string teaching position with the Mehlville school district. It is a before/after school job teaching 3rd - 5th grade string students. I know, I know, I am retired BUT, I really don't love the idea of paying down the small mortgage we had to take out to get this house until I am in my 90's!!! If we can knock it off in 5-10 years, this job would hopefully do that.
Thursday, I checked out a Silver Sneakers yoga class at the Rec Center. I was kind of worried that I would feel out of place but I needn't have worried. I walked into the room full of people mostly older than me, each one sitting on a chair. So, it was chair-based yoga and definitely geared to the aged body. I did the reconnaissance this week and Steve will join me going forward. In the afternoon, I took Linus to the vet for the skin condition on his back - he is balding with a brown, scaly skin underneath. Not particularly itchy or smelly, thankfully, but the vet thinks it might be an endocrine problem and wanted to do bloodwork. Well, that would have cost over $200!!! Thankfully, Open Door, where we adopted the dogs, will do the same tests for half the cost so Linus and I will be driving down to House Springs this coming week for his bloodwork. Here he is at the vet waiting room....
Friday, Beckie joined us for lunch. I tried out a new recipe - peach fritters. Oh, my, they were delicious! Saturday was a temple baptistry morning. At the Southerlands afterwards, for piano lessons, there was a mother deer and her two fawns in their backyard! I have never seen baby deer this close.
Not much movie watching this week. I watched Cruella over a couple of days and Steve and I watched two episodes of Strange New Worlds. It is fun to be back in a Star Trek universe.
The garden is doing well - I pick a basket of green beans every other day. Linus has discovered our tomatoes so we are keeping him out of those. The squash are struggling but the cucumbers are just starting to produce. And, my corn patch is beginning to tassel. Humidity has returned - ugh - but that also brings rain more regularly - yay. I haven't had to water all week.
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