Back in the saddle again

Monday, October 23, we dropped my sister Juli off at her daughter's place and we headed west for Julina's in Indiana.  It was Alex's birthday and we really wanted to make it for his birthday celebration / dinner that evening so we put pedal to the metal.  We stopped only to get gasoline or change drivers (which was every hour).  The autumn scenery through the Allegheny Mountains was just magnificent.  In spite of our valiant efforts to make it, we didn't arrive until an hour later.  Alex was still awake and downstairs and we had a short visit with him before he headed up to bed, all worn out from the festivities.  He tires so quickly nowadays.  

Tuesday we left Julina's at 8:00 am and got home to St. Louis a little after 11:00.  After a short visit with Beckie, who was our dog-sitter, we ate, napped, and then jumped right in to life again - unpacking, doing laundry, watering. Steve and Beckie got to attend a chamber choir concert of Emily's that night at the Sheldon but I dared not miss a second orchestra rehearsal so I didn't go. 

Wednesday was back to strings teaching, grocery shopping, and Steve had a dermatologist appointment.  But, instead of getting to go to the Fenton office, which is about twenty minutes away, he had to go to the Wentzville office which is about fifty minutes away!  This is because the Fenton building had a flood in August and is still being repaired!  He had some tiny skin cancers on his head frozen off and another small one on the back of his neck cut off. 

Thursday poor Steve had to drive AGAIN to another doctor appointment - this one to his nephrologist in Columbia!  I keep suggesting he find one here in St. Louis and maybe some year that will happen. I couldn't go with him because I had an eye exam - I will get my new glasses in a week or so.  

Friday, it was so nice to not have to hop in the car at the crack of dawn to teach string lessons.  On Friday mornings, my students come to me either in person or by FaceTime.  That night was our ward chili cook-off and Trunk or Treat but we could only stay for the food as I had an orchestra dress rehearsal to attend.  Steve came along as he prefers them to the actual performance.  He likes to stretch out, take his shoes off, and be comfortable as he listens and that is not really possible at the performance, as you can imagine.  

Saturday morning we had the assignment to clean the church building and that lasted from 8:00 to about 10:00.  Temperatures dropped so we had to turn on our heater.  Good thing it had just been serviced on Friday.  The only other big thing was the orchestra concert that night.  It was a fun concert to play and, even though Steve was not in the audience, several ward members were.  One of the percussionists is a teenager in our ward (I recruited him last year) and his mom took pictures.  Not super great photos but you can see me under the conductor's left arm.  We had a large crowd for the performance - maybe one of the largest we have had since Covid.  

Our Epic October trip

 Steve, my sister Juli and I left Sunday afternoon, October 15th for a road trip eastward to eventually land in Rockville, Maryland for the baptism of Juli's grandson, James Jensen, on Saturday the 21st.  Here is the day-by-day description of our journey:

Sunday, October 15th - we drove as far as Greenwood, Indiana, to spend the night with Juli and Alex.

Monday, the 16th, we drove through Ohio, stopping for to enjoy lunch with our great-niece and nephew, Rhiannon and Nick Fischer.  They are the grandchildren of our sister, Judy Worth Saniger and the children of Janice Worth Fischer.  After lunch, we found a cute roadside collection of shops called Grandpa's Cheese Barn and Sweeties Chocolates where we indulged in our chocolate addiction and we also briefly visited the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to check out the beautiful Brandywine Falls. We stayed in a hotel outside of Cleveland that night.

If it looks wet, it was.  We had rain off and on all day.

Tuesday, the 17th, we spent the day in Kirtland, Ohio touring the historic church sites:  The Whitney store area, the Kirtland temple and the John Johnson farm.  It took all day - time we definitely did not regret - but it caused us to drive until after midnight to reach our next destination near Binghampton, NY.  

 

Wednesday, the 18th was when we visited the Priesthood Restoration site on the banks of the beautiful Susquehanna river.  The church has restored the homes of Isaac and Elizabeth Hale (Emma's parents) and the nearby home of Joseph and Emma Smith.  The stone that make up the fence in front of the Smith home are from the original foundation and the steel hook in the fireplace that holds kettles was found in the rubble of the foundation so it is likely original to the house.  We saw the gravestones of Isaac and Elizabeth as well as Joseph and Emma's first born child.  The autumn leaf color throughout our driving was just gorgeous.  This tour only took the morning so, after a picnic lunch, we drove through Pennsylvania to be in Rockville for James's birthday celebration that evening.  

Thursday, the 19th, we drove up to Gettysburg (only an hour away) and spent our day there.  It was a day of learning about, of remembering, and of honoring all who fell during those three days in July of 1863.  We ended our day back in Rockville at the Silver Diner where we had dinner with cousin Dave Fraedrich and his wife, Laura.  

Friday, the 20th, found us on the road again - the same one we took to Gettysburg on Thursday and the one we came into Maryland on Wednesday - for a visit to Hershey, Pennsylvania.  We picked up James to come along (he's got home school flexibility).  I have to say we were disappointed that there was not as much to do and see in Hershey as we had expected.  We visited Hershey Chocolate World and started with the free factory "tour" which was really just a simulated ride like you would find in Disneyland.  Still pretty interesting and we got a free Hershey's mini candy bar at the end.  Then we joined the herds of people taking part in rampant commercialism in the huge Hershey chocolate store.  SO MUCH CHOCOLATE!   We had never planned to go to the amusement park and that was a good thing - it was closed for the season.  But we had hoped to wander through cute little gift and curio shops in the town of Hershey but those didn't exist.  Weird.  Has no one from the Hershey city fathers ever visited Sedona or Barr Harbor or Lake of the Ozarks???  So, we just headed back home with Steve and James catching a nap along the way...

Saturday, the 21st of October was James's big day.  His baptism was at 10:30 and his mom went all out!  Brad's dad and brother flew out to be here.  Jesse and Kat and Jeremy were here as well as Jeff.  We all congregated at the Jensen home for lunch.  That afternoon, Steve, Juli and I attended the Washington DC temple and we again gathered at the Jensen's for dinner.  We caught some of the BYU football game afterwards before returning to our lovely Airbnb.  

Today, Sunday the 22nd, we attended church - with a building that has an actual pipe organ!  Ed Fraedrich and his wife, Eileen, came over for dinner this evening at our Airbnb and we had a great visit.  Ed is Doug's older brother.  Dave is their brother who lives in Phoenix and who we did things a few times while on our mission there.  I had never met Eileen.  She is an elementary school band teacher - flute is her instrument -  and Ed is a free lance musician/teacher - saxophone is his instrument.  He is an adjunct professor at George Mason University.  The three boys were born and raised in Virginia and their family never ventured west to meet Fraedrich family so Eileen was very interested in hearing what we knew and remembered about our grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Interestingly, Ed and Doug are both celiac.  

I close with a photo of our Airbnb.  It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and and everything is very new and lovely.  It has been a great home base these last few days.  We head west tomorrow to go as far as Julina's.  My sister, Juli, will stay one more day and fly home on Tuesday.

Linus, the sweetest dog

Linus went to doggie heaven this week.  After his second tumor was removed from his leg in September, I kept noticing tumors popping up all over his body.  Then, this week he started to slide downhill quite rapidly.  By Wednesday, he could not hold anything down and he had diarrhea so I called Open Door and we brought him down Thursday morning and the vet confirmed that he had cancer all over his body.  Poor old fellow - he was such a sweet, good natured boy and it was very hard to say good bye but he is now out of discomfort and hopefully hanging out with Sadie, Trissy, Butler and even Alfred the cat.  Here are some photos from his last days....  

Sigh, so sad.  Sally seems kind of lost without her buddy.  Beckie was able to come over Thursday morning and say good bye to Linus.  She was the one who found Linus and Sally on the poodle rescue site three years ago.

But, life goes on and, on Thursday, my sister Juli arrived from Arizona.  She and Steve and I are going on an epic trip back East this coming week.  Emily and Beckie came over Friday morning for a fun visit.  I took Juli to see the amazing Basilica that afternoon and, in the evening, Steve, Juli and I attended the St. Louis Symphony and heard a Mozart violin concerto and the Brahms 2nd Symphony.

  

Juli and I visited the Miniature Museum Saturday morning and we did a lot of  trip prep the rest of the time.  We are in Greenwood, Indiana tonight with Julina and Alex - we left after church this morning.  We have a friend from church staying at the house to watch Sally until Thursday morning when Beckie will take over (Beckie is on a little vacation in Michigan right now).  Fred, our blind neighbor, will also help out by letting Sally out one time during the day for the first of the week and then feeding her dinner on Thursday and Friday.  

I will close with photos of the visit Steve and I made to the Missouri Botanical Garden Wednesday morning.  We wanted to see the Chihuly exhibit before it left this weekend.