Christmas 2024

What a wonderful week!  

Monday was quite laid back compared to every other day so far this December. The only thing that marred the day was a letter I had received the Friday before and I finally had time to follow up on. It was from Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield saying that I was no longer covered by them for my Medicare Advantage plan! I was dumbfounded when the phone call I made confirmed this news. I had decided to opt out of the MU sponsored Medicare Advantage plan through Steve because the rates were going up quite a bit. I really don't need as much medical coverage as Steve does (at least, not yet) so we sent an email in early November to MU HR telling them to take me off. In the intervening weeks, I began receiving mail from Anthem welcoming me and including my ID card and a quarterly spending card. Then I got that final letter! Finally, after several phone calls, it was clear that MU dropped the ball and never actually took me off of their plan. So, they put me back on and we will just pay the higher premium in 2025. And, at the end of next year, we'll see if staying with United Healthcare was a good thing....

Tuesday, Christmas Eve, we picked up Beckie at 10:30 in the morning and went to Historic St. Charles to enjoy some 19th century Christmas ambiance for the few hours that they were open for tourists. The rain held off and temperatures were rather pleasant. We had hoped to eat lunch at Salt and Smoke on Main Street but they were closed. So we ate at our favorite standby which was McAllister's.  We stopped by a Costco on the way home for a rotisserie chicken and dip and bread for Christmas day. 

The photo below is in front of some dancing chili peppers singing Feliz Navidad. (definitely NOT 19th century there!)

We left Beckie at her house and headed home where we all took lovely naps. Christmas eve was just Steve and me eating our Bethlehem dinner, watching The Christ Child - A Nativity Story and Scrooge.

Christmas Day was rather quiet, compared to other years. We fed the sister missionaries breakfast. We opened gifts. Throughout the day, we FaceTimed with Julina, Elise, Sarah, Kirsti and Steven (he was FB Messenger) . Beckie came over around 2:00 and the Southerlands arrived around 4:00. Dinner was a gigantic charcutier with meats, cheeses, spreads, dips, chips, fruits, veggie sticks and goodies. We opened the joint gift from all the kids at that time - a fancy bird feeder that has a camera and motion detection that snaps pictures when a bird approaches. So cool! It has taken a few days for the birds to discover this new feeder but I am happy to say that, as of today, it has been found by the bird community. Below are some snaps - papa cardinal, mama cardinal, a woodpecker and a blue jay:

We watched It's A Wonderful Life Christmas morning and, while it was running, I finished my Christmas cards!  Woohoo! Below is our lovely tree this year. I took it down yesterday afternoon.

Another Christmas/birthday gift from Emily are these silly toilet paper holders. We got three and all have found homes in our three bathrooms

Thursday, the 26th, Steven and Tamara were driving through St. Louis in the evening so we drove over to Ballwin to see them and have dinner together - basically Christmas day leftovers. Delicious.

I started my morning walking on Thursday and Friday - not the entire distance but about half and it feels good to be doing that again. Steve and Fred celebrated their 72nd birthdays (Fred's is December 1st and Steve's is January 17th so Christmas week is just about half way between the two) by getting lunch around the corner at the Stellar Hog BBQ. Throughout the week, I have been working on cutting fabric into squares for more quilts to give away. And, we have watched two movies: the 2020 version of The Secret Garden and Empire of the Sun, a 1980's Spielberg that featured a very young Christian Bale. The version of Secret Garden was not exactly true to the book but it was a good watch. I don't remember it taking place around World War II, though. And, Empire of the Sun presented a viewpoint of WWII that one doesn't really think of much - China occupied by Japanese troops and a British prisoners of war camp in Shanghai. We also watched the Christmas special of season one of All Creatures Great and Small and episode one of Skeleton Crew. As we watched the latter, Steve commented that it was reminiscent  of Goonies and I would agree.

This morning, I drove Beckie bright and early to the airport where she was flying to Little Rock to spend some time with Kyle and Micah. Then, home and off to 9:30 church meetings for the last time until 2026. I am looking forward to 12:30 meetings in 2025. Church attendance fell victim to holiday travel and illness and the Primary was the hardest hit. No one in the presidency nor the music people were present so I led the opening exercises with a newly called teacher playing the piano (Chris) and someone not even connected to Primary (Karen) and a mom (Erin) sitting in to help corral six rather wriggly boys for the hour. I had a lesson prepared but it didn't last long so thankfully, Karen thought of the game "button, button" and that kept the boys happy for the last fifteen minutes.  Whew, there is a reason God sent me six girls and only one boy!

The final photos are from the stake Christmas concert that was held two Sunday ago. You can see me playing maracas in the first photo (Steve is in the far right), me conducting the orchestra in the next (Steve is the white shirt guy to my left in front of the rostrum) and me singing in the final picture (and that is probably the top of Steve's head below).

 

The Push To Christmas

By now, dear blog readers, you are used to me filling my days with many, many activities and this week it was goodie making and delivering, a LOT of driving, a LOT of early morning departures and a few late evening bedtimes. It was tiring!

Monday evening, Steve and I drove to the West County Mall where we met the Southerlands at the Giving Machine. Here we are with the items we purchased to donate. 

Temperatures early in the week were so mild that I was able to finish trimming back my roses and mums and NOW, the yardwork is completely finished until early spring. I also went over to the cemetery to finish up the loose ends of photographing the tombstones in section 14. 

Tuesday morning, I had a mammogram at 7:20 in the morning! I spent the rest of the day baking sugar cookies, making cherry-nut cookie doughs (a half-batch each of gluten-free and gluten-full) and doing water colored cards. 

Wednesday morning, Steve and I drove Sally down to Open Door Animal Rescue to be there by 9:00 (meaning we left at 8:20) for her annual vet exam and vaccine updates. I baked the cherry-nut cookies that afternoon and decorated the sugar cookies that evening. 

Thursday morning I left the house at 8:45 to have a left breast ultrasound because the radiologist thought he saw something on the Tuesday mammogram. Happily, after being prodded by the ultrasound tech and getting a more extensive mammogram on the left side, it was determined that it was just a lymph node....WHEW! I was never so happy to be so tortured.  Steve and I walked up and down Bates Street late in the afternoon and delivered goodies to the neighbors. We also went to Fred's where I wrapped three gifts for him (remember he is blind). Kindness Begins With Me had a fundraising event at Panera Bread that evening where they donated part of the cost of a meal to the non-profit so Steve and I had dinner there. I was skeptical about finding anything gluten-free but was pleasantly surprised with their apple pecan salad. Delicious. I had an 8:00 pm rehearsal at the church with string musicians. We had a sextet playing a Christmas medley for church on Sunday and three of those musicians also needed to rehearse their part in a choir number also being sung on Sunday.  

Friday morning I worked on finances while Steve took Fred on multiple errands, including the post office. We went to the temple that afternoon and in the evening, I dipped gluten-free pretzels and nut clusters while we watched The Ultimate Gift. 

Saturday was a temple baptistry shift until 7:00 until 11:00 (meaning we were up by 5:00 and on the road by 6:00). Afterwards, we drove home, ate lunch, packed up the car, took a nap and then drove two hours to Columbia to spend the afternoon/evening with Elise who is not coming here for Christmas because she has to work so much before and after the 25th. We also returned Smokey Bear's cat tree back to Elizabeth and took a little Christmas gift to Melanie and Sal. We didn't do much at Elise's except eat dinner, watching Meet Me In St. Louis while we ate, and we played a few rounds of Tenzie before driving back home at 8:30. We took Sally, the road-trip-loving dog along and that is her in Elise's arms in the photo.

Sunday morning we had to leave the house at 8:15 to be at an 8:30 choir rehearsal. We sang "What Shall We Give?" in church and our rehearsal time with that piece up until then was just not adequate so we really needed to work on it. We had hoped to practice last Sunday after church meetings but a last-minute baptism pre-empted our rehearsal time and so 8:30 in the morning the day of the performance was our only other option. Happily, the members of the choir (basically a double mixed quartet plus one) are all strong musicians and they didn't need a lot of work on their parts. It turned out very well with the string players doing well on their parts, too. The string sextet (one bass, two cellos, one viola, and two violins - me being one of them!) played a medley of "Hark The Herald Angels Sing, Angels We Have Heard On High and Joy To The World" and we sounded pretty good. I then accompanied on piano the family trio that sang "Away In A Manger" and I helped sing along with the Primary children who sang two pieces. Plus, I was on organ that day! I really hate being the Jeanne Lambson show but I guess it is what it is....

Church was only an hour long so we got home early, ate an early lunch, took a little nap and then drove to Ballwin where we joined the Southerlands as they sang carols to three members of their ward. Then, they followed us to our part of town where we sang to three members of our ward. Then we had dinner together at our house and sang a few more carols around the piano. All the Southerlands are such good singers and I think we sounded pretty good. At each house, we just sang two carols and ended with "We Wish You A Merry Christmas". The first photo is us singing at the last house we visited before dinner. Lucy and I handled the alto part and Lucy is a very solid alto! Emily, Larkin and Quinn sang melody, Steve took tenor and Joe and Noah were awesome on bass. (Notice Steve's and my matching Christmas shirts - they are a mock advertisement for the Haynes Sisters singing White Christmas at Columbia Inn in Pinetree, Vermont)

This last photo are of the Southerland grandkids at our house after dinner

I wish I could say I watched a LOT of Christmas movies but, aside from The Ultimate Gift, I watched nothing! Just too busy. BUT, I needed something to watch while I decorated sugar cookies and I just couldn't decide on which Christmas movie to put on (Steve was in a meeting and not able to watch) so I started watching the BBC Sense and Sensibility 3-part mini series (the one with Dan Stevens) and, even though I have seen it a few times before - heck, I OWN the DVD - I got sucked in and ended up watching all three episodes throughout the week. 

This week I am taking it easy - really!

Now we can do Christmas

With Thanksgiving being so late this year and with us making a trip to see Julina the rest of that weekend combined with my surgery....well, getting geared up for Christmas has been a challenge. I just didn't have the brain power to think about decorating, gifts and goodies all at once. Things had to be done in sequence so we got the tree on Wednesday the 4th but decorating just couldn't happen until after the civic orchestra concert on the 7th. So it was not until the 8th that we started to decorate the house. We were able to finish that by Tuesday the 10th.  Thankfully, regarding gifts, I didn't have to go out and buy anything - gifts have been made throughout the year - but I was not able to sit down and organize the wrapping and delivery plan until Wednesday. And now, next week will be goodie making and delivering and card mailing. And, then, the next week is Christmas! And my head is finally in the game...

Back in September, I bought some tulips for my large outdoor pots but our autumn temperatures were so mild that I didn't want to dig up plants that were still blooming to plant them. Then I had my surgery and we had a severe cold snap so, even if I had any energy to plant bulbs, the dirt in the pots was frozen solid. Finally, earlier in the week, we had a nice warm-up so I was able to pull up the dead plants and put in the bulbs. I was also able to winterize some other areas in the yard. I still need to trim back my mums and then I think I can be done with yardwork until spring. 

The choir that Emily sings in has a concert the same time as the stake Christmas concert this evening so I was able to attend her last rehearsal on Tuesday night (I usually have civic orchestra rehearsal on Tuesdays but we are now on hiatus until January). What a lovely time I had - sitting and soaking in beautiful music from a 200+ voice choir! And, Emily and I both wore the same shirts that night!

Beckie joined Steve and me for dinner on Wednesday. Of course, this is a busy time for her at the restaurant so we treasure any time she can spend with us.

I mailed Christmas packages Thursday morning. We enjoyed dinner at our friends, Mike and Karen Bazdresch, Friday evening. We drove to St. Charles Saturday afternoon to connect with Steven to give him his gifts. We will return to St. Charles for our annual visit on Christmas Eve day and Beckie will be joining us. 

The BIG event, though, on Saturday, was my recital that included my private students (those who could attend) and my home school orchestra students. A couple of years ago, Steve and I had visited a senior living facility called the Altenheim when we were deciding where we would live when it came time for us to be put into assisted living. I was impressed with a lovely grand living room that had a piano so I thought it might be a good place to hold a recital. I reached out to them in the fall to see if that could happen and was told "yes". Good - winter recital was all set......only, the piano in the grand living room does not work so my recital yesterday was placed in basically a wide hallway where a "functioning" piano was located. But, this piano was pathetic - it was a half step flat and some of the keys only worked part of the time! I had to place the chairs for the performers a ways away from the piano with chairs for the audience in-between so I not only couldn't hear my students very well, I also could hardly see them. And with this long and narrow venue, we had to leave space for wheelchairs to go in and out of the dining area that was next door!  AND, there was a cage of delightful parakeets at the end of this hallway that wanted to sing along. Plus, it was unbearably hot. NOT the best recital situation but we all made it through and it was blessedly short.  I usually take a group photo but I spaced out and forgot. Here is a photo of me with Arielle, one of my private students. We are in the grand living room area where I had hoped to have the recital. And below that photo are three of my home school students in the wide hallway setting - Payton, Eleah and Damaras.

Here is the whole group and you can see how narrow the space was (and the parakeet cage in the background)

Christmas movie watching has also begun - we caught Muppet Christmas Carol and White Christmas while at Julina's and we saw Lemon Drop Kid last night. We watched Red One on Friday and both Steve and I really enjoyed it. We loved the message that Santa had - and the actor who played him, J.K. Simmons. It was fun to see Bonnie Hunt as Mrs. Claus, too.  I also watched a non-Christmas movie last night called Sugarland Express. It was Steven Spielberg's first feature film and the first time he collaborated with John Williams doing the score. It was based upon a true event and was an interesting, if not sad story about two low-level, criminals in Texas wanting to take their baby away from foster care. 

I played in a cello trio in church this morning and the choir sang "Candlelight Carol". The stake Christmas concert is tonight and I am helping conduct two choir numbers and four orchestra pieces. Then, all I have left in the music performance column is another string ensemble and another choir number next Sunday.  And, then it will be Christmas....

 

Curse the calendar!

How can it already be two weeks since I last blogged?!?!  Life is just zipping by so quickly and I can't seem to find the brakes....

Since my last blog, I turned 69 years old. Steve and I went to breakfast at IHOP where I enjoyed a stack of gluten-free pancakes that were to die for. I drove (for the first time since surgery) to the Monday morning Afghanistan women's group gathering and mostly just sat and worked on a nifty knitter hat since I wasn't up to doing much else. That afternoon, Steve and I did a bunch of errands and he grilled pork steaks for my birthday dinner and he made a delicious chocolate cake for dessert. It was in homage to one just like it that he made for my first birthday with him fifty years ago. I know I have a photo of him holding that cake but we have both looked in our files and can't seem to find it. Sniff. We ended the night by watching Hook.

Fast forward to Thanksgiving on Thursday. Elise arrived Wednesday night and we three watched Pan. It is a Peter Pan origin story that was really quite weird. I don't need to see that one again. Dinner on Thursday was at Emily's. I cooked a twelve pound turkey, made a bunch of gluten-free stuffing and a batch of my mother's cranberry sauce. I also brought a pumpkin cheesecake, a gluten-free pecan pie and a gluten-full blackberry pie. It was nice to not be the host and Emily did a beautiful job of setting two tables. Dinner was so yummy and we had fun afterwards playing games.

Friday morning, after Thanksgiving, Elise, Steve and I loaded up the car (and Sally) and headed to Indiana to spend the weekend with Julina and Alex. A reunion of friends from Elise's time in Indianapolis was planned for Saturday since her former roommate, Rachel and her husband and two kids were in town from San Diego to visit. She reported that it was a great visit. Our time in Greenwood was brief but we were able to attend the temple Friday night - Julina, Elise, Steve and me - and Steve and I were able to take Shiloh to breakfast Saturday morning. 

We headed back to St. Louis Sunday morning after Julina's church meetings and got back home by about 2:30. After a little nap, Elise loaded up her car and Smokey Bear, the cat, and drove to Columbia amid heavy Thanksgiving returning home traffic. Elizabeth, Smokey Bear's "mom" was released from the rehab hospital on Saturday. Missouri got snow on Saturday so we returned to a nice dusting of white (and pretty bitter temperatures!)

 

This first week of December was full of so many non-holiday activities that our house still needs to be decorated. We did manage to get a nice little live tree on Wednesday and we brought it into the house on Friday but it has yet to be strung with lights and ornaments. Maybe tomorrow night? Beckie took Steve and me to visit the Global Market in Kirkwood on Thursday morning and we had such a fun time going up and down the aisles filled with foods from all over the world!  Notice the matching shirts Steve and I are wearing...aren't they fun?

Last night, Saturday, was the St. Louis Civic Orchestra holiday concert. It was full of fun music to play and you can see that the entire cello section was full of the festive spirit.

Today in church, Steve played a lovely Christmas carol, Stars Were Gleaming, in a low brass quartet. Christmas means lots of music at our house for which I am grateful. 

Post surgery week

Not a whole lot to write about the last seven days.  Last Sunday I was wearing a mask to stay healthy, we were washing bed sheets and towels and I was taking two showers - the first with regular soap and the second one with antibacterial soap - and I was getting geared up for a Monday morning out-patient surgery. Only, it turned out to be an overnight stay surgery for reasons I am still not very clear on (blame it on the Versed med that erases memories). But, I think it was because I had more scar tissue around my large intestine which caused the procedure to take three and a half hours rather than the usual two and a half which put me getting out of recovery late in the day (at around 7:00) and because my bladder was already somewhat "angry" (per Dr. Shi who described it having a somewhat inflamed lining). Regardless, I didn't go home until Tuesday morning. Mercy Hospital is a very nice facility and they had several gluten-free options for breakfast, for which I was grateful. Later that morning, I passed the "pee" test meaning I got to leave without a catheter and I was back home in my own bed by noon. Pain has been very manageable with acetaminophen and ibuprofen and I have not had to take even those the last four days. So, for the rest of the week, I have rested, read and watched movies. I am very glad to have it all over with and very glad to have such a helpful husband. He has been great. 

Emily stopped by Thursday to deliver a little care package that included chocolate. I did teach a few lessons - one virtual on Thursday and one in person on Saturday. I attended a baby shower for a bit on Saturday and got to go to church on Sunday. Happily, I was not assigned to play the organ and I didn't have to teach in Primary. I had choir practice afterwards and Steve had a rehearsal after that before we could go home for a quick lunch and nap because then, we attended Noah's choir concert. And, then we returned home for a birthday dinner with the Southerlands and Beckie. And, by the time everyone left at 7:30, I was SUPER tired. Yeah, I pushed it a little that day....

Photos are of Smokey Bear who is getting quite comfortable with the house...jumping on kitchen counters, nibbling on my plants. Enough to remind me that, once he returns home, I don't need to have a cat of my own ever again. And, photos from Noah's concert and the birthday dinner afterwards....

I spy with my little eye, a cat looking out the sliding glass window....

 

The big push

Tomorrow, Monday November 18th, I am scheduled for an out-patient procedure to repair some female plumbing so I have been madly working all week to finish up two major projects - the third volume of my mother's life history and the civic orchestra December concert program. Blurb always has a super Black Friday deal of fifty percent off and, since these books are rather pricy, I want to take advantage of that discount. And, our December concert is on Saturday the 7th and the printer likes to have the program two weeks prior which means they want everything by November 22nd.  This surgery is supposed to be quick and easy but I just don't want to have any possible complications pop up and render me unable to finish my two big projects. I want to RELAX all this coming week - well, and deal with possible pain issues.  As of this blog posting, I have just one last page to do for the program and about ten photos to identify and a table of contents to create. Huzzah!

One thing I will not be able to do for six weeks is lift anything heaver than ten pounds so I have been finishing up some yard winterizing projects. First I dug up my HUGE elephant ears and THAT just about killed me. Those roots are SO heavy! Here are two photos -  how large the plants got this year and the roots with the leaves cut off and just after I have hosed them.

 

We have not had a hard freeze so far but I am glad I dug them up now because I certainly could not have done that after tomorrow. And, Steve's back is getting so bad, neither could he have done it. I also enlisted Steve on Saturday afternoon to help roll up the two garden hoses for storage in the basement all winter..

Beckie came over Thursday morning to join us on our morning walk. We still have beautiful autumn color mid-November!

Our upcoming orchestra concert features a couple of classical pieces like the Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 and the Faure Pavanne but we are including quite a bit of holiday music. Kirsti is also playing in a south Utah Valley community orchestra and both her group and mine are playing the Polar Express. I love that connection!

Last night, Saturday, was a huge Kindness Begins With Me fundraiser - a Trivia Night. A trivia DJ was hired and he prepared eight rounds of ten trivia questions each in assorted categories. There were twenty tables with about eight individuals at each table. One had to pay $200 per table but, with eight players, that is only $25 per person. The fundraiser also had a silent auction and a raffle and other ways to make money throughout the night. Steve was asked to be a judge and I helped sell "grab bags". It was a great success and, in talking to the DJ afterwards, I have learned that St. Louis is particularly keen on their Trivia Nights. I had never been to one before but next year, I plan to buy a table and populate it with me, Steve, Emily, Joe, Noah, Beckie, Elise and Steven. What a formidable team we will be!!! 

One final p.s......We took Sarah to the airport Monday afternoon. And we watched the 1983 Pirates of Penzance with Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt. It was silly and charming (like all Gilbert and Sullivan musicals are)

Sarah's visit to St. Louis

Sarah flew into St. Louis Monday afternoon for a week-long visit. It all started when she bought tickets to the McElroy Brothers who have a podcast she loves to listen to called The Adventure Zone. They were doing a show in Indianapolis on the campus of Butler University. Julina is SO busy that it would have been difficult for her to break away from her work to drive to the airport to pick up and return Sarah so we offered to help and drive to Indy WITH Sarah and make a visit to Julina and Alex out of it. Tuesday morning, we voted in the rain and then left for Indiana at about 10:00.  We had lunch in Casey at our favorite cafe called the Whitling Whimsey and, because it was so wet, we just drove around looking at the larger-than-life items around the little town (huge rocking chair, mail box, pencil, ruler, key, etc) Steve and I have been there before with Emily and the kids (see my blog post from August 1, 2021)  Julina had clients pretty much all the time both days but we got to see snatches of her in-between clients since many of them are virtual. We stayed in a Home2 Suites the two nights we were there. We also brought Sally.  Steve and Alex drove up to the temple Wednesday morning with the help of Thomas, Alex's aid. While they were gone, Sarah and I cleaned all the toys and learning tools that Julina uses with her little ones. Some just had to be wiped with a disinfectant wipe, some were sprayed with Lysol and all the rest got dunked into soapy water followed by Clorox water and then set out to dry on the table covered with towels. It is a rather time-consuming process that she has to repeat over and over since she uses them regularly in her visits so it was good to take that burden off her shoulders just this once. I also did an Aldi run for her that afternoon. Steve, Sarah and I left Wednesday evening at around 6:00 to get Sarah to her concert and, while she was there, Steve and I found a JoAnn and a Culver's and we just hung out and watched an episode of Bull while we waited for Sarah to text that she was done. On Thursday, we returned to Julina and Alex's one last time to say good-bye before heading back to St. Louis. We stopped at Cataract Falls along the way because we knew that Sarah would love it. She did. She and I did the hike from lower falls to upper falls and I enjoyed taking pictures of her taking photos of nature. 

We made it home Thursday afternoon in time for a nap and that evening, while Sarah and Beckie went out to dinner, Steve and had our duties at the Kindness Begins With Me English class. 

Sarah drove to Emily's on Friday to spend some time with her while I had Welcome Center duties early that morning. I  was back in time for Steve to take Fred to get groceries and, that afternoon, we attended the temple. Sarah was coming down with a cold so she rested in the afternoon and returned to the Southerlands to play games that night. 

Saturday was our day to be in Columbia. We left at 6:30 and got there by 8:30....driving in rain almost the whole way.  While Steve, Sally and I visited Melanie and Vikki, Sarah hung out with Steven and Tamara. Vikki has two cats and they were extremely interested in Sally who was on my lap the whole time. I caught some photos of them. 

We all met up at the restaurant Jazz for lunch. Because it was rainy, we couldn't eat out on the patio meaning we had to leave Sally at Elise's. We brought a soft-sided kennel with us for her to stay in. Elizabeth Crippen also joined us for lunch. We all had a good visit, although the restaurant was severely understaffed so it took forever for our food to come! 

After dropping Elizabeth back at her home, we returned to Elise's to get Sally - who had managed to escape from the kennel!!!! - and we headed up to do some shopping at the Amish. Sarah stayed back with Steven and Tamara and Elise stayed home, too. Once we got our items, we picked up Sarah and we returned to Elizabeth's to pick up her cat,  Smokey Bear. Elizabeth is scheduled for a below-the-knee amputation on her right foot this coming Wednesday because her earlier toe amputation was not healing due to poor blood flow (diabetes caused). Since she will be in rehab for at least a month, she is farming out her two cats - Smokey Bear to us and Skunk back to the family that fostered him as a kitten. Here they both are

SO, our drive home, still in the rain, was in a car stuffed with a soft sided kennel for Sally, a small cat carrier with a cat inside, a cat climbing tree, a litter box with three bags of litter, a bag of cat food, treats and toys, a banana box filled with Amish purchases, Sarah, Steve and me! Whew! 

It was a good but a LONG day!  We have put Smokey Bear's litter box and food up on a card table in the basement to keep Sally out of everything and, so far, the cat has not ventured far from that area. Hopefully, he will feel comfortable enough to explore upstairs. Poor furry guy....

Today, Sarah's cold has bloomed into full-blown misery so she has stayed close to home all day with just a bit of time spent with Emily and the Narnia photo shoot. I would have gone, too, but I had a choir and an orchestra rehearsal to run. The stake is doing a Christmas choir concert again and, this year, we are adding a full orchestra comprised of members of the stake. I am conducting two of the choir numbers and all of the orchestra pieces. Today was the third choir practice and Lori, the conductor had a conflict so she asked to to run the rehearsal.  And, it was our first orchestra practice.  I was sad to miss the photo session but, thankfully, Sarah took some candid photos of the Narnia shoot at a really cool, medieval looking location... 

We take Sarah to the airport tomorrow afternoon....