Goodbye August

Garden status: I harvested sixteen more pumpkins!!! 

There are still green ones on the vine of various sizes so I will get another harvest in a few weeks. Tomatoes are on summer break but I might get a fall harvest? Squash and cucumbers are struggling. I planted more lettuce where the green beans were. And, look how the sunflowers are trying to take over the asparagus! 

They are growing up against the fence but have become so heavy that they are falling down over the asparagus. As you can imagine, the sparrows LOVE them!

Kindness Begins With Me is on a short two-week break so Monday mornings and Thursday evenings have been free. I helped fill food orders at the Bishop's Storehouse on Monday morning and Steve and I met Elise at the temple Thursday night. 

Steve saw a retina specialist Monday afternoon and he is scheduled for surgery on September 16th. I had a fasting lipid profile drawn on Thursday to give the doctor a baseline since I am starting a new medicine to help bring my LDL levels down. It is a statin - fifteen years ago I had a hard time tolerating the statin I was on - but this one has supposedly fewer side effects. I have been on it for three days and so far, so good. Anything has got to be better than that Ezetimibe I was on early in August!!!

St. Louis Civic Orchestra had their beginning-of-season picnic Tuesday evening. I was asked to bring dessert so I made three 9X13 sheet cakes (two gluten-full and one gluten-free). Not surprisingly, I brought home almost all of the gluten free cake (yay leftovers). It was nice to see orchestra members again. I have to say, though, that but I am only sort of looking forward to the new season. I'm just not as excited as in previous years, for some reason .....and, maybe because I am getting old? Hopefully, once I start playing and practicing, the enthusiasm will return. 

I spent Friday morning at the church doing assorted projects while Leslie, the Thursday night director of English classes worked in Kindness Begins With Me storage room. Friday afternoon, I drove a friend to her PT appointment. That evening, Steve and I watched his August movie Dave. Boy, I never get tired of that movie. Over Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Steve and I watched the movie A Series of Unfortunate Events loaned to us by Elise. I have not read the books nor seen the television series. The movie was charming, especially the little girl playing Sunny. We are also caught up on Strange New Worlds. This week's episode was hilarious.

Saturday was surprisingly event-free, which was a nice change, and we had friends over for dinner that night with a very easy menu - including leftover GF cake from Tuesday that had been frozen and thawed. 

 

A week in Indiana

But first, we had a back-to-school ice cream social Sunday evening at our house with Beckie, Emily, Joe, Lucy, Quinn and Larkin. Noah was doing his own ice cream thing working at Oberwiess.  I made simple vanilla with an ice cream maker that was given to us second hand. And, now I understand why....the motor is just a wimp (probably too old) and it couldn't churn the mixture to a hard enough consistency. Think soft serve soup! We poured it into a large flat cake pan and froze it for about 30 minutes which made it just soft serve. It was still yummy, though, and it was fun to visit with everyone.

Speaking of back-to-school, I just have to share my first day of first grade photo from 1961. 

Tuesday afternoon, Steve and I headed to Greenwood, Indiana. Alex needs help to attend the temple and the thought was that, if we were there a few days, at least one of the days he would feel able to go. And, so a temple trip happened Friday morning. And it went well! 

The rest of the time was spent doing whatever we could to help Julina....fixing meals, getting a flat tire to be replaced, cleaning, mending, and I did some yard work a couple of mornings. 

At the Greenwood library, just around the corner from the house, Julina had a display of some fabric art she made back when she was in college so we took a little "field trip" to see it on display.

Julina had to work all the days we were there. But, not on Saturday so she and I escaped for a couple of hours that morning to Newfields. It is an art museum and a botanical garden complex that used to be the private estate of the Lily family (of pharmaceutical fame). Temperatures were perfect and we had a really lovely time enjoying all the late summer gardens.

Included in the admission price was the ability to go inside the Lily mansion. I loved the library with the gorgeous ceiling and the built in bookcases with the alcoves on top to hold busts of famous authors.

There was a place in the basement for kids of all ages to create their own gardens using wooden trees and pieces of felt. Here is our garden creation...

We left Greenwood a little before 3:00 pm and had an uneventful drive back to St. Louis.

Steve and I are caught up on Strange New Worlds episodes and we watched a movie Friday evening called Six Days In August that told about the drama around the succession to Brigham Young from Joseph Smith. It was pretty good. Our heat wave has moved on and we are enjoying much better temperatures but, sadly, not much rain has fallen so, when we returned from Indiana last night, I spent the rest of the evening watering. And, that was our week....

Second week in August

Kindness Begins With Me wrapped up their spring/summer session this week with a final Women's Monday activity and a potluck dinner on Thursday. The plan on Monday was to go to a pool. This is not as simple as it sounds because the pool has to be completely ours to use since no men can be present. It was cancelled last year but this year looked promising until we had a very heavy - and very lovely - rain storm on Sunday. I guess enough debris got into the pool that they had to cancel again this year. So, we took the women and their families to the zoo instead (hooray for a free zoo!!!). I made a total of four trips (two there and two back) and, in the middle time, I went to the nearby St. Louis Community College library to cull my medical files. Not the most fun activity (I would have much rather read my book) but it was necessary. Since I cannot tolerate the new cholesterol medicine, I needed to do a deep dive into my cholesterol history and the files were the first step. The library was delightfully cool and calm and I had a productive couple of hours. 

The potluck dinner on Thursday was a success. I had ironed simple embroidery designs onto twenty four dish towels on Tuesday night for women to take home and work on. Plus, I brought the rest of the sewing projects not chosen the week before and I laid them out on a table in the corner of the hall. By the end of the night, the table was empty. Whew! Now we'll see how the women do with their projects. 

I had thought that making toddler hats would be a good idea but, after sewing two up as samples, I have concluded that they are kind of hard and time consuming so only a really good seamstress should tackle them. I also sewed up two more tote bags as samples. Here they all are...

We spent some time with Lucy on Tuesday. She likes to go "thrifting" so we visited a Goodwill and a Savers where she found two complete school outfits (top and shorts). I found an almost brand new Manhasset music stand for $8 and Steve found a winter shirt for 75% off (it cost all of $1.50). We finished our time together at Panera where Lucy got her favorite macaroni and cheese. 

On Friday evening, Steve and I went to the Cardinals - Yankees game. We rode the Metro in and back, as usual, and, because Steve is a huge fan of both teams, he brought two t-shirts and changed into whichever one represented whoever was at bat!!! 

Everyone who attended got a Chris Carpenter bobble head!

It was stupid hot that night and the Cardinals lost but, it was fun to be there with Steve.

Let's see.....what other activities kept me busy this past week? We had a new couple in the ward over for cookies and milk on Monday evening. They are roughly Julina's age and are here with the Air Force. All their children are adults and out of the house. It was nice to get to know them. We had Emily Hughes, a woman about Elise's age, over for dinner on Saturday. I was able to do a bit of oil painting on Wednesday - that was satisfying. And I have finally completed my Ed and Mable Fraedrich posterity chart. It will soon be sent out in the first ever Fraedrich cousin newsletter. I have been working on it off and on all summer so I was very happy to be finished. 

We watched Inception last night. My third watch and Steve's first. Whew! That is an intense movie but I think Steve enjoyed it. I watched Miracle while I was ironing dish towels. It was good. We are trying to keep up with Strange New Worlds.  I like that writers are connecting characters and events to the original series. 

Hello, August

 Hot and dry would describe the first week of August. Although, happily, it hasn't been as hot as the July heat wave. The garden is winding down except for the pumpkin patch. I harvested nine pie pumpkins yesterday and there are probably the same amount still green and growing. They will all be cooked and mashed and put into ziploc bags to be frozen for Sally's breakfast mixture of ground up dry food, wet food, pumpkin and a splash of cranberry juice. Yum yum!

The photo below is what happens when one is bored. 

We switched cell phone providers this past week. This is such a PROCESS that there really needs to be compelling reasons to do so. Well, Steve needed a new phone (his Motorola kept spazzing out) and we realized, after last week with no cell service at Johnson's Shut-Ins, that we needed to get with a carrier that provided better coverage. So, I found that Consumer Cellular (a.k.a. the company geared for old people 😄) could give us the same plan for the same amount of money we were already paying. And,  we switched. The photo above is Steve with the box that held his new Samsung phone while I was on the phone with the new provider trying to get his phone set up and mine unlocked and it took FOREVER (it seemed).

Speaking of old people, I went to an audiologist for the first time on Tuesday. Yes, I have some hearing loss but No, it is not time for hearing aids. Whew....

It is also not time for a new hip but, honestly, there were a few days when I wondered. Remember I needed to blood test to determine if my liver could tolerate a new anti-cholesterol medicine? My liver passed so I started taking Ezetimibe on Monday, July 28. On Wednesday, the 30th, my right hip started to hurt. I wondered if I had pulled a muscle while at Johnson's Shut-Ins. The pain persisted and, every time I put weight on my right leg, I would never know if I would have shooting pain! It was awful. Last Tuesday, I had the thought to look up the side effects of Ezetimibe and, guess what? Muscle and join pain are two of them!!!! I stopped taking the pills that night and two days later, I was pain free. Well, I guess we will have to battle my LDL cholesterol a different way....

Most of my week was consumed with sewing projects for the Afghanistan women - particularly the ones in my class who are the newest to this country. They seem to be the most in need of things to do - to keep themselves busy but to also help with the family income. It started with Kindness Begins With Me purchasing three sewing machines. But, apparently, that was not enough. They also want to sew items that Americans will buy (think tote bags, toddler hats, aprons, drawstring bags, small zippered bags, reusable snack bags for children, fabric bags that hold plastic grocery bags) and they neither have  the resources nor the knowledge of where to start with such an endeavor. SO, last Saturday, I went to the City Sewing Room which is the most awesome place for someone who sews. It is a thrift store for fabric and everything is sold by the pound. I found fifteen pounds of fabric that was suitable for all of the projects that I listed above. I also found patterns (which are free) and elastic and thread. On Sunday, I went to my friend Karen's house who has totes and totes of fabric she gets from estate sales and thrift stores and I brought home more fabric, thread, and even a few pairs of scissors. Then, on Monday, I went to the church and organized all the fabric into piles - one for each project. Steve and I went to the temple Tuesday night and, afterwards, we stopped at Emily's to get a child-sized apron to make a pattern and to get a reusable snack bag as a sample. I had to return to the City Sewing Room after my audiology appointment to find more pieces of fabric for the snack bags and to buy interfacing for the hats. Throughout the week, I made up a couple of sample tote bags. Finally, on Thursday night, the ladies in my class got to choose which sewing project (s) they wanted to do. There were some other women not in my class who also were interested and they also got to choose projects. And, I still have more fabric left and, next Thursday, at the final night of the spring/summer session (from April after Ramadan to mid-August) other women can scoop up the rest of the projects. No one wanted to do the toddler hats so I think I will make up a couple of samples to hopefully generate some interest. Kindness Begins With Me is sponsoring an International Refugee Day in September with a pickle ball tournament and other activities and the women can sell their wares at that event. They can also sell at the annual Trivia Night in November. And, hopefully, through the Kindness website going forward. Whew! What a week it was. I hope it all works out for them....

We closed the chapter on Andor/Rogue One by watching Star Wars-A New Hope. We also watched a little known movie called Big Trouble. It was based upon a book written by Dave Barry and it was made in 2001. Unfortunately, the plot of the movie involved bombs and planes and it was just too soon after 9/11 so it never really caught on, understandably. Being from the pen if Dave Barry, it was pretty funny but it also had a lot of potty language, sadly, even though it was PG-13. We also watched two episodes of Strange New Worlds and they continue to be so good! 

Steve and I took a bike ride to the cemetery across the street yesterday morning so I could take more photos for Billion Graves and we fed the sister missionaries last night and that pretty much wraps up our week.

Cardinals Game and Johnson's Shut-Ins

The first part of this past week was still under the horrible heat wave so the poor Steves had to endure the miserable temperatures as they attended a Cardinals vs. Marlins baseball game. You can see how high up they were so they did get a bit of an occasional breeze. The last photo was taken by Elizabeth's ministering sister - Kaitlin - who I have met and we text back and forth occasionally about Elizabeth's challenges. Anyway, she just so happened to be at the same game in the same section. Small world. 

The original plan was for both Steven and Elise to join us and the Southerlands down at Johnson's Shut-Ins Wednesday and Thursday. Then Steven and Tamara got little Biscuit which meant Steven was out. He still drove over for the game and stayed at our house overnight but he left very early Wednesday morning to be back in Columbia in time to care for puppy-boy so Tamara could attend her curriculum meetings. Elise also arrived Tuesday night and she and I watched Runaway Bride while the boys were at the game. That movie is still delightful!

Wednesday morning, Elise, Steve and I headed down to Johnson's Shut-Ins (we had a dog sitter for Sally here at home). Southerlands left about thirty minutes after we did. The water, albeit a bit warmer than usual due to the heat, was still SO refreshing. Steve and I hung out in the upper pool but the rest of the gang went down the shut-ins. That time has definitely passed for Steve and me. Mostly because the climb back out is so difficult nowadays for us. But, we were perfectly content to just relax in the water where we were. A cold front blew in Wednesday afternoon, bringing a torrential downpour. Thankfully, we were finishing up in the water anyway since it was time to check into our camper cabins (we got two this year). Understandably, there is hardly any cell phone service at Johnson's Shut-Ins which was really not a problem for anyone (except Noah) until it was time to check in. Then, it became a real nuisance since the absence of park employees required an on-line check in.  Happily, Elise's cell phone carrier (AT&T) did provide service (Booo T-Mobile and Spectrum). We finally got checked in and received our four digit unlocking code to the front doors of the cabins and we were able to dry off, eat a taco salad dinner, have a small fire (with dry wood we had brought) for s'mores and play some dominoes. -  

After a lovely night's sleep (for some of us, at least), we enjoyed a cold breakfast (we deliberately did NOT plan to do any camp cooking this time around - it was just too hot to even think about building a fire) and then we returned to swim the morning away. Water temps were cooler and I think poor Quinn, who has absolutely NO body fat, shivered the entire time, but we all loved our time there. We left after a picnic lunch and we were home by 4:00 (in time to feed Sally)

The last two photos are the storm clouds brewing as we walked out and the Southerlands waiting on the porch for the door code while rain pours in the background.  

The following photos are at the cabin.

You might have observed an absence of Noah in almost all of the photos. Well, he had his four impacted wisdom teeth removed the week before so he was really not thrilled to be camping or swimming. 

That pretty much wraps up the week. Steve and I watched Star Wars - A New Hope on Saturday night to finish up our Andor/Rogue One marathon. The cooler temperatures have been SO welcome. We have even turned off the AC and opened windows, it has been so pleasant. But, summer is certainly not over and I know we are headed for heat again but it has been a wonderful respite.