Buying shoes in the sixties

 Steve and I were reminiscing a while back about what it was like to buy shoes when we were kids. Steve remembers Poll Parrot shoes, including the jingle sung by the animated parrot:  "Poll Parrot, Poll Parrot, the shoes you want to buy. They make your feet run faster, as fast as I can fly". We both remember Buster Brown shoes and Red Goose Shoes that came with a plastic golden egg with a prize inside. So, of course, we always wanted to buy a pair of Red Goose Shoes. But, they were on the pricy side so we honestly don't remember owning a pair.  Wealthier neighbors, did, though, and we were envious. I usually got my shoes from the J.C. Penny shoe department. Since Steve's mom worked for Penny's, that is where he got his shoes, too.  There was no "self - service" buying at J.C. Penny. You wandered around looking at the different shoes on display, deciding what style you liked, and then you waited for a shoe sales person to come to you. 

                                                              

The sales person measured your foot to determine the size and width using the device shown above. Then, the employee went into the back room and to bring out boxes with the styles of shoes you had chosen to try on.

Tennis shoes were not typically worn for school. We wore leather-type shoes. I had a pair of saddle shoes when I was in first grade. 

It was in summer that Steve always got a pair of tennis shoes. Red Ball Jets or Keds were the big brands of the day. And, he remembers how fast he felt he could run with his new shoes (like the kid in Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury).

How can May be over???

 Wow, because I felt yucky for half of the month, May just slipped by! I wish I could say I am back to one hundred percent better but I am not. I had a chest x-ray done earlier in the week and my lungs are clear of pneumonia but not of the clear phlegm I am still coughing up off and on. And, right about noon each day, I start to feel slight body aches so that I need to take some ibuprofen and have a good nap. My nurse practitioner informs me that I will eventually feel completely better but it will take more than a few days.  So, I just have to be patient and turn a blind eye to all the yardwork that needs to be done for another week or so. Sigh. 

We had no Afghan refugee responsibilities this past week: Monday was the holiday and Thursday night English classes were cancelled because the church was getting all new flooring. We had church services today but the cultural hall was closed off to let the paint cure on the brand new hardwood flooring. The smell of the new carpet was pretty strong.  Even without all the driving to and from the Welcome Center, we had the usual outings throughout the week - the temple and grocery store. And, Thursday morning, Steve needed to have bloodwork done up at Barnes Jewish Hospital which is close to Left Bank Books where I had a gift certificate to cash in (from Kirsti). I bought three books (with some of my personal money thrown in).

Steve and I have been plowing through season two of Star Trek Discovery but, going forward, we are going to limit ourselves to one show a week. I picked up four DVDs from the library on Friday but then discovered our DVD/BlueRay player is not working! Happily, it was on it's last legs when Steve watched his May movie, The Sound of Music, on Friday night. 

We attended Larkin's dance recital Saturday afternoon. That young lady has an excellent sense of rhythm and she did a great job. I had not taken any ibuprofen so Steve and I left early so I could do so and go to bed. So, no photo of Larkin, darn it!

And, now June and summer is upon us.....

The sickness lingers on

Well, it is now almost two weeks since I caught this cold virus and I am still not up to 100%.  Thankfully, though, the awful sore throat is gone!  I can swallow without wincing. However, as for the cough and congestion -  I am still battling it. I have tried ALL sorts of treatments and meds - some prescription, some over the counter, and right now, I am taking a 4 hour cough syrup at night and sleeping propped up in bed. I do a nasal rinse three times a day. I suck on cough drops almost non-stop. the coughing fits come on unexpectedly and sometimes I can hardly catch my breath. I have no energy. I am not running a fever so I don't think I have pneumonia. Ugh.

But, life has to go on and so I still drove women to English class and women's group during the week. We still did grocery shopping. I still paid bills and taught music lessons. Beckie and I managed to take a short walk Thursday morning. On Friday, her wound doctor put her in a hard cast to prevent any weight going on the ball of her left foot. After it was put on, she had to stop by the house to borrow our cane because she feels so unsteady on her feet. Happily, she only had one shift of work that evening before she got to leave for a little vacation to Arkansas over the Memorial Day weekend. Hopefully, by the time she returns, she will have gotten better adjusted to walking. (she rode down to Kyle and Micah's with Charles and Jim and their two dogs).

Helping me get through my illness, I have enjoyed the entire first season of Monsters at Work (a Monster's Inc. spin-off on Disney+). It was delightful. Steve and I finished season one of Star Trek Discovery and have started in on season two. I read two lovely e-books called Pax, Journey Home and Theo of Golden. And, maybe I already wrote that I watched Spiderman, No Way Home to prep for the new movie coming out this summer. 

Steve paid a visit to a pain doctor on Monday for his back.  There are signs of arthritis above and below where he had is spinal surgery back in 2018. Physical Therapy is first, then they will see what is next.  In spite of the pain he suffers, he still managed to mow the front lawn Monday morning which was a GOOD THING because we have had rain the rest of the week! So, even if I had any energy, I would not have been able to do the back lawn. 

Some big events happened last weekend that I did not write about. Kirsti ran her first marathon! What an accomplishment and we are all so proud of her.

And, Steven and Julina celebrated birthdays last weekend. Steven turned 44 and Juli turned FIFTY! 

Steve and I are currently in Indiana for a belated birthday celebration with Juli and Alex. We got to attend the temple yesterday morning. And, we had a fun game of Qwirkle (sans Alex) last night.  Photo #1 shows a fairly somber duo until I told them to smile for photo #2. Pretty funny contrast...

 

The lost week revisited

Before Joe and Vicki Southerland left for Boston last Wednesday morning, Vicki graciously offered to help me with a little bit of yard work! The shrubs growing on the fence line were starting to get out of hand and she trimmed them back, bless her. The second shot is of her wheelbarrowing them back to the alley's yard waste dumpster. Joe was, at the time, in Las Vegas at a family funeral. He flew out Sunday morning and returned Tuesday evening. Vicki spent as much time with the grandkids as she possible could. We were happy to be the hotel. (dare I say, the Bates Hotel???!!!)

I love the sound of trickling water and I thought I would achieve it with this little solar fountain. But, I have very few spots near my house that is in continuous sunlight and this device is super sensitive so even if part of the solar panel is obscured, it stops working. Oh, well.  And the other backyard addition is this air conditioner cage. I guess thieves are breaking into them to get the precious metals and copper and it is much cheaper to buy a cage than an entire new unit. We had the money in our savings so we had this made. He makes them to fit each unit and it came with a nifty super-lock! Take that, you thieves!

Finally, photos from Emily's choir concert on Sunday. You can see her second from the left on the second row from the bottom. She has the pink scarf.

 

Life Derailed

 I started coming down with a cold on Wednesday but, being in the early stages, I was able to do the things I had hoped to do - like plant the green bean and squash seeds. On Monday and Tuesday, I got the planters and front flower bed planted with snapdragons, marigolds, and impatiens. From Thursday on, I have been down for the count....Extremely sore throat, bad cough, fever, general malaise. I DO feel like I turned a corner last night and I was able to attend Emily's choir concert this afternoon and only had to leave the hall once with a coughing fit. So, this is all I will blog about this week. Until later....Sorry. 

Even more concerts, a graduation, and a colonoscopy

It was Beckie's first foray into the world of colonoscopies on Tuesday and I was her driver there and back. She was given a clean bill of health and the charge to return in ten years. 

Wednesday evening was Quinn's middle school orchestra concert. Here he is with a Lucy photo-bomb

Thursday evening was another middle school orchestra concert for Ben, one of my cello students. I got to hear the piece "Night Shift" both nights! (It is a quintessential piece to teach shifting to beginning strings students. I conducted it when I was teaching summer strings back in the day)

Usually we drive Afghan families to English class on Thursday nights but Archway Refugee Connections was receiving an award so classes were cancelled. But, guess who got to substitute teach for English 0.5 on Monday morning? Yep, lucky me. I get to do it again for two more weeks and I have to say, technology is NOT my friend so I end up ad-libbing much of the time. Stressful...

Elise came into town Thursday evening since it was Noah's graduation weekend. Here she is visiting neighbor dog, Paluche.

She joined Steve and me at the temple Friday morning. She also joined us watching the classic movie The Thin Man Friday night. It was a pretty good who-done-it but wow, the alcohol flowed in every scene! Crazy! Joe and Vicki Southerland also arrived Friday evening. They stayed in the guest room. Elise slept in Steve's bed and Steve took the recliner while everyone was here. Steve's back and hips have problems with his bed so he spends many nights in the recliner, anyway. Saturday was the BIG DAY for Noah. Steven and Tamara and Biscuit drove to Ballwin for the family brunch at 11:00. Beckie was also there. Graduation started at 3:00 and, 500 graduates later, it was over at 5:00. We encountered long traffic lines to get to the Arena and long human lines to get into the building (metal detectors really slow things down). Here is Steve at the end of the line!

Whew. Here are photos of the day:

 

Lucy, Quinn and Larkin loved getting to know Biscuit!

Sunday, Mother's Day, was lovely and peaceful.  I finished the book The Correspondent this week. I thought it was a good read. And, I will close with the Canada goose pair who rule the neighborhood Walmart! Here they are guarding the entrance!

Concerts and the usual craziness

Noah, our oldest grandchild, graduates from high school this year and the next two weeks are going to be full of all things high school senior.  On Wednesday, the last orchestra concert of the year for Marquette was held and Steve and I got to attend. Lucy, being a freshman, also played in the concert. Here are Noah and Lucy afterwards.  Noah is holding a spider plant - a gift from his orchestra teacher who gives all the seniors a plant.  The concert was very good. Lucy is in the "lowest" ensemble but, even that level played very well. Noah played bass in the middle orchestra and he was phenomenal. I loved watching how skilled he was with the music and the pieces that Mr. Ordway, the director, chose were really fun to listen to. The highest orchestra is a small chamber orchestra and they played Summer from Vivaldi's Four Seasons and it was SO good. The first violinist (and soloist) "directed" the rest of the players in true Baroque style and he was professional level! The orchestra was right there with him the whole time. 

All of the seniors in all three orchestras had their own poster (self written) taped to the walls outside the performing arts center and here is Noah's. It matches his quirky personality. I found it interesting that none of the seniors were going to major in music - even the Vivaldi soloist!

Steve and I got to spend some time with Quinn at the World Bird Sanctuary which had their "Eagle Days| on Saturday.  The highlight of the day was having a bald eagle fly over our heads!

 

Yesterday, Sunday, Steve and I got to attend two Southerland concerts. The first one at 3:00 was Noah's Sheldon All-Star Chorus concert where he had a solo, he was honored for singing four years with the group. It was a great concert.  Then, at 6:30, we heard Lucy sing with the Rising Generation Choir. She had a solo in one of the numbers. Another great concert.

When we weren't going to concerts we endured a severe weather outbreak on Monday and a computer kerfuffle where we were locked out of signing in. It required a trip to Best Buy to get it solved. Tuesday we were embroiled in figuring out why the IRS couldn't direct deposit our refund into our bank account. Wednesday we had a House Calls visit from our health insurance. Thursday afternoon, we picked up Joey Chapman from school and drove him home. His mom doesn't have a car and, even if she did, her surgery recoveries would prevent her from driving. So, most Thursdays it is our turn to be chauffer. That evening we drove people to English classes. Steve mowed the front lawn on Friday. We managed to fit in three episodes of Star Trek Discovery towards the end of the week as well as a bike ride on Friday evening and a bonfire Saturday evening. I finished sewing straps onto 60 messenger-type bags that will be handed out to the youth participating in Trek this summer. They will use these bags to hold journals, I think. I only had to do half of the straps. Another woman made all 120 bags and sewed the other half of the straps on. What a project!