September becomes October

The week started with a Holly Hills Improvement Association community meeting Monday night at the nearby YMCA Rec Center. We heard from our alderwoman and state senator - both very capable individuals.  There was a long discussion on the local park and keeping the roads open or closed.  And, the meeting provided lots of interesting information.  First of all, someone passed out a sheet listing all the home sales for the last year.  As a person who always checks out Zillow when passing by a "house for sale", it was fun to see the high and low ends in our area.  Bates Street, the northern boundary of Holly Hills, and Bergen Street just south of Bates, definitely had the lower prices.  Continuing south, the prices raised dramatically.  While Bates and Bergen might be the red-headed step children of Holly Hills, it is still nice to be attached.  And, I just love our little house.  

On Tuesday, this happened....

That cedar tree is actually in the next door neighbor's yard but it has been leaning over into ours for who knows now many years.  And, it has been dropping leaves and berries like crazy.  There is another non-leaning cedar on the other side of the huge oak and it doesn't drop anything.  I have been sweeping and raking up cedar debris for a couple of months now.  That is Sergio, our neighbor, in the photo.  He enlisted some friends and they cut it all down.  If you look closely, you will see the leg of his friend at the top of the photo. 

 They also trimmed some lower branches on the oak tree and now it looks so nice and neat but thankfully, we still have the lovely afternoon shade.  (just a reminder that we have no trees at all on our actual property)  Hopefully, they can get some cash for the cedar trunks.  And, even though the trees were not ours, we feel we should pay them something.  I can't say enough how tremendous our next door neighbors are.   They even created a cute little wood pile on our soon-to-be-finished fire pit....

Every morning this week, I have been whittling away at digging up the back part of the yard.  The goal is to not have grass to mow and to have a corn and pumpkin patch and more flowers.  Below is where things are as of Friday

I have felt like an archeologist during all this digging.  Below are some of the artifacts I have uncovered.  I regret throwing away the rusted length of chain I found early on.  I am also creating rock piles at the chain link fence posts.  Every morning, I take my shovel, my spade, and my cell phone encased in a zip-lock bag and I listen to podcasts as I methodically dig up dead grass (which Steve killed with Round-up awhile ago) and toss it into a yard tub.  I feel confident I will finish by frost.

All this is on the east side of our newly created driveway to the back alley.  On the west is much less grass and once I get it all dug up, I think I will just let it all be zinnia and cosmos next year.  The zinnias are still going strong and I have fresh flowers around my house all the time. 

I also have flowers from my shamrock plant pretty much all the time, too....

Kyle and Micah have officially moved out of their home on McDonald and I was the beneficiary of some of their plants.  There's always room for one more plant, right???

While I am out working in the yard every morning, Sally and Linus LOVE to join me.  In fact, when it is rainy and I am not doing yard work, they wander around the house acting lost.  Most of the time, they just hang out near me but Linus likes to hit the tomato plants and EAT tomatoes!  And Sally likes to crawl under the deck and hunt rabbits.  When she does, she often comes out with all kinds of debris on her coat.

Here they are "helping" make the bed.

With my St. Louis Civic Orchestra connections, I got two free tickets to a local theater production of  Jersey Boys on Friday night.  It was held at the gorgeous Kirkwood Performing Arts Center in a very well-to-do part of town and it was certainly NOT an amateur undertaking.  It was more like off-Broadway quality!  Steve and I visited a gelato establishment before the show and we had a lovely date night.  (The theater was extremely Covid conscious - we had to show our vaccination cards and wear masks the whole time)

Beckie's apartment water was shut off for the last half of the week for repairs so she stayed with us for a couple of days - which was nice.  And the dogs LOVED it!  While Steve was at Wednesday night youth activity, she and I watched "News of the World" and really enjoyed it.  It portrayed a post Civil War Texas - a time and place that one doesn't hear much about.  

Finally, as you probably know, Steve and I walk every morning for about thirty minutes and we pick up trash.  I collect aluminum cans and turn them in periodically for cash which is a nice reward for our efforts.  Friday morning, I collected something more valuable than cans.  Someone had dumped this perfectly good Cardinals t-shirt on the sidewalk.  It was wadded up and we couldn't tell even that it was a Cardinals shirt until we got it home and washed it.  And, it is a Wainwright shirt!  That thing costs at least $30 to buy.   Steve is disappointed that it was not in his size....But it fits me perfectly.

We have finished out the week with General Conference.  That is always a nice weekend - to clear our calendars and to just sit and enjoy the inspiring messages.

 

Welcome autumn

The windows are open and I can hear the bells from the nearby Catholic church.  What a lovely sound!  We have had great temperatures all week allowing us to turn off our brand new air conditioner.  We are supposed to get into the 90's early this next week so getting that AC now was still a good idea!

We had a full week.  Monday was recovering from our extensive Sunday driving to Hillsboro and then to Columbia and back.  We took a bike ride that evening - first one we have had in a week or so.  Tuesday we volunteered to help clean the temple from 12-4:00 and that was physically tiring.  We cleaned lockers inside and out in the women's dressing room so it required a lot of bending and stretching.  We got home in time to have Beckie over for dinner and then I dashed out the door to orchestra rehearsal.  As the administrator, I have to arrive early to set up a sign-in table so I can take temperatures of all the musicians.  They then record that temperature next to their name, sign their initials, and they are good to go into the rehearsal hall.  Masks are worn at all times but, if the wind players have been vaccinated, they can remove their masks when they play.  The brass are supposed to have bell covers.  Small lined trash cans are to be near the brass section to empty spit valves into.  SO many protocols to follow at this time....

Wednesday was grocery shopping in the morning and in the evening, we went with the church youth to Forest Park to a free Saint Louis Symphony outdoor concert on Art Hill.  

 

As you can see, there were a LOT of people in attendance.  We decided to pay $10 to park at the zoo lot and that made for a much shorter walk to the venue.  We brought a young brother and sister along in our car and, because of our parking decision, got there before the rest of the ward youth.  One of the leaders went to the hill in the afternoon to place blankets down to save our place.  The orchestra played familiar favorites and they were amplified so we could hear even if we couldn't see much other than the shell with blobs of red dressed musicians.  Temperatures were cool enough that light jackets were nice.  And, they ended with fireworks!  

Thursday, Linus got a haircut.  I asked them to also trim his face and he really looks different!  

Friday we drove out to Ballwin to see the Southerlands and to get a report of their amazing Disney cruise from the weekend before.  Emily had to leave for a photo shoot so we an hour or two with the grandkids before Joe got home from work.  All four, Noah, Lucy, Quinn, and Larkin, had just glowing reports on their adventures on the cruise.  They are at the perfect age to enjoy and remember.  Quinn dressed up in the prince costume he got as part of his visit to the Bibbety Bobbety Boutique.  Pretty schmancy!

Once Joe got home, Steve and I headed over to nearby Babler State Park to camp out that night.  We bought a new 6-person tent at Aldi a couple of months back and we wanted to try it out.  When we camped in early June with the ward, we were in a 3-person tent and with two blow-up twin air mattresses inserted, it was pretty cramped.  Add two dogs and it was like we were in a bouncy house.  This new tent is extremely roomy - tall enough to stand up, space for the two mattresses and a walk-way in-between for the dog beds.  And, it is waterproof as we learned over night when an unexpected rain shower blew through for a couple of hours.  It rained enough to get the firewood wet so we didn't even try to cook our breakfast.  We just loaded up everything and drove home to eat and where we set up the tent again in the back yard to dry out.  We did this fairly early in the morning but we weren't worried about bothering our "neighbors" as they weren't worried about bothering us during the night with their loud talking and swearing.  We will not camp on a Friday night again if we can help it because the campgrounds are crowded.  We will camp during a weekday when hopefully, we will have less neighbors and they might be older with no children and less inclined to have potty mouths.

Thursday night, Steve and I watched the last three episodes of Season 3 of Manifest.  Can't wait for Season 4 finale to arrive - we need closure!  Last night, we watched "The Christmas Candle" on the Roku station.  It was pretty good.  Kind of predictable.

Below is a photo Steve took of me one morning this week.  I kept falling asleep during my scripture study so I finally just gave in and put my head down for a little pre-walk nap.  And, the last photo shows what happens when one puts a water bottle in the dishwasher!  What a shock! Who knew?

Last Sunday evening, our stake realigned some ward boundaries and our meetinghouse will now have two wards meeting in it.  Our ward added a few families from the Webster Groves ward and we will get to meet them today after sacrament meeting at a meet and greet.  And, our meeting times have been changed to noon to 2:00.  This gives me more time in the morning to blog and do other types of family history so I am happy.  I just hope I can stay awake, though, since meetings are now during my usual nap time!  And today, I am particularly sleepy since I took some vertigo medicine this morning.  Oh, well....

 

Hello new air conditioner!

Whooeee, it was HOT earlier in the week and life was pretty miserable without an air conditioner.  We mentioned our plight to Fred, the neighbor with whom we walk every morning, and he told us he had a room unit we could borrow until we got our problem fixed.  It was large and heavy (you should have seen us wheeling it down the sidewalk) and the hose was kind of persnickety until we found the right kind of tape to keep it in place but it was a God-send!  

We put it in our TV room and that became our sanctuary for the next two days.  

On Wednesday, we had a new air conditioner AND heater installed.  Both were ancient and the AC would work more efficiently with a new heater.  Plus, you might recall the week we went without heat last November while we waited for THAT repair.  SO, out with the old....

and in with the new....

Orchestra started up on Tuesday evening.  It was wonderful to be playing again.  

Steve and I visited the Missouri Botanical Gardens on Friday afternoon.  They currently have an origami art display.....large, painted metal structures made to look like origami that are situated throughout the gardens.....and they were beautiful.  

Steven came in to town on Saturday and after we went to the temple, we hopped on the Metrolink and went to a Cardinals game.  It happened to be the 10th anniversary of the year that the team won the World Series so there was a pre-game ceremony that brought the players together again for recognition and a photo at home plate.  They also gave out free bobble heads of David Freese, a home town boy who was the most valuable player in the play offs and the series.  The early part of the game was score-less (and kind of boring) but the Cardinals managed to pull off a win in the last innings, including a home run.

The rest of the week was busy with the usual activities - shopping, cleaning, yard work, practicing, two cello lessons.  I managed to watch a movie Thursday night while Steve had church duties - "Adrift".  Good.  Intense.  

This afternoon and evening will also be intense - At 3:00, I have a performance with the quartet at a small college in Hillsboro (36 miles south of here).  It is the saxophone quintet.  Then, Steve and I will drive to Columbia to listen to Elise perform with the Baptist choir at 6:30 and we will return home right after.  Hooray for Beckie for watching the dogs.  

 

RIP air conditioner

 Well, the inevitable happened - our failing air conditioner finally stopped working.  Oh, the motor still goes and goes but we have no cool air.  And, of course, it went down on a weekend.....a rather warm September weekend.  I have the three house fans blowing and the attic fan going full blast and so at least the air is moving around in the house.  It also cools off very nicely at night so a comfortable sleep is attainable.  I am calling the HVAC company tomorrow....

The week started with Labor Day and a backyard pancake breakfast with our next-door neighbors, Sergio, Enedina and their three children; Edwin (18), Sergio Jr. (14), and Giselle (10).  Both Sergio and Enedina work at the same restaurant so getting them off together is practically impossible.  Happily, they both had Labor Day off.  They are a lovely family and a great example of hard workers.  After lunch and a nap, Steve and I drove to Ballwin to join the Southerlands at their neighborhood pool for one last swim of the summer.  Then we returned to their house for a cookout.  Beckie and Micah joined us for that. 

 I managed to sneak in quick piano lessons with the three oldest (poor Quinn was under the impression that he had only one song to practice so I needed to fix that!).  Our friend,  Elizabeth Crippen, joined us for the cookout because she and Steve and I had an appointment at the temple the next morning at 11:00 so she stayed with us overnight so she wouldn't have to wake up so early and drive all the way from Columbia on Tuesday.  After our temple visit, we grabbed lunch at a nearby McAlisters Deli, took care of my St. Louis Civic Orchestra mail duties (collect from P.O. Box and deliver to the treasurer), and we were back home by about 2:30.  Elizabeth left for home shortly thereafter.  Beckie came for dinner (wow, two nights in a row) and then we three (Steve, Beckie, and I) piled ourselves, our overnight luggage, and the doggies into her car and we also drove to Columbia.  We took the dogs to Melanie to watch and then we went to Steven and Tamara's because Wednesday was.......Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony day!  Waaaay back when Derek Jeter retired, Steve, Beckie, Steven, and Elise all agreed that we needed to drive to Cooperstown for his induction ceremony year.  Only, that year was 2020 when no one was having any kind of ceremonies.  Fast forward to this year and initially, the ceremony was just going to be virtual...until about six weeks ago when they decided to allow the public to attend.  By then, however, there was no way that our family could muster the funds, the time off, the rental car, the hotel to drive to the real thing.  So, we all gathered in Steven's basement and watched the ceremony on television.  Elise and Steven took the day off.  Beckie, who works remotely, was able to log in and work for most of the day.  I even managed to go down to Ethan Barner's home to give him an in-person cello lesson.  But, the main event was the ceremony.  And, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it even though I am not the baseball buff like most of the family.  We ate ballpark type food for lunch and Elise baked a batch of gluten free sugar cookies and decorated them appropriately. 

 

Thursday and Friday we played catch-up (grocery shopping, cleaning, yard work, and two random Zoom meetings Thursday night) since we were completely out of our routine for the first three days of the week.  These last few days have been a bonus for seeing our children.  Elise came into town Thursday night to dog-sit for Kyle and Micah over the weekend.  Beckie and the boys caught the train to Chicago Friday morning to attend a friend's wedding and they will arrive home this evening.  So, Elise has joined us for dinner Friday and Saturday and hopefully tonight as we will be eating out on our shady deck which is much cooler than the house right now.

Saturday morning, after two mulch site runs, Steve and I finished filling in the back gate driveway (see last blog).  We also took a longer-than-usual bike ride to explore some of the bike trails around our part of town.  Saint Louis Greenway extends all around the city and eventually we hope to try out many of the routes when the weather becomes more favorable.  I glazed my fired pottery in the afternoon and then went to a quartet rehearsal.  We have joined forces with a local saxophonist (Elke) on a quintet and the performance is a week from today (Sunday).  It is kind of an ugly musical work, very contemporary, and quite challenging for the saxophonist so I will be glad to be over it.  Our rehearsal location on Saturday was at Elke's husband's saxophone shop called SaxQuest located in the heart of the Cherokee Street Antique district and it was an amazing venue.  Her husband buys, restores, repairs everything saxophone.  The building itself is over a hundred years old.  All the display cabinets are beautiful antiques.  And he has a museum upstairs filled with more saxophones than I have ever seen.  He has one gorgeous cabinet filled with original instruments made by Adolph Sax himself!  Incredible.  I am sorry I didn't take a photo!  But, I will go back soon and drag Beckie with me since she used to play the also saxophone.

So, that about wraps up the week.  

Larkin and mulch, mums, Menards, Manifest

Steve and I had a great visit with Julina and Alex in Indiana.  We left for home Monday morning and arrived in the early afternoon - in time for lunch and a nap.  That evening, we headed out to Ballwin to help Larkin celebrate her 5th birthday!  All things pink and kitty and little animals.  

Steve NEVER wears sunglasses but a week ago, he had a blood vessel in his eye burst and his left eye looked demonic.  Thankfully, it is not a thing to worry about and gradually, the blood in his eye has been dissipating. 

The week was one with cooler temperatures - lovely hints of autumn - and quite a bit of rain.  About the only yard work that happened was buying chrysanthemums and getting them into the ground or pots and starting the mulch driveway to the back gate.  We are just trying to reduce the amount of lawn that needs to be mowed and this seemed like a good way, especially since the mulch is free from the mulch site at Carondelet Park.  We flip the back seats up in our Element and take shovels, buckets, assorted sizes of tubs and a huge flexible lawn bag and we load everything up with this mulch.  Below reflects two trips worth.  We think we will need to take at least two more, maybe three.  Happily, the park is only about a mile away....

Tuesday afternoon, Steve and I visited Menards and bought three assemble-yourself shelf units.  Two are quite heavy duty and we moved all our food storage onto them.  The third was not as large or strong and it holds all my craft tubs.  I took one of the original food storage shelves and repurposed it in the toy area to hold puzzles and games.  The second original shelf is now in the guest bathroom holding towels, etc.  We also moved our freezer closer to the stairs.  I relocated the laundry shelf to the space where the freezer was.  Having all our food storage up off the floor really added some space to our basement and we are very happy with the results:

I can't remember if I posted "after" photos of the guest room now that it has four walls,  Where you see the ironing board, I hope to have a twin bed someday.  And, Beckie is re-donating an old chest of drawers that we will also position on the wall opposite the bed.

I got to see Larkin and Emily a second time this week!  Emily needed to take photos of the staff of a dentist office close to our house Thursday morning.  Of course with Joe was at work and the other three kids at school (Larkin attends an afternoon preschool Monday through Thursday), she needed grandma to hang out with Larkin for about thirty minutes just before 8:00 am.  We spent our time in the Southerland van mostly waiting in the McDonald's drive through for breakfast but we had a nice visit all the same.  Larkin LOVES her preschool and she loved the strawberry-banana smoothie and pull-apart donut.  Emily and I spent a little too long chatting after her photo session and her battery had run down (I guess not all cars automatically turn off the headlights when the ignition is turned off) so we had to put our heads together along with Google and jump start the van before we could say goodbye.  Yay for Emily who did most of the work!

Friday mid-day Steve and I hosted lunch for five missionaries and Sam Carpintero, a newly baptized young woman.  We then headed to the temple so Sam could do some temple baptisms.  Elder Williams, who helped teach Sam and who has since been transferred to another part of St. Louis, joined us.  It was a lovely afternoon.

back row:  Elders Ross, Christiansen, Williams, Steve

middle row"  Sister McDonald, Sam

front row:  Sisters Fortner and Brown, me 

Yesterday was rainy all day so we didn't get more mulch as we had hoped nor did we get to take an extended bike ride.  Instead, Steve cleaned and I ran to the store.  Then I puttered in the kitchen baking a gluten free lemon zucchini cake, gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, fixing marinated carrots, getting beans sorted and ready to soak, and making a jello salad for Sunday.  And, we watched some of season 3 of Manifest now that it is on Netflix.  On Friday evening, we watched the 1989 version of Henry V.  All our other evenings were full of birthday, or hosting Beckie for dinner, or rehearsing with my quartet.  So ends another good week here in Saint Louis....