What a week!

My all-consuming project was to sew the Narnia costumes for Emily's upcoming photoshoot with Noah, Lucy, Quinn and Larkin (as mentioned in my last blog) and I finished Friday evening!  I was also asked to make an underskirt for Lucy's outfit. The dress that Emily found online was too short but it was super cheap so she bought two and I took the spare and cut it to just a skirt and added a fabric extension at the top for Lucy to wear underneath her dress. Here they are:

The boy's tunic fabric was two curtain panels that Emily found at Savers and it was perfect but quite messy with raveling threads. All week I had threads all over the house!

We watched two movies while I did this sewing - The Wizard of Oz on Wednesday evening and Coco on Friday night. 

On Halloween night, Steve and I drove to Ballwin to see the grandkids in their amazing costumes that Emily created (actually, Noah made his own and Larkin's came from a costume store). Noah was a character from a book he is writing - her name is Tabitha, Lucy was an octopus, Quinn a cicada and Larkin was the Phantom of the Opera. Lucy's little stuffed wolf was a shark!

After taking photos, Steve and I drove to the nearby Culver's and had dinner before driving home to watch Simpson's Halloween specials. As usual, no trick-or-treaters came down Bates Street. 

Saturday night, we invited a family from the ward over to make s'mores. They have two adorable little girls - Juniper (she is in my Primary class) and Hazel. Sally was pretty leery of them for most of the time, choosing to stay inside rather than to go out and socialize. But, by the end, she eased up to the girls and let them pet her and she gave each a little doggie kiss. 

When I was not sewing, I was teaching music lessons, attending civic orchestra to work on new December music, helping at the Monday morning women's group, getting an oil change while shopping for groceries, going to the doctor, switching out October knic-knacs for November ones. We had a lovely rain Thursday morning. Steve and I got a bike ride in Monday afternoon. We visited a lady in the hospital Monday night. We attended the temple Friday afternoon and worked there Saturday morning. It was a busy week, as usual! I am weary of busy weeks....



















 

Concert week

I made a flourless chocolate cake for last week's Sunday dinner (thanks, Susan, for the recipe!) and it was delicious. I enjoyed a piece of it every day throughout the week 😊

Monday morning was the Afghanistan women's group and Winona, the director, had a last minute family emergency and she couldn't be there so she asked if I would give a ten-minute English lesson. So, I drew daily activities that we women do and we repeated the words in English. Most of the women were beyond these simple words but there are always newbies who are at square one...

My poor flowers are confused as to what season we are in. We have had lovely autumn temperatures (still no rain, though) and I have iris blooming!  We walked past a blooming lilac tree and my creeping phlox are putting out a sprinkle of blooms. Weird.

While working in the yard Monday morning, I did a dumb thing and I fell while trying to use the shovel. I was straightening out the edge of the raspberry bed and I put the shovel in and jumped on it to get the blade down into the earth but I guess the blade was not aligned properly so it bucked me off and I fell backwards landing on my rear and bumping my right elbow on the edge of the cinderblock raised bed. Yikes! That could have been a really bad fall if I had landed differently. Thankfully, the elbow was not broken (it didn't even really bleed) and I just had a very sore right arm and bum for a few days. Happily, it did not affect my cello bowing! Because the civic orchestra had a concert on Saturday. We played the Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 - the piece that my mother would play for my sister and me when we were little girls and we would dance all around the living room to Morning, Asa's Death, Anitra's Dance and especially In The Hall of the Mountain King. I have loved that piece my whole life, I played it for my own children so that they love it and yet, this was the first time I had ever performed it! Emily and Lucy and Quinn came to the concert and Emily got emotional as she listened due to the nostalgia. We also played Danse Macabre that was conducted by our newly appointed assistant conductor. We performed a brand new composition, Echoes of an Uncertain Time, by Hans Heruth, an up and coming composer who dedicated it to our orchestra and director (it was very lush and romantic-sounding) and we ended with Symphony No. 2 by Randall Thompson that was just a blast to play. Literally a blast for our amazing brass section that just outdid themselves in sound. It was a really enjoyable concert to play.

 

I got to attend a St. Louis Symphony young person concert Wednesday morning through the home school group where I teach. It was delightful. Speaking of music, I have been working in Finale all week on two pieces that the ward choir is singing for Christmas. I don't have a huge music budget so I found these two familiar pieces on some free sites but they lacked a bit in the harmony parts so I tinkered with them and put the harmonized pieces into Finale.  I have also been working on a project for Emily. She wants to do a photo shoot of her four kids dressed up as the Pevensie children when they ascend to their thrones in The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. She has identified a location in downtown St. Louis that looks very medieval and she is assembling costumes from thrift stores and on-line shops. My job is simple - I am making tops to go under the velvet tunics that the boys will wear. It should be a fun photo session and I will post pictures when they are done. I have also been wrangling over which Medicare Advantage plan I will go with. Up until now, I have been under Steve's plan but it is almost doubling in price for 2025 and I really don't need as extensive coverage as Steve does. Blaaa - I hate those kinds of decisions. Saturday, in addition to the concert that night, it was Steve's and my turn to help clean the meetinghouse that morning. I also baked a beautiful gluten-free pecan pie for Sunday dessert. And, yes, I will make another one in a few weeks for Thanksgiving. One can never have enough pecan pie! Because our evenings were more tied up than usual (concert Saturday, dress rehearsal Friday, Welcome Center Thursday, rehearsal Tuesday), we didn't watch much but we DID see, (over two nights), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Ben Stiller version). We own the DVD and have seen it before but I just love watching it! It makes me want to visit Iceland.

Third full week of October

We spent our last Sunday dinner with a friend from church, Kim Lamborn. It was her birthday and her family is waaay out in Oregon so we were her "family" for a day. 

And, suddenly, it is Sunday again! We had two nights of freeze warnings and, because I still have green tomatoes and yellow wax beans growing, I covered them and saved them for another day. Temperatures stay chilly at night but have been warming back up into the 70's during the day. And, I am still having to water everything!  My morning gardening consists of straightening flower bed edges, pulling weeds (always) and basically getting ready for winter. We stopped at a Menards this week and I bought some tulip and grape hyacinth bulbs to plant is my three largest outside pots. 

Steve and I visited an antique mall Thursday morning just for fun. We found a cute little primitive nativity ornament (as if we needed any more of them!) and a smallish wooden tray with four compartments that Steve will use in his catch-all drawer. 

We finished watching Over The Garden Wall Monday evening, we watched Cars on Friday evening and Inside Out II on Saturday so it was a great week of movie watching. 

Remember our neighbor Fred and his second dog, Star?  

Well, she is an escape artist! Fred has been trying to keep her in his fenced backyard ever since he got her but, in spite of his and Steve's efforts to plug fence holes, she continued to get out. He even tried putting a cone on her so she couldn't squeeze through tiny openings and she STILL got out! Fred was so worried she would get hit by a car that, on Friday, Steve took him and Fred back to the Humane Society where he sadly relinquished ownership. She is such an adorable looking dog and has such a cheery personality that hopefully, she will be quickly adopted by a family (with a HIGH, impenetrable fence).

And, that is my week....

Beginning and ending our week with family

Last Sunday was the second day of General Conference. I really loved both days - so inspirational!

We spent Monday at the movies with Emily and the kids. They had a day off from school and Steve and I took an early nap so we could go to the 1:00 showing of Wild Robot. It was a charming movie. 

I was supposed to have my morning occupied by the Kindness Begins With Me women's group but it was cancelled due to lack of participation. This was actually a tender mercy because it gave me time to work on the Civic Orchestra concert program which I wanted to get to the printers by Wednesday.  Our autumn weather has been lovely all week and Steve and I took a bike ride Monday evening and then watched half of an old classic, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre which we checked out from the library. (we finished it on Wednesday evening. It was an interesting movie but I don't need to watch it again)

Speaking of old movies, I blogged about watching one back in the spring and I inadvertently offended a dear friend of mine who reads my blog. I texted and wrote a letter of apology and I am not sure if she still reads this blog now but, if she still does, I hope she knows how sorry I am to have hurt her. I just wish she would forgive me....

On Tuesday, I worked as much as I could on the concert program but I still needed one program note to add and I didn't get it until Tuesday evening at orchestra but I was still able to make my Wednesday morning deadline for the printers. And, after I got the proof from them on Friday, I STILL had some corrections to make!  Ugh. But, I am so very grateful for my fellow cellist and program editor par excellence, Jayne, who helps me make these programs to be perfect. 

I mentioned earlier about lovely autumn weather BUT we have NOT had rain so I spend all day Tuesday moving the sprinkler and soaker hose all around the yard. Tuesday night, Steve volunteered to babysit at the church while the Relief Society sisters assembled freezer meals. Here he is with James (who is also one of my Primary students). James took this selfie...

Wednesdays are our usual grocery shopping days but Steve wanted to watch a webinar that morning sponsored by the University of Missouri and United Healthcare about the upcoming year of Medicare coverage/benefits/costs so we did groceries on Thursday. We also got our Covid and flu shots on Thursday and my poor arms hurt all day Friday. One of Steve's super powers is that he never has a reaction to shots. 

Thursday night, many folks in St. Louis, including Emily, got to see the aurora borealis in our area. Sadly, Steve and I did not! We drove to a darker area nearby but, by then, it was over. Rats!

The temple was back open after a two-week cleaning shut-down so Steve and I attended Friday afternoon. Elise drove over Friday evening to stay the night and she brought along her DVD of Village of the Damned which we watched. Creepy. 

Saturday morning, while Elise was at the temple, Steve and I took Larkin to the Science Center for a belated birthday gift. We enjoyed Blue Whales on IMAX, the game room and all the displays in the vault. Larkin chose her souvenir at the gift shop and then we drove to the Ballwin Lion's Choice for lunch. The Science Center is all decorated for Halloween and the photo below was one of the photo spots they had....

 

Elise fixed pizza for her and Steve Saturday evening and I fixed up one of my gluten-free Costco pizzas and then she headed back to Columbia. Steve and finished up our week by watching most of Over The Garden Wall, a quirky animated film recommended to us by Sarah. So far, we have enjoyed it.

October comes in like a lamb

 Wait, wrong season!  But, it really was a quiet week at 4018 Bates St. which was kind of nice...

So, in this blog, I will give you an update on the various activities that fill my life each week:

Yard - my second crop of beans are up and producing blossoms and the two tomato plants are still producing fruit, albeit somewhat slowly. I finally finished creating the front yard flagpole flower bed early this week but now, as I look at it, I think I am going to shave off a bit more lawn to make it more even. I have started to even out the flower beds in the back yard. The darn lawn keeps creeping into them so, at least once a year, I have to reign them in. I am also extending a flower bed to encompass the dogwood tree by the deck because the "lawn" right there is basically weeds. 

Sewing - Currently, I am sewing up Christmas themed draw-string bags to hold gifts. On Thursday morning, I visited Betty, a friend in the ward and a confessed fabric hoarder. She shared some fabric with me that I can use for my humanitarian quilts. She is in her 80's, she lives with her sister who is even older (they have a daily care giver) and they both have so much stuff that they are slowly going through and getting rid of. So, coming to take some fabric off her hands was hopefully helpful to her. It was a Happy Hookers week but I did not attend. I sent about 30 hats of various sizes with Mary to deliver and she brought me back MORE yarn. I probably have enough yarn now to make hats to last me for six months!

Music - This year is SOOO much better than last year. I enjoy my once-a-week beginning strings class at the home school building very much. My 13 private students are all a joy to teach and, thankfully, they don't all come every week. The upcoming civic orchestra concert is at the end of this month and the music is quite enjoyable to play. I am still doing the programs so that has been the monkey on my back this past week and will continue to be until I get it to the printers this coming Wednesday. 

Family History / Temple - Because of the concert program, scanning photos for my mom's book has taken a back seat this past week. The temple has been closed for cleaning these past two weeks but Steve and I did go Thursday to help with the cleaning. 

Kindness Begins With Me / Welcome Center - Nothing really new to report. Monday mornings for me and Thursday evenings for both of us continue. The Monday morning activity this week was crocheting and, when we were done, there was leftover yarn that the ladies didn't want so guess who brought it home? You guessed it!  

Baking - this is not always an activity I do every week but yesterday I went on a gluten-free baking tirade and made a batch of pancakes, a pumpkin roll, lemon donuts and pumpkin muffins. Yummy times ahead!

Viewing movies/shows - Steve and I watched the final episode of Rings of Power and were just blown away. It is so good!  We watched a movie loaned to us by Elise - The Manchurian Candidate (original one with Frank Sinatra). It was quite good. We also watched an episode of Star Trek Next Generation that Elise recommended to us called The Game. It was pretty prophetic of current times. We also watched a Bluey episode, Bob Bilby. that Steve caught while the grandkids were on their binge last Saturday and he wanted me to see it. Very adorable. 

Happy October to you all!

A week full of family

On Tuesday afternoon, Jami, Brad and their three boys came for a few days visit. They had come from Nauvoo and Chicago and Kirtland before that. We put Brad and Jami and the two little boys in the guest room (they brought a pack n play for Levi) and Kason slept on a blow-up mattress in the TV room upstairs. While Brad set up a temporary office in the library and worked all day, Jami and the boys explored St. Louis. On Wednesday, they went to the zoo (they LOVED the penguins) and the Museum of Illusions. That evening, we grilled a St. Louis original - pork steaks - and ate on our lovely deck. Weather was perfect. I had recently inherited a used corn hole game from one of Beckie's co-workers and the boys loved playing it. On Thursday, they went to the arch and the City Museum. Beckie had to work crazy hours all week so the only way she could see them was to bring donuts over Thursday morning and chat for an hour. Emily joined her. Then, Thursday evening, we all (Steve, me, Southerland clan and the Jensens) gathered at a lovely new park in Brentwood and ate Stellar Hog BBQ take-out and, while the kids played, we visited until dark. And, Friday, they left at 7:00 am for the drive back to Maryland. Thanks to Hurricane Mariana, they had rain all the way home. And we had rain all day here.  Below are two photos from their visit: a rousing game of Qwirkel and all of us at the park.

They gave us the nicest thank-you gift when they left - everything orangy smelling or tasting. 

Friday afternoon, Steve and I drove to Ballwin to pick up the Southerland kids. Emily and Joe put them on the bus in the morning and then they headed down to Hot Springs, Arkansas to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary for the weekend. I drove Lucy, Quinn and Larkin back to our house that evening in the Southerland van while Steve stayed in Ballwin to pick up Noah from work at 11:00 and stay the night with him. Steve drove back to Holly Hills Saturday morning with Noah just hanging out at his house because he had to work on Saturday, too. I drove to Ballwin to pick him up at 11:00 and bring hm back to our house.  Sunday, after we attended Stake Conference, we played games and ate dinner and Emily and Joe came at about 6:45 to take the kids back home. The kids were very well behaved the whole time and they mostly ate what we put in front of them. 😄 Lucy and Larkin were my biggest challenges in the food department. They all liked the left over chicken drumsticks we had on Friday and the burritos on Saturday. The chicken cheese enchiladas and Spanish rice met with mixed reviews on Sunday. Sigh....We watched Court Jester Friday night. Saturday morning, we water colored cards. That afternoon, they binged on Bluey while I taught some cello lessons. That evening, after dinner, we put a leash on Sally and we all took a walk around the block. Saturday night, the kids watched Holes while Steve attended the Saturday evening session of Stake Conference and I stayed home and watched it on YouTube. I told the grandkids the movie rule at our house - you have to watch the first thirty minutes of it. If, after then, you don't want to watch any more, you are excused. I was happy that they all liked both movies enough to stay through the end. We all attended Stake Conference Sunday morning.  That afternoon, we played a great game of Qwirkel, starting with one perfect square and then going on to finish the game by creating three perfect squares. Then, Quinn, Noah, Steve and I played dominoes while Larkin built a castle with the Qwirkel blocks. Lucy opted to stay down in the guest room and read her book.  It was a great week of family! I ditched Civic Orchestra on Tuesday and both Steve and I stayed home from the Kindness Begins With Me English classes Thursday so we could spend as much time as possible with the Jensens. 

 

hit by illness

 Steve came down with a cold Monday evening.  I did Wednesday morning. Sally has a UTI. So we have all been down for the count - at least for a couple of days for Steve and me.  By Saturday, we were able to serve our baptistry shift at the temple and we went to church today.  It was the Primary program and just imagine eight wiggly under-five-year-olds with zero attention spans and one 10 year old who really didn't want to be up there and how a program would go with those parameters. Yeah, you guessed it. But, everyone loved it, of course. The 10 year old is my piano student and he played a simplified arrangement of I Am A Child of God on the piano and nailed it but perish the thought that he would ever sing loud enough to be heard! His little brother, on the other hand, made up for the both of them.

Sally has been VERY smelly lately of urine. I would bathe her and she would stink the next day! So, I finally researched it and UTI was a possible answer. I called Open Door on Tuesday and they asked me to bring her down on Wednesday. At that point, I just had that tickle in the back of the throat that always heralds a cold so I had no problem driving her down. Fortunately, they were able to do an in-and-out cath to draw out some urine (she is a very up-tight pee-er) and, sure enough, UTI. She is on a week-long regimen of antibiotics that we picked up on Friday because I felt too crummy on Thursday to make the drive. 

With all the down time, we were able to watch two movies: Charade on Friday and the 2010 Robin Hood on Saturday. Both of us had seen the first movie but never watched the Russell Crow version of Robin Hood. It was definitely a different take on the story but we both enjoyed it. We are also caught up on Rings of Power, of course. 

On Monday, before we got sick, we actually took a little bike ride in the evening. That was nice.  And Steve drove to the airport that morning to pick up Beckie from her California trip. 

And that was our week....