September beauty, day trips, new situation

 Gotta start this post with my favorite picture of the week.  I was driving home from Walmart last Thursday evening and saw the most amazing sunset against the heavy clouds.  I REALLY wanted a picture of it, and as I approached a stop sign there was a car behind me, so I decided to turn left and pull off the road to get the picture.  Turns out I was right at a meadow with cows grazing in the foreground.  PERFECT!!

It seems like a long time since I've seen a beautiful morning sky.  I usually get up at 6:15, so for months the sun had already risen by the time I got to the kitchen.  That is no longer the case, but we have had SO MUCH cloudy, rainy weather the past two weeks.  So as soon as I spied a beautiful morning sky on Tuesday morning,  you'd better believe I was out there on my front porch to get a picture of it!

Last week my hanging plants on the front porch hit a lovely peek.  I love opening the front door and seeing them!

I was in front of our house on Tuesday, late afternoon, and took a picture of our lovely view. 

Then I took a couple of pictures of flowers.  First my knockout rose bush, which has really gotten bigger this year.  We planted it two years ago after our previous one died.  

I'm always thrilled to see some late lilies still blooming.

I took this picture of Destiny's impatiens this morning at her front door.  They are getting so huge and beautiful!  I wish we had planted more, but I remember having qualms about how much we spent on annuals back in early June.

On Saturday morning we hit the road for Lancaster.  J'von plays football for Thaddeus Stevens School of Technology.  Little man thought he needed sunglasses, so I gave him a pair of mine.  Of course they stayed on for just a minute or two!  

It turned out to be a hotter afternoon than we were expecting.  The only bleachers were on one side of the field, and the rest rooms and concession stand were on the other.  We made that walk in the hot sun several times.  

Frank was there too with Jada, Alaya, and V'anni.  After the game we went to La CoCinca, an authentic Spanish restaurant in downtown Lancaster, to eat together.  That was fun, and the food was scrumptious!!

My life has become interesting, to say the least, this week.  Alex is currently hospitalized to get help with some mental health troubles.  I'm almost afraid to even put that in writing because of the stigma attached to such things.  Also, I will not be linking this post to Facebook in order to avoid sensational comments there.  Your prayers are very appreciated!

Due to his absence, I am now Elizer's babysitter when Destiny is at work until there is an opening at a daycare.  We are managing so far.  I have had to become creative with appointments this week.  My hair appointment on Tuesday was at 10:00, Destiny starts work at 11:00.  So we met at her parking garage to transfer Elizer from her car to mine.  Today I had a pre-surgery (cataract) physical at 12 noon.  I picked up Dick at work on my way there, and he took Elizer for some McDonalds while I was at my appointment.  That worked out great!  Elizer is absolutely crazy about Pawpaw, and Dick was able to take his lunch hour in a much more fun way than usual!

So lots of Elizer pictures this week!

 

And of course, some really great videos!  

"If You're Happy and You Know it...."

Stinky feet are SO funny!

So is the word "elbow"!!

Yesterday was Destiny's 22nd birthday.  I was there at her birth!  Here's a picture of Frank holding her soon after her birth.

In this picture her mother is holding Destiny, flanked by us two grandmas.  

We had a special day planned yesterday.  Destiny got off work at 12:30 so we could go to her favorite hairdresser in Lancaster.  She hadn't had her hair cut and colored for a whole year!

When we got in the car to pick Destiny up, I recorded this "Happy Birthday" for her.  Elizer mostly giggled.  He hasn't found his singing voice yet, much to my surprise.  

We had a good trip, about two-and-a-half hours.  When we arrived, I realized her hairdresser was in the Golden Meadows business complex.  WAY back in the day the Lancaster Aquatic Club was housed in this building.  Jeremy swam with that team for a year or two when he was probably in 6th and 7th grades.  We spent a good bit of time in this building.  Of course I had to send a picture of it to Jeremy.  I think it is now a realty office.

There is a huge building behind it now.   Destiny's hairdresser is one of many businesses there.  I took this picture from Google Maps. 

After I dropped Destiny off I took Elizer to my sister Mary Ellen's house, just a few miles away.  But oh my, so much traffic.  I really am not used to that anymore.  Mary Ellen is such a good sport!  She was out there in the hot sun throwing ball and frisbee with Elizer!  We spent some time in the house too, but it was not relaxing with Elizer exploring every new thing. 

From there I went to a Weis Markets to buy a small birthday cake for Destiny.  Then I went back to the hairdresser.  Destiny's mom had come to sit with her and catch up, and she of course wanted to see Elizer before she had to leave for work.  I regret I did not get any pictures of them together.  

It was a long procedure since Destiny's hair had not been done in such a long time, so Elizer and I did a whole lot of walking all around the big building several times.  At one point we went inside the salon, and he found a circle that he could run and run and run.  I gave him rides on the little chairs on wheels that were in the pedicure station.  Destiny and her hairdresser were the only ones there, so it really didn't matter. 

Finished at last and happy!  As you can see, she has gone a bit red!  She felt so good getting the weight of her long hair off.  Her hair is naturally curly, but she had it straightened.   That will last till she washes it, lol!

Just as she was finishing up, Alex's dad, brother Ozias, sister Odalys, and her little son Jiryah came to the salon to see Destiny and Elizer!!  Somehow I missed getting a picture of Odalys.  She is such a beautiful, lovely person.  

Alex's dad had so much fun playing with the boys.  Lots of running and shouting - perfect timing because most of the businesses were already closed and there was almost no car traffic or people.  

Look at these little cousins chasing each other around the tree!

It's good to be a young, strong grandpa when you have two active grandsons!   Alex's brother Ozias is 12, I think, and he loves playing with his nephews too.

We finally said our goodbyes to them.  We stopped at a Sheetz gas station to get food to eat on the trip home.  I got some coffee too, since it was getting rather late.  We made good time.  It was 8:00 when we left Sheetz and 10:30 when I got home.  And that was with taking Destiny and Elizer home first.  

We never did have a chance for the birthday cake, so hopefully we can have it this evening when she gets here after work to pick up Elizer.  

A few cute pictures from today and I'll finish up here. 

I was taking him for a walk late this afternoon when a familiar truck came along!  Since we were on our own street, we let him sit in the truck with Pawpaw the rest of the drive to our house.  He loved it of course!

And that's all till the next time I get a chance to do this!

Our Labor Day weekend

 We had a really fun Labor Day weekend, just around here.  I confess, I struggled with that - the staying around here part.  I love to take road trips, at least to Lancaster County.  But we'll have some of those coming up in October.  

Dick had been given some free tickets to a baseball game.  Our local semi-pro team is the Spikes, and we have a really nice stadium.  This was their last weekend of the season.  We went on Friday evening.  The weather was PERFECT!!

Destiny and Elizer went with us.  Oh my.  He was so darn cute that evening!!  Everyone around us was smitten!  

Before the game even started he was dancing with the music and people around us got such a kick out of him.

To add to the fun, it was "bark in the park" night, so there were lots of dogs there.  

When Elizer got antsy we took turns walking him around.  When Dick was walking him, a stadium attendant gave Elizer a ball.  Oh my goodness!!  He was delighted.  BUT he desperately wanted to throw it!!  We ended up needing to take it away from him till they were at home!

The other special thing that night was that kids and dogs were allowed to run the bases after the game was over.  Dick took Elizer!

On their way!

How cute are they???

We were barely out of the parking lot before Elizer was sleeping!!

On Friday I had had a six-month appointment with the cardiologist.  I showed her my knee and the bruising that was all the way down to my feet.  She was sure I must have bumped my knee at some point and the bruising down my leg happened because my veins don't properly bring the blood back up my leg???  Something like that.  

While I was there I got a call from my primary physician's office.  They said that she would be having hours at a Saturday clinic and she could see me about my leg.  So I went to see her on Saturday afternoon.  Again, no answer about my knee, except that I must have bumped it.  She did order bloodwork, which has come back with no problems.   Ugh.  The bruising is going away, but the lump on my knee is still big and painful to the touch.  I simply cannot imagine that I would have bumped my knee hard enough to do this without remembering it.  Good grief!!  So now I'll just wait for the orthopedic appointment at the end of September.  Maybe it will go away by then. 

On Saturday evening we went over to Destiny and Alex's place.  I got this picture of the impatiens by her front door.

I took Elizer for a walk, and we enjoyed watching our shadow!

Dick grilled hot dogs, shrimp burgers (that Destiny had gotten at Trader Joe's), and bacon cheeseburgers.  Elizer wanted his little swing set up, but I think he has pretty much outgrown it.  His feet were practically dragging on the ground.  

We were also having fun with his baseball.  He has a little tee ball stand.  He would put the ball on the stand for me to hit.  Then he would go get on a lawn chair and start cheering for me, hahaha!!  He got bit by the baseball bug the evening before!!  He loves to cheer!

We brought the folding table into the living room and ate while watching a movie.  Then we played UNO.  I had not played it in years!  I forgot how fun and unpredictable it is!  

Elizer wanted to play too, but we tried to content him with just one card.  Not very successfully!  He kept going out to the kitchen, pushing his little car up to the kitchen sink, standing on it and playing in the dishwater.  Thankfully there's an opening between the living room and kitchen and we could see when he did that.  Poor Alex didn't get to sit down much during the game!  

On Sunday after church Dick and I went on campus.  Destiny was working at the Starbucks in the HUB (student union building) that afternoon, and we got our lunch there.   

I really don't think I had been there since Anthony graduated in 1999.  I think there was construction going on at that time.  What a beautiful place!!!

We ate on the patio with Destiny during her lunch break. 

As we ate I was looking across the lawn at another building and started to think it looked like Lori's building.   So after I was finished eating I walked over there, and indeed it was the Biobehavioral Health Building where Lori's department is.  

I remembered taking a picture under that sign one time!  2013 - Lisa, Sophie, and Lori!  

After we left campus Dick took me past some flowers that he has been enjoying this summer.  He passes by when he test drives vehicles for work.  He said he saw when the zinnias were first planted or sown in the spring and were coming up in neat rows. Now look at them!!  I want to put a zinnia bed by our shed next summer.  

When we got home I walked around taking pictures of my own flowers - still a few lilies, sunflowers, and brown-eyed susans.  And how about that geranium??

We knew that the Spikes' last game was that evening and that they would be putting off fireworks afterward.  We thought it would be fun to go out to the hill where we had watched the July 4th fireworks.  We estimated about what time that would be, according to how long the game had lasted on Friday evening.  When Dick and I walked out of the house at 8:15 we realized we were hearing fireworks.  WHAT???  But we hoped maybe it was fireworks somewhere else, so we went and picked up Destiny and Elizer.  Alex didn't feel like going if the fireworks were over, but Destiny and I were hoping they weren't!  

Dick decided to go right to the ball stadium to see if the game really was over or not.  It was beginning to rain a little bit as we drove there.  We got to the stadium and indeed, people were walking out.  Darn!!  We were so disappointed.  Had they cut the game short?  We slowly drove by and suddenly there was an absolute cloud burst of rain.  It was just dumping out of the sky!!  It was crazy!!  I guess they had seen the storm coming on the radar and cut the game short so they could get the fireworks in before it hit!  I felt so sorry for people walking to their cars in that rain!!  

We decided to go to McDonald's drive-through to get ice cream cones before taking Destiny and Elizer back home.   So we had fun anyway.

As we were driving to their place Elizer thought we were going to our house and he was not happy that we weren't.  So I decided since Monday was a holiday he could sleep at our house.  He was excited about that!

He was NOT sleepy as soon as I was that night.  What a character!  I was in the guestroom bed with him. He thought it was so funny to quietly get off the bed and tip toe past me to the door.  He has no fear of walking around in the dark.  One time he walked right into the box of marbles in the living room.  That made a great-sounding crash!!  Later he got weepy and wanted mommy and daddy.  So that took a while to get over.  Eventually he went to sleep.  But I don't sleep well in that bed, so I was awake way too soon, and Elizer sat up and noticed daylight above the drape at the window, and he was all ready to wake up.  Whew!!  I felt like a zombie that morning!!  Thankfully Dick was here!  

He took an early afternoon nap for two hours, and when he woke up he sat on Dick's lap and slept about another hour.   I managed to get a bit of a nap too.  

We took him home after he woke up.  Then we came home and I cleaned up my house that looked like a tornado had swept through, hahahaha!!  I was really ready for bed earlier than usual last evening!  

Look who finally had his first day of first grade today!!  Our grandson Brennan in Portland!!  What a handsome, preppy-looking little guy he is!!  I'm sure he was counting down the days!

Remember how sad I was earlier this summer that there were no yellow tea rose bushes anywhere?  But I had gotten a new red one.  (Both my red and yellow ones had gotten hit with too much ice on their roots last winter and did not survive.)  Well, finally my red one is seriously blooming!!  And they smell really good too.  I am so delighted!! 

I have also been enjoying the cockscombs in that flower bed.  They are such a nice pop of color!  I never had them before. 

On a much sadder note, there was a tragedy in my family on Friday morning.  My cousin Jeff Myers, age 65, was hit by a drunk driver and killed.  Absolutely shocking news!  To add to the extreme sadness, his 42-year-old stepson Shane had died less than two weeks prior.  Shane had been severely injured in a motorcycle accident seventeen years ago and has been severely disabled since then.  His mother Barb, Jeff's wife, was his primary caregiver.  So Barb lost her son, hasn't even had his memorial service yet, and now she has lost her husband.  Some things are just too hard to comprehend.  My heart aches for her so bad.  

My sister took this picture at our Myers reunion in April.  (Dick and I were unable to go, and now I'm even more sad about that.)  Jeff is on the far left.  His wife Barb is next to him.  Others at the table are Jeff's sisters and their husbands and Jeff's brother, standing.  They are such a wonderful family.  Their dad Paul was my mom's brother.  

I don't want to end on such a sad note, so here's a cute collage I made today - September pictures of Elizer!

That's all for this time!

Our last week of August, a grand mixture

 Another week gone by, another month gone by, another summer gone by.  And you know how I feel about that, so enough said.  At least we have autumn beauty to look forward to before the dark and cold.   At least we don't live above the arctic circle where it's dark almost all day long in the winter.  Can you even imagine??? 

My hanging geranium finally has blooms again!  It had taken about a month off.  I love it!

The main thing blooming around here are the marigolds out front.  There are a few lilies here and there and the begonias back by the heat pump behind the side porch.  I took a picture tour this morning.

Now for some pictures from my week.  On Saturday Destiny and I took Elizer to Build-a-Bear at a wonderful mall in Camp Hill near Harrisburg.  He was eligible to get the birthday bear for $2.00.  He had fun pressing the pedal that filled his bear with "stuffing."  Then we picked out clothes and shoes for the bear and a baby carrier.  Those things were extra, so of course that  two dollars turned into quite a few more dollars, haha!

We entered the mall through Macy's.  I LOVE Macy's and miss it so much since they closed the one at our pathetic mall.  After Build-a-Bear we walked around looking at things in Macy's.  Elizer was full of energy and we had not brought the stroller, so to give Destiny a chance to look at housewares I took Elizer to the beds nearby.  As soon as he saw them he took his shoes off and climbed onto a bed.  He even pretended to be snoring!  What a ham!

Soon he wanted to try out another bed and needed to jump on it.  Before long Destiny came and took him off the bed.  I tried to fix it just the way it had been.

While I was fixing it Elizer took off running and Destiny tried to catch up.  When she did, she scooped him up and headed for the door.  I couldn't even see where they were and soon had a text from her, "We left."  So I left too.  We will not be going to a mall without a stroller or a leash anytime soon!  

That evening we went to the Grange Fair.  It's a HUGE deal in this area.  People own tents that have been in their families for generations.  Others come in their RV's and it becomes a village.  This was the 148th year!  I was only there once before, in 2012 with Sam and Jenn when Sammy was a baby.  

The first thing we did was ride the ferris wheel.  I told Destiny that I don't think I have been on one since Hershey Park when she was maybe seven years old!  Here's what we looked like then.

And here's what we look like now, 15 years later, haha!  It was not a huge ferris wheel, but it was fun.   Dick guarded the stroller and diaper bag (bottom right photo), and every time around Elizer was looking for "Pawpaw."  It was great getting such a wonderful view of the fair grounds.

Elizer also went on a few kiddie rides.  He loves anything with a steering wheel!

This was a kiddie roller coaster.  It was actually bumpier than we had thought and I think he was scared.  He did not cry, but he didn't smile either. 

After the rides Dick took Elizer to watch the tractor pull while Destiny and I got food.  We both wanted chicken on a stick.  We were given the number 34, and then we heard them call humber 7 so we knew it would be a long wait.  I left her there to wait while I went to order something for Dick.  I got him fries and a walkabout cheese steak. 

Then we went to find Dick and Elizer and could finally eat!

By that time the tractor pull was over and they were doing a truck pull.  Good grief!!  The trucks were SO LOUD!!! 

 

We didn't stay for all of it,  Destiny had to work the next day and Dick and I had to get up for church.  It had been a fun evening, but whew!!!!  SO MUCH MONEY FOR EVERYTHING!!!  No wonder we haven't been there since 2012.  Just ridiculous.

Once a month Brenna, our flute player, comes to play at GBRV.  Having her there is so very special!!  Here's a video of our offertory, "This Is My Father's World."  We do not have AC, so a fan was messing with my pages.  Dick rescued me at one point and I was hoping he would a second time, but I guess he wasn't watching.  

I actually took a nap that afternoon.  Dick went over to Anthony's to check his trail cams.  After Destiny got off work we went over to their place and I made BLT's.  We ate on the back porch.  

Dick took Elizer to the little playground at their community.  When I looked at this video he took I thought, "Wow, Elizer is not a baby at all anymore."  

 

More cuteness here.  Last evening Destiny texted me these pictures after she got home from work.  My heart just melted.  

Then she Facetimed me and I took these pictures while we talked.  Again, looking at the picture on the right I'm thinking,  "He is not a baby anymore."

This week school started in Reading, PA for granddaughters Alaya (1st grade) and Jada (5th grade.)  Destiny's younger sisters - so beautiful!  

On Monday after I picked up Austin from school we walked in Boalsburg again for fifteen minutes.  It was a HOT day!!  Thankfully there were trees that provided shade and breezes most of our walk.  I'm kind of sad that van transportation has been set up for Austin now and I won't need to pick him up anymore.  But I will try to get my meals over to their place in good time on the days that I cook for them so that I can still take him somewhere to go for a walk.  He plays Pokemon Go on his phone, thus his interest in walking.  Sometimes we grandmas need to learn new tricks to stay connected!

One project I have been slowly, but surely working on the past two weeks is the curtains in the camper.  When Lori refurbished it last summer she had hoped that strong adhesive (as suggested on Pinterest) would hold them up.  However, the heat worked against that idea.  So I hand-sewed the curtains to the strips (with clips) that were still there from the old curtains.  No, I did not do that standing up!  Dick got the strips down and I did it at my dining room table.  A number of clips were missing, so we ordered some from eBay.  So I'm hoping to later today sew those clips on.  I would NOT want a seamstress to closely examine my work.  It is most certainly not up to my usual standards.  But this job had obstacles I don't usually deal with.  Curtain rods were not an option for various reasons, or it would have been a lot easier.  I'd kind of like to sleep in it again before Dick takes it down.  We'll see if that happens.  

Meanwhile I have also been dealing with an ugly leg.  At the beginning of last week I noticed a hard lump on my knee cap.  Then I noticed bruising around it, and as the days went by the bruising went down my leg all the way to my ankle.  On Friday morning I decided to go to urgent care to get it looked at.  The doctor who examined me said she thinks it's a cyst on my knee and the bruising is because I'm on blood thinner.  She referred me to orthopedics.  The first available appointment is September 29th!  I sent the pictures to my primary physician just in case she would think I should have it looked at sooner than that, but I haven't heard back from her or her office, so I assume it's nothing to worry about.  It really doesn't hurt that much except when kneeling, which I try to avoid.  

And one more thing.  As I said last time, I needed to wear no contact lenses for two weeks prior to my consultation for cataract surgery.  So I obeyed and wore glasses for two weeks.  I kind of got used to it.  Yesterday was my appointment and I knew I would have my eyes dilated, so on Tuesday evening I went in search of clip-on sunglasses to wear after my appointment.  I did not find those, but found ones designed to wear right over top of glasses.  I LIKE them!

Turns out I probably will not be needing them.  I am now allowed to wear contacts again since my consultation and measurements are finished.   I will have my left eye done on September 27 after which I will most likely have 20/20 vision in that eye.  So for two weeks after that I will wear a contact in my right eye only.  Then I will have my right eye done on October 11.  The down side is that I will lose the perfect up-close sight I now have with my naked eye.  But reading glasses will come to my rescue as they have been doing all these years anyway.  It's pretty crazy what they can do for someone who has had the most near-sighted eyes of anyone I have ever known!  My contact lenses are minus nine.  My left eye actually needs minus 10.5, but I couldn't read piano music when I wore them.  

And that's enough about me.  Gotta get busy around here!  Have a great Labor Day weekend!