Last Sunday (Nov. 6) was a gorgeous day, so in the afternoon Dick and I decided to take a walk in Anthony’s woods. We took it nice and slow, and except for my ever-present fear of seeing a snake, it was delightful. We did not see any snake, by the way!
This is the lovely view from their house!
The clouds were spectacular as we drove back home.
On Monday it was 40 years that we said a sad goodbye to my mother. She had a three-month battle with pancreatic cancer and turned 59 a month before she passed away. It was a REALLY hard time in the Witmer family. Here are some favorite pictures I have of her. On top left she was talking with baby Jeremy and on bottom left she was holding newborn Lisa the day she came home from the hospital. Some of my sisters were surrounding her. My mom LOVED babies!
On Monday morning I met Destiny at Target Optical and entertained Elizer while she got her eye exam and picked out new glasses. He is such an attention grabber! Our cashier said, "He needs his own show! I would definitely watch it!"
He was here with me for the rest of the day after she went to work. He LOVES tractors! I noticed he was taking this one around and around and around the coffee table.
Tuesday was a big day!! His first day at St. Pauls Christian Preschool in downtown State College!! It was such an amazing answer to prayer that any place had an opening. After Destiny found out she would be eligible for a childcare subsidy she called so many places and they all had long waiting lists. St. Pauls is wonderful! Hunter had gone there for a few months, and Lori is very familiar with it, having done some of her research there.
Here he is, ready to go! His backpack had his sleeping mat in it, so it was very heavy and bulky, haha!
When we visited the previous week the kids had been playing outside, down those steps on the left. He was not happy Tuesday morning that we weren't going right down there to play! Inside his classroom he cautiously checked things out. The teacher said that he was a bit weepy for Mommy after we left and also at nap-time, but otherwise he did great. He napped over two hours and had no problems playing with the other kids. Whew!! Big relief for Destiny and me!
That happened to be my birthday. As I said in my previous post, Dick and I had gone to our favorite Texas Roadhouse the previous Friday evening when we were child-free. After Destiny and I dropped Elizer off at St. Pauls on Tuesday we had time for her to take me out to lunch before going to work. We went to Rey Azteca. We both love that place so much!! We had a nice time and the food was scrumptious as always.
When I picked up Elizer later the kids were playing outside. He had missed the first outdoor playtime because we got him there too late. So he was NOT HAPPY that I came to pick him up!!
Since he had missed Mommy that first day at preschool Dick and I took him to see her at work that evening. How sweet are they???
Wednesday was another BIG day in our family! Our granddaughter Sophie signed her letter of intention for Miami University, which was her first pick of the three Florida universities to which she had had official visits. We prayed and prayed that Miami would come through with a good offer for her, and they DID!! Thank you, Lord!!
How quickly these grandchildren grow up!! I love high school senior Sophie, but I also miss this curly-haired cutie!
Wednesday and Thursday were really good days for Elizer. He got to preschool early enough for the first outdoor playtime, so he wasn't at all upset when I got there to pick him up. He loves riding in the little "cars." His teacher said they discovered a way for him to be willing to go inside at the end of playtime - he puts his car to bed, hahaha!! The teacher posts pictures throughout the day for us to view. We LOVE seeing them!!! He'll be going three days a week, Tuesday through Thursday. Destiny always works a very late shift on Mondays and has off on Fridays.
Playing with Grandpa one evening.
Always happy to see Mommy when she gets done working. He's really into saying, "I lub you." It's so precious!!
On Friday evening my birthday celebration continued!! Lori, Anthony, and the boys brought me a cake and a beautiful planter! We had cake and ice cream. A carrot cake, my absolute favorite!! And vanilla ice cream, which I always get. But also coffee ice cream, also my absolute favorite!! As always, we had some fun with singing "Happy Birthday." We four adults love to harmonize. I told them before they started singing that if they all start harmonizing I'm going to jump in on the melody and sing to myself, which is exactly what I had to do on the last part, haha!! I told Dick he looked like he was worshiping, lol!!
Friday was a RAINY, windy day - our experience with the remnants of hurricane Nicole. Before I went to bed that night I heard a roar in our valley. I checked to make sure there was no tornado warning. There was not, but it was really blowing out there. I didn't capture the big gust right before I started this video.
On Saturday Dick and I drove to Lancaster for my cousin Jeff Myers's memorial service. It was so good to see cousins. It was even better to get a glimpse of the wonderful man Jeff was. You may remember when I posted that he had been killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver. All his siblings shared their memories of him, as did his wife Barb and his daughter Michelle and a man from their small group at Worship Center. So many tears and so much laughter as they shared. I wish I had not missed seeing him at our last Myers family gathering in April to which we were unable to go. The pictures below are ones I took during the slide show. The middle left picture was taken at that Myers reunion. It is Jeff with his siblings and in-laws. They are such a wonderful family. Their dad Paul was my mother's younger brother.
There was a meal provided afterward which gave a lot of time for conversation. I'm so glad we were able to go.
Look at these beautiful flowers at our church Sunday morning. The bouquet on top was in honor of a 65th wedding anniversary, and the one on the bottom was in honor of a 60th wedding anniversary.
On Sunday afternoon Dick and I drove to meet Alex at our usual half-way point to pick up Elizer from him. Destiny had taken him there on Friday when she went to Lancaster for an appointment.
The weather has changed!! It was really cold on Sunday and is going to stay cold this whole week. In fact they mention the "S" word in the weather forecast this morning. I can't even think about it.
I took these pictures as we drove yesterday.
The sun on Mount Nittany.
The view as we head away from State College.
Cold, winter clouds.
All buckled in for the ride in the dark, boohoohoo! Dark by 5:00. But he was fine. He's such a good traveler.
He was cute and funny as always last evening and of course delighted to see Mommy when she got home from work. But somehow I never thought to take any pictures.
And now I gotta get on with my day and my week! Have a good one!
I ended my previous post with our meeting up with Alex to get Elizer on Sunday while Destiny was at work.
When we got here he immediately wanted to go for a walk. A lot of people had raked their leaved into piles for pickup, so I had to try to keep him from messing up those wonderful piles! Oh they were so tempting!!
We went to the playground behind our house too and on the way back to our house we spied a neighbor's cat sitting under our tall grasses. Of course it walked away when Elizer approached it. Too bad.
Later I got some pictures of Dick and Elizer hiding under a "tent."
On Monday Elizer started having a runny nose and a cough. Of course it was Halloween, and we had that adorable kangaroo outfit to wear on him. He didn't seem to lack any energy, so we put enough clothes and a jacket under his outfit. Besides, the weather was quite mild. Dick took him around the neighborhood while I stayed here to hand out candy to the other trick-or-treaters. Destiny was sad to miss it - her Monday schedule is 2:30 - 11:00 pm.
Lori and Austin joined Dick and Elizer too. Unfortunately, Hunter was sick and stayed home with Anthony. Below are their costumes. Lori's was a stick figure, hahaha! Austin is on the right, Hunter on the bottom. His picture was taken at an earlier event over the weekend.
After they finished our neighborhood we all went to our church's Trunk or Treat event. I took these pictures of our little kangaroo there.
Destiny's boss told her that it would be fine for us to bring Elizer to Starbucks for some candy too. So the library on campus was our last stop of the night. And I didn't take any pictures! It was so fun for Destiny to get to see him at work!
There was a thing going around on the internet where people could make fake Halloween costume packages. When I saw them I got an idea for mine. Dick took a picture of me, Lisa helped me to get it on the package, and I added the words, including the "HOLY" to cover up the scary-looking figure that was above the word "Spirit." We got a good laugh out of it!
On Tuesday Elizer's nose was an ever-running fountain, and he started coughing more too. But he was as happy and almost as energetic as usual. He definitely wanted to go for a walk after his nap.
Look what we saw!
Dick got home while we were still outside, and he took Elizer for a ride around the block. The weather was pretty mild, but I had him dressed really warm because of his cold.
That evening he was doing something so cute. Dick said, "We have our own personal Door Dash!" I just had to take a video!
On Wednesday morning I had an appointment at Orthopedics with my hand surgeon. My right hand has been waking me up several times a night with pain and extreme tingling and numbness. I had had a cortisone shot in April before we went to Portland, and it made a world of difference for quite a few months. I do wear a brace on both wrists every night ever since I had my left carpal tunnel surgery in August 2021.
I was so hoping he would be willing to give me another injection, since my life seems to make the possibility of carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand unthinkable right now. And thankfully, he was willing to do that. He is such a nice man, always seems so understanding of my "real life" situations. He called himself a "wholistic hand surgeon."
After my appointment I was planning to get Elizer, but Destiny said he had coughed a lot and tossed and turned all night. She was allowed to take a sick day from work. Getting anyone to see Elizer was another thing altogether! No available appointment with his doctor until Friday! And urgent care said they were filled up and she could put him on a wait list over the phone. So she did, and they told her it would be 6:30 pm!!
So we took him to urgent care at 6:30, and still it was after 7:00 till they saw him. They tested him for RSV and other things. The doctor there said we should take him outside since the indoor air is dry. Of course, getting him to go outside is no problem!
Something unusual happened on Wednesday. I was cooking a meal for Anthony and Lori's family here in my kitchen when there was a knock at my door. That almost never happens, and my first thought was, "Oh dear, what happened?" I somewhat gingerly opened my front door and there stood Dick's cousin Suzanne and her husband from Lancaster County! They are big time hikers and were doing some hiking in our area and decided to look us up! Suzanne's dad was a brother to Dick's mother. In that Brubaker family Suzanne was the only girl cousin - all the rest were boys! It was fun to catch up with them, but I never thought of taking a picture. When they left here they went to Dick's shop to see him. Later I saw that Suzanne had posted this cousin picture!
Destiny's car was having issues this week, so on Thursday morning she dropped it off at Dick's workplace. I met her there and took her home to get ready for work. While we waited I took Elizer outside. The weather was so beautiful! And he was definitely feeling better.
We had so much fun with his little tee ball set.
We're always excited when airplanes go overhead. Destiny's house seems to be in the flight path for landing at University Park Airport.
We went for a walk on the path behind her community.
Of course we had fun shuffling in the leaves.
And then he played at the playground for a while.
Then we took Destiny to work. Her Tuesday/Thursday schedule is 1:00 to 9:30 pm. We pray for a better schedule! She did get word that Elizer had tested positive for RSV. But the worst was definitely past. His nose was not running much, and he was coughing less.
On our walk that afternoon I got this picture. He was so fascinated by the little moon we could see up there.
I gave him a bath and washed his hair that evening. For whatever reason, he HATES bath time! I reminded him how much he loved being in the pool this summer, but for some reason he is terrified of getting his hair washed. After he was all dry he was ready to snuggle with Grandpa while they watched the Phillies.
Then we picked Destiny up from work and took her to pick up her car at the shop.
On Friday we had a gorgeous sunrise!
My first mission of the morning was to meet Destiny at Elizer's doctor for a follow-up appointment. However, Destiny could not stay for the appointment because she had another one at a daycare that has a spot for him. So I took care of the doctor appointment and met her later at the daycare.
It has been another tremendous answer to prayer for there to be an available spot. So many places she called, since she found out she is eligible for daycare assistance, had long waiting lines. And then this one at St. Paul's UMC in downtown State College, had room! Hunter had actually gone there for a few months, so we are familiar with it. I think Elizer can start this coming week, Tuesday through Thursday. Don't worry, I'll still be seeing him since Destiny's work schedule goes way later than daycare hours.
After that appointment Destiny and Elizer left for Lancaster County. It was her day off and she was going to be taking her mom out to eat as a belated birthday treat and then taking Elizer to Alex for the weekend.
I got groceries and on my way home drove past this BRIGHT yellow tree!!
Our sunset was even more glorious than our sunrise on Friday!!
Dick had gone hunting at Anthony's after work and took this picture from his hunting shack. The lights are in their house, the big light behind the trees was the moon!
My birthday is next Tuesday, but we decided we should probably eat my birthday meal at Texas Roadhouse while Elizer is away for the weekend. I could go there just for the rolls. Dick would go for the Cactus Blossom. But of course, the steaks are amazing too! We each got a side salad, I got a baked potato, he got a sweet potato. And we each brought half our dinner home, and they tasted good today!
Almost 71.
Look what I did this morning! Oops, wrong microwave, hahahaha!
This was another warm day! In fact, right now at almost 9:30 pm it is still 70 degrees! I sat on the porch for a while and breathed in the sights and sounds. Lawn mowers on November 5th!
And tonight we get an extra hour. But tomorrow evening it will get dark WAY too early. I am trying to find ways to encourage myself. I looked ahead and saw that by mid-December we start adding a minute of daylight every few days. Small encouragement, I guess!
Have a happy Sunday! I'm looking forward to having my flute player at church tomorrow morning. And the choir will be singing "Taste and See" after Communion.
Well, here it is over a week since my last post. I'm going to first of all post a lot of beautiful Fall photos I've taken around here. We have been having wonderful weather and so much beauty!
Our marigolds have been hit by frost since I took this picture last week, but that's ok. They were starting to look pretty old and worn anyway.
This tree is right across the street.
I took this one yesterday as I drove up Anthony and Lori's driveway. Things are fading fast, but those yellow ones are still beautiful.
Last week I did not have Elizer since he was down in Lancaster with Alex, and I did not have any "company" here, so I tried to get some major stuff done. One of them was getting Stanley Steemer here to clean our carpets. All but the bedrooms, which is where we carried all our stuff. I was thinking I kinda like our spaciousness without all our stuff, haha!
Our carpets desperately need to be stretched, but part of me doesn't feel like putting any more money into them, because I dream of putting in vinyl (??) that looks like wood. But we are having other major expenses right now (like Dick's teeth, ugh!), so that will not be happening in the near future.
One thing I was willing to spend some bucks on was a replacement for this horrendously flaking recliner! It looks even worse in the sunlight of the kitchen to where we moved it before the carpet was cleaned.
I found one locally on Facebook Marketplace and I ran it by Jeremy. He knows furniture, of course. The person advertising it did not know who made the chair since she had not gotten it at a name brand store. Jeremy found it right away on Ashley's site and told me what he would need to pay for it, plus shipping, so he thought it was a good deal if everything worked - electric controls, phone charger, etc. He sent me this.
So I went to look at it and said I would take it. They delivered it to us on Saturday! Dick took the back off our old one and delivered it to the local recycling - what we used to call the dump, lol! We are happy with the new one.
Gotta show off some very good-looking grandchildren - school pictures.
First grade Brennan out it Portland!
Third grade Bianca and fifth grade Sammy!
On Sunday after church we went out to eat with some friends. I couldn't believe how the petunias were still flourishing outside the restaurant!
Last week I had some fun with an advertisement I saw for the Thelma recliner. That's my first name. Someone asked if my best friend was Louise. I do have a friend Louise and someone found an ad for a Louise accent chair, haha!! Here are Thelma and Louise at the restaurant on Sunday, hahaha! You can't see it, but we were both wearing black and white plaid pants!
I am so unaware of movies and shows from the past since we didn't even have a TV till 1989. So when people joked about Thelma and Louise I honestly thought it was an old TV series. Then Louise told me it's a movie about two friends who went on a wild trip and ended up holding hands in their convertible and driving off a cliff. WHAT??? She said I would probably not enjoy the movie. No I would not, and I'm glad she forewarned me, haha!
On Sunday afternoon while Destiny was at work, Dick and I met up with Alex to bring Elizer back for the week. We're always so happy to see him!
Look at this view on our way back home!!!
I'm going to end this post here. My next one will have lots of pics from this week with Elizer. Unfortunately he has a pretty bad cold. But he doesn't seem to mind. I'm trying to keep my face away from his coughs, and so far I'm good!
