Author Archives: Jo Mayne Casey

Rainy Day’s a Monday…

By Posted in 2019, Monday Musings, Summer at Sonnystone Tagged , 1 Comment

It’s been a tough week, guys.  What the H is going on with me?  It’s one weird malady after another. On the one hand, I don’t want to talk about it.  On the other hand, damn,  why shouldn’t I gripe…

Shortest version: A small cyst on my upper thigh suddenly blew up into a Giant Invading Mound of Infection and I had to go to the doctor and get it lanced and get a shot of Rocephin and take a bunch of doxycycline  and the swelling in my thigh was serious and cellulitis set in and I only had one dress (that fits) to my name so I have worn it out and bought three more but two haven’t arrived and it hurts when I walk and I’m worried we didn’t get all the goop out and it turned out to be a rare strain of staph and I prefer average everyday staph and nobody gives you good pain medicine anymore…   >stops to breath<  But it gets better every day…

Yeah, so I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired… Hmm…you didn’t need to know that at all, did you?  Judging by my productivity — 4 blog posts, about 5000 words — you never noticed and had no idea I took all those naps, did you?  Damn, I just blew my entire superwoman image…again…

I was heartened to be with my Jr. girls again.  Saturday we went out to the mall and messed around and I bought them some new shoes, at a real shoe store where they measure your feet and put the shoes on them and feel for your toe…  They both chose converse, Olivia’s in Orange and Sam’s in Rainbow.  I got a little carried away and got Samantha a unicorn dress and unicorn headband, and Olivia a sweet yellow top.  Their parents barely recognized them when I took them home.  I had forgotten my phone, so this picture is one I stole from their mother’s fb page…it does not show the cool shoes, just my pretty girls.

Sunday we got together again and went to Central Library.

We needed this rain today– I thought I’d never say that again after Spring! I’ve got more beans to snap and cook and the last of my cilantro is going into a lime marinade for some chicken breasts.  This year’s bell peppers have been the best I’ve ever grown and I’m dipping them and the cucumbers like a fiend.  I couldn’t do much in the garden last week, so it was all on Casey, and he came through like a champ and planted three rows of green beans.  If you’re not keeping with the Gardens at Sonnystone, you should!

I think I’ll take advantage of the rainy weather to do more Ancestry, as usual.  I was so relieved to finish up all the Eaton family work, but there is no real finish to it!  I’m ready to get back to the Maynes soon, and as long as I’m still solving mysteries, I’ll keep going. Check out Last Week’s Work…

  Peace

 

 

 

A spot of News…

By Posted in 2019, Summer at Sonnystone Tagged , , 1 Comment

My NYC grandies were in Vancouver, B.C. last week, dancing in the North American Irish Dance Championships.  They both have worked so hard to qualify and have practiced their little hearts out.  I am so proud of them and was overjoyed when Emma Placed #30 in the U13 group!!  These girls love Irish Dance and make friends as they travel around the World.

 

It’s typical Eville summertime now, humid and buggy.  I’m doing my best to keep up with the vegetables, cooking and chopping, snapping and slicing…  If you haven’t been reading my garden blog, you should visit the Gardens at Sonnystone.

The Jr girls are still at their Other grandmother’s this week, so Casey and I are having to entertain ourselves…super fun times, if you know us…

I’m still caught up in the ancestry, too. Come on over and Climb the Family Tree with me.

Peace

If it’s Monday, I must be musing…

By Posted in 2019, Summer at Sonnystone, Weekly Wrap-Up Tagged , , Leave a comment

I’m especially bored with The News right now…as there is so little news, even during this 4th-of-July-Week…  The NYC kids are in Vancouver, B.C. for the Irish Dance National Championships and I’m sending Strong Peace+Love vibes their way.  The Jrs kids are spending the week with their maternal cousins, in from Ohio or thereabouts, and I won’t be seeing them for a bit.

While I’m obsessed (still) with my ancestry research, I’m neglecting to write much other than timelines. Oh, I’m still going about my usual chores and duties to the house and gardens, spending plenty of time in the pool, reading and listening to music, and even playing the piano (12th Street Rag), but The News just isn’t happening…

So I’ve set some serious blogging goals here…

 1. Stop the genealogy research right where it is Now and write it up for All My Ancestors. That’s easier said than done, mind you, because one little question leads to hours of study.  For example, the blog I’ve been trying to write for weeks about Grandpa and the Button Factory has taken me in new directions regarding my German immigrant relatives.   I am thrilled and excited to share what I’ve learned, but I’ll have to accept that this work is never quite finished and go ahead and write it anyway.

2. Start a series of Proust questionnaire interviews here at The News. There, I said it.  I published a series of interviews back in 2006 or so and it was fun.  At that time I emailed friends and family members who were kind enough to fill in the blanks.  Many of those folks no longer speak to me, but I’ve made New Friends and maybe I can get some cool responses.  Are you familiar with the Questionnaire?  The questions were part of a Victorian parlor game called “confessions”.  The French writer, Marcel Proust, answered the questions first when he was 14 and gets a lot of credit for “inventing” them, but he really didn’t.  The questions have been changed by others throughout the years, so no one gets exactly the same questions.  Here’s an example:

HERE ARE DAVID BOWIE’S ANSWERS:

What is your idea of perfect happiness? Reading.

What is your most marked characteristic? Getting a word in edgewise.

What do you consider your greatest achievement? Discovering morning.

What is your greatest fear? Converting kilometers to miles.

Which historical figure do you most identify with? Santa Claus.

Which living person do you most admire? Elvis.

Who are your heroes in real life? The consumer.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? While in New York, tolerance. Outside of New York, intolerance.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? Talent.

What is your favorite journey? The road of artistic excess.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Sympathy and originality.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Chthonic, miasma.

What is your greatest regret? That I never wore bell-bottoms.

What is your current state of mind? Pregnant.

If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be? My fear of them (wife and son excluded).

What is your most treasured possession? A photograph held together by cellophane tape of Little Richard that I bought in 1958, and a pressed and dried chrysanthemum picked on my honeymoon in Kyoto.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Living in fear.

Where would you like to live? Northeast Bali or south Java.

What is your favorite occupation? Squishing paint about a senseless canvas.

What is the quality you most like in a man? The ability to return books.

What is the quality you most like in a woman? The ability to burp on command.

What are your favorite names? Sears & Roebuck.

What is your motto? “What” is my motto.

Would you be interested in taking the questionnaire?  My readers are (nearly) as clever as Bowie, so I know it will be entertaining.  Lest you think I’m making You do all the work, remember that I will write a short bio and add a photo…I’ll be contacting as many of you as I can throughout the coming months.  Think about it, dear friends.  Maybe we could even meet up, face-to-face, which would be incredibly cool since I haven’t actually laid eyes on most of my FB friends in 20+ years…

We have no plans for Independence Day…perhaps I can get #1 goal marked off the list this week… then I’ll be in touch, pals.

Peace

 

 

 

 

 

Monday Musings

By Posted in 2019, genealogy, Summer at Sonnystone, updates Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

It is raining again … I’m fighting the gloomies, aware that some summers here in Eville have involved too much rain to suit me or my garden and this could be one of them…

Last week there were a kajillion activities around town…I had planned on getting down to see the Ultimate Air Dogs, my favorite feature of the Shrinefest Air Show, but the planes and dogs were rained out.

In between thunderstorms, we took the kids to the zoo…I adore the new Budgie Walkabout.  There are 350 Parakeets (did you know Parakeets are also called Budgies?  I didn’t) in a rainbow of hues flying in a roomy screen area.  You purchase feeding sticks (hey, it’s for a good cause), put out your hand and oila!

I took in an inside-fest: Midnight Madness at Willard Library.  Each day there was a speaker or two and the librarians were there until late to help with local and regional genealogy from their extensive collections.  I’ve attended before, but not since the Willard addition of The Browning Room.  The new room holds a lot more people comfortably and the  two days of presentations that I attended were excellent.  I immediately started using my new-found tools to run down some details and killed many of the rainy hours living in the Past…

I have always enjoyed planning Trips, so that’s another way I’ve piddled while I wait for the Sun.  I’m working on a foray into New Mexico.  We took a quick visit before Casey retired and Ihad a fall and injured my knee the first day out, to say nothing of the fact that we took the Wrong Road to Taos… We didn’t have enough time, either, so I’m thinking we’ll head back this September and do it right.  I’m also tweaking our March 2020 Getaway –Florida Keys, Naples, Melbourne, and (of course) Disney –Just another way to wait out the rain…living in the Future.

I’m failing to live up to my Motto:  Be Here Now… but Now is wet, dark, dusty, and just plain depressing…   Is the Sun still out there?

It is, it really is…

(Brush up on your Spanish as you sing along with George…and get outside if you can see the Sun)

Peace

 

Weekly Wrap-up and Happy Fathers Day

By Posted in 2019, Spring at Sonnystone, Weekly Wrap-Up Tagged , , Leave a comment

Big Shout-Out to all the Daddies who are being celebrated today.  I know some good ones:  the two Michael Caseys- Casey and Jr. — come to mind.  I hope you are enjoying the attention.  You are Loved…

My face is back to pink now, but the shape is oddly different.  Nothing you would notice, probably maybe, but I do.  The whole episode has made me stop and think about how I worry about the physical toll of aging, not just the sag of my jowls, but the drooping Everywhere else.  It’s part of the process of living, I know, but as soon as I can quit applying medicine I am taking a complete break from Mirrors.

I took Olivia and Samantha over to Henderson, Ky for a picnic and a walkabout.  It was a perfect day!  We are usually sweaty and hot this time of year, so the clouds and cool breeze were a treat.

getting something out of her shoe…

This coming week is Midnight Madness, A Genealogical Event at Willard Library.  I’m interested in several of the topics, so I’ll spend a couple of days there.  The end of the week ushers in the Shrine Fest, another festivity that is usually unbearably muggy.  Maybe some more cool-ish weather could stick around?

Oh, I have to show you what we found at a rummage sale last Friday:  a Red glider that puts a Pop of Colour in my south porch.

Peace

 

Indisposed

By Posted in 2019, Spring at Sonnystone, updates Tagged , 2 Comments

Lest you think I only show my smart side here on the blog, here’s a saga of stupidity…

I did my usual maintenance down at the Nails place–mani, pedi, chin and lip wax–on Saturday.  I hate having to wax my face, but I could quickly grow a Colonel Sanders beard and a Pat Shoulders mustache if left unattended and shaving just leads to whiskers…  Anyway, I’ve been doing it for years and I bring along my special Clinique redness solutions cream to put over the stripped skin immediately.  Saturday I forgot the cream and let them use their stuff lightly.  It was okay and I went my merry way.

On Sunday it kinda itched and I remembered to use some of my cream, then some cortisone cream for the itch, but it persisted.  Sometime in the ;middle of the night Sunday I got up and pulled some just-bought anti-itch gel from the medicine cabinet and applied it to my face.  I thought I knew what was in the gel, but it was a different brand… It burned a little, but I went back to bed…

When I woke up several hours later, my face and chin were so swollen that I could only see half of my mouth.  I had evidently rubbed some up on my forehead, but luckily none had got in my eyes..  My cheeks were voluminous, My chin was like Dudley Do-Right, and it was burning like crazy.   Shit…the new gel had camphor in it –now I read the label– and I must have reacted to it:  2nd degree burns wherever it had been applied.

I washed my face, started applying ice, which is what I have been doing the last couple of days.  I’ve used a lot of ibuprofen.  I’ve applied mounds of zinc oxide and wear my biggest garden hat.  My eyes feel sticky and I’ve flooded them with various types of eye drops.

The worst part?  Looking at my face in the mirror…I’m way too vain for this kind of malady and feel nothing but embarrassment and self-pity.

I will spare you the selfie…it is scary…

I’ve avoided going out in public (nothing new for me), but I’ve got things to do, places to go, and people to see.  Tomorrow’s my day with Olivia and Samantha and we’re heading over to the Handy Blues Festival in the afternoon, so I should be ready to slather on some make-up, put on some Large sunglasses, and wear my Mona Lisa smile as I mingle with the masses…

There is a Super line-up of Musicians playing the Handy Fest and I’ll be back sans grandies to enjoy the evenings.  It would be great if I run into you while we’re there…

Now you know what happened…Just act like you don’t notice…

Peace

 

Weekly Wrap-up

By Posted in 2019, Spring at Sonnystone, updates, Weekly Wrap-Up Tagged , , Leave a comment

Monday morning Olivia and Samantha came to stay for three nights!  It was like a mini-Camp Sonnystone:  we painted birdhouses and signs, went to the zoo, played games, swam, and had ice cream every night before bed!

I had the best time with the girls.  I hope they can stay with us every time their mom has to go out of town for work.

The rains have been quite rainy, so we waited until today to head up to New Harmony for their annual antiques fest. A lot of the outside vendors had not even set up due to rain and the usual crowds were non-existent, but we were there.

I’m still getting caught up with the info that my distant Mayne cousin mailed me.  It is intriguing.  My goal is to get some blogging done over at All My Ancestors this week…  But I have some musings to share with my fellow Sonnystoners, too, so expect a tick-up in posts as we creep on toward summer…  Hope you’re having fun!

Peace