Author Archives: Jo Mayne Casey

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

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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

I just don’t feel like blogging…

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

I’ve been thinking again…always dangerous, if you know me… I’m unable to find words to explain…I can’t make myself sit down at the keyboard and try…

That summer feeling of freedom is creeping up on me…if it weren’t for the chiggers I’d lie down in the grass and watch the clouds change shapes…but there are definitely chiggers, currently living on me in places where the sun doesn’t shine, so instead, I sit outside on one porch or another, swinging away the time.  Sorry to say, but I just don’t feel like blogging.

I had a super surprise this week when I was contacted by a distant Mayne cousin.  He shared some good stories of our Iowa Maynes during the Civil War.  He clued me in to the Gold Mine story.  I enjoyed the conversation so much and he’s going to send me some info, to boot.  Before he called, I was researching a completely unrelated family member and studying up on button factories, but now I’ve put that aside as I delve back into the Maynes… I love doing the research and learn something every day.  I want to share it with you…and I will!..but right now I just don’t feel like blogging…

Umm…That’s all I got…

We’ll have Olivia and Samantha staying with us Mon-Thurs while their mom works up north.  We will have a blast for sure…and I hope I’ll feel like blogging…

Peace

The Late Wrap-up

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It was a full week last week…  My #2 grandie, Olivia Mayne Casey, was promoted from elementary school last Wednesday.  She was the picture of poise as she gave an excellent speech.  She received several Awards for her participation in extracurriculars, and was chose to have her picture hang on the “Wall of Fame” for her performance in Language Arts.  She looked beautiful…..

Between pounding rains, we brought up the trailer and set it up just outside our back door, ready to be used as a kind of summer house.  Inspired, I pulled out the cushions of the banquette and went crazy buying throw cushions (BOGO 1/2 off at Big Lots) and voila!

By Friday we were able to put up the pool, though the windy rains continued to intermittently pass by…

Saturday was the Shannon’s School of Dance Recital.  This was Olivia’s 7th performance and she did a perfect job…it may be her last, as well, and she went out in style.  She has chosen to d/c the dance during the 6th grade year while she gets the hang of Middle School and their extracurricular offerings.  She says she may go back, and I agreed — the first dance was performed by “old” students at Shannon’s (where were you, Melissa?) who tapped to 42nd Street and it made me want to buckle up my tap shoes and join the fun. (sorry about the quality of the pictures, but the lights…)

The dance recital is always a looong one, so we took Samantha home with us during the intermission and she slept over with us.  She and I sleep together in my bed, putting Grandpa off to the couch…  We picked up Olivia the next morning and the three of us hit up IGA for some fried chicken and other picnic fixins.  Michael and Jessica arrived for lunch and the Indy 500 was on the TV all day.  There was a cloudburst, so no swimming, but we played games and sang songs…

I have been feeling extremely emotional and anxious about nothing, compounded by thinking too much about the past…which has passed…and I know better…but it was 22 years ago last week that Dad died, my grandkids are growing up waay too fast, to say nothing of my children being middle-aged so what does that make me…

This getting old shit is getting old…

So I felt all the feels, but walked them away at the cemetery after I put a fresh arrangement on Mom & Dad’s mausoleum.  Memorial Day is a party at the graveyard and a little bit of sunshine and smiling did me a world of good.

It’s going to be a wonderful summer vacay with the Jr. girls,,,I’m planning weekly adventures and the sky’s the limit on the fun we can muster up.   I’m not sure when the Jose’ girls will visit, but they will!

In the meantime, there’s plenty of work to do around the Acres…right after I sit a spell on the front porch swing…

Peace

 

Weekly Wrap-up

By Posted in 2019, Spring at Sonnystone, Weekly Wrap-Up Tagged , , 1 Comment

Thursday was Samantha’s last day of 4-year-old Preschool—whoa, time, slow down…   The program was darling and she was, of course, right on it with the songs and choreography…

I haven’t written about the Derby because it was such a disappointment…  Even though it’s not a Real Triple Crown this year, I dutifully bet the Preakness, picked that 25-1 longshot that placed, and made a cool $21.60  The Real Winner was Bodexpress, who ran the race without a jockey….I bet on him, too…

…On to the Belmont, she says half-heartedly.

Next week is Olivia’s week…She will be leaving elementary school (K-5) and moving on to middle school (6-8).  They call it a promotion and will have a program on Wednesday morning… Friday evening she will have her Dance Recital…

If the weatherman is correct, we should be getting summer-like temperatures just in time to get the pool up and filled for Memorial Day.

My Family History research continues to fill my rainy days…and  I do want to get over to decorate graves in Southern Illinois and prowl around the counties that I’ve been studying.  The great-grands seem so real to me now…

Wait!  I see the sun!!

Peace