Category Archives: Summer at Sonnystone

Monday, again…

sigh< this summer has been a real bust for sunshine.  I can remember other summers that were this rainy, but I complained about them, too.  I have Not gotten to the point where I miss the every-day-above-90degrees-and-Humid summers, though.

My friend, Karen, …who I wrote about here… was in town last week; her Mom died on the 17th.  It’s most likely the last time she’ll be back to Eville, so our hugs were especially heartfelt…

I Really Will be down to Navarre sometime on our travels next year, dear friend, and we’ll get happier pictures then.

I saw the surgeon last week and he plans to do a little exploring and see how deeply the damned infection went into my leg.  He said it’s okay to go on to New Mexico, though, and we scheduled the surgery for Monday, September 23.  Because I’ll need to do some pre-op labs before then, we changed around our trip.

We’ve taken away the Colorado component at the end of the trip.  We’ll leave four days earlier, on September 4, and spend those extra days in Santa Fe.  Thanks to my high-school-homeroom pal’s suggestion,  I added a visit to Ojo Caliente, higher up in the mountains from Taos.  Our drives to Abuqui and Ojo will be much easier from the Santa Fe KOA. We’ll move down to the Albuquerque KOA on 9/10 just as I’d previously planned and have those five days to explore there…and loaf around.  We’ll be back on the 18th and I’ll get those pre-op labs on the 20th–voila!!

I admit I dread this surgery–who wouldn’t?  The doctor says I’ll be fine the next day.  I’m sure I will be…no worries.

But I’m super excited about the Trip…  The meaning of the Zia Sun Symbol speaks to my Heart…Perhaps my DNA doesn’t have Zia ancestry, but I believe my Soul does.

 

We’re slowly but surely pulling up the edible garden plants. Around on the Bird/porch garden, my begonias are still gorgeous, and the birds are enjoying the purple coneflower and black-eyed Susans.

See that wood up against the fence beyond the bird in the picture below…

That is what will keep us warm this year.  When a tree falls in our woods, Casey is there with his chainsaw to cut it into manageable chunks and bring it up where he can split it into woodburner-size logs.  This week he’s renting the splitter and will spend All Day working it.   In the past, he has moved the finished product from there to the north fence, then brings it in to the front porch as needed.

Weather can make that second move a bit risky for an Old Man like him, so we’ll put as much as we can (which should be a lot, if not all of it)  on the front porch.    I’ve come up with some ideas to store the wicker which will make it one-stop-stacking.  Our utility bills are amazingly low for this old house thanks to Casey’s work.  It is truly a year-round job…

He is Always Keeping busy, surprising me with this special Sign…

She is officially christened…a little late, but hey…

 Enjoy your week…

Peace

 

 

 

More Monday musing…

Since the girls left, we’ve gone back to our no-routine routine.  Casey’s always busy with something, as usual, but even he stopped to just relax in the pool yesterday.  A Big Wind blew through yesterday afternoon and he’ll stay busy this morning cleaning up the leaves and branches.

I still won’t go out in the grass (chiggerphobia) until this Thing on my thigh is completely healed.  To that end, I have an appointment with a surgeon on Wednesday.  I feel a little silly because it is now so small, but I want to hear what he thinks about potential re-infection.  I’m on another round of antibiotics and would like to stop that pattern.

I’ve got to do Maintenance this week:  mani/pedi, hair highlights.  I’m working my way through the vegetables, eating a lot of buttery zucchini, sliced tomatoes, and dipped bell peppers.  I think I’m losing weight, but my scale is still weighing in stones…I think I like it better that way…

It will be three weeks until we set out on our NM-CO Adventure.  Our first Long trip in the trailer was three years ago to Santa Fe, NM.  We were so green and learned so much.  Casey was still working, so our time was restricted—six days driving, three days there!!

We went to Bandelier National Park our first day.  The hike we took was perfect for me, though I did not climb too high on the ladders…

August, 2016
August, 2016

The next morning, trying to take a decent picture from the overlook of the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge, I tripped and fell…bloodied both knees and scraped up my hands…I soldiered on, griping and with a few tears…

August 2016

I limped around Taos and we enjoyed lunch at a nearly-empty La Fonda where the chef came out and brought us extras of his soups….

August 2016
August 2016

But the Pueblo was closed and we missed the High Road going back to Santa Fe and that just clinched it:  we’d have to go back someday.

I fell in Love with Santa Fe.  It vibrates with history.  I loved the Plaza and the Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi (the Mother Church).  As we had our dinner on a balcony, we could see the musicians beginning to arrive to busk for the evening.  We didn’t have time to see the Georgia O’Keefe Museum, so we knew it:  we’d have to go back someday.

August 2016
August 2016

Someday is nearly here, but there’s little to do but plan it right now.  I’m dubbing it the KOA tour, as we’ll be staying at KOAs in Joplin, MO,  Amarillo, TX,  Albuquerque/Bernalillo, NM,  Pueblo/Colorado City, CO,  and Salina, KS.  As members we receive a 10% discount on already-low-prices; we’ve collected $20 worth of reward points, and one night will be $0 as part of their semi-annual Free Night…maybe I should call it the Cheap-o Tour.

We’ll take the High Road to Taos this time and I’ll watch where I’m stepping.  I am pumped for the O’Keefe museum and a tour of her home and studio, Abiquiu.  Petroglyphs National Park has long been on my list of places to see, not only because I’ve heard of alien sightings there, but also because I’m intrigued by petroglyphs.  Nearby is Old Town Albuquerque which deserves a visit, if only for the shopping.  There’s plenty more to do and we’ll be staying five days so we can get it all done and still have some time in the pool…

We decided to return home via Colorado, but you may have guessed I’m not into those Really Tall Mountains except from afar. The air is way too thin on Pike’s Peak for an old smoker.

We’ll stay a couple of days and do some tourist-y stuff…

Until it’s really time to get ready for the trip, I’ll be hanging out, doing whatever. I’ve been on a not-reading-books binge for a couple of months, but the night before the Joses left I broke the spell and stayed up all night to finish “Relative Fortune”.  I uninstalled Candy Crush and I’m on a Reading spree!

I’m going to get out the Ancestors photos and get started posting those over at the Ancestry blog.  Maybe I’ll see you there.

I’ll let you know if there’s any News…

Peace

One Week at a Time

We’re resting after a busy week here at Sonnystone.  My thigh returned to its normal size after two weeks of antibiotics and I’m feeling much better.  That said, there is still some yuck left and I’m going to visit my NP next week and see if we need further treatment. This is a persistent bug I’ve been growing and I want it totally eradicated, never to return.

I may never go back to wearing pants… Unable to wear my usual uniform of shorts and shirts, I’ve bought several dresses and skirts that are so much more comfortable.  I feel a little like I’m walking around in my nightgown in the dresses, but I’m getting used to it.  Hell, I may burn my bras (again) and live in Total Comfort…

Casey, Michael, Olivia, Samantha, and I went out to Ellis Park on Friday.  I don’t think I have been to the track more than once each year in the four years since I worked there.  I was seriously burnt out after watching 300+ races per season x 5 seasons, but when I’m there I miss the days when Mom, Sister, or Cousins were likely to show up, too.  Olivia picked a winner and won $4.60–excellent payout for a $2 show bet, but the horse was 31-1! I came home po’.

I’m officially into Prep Week for the Upcoming Camp Sonnystone… Cleaning and menu planning, mostly.  Emma usually requests caprese using my garden’s basil and tomatoes under thick slices of fresh mozzarella drizzled with balsamic– which makes my mouth water thinking about it  Not all of the kids share my zest for tomatoes, but I have convinced them that my tomatoes are nothing like the tomatoes they eat in restaurants.  Everyone loves to pick the cherry tomatoes and pop them into their mouths right off the vine!

The best part of Camp Sonnystone is making the Sign with their handprintsand doing the annual height measurement.  The girls are growing 4-6 inches a year, forcing JoJo to acknowledge the passing of time. The sign has to be engineered to fit Large hands now.

We Will be painting birdhouses and there Will be Music and Dancing and Games.  Of course, we’ll have to go back to Ellis Park, too…and maybe New Harmony… Henderson is having their Bluegrass Fest the week-end the girls are here…  And you know, they are just such nice company!!!

I’m trying to stay calm…

So we’ll pick the Jose’ fam up next Sunday around 10:30am our time…

6 more days..

Peace

 

 

Monday’s News

The Rain was unrelenting this morning, and I woke up to a Sonnystone Acres shrouded with drab drab.

But there’s a Bright Spot on my calendar, bright enough to dispel the Any gloom:  The New York City Girls and their Mother will be Arriving on August 4!!  Melissa will be staying until the 7th; Emma and Eliza will stay until I take them back to NYC on the 14th.

Because Olivia has to start school on the 7th, we’ll do an abbreviated Camp Sonnystone from 8/4-8/6.  We still haven’t decided on a Theme, but we’ll brainstorm once we’re all together. I haven’t seen Emma and Eliza since March at Disney, so I am Ready to give them some hugs and have them hang out with me.

I should probably insert the brag here that the Girls are Rocking the Irish Dance World.  Just last week Emma got her first 1st in champion level and Eliza got three 3rds in her new prelim level.

I am weaning myself off of Ancestry in prep for the Visit.  I am to a place of blogging the ancestors where I need to start a new line of research on several grandmothers’ families which will take weeks.  It’s hard to stop, though!  Check out my latest post great-great-grandparents Leander and Emma Mayne ,

Livvy, Sam, and I went back to the Zoo to visit the Budgies last week… I really love those Parakeets, but you have to be patient.  I have the Jr girls for a day this week and I wouldn’t be surprised if we went Again…and of course we’ll take the New Yorkers. when they are here.

I’ve got to open up the upstairs and get the rooms ready, but not much else.  I can hardly wait! I’m horrible at doing countdowns — does today count — but I think it’s about 12 more days..!

Peace

Rainy Day’s a Monday…

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…

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…

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

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

Here’s a quick wrap-up of the Porch Project that morphed into the Porch-and-Patio-and-Gate Project.  I think it’s pretty impressive, even though the 6 weeks it took was 2 longer than the 4 I had allotted.

I learned peaceful patience, but that’s a project that never ends…

The garden is transforming from summer to fall.  I brought in the last of the tomatoes and made a big greek salad.  Today I’ll bring in the last of the bell peppers and chop them for freezing.  Meanwhile, the broccoli is burley and the cauliflower is,um, climbing? calling? where’s my alliterative skill?  It’s all growing…

Watching the hurricane slowly wreak havoc on the east coast, I feel very grateful to have a beautiful week ahead to finish up summer.

Peace

Remembering that day…

17 years ago…what a different world it was.  I managed to get in a call to my daughter, living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, as soon as I heard that a plane had hit the Twin Towers…her voice broke as she told me she was okay, that another had hit, that Eric had already left for the day and that she was determined to go to her doctors appointment… I told her to stay home, but she didn’t.  Her doctor never made it across the bridge that morning, but the doctor I worked for kept me busy, didn’t allow me to watch the TV in the waiting room, and let me close the door of my office and weep.

Whether you considered NYC a rat-infested garbage heap or the Emerald City, on That Day, we were all New Yorkers…  I wish it didn’t take Tragedy to bring our country together… but even then you could see the schism forming…When I got home and could talk to them, my mom and sister both decried Melissa’s presence in the city at all –“why is she even in that godless place?”

Melissa has lived in New York for nearly 19 years now, raising her children, pursuing her singing, and working her day-job well into the night.  I have made at least 40 or so round-trips, have walked Manhattan Island from stem to stern, have adopted the apartment up on 102nd as my home-away-from-home.  The people there are friendly, hugging and blowing those little air-kisses around both my ears when they greet me.  I wade into the fountains at Washington Square, or sit in Central Park and notice that children play just the same there as anywhere else.  I visit the museums, drink coffee at the diners, ride the bus or subway with a little help from my friends. I didn’t expect to love it so much, and still wish it was closer physically to the Acres…

That day, that day… I begged her to come home…  She refused…   I am so awed by her strength, by her conviction that The City was where she was supposed to be.  (I believe Eric would not have caught his cancer “in time” if he had been living in Eville) (I believe my grand-daughters are receiving a world-class education because she didn’t listen to my pleas)  When people ask me, and they inevitably do, how they “make it” there, I just shrug.  They make it on Faith…because God Is in that place, leading them along and making sure they always have enough.

If you hear the song I sing
You will understand (listen!)
You hold the key to love and fear
All in your trembling hand
Just one key unlocks them both
It’s there at your command…
 Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now

Right Now

Peace