I’m hurrying out the door to pick up Samantha – we’re going to the Philharmonic Orchestra’s Peppermint Pops again this year and I can hardly wait to belt out the Hallelujah Chorus! In the meantime, here’s what we were doing nine years ago…
December 6, 2016, starring Nova (mostly) This was made for me by 1Drive, so it ain’t my usual perfection, but it will do….
Nova sang at the Eville Music Academy Winter Concert last night and did a Super Job! I know because her Dad sent me a video…sadly, I was unable to attend. So this little video is to thank her for being herself – she’s The Best!
Since I’m being so lazy, I’ll throw in a re-blog of the same event, three years later with her sister…
I’m still working on Christmas presents, so there’s time to straighten up and get on my list!!! You’ve got my number and surely you know where your phone is! I’d love to hear from you!
Melissa and Eliza arrived on…um…I think it was Wednesday… I’ve lost track of the days.
Nova and Samantha joined Eliza and me to visit the Mall on Friday, I do know that.
The Jrs joined us yesterday for our Family Picnic (inside, of course) – green beans and new potatoes, corn on the cob, fried chicken, sliced tomatoes, cantaloupe, and watermelon filled us up. I don’t know why on earth I didn’t take pictures, but we all had a good time playing yahtzee after our feast.
Our plans have gang agley – gone awry, if you will. We had planned to go to Ellis Park today, but Excessive heat shut down the thoroughbreds for the week, Eliza is feeling under the weather (get it?), and I’m out of ideas of air-conditioned entertainment, so we’re just hanging here, talking and enjoying each other’s company.
I think that’s fine, really. We are still maintaining the gardens in the early mornings, though most of the plants in the Edible garden are shocked by the heat. I seem to be mentioning “heat” pretty often, so let me add some adjectives: blistering, sweltering, scorching, oppressive…it’s as bad as I’ve ever experienced and I hate to see my utility bill next month.
The Company is cool, though, so I’m living my best possible today – whatever day it is. I promise I’ll take more pictures as the week goes on. Thanks for dropping by!
Our #3 grand-daughter, Eliza Belle Mayne Jose, graduated from 8th grade on Thursday. She will continue on to 9th grade at the same school, Avenues The World School, so it’s called a “Stepping Up” celebration. We watched on Vimeo and I wasn’t much impressed with the videography, but when my beautiful grandie walked up to pick up her certificate, I felt that overwhelming surge of emotions where your heart swells up and pushes tears out of your eyes. I love this girl more that words can say – well, you know that. When she was little, we would do a pretend morning show together. She was the OG musical.ly and would often facetime me so I could watch her latest choreography, usually to music that made me blush. She was born with a fabulous sense of fashion and she’s the one who I consult on which sneakers to buy. I’ll get to see her at the end of July and I can hardly wait.
Happy Fathers’ Day to all the Dads out there! I had a good one, but he’s been gone 28 years now. He would visit me every Wednesday, an event we dubbed “Music Night”. He would play the uke and we’d sing; he’d have me play the piano and we’d sing; I’d play some good tunes on the stereo and we’d sing.
Me and Dad at the Eaton Family Reunion, Grayville, IL 1979
We also drank and smoked and talked and laughed and sometimes argued, but we’d always end up singing. I haven’t done much singing since he died and my voice has gone to hell, but in my mind those harmonies still play.
Had my second cataract removal on Tuesday and it’s gone well – not as well as the right eye – but every day is more clear. I expect I’ll be seeing a lot of fog soon, anyway.
“Surely we’ve had enough rain this week to last us a couple”, I wrote last week. Surely we did, but the ever-whimsical Spring disagreed and brought us a deluge of four inches on Friday, another 1.5 on Saturday. Luckily, we had most every plant staked or propped and there was very little damage to the gardens.
I would have preferred to be sitting in a lawn chair at the Handy Festival, but since our Entire Day here at Sonnystone was decidedly un-sunny, I assumed it was the same over in Henderson. I was soo disappointed when I found out on the evening news – rain still pouring outside my window – that it was sunny and dry just across the river.
Here comes the humidity! We still haven’t turned our a/c on, but looks like we will soon. I’m beginning to start moving books off of shelves in the family room so we can pull up the carpet back there. Casey is restless if he can’t work outside, so this might be a good time to start.
The coughing has stopped! I’m not taking any medicine! I feel normal again!
Yesterday Nova and I went out to JoAnn’s, then for lunch at Fazoli’s and I forgot to take pictures. I assure you my face is still old, but my #2 grandie is getting prettier every day. Here’s a picture of her after a recent speech meet.
This week is full of St. Paddy’s and Equinox celebrations with appropriate food and drink. I’ve got my Medicare Wellness appointment on Tuesday – always a treat! What problem will they find this year? The monthly market auction in New Harmony is this Saturday, and I’m hoping Lana and Charley can meet us for lunch at the Friday preview.
I’ve got my taters chitting, my peas are soaking, and the ceremonial Planting of the Green will be tomorrow. This year’s garden is going to be better than ever, thanks to my obsessively watching Youtube gardeners. Intensive planting is my theme.
Even though Ostara/Spring Equinox is a time of New Beginnings, it does seem to me to be the same old story every year – corned beef and cabbage on the 17th, quiche on the 20th – and a long wait for Spring to warm us up. As the storms blow across the country, I hope you stay safe!
You’ve met my youngest grandie, Samantha Lynn Mayne Casey, many times on this blog. I’ve been chronicling our adventures for ten years now and we’ve watched her grow. She is the youngest of my four grandies, born the year I retired, and we’ve had so many wonderful adventures together — watching “toodles”, playing with Paw Patrol, riding our Magic Carpets to DisneyWorld, weekly sleep-overs, drawing lots of pictures, learning to play the piano — and we look forward to making many more memories to cherish. She has always been a happy little girl and a joy to her Jojo and Grandpa.
Birth! 1 year
She’s busy today at an Archery tournament, so we celebrated together last Monday at Eastland Mall. Build-a-Bear has a birthday bear that costs a dollar per year of your existence, so our mission was to add all the bells and whistles and clothes to make a great new stuffie. Mission Accomplished…
Then we were off to the food court for some ice cream rolls from DinoIce. She chose a concoction of strawberries and banana in her ice cream rolls, topped with cotton candy, made right there with special strawberry flavoring, that was to die for.
I had a freebie coupon from Bath & Body, so we also picked up an Ariel hangy thing for her backpack. We were happy.
There are no words that adequately express the Love we feel for our children and grandchildren, but we try…
Happiest of Birthdays, dear Samantha! I wish you Love and Happiness for all of your days.
Last week was uneventful here at Sonnystone Acres, spent watching the snow melt… Casey tried to outsmart Twitch, the flying squirrel, and the jury is still out on who won the skirmish.
Upcoming this week: Eliza Belle Mayne Jose’ will turn 14 on the 21st and Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose’ will be 19 on the 24th. Eliza is in the 8th grade at Avenues and continues her Irish Dance instruction at Doherty-Petri. Emma is starting her second semester at Colgate University and she, too, has continued her Irish dancing. Both girls are consistently at the top of their competitions and are World qualifiers. More than just dancers, they are good students and decent people, and I’m so proud of them.
In their honor, here’s a recycle of last year’s tribute.
The wheel is turning and we can’t slow down… My New York Irish Dancer grand-daughters both had birthdays last week. Eliza, my #3 grandie, turned 13 on the 21st; Emma, my #1 grandie, turned 18 on the 24th. I am a little dizzy thinking about how the time has flown. They are gems in my crown and their futures look so bright that I gotta wear shades…
My #1 and #3 grandies,
Eliza and Emma, 2024
Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose:
Eliza Belle Mayne Jose:
Three more days of cold and we’ll moderate into “normal” winter temperatures around 40–it will feel tropical! Hope it’s thawing in your neck of the woods.
We had a nice Thanksgiving with this crew, for whom I am eternally grateful.
We woke up to a couple of inches of fluffy snow this morning — nice touch, Cosmo, and very conducive to our ongoing (and on) hanging of the Greens.
Three more weeks of waning light until Earth’s wobble will turn us back toward the Sun and these incredible shrinking days will slowly begin to expand. Until then, it’s time to make the best of those 5 or so hours of daylight!
I’ve been writing out a monthly dopamine menu, which is a list of activities to do that trigger the release of dopamine, our homemade pleasure chemical, in the brain. December’s menu pretty much writes itself: Do All Things Christmas-y: Play the Music! Bake cookies! Buy Presents! Watch the sappy TV movies! Deck the Fa-la-la out of the Halls! I’ll be working in a trip to Grayville for a cousin luncheon, a visit to the Zoo and the Eville Museum, and Nova has a Vocal recital on the 14th. We’re planning a Winter Solstice Celebration on the 21st, hopefully lighting a Yule Log outside in my circle. Did I mention that my daughter has a birthday on the 20th? It’s going to be a lovely month, full of love and family.
Since Emma is not home from Colgate until 12/18, we have had to change up our 20-year-old Rockettes tradition–We will be going to a 5pm performance on Boxing Day (12/26). Casey and I will fly out of Nashville on Christmas morning and stay with the Joses until the 29th. We should have time this trip to visit the Met and the MOMA, something we’ve missed doing.
Our Christmas with the Jrs. will be December 22 and will include “Moana 2” — I can hardly wait. We have more plans with my Local girls in the next weeks, so I’ll keep you informed. I know you’ll be waiting with bated breath…
We had a beautifully sunny week here at Sonnystone Acres. I have trimmed, pruned, and potted the tender perennials to bring in for the winter. They’re still enjoying the fresh air outdoors, but soon enough we’ll be bringing them into the shed, where a sunny area is arranged for them. I harvested about 3/4 of the green beans, but the peas and zucchini are a bust. I started out with four coleus and have added four more plants and four more in water, waiting to root. I’m thinking they’ll make nice Christmas gifts…
We never did make it down to the Fall Festival, but the Jr. Girls both marched in the parade Saturday. Look at my little cowgirls…
We were in New Harmony on Saturday for the Wilson monthly auction. We’re just getting our feet wet, learning how to bid at these things, and enjoying the heck out of it. As previously mentioned, I don’t need More Junk, but… A Bargain is a bargain – how can you pass it up? Casey is just as much a junker as I am with the tools and lawn equipment, so this could make for some expensive diversion.
We’re supposed to have our first frost this week and temps are plunging. I’m happy to say good-bye to the 80s, and ready for sweater weather, but some rain would be nice.
Hope you’re enjoying Life in your neck of the woods.
Hi, kids! It’s been a busy week here at the Acres, mostly garden and housework, mundane chores and such.
To celebrate our wedding anniversary we visited a new eating spot in downtown Eville, Patsy Hartigan’s Irish Pub. I really liked the atmosphere – horse racing and soccer on the TVs – and the food was not only delicious, but also reasonably priced. I’m excited to return and try everything on the menu!
I did manage to figure out the microsoft chipchamp program well enough to put together a short video of Camp Sonnystone. It’s really much better than what I’ve been using, but my brain was shorting out a couple of times trying to move and trim; I figured out that AI will fix everything for you…well, not everything but a lot…
It’s just under two minutes. Enjoy!
Giggle, guffaw, chuckle, chortle – however you express your amusement – Let’s All Laugh! (it seems to make some people cray-cray)
There’s a Super Moon coming up tomorrow and we’ll be out howling!
The News from Sonnystone Acres 