What a Wonderful two weeks it has been! Let’s all get Together (wearing masks and social distancing, of course) and Save the World for our grandchildren. They are soo worth it.
Come on, people! Smile on your brothers and sisters!
Everybody Get Together and Love One Another right Now! Right Now…
‘Cause We’re All in this Together…
Peace
It’s Closing Day of Camp Sonnystone 2020 and I’m preparing a feast of summer foods. It seems like I’ve not taken enough pictures, so when the Jrs arrive we’ll go into a frenzy of snapping pics for this year’s Movie.
Like All of 2020, it’s been a different kind of camp– No field trips, No restaurants, No visiting or visitors, just a lot of pool-time, dancing, painting, playing, and relaxing. Eliza is a Donut Bank Fiend, so most days began with a drive-through there for coffee and sweets — especially the free cookies that she Loves. The Jr. kids have been here every other day and we’ve had dinner from every fast-food place in town, plus a few carry-out restaurants. We’ve had plenty of ice cream to keep us cool in this record-breaking heat and humidity.
The New Yorkers have been in school every morning Mon-Fri and I’ve sat in to read “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” with Eliza, as well as “Stamped” with Emma. They’ve also continued to practice their Irish Dance on the Dance Floor Pawpaw set up for them.
Our Theme this year is Together and our Theme Song is “We’re All in this Together” from Disney’s High School Musical. Emma studied the choreography and taught it to the her sister and cousins…and me. Wait ’til you see my moves…
Eric drove back to NYC two weeks ago and returned yesterday evening. During those two weeks, Evansville’s Covid-19 cases have quadrupled from 250 to over 1,000 and the mayor is begging people to wear a mask. Please.
The Jose’ Fam will head home tomorrow, leaving me to my memories… The Quiet is always deafening after they are gone… This year’s video will be Great, if I do say so myself, and I’ll share as soon as it is complete.
Peace
A picture is worth a thousand Words…
Three thousand Words that All Mean Love…
Peace
Emma Magnolia Mayne Jose graduates from 8th grade today. Emma’s my first grand-daughter, my #1 who Named me Jojo. I am so proud of all she has accomplished in her 14 years. We’re tuning into the Town School ceremony via livestream, buckets of tissues nearby, to listen to her speak. I’m so glad we could attend in this way, but I’d rather be in NYC…
Coincidentally, Ten years ago today I posted my first blog on “The News from Sonnystone Acres”. I started the blog “Sonnystone Acres” in June, 2004. I can’t access those stories anymore, though I did find about four years of them. It’s cringeworthy stuff, but I liked blogging. In 2010 I came across the free WordPress site and started the garden blog, Growing Every Season. The platform was so much easier to use that I re-started The News to chronicle my life– good thing, too, since we often have to go to the blog to remember when we went where, or what year something happened, so it’s now essential.
Anyway, the first blog post on The News brought along my following of about 12 people. I had just returned from a trip to NYC to visit with Emma.. It is All Emma, 4 years old, radiating charm… I adore this girl…
Thank-you for following me! I want to tell you all about my recent trip to NYC………
Sunday morning tap class:
Melissa sang beautifully at a recital that afternoon (tears from Mom) and we supped at Maz before she went off to sing a Mass. Eric, Em, and I stopped by Merrion Square for a short snort, then grabbed the car, picked up Mel and we went down to the HighLine. Remember when I went there in November? It sure looks different now with all the plants in bloom. I took tons of pictures of the flora and fauna, but you’ll have to check those out over at the garden blog. Here’s some people pix:
From there we walked to Bill’s for a coldass beer. It is this kind of backdrop that makes me feel like I’m on a movie set when I’m walking the streets of New York.
The next day, we took Emma to school and ran some errands. After school, she and her buddies (and her mom’s buddies) went over to the park and play, play, played:
On Tuesday, the City opened up all the museums along Museum Mile for free, closing off the streets for an Art Fair. As we arrived, lo and behold, there was de la Vega, an artist I have long revered (I have 2 t-shirts, that’s how much I revere him) chalking his art from 103rd down to 80-something where the Met is:
Emma picked up a piece of his chalk (he carried a bagful, and would hand it to the kids or leave it to be picked up when he finished) and began to do her own art all the way down the street (until her chalk was gone):
The finale was a sneak preview of the St. Joseph end-of-school Show, to be presented next week, but kindly practiced on stage just for a visiting Grandma…thanks to Andermanis….
The songs were great and not your usual kids song, and the best: All You Need is LOVE. As they stressed the LOVE, they put their hands in the air…..I love Emma’s school. I love her whole life, actually, and it’s so fun to watch and be a part of it!!
Peace
This little gal has brought us So Much Joy in the past 5 years.
We spent Tuesday and Wednesday together, riding our magic carpets, searching for treasures with our maps, wearing our crowns, laughing and singing.
We had a little pre-b-day party at McDonald’s (she picked her favorite) on Wednesday.
Being a Grandparent is the Best part of Aging…
Love that I feel for them is like no other Love. So Grateful for all Four of my Grand-daughters.
Peace
How’s your Christmas going? I’ve got about 2/3 of my shopping done. We’ve finished up (as much as I finish up anything) the decorating. I haven’t even started on the cards, though…
Saturday we picked up the Jr. girls and drove up to New Harmony for a Christmas Parade. Our first stop is Always the Main Cafe, a family-owned diner that I used to haunt when I was a Visiting Nurse in Posey County (20+ years ago). They make grilled cheese sandwiches just as they should be made…
We love this Super Smalltown Parade with golf carts and tractors all gussied up for the holidaze. They throw out Tons, I mean it, Tons, of candy and even gave everybody a Big Candy Cane full of sugary stuff. We filled Two Santa Hats with candy that the kids scrambled out into the street for… O & S loved it!
Then we headed over to one of the Galleries to make a cool craft.
Mr. and Mrs. Claus were set up over in CandyLand, but we opted to skip the line. There were other photo ops…
Now we’re cruising into our Christmas in NYC. We’re leaving Thursday, returning the following Tuesday. The Rockettes are waiting for us. Until then, I’ve got nails and hair to update and packing my fetching frocks for the trip.
Peace
We have changed up our Christmas decorations this year, using our small tree and old-school Toy Story bulbs. Today Olivia and Samantha came by with their parents to add the ornaments.
There’s something so sweet about a tree that has most of the ornaments hanging eye-level of a 4-year-old.
This coming week’s calendar looks pretty free, so I’m going to Try to get Casey’s Family Tree published. It is a very complicated family tree, but it is well-documented. Remember when I was suspicious that my Eaton family tree could so easily be put back to the Mayflower, so I checked and couldn’t verify the connection? Well, I learned to always have Real Records to prove relationships. This group not only has records, it has historical markers that tell their story, state parks that are named after them and his 8th-great grandfather even has his own entry in Wikipedia! Can you beat that? I have had to study up on history that has come alive for me as I’ve stalked these folks. It can’t all be written in a week, but I’m going to get a lot of it out of my head and on paper so I can take a Christmas break.
I hope your Thanksgiving week-end was full of fun.
Peace
Last week’s Member Appreciation Day at the Zoo was Super! We had a beautiful day for feeding giraffes
and petting lizard-things and Not petting the Owl
and playing on the playground,
We walked the hilly loop and when we got to the top, an empty Tram was ready to leave. We hopped on and took the entire Tour around and back to the Top.
Colonoscopy Week wrapped up with Casey’s procedure on cooold snowish Tuesday morning. Everybody survived and between the two of us, twelve polyps were removed!! Crazy, huh?
Wednesday morning the Turkey Hens visited to peck for bugs. We counted 22! They seriously need a safe and reliable source of birth control…
I have been working a lot on Casey’s Family Tree. It seems that four generations of his Mom’s family lived all within what we call Boxtown here in Evansville, most of the homes since torn down. Listening to him share his memories about these folks is as interesting as his ancestors are. His tree has fascinated me and I’m working on getting it blogged, but I keep coming across new stuff — plus he keeps adding new memories of people I have to run down. It is a Good Story and its perspectives have moved me quite deeply. It will be a series, so stay tuned.
Did I mention that we spotted the Rare Red-haired Pandagirl at the Zoo?
Peace
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
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
