This morning I got stung by a yellow-jacket on the front of my neck - there's still so much swelling that it looks like I have a goiter. Do people still get goiters these days??? Something about iodine in the salt now that prevents them?
With extreme thanks to Steve's folks who are the providers of this amazing feast, we are headed back to the heavenly island of Oahu next February - we made our plane reservations last night. Now the wait begins....
Thinking back to 2001 today...
The latest bunch of fresh tomatoes from Mr. Riffle were cooked up into a delicious spaghetti sauce yesterday....I can't believe what a difference they make in the flavor. If I could have one thing garden fresh all year long it woud be tomatoes. Mr. Riffle's tomatoes.
Delaney has found a house that she wants us to move to. It is across the street and down two houses from hers. A higgley elderly couple own it right now, but need to sell it and move to a one story house. Delaney brought the flier over the other day, and just like a realtor she gave us quite a sales pitch with room by room descriptions and a special emphasis on the established perennial beds outside! While it would be fun to be closer, what I would much rather see is her family be able to purchase the home and have more space. And better yet, have an investment for the unbelievably high rent they pay. In these extremely tough economic times, I often wonder if that will ever be a reality. The days of easy mortgages are over, and coming up with a down payment will prevent many young families from home ownership. Yea for their landlord I guess in this case.
A very Happy Birthday today to my mother, Joanne Thelma! I have been trying to reach her on the phone all afternoon and evening, but no one's home. So there must be some big time celebrating going on!!
Yesterday was great - we had the Bischoff's with us. They are our dear friends from our Minneapolis days - we can pick right up and gab and laugh as if no time has passed between visits. Gerald had business appointments all day, so Deb and I went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to stroll the grounds, stop at the greenhouses and then view the collections in the galleries. In the evening we all were downtown and had the best dinnner at St. Elmo's Steakhouse! Wow - I had forgotten how good the food was there as I hadn't eaten there since the first time down here to interview at Lilly 30 years ago! (The restaurant has been in business since 1902 so I guess that says alot!) It was a perfect day.
....whether you're having fun or not. And I have been having fun! My trip up to Minnesota for my mother's 80th birthday started out the week. I met the rest of my family at the Chanhassen Inn and in the evening we all went to dinner and the show "Always, Patsy Cline". Very entertaining! The next day we went to The Galleria for lunch at The Good Earth, then parted ways for home. I went to New Ulm and enjoyed a few days at my folks. Barbara came to spent a day too and we got in on a fabulous meal of lake sunfish that my dad had caught and prepared with his secret batter. Fantastic!! The next weekend I headed back to the cities to visit my high school friend Rob and his partner Wim at their cottage on Orchard Lake. What a blast to catch on the past 15 years!! Then Saturday I drove on up to Pine City for my 40th high school reunion. I enjoyed that so much - some of the people there I had known since 1st grade, 50 years of friendship is something quite special. Sunday morning I left Pine City and drove back here to Indianapolis - 750 miles but I am pretty used to going distances like that in one day. The week really flew by, and I am so thankful I was able to get to all of those doings!!
