IN Carmel

 I'm beginning to believe a clear message came from God that traveling home from Georgia would add a bit of unneeded excitement this holiday weekend.  I received some 6-to-7-inch snow pictures from the north today arriving yesterday near Hope Mi.  It's tractor weather as you might guess.                                 A view out the back door where one usually sees sheep,  But there is the horse Bo.                                                Oh to be in Michigan, now that winter is here. (not really) There was a huge pile up of cars and trucks in western Indiana which took hours and hours to untangle.  So, beating the Mi. snow home on Saturday was a gift.  This morning Doug thought the roads were icy.  No church...

 And now for mostly Saturday news.  The puzzle was finished in what I call almost the middle of Friday night.  I'm not surprised at all.  The Georgia visits almost always ended with a middle of the night experience.  Nothing new for the Michigan folks.                                                     This is a tough puzzle, gifted to us from Kat and Eric.                                                                                                   But I'm really trying to fibure out what's under the table....

 Today we pulled out a challenging puzzle.  I am not sure the word challenging says it all.  Kat gifted all of us one Christmas with puzzles and this one is a succulent puzzle that is very difficult.  Way more difficult than just planting and growing the real thing that now lives in the dinning room.  That became one of the entertainments of the day.  Entertainment might be the wrong word. We caused another dent into the left-over Thursday food and there is still miles to go.  Some is marked freezer. But Eli decided to try the new McDonalds just outside of our neighborhood in nice walking distance.  So off he went to get his hamburger plus meal. The rest of the crew ate here.  TV programs were view; pants were hemmed for Jacob and a lot of talk happened again.  A new peanut bird feeder was hung moving a few others feeders making the squirrel as happy as could be.  That was until an anti squirrel feeder change was made.  More th...

 Turkey day.  And one thing that everyone did well was eat.   Lots of talk started the day.  Once again Jared peeled the potatoes.  There was turkey prepared earlier.  Jared got the ham underway, Jacobs favorite.  Corn for Kimmy and gravy and C. berries for me.  And then pie later on when there was room for desert.  Rolls and cookies was the appitizer that started the day. Eli took a long walk in the morning and Adam finished off lunch with his walk.  Jacob and Jared worked on getting the Lyons/Packer game.  So the afternoon was rather sleepy in nature as most Thanksgiving afternoons are.   Since we had a Michigan Russell family here ofcourse there was great interest in the game.  The one Packer fan stayed pretty quiet.   There was more football and then the card games started again for the rest of the evening. 

  Yes, the morning started with a tad bit of knitting.  Yesterday was to be a cooking day but it seemed to have smudged over into Wednesday.  There were those bananas I wrote about. So, the banana bread was in the oven by 7 am.  A new recipe that was divided into two pans.  Just too much batter for one.  What a great way to start the day.  Another great smelling morning.   Last night Doug did the deed, and the turkey is waiting to be warmed tomorrow.  Woo.  Job finished even with the bones being cooked off.  The bones are in the garbage making me think about folks who are going hungry.  They would even do something with the bones. The ham is waiting for tomorrow. I swept out the garage.  Anything that has blown in will eventually be in the house. The dish washer had a run.  I haven't used the dishwasher for almost a year.  I want it to be ready if we need it. I know already that paper plates have a problem i...

  Yes, it's Tuesday all day. I decided it would be a cooking day.  It really became a short cooking day.  The frozen turkey came out of the refrigerator spending some time in a bath of cold water until I could take all the part out that were stuffed inside. The oven is reserved for most of the afternoon. Gravy is coming although I'm the only one that likes gravy. I also am the only one that likes stuffing.  Boo Hoo.  I usually skip that.  Way to many carbs for a diabetic.  But first there was a trip to Needlers where Kat works for cranberry relish.  I added a chicken pie for supper and a bag of salad greens.   Then it was off to Aldi's where I really did some damage.  The place was busy with shoppers.  Doug missed out on this trip.  The thought came to me that if I don't have a certain food in the house, too bad.  There will be many choices. We will be just fine and will go with what we have.  Pizza, sloppy joes,...

  What a morning it has been.  I would say almost unbelievable.  But believable in my world.  I do get into things.  Yesterday's work pointed to this morning's time to finish all the visual arts details at North.  I expected just a tad bit of time but NO.  Four of us worked from 9:30 till almost 1.  The church in every nook and cranny of the main level is ready for the world to visually see Christmas.  We are open and ready.   I made an assessment. There seemed to be more nativities this year on display and discovered that really was true. About a month ago with the nativities stored in drawers I pulled drawers that I thought would give us a taste of Christmas.  Not all of them but some that the youth group would bring to the first level.  Now Grandson Noah is in the youth group.  I discovered that Noah was at the drawer site pulling all the drawers wanting them all displayed.  And we have emptied all the drawers...

 Woo, what a day.  Details are coming.   Up earlier than usual.  I must have had something on my mind.  Showered and breakfast and then some TV and knitting again with some new yarn.  I sort of like it.  We left for church a little earlier than usual.  There were things to do and miles to go before... I talked with folks.  Decided to push the carts into the sanctuary side aisles with 5 boxes of nativities on each cart.  The instrumentalist agreed to clean up their spot in the sanctuary. The advent candles were moved in. The balcony folks were given another job to do in the balcony. The time after church got a little easier with designated jobs given to designated people.  The Christ the King Sunday the last Sunday of the church year was well received and celebrated with a wonderful thinking sermon, great music, visuals and liturgy.  After the last postlude note the parishioners came on in droves and proved once again their...

 Another good day of doing things but that sure took a lot of energy. I call that a good day.  The morning started, yes, with a little knitting.  At 8 I was off to church arriving at 8:20 with Christmas roping and a will to get Bread and Bowl on the way.  And I did both.  I dumped the roping in the west entrance and then off to the Community Room with 30 minutes of work time before Sarah Ellen arrived.  That early prep time means that when Sarah Ellen arrives, we are ready to start filling take home containers. It's a two person job and we've worked together for years so the job gets completed asap.   Then it was on to other things that need to be completed like washing tables and more.  By 9 more folks arrived to do more preparation.  Today the crowd was a little smaller.  We had just a little food left meaning all who came had all the food they needed.  That was a good feeling.  After all was cleaned up, Heidi and I move...

 It's another yucky day.  Gray all day with rain added here and there.  My dad who was the Oscar almanac guy, Oscar being his name always told us the creeks needed to be full before winter really came.  I guess the creeks are trying to be full. They can hold off yet for a month or so.  So what happened today?  It was the usual big 4 day.  Knitting, sewing, snoozing and the Y.   The knitting part means that two scarves are in the process.  One has new yarn on so it's sort of interesting with green some pink, some black and a little white.  One never knows what color is coming next.  The second one is white yarn.  Not so interesting but one I really like.  Ten more burps are in process when thinking about sewing.  The Y included a fast mile walk in less than 30 minutes.  My legs were tired but Chopin really made the walk enjoyable.  I passed through many parks in Costa Rica. Paths filled with tree roots a...

 The day started really slowly, like slow motion.  And it stayed slow for most of the day.  I did an early spider web cleaning.  This house always has a lot of them on Doug's level.  That's the lower level and he just doesn't see them or perhaps not bothered with them. So, I did a quick do. I'm hoping he will clear his second room.  But probably won't.  Being married for 58 years to the same guy helps with predictability.  Then there was a slow start with knitting.  That didn't go very far.  There was bird watching.  There weren't many birds.  I think they are missing the big tree that came down last spring.  They are not telling me that but I'm trying to do some bird thinking.  Am I right?  Who knows.  I say I'm right because you don't know if I'm wrong. Today was a Living Strong meeting at the Y.  The results of this meeting was 1 1/2 hours of talking with friends about anything that wanted to be talk...

 Garbage day and I missed Chuck, the truck guy again. The rumble of the truck wasn't loud enough.  But before that happened, there was a lot of other stuff going on.  Today, Eric needed a ride to the bus stop.  Kat had early morning things to do where she works.  So, the alarm was set and since I'm the early bird at this house, I flew over to pick up Eric.  After his delivery I made my way to I U North Hospital to the Schwarz Cancer Center to reschedule some blood work because of the Gorgia changes. I'm back to the day suggested by the doctor.  I had another great visit with the two receptionists who have become dear, dear friends over the 5 years they have taken care of me.   Then back home to Doug just emerging from a night of sleep.  For me, half the day was over.  Not quite but close.  I knitted for quite a while.  Knowing that there would be family company in a week, I decided to start pitching stuff out, rearranging ...

  It was a short night but that all right.  I have long ones also, so the variety is just what it is.  So it was also a short morning at home and then off to church for a work morning which stretched into the afternoon.  I loved every minute.   The last few days have been sort of blue and church work just blew the blue away.  My mind had a great place to land.  And land it did. So, this is what happened at church.  I met Heidi H. there along with Laural G.  And Advent is going to happen visually once again.   But before Advent happens, we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. So the correct pulpit banner was hung and crowns were also hung from the balcony and other places in the Sanctuary.  Now back to Advent. This morning Laural G. worked on our wonderful Patience Brewster nativity set that needed a gentle loving touch, a gift to North of a friend of a parishioner. Laural was a master at that.  Just the right person to t...

 I would say it was almost a lost Monday.  Some would say it was shot!  So the morning was the usual with two things on the calendar today that needed to happen. After breakfast there was time to sew in the tails once again to another scarf.  I started the second scarf.  There always needs to be something on the needles.  Well, not exactly unless you have a little OCD. Are those the correct letters.   The first thing on the list was a visit to the heart doctor, Dr. Raju at IU North.  All is well as it can be and another six month's appointment is scheduled.  I hope the next appointment was as easy as this one.  He's keeping track of tack a cardia for one thing.  That's a very fast heart rate that no one wants to  happen.  There was one little glitch in Sept but all within reason.  A lot of episodes do not make a happy heart.   Then home for lunch and on the road again with a stop at church to get some d...

 The good sleeps are piling up and the stack just can't get too high.  So, it was the usual sort of early morning stuff. This Sunday with Doug's usual late wake up we left for church as soon as he was dressed.  The reason?  Time to start having help with moving things from the attic.  Heidi and I needed to be at church when the youth moved things to the tables on the first level.  And we made it.  The tables are filled with nativities ready to be placed in areas to be on display for the 4 weeks of Advent and 2 weeks of Christmas Tide.  Little by little with thinking ahead makes this an easier job.  The eight youth were awesome with their help taking less than 15 minutes to move everything needed.   We'll be working at church on Tuesday getting all ready for our set up again nativity Sunday which is next week.  But first comes the last Sunday of the church year...Christ the King Sunday with a few changes.  Then it's onward ...

 I would label today as a lazy crazy Saturday.  But mostly lazy.  Another great night of sleep and then up with breakfast and all the usual things that push the morning into being.  It was mostly a knitting day.  I finished a scarf last night and didn't start another one until this morning.  These skeins are a bit smaller, and today I learned I can get two scarves from each skein. My guess had been one and a half.  I did a trip to H.L. for a second skein and picked up two other colors.  I checked out ordering online and the HL stuff through Amazon does not come with a 30% discount.  I guess H L prefers folks to shop in the store. So, I'm set with yarn for maybe two months.  So, there was knitting and football which was great because I U was showing toughness again today with another win.  So far, it's been a super year.  Michigan can say the same.   I pulled the garden cart out of the garage with the hope there would ...

 To answer a comment from yesterday.  Knitting usually keeps me awake.  It has about a 95% track record.  But I never turn away the need for a little sleep break.   And as you might imagine, the day started with a new scarf with new yarn.  My daughter-in-law, Kat has two really good church friends.  They have traveled miles together with their toddlers now college age kids.  Two of the three are purple lovers.  They got their purple scarves at least a year ago.  The scarf on the needles has sort of a burnt orange look.  The third friend loves orange.  So, the burnt orange look is something I like and I think will finish the tri scarf project. New yarn is fun.  The birds were fed and the 8:30 attempt to retrieve the paper failed.  Sometimes we just don't get a delivery.  Not often but it happens.  But happy to say Doug found the paper later. As the morning warmed, I pulled out the garden cart giving some...

 There was a smidgen of a difference when it came to today.  You can figure that out.  It's one of these things is not like the other.  So here goes today. Breakfast, paper, TV, and knitting. Sounds just like any other day.  Well, it was. Knitting with new yarn, breakfast the same old same old and the paper was the same but with a wonderful article about the Carmel band and what band work does for kids. Well, I would add any band experience makes a difference.   And then after that was all done for the hour or so, it was off to the Y for a short Live Strong time.  I sort of double booked for the day.  45 minutes later I was on my way for another lunch date with my old teaching buddies.  Yes, it was a long time ago and we are pretty old.  It's been about a 40 year eating party. We chose to eat lunch at the newest grocery store that also has a simple restaurant with wonderful soup and salad offerings.  The best part was that...

\  A lot of things kept me busy today.  To be sure another scarf was added to the stash.  There's a total of 15 but I want more in the stash before I donate them to Goodwill Mother's of babies.  In the afternoon I headed to Michaels for something different than white.  Just something different.   But let's start with the morning.  Yes, there was a little knitting but just a little.  Then it was back to the kitchen with a lot of things mixed together that produced some wonderful looking rolls.  They mirrored yesterday's roll making.  I think the grandsons will be happy as well as all who are living at the family retreat house during our Georgia stay.  We missed the BBTruck this morning.  Bummer.   Then it was putting together sloppy joe ingredients.  That was an easy job.  All of this morning's cooking/baking efforts are in the freezer.  That's a great feeling.  I don't think much will be added...

  A holiday for some.  Almost any day is a holiday for us.  Well, sort of.  Another scarf went on the needles, and I knitted for a while.  Then it was off to the hair doctor to discover that a busted pipe prevented a head scrubbing but Mike managed to cut my hair anyways.  Good for Mike.  When being inventive things still happen.  I'm looking a bit better with what needed to leave left!   I was off to Aldie's to get a few things for making sweet rolls after the haircut.  And the roll results were great.  Fresh yeast does great things and adding 4 eggs and milk and butter the rolls are even better.  2 doz. rolls are iced and packed away in the freezer. Tomorrow I'll make another batch, both for the Georgia trip.  So, food items are accumulating.  That's a good thing.  This year the turkey/ham Thanksgiving dinner is coming via the store.  I like that.  Another trip, for icing less than 2 miles down t...

 It's been an easy day.  That is if you can stay home.  The snow yesterday was accompanied today with some cold wind from the NORTH!  Someone left the door open.  It was a brutal attack on the body systems.  \ The day started as usual, but I did leave the morning paper at the street.  I'm not bringing it in unless there is no chance of falling. This morning it was necessary to walk through a sloppy mess. He reads the paper so it's his responsibility. There's a tough momma at this house.   I did sweep off the patio and filled some bird seed containers. The peanuts were a bit sparce along with the suet.  I must admit the birds were few and far between.  At this rate the food will last a very long time.  Yesterday while identifying items needed to be removed from the church attic, it was suggested that all those items needed to be identified on paper as well as suggested display areas.  So, time was spent this morning recordi...

  It's also known as the first day of the week as you all know without me saying anything.  So, after a time here at home we were off to church just a tad bit early.  We delivered the bees wax candles with the black wicks removed ready for another burn whatever the occasion may be.  There was a great chance to talk to people about all that needs to be talked about before the service.  I love to do that. Then it was 11 o'clock and time for the worship service.  The theme for the morning centered around our annual health and healing Sunday with Jill preaching and a service of prayer and oil.  It's always a teary time for me and today was no exception.  Realities about life come at me 1000 miles an hour.  Almost too much to deal with but that's the reality of life.   The smaller six- and seven-year-old children sang a wonderful anthem at the beginning of the service. Two children had solo parts.  Their grandparents are members of ...

 The big news is that there is no big news.  Just a little of this and that to say what the day brought.  Since it is the second Saturday of the month you all know it is soup kitchen day/bread and bowl day. It's a bit crazy how those two names were used when we did all that stuff.  The names have stuck but the food is very different now a day.   I arrived at church at 8:30 again working on getting things together so that those arriving at 9 could immediately start to prepare what needed to be prepared.  Deserts to be packaged for take out, two pieces of bread slipped into a bag.  Deserts to be prepared for those eating in.  Plates to be counted, tables to be washed and more things.  It reminds me so much of setting up centers when I was in the classroom. It almost wears me out thinking about everything that needs to be completed before the guests arrive.  We had great help, meaning that the number of preparers were six and because e...

  The morning started with an 8 O'clock walk to get the paper.  NO paper at 8.  It was late but Doug got his funny time as usual.  Breakfast happened for the birds just as the rain started.  That was a surprise not lasting very long.  It would seem that a gray day was going to be with us. One job for the day included pulling the last of the zinnias for seeds.  It's OVER! Boo Hoo! They are drying near the register in a large paper bag. I picked up the knitting again and worked in spirts to get the next scarf off the needles.  That took some time since the scarf was smaller than usual as the day began.  I went to bed a bit earlier than usual last night.  The new scarf for today is on the needles.  If I give it another two hours, done! Today was cookie day.  Two batches of C Chips for Georgia are in the freezer.  I've got to keep the Mi. grandsons happy and that makes their grandma happy.  Noah got his full plate to...

 Another great night of sleep.  Woo.  I'm blessed for sure.  There was the yogurt plus thing for breakfast and then on to retrieving the paper and feeding and watching the big flock of Red Wing Black Birds fly in.  They certainly remember where the peanuts are.  The Juncos are back, so there always is a little breakfast of black Sunflower seeds on the ground.  That is until the hungry squirrel wakes up for a meal.  The bird bath was empty meaning that a deer stopped by during the night.  So, I would say the animals are taken care of at the Russell patio some way or other.   Patty called concerned about a possible increase in community folks at today's meal offering at church.  She wants to volunteer today if needed.  One never knows what the numbers will be.  I look for an increase on Saturday when the children are home with moms and or dads.  Today was another morning of Living Strong at the Y.  Visiting ag...

 Trash day and I was on it.  This time Chuck in the B Blue Truck got some chocolate chip cookies.  And that came with a street visit with neighbor Gina.  Winter weather that arrives soon usually brings some isolation from neighbors with a big spring introduction again.  So, visiting whenever one can is a good thing.  And this morning it was a Gina and Chuck visit.  Gina has food allergies, so Chuck was the winner.  I took a stroll around the garden with the brain busy about all sorts of things.  Yesterday's zinnia flower crop was put in a paper bag and now sits by the register with the hope of finishing the drying process before mold gets to it.  I should have good luck with that process. I pulled the last sweet peppers this morning.  The crop has been good with growing every color of pepper there might be.  I'm hoping for stuffed peppers tonight.  Guess I'm the one that needs to make that happen. The morning was filled wi...

  There is good news.  The living room windows are CLEAN.  If you were wishing for something better,  sorry.  Maybe next time my brain will surprise me and you.  The weather was great and better yet, I remembered the windows.   The morning started a bit slow with knitting.  Five minutes into the scarf and it was finished.  I just wasn't in the mood for those five minutes last night.  I started a new scarf, but it's sort of stuck in wait, needing to do other things. Last night's football news...Dallas lost and Arizona was on a roll for sure.  I did a little delivery of Soup Kitchen take out clams to church and more clams to be marked with heating instructions taken to Rita.  So, I was up and down Meridian Street which took care of the rest of the morning.  Since the weather was great, I pulled a few more zinnias and straw flowers for seeds.  There has been no hard frost. The Dahlias are waiting for their digging. ...

 Monday, a start day to the work week. I'm retired but there still is work to do.  That is if I want to do it.  There was a great sleep again even though we turned the clocks back yesterday.  Sometimes sleep doesn't take advantage of the extra hour.  In this day and age, for me,it's just another go with the flow kind of thing.  But the day light was obvious, and it was time to rise and shine.  7:45 A M.  I give 200 MG Gabapentin and the cpap machine all the credit.   I knitted for most of the morning finishing one Boe Tie Scarf and starting another that I worked on during the day when there was time to knit.   The morning was spent at Whispering Hearing.  Doug is always prompt about scheduling a yearly appointment.  I'm not like that.  Since there never is a change, why spend 50. dollars for someone to tell me that all is well and all is the same.  But I got a little antsy and decided to find out if all was ...

 Last night as you all know was fall back time.  And I did that.  I also think the Blue Jay's were blown to the next planet.  That homerun with the pitcher designated batter I think sent a hurricane north and the birds fell right out of the tree losing their footing.   Bummer, bummer.  It was a seven-game series of hard played baseball.  When they went into extra innings I went to bed and heard the report this morning. It's over and done.  The Pacers won last night and today the Colts were positioned to win but they didn't.  All things come to an end.  But never need to stay there. So it was knitting this morning with another bow tie scarf off the needles this afternoon. I'm checking with Ginny to see if her baby mothers could use a scarf. They are piling up. The sewing machine got a well-deserved rest.  Then it was off to church a few minutes earlier than some Sundays.  I'm adding books to the book give away.  Hannah...

  There was nothing on the calendar today, so I guess the choice of what to do was up to me.  Woo, woo.  I am going to list a few choices. Sewing, Y, shopping, library.  What will it be? Oops...Not the Y.   It's one of the busiest places on any Saturday.  Walking around the block would be a good substitute. Shopping Goodwill's would be the first choice on the list.  I LOVE the hunt.  It can go on for a long time and all over the north side of Indy.  I can get to ten stores easily.  That includes Noblesville, Westfield and Zionsville. Do I want more fabric for burps? Yes.  Do I need more burps? No.  200 are waiting to be delivered. 50 more are in the pipeline.  I need another sewing project or perhaps another organization that works with babies and families. Either would do.  Do I need another hobby.  Probably so.   Now that November is here, I need to begin thinking Georgia.  Some things are t...