I’m pondering the subject of generosity this morning. I’ve been the recipient of great generosity the past two weeks, and I’m both happy and surprised to be able to tell you that it is alive and well in the heartland!
When the word got out that I’d blown my knee, I had visits from all three of my sisters. Two of them brought me chocolate! *G* Two of them have donated huge amounts of their time to see to it that my household continues to run smoothly.
In addition to the family support, part of our exercise class came to visit one week into our incarceration, bringing coffee, donuts and MORE CHOCOLATE! They gave me the greatest plaque, which I will treasure: “This too shall pass. Now would be good.” Boy, does that sound like me!
The exercise class and the Red Hat ladies have e-mailed me and phoned and sent cards. The first two days my knee was immobilized I entertained myself at the computer. The members of the herb group I belong to were VERY gracious about the number of my posts. I had just announced that I was stepping down, handing the ownership to the woman who had really been the manager for the past year, and that I was going to quietly take a back seat. Immediately after that post, I blew my knee With all the time at the computer, I flooded them with posts as I caught up on two months of mail! They were really good sports, and helped me through a difficult couple of days.
So, I’m here to tell you that generosity is a virtue that still exists. People have shared their time, one of the most valuable assets we have in this century, with me. I’m a bit overwhelmed by it all, and VERY grateful.

My cat has been cranky for the past five days. When my sister came to help, she brought their beagle, Ellie, to stay with us. Ellie has grown up with cats and is used to playing with them. Our cat, Edward Scissorhands, shared our house with our dog, Defer, for easily ten years, but he and Defer had an understanding. HE was top dog in the house, not Defer. For some reason, Defer let him get away with that. Of course, Defer was a gentle, amiable soul.
So, Ellie wanted to play, and Ed couldn’t be bothered. Ed decided that he would absent himself as much as possible throughout the day, and return at night when Ellie was asleep in her travel cage.
Yesterday afternoon, our visitors packed everything up and headed for home. Ed was sitting on the sidewalk, so I opened the door and invited him in. He refused, even though I held the door wide, showing there was no dog waiting to greet him.
A little later, Elegante Mother repeated the entire scene, and Dear Husband tried again after dinner. By the time my stepson came home, the cat was not to be seen.
I tried once more before we went to bed, without luck, so Ed was allowed to stay outside all night.
I have an electric typewriter in my office that I keep for emergencies and for forms in triplicate. It’s covered with a quilted (what else!) dust cover and a black, furry body.
The cat returned this morning, worn out from an night of carousing. For some reason, he has decided that my typewriter is his bed of choice. I’ve watched him languidly ooze from one position to another several times, but most of those positions involve a nose buried under an arm or a tail, or pushed down into the opening of the typewriter. I’d say he’s hung out a “Do Not Disturb” sign!
We’re going back to our usual regimen. NO OUT after 2:00. Somehow, I don’t think he will argue about it today.

I had HELP of every conceivable kind for the past five days and I consider myself VERY lucky!
My youngest sister brought her oldest daughter, and her daughter’s boyfriend for a five day stay, to help my family while my knee is healing. If I gave you a line item list of all she did, you’d be reading for five days. The woman does not have a stop button!
Two of the days we ran errands. We returned books to the library and I picked up a book on disk (more about that later). We made it to two banks, the post office, the salon, the fabric store, the pharmacy, and to the mall, to get batteries put into a collection of watches. Nan remembered to pick up bread for dinner at Panera, one of the asiago baguettes that I love!
I had planned meals, and was going to go over that plan with her when she arrived. Dear Husband short circuited that plan a little bit when he found my grocery shopping list and brought every item home just before Nan arrived. He must have made six trips into the house with multiple bags of food. I’m sure my eyes got bigger with each trip. Thank you, Dear Husband, for doing all the grocery shopping.
Of course, I got hollered at because we spent so much on food. Nan cooked for a couple of days! *G* We had potato salad, chicken salad, green salad, summer salad, burgers, brats, and hot dogs, guacamole, chocolate dipped strawberries, brownies, bowls of strawberries, cantaloupe, deviled eggs, grilled chicken/Cobb salad, German potato salad, steaks on the grill and roasted asparagus. (Inhaling!) And that’s the short list. No…we didn’t do that all one night. That was just the variety of things she prepared, and why she was in the kitchen so much of her stay.
Sis and her family will be returning for a long weekend in a week. She asked me to plan simpler meals, things that are easier on the hips and thighs, and things that don’t take so much time to prepare. She has a point. I’d rather spend my time talking with her than cooking. Elegante Mother wishes she could get a word in edgewise when we start talking, so you know that we are Olympic champions at this sport! *G*
Of course, there was more to their stay than all that food. Monday, Nan marshaled her troops and they blitzed the lawn and the gardens for me. She cut back all the oregano and lemon balm, and dug out a stand of weeds that was encroaching on the herb garden. I REALLY wish I had before and after pictures! She potted the last of the plants that we bought for the sidewalk container garden, and planted the buddleia, a shrub rose, and pots of phlox and petunias. We saw the itty bitty re-start on one of the morning glory plants, and she found a cage to go around it so it didn’t become another bunny salad.
The Tall Lanky One (TLO) mowed until the walk-behind mower ran out of gas, and then set up hoses for the gardens. Nan asked if she could have some oregano to take home. I have an overabundance and joyfully agreed that she should take as much as she wanted. She potted up two pots of oregano. Sis ended her outdoor work by mowing more of the lawn until the rider mower ran out of gas, too.
Meanwhile, the Shorter Super Thin One (SSTO) was helping inside. She vacuumed the carpets and swept the hardwood and kitchen floors, watered the container garden, and a hanging bag of petunias in the driveway garden. She finished my ironing, and made the guest room bed, and started organizing some of their belongings which were to be packed in the car for the trip home.
While all the garden work was going on, I was washing. I got up early and stripped my bed down to the mattress. I ran the pillows through the drier, and washed all the bedding. I washed the sheets and towels our guests had used, and the mats and napkins from the table. I kept the washer going all morning. What’s so amazing about that is that Nan must have done 20 loads of laundry in the five days she was here! We are either incredibly clean or incredibly dirty.
I know this entire post has been a laundry list, but I wanted you to have some idea of all the work my amazing sister accomplished while she was here. I forgot to tell you that she worked on lesson plans the evening of July 3rd, while the kids were off watching fireworks with Dear Husband. His boat is moored right under where they set off the fireworks each year, so they had a front row seat.
She also found time to make a return visit to the mall for a little shopping. AND she made the time to sit and chat with Elegante Mother in the very early mornings.
I know that I’ve called her “amazing.” There have to be hundreds of other adjectives I could add to that. I envy her stamina, and her generosity with her time and talents. Most of all, I’m thankful that she’s my sister.
Nan, thank you, so very much, for all you did for us this week. Words are just not enough.

My plan for the day is to work in the office, with the knee immobilizer on, and my leg elevated. It’s amazing what adding three bodies to your house does to the level of activity and sound! I’m not complaining. Not one whit! I appreciate everything that was done for me, and I hated to see my sister, and her daughter, and her daughter’s boyfriend, leave. But now that it’s just Elegante Mother, the cat and me…the pace seems a little slower. The house is quieter, and I can hibernate here in my office. It’s time to get more work done. I’ve been eying a stack of filing that has grown, and I need to request waivers.
So….I’ll just be over here, playing with paper this morning. I hope y’all have a nice day!