Visiting with a thirteen year old niece…..
I had the pleasure of visiting with my youngest niece this week. This is the first time she has spent a week with us alone. Last year she was here with her sister.
We shopped, cooked, layed out blocks so I could put a quilt top together, watched TV, played UNO, ate ice cream, and went to exercise. We had planned a trip to Chicago, but we ended up making a skirt instead.

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I just had the chance to visit my e-mail this evening, and discovered a message from WichiDude. He was checking in to see if I was okay. I assured him that I was fine, and would stop by his blog later this evening.
Then, I stopped by my own blog to start surfing the links and discovered that I had been archived……and there was nothing to read! So…I figured I better check in with you all.

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My mother will be returning this afternoon from a week-long visit to my youngest sister’s home. They’ve kept her busy from what I’ve heard. Last night she participated in a Relay for Life as a cancer survivor. I’m sure she will have lots to tell me when they arrive.
My youngest niece, BB, will be coming for a stay. We haven’t had a chance to plan what we’ll be doing. We were chatting on YM and I asked what she wanted to do, and she said she wanted to visit fabric shops! She’s thirteen, and that wasn’t the answer I had expected, but I’m dleighted to have a niece who loves fabric as much as I do! *G*
BB is adept at creating clothing and accessories without a pattern. I am totally unable to move forward without a pattern, so this amazes me. I don’t know anything about design, but I’ve had a lot of experience making clothing. When I was in college, and in my twenties, if I needed clothes I had to make them. So…..we’ll spend a morning at at least one fabric shop, maybe more, and then see if we can’t create a skirt the old fashioned way.
The Chicago Shakespeare Theater produces several shows in the summer for children. The flier came through this week, and I had hoped we would find something for BB, but the production doesn’t start in time. And….it’s Peter Pan. I wonder if a 13 year old would enjoy Peter Pan. I do…
We’ll have to sit down and talk about what we can do in Chicago. Beyond the museums, and Navy Pier, there are neighborhoods to visit. She might enjoy seeing our small Chinatown. We’ve taken her to Blue Man Group. It’s going to be difficult to top previouis visits, I think!

Do you find that you make plans for a weekend and then find life rearranges them for you?
This past week was undoubtably the week from Hell. In addition to loosing Defer, a good sized tree gently folded itself over onto the corner of the house over our bedroom. It seemed to me that the skylight had become rather shaded by leaves, and I mentioned it to DH. He, of course, had the good sense to go out and LOOK….and found the tree leaning on the roof.
He spent Wednesday evening cutting off the smaller branches, and as much of the trunk as he could reach. There’s still a portion of it waiting for his attention, but he needs to bring a taller ladder home to be able to do it.
Meanwhile, good soul that I am, I got the rider mower out to start doing the mowing. Normally that’s DH’s job, but he was otherwise occupied. I got the pocket lawn right in front of the house done, and started a strip along the east side of the driveway, when the mower deck started to shudder. DH checked, and the blades are still there, but one of them is probably bent. I called the mower service and they are running TWO WEEKS behind. They won’t even be here to pick it up until June 25th! Meanwhile, the grass is growing so fast that I can hear it.
Sooooo…..rather than going shopping for clothes and new shoes, I’m going to check out the rental place to see what it costs to rent a lawn mower. I expect to get my exercise in the next few days. We have easily an acre and a half of grass to mow, maybe two.
In all fairness, DH has had to give up a day of sailing to work this morning, and he plans to work on clearing up the downed tree branches. So, I’m not alone in this.
God works in mysterious ways. As I was sitting here, moping about the mowing, he let me get a glimpse of a deer passing through the shadows of the grove outside my window. Then, she came back to dine on the leaves on those branches that have to be picked up. Maybe it won’t be so bad to be outside after all.
Sunscreen, here I come!

A good friend, knowing how I feel about loosing Defer, sent this to me. I don’t know who the author is, or I would willingly give them credit. It reminded me of what you come to learn when you choose to be the companion of a Beagle. THis cheered me up, and I hope it will give you a smile.
Creation, According to the Beagle
On the first day of creation, God created the beagle.
On the second day, God created man to serve the beagle.
On the third day, God created all the animals of the earth to serve as potential food for the beagle.
On the fourth day, God created honest toil so that man could labor for the good of the beagle.
On the fifth day, God created the tennis ball so that the beagle might or might not retrieve it.
On the sixth day, God created veterinary science to keep the beagle healthy and the man broke
On the seventh day, God tried to rest, but He had to walk the beagle.

Defer came to us almost sixteen years ago. My sister found him abandoned with his liter-mates alongside the road in rural Indiana. We were building a new home, which was not finished yet, and my mother was going to be moving in with us. My sister said,

Until recently I though where I lived was safe. The fact that it isn’t was brought home to me recently when someone tried to break into our garage. Morgan Quitno compiled these figures on which states are the safest, or the most dangerous
Obviously the far Northeastern corner of the US and the north central states have something to tell us.
What really ticks me off is how far down the list you find Illinois!

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Well, not intentionally. Just busy, I guess. So, I’ll bring you up to date on what’s been happening in my life.

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Today we are observing Memorial Day in the USA. We acknowledge those men and women who have served in the military to protect the freedom which we hold so dear. They chose to serve and we recognize their fear, pain, loss, courage and honor. Those who have served have guaranteed us our freedom of speech, knowing that some would speak against their efforts.
Thank you, each one of you, who have fought on my behalf.
We not only recognize those who have lost their lives in war, but also those who have served and returned. I’d like to thank my aunt, for her service in the WAVES as a Lt. Commander during World War II. And my brother, who served in the Navy during Viet Nam. And my youngest sister who retired as a Lt. Commander in the Navy, and her husband, who was a Major in the Air Force. Thank you for your service, for all you did to protect and continue our freedom.
And let me not forget the next generation, my niece and her husband and her brother, who all served in the Air Force, and my nephew, who served in the Army. We are blessed with people who were willing to serve. And we were blessed that they came back to us safely.

I was at the store today and struck up a conversation with the woman bagging my groceries. I told her that I envied the fact that she is bilingual.
DH and I both had a year of Spanish in high school in addition to two of Latin. I can remember the opening conversation in the SRA module for Spanish I, and I quoted it to my bagger, who looked confused. I explained that it was the first thing they had us memorize….a conversation between two friends. “Hola, Isobelle…..”
She told me that her son, who is bilingual, had taken Spanish in school and was getting poor grades. It seems that his teacher had a Castillian accent, and her son was unwilling to adapt to it, from the dialect he had learned at home. When he finally wised up to the waste of time, it was too late, and he’d lost a year of study.
DH hopes to sail again in water deeper and bluer than that of Lake Michigan. He picked up a book that gives him phrases to use should he need help repairing a diesel engine in a port where only Spanish is spoken. It seems to me that he needs to know how to say….”It’s broken. It won’t go. How much to fix it?” and that should get him by, but you know that he’ll memorize the names for motor parts, figuring that it will be cheaper if he does his own labor.
How do you say “carburator” in Spanish???