It’s been a sad week at Chez Buffy.  My second sister lost her significant other a week ago, and his wake was held Tuesday, his funeral was Wednesday.  My oldest sister, My-Sister-The-Nurse is visiting her daughter in England, and as the matriarch of the family, she would normally be the one of us to organize the family to support our sister.   Since she has taken a friend with her, there was no question of her returning.   Dear Husband and I stepped up to be sure there was a family presence.  I wish more of us had been able to attend.   My sister is so very frail.  I worry for her.

This weekend was full of celebrations!  We spent most of Saturday sharing happy times and meals with family members who were passing all sorts of milestones in their lives.

We celebrated grade school, high school and college graduations, an anniversary, and scads and scads of birthdays  We participated in a bridal shower.  I met the newest baby in the family and his mother, and I spent some time this weekend working on a baby quilt for the first of three who are still on their way.

And, there was a wedding this weekend, too.

I have four siblings, so there are five of us in the oldest extant generation of my family plus four spouses.  Counting children and step-children, there are eighteen in the second generation with ten spouses.  That generation has TWENTY SEVEN kids and three spouses.  There is a fourth generation of three babies with two more imminent, and the third generation will increase by one in October.  We are peopling the world, so you can see we have a lot to celebrate.

Of all the celebrations, I’m proudest of those who have graduated from high school and college.  I know what it takes to get through college, and I want these kids to know how proud I am of them!  Congratulations, on a job well done!

Probably those of you who read my blog know that going to the dentist is one of my least favorite activities.  My dentist has helped me overcome my fear of possible pain and she’s constantly surprised these days at how well behaved I am in her chair.

I’ve had some temperature sensitivity in the teeth on the upper left side of my mouth.  It’s been going on for some time, so I made an appointment.  I arrived at the dentist’s at the tail end of the cough that I complained about earlier, and she sent me home!  Praise God!  But, I didn’t get to leave without rescheduling the appointment.  Today was the big day.

I kept my mind off the visit by rising early and gardening for a couple of hours. By the time I’d had toast and cleaned up, it was time to go.  She took x-rays. cleaned the other teeth, and then proceeded to create a crater the size of the Grand Canyon.  Who knew we had that much space in our heads!!??  That must be where all my missing thoughts and words hide out.

At any rate, my tooth is filled and I’ve been sent home with strict instructions to eat SOFT FOOD for two days.  I really should have thought about that and been better prepared, but it gave me the chance to explore the world of smoothies.  I have lots of fruit at the moment, so for lunch, I made a strawberry-banana smoothie.  This one uses milk, not yogurt, tastes good but could be thicker.  It will be interesting to see the differences frozen strawberries vs. fresh, and milk vs.yogurt make in a smoothie.

If you have a favorite smoothie recipe to share, I’d be happy to have it.

Dear Husband asked if I cared to go to the local French Market!  I was very surprised.  In the past, when he was still working, warm weather weekends were reserved for sailing, so we rarely had the chance to do things together.  The French Market is not on the way to Lake Michigan, so I shared it with my sisters rather than DH.

The vegetable sellers had some lovely things to offer.  I bought asparagus, zucchini, and green onions.  I sprang for a bag of baby spinach, too.  There were cherries and raspberries calling to me, but they were pretty pricy.  Maybe next time.

There are at least six good-sized bread booths.  I want one of everything they offer!  We came away with plain French bread, and a loaf of French bread with Parmesan and garlic on top.  We also picked up a loaf of ciabatta.  (Too much bread, but who could resist!)

One of the bread vendors heard me encouraging DH to try the salsa at the booth next to hers.  She told him not to pass it up, the it’s the best salsa she’s ever had.  He went back, tried it, and we brought a container home.  I didn’t buy from the vendor who made the recommendation this time, but you can be sure I’ll shop at her booth in the future.  AND, we might even try their tortilla chips, too.

The flowers were all calling to me.  I’ve never seen such a wonderful display of cut flowers, hanging baskets and garden starts. There was a bouquet of yellow gerbera daisies, white spider mums, something else white, and assorted greens that had my name on it.  But, I managed to walk way without picking it up.  I don’t know how I did that, because flowers really talk to me, and they would have been gorgeous on my kitchen counter.  Perhaps next time….

There were jewelry booths with stones and beads and wonderful settings.  There was a small booth of porcelain serving pieces.  I wanted them ALL.  There was one quiche dish that was calling to me, but it was on the pricey side.  I passed it up, whimpering.  There was a great ceramics booth, and another with scarves and clothing.  I walked by cards, and mouse mats, and seasonings and health items.

The jumble of things was wonderful.  We were there early enough that we could move through the aisles, but it was becoming more difficult through out our visit.  I enjoyed it all.  Next time..I plan to bring home some of the flavored popcorn!  It spoke to me, too. *G*

I am SICK of being sick!  Three times since the end of January I have had a rotten upper respiratory THING!  I am really sick of this.  I’m glad to say that I am overcoming the last cough that hit a couple of weeks ago.

My stepson brought the cough into the house.  I don’t know for sure if he is who passed it on to Dear Husband, but the odds are good.  DH presented the infection very oddly, and it took almost a week before I forced him to go to the doctor.  By that time he had developed pneumonia.  Luckily, it was just starting, so we were able to treat it at home.

When we returned to the medical center two days later, so that the doc could see DH, he had me go out to the lobby and sign in as a patient.  I had it, too.  I was not a good patient.  I was crabby as hell, and really irritated that my stepson wouldn’t go and get some help for the cough.

Dear Husband and I were on a nebulizer for close to a week, antibiotics, steroid inhalers, and cough suryp. I have a second inhaler to use as this winds down.  And, you know what happens when you are on an antibiotic.  I’m being treated for that little problem now, too.

If you are sick, STAY AWAY FROM ME!  I want to spend the rest of May and June enjoying my gardens and learning to breathe again.

I’ve been composing posts in my head for the past two weeks as Spring has flowed over us.  We have gone from below average temps to astonishing heat, to average temperatures.  You know what they say….if you don’t like Chicago weather, just wait five minutes.

I’ve begun seeing herons and egrets, but not in large numbers.  It seems a few hearty souls arrive early, and the rest wait for warmer weather.  Dear Husband was sitting in the kitchen and told me that I had just missed a heron sailing over the house.  I got to see Mr. and Mrs. Mallard Duck, waddling around the corner of the house, most likely after they had checked out the seed below the bird feeders.  The jays have been shrill, the cardinals yacky, and the red-wing black birds chided me for being in the herb garden when they wanted to eat.

The daffodils were spectacular this year.  And, of course, my camera has been out of commission because we have misplaced the battery charger.  The star magnolia was luminescent!  It was so lovely, and the Lynwood Gold forsythia was a beautiful contrast to it’s creamy white petals.  It looked like it had snowed when the petals dropped.  The peonies are about a foot tall.  Dear Husband has put the support rings out.  I’ll need to give a few of the branches a little guidance to find their way into the rings, tomorrow.

The tulips have been lovely, bridging the gap between the daffodils and the later spring bloomers like the iris.  I realized that the lilies of the valley leaves are carpeting the ground below the birch at the corner of the house.  I’ll check tomorrow to see if there are any blooms yet.  The rose, and hydrangeas are leafing out, the snowbells are in bloom and the hostas are pushing up into the light.

I spent an hour or so in the herb garden.  I pruned back the deadwood on the sage, and then dug up volunteers in the walkway.  I need to go back and rake out the dead plants.  I cleared an area in the center box and planted a chive plant that was getting leggy in the kitchen sink window.  I think after this coming weekend I’ll start moving the geraniums in and out until they have become accustomed to the sun and heat.

We’re falling into our warm weather habits.  Spring has sprung!

Actually, NO exercise this week!  The Park District must be working on the building, getting it ready for Spring and Summer classes, so our Senior Exercise has been cancelled.

We have plenty to do to fill up our days, but it seems odd to have the schedule changed.  I will be leading class in mid April while our exercise guru is taking a yoga seminar.  I have a new song to put into the mix, so I need to work out the counting of the moves, and get a disk created with the new song.  That’s one of my projects for this week.

I plan to finish quilting the first of the twin bed quilts that we will give to the shelter this year.  The quilting might take me a couple of hours at the sewing machine.  The binding will take longer than that, but not too long.

I have some family documents that I’d like to scan into the computer and then send to my siblings.  They are things from my parents and grandparents that provide family history and genealogy which I think all my siblings might like to have.

Filing….I have filing to do  I’ve hit bottom on the company filing, so now I’m down to just the personal stuff, but that will keep me busy for a morning each month.  I’m seriously considering filing once a month rather than letting it drag out. (I can hear the snickering in the back ground. QUIT IT! lol)

I guess it’s time to get my day started.  Have a good one!