Monday, October 20, 1997...Bookwork, Baking, and Sewing

I am now typing on a new word processor! It is quite a bit more advanced than my old one, and I haven’t learned very much about it at all--but at least it does do all the same things my old one did, and I do know how to do that. It has grammar check, a thesaurus, a spread sheet, an address book, and a lot more incomprehensible contrivances.

Each week I send an aunt in New Mexico a letter. Then I use that letter, edited, to send to an uncle Illinois. I type the letter, play it out, file it, and record it on a disk. Then I retrieve it, edit it, play it out for my 87-year-old uncle, and let that file disappear into cyberspace.

Sometimes, however, my editing leaves something to be desired.....like the time I asked him if there was still a bear in the arroyo. (They don’t call them arroyos in Illinois.) (And there are no bears around Shelbyville.)

Or the time I told him Lawrence was surprised to receive a birthday card from him--and he doesn’t even know who Lawrence is. So he was doubtless surprised he'd sent the card.

Well, a couple of weeks ago when I asked our aunt if she'd like to send a poem for Hester’s autograph album, I forgot to delete that request when I printed the letter to my uncle. He’s been in the hospital recently, and he’s rather frail, and I didn’t want to ask for something that would be difficult for him to do. So we were quite surprised to find an envelope from Uncle Don in our mailbox last Monday! Inside was a poem:

Labor for learning
Before you grow old;
For learning is better
Than silver and gold;

For silver and gold
Can soon fade away;
But learning and memory
Will never decay.

Don Swiney

At the top of this poem was Hester’s name. That was all; nothing more. But we were all tickled pink!---This was the first time anybody ever knew of anybody getting a letter from Uncle Don, ever. Isn’t that nice?

Tuesday evening Lawrence and Norma came, bringing a cake for Caleb’s birthday. It was a carrot cake, made with cream cheese, with a pineapple/vanilla pudding/ whipped cream topping. Mmmmmmmmm. They gave Caleb three beanbag babies--Sylvester, Bugs Bunny, and Tweetie Bird; a stuffed Dalmation with rubber feet that make him ‘walk’ when his leash is pulled, a little red New Testament, and a big wind-up fly.

Caleb was busily pulling things out of the bag when he spotted that fly. “Eeeeeewww!!” he yelled. “Ick! ICKY!!”

When they gave him that New Testament, I remembered: We had a new Bible for him, too! It’s navy, and has his name printed in silver script. He was quite pleased.

We also gave him a Bible story songbook. It plays ten songs, and really has pretty harmony. The pictures are old-fashioned and pretty, too.

Yesterday was his first day in the children’s Sunday School class. He went trotting off to the door, grinning; and when he came back out, he was still grinning; so I guess he enjoyed himself.

I’ve had so much bookwork this week, and done so much baking, I haven’t had time to do any sewing at all. Oh, yes…I also wasted quite a bit of time getting out every last album I have, putting them in order, and numbering them. I have 73. That’s right; 73. The output has really increased since I got my good camera.

I finished the roll of film in my camera, and discovered there were a few pictures on it from our trip to Colorado, including the children on top of a mountain west of Black Hawk, hair blowing wildly. It was windy up there! We saw an old abandoned mill on the side of a mountain, and, in the valley below, the aspens still had their brilliant golden leaves. Traveling through middle and eastern Colorado, we drove through ferocious dust storms. I didn’t have my camera out in time to take a picture when all we could see were the top two stories of this big building.

We drove by a giant field of pumpkins. But what got our attention were all the tumbleweeds plastered against the fence.

Hannah has been crocheting; she just finished several barrettes.

Norma gave me some beautiful black velvet brocade with bright magenta and burgundy flowers, enough for the bodice for Hester’s Christmas dress. Then she and Lawrence proceeded to travel around all over the countryside looking for the dark plum iridescent taffeta we wanted for the skirt and sleeves. They found it in York, where they also found two suits for Keith at $4 each, and a beautiful dress for Dorcas which needs to be altered, and several pairs of brand-new jeans for the boys at only three dollars each.

Thursday evening, some friends of ours ordered three large pizzas from Pizza Hut and had them delivered to our house. We were quite surprised.

While we were gone last week, somebody put seven big pumpkins on our front porch. We finally discovered they were from one of Larry's numerous second cousins. Friday I cut two of them, baked them, ran them through my blender, and made a dozen pumpkin chiffon pies. I still have a huge bowl of pumpkin puree in the refrigerator, which tomorrow I plan to use in a pumpkin roll, in the middle of which is a yummy cream cheese filling. Esther’s father gave Caleb a large pumpkin for his birthday, so now I have six more pumpkins which I need to cook, puree, and freeze or cook.

Caleb helped me scrape out one big pumpkin. He scooped up a big glob of seeds and goo, dumped it in the garbage. Some seeds stuck to his spoon. He shook it. Still stuck. He shook it harder. Still stuck. So he shook it with all his might and main, flinging pumpkin seeds far and wide, high and low. Some even landed in Hannah’s hair.

Caleb’s eyes widened. “Ooops,” he said quietly, and carefully plucked them out.

Friday night Larry went back to work about midnight, and worked until 5:15 A.M. on. . . . .guess what? It’s a 4x4 crewcab he brought back from Oklahoma, along with another cab frame, which he is starting to put together to make a 6-door pickup! It’s a ’96 Ford powerstroke diesel, and it only has 35,000 miles on it. He’s just finished stretching the frame out by three feet, and boy oh boy, does it ever look long. Today he pieced the cabs together and set them on the pickup, ready to be welded. Yes, the frame will be reinforced. And, did I say?--it’s for us.

A friend of ours gave us two bags of tomatoes, so Saturday I made picante sauce.

Whewwweeeee! I think I put one too many haberñero peppers in it. I stuck a piece in my mouth to test it for hotness----and then you should’ve seen me rushing frantically to and fro, stuffing anything and everything in my mouth: coffee (no good), milk, water, cereal, bread, hats, socks, light bulbs, anything.

Flames were even shooting out of my fingertips, because I got them in the sauce, too.

While I was doing that, Hester was making Oatmeal Apple Raisin muffins. Those turned out extra tasty, especially with a generous helping of applesauce.

Then, to cover up all those tantalizing aromas, --I cooked cabbage.

Glkmph.

But really, it was good.

Saturday night I helped Dorcas finish putting her plants on her bright fuschia posterboard and label them, after which I helped Keith with a particularly recalcitrant couple of accounting pages.

Harry, who gave us the two old computers, had his 71st birthday Saturday, so Keith, Lydia, and Caleb took him a pumpkin pie in a cute little 5” ceramic pie plate. Harry then printed out all sorts of colored pictures of funny animals on his computer, which he gave to Caleb.

Yesterday afternoon, after a big dinner topped off by.....you guessed it--pumpkin pie, we went for a drive south of town, up over the bluffs, then back down again via country roads. The view of Columbus and beyond from the top of the bluffs is pretty this time of year, with the golden corn standing in the field or just being harvested, the winter wheat vivid green, and some of the trees changing color. Esther, who went with us, had never seen the vista from that standpoint before.

Well, so far, I’m most impressed with my new word processor. I think I’ll print this out and head for the feathers!