Wedding plans are flying apace! One bridesmaid’s dress is nearly done, and the others are partly done. After finishing part of Esther’s dress, we discovered it didn’t fit. Bother. Luckily, it fit Regina, one of the other bridesmaids, so we traded. I still need to put in the zipper, rosettes on the sleeves, and three larger rosettes on the back of the dress. And--amazingly enough--it looks pretty. (The material kept puckering.) Hannah is pleased. Hannah found an adorable little wicker basket at the Goodwill for $.80--just the right size for Victoria’s flowergirl basket. Hannah's friend Suzanne, who graduated with Dorcas, put the flowers into it, and it is ever so cute. Victoria is delighted. Suzanne is now working on Hannah’s bouquet; it is already beautiful, and will be even more lovely when all the flowers and greenery are added to it. She has made all the boutonnières, the corsages, and the flowers to go on the wrists of the candlelighters.
Six hats for Hannah’s bridesmaids and candlelighters arrived from a big hat store in New York City. They are purple straw rounded pillboxes, with off-centered creases around them--and they match perfectly. Hannah got purple chiffon to make a fan-shaped pouf in the back of each. She put a spray of tiny pearls against the chiffon, and, at the base of the chiffon, she put a large rosette of purple taffeta. A strand of pearls follows the crease. She has ordered purple netting for the front of the hat; it should arrive shortly.
We hope to buy some purple shoes for all the girls in the wedding party, but so far the only ones we have found are $49.99 each…a little steep, when we need six pairs.
Several days this week, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the weather was warm and balmy. Victoria hunted up bonnet and sweater, and we went for a walk. She can name many of the birds we hear by their songs, and she loves to watch the squirrels. One stayed at his perch on a little wooden feeder, where someone had put an ear of dried corn, pulling off kernels and tucking them into his cheeks until he looked like--well, a squirrel. He didn’t even move when we walked directly underneath him, except to tip his head and regard us with curiosity. Kernel shells rained down around us, and Victoria giggled. “He doesn’t run away, because he can tell I wouldn’t hurt him!” she told me.
Dorcas has been painting miniature houses, schools, lighthouses, and stores. They are turning out quite cute; and the more she paints, the better she gets. She just finished painting a little old-fashioned car for Joseph for his birthday.
One evening, Teddy got three more videos from the library and we watched the Yellowstone Fire of 1988. What a breathtaking, petrifying thing, can fire be. It’s a wonder no one was killed. Another video was about volcanoes. We saw one elderly man who lived not far from Mt. Helens telling reporters that he believed all the hullabaloo about the mountain getting ready to blow its top was just so much media hype and propaganda, and he was not going to evacuate. He was killed in the eruption.
Another evening we watched a video of Wyoming, in which was a rodeo. The horses and bulls were bucking and jumping like everything, and Caleb, looking on rather aghast at the fierce affair, said, “They don’t train them well enough. Or something.”
Wednesday morning Larry went to a seminar in Norfolk on forestry. Unfortunately, I don’t think it will help him much: they only told how to plant trees--and he’s done that often enough; but they did not tell how to transplant them, or explain how one should not pull up saplings by their roots--and expect them to survive. (Yes, he’s done that--he’s even done it to the very trees he diligently planted, his very own self!)
Teddy brought in a bigger box for the kittens. It doesn’t have a top to it, and Kitty is unimpressed. She can’t see out the side, so when she wants to know the dog’s whereabouts, she suddenly sits bolt upright and peers over the top of the box, regardless of several kittens trying to maintain their position at the dinner table.
Teddy went to the store Friday night to get us some Old Home individual pies--the tarts in their own little packages--and ice cream. Joseph got some extra-hot jerky, which he shared with us. Did you know that, after eating something with loads of hot sauce on it, hot coffee does not cool your mouth down in the slightest?
There is a yellow striped cat, a neighbor’s cat, that keeps coming in our windows. Late one night, I went into the kitchen and noticed the dog lying under the table, looking with interest toward the sink. There was that cat, cringing on the counter. I picked him up and petted him, and Joseph gave him a bit of hamburger. He’s a nice cat; I just don’t want him to annihilate our kittens, or get himself annihilated by our dog. I put him out the front door, pushed him back out again, started to shut the door, pushed him back out, and shut the door. He perched himself on the brick ledge under the now-closed kitchen window and commenced yeowling in earnest.
The little black kitten, Tippy, is finally enjoying being picked up. Dorcas wrapped her in the towel we had at the 'doorway' of the kitten box, and cuddled her all up, and she was fine. Now she even purrs and does her paws in and out, in and out... The kittens, having had a few tastes of freedom, want more. Sometimes, when we go look into their box, they all three stare up at us and mew at the same time. They all have the cutest little faces.
Friday night, Lydia had a temperature of 103.5°. Her throat and ears hurt. By Saturday night, she had a bright red rash all the way around her neck…and by Sunday, there was a rash on her legs, too. At least her temperature had dropped; it was a tenth of a degree below normal. Her lips were all chapped and bleeding, and she was very congested. Glands and lymph nodes were swollen and her throat was red. When she showed me a big bump on her neck--right on the esophagus tube--I ran for the phone and called Dr. Luckey. He was about to prescribe an antibiotic when I reminded him of her allergy to it…so he said Tylenol and fluids…that’s all. He said it was most likely a viral infection, although it could possibly be roseola, and I should watch to be sure it was not strep throat. There’s the chance it could be a reaction to some of the medicine we were giving her, too.
I stayed home with Lydia and Caleb Sunday morning, and Larry stayed with them Sunday night. Too bad he missed a wedding that evening, but we decided that I would go to the wedding, since I take oodles of pictures.
After eating Larry’s scrumptious French toast Sunday afternoon, Larry, Victoria, and I went shopping for a wedding present for Merle and Amanda, whose wedding was that evening. (better late than never) (referring to the present; not the wedding) We settled on a set of eight glasses with flowers painted on them, and six little corningware popover dishes. After getting back home, I discovered we didn’t have enough wrapping paper, nor yet a decent card, so we went to Sun Mart to get some--and accidentally got ourselves a cream cheese Danish and an almond Danish. The almond Danish is a new item in their bakery, and it looked scrumptious; but, just as I thought, it couldn’t hold a candle to the cheese Danish.
Sunday evening just before church, Caleb said, "I'm not really sad that I am going to miss the wedding, because I don't feel like going at all." He thought about it a moment and then continued, "But tomorrow, when I am better, I will be really sorry." Another pause, and then "Will you bring me lots of food?"
I informed him that I would not, since the food did not belong to me; but, as it turned out, I did, because somebody gave me a plate heaped high with sandwiches to take home.
As we were getting ready to go, Hannah said, "I'd better hurry, or I'm going to be late to the wedding!"
Victoria, mistakenly assuming Hannah was referring to her own wedding, stared, eyes growing wider by the moment. “My dress isn’t done,” she breathed in horror.
We hastily assured her that it was Merle and Amanda’s wedding, rather than Bobby and Hannah’s, to which we were going.
It was a very nice wedding. Bobby’s cousin Karen played her violin with several of the songs, and it was truly beautiful; she is a skillful player.
And now, I must take our tax papers to the accountant, and then I’d better get on with the sewing.
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