Journal: A Time to Weep, and A Time to Laugh

Last Monday evening, I ordered taco pizza from Pizza Hut and Larry picked it up before he came home.  Yummy.  We hadn’t had taco pizza for a long time, and it’s our favorite.  We got a medium-sized pizza, ate half of it, and saved the other half for the next night. 

In order to make the leftovers taste like fresh taco pizza, I scrape all the ‘cold’ toppings off – lettuce, tomatoes, onions,  cheese – then pop the pizza crust with the ground beef, tomato sauce, peppers, mushrooms, etc., into the oven, using the pizza pan with all the little holes, until it’s piping hot and just starting to get a little crispy.  Then I remove it from the oven, put the cold toppings back on, and spread sour cream and salsa on it.  And sure enough, it tastes like fresh taco pizza.  It cost $15.29.  That’s $7.65 for a two-person meal.  Not bad.

I got four loads of clothes washed that day, including one for Loren.  I filled the bird feeders (though there are so many seeds and bugs around the countryside this time of year, the birds don’t frequent the feeders nearly so often as they do in spring and early summer).  When the houseplants were all watered, I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom.

Tuesday morning, I took Loren to the eye doctor for a checkup on the eye from which the cataract had been removed the previous week.  It was healing perfectly.  Loren was so happy with how well he could see, and actually looking forward to the next morning’s surgery on the other eye. 

As I was taking him home, Loren said soberly, “This is using up an awful lot of your time.”

I answered cheerfully, “Oh, well!  It’s important!”

“Yes,” he agreed, then smiled and said, “to ME!” 

Later, I remembered something my father said when Hannah was about two and a half.  She’d put her pennies in a little teacup and was showing them to him – and then she spilled them.  Daddy, who wasn’t feeling well those days, promptly got right down on his hands and knees and helped her pick them up. 

“Daddy,” I protested, “You don’t need to do that!  Keith can help her!” 

(My arms were full of new baby Teddy right then.)

Daddy didn’t answer me at the moment, unusual for him; but he was a bit winded, so he waited until the pennies were all picked up, and he was back in his chair.  Then he smiled at me and said, “The way you let someone know you love them is to make important to you what’s important to them.”

I have tried hard to always remember that.  As Paul wrote to the Philippians, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”  I love that chapter, the second in that book.

When I got home, I ordered some groceries and supplies online, then cleaned the hummingbird feeder.  I haven’t seen a hummingbird for over a week now.  Maybe that’s because I forgot to clean and refill the hummingbird feeder?  heh  But there are plenty of blooming hostas for the little hummers.  Maybe they just passed through our area quicker than usual this year.  I wish we had hummingbirds year around; I love to watch them.

I was looking for a funny face online... and look what I found:

This is the very picture that I once discovered cut from a magazine or newspaper and glued to a note that was tucked inside a brown paper bag and put into my locker when I was in 9^th grade.

The note read (in Larry’s handwriting, though he’d tried to disguise it), “This man is smiling!  So smile a while!”

In the bag was the remnants of someone’s lunch – empty milk carton, plastic silverware, napkin.  This ‘gift’ was from Larry and his friend Jon Koch (still a good friend of ours).  This, you must understand, is the way a boy lets a girl know that he likes her.

A friend came along, saw me grinning and snickering, and asked, “What’s so funny?”

“I got a love note!” I said, and showed her the note.

She looked at it, looked at me, looked in the bag, looked at me.

Haha  Some people just can’t recognize a good love note when they see one.

Back to scanning old photos.  Here’s what I do so I can have a ‘standing station’ (not to be confused with a ‘standing ovation’) at my desk.  Sitting too long makes me stiffer’n a ten-penny nail.  And in any case, it’s not good for a person to sit for long stretches at a time.  So I put a decorative box from Michaels Craft Store under the laptop, a box that has my spare iron in it under the ergonomic keyboard, and a stack of three fancy boxes under the mouse; and there I am then, with a ‘standing station’.

Here are Larry and me in May of 2001:

I took Loren some supper early that evening:  an Alaskan salmon fillet, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh green beans from a local garden, grape juice, and peach parfait.  I reminded him not to eat anything after midnight, as his second cataract surgery was in the morning.  That isn’t a problem, since he hardly ever eats after his somewhat early suppers anyway. 

He was so pleased over how well he could see with just that right eye alone that, while he waited for me to arrive, he counted (from his living room window) how many vehicles turned at the road that goes past his lane from the four-lane bypass, a good half-mile away.  There were 105 in five minutes, he said. 

It was a good thing we got another bottle of eyedrops; the first bottle was almost gone.  Loren used it longer than he needed to, I think – perhaps he was correct when he stated a couple of weeks ago that he’d been using it ever since he got it! – and the receptionist at Eye Physicians told me it had been delivered to his house August 10.  Also, he used it in both eyes, though he only needed to use it in the right eye until last Sunday, when he was to start applying drops to his left eye also.  Oh, well.  It wouldn’t have hurt anything, and may have helped.

Here are Hester, Victoria, and Lydia at Smith Falls in northwest Nebraska, on August 3, 2001.  This is Nebraska’s tallest waterfall.

I got Loren’s trash bill that day, and called the utility’s office to ask them to change the address on the bill to my address.  Just like they had done at the local power company, without any ado whatsoever, the nice lady on the phone typed in my address, name, and phone number right while I was on the phone, in about 30 seconds flat.  Why can’t Verizon be that easy to get along with?!

When we first moved out here to the country, we burned our trash.  Then we got crabby neighbors who didn’t want us to do that, even though it’s perfectly legal (so long as one uses a fireproof container or pit) and even though we tried hard to never burn if the wind was even slightly in their direction.  So we gave up on that and called a trash company.  “Live peaceably with all men,” and so forth.

The company said they couldn’t pick up our trash unless we toted our trash bins way over to Old Highway 81, an eighth of a mile away.  They said their drivers couldn’t pull down the lane and then back out again, or vice versa, even though it’s wide enough for two vehicles to pass easily and had been newly graveled.

We toted the trash bin over to the highway for a while... then switched to a company from Fremont, 55 miles away.  They did rural areas around these parts, and agreed to come down the lane and pick up the trash at our drive.  This was a great help to us, not only because it was a royal pain to haul garbage cans a fourth of a mile each Thursday (with them full for half that distance), but also because a couple of dogs that ran loose in the neighborhood had a penchant for knocking over our cans and spreading the contents high and low.  And it wasn’t our property the trash was getting strewn on!  Aarrgghh.  There are better ways to Win Friends and Influence People.

Then the regular driver went on to greener pastures, and we wound up with the laziest driver one could ever imagine.  He didn’t even pick up our trash at all one cold day, because he thought the bin was too heavy – even though Larry had hauled it up the driveway – uphill – and all the guy had to do was turn it slightly so the arms of the truck could grasp, lift, and empty it.  Problem:  our freezer had quit, and there was old meat in the trash bin.  It was okay on this particular day, being below freezing, which was why we went ahead and put it in the bin.  BUT! – we didn’t know the man left the bin full! – and the day warmed up!  😲 😜 😝

We canceled our service and went back to the locals, since in the interim they, too, had acquired new drivers, and these men backed their truck down our lane to retrieve other neighbors’ trash every week.

And we all lived happily ever after.

Wow, that was a trashy story.

In this picture, taken May 16, 2001, Lydia, Caleb, Victoria, Hester, and Larry are walking down a sandbar on the Loup River.

I headed for bed a bit earlier than usual that night, because I needed to get up at a quarter ’til 6 to take Loren to the Eye Physicians Surgery Office bright and early. 

I almost got to sleep, and then Larry got home from working on vehicles in Genoa and was racketing around in the kitchen trying to get the Moultrie game cam to work (it refused).  I got up and went to see if he needed any help making racket.  Actually, it wasn’t the camera that wasn’t working, but the server.  Judging by Moultrie’s troublesome website, and by comments on an online forum concerning Moultrie issues, I guessed the trouble wasn’t on our end, but on theirs.

By the time I finally went to sleep, there were only four hours before my alarm would go off.  It seemed more like four minutes.

It wasn’t long before I was sitting in the waiting room at Eye Physicians, and Loren was in surgery.  I spent the time with my tablet, writing in my journal and answering emails and messages on my quilting groups.

I have always loved to write.  When I was a little girl, 5 or 6 years old, I remember Daddy getting out his stationery and pen, and writing letters to various preacher friends and missionaries.

I would run for my tablet and pencil, too, and write to grandmas, aunts, uncles, and pen pals.  I loved to be doing whatever my Daddy was doing.

Mama helped me with my writing.  She said, “Now, don’t write, ‘How are you?  I am fine.  I hope you are fine.  I am very fine.  I hope you are very fine.  I am very, very fine.  I hope you are very, very fine.’  Write exactly as if you were talking to those people.   Tell them what you did yesterday and today.  Look around the room and describe what you see.  Tell them what you’re going to do next, and how you like school, and why.”

Many years later, Daddy said to me, “Whatever you do, never stop writing!” 

And so I haven’t.  😊

Here are Lydia, Victoria, and me wading in the creek below Smith Falls.  Those rocks were slippery!

Loren’s cataract surgery went fine, and his blood pressure was not nearly so high as it had been the previous week.  The doctor said the new lens was perfectly in place; however, it was ‘shimmering’ a bit.  This usually means that the lens has not settled completely.  In Loren’s case, there are two possible causes:  1) this eye is a little more fragile than the other eye, and/or 2) the cataract was a little worse in this eye.

Therefore, instead of seeing the assistant the following week, the doctor himself will see Loren Wednesday morning to make sure all is well.

Loren said the eye is blurry, but that’s to be expected.  His other eye became clear quicker than usual.  Hopefully, as this eye heals, the new lens will settle and stabilize.  He’ll have to get new glasses in a few weeks or months.

On the way home from Eye Physicians, I learned that Loren had eaten a nice big breakfast of eggs and toast that morning.

I exclaimed, “You weren’t supposed to do that!”

He looked amazed – and then he remembered.  “Why don’t they want you to?” he asked.

“Because you’re liable to get sick from the medication they use to sedate you, and then you might choke.”

He decided he never gets sick from that medicine.

“Oh, well,” I said, “Since you didn’t get sick, you probably felt better in the long run.”

Siggghhhh...  I had reminded him, the previous day.

When we got back to his house, he went in his bedroom to get his eyedrops, forgot what he was looking for, and hunted all over the place for a small cup full of coins he had in there.  I went and looked, too, and was at least glad to find the eyedrops, if not the coins.  He’s always pretty sure Norma’s ‘daughters’ (granddaughters, really) moved things or took things, when he can’t find them.

I tried being sympathetic, saying, “Sometimes I pick things up, then head off to do something else, and set the thing down in an odd place by accident.”

He informed me that he doesn’t do that, especially not with a full cup of coins.  (I wanted to say, “Neither do I.”)

I fell back on my standard reply:  “Hmmmm.”  (It was the best I could come up with at the moment.  If all else fails, I’ll plant a cup of coins somewhere, and then find it.  heh)

“Well, it’ll show up, sooner or later,” I belatedly added.

“Yes, when it’s empty,” he answered, and laughed.

I pointed out his Cream of Wheat that was cooling, handed him his eyedrops, and life went on.

The doctors and nurses really like him.  They know he has memory/confusion issues, yet he’s always friendly and cheery, and sometimes says the funniest things.  His sense of humor is still pretty much the same as always.

He was tired, so after I made sure he had enough breakfast, I left him to rest, promising to bring him supper later that afternoon. 

Home again, I scanned pictures for a few hours.  Here’s Victoria at age 4, out on the Loup River, pouring sand from her hands.

A little after 3:00 p.m., I fixed some food for Loren.  45 minutes later I headed out, lunchbox in hand.  I opened the door of the Jeep – and there sat a big box, right in the driver’s seat.  It was a quilt from a customer, a sweet lady who lives in Cincinnati.  My front door had been wide open; the mail lady could have put it inside, or even on the porch, since it was a bright, sunny, cloudless day with hardly a breeze.  But... we have one of the laziest mail persons we have ever had, and if she could get by with just pitching things out her window in the general direction of the house, that’s exactly what she would do.  I wonder if she and that lazy trash collector are related?

When I got back home, I opened the box and draped quilt, batting, and backing over my frame to let them rest.  I was delighted to see that the batting was Quilters’ Dream wool; the wrinkles from the tight packaging would probably come out without having to steam it.

Soon it was time to get ready for church.  Only I would be going; Larry, who was running late, would go visit Loren after he got off work, help him with his eye shield, make sure he used his eyedrops, and see if he needed anything.

Suddenly on Thursday, the game cam was working.  The server light was green.  Notifications were coming in.  BUT! – no pictures were showing up on the website.  They still aren’t, and Moultrie has yet to answer Larry’s request for assistance.  They make a very nice camera, but their web/server/connection technology certainly leaves a lot to be desired.  I have learned that many people reluctantly return the camera to the store, cancel their service, and buy a different brand.  We are seriously considering doing the same.

That afternoon, I put together the backing for my customer’s quilt, then loaded it on my frame.  The name of the quilt is ‘Dear Jane’.  Here is the story behind this quilt pattern, originally made in 1863:  https://swpea.me/2016/09/20/history-of-jane-stickles-dear-jane-quilt/

When I took Loren some supper, he said his eye was much clearer.  So I was hopeful that the new lens was settling and becoming stable.  That would be a relief.

I quilted the rest of the evening, getting about three-quarters done with the top border of the quilt.  I had some trouble with the outer non-pieced triangles, as they have too much fullness.  I starched them thoroughly and then ironed with a hot iron, and that helped quite a lot.  Most of the triangles turned out good, but there are tucks in two of them.  I could take the stitching out and try again; but I can’t imagine the results would be any better. 

In real life, it’s not as glaringly noticeable as it is in the pictures, since I turned off the overhead lights, only left one on at the end of the quilting frame, and took the shot from a low angle to accentuate the shadows.  More pictures here.

The quilt measures 107” x 108”. 

Boxes of groceries and household supplies from Wal-Mart arrived Friday morning.  AND – a Lenovo laptop.  ??  I didn’t order any laptop!

Plus, it’s a smallish thing.  Ah don’t evah buy me no small laptops!  I get the big honkin’ things that require pack mules to haul them around.

I had an online chat with a Wal-Mart representative, and she scheduled a pickup time for Monday.  (Did she forget Monday was Labor Day?  Nobody came to pick the thing up today, of course.)

She didn’t even thank me for being such an honest, upstanding citizen.  HMMMMPH.

The Schwan lady came that afternoon.  I ordered more food than usual, because they only come once a month now.  I had to totally rearrange the freezer in order to cram everything in there.  Now it’s all neat as a pin, with fruits in the bottom drawer, vegetables on the next shelf, meats above that, pasta and bread on top, and ice cream in the door.

I like Schwan’s food.  They use a quick-freeze method that preserves the vitamins and nutrients (and flavor!) in the food.  Plus, I appreciate someone bringing the stuff to my door. 

We are officially spoiled.  We find grocery-store-quality frozen foods inferior.  I sure hope Schwan’s doesn’t go out of business.

Once upon a time, when I was in 2^nd grade, our music teacher asked if any of us knew how to play a comb.  Totally forgetting that I was shy, I immediately put my hand up. She promptly handed me a comb and a piece of paper.

Uh, ... I was shy.

So, instead of humming, as I knew one must do to get the thing to vibrate, I blew.  Softly and gently.

Nothing happened.  

Well, something did happen, actually.  The kids laughed at me, that’s what happened.

I was shy, but I was brave.

I took a big breath... and I hummed.

The kids quit laughing.

When I took Loren some food later that afternoon, I came upon a crash on the bypass that had just occurred.  A semi had evidently not gotten stopped at a stoplight, and had hit the right rear corner of a fairly new Jeep Cherokee and nearly torn the rear wheel completely off.  The entire spring was sticking clear out at a 45° angle.  Vehicle parts and pieces were strewn all over the road.

A couple of days ago, there was a crash at the corner where I turn to go to Loren’s house.  Someone had taken out a street sign, and there was glass all over the place. 

I can never figure out why there are so many crashes on a nice, new roadway where the speed limit is only 50 mph.  Maybe because some people are mad that it’s only 50 mph?

Loren’s meal was pulled pork, green beans, beets, applesauce, cranberry juice, and a cranberry-orange muffin fresh from the oven (and his muffin was ten minutes warmer than mine, because I didn’t eat one until I got home).  I usually give him toast or a biscuit with the pulled pork, but I didn’t have any bread, and didn’t bake any biscuits.  I thought I’d toast a slice of bread when I got to his house, but he was out, too.  I looked in the refrigerator and found a couple of thick pieces of French bread that I’d given him earlier; that would do.

Home again, I vacuumed the rugs, looked at the dishes in the sink, pretended they weren’t there, and left them to languish until after supper.  Then off to the quilting room I went.

That evening, Hannah called to tell me that our friend Helen Tucker had passed away.  Helen was our son-in-law Jeremy’s and daughter-in-law Maria’s grandmother (Jeremy and Maria are cousins).  She was like a big sister to me, as she lived in our home when I was a toddler.  My parents were her guardians.  She was 20 years older than me.  She taught me to read without really realizing she was doing so, when I wasn’t quite 3; and when I was 4... 5... 6... she taught me to play the piano.

She had a mild heart attack Wednesday, and a fatal one on Friday.  She had suffered from Alzheimer’s for a couple of years or more.  She would have been 80 in November.

Her family has not been able to visit her at the assisted living place where she lived, except to greet her from out on the sidewalk as she sat just inside or outside a doorway, for months and months.  Only their little dog was allowed to go running up to greet her, and she did enjoy that.  It’s just so awful, the way family is not allowed to visit their elderly in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and hospitals these last few months.

By late that night, the first border and row of my customer’s Dear Jane quilt were quilted.  More pictures here.  It’s not a real intense custom-quilting job, but all the ‘stitching in the ditch’ around these hundreds of little pieces takes a while.  Each row takes about 4 ½ hours.

Saturday, I finished the second row of the Dear Jane quilt.  More pictures.

Sunday morning, as usual, I got up, took a bath, washed my hair, blow-dried it, and then went to tell Larry, “It’s time to get up!” 

He, from a dead sleep, responded with some degree of annoyance, “I’m still awake yet!”

“Still awake yet since when?” I asked politely.  “Since last night?”  It’s always fun to keep him sleep-talking as long as possible.  But my question woke him up, and he explained that he’d been dreaming.

And then, at a quarter after 8, we both woke up entirely and thoroughly when Caleb texted to tell us the good news:  Baby Eva Lynn had arrived!!!

Caleb and Maria will be married seven years October 13^th, which will also be Caleb’s 27^th birthday.  You will recall that after several years of hoping, they learned they were having a baby in early 2019; but Baby Liam was born much too early last October 11, and didn’t make it.

They learned they were expecting again early this year.  Maria has had a tough time of it for the last several months, with high blood pressure and other difficulties.  So the birth of Baby Eva is not only a wonderful blessing, but also a relief to all of us.

An hour later, I texted Caleb:  “We demand PICTURES!!!  ((stamping on floor, pounding on table))”

Two minutes later ------ pictures.

Precious little bundle Eva Lynn Jackson was born at 7:45 a.m. Sunday morning, September 6, 2020, weighing 6 lbs. 5 oz., and measuring 18.5”.  She’s three weeks early, but both mother and baby are well.

That more-than-24-hour siege with no sleep is showing on everyone’s faces but Baby Eva’s! 😀

The loss of a dear friend and the birth of a much-anticipated baby, all within just 2 ½ days, surely brings wise King Solomon’s words to mind, doesn’t it? – “A time to be born, and a time to die; ... a time to weep, and a time to laugh.”

We know how to do both!  And, concerning my dear friend Helen, I can say, like Jo in Little Women, “Those who loved her best smiled through their tears and thanked God that Beth (or Helen) was well at last.”

I read that book when I was about seven years old, and those words were the cause of the first tears I ever shed while reading a book.

How do you like that big lovely bow little Eva is sporting?  Funny... when Hester and Lydia were little, some 25 years ago, I’d put big, big bows in their hair.  Later, they laughed at the pictures --- and then big bows became all the rage again, and they bedecked their own little girls with them!

Isn’t she precious?  There’s even a wee dimple in her chin!

Larry was holding Violet, who will be 2 next month, last night after church.  We were in the parking lot, standing by Kurt and Victoria’s Yukon, discussing Labor Day plans.  Larry said to Kurt, “Call me tomorrow, and we’ll figure out what to do.”

Violet nodded decisively.  “I’ll cäääääääääll yeeeooo!” she answered Larry in her low-pitched voice, stretching out one-syllable words into two or three syllables, as both she and Carolyn are oft wont to do.

Larry, not really catching the words despite the fact that he actually had his hearing aids on, went on talking to Kurt.  Kurt, who knew what his little girl had said, was starting to grin.

Violet leaned over and put her face directly in front of Larry’s and repeated carefully and precisely (and louder), “I’ll cäääääääääll yeeeooo!”

Larry, still not recognizing the king’s English when he heard it, looked over her head and started to say something else to Kurt, who by now was laughing.

Kurt and I both told Larry at the same time, “She’s saying she’ll call you!”

Violet gave another firm nod and practically put her nose on Larry’s nose.  “Cäääääääääll,” she intoned, as if talking to a young and not-quite-bright child.

We all burst out laughing, including Larry, who definitely heard her, that time.

Several of my quilting friends were recently discussing fabric they’d gotten at an estate sale.  One lady who doesn’t live too far away even asked me if I wanted to go with her to one such sale.  I didn’t, particularly.  I’m picky about fabric – both with quality, and also with color and design.  I had quite enough of bad quality, old stuff when my former neighbor lady used to ‘pay’ me for working on her computer, or for sewing her holes together, with very old, very yucky fabric and trim, along with a jar or two of fat, blunt, rusty pins, that she’d gotten at estate sales.  I once opened a package of bias tape – and it turned to dusty confetti in my hands. 

One day when I was working out in the flower gardens, she drove by, stopped to greet me, and told me she was going to a doctor’s appointment.

I peered into the rear window of her nice (and expensive) little SUV.  “Did you remember the chickens?”

She looked blank.  “Chickens?”

“Yes,” I nodded, “to pay the doctor with!”

Her face looked soooo funny.  She might’ve been cheap, but she wasn’t stupid!

Never again did she try to pay me with icky old ‘sewing’ stuff.

I’ve just been reading about 207 people who were rescued by helicopter from a California campground that had become surrounded by fire.  Yikes, that would be a hair-raising experience – the fire and the airlift, both.

But... I’d like to know... why did they go camping in the mountains anywhere near a wildfire?!!

Furthermore, there were a couple of souls who refused to evacuate.  Yikes again.

I took Loren some food:  chicken, baked potatoes, corn, applesauce, V8 cocktail juice, and a cinnamon roll.

His eye seems to be fine; he says he can see very well, and is enjoying reading again.  He does not need his glasses now; they make things blurry.  He’ll probably need to get some new ones before too long.

Larry went to Genoa this morning and put primer on his friend’s vehicle.  Since he got home about noon, he’s been working on his motorcycle.  He did a bit of work on Norma’s van, too.  When he gets it fixed up, he will sell it.

Kurt, Victoria, Carolyn, and Violet came visiting this evening.  Larry took Kurt and the little girls riding on the nearby hills in the RZR.  We gave Carolyn her birthday gift – a doll with a change of clothes, a bunny, and a bottle.  We gave Violet a stuffed tiger, just because.  Looks like the gifts were a success.  😊

After Kurt and Victoria and the girls left, Larry went back to Genoa to sand the primer he had applied in the morning. 

I just gave Teensy his Fancy Feast soft cat food with the medicine – Felimazole, for hyperthyroidism – crushed in it, and I also gave Tiger his token spoonful so he doesn’t feel unloved.

I use half a can of cat food for each feeding.  The evening helping is the other half of the can, and since it’s been in the refrigerator all day, it has become more of a solid mass than when it’s room temperature. 

Tiger licks at his until the pieces fall off his saucer, and then he goes chasing them all over the floor.

My kitchen floor now smells like *Thon Poisson Purée, Savoureux et Plein de Saveur.  Mmmmm.

 

,,,>^..^<,,,           Sarah Lynn           ,,,>^..^<,,,

 

*Tuna Fish Purée, Tasty and Full of Flavor