All quiet on the western front.

The Tuscaloosa grands spent the night last night. The house was full of noise. It is hard to get used to, but when it's gone - it is so so quiet. Too quiet. 

***

This week has passed with it's share of bad news. Father-in-law had a follow up with his surgeon. The foot wounds refuse to heal and so. Monday will be amputation day. I don't believe we yet have our minds wrapped around the news. Even though it was what we had expected. Especially after the amputation of the little toe. Still. 

He has had a rough two weeks. Dehydration added to the meds he has had to take have wreaked havoc on his mental health. With the release of the primary care doctor he has received more immediate care from the medical staff at the nursing home. Administration of fluids has greatly improved his color and his cognitive skills. 

*****

Daughter had a fun night out with her girlies at a '90s concert last night. Thus the grands spending the night here. I added chocolate pancakes to the breakfast menu this morning. I think they were a hit. Some didn't think that wanted any. But everyone ended up eating and enjoying. Except for Mr. Macho. He is not the adventurous kind. So sad. 

The hardest thing about having all three here at the same time is the listening. It is hard to make your ears go in three directions. Impossible. Other than that, easy. It is getting a little boring at Nanny's house for the older two. If there isn't something special or exciting to do. Ah well. That makes going home even better. 

I am going to attempt to steam mop the kitchen now. 

Birthday party tonight.

And.

There will be dancing!

Namaste, Fred and Ginger. 

School is almost over...

Every year I can remember the graduation song has been played on the radio this time of year. Over. And over. You know, "School is almost over, graduation's near. Though we try to hide it, we will shed a tear. Happy days are over..."

We have had fun graduations this week. Daughter earned her master's degree! Woot woot! It was a gorgeous day. The kids love picking their Mom out of the crowd and waving to her - and her waving back!  

Daughter and family on the momentous occasion of the conferring of her Master's Degree! 

Proud parents. 

Monday I traveled south to attend another graduation. Much less formal. It was a graduation of the preschool variety!

It was perfect. Cap and gown. Then cute songs. My grandchild was the cutest. She knew the songs the best. I heard her voice above the others. Then it was over. Perfect. 

Sweet Pea and me. 

While on the Coast I got to spend three days with my Mom. She is 95 1/2 years old. She is doing great. For the first time every she used a motorized scooter at the store. She loved it! She said she just might get her sitters to drive her over so she can ride around the Walmart just for fun. I said, "Do it!" We visited three grocery stores so she could  get all the sales. And bought five books at the library to read. She is pretty amazing.

I got to visit with sister, Mimi and Marsha, while I was there. That was great. I am proud of Marsha as she starts another career -this time in the plant industry. Go Marsha! 

Mimi is always the best hostess. I probably feel that way 'cause I have been to her house so many times and am comfortable there. The firs night I was there she made the most delicious seafood stuffed eggplant that I have ever eaten. (I never had it before, but that is inconsequential.) 

The weather was warm and lovely while I was there. I even got to celebrate the birthday of my coast DIL. Her parents had also traveled for the preschool graduation and her Dad treated us all to a birthday meal! The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Her parents are very lovely people. 

***

On my way home Mr. Macho called to tell me his Dad was being taken by ambulance to the hospital. After I got home and he got off work we went to the ER to check on him. The diagnosis was dehydration. They gave him an intravenous bag of fluid and sent him back to the nursing home. He isn't well. Not eating much, and drinking very little. Witnessing our loved ones suffer is grueling. 

*****

Today we attended the funeral of a church friend. He died suddenly and unexpectedly. His wife is a friend but she is a very dear friends with my sister. Two children. One grandchild. Two grandchildren on the way. They will live with happy memories, I hope. 

Congrats to nephew, Emmett, on his Master's Degree. Bestowed upon him this very day. 

Tomorrow is an exciting day. My Dad would have been 96. Our Cecilia is being baptized. I'll try to share pictures soon.

Until then. 

Namaste.

Coming back to life.

It is a slow process but I am rebuilding my technology connections a step at a time. I am happy to report that I am updated and have all kinds of safety nets I am working on learning to use. Clouds and externals and such.

New computer with updated everything is going to be wonderful. It will take me a few days to learn to navigate but I can do hard things. This one isn't so hard. And. I have support! Why first thing this afternoon I made a phone call to one of my new friends, Ciera. She walked me right through setting up my email. So I'm all, "You're my new bestie, Ciera!" She giggled. I think she was 12. I liked her. A lot.

I have paid dearly for an entire army of new friends. For 3 years. I might just call them to see how their day is going. Because, I have PAID for it. That's why. I bet they will love just hearing my voice. Now that we are friends. I even have new geek friends at the Best Buy.

Anyway. I am trying hard to not grieve the loss of my plethora of photos that were lost in the crash of '16.

New photos will soon fill up my computer cloud.
I will probably have sweet tech dreams tonight.
Namaste.

Oh snap.

It was my fault. I must start by saying that. 

Tuesday morning, without giving it much thought, I clicked the button to upgrade to the new Apple operating system, El Capitan. I got busy with my day as the upgrade was in progress.

Fast forward to late afternoon when I needed to google some labels for my father-in-law's clothes (more about him later) and my computer had gone south. I could only get a grey screen with the apple icon flashing with some other icons...and I was in a panic. 

Located the Apple support number. Technician read his script and walked me through trying to boot the computer only to find the grey/apple flashing screen every time. Blah, blah, blah, and he said, "Yes, erase." Me: "Are you sure I should 'erase'?" Him: "Yes. Erase." And so I erased. He next had me reinstall the Snow Leopard operating system. While it was doing that I realized and asked, "Have I just erased everything off my computer?!" Him: "Yes." 

Oh snap. 

No documents. 

No email address.

All my photos have gone to sheol. 

(Insert a Charlie Brown-esque holler right here.)

I am still hoping that I can take this computer to someone that can find my photos out "there". Somewhere.

And no. 

I did not do the Cloud.

And no.

I did not back up my computer.

Lesson learned.

The hard way. 

**********

Father-in-law went to Jackson with his two daughters over a week ago. The purpose was to see about getting stents in his legs to improve blood flow, to help relieve foot pain. 

After being admitted to hospital it was found that kidneys were about to fail. And so. He stayed in hospital over weekend to improve kidneys so that the doctor could do a dye test. Kidneys improved. Monday the doctor did the dye test and determined that there were no viable veins to work with in the  right leg. Thus. The stent was a no go. That doctor called in a surgeon to debride the wounds on the right foot.  Surgeon wanted MRI to rule out bone infection (osteomyelitis). MRI on Tuesday. He did have infection in little toe. Right foot.  Wednesday toe removal and debridement. Mr. Macho and I drove down to see him for ourselves and to be with him. He did well that afternoon. Thank you to the good meds he had little pain that day. We had prepared to stay the night but after realizing that we were not needed and could offer no real help at the time, we drove home. 

Thursday brought pain and more meds. Friday he was transfered by daughters to a swing bed facility in our home town. He is somewhat confused. His best chance of healing is to stay put. He will be well taken care of. We will visit him very frequently. 

***

Trying to find some zen. Gonna go watch some movies with my girls this afternoon.

Namaste. 

Where is my muse?

My week in pictorial review...

Today marks two weeks since the tornado. From my front porch I watched as the "cat" loaded this dump truck in the rain. Heavy equipment is fascinating. It is loud. It also leaves behind the dregs. I want to get a broom and sweep all my neighborhood streets. It feels pretty dirty. 

Amaryllis blooms right out my porch door. I have more blossoms than ever this year. I have made a new friend this week that sent me pics of her yard in bloom. There were six or eight different shots of flowers everywhere. This is all I got. 

The last Christmas waffle was consumed this week. And enjoyed. 

I need to find my muse. This is the first thing I have drawn since I can't remember when. 

No. 2 pencil and crayon. 

Tomatoes before the roasting. Yum. Ate some of these last night with our sushi. 

This morning, after kissing Mr. Macho goodbye, I discovered this message on the dry erase board on my refrigerator. Lauren spent the night with me last weekend. She is a hoot. We had a good time. Went shopping. Ate out. Took a short tour around town. Made pies. Watched her choice of movie. 

She has such a sweet spirit. I love that girl. She teaches me things. About life. And about myself. 

***

I am having some weepy moments this week. Father-in-law is being driven three hours in hopes the out-of-town doctor can do a procedure that will help get blood flow to his feet. 

Today I am feeling sad and weepy thinking about it. Lots of details are being left out here. Suffice it to say that Laura has been stretched beyond any normal breaking point. Tag team effort by two sisters-in-law to get him to the doctor today. 

*****

Let there be peace on earth.

And let it begin with me. 

Weekend and birthdays.

I was on the fast jet this week. Bizziness made the time fly. Mostly sunny cool days have lifted our spirits, at the same time we are sneezing and itching. Sporadic allergy meds help.

I served as docent one last time in our spring pilgrimage of antebellum homes on Tuesday. Mr. Macho and I are finally enjoying some of the homes and activities that have gone on for years and years. Wednesday night we braved a thunderstorm and attended the Tales of the Crypt in our local cemetery. Students from our state charter school perform roles selected from the inhabitants of the cemetery. It is so worth attending. Thursday night we took a candle light tour of two homes. Both were interesting. One home was very well presented and tastefully decorated with period furniture. The second home had good bones, but was cluttered with the home owners collections. It was too fussy. Felt more like a poorly done museum.

Docents who work Pilgrimage are given free passes to tour the homes. I had mine and yesterday, having no scheduled plans, I decided I wanted to see one particular house. I texted my sister to see if she had any plans. She did. She is the busiest person I know. I have tried to take her for a birthday lunch 3 or 4 times and she has had to cancel or has been too busy. And. Once again. She was bizzy! So I decided to fly solo. I thought the house was incredibly pretty. I got to climb three flights of stairs all the way to the cupola that provided a wonderful panorama of the landscape that included the field of cows and a lake not too far away. It was a crystal clear day. Good for me! I can do things by myself. It is all good.

Yesterday was sister, Mimi's, birthday. We facetimed and I sang "Happy Birthday" to her real loud. She got to go on a fun trip earlier in the week, to Mexico. Her daughter and son-in-law were going to cook her a birthday dinner. Our brothers' took her out to dinner the night before her birthday.

Today is father-in-law's 87th birthday. Last night at supper he commented, once again, that he never thought he would make it this far. He is not in good shape. He is not walking anymore. He travels in a wheel chair. His feet hurt too much to stand on them. A surgeon removed scabs and tissue from his feet this week. We thought the surgeon was going to arrange to place stents to improve blood flow. Sister-in-law is making valiant efforts to find the right course of action, but every medical office feels like it is going in a new and different direction. It is hard and confusing, at best. There are no guide books for this and she is having to develop firm resolve to help her dad in the best possible way she can. This week she will celebrate her birthday. Away from home, caring for her dad.

This morning I am driving to the Piggly Wiggly (half way point) to pick up Lauren. We are having a spend-the-night. I promised her we would make a pie. I have all the ingredients. Not sure what else we will do. We might take a carriage ride in town. Or. We might go to the giant yard sale at the fairgrounds. I'll have to ask her what she feels like doing. We might just go to Hoblob and shop around. We will make supper to take over and share with Mr. Macho and the birthday boy.

Our neighborhood continues the clean up efforts. Roofs with slight damage have been worked on this week. The is still storm debris in yards and streets that needs removing. Blue tarps decorated the landscape.

This week I have enjoyed reaching out to friends. Small acts of love. I hope you have had good moments this week, too.
Namaste.

Out like a lion.

Thursday, March 31, 2016. National and local weather prognosticators had called for nasty weather. Wednesday wasn't too bad in our area. Thursday started off rainy then cleared for the afternoon. But. It got unseasonably warm. And I knew. 

Mr. Macho and I had just sat down for a small supper while we watched the local news. About 6:20 our local weatherman cut into his own newscast. He quickly reported a tornado on the ground and he warned people in our very own community to be in our safe place. Right. Then. 

What does Mr. Macho do? Right - he steps out onto the front porch. Where he could hear the tornado siren going off. I heard it, too, after a few seconds of listening. It had gone from being scarily still to wind whipping around. I insisted we both get into the hall. And we did.

It got loud. Mr. Macho thought he was still hearing the siren. I told him that was no siren -it was the tornado. I thought I heard very loud hail - Mr. Macho said that was limbs and projectiles hitting our roof. I was afraid the two enormous pines in our front yard were coming down on our house. 

Then it was over. 

Other than cones and limbs and leaves in the yard - we were unscathed. 

Our neighbors did not fare so well...

Quickly the sound of emergency sirens and chain saws filled the air. Pick up trucks and emergency vehicles saturated our neighborhood for two days. Even today I have had to dodged trucks and clean up crews on our street. Blue tarps went up fast. 

We lost power for about 6 hours and so had to use flashlights and candles. I was worried about losing all the food in my fridge. I had made 5 pounds of potato salad just that afternoon. 

I think I was in a little bit of shock. I had lots of adrenalin. Then I got very tired with a little headache. Then I began to shiver. Finally I went to bed. And. It was so dark. At about 12:30 our power came back on and I had to get up to turn off the teevee. 

Friday brought more of the same - emergency personnel and clean up crews. I walked around a little bit and hugged neighbors I didn't know. I didn't walk all around because people and crews were so busy attending to the clean up. I don't like looking at other people's misery. 

By Saturday I was ready to see it all. So I walked around to look. Twice. Some houses had nasty gashes. No injuries were reported. Thank heavens. 

Saturday one of the local baptist churches set up shop in my next door neighbor's front yard and cooked 200 hot dogs and 200 hamburgers to feed all the neighbors. My children and grandchildren had arrived for the weekend (planned weeks in advance) and we all dined on the burgers and dogs. I just have to say how good it felt to be taken care of.  

View from Linda D.'s front yard. 

***

I was glad to have family distraction over the weekend, especially since Mr. Macho had Daddy Duty. He took the day off Friday to clean up the yard then left that evening to care for his dad over the weekend. I was sorry he couldn't stay and visit with his children and grandchildren. 

Peyton and Millie were the first to arrive. When Cecilia got here it was a happy squeal fest! These cousins were so glad to see each other. Then more squealing when the Tuscaloosa cousins arrived on Saturday. I can't described how it feels to see them all loving each other. Tucker and Lauren are so good and gentle with their small cousins. Merritt has so much fun with these girls. We got to play a few games over the weekend. The kids watched a movie or two that I had purchased last week. 

I had the best time on the way to church Sunday morning with 4/6 of the cousins in the car and Katie Perry singing "I am the champion" - and we were all singing at the top of our lungs! Of course, the grandkids know the words much better than I do! It was great fun. 

****

I hear chain saws right this minute as I type. Our Friday garbage has not picked up, yet. Dump trucks have carried away loads and loads of storm debris already. There are still mountain of trees and limbs that need hauling off. My little neighborhood will not look the same. I will even have my pines cut down for fear of damage with the next big wind. It is sad but necessary. 

I am hoping for peace and good weather in April. 

Namaste.