Finn Gets Busted

Finn with his bag. I got a bumper crop of cat nip. It is taking over.

 We will be missing Dad this Father's Day.

Seems like yesterday. Aww Aunt Shirley and Aunt Jean in this reunion pic too.

Now for the patients . . .

Mom's hand is improving. Swelling is down. Black and blue is up! She is able to use it though. It reminds her if she overdoes.

We are celebrating the news of a good pooh from Hera, poor girl. Good that she is eating. Still waiting on test results (from Texas A & M University or some such place!) but she is hanging in. Two year old indoor cat, you never think of disaster befalling. Go figure. It saddens and worries me that her lil sis, Isis, won't have anything to do with her. After all the time spent nursing on Hera and sniffing crack, gosh that is gratitude! Hopefully that will change.

Hmmm. Between the crack comment and Finn's bag, this blog is going to end up on some list somewhere .  .  . relax people! Sniffing crack has a whole different meaning when you are talking about cats! That is catnip in that bag, I swear!


John is coming today for my belated birthday lunch.  Tex Mex at Chilis sounds good!

Have a good weekend. Happy Father's Day. Smile at some good memories or make some new ones!

Butterflies love lantana too.

 

Kay :)

Sick Kitten

John's kitty, poor Hera is very sick. She is up at the emergency vet clinic in Aurora for an ultrasound on her liver. That is Hera on the left. She has lost 4 pounds, poor kitten. We are waiting and seeing. And hoping. Stinks.

Aunt Shirley

We lost Aunt Shirley. She was 88. Look at her there with Uncle Jim. What a couple! She wore her little body out, living and loving and caring for her family. And she had fun doing it too! She and Uncle were married for 67 years! Uncle Jim and Peggy had a beautiful celebration of life for her this week. I enjoyed looking at all the photos at the visitation, Aunt Shirley was beautiful. She and Uncle Jim were a striking couple . . . from their courtship until forever. From the photo Aunt Joan, Dad, Aunt Jean, the whole front row, and now Aunt Shirley are gone. The reunion will not be the same. Ever. My heart aches with Uncle Jim and Peggy. They will have to get used to a "new normal" now too. Mom told us some fun stories of Uncle Jim and Aunt Shirley and Peggy coming to the farm to visit when we were very young, brought back some fun memories of family and the old farmhouse where I grew up.

I read this the day before Aunt Shirley's service. I think it is lovely . . .

By: Henry Scott Holland

Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away to the next room.
I am I and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
That, we still are.

Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.

Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me. Pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without effect.
Without the trace of a shadow on it.

Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolute unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?

I am but waiting for you.
For an interval.
Somewhere. Very near.
Just around the corner.

All is well.

Nothing is past; nothing is lost. One brief moment and all will be as it was before only better, infinitely happier and forever we will all be one together with Christ.


In other happenings . . .

Mom took a spill leaving Aunt Shirley's service. Her hand is all black and blue and swollen, but it is getting better. She was lighting a ciggy!  They are bound to get her one way or another I guess! She has a nice strawberry on her knee too. I told her to just STOP WALKING and light the damn thing from now on. As usual my helpful tips piss people off.  Good thing Mom is damn sturdy for 77! But she best be more careful.

Happy Birthday to me yesterday! 53. Wow. And oh yeah . . . I have a cataract! What the hell. I'm getting it taken care of in early July. It is annoying as hell! Mom is getting hers done later this year too. Gosh I'm old. And I sure did get a lot of sunshine when I played softball. And went out on Mar and Geo's boat. And lots of other times too. ARGHHHH.

Garden is coming along.

Weeds and peppers. The peppers are coming slow.

Tomatoes and onions and lilies and weeds.

Midge's zinnia bed. She is totally ignoring it this year! Maybe because there is a bumper crop of cat nip next to it and she is in there all the time.

I had a pang last week when I left work. The front lawn of courthouse was set up for the first concert of the summer. Dad loved those concerts. Even taking a ride isn't so much fun anymore. Missing my little sidekick.

Peace.

Kay :)

You Gotta Love Spring in Illinois

Where else can you get pelted by sleet on May 20th while picking a monster radish!  Good old Illinois! LOL

Delicious!

May Days

What has been happening? Lots of stuff really.

I took Mom and Joe over to Streator Unlimited's 50th Anniversary Party. John and his wonderful staff put on a terrific party, with an incredible spread of food. Kay had a beer too! John was hoping for 301 people (to break the attendance of 300 from the 25th anniversary party, and break it they did . . . well over 400 people attended! John was tickled pink and he should be, he and his staff and clients did a wonderful job planning and executing the party. It was a ton of work. Well done!

After the party we stopped at the Marseilles Greenhouse and picked up some tomatoes and peppers. It's fun to think of all the times we went to Marseilles to see Uncle Eddie and Aunt Dorothy and family, and went to that greenhouse to get plants. Way back to when we lived on the old farm on Route 6! We moved to town in '72, so we've been going there a long time.

Mom had some flowers she wanted to put on the Mallaney headstone at the Seneca Cemetery on the way home from Streator, for Mother's Day, but it was super hot that day, and we were tired. I had plans to go to John's house the following weekend, and I would be coming back home on Mother's Day, so I told her I'd go through Seneca and do it then. Well. I don't think she believed me.

Mom's flowers!

From the road, the bridal wreath is beautiful.

In all honesty the cemetery looked a little rough. The grass was super high. I thought, because it had rained, that it would be easy to dig a little hole for my flowers. Wrongo! My little trowel was totally ineffective. But I'm stubborn, and kept digging away, then I remembered I had a hammer in the car (don't ask, I don't know why!), and I took that trowel and hammered it into the ground and and made a hole. Because of my wonky knee and the hill, well, I just sat down while I worked. It wasn't until I got home that I thought of the picture that made to passersby. Oh dear. Had a good laugh over that. Big woman, sitting on hill at the cemetery, hammering away at something, I'm sure with the grass so high and my trowel being so small, people couldn't see it. I'm surprised the police didn't show up! LOL So live and learn. I must take more implements with me next time, like a rake and some clippers! I was definitely not prepared.

While I was sitting there on the hill, I thought of Dad of course. Dad and Mom and Joe used to go to the cemetery regularly, and even in his late 80s Dad would go up that hill from the road. I take the safer route, I walk over to the stairs and up and then go across, but Dad would just scale that hill! Incredible!  Well one day Joe informed me that Dad had fallen at the cemetery and that he wasn't going to let him go up to the headstone anymore. I asked what happened, Seems Dad made it up the hill, fine, as usual, and then he made it down, just fine, but it seemed he was going to show off a little (lol probably because Joe was all after him to be careful), and he tried to jump the ditch! Down he went. Bernie had awful short legs! I wish I had been there to see it! LOL  Dad never got hurt when he fell, thank goodness! LOL

A man called Mom back from the Seneca Cemetery, and Dad's ashes will be buried there, as will Mom's. Dad wanted mom to be with him.

Garden is looking pretty good. Enjoying radishes and had a lovely mixed mesculin salad today. Still have some seeds I want to get in. Irises and lilacs are lovely. Dang lawnmower is in the shop. The kitties are enjoying the high grass and their little house.

Super Midge ruling the roost.

Had a lovely cookout and bonfire out at Marilyn's club in Braidwood last night, and today my favorite 18 year old is graduating from Coal City, as co-salutatorian. His mom and I hauled him around for years to softball tournaments and league games with us. Clearly our intellectual conversations had some effect on him. So I have a celebration to go to later.

I'm tending to my friend's kitty while she is on vacation too. I thought Mom could use a little outing this a.m. so I took her with me. Chris lives over on the way to the area over by Coal City, so it's a very nice ride.  My friends kitty is a little shy. I almost got to pet him yesterday, but he changed his mind and took off down the hallway. I was hoping today he wouldn't be so shy, but I couldn't find him. My friend told me he likes to be under her bed, so off we go. He was under the bed. Mom (pretty spry for 77!) got down on the floor and had a talk with him and he let her pet his face, ears, under his chin, and he seemed very happy. She petted him for quite a while. She got up and I went to have my turn, and I got my fat ass down on the floor and lay down on my belly and reached out to pet him and that cat immediately went over the other side of the bed and peeked out, seemingly looking for mom! LOLOL  Oh well. I'll take the Cat Whisperer with me again I guess.

Have a good week all.

Kay :)

Kitchen

zo

I can't even remember to take my pop can and screwdriver off the table when I decide to take pics! LOL 

And I pick the worst time of day for lighting! The colors are much prettier than they look here. And there are weird little splotches everywhere. Mom is looking for a new kitchen table. This one was $5 at a garage sale.dad used to do puzzles on it. Mom wants one a little bigger than this, but smaller than the old one. Hopefully with yard sale season kicking in we'll find the perfect one.

Mom's new stove, no raz daz for mom. She doesn't like any extras, makes the stove harder to clean, no timers, windows, just the basics.

Yes that is a pantry cabinet!

Before and after. Ok. These are thrift store chairs that came with a table. They been hanging around a while, but have come in handy now. I picked up a $2 piece of fabric at the thrift down the street. Oops. Yes. The bird is upside down! LOL I felt very Trading Spaces with my swingline stapler. But I swear that material just had flowers on it when I started, no upside down bird! Amuses me. But the chairs look a lot better and will do just fine til we find a new (used) table and chairs.

New door!

Dang Kohl's clearance!

Cold Spring

Brrrrr. I went to John's this weekend. He messaged me Thursday night, told me to be prepared, that his house was the warmest it had been all day at 4:45 p.m., and it was 53 degrees! Yikes. I packed up my long underwear and other warm gear. But thanks to a cold, wet work day he spent at a donated house he is rehabbing for work, he got chilled to the bone, and the heat got turned on yesterday! Woo hoo, and the thermostat all the way up to 60!

John's kitties are gorgeous. They are still one-man cats though. They tolerate me. I think.

The sisters, Isis and Hera.

Aunt Carrie's Bon Bon Cake from an old Betty Crocker Cookbook I found at a thrift stores. Alas My fudge icing wouldn't whip up (what the hell is soft ball stage anyway? I guess what I remember from foods class is a little sketchy LOL), so I sliced it up and served the icing as a "sauce"! It was yummy. That white stuff tastes like the middle of a Suzy Q. And I must have hit the soft ball stage with that filling because it was perfect. The fudge icing, no. Maybe next time. Scratch cakes are the best. Wait til you see my 6 layer salted caramel birthday cake John is going to make for me! I'm not sure he knows about that yet. All sorts of razzle dazzle, thanks to Martha Stewart.

Midge, my dainty girl, snooping on one of the strays eating on front porch.

The kitchen is done, I have to get some pics. It's like night and day, so bright and cheery now.

Mom is doing well. She commented the other day that Dad had wanted one more summer and he didn't get it. We both know it wouldn't have been the kind of summer Dad would have wanted. I find myself thinking of him at the store, when I see a White Sox shirt, or in the candy aisle, or in the grocery when I see his favorites.

Streator Unlimited is having their 50th anniversary in a couple of weeks, and I'm taking Mom and Joe over to the celebration. A big to-do, should be fun. Quite the outing for mom and Joe. We'll have to stop and visit the girls too. Plus Mom and Joe can do some ciggies! Priorities!

I planted a few things, but Mother Nature is trying to freeze them! I picked up some Lantana at the nursery, and have had to bring it in a bunch of times.

This will be Midge's flower bed this year. Changing things around. 

Onions, radishes and lettuce. I'll be eating some organic (thanks Midge and Finn!) salads soon. Thanks to Midge I've planted the same onions 5 or 6 times . . . so far.

Had a fun afternoon off with Mar, looking for a new kitchen table. And gosh, those Tempur-Pedic beds are super cool! Take a Tuesday afternoon off, go to Wilmington to a furniture store, and you get the place pretty much to yourself! LOL We had a  yummy lunch too.

And last, but not least, my sweet Finn. I had Finn to the vet for an irritated ear, and he lost a pound! I'm glad someone in the family can lose weight. He is down to 18#! LOL He is feeling kind of frisky out in the yard sometimes, and he tackled my calf the other day, and nearly took me down!

Have a most pleasant week. Or. at the rate I've been posting on this blog, have a most pleasant month!

Kay :)