Monthly Archives: November 2019

Happy Thanksgiving and the Beatles!

First I will finish up my last blog with pictures of some cards the children made for the veterans and handed out. David got a few of them.

See the soldiers on that one?

David loves getting these. A lot of these children have mothers in the military.  Some came in their military uniforms.   I think it’s wonderful that this school takes the time to honor veterans.

This past weekend was fun. First of all, David took me to the Hobnob Restaurant in Nashville, IN, which is a nice little restaurant in an old building with antique memorabilia along the walls. The food is like homemade and they even serve liver and onions which I have had before and it was very good, but this time I got a Rueben sandwich because I hardly ever get these and it was so delicious.  I ordered some hot chocolate and it came with a pile of whipped cream on it.

Then we went to the music center in Nashville, which has taken the place of the Nashville Opry that burned down years ago.  David had bought tickets for us to see a Beatles impersonators show.  We were about eleven rows back in the center and those were really good seats as we could see the stage. When I saw the real Beatles back in the sixties, I was way up in the peanut gallery in the coliseum at the state fair in Indianapolis and the people on stage looked like ants.
Girls were screaming and jumping on the chairs.  My brother, who took us to the fair, had no tickets but got some outside and got front row seats and told us what a good view he had of the Beatles and we were so jealous.  Our tickets cost three dollars. I don’t know what he paid for his.

Anyway, fast forward to now and we were going to see the Beatles again although not the real ones.  When they came out on stage, they did look like them, but when they started playing I thought, “Oh, no, some high school boys formed a band and think they sound like the Beatles!”  But you know what?   As the show progressed, those young men morphed into the real Beatles and sounded just like them.  It was an amazing show.  I knew the words to almost every song, unlike today where I know the words to no popular songs.   But I did not know I was going to get in a rumble before long.

You see, I don’t like cellphones all that well and I don’t like people showing up late for a show.  So as the program progressed and the Beatles were into their second song, four what looked like high school girls came noisily in with their cans and glasses of beer and sat in front of us and began to immediately hold up their phones to video the show. They would do this constantly. They also were singing loudly and throwing up their arms to where people in front of them could not see. David and I were two of those people. I could tell people around them were getting uncomfortable.  I could deal with all that, but then they all four stood up in front of us and began dancing.  They were the only ones doing this except for four old ladies farther up who were trying so hard to act cool.  I stood it for as long as I could and then I reached over the seat in front of me and grabbed one of the girl’s coats and laid it on the back of her seat and she turned around and said, “What are you doing?!” To which I answered her, “We bought tickets to see those guys up on stage, not you girls.” Well, have you ever heard cats screech? One of the girls turned around and acted so offended that we should want to see the show. I just laughed and came up close to their faces and said, “And I  can get you all thrown out, too.”  At that, three of them sat down and muttered among themselves while one kept dancing and then she left.  Later she came back and got the other three and they all left and we all clapped.  Believe me. I am not a brave person, but obnoxious people should never be allowed to get away with being obnoxious.  Those girls did not know who they were dealing with.  I was prepared to go to the mat.  What movie is that from?   Anyway, after the show one of the people sitting next to us thanked us for getting those girls to behave.   Why are people so afraid to confront bad behavior?  I don’t like fights, but I was willing to get into one because those girls were taking the fun away from the rest of us.

But we enjoyed the show so much.  There was an intermission and then they came back as the new Beatles with their fancy, colorful clothes they wore in the Yellow Submarine.   I knew most of those songs, too, although by that time in the Beatles’ career, I was a young married mother. But I always loved and will always love the Beatles.

Sunday we went to our first Thanksgiving dinner. Oh, my, the food.  There was so much.  We got to see our older grandchildren.

This is our oldest grandson with his girlfriend. They are so cute together.

Our oldest  and only granddaughter. She’s got another year and a half of college and is going to try to get into Harvard for her masters. She wants to be a museum curator or someone who designs and sets up museum exhibits or something to do with museums.  She’s a straight A student so I don’t think she will find it hard to get into Harvard.

Our daughter and her oldest son.

Her youngest son. Her husband was out hunting deer.  He’s already got one. He makes his own deer sausage which is very good and about the only venison I can stand to eat.  They eat a lot of venison.

I didn’t get a picture of my other red headed grandson.   He is going to be the tallest of my grandchildren, I believe. He is fourteen and already six feet tall.  I don’t know where his height comes from because we all are shorties except his dad who is six feet.

It was a fun weekend. Now it’s my turn to cook and have another gang for Thanksgiving.  Also Polo, where David works, is having a two hour sale for employees only Thanksgiving day. I don’t like shopping on Thanksgiving, but this sale will be too good to pass up and everybody likes Ralph Lauren clothes.

While we were in Nashville at the motel we watched a program about Ralph Lauren on HBO.  From what I learned about him, he is a family man and puts his family before going to parties in the Hamptons.   I like him for that.  He has certainly given many family men a paycheck through the years.  And his clothes are really nice.

Well, I hope you all have a happy and blessed Thanksgiving.  I will see you on the other side. Bye.

 

 

 

 

Here’s What I’m Doing

Turn around and the trees have changed and dropped their leaves and all of a sudden we are talking about Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Christmas gift buying.  It’s all strung together into one big to do list that can be overwhelming if I think too much about it.

We watched the last of the soccer games. Our youngest played his tournament and their team won handily.

It began on a Saturday morning when the trees still had their leaves and were beautiful.

We drove to Bloomington where the games were played.

Out grandson is a real hustler.  He really likes soccer a lot and will be playing again next year.

He was put in as goalie which he doesn’t like as much as there isn’t as much action, especially when your team keeps the ball at the other end of the field.  At one point we looked at him and he was dancing.

Later this month our two youngest grandboys’ school honored veterans.  Since their grandfather served in the Army National Guard for 36 years, they wanted him to come to the program. David always enjoys these so much. It’s wonderful seeing school children singing patriotic songs and saying the pledge to the flag.

Here is our youngest grandson.  They go to an International elementary school and this picture depicts the diversity in the student body.   There are children from everywhere who go here. Some of their parents teach at the college and live in Bloomington for a while.   When I was in school there was no one who looked different from me and I always longed for a black friend.  Now my grandsons make friends with people from all over.  I think it’s wonderful.

Kids are kids no matter where they come from.  And they are all so cute!

This is one of the songs they sang

The school orchestra played.

Here is our second youngest grandson in the blue with his class.  This is his last year at this school. Can’t believe he’ll be in Middle School next year.  Just yesterday we were waiting in the hospital for him to be born and he was the tiniest baby.

The veterans were asked to come forward and for their grandchildren or children to join them. We are so proud of these boys.  There are a lot more women veterans than there use to be. Sometimes I wish I had joined the armed forces when I was younger.

Children can be so angelic at times!

There was a nice reception after the program with food for brunch which was very good.  The principal asked the children not to take seven or more things because he was afraid there would not be enough food as so many veterans showed up, but in the end, he was passing out donuts and muffins trying to get rid of them.

It was a very nice day.

Me, I keep making things. Don’t know if I showed this pillow I made from a state handkerchief I had bought.

And, of course, I keep knitting socks.

This yarn is called Monarch Butterfly.

A while back I ran across a magazine with a quilt pattern I have made before.

It’s called Grandmother’s Fancy.  I had a few blocks left over from that quilt so I made some more and bought some fabric for the borders and binding.

Today I finished piecing the quilt except for the border.  It’s huge.  I think it’s at least king size.

Now I have a Christmas quilt I want to get quilted before Christmas and this quilt which I can only show a corner of because it’s for someone.

While cleaning out a drawer the other day I found these.

Post-it notes with what I call my Yellow Book stories. I began writing about this imaginary town with people I made up and drew.  I couldn’t stop writing them. Then I lost them and now I’ve found them again. There are some characters who live in my imaginary town.

I don’t pretend to be an artist, but I drew each character for my stories.  Maybe I’ll finish this one day.

Sunday we have our first Thanksgiving dinner and then I’m having Thanksgiving here and then it will be Christmas all the way. Jingle jingle.  We’ve had lights up for a couple of weeks. David surprised me with tickets to a Beatles’ impersonation show. I’ll write about that later. Can’t wait to see it.

 

Here’s to our veterans who serve our country and to children who honor them. Bye.

 

 

 

 

 

November, Already! But I Digress

Remember putting your brand new calendar up for 2019?  A lot of people don’t even have calendars anymore, depending on their Smart phones for all their information.  I still love having calendars because of the pretty pictures or dog pictures or chicken pictures and I can see in a second what day it is and I can write meetings and appointments and birthdays on them to help me remember things.

But I digress.  Doesn’t it seem like this year has gone amazingly fast? It seems like just a year ago President Trump was inaugurated and here he will be starting his last year of his first term.  What a lot has happened in our country since he became our president.   I am looking forward to election year.  I’ve always loved to vote and have not missed any major elections since I could. I have already got a sign in mind that I will paint and put up later next year.  When Trump was running the first time I painted a sign that read,  “Trains Toot, Toot for Trump!”  because trains toot right in front of our house so I thought I’d take advantage of it.  I could tell which engineers were really for Trump by how loud and long they tooted their horn. It was funny.  I know some reading this don’t like President Trump much, but you got to have fun.  Now tell me, really, is there any Democrat contender right now that you could have fun with?  They all are so unhappy and angry and I don’t hear one of them saying what they would do to help this country. They just tell us how much money they are going to take away and give to others. I won’t even start on the gun confiscation.

But, I digress again because politics was not at all what I was going to write about. I know it turns a lot of people off. Me, I could talk politics all day and not get angry at anyone who disagrees with me. It’s a free country.  At least for now.  I’m trying to write about the passage of time  It does seem to be going faster and faster and when I hear young people say how time is flying I believe something is up.  I just think it was January 2019 just a very short while ago and now here it is, November and Thanksgiving time and soon Christmas, then Valentine’s Day, etc. I wonder if it’s because the stores rush us through the seasons that it seems they go faster?   After all Christmas things have been in the stores since last month.  I imagine there are people who have their Christmas shopping already done.   Sometimes I want to just stop time for a little bit so I can enjoy the time I’m in.  I look at my grandchildren and just yesterday they were tiny and now they are grown or half grown and I feel a little sad for those baby days when I could hold them on my lap although my 18 year old and 14 year old  grandsons still crawl up on my lap and put their heads on my shoulder and I love every second of it and hope they will do that when they are grown men and I’m sitting in a nursing home.    They can squash me, I don’t care.   I don’t see any of my grandchildren enough, but they all are in school and sports and have jobs so their time is precious to them.   But time is catching up to all of them. And I don’t have all that much time left on this earth.  I’ve lived way over half my life now so each day Is a blessing.

Time is a funny thing. What is time? We try to measure it in hours and minutes and seconds, but it depends on what is happening in your life whether that time goes quickly or slowly.  How slow is time when you are in the hospital wanting to go home?  That same time flies when you are with people you love and you are doing something fun or exciting.   Why is that?

Do you feel time is fleeting?  Do you find yourself cherishing every minute?  We all have eternal souls and one day those souls will be spending time somewhere.  I believe in the afterlife, Heaven and that Jesus will one day welcome me there.  I have no fear of death at all. It’s just falling asleep and waking up into eternity.  It’s where you spend your eternity that you should think about.  As someone told me after her husband died. He’s just in the next room. Just a thin barrier between them that will one day be broken.

So enjoy the time you have no matter how long or short.    We all only have so much time on this beautiful earth so make the most of it. Live, love and pray to God.  Thank Him for He created time.  And He created eternity just for you. Bye.

This has been a picture free post. Pictures coming later.