Northern Lights Music Festival

GUESS WHAT??  Life as we know it is B.A.C.K.... This week -- Mary Mulari and her husband Doug (Mayor of Aurora, Minnesota) are attending the wonderful Northern Lights Music Festival.

In 2016, my friend Pat flew in from Seattle and we went to Mary's house..and we went to the Opera.

Yes -- THE OPERA.  The NLMF attracts musicians and singers from all over the world...and for two weeks, they perform concerts in three cities -- Aurora, Chisholm and Ely.  

When the Festival first started (2007?) -- Mary and her friends were involved in sewing costumes, and helping to feed and house the students.  The college level music students come to take classes and then perform...and their talent is unbelievable.  

Although I can't go this year...I can fondly remember the year I WAS able to attend...and I am beyond delighted to know that it's all happening this year...

Again -- thank you, Science!!  

Pat and I stayed at Mary's house

Mary was showing off her butt...

We had Minnesota Pasties for supper.

Their high school (built in the 30's) has a theater and an indoor swimming pool!!

This was the summer before I went to Fat Camp!

Mary and Doug were practically newlyweds...

They had refreshments during the intermission

We bought tickets to the catered reception AFTER the opera.

The food was AMAZING...

Pat and Mary with one of the handsome opera stars!!

DO WHAT YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN, PEOPLE...You cannot wait for life to be perfect to be happy. Gee -- I love that. THANKS, Simon Cowell and AGT...

It was a quiet morning...until....

Gheesh...I was doing pretty good with my blogging streak....then THIS HAPPENED... I was working in the basement (Monday is my Carrie cleaning day) -- still trying to go through ALL THOSE BOXES AND BINS. I discovered a box of cancelled checks (remember those days) from my Rita's Sew Fun store days. Ugh. WHY DO I HAVE THESE??  Because I still have the same bank account, I decided I should burn them. 

We used to heat our house with wood, so we have a woodburner in the basement. I used it this winter to burn my trash (because of all the snow and ice, I could not walk outside to the burning barrel)...it was just a small bag of checks, so I put them in the woodburner and lit it up. 

To make a long story short -- I had a chimney fire.

I called 911...and within 6 minutes, I had a FULL RESPONSE...two fire engines from Princeton, Iowa...two from LeClaire...and one from McCausland.  I also had a Sheriff's patrol car, a Princeton Police car, an ambulance, and about 6 pickup tricks from volunteer firemen arriving on the scene...

Call The Midwife

Okay -- I know I am WAY LATE coming to this party -- but my biggest television pleasure for a long, long time is Call the Midwife.

IT'S SUCH A GREAT SHOW.  And, the best part is there are nine seasons for me to binge on!!

I love all of it...the time frame, the characters, the stories, the historical aspects. The time and place is 1957-1967 in Poplar, a poor section of London. There is no birth control, so 100 babies a month are born to women living in very cramped, unsanitary conditions. England is in the process of rebuilding after the war -- and they have started to provide free health care to their citizens. The framework that moves the stories along are the young nurses who work as midwives alongside the nuns of Nonnatus House.

Maybe it's only when we look back that we realize how far we've come...

This show makes you think about all of it. Before birth control, families routinely had a dozen children...and unwed mothers brought shame onto their families...mothers pretended their daughter's illegitimate baby was their own...the homes for unwed mothers...the secrecy around all those situations...there were no jobs, the government determined where you could live, high rise buildings replaced bombed out buildings, cramped conditions caused the spread of many diseases...TB, diphtheria, polio, then, the miracle of modern medicine -- vaccinations -- eventually, birth control...

I AM LOVING THIS SHOW....and I try to limit myself to only watching two episodes every night, after John goes to bed.

In one episode, Sister Evangeline is dealing with the affects of a stroke...her left hand is paralyzed...and she says,

nothing stays the same...when things change, we must find a different way.

See what I mean? GREAT television....I guess this week is all about Mantras....

The Good Times

I am SO DELIGHTED to be able to write a few blog posts...and I want to say, once again, how much I appreciate all your good thoughts and emails. I am sorry if I did not reply...but there are some days that just get away from me....please know I REALLY DO APPRECIATE all your kindness....(especially Anne, Laura, Leanne, Nancy, Dianne, Sue, Mary, Helen, Kay, Kathy, Carol...)

We are having a good summer, and I am SO GLAD to have John home. John hasn't been having panic attacks, and he is sleeping well. The biggest thing (for me) is that most days, he is in a good mood and that's a huge blessing...Cal keeps John busy burning brush or mowing grass...

Although Alzheimer's is a part of our life now...every single day....I try to make sure it's not the ONLY thing in my day...

Warren is 8 this summer...and I LOVE THIS AGE...

He still enjoys playing games on the porch...

And he always gives Uncle Ross's Lego Table a good go...

My Tuesdays are still about the TMBC. One week, we went up to see the site of our new home (and I took my Friendship Quilt so they could all see where their squares landed)...

One morning, I had Phyllis and Ronda over for a Porch Breakfast.

Phyllis worked at Rita's Sew Fun when it was a retail store in Clinton, Iowa! And we exchange jigsaw puzzles...

Alzheimer's is a bitch...and we have some bad days. But, the blessing of Alzheimer's is that the next day, John can't remember what we fought about...and I have to learn to LET IT GO....and try to do better... 

And, Sueann, I've made good use of your mantra...it helps....

 “Out of this situation unexpected good will come. This will be resolved for the highest good of all concerned. All is well and I am safe.”

Vaccinations

This post is about a silly moment I had when I got my Covid vaccination.

Our vaccine locations were very well organized

My cousin Jackie and I went on the same day (we looked like bank robbers for a solid year)

The form we had to fill out.

Life has gotten so complicated, hasn't it? A question that used to require no thought whatsoever...man or woman?

Now -- the choices are vast and confusing...

• Man
• Woman
• Undifferentiated
• Choose not to disclose
  

That was the first time I encountered all those choices...

But, for me, getting the vaccine was an easy choice.

When I think back to the year we had -- and the consequences of Covid.... the whole world shutting down, hundreds of bodies piling up in every country, every state, every big city and small town...

Now, finally, post-vaccine -- it feels like the world can breath again.  We can travel, get together, and HUG, even!!  I missed my life and now I feel safe again...and I am not missing the masks...

I KNEW SCIENCE WOULD SAVE US..!!

2021 Porch Party

I am always aware that this is our last summer in this house....and getting ready to MOVE....disposing of all the stuff we've accumulated over the last 50 years is a lot of work. I try to do something every day...and now I have a deadline. The Auction house will send a truck on July 24th to pick up the FIRST LOAD...ugh...

But -- in the meantime -- I also try to ENJOY the things we've always enjoyed doing in this house. And by that -- I mean -- PORCH PARTIES...

I love this picture of John, standing in front of the porch...

Cal and Jeanne and Deena and Ned came for a pizza party on the porch.

John really didn't know who they were...(the fact that I have siblings is like a news story for him)

Deena took this picture...it was really one of our first nice spring days. (this is a nice picture of my favorite Frankensewed tops...I added the black side panel)...

P.S. Ross came for supper last night, and he brought MY NEW SWIVEL CHAIR...now I can start the reupholstery project. Here's a video (maybe)https://photos.app.goo.gl/YZwySygQP9BUHSuc6

Another Criss Cross Success Story!

You cannot imagine how delighted I was when Elliott asked me to sew him an apron!!

He asked about the apron I always wear..

 

I assumed I would be making his apron out of old blue jeans....

But, I KNEW I'd use Mary's Criss Cross apron pattern -- so I had him try on my favorite apron... 

 

He loved it!  And wanted to keep MY ACTUAL APRON...

NO YOU DON'T, BUDDY...I actually had a hard time getting it away from him... 

At the end of the day, I made THIS special apron for him -- which has a lot of unique pockets and small places for his very specific tool requirements... 

The bib pocket has some small channels for his allen wrenches...there is a hammer sling on one side...and a cellphone pocket on the other side...

This apron required some planning...and MAD SKILLS, of course..!!