Cara Gets The Giggles

Our baby granddaughter thinks that watching her grandmother play catch is a riot!

Carasburgh

To celebrate this Memorial Day weekend, Ameridad and I went to one of our favorite places, down to see our beautiful granddaughter and her parents. We renamed the town they live in to Carasburgh for our own fun and we think that the name is quite appropriate.

I had an idea for a toy for the baby and much to the delight of Cara she thought grandma's idea was great. I went to the local store, bought a small blow up pool plus two bags of colorful plastic balls, turning one fun toy into a duel toy. Cara knows that when Grandpa and Grandma are around you never know what might be going on. I'm not sure if you can see in this picture but there is a nice row of bottom teeth: a total of seven teeth in all with the eighth one ready to pop through.

The weekend was filled with many fun things that we all did together. Here are a few photos of the weekend.

Watching the Indianapolis 500 Race between rain showers at the track.






Riding bikes, playing with Grandpa, and swimming.







Other fun things that we all did were a trip to the ice cream shoppe, a walk in the stroller, lots of hugs and kisses, plus a lot of laughs. The best of all is that we still have one more day together! Yea!!

Easy Life

I have spent my life living in the Midwest and like all places there are advantages and disadvantages. Today is about some of the advantages, living in a small community and enjoying a much slower pace than in a city.

In our small town a new restaurant recently opened with a 50's theme and great food. It is about a five minute drive from our house and last Sunday we met two of our friends for lunch. Our friendship goes back about ten years ago as Sandy was our realtor and we hit it off. The guys also enjoy each other and share many interests. They have fun figuring out the world's problems but they are keeping all of their solutions a secret between the two of them. Sandy was the first person to call after I broke my ankle and brought the most delicious meal over to our house, complete with dessert, the first day I got back into town from my unfortunate accident. Her thoughtfulness is very much appreciated by us as well as the friendship we share.

After having some good food, good conversation, and a lot of laughs it was time to head out. With the Corvette out of storage it was time for a drive.

We headed out for a country drive, passing by farmer's fields and pastures with horses in them, eventually arriving at our local covered bridge. Southern Indiana has more covered bridges than the northern part but we are fortunate to have one not far from where we live. Last year a road was built next to the bridge to divert larger vehicles. Locals in the area still use the bridge and that includes Amish residents.


After getting sprinkled with rain as we took pictures we decided to head for home. With the price of gas so high right now it probably was a good thing that the rain cut our drive short. Putting the car back into the garage I put the rest of the day to good use and started to detail the car. It's looking pretty good.

Bloomin' Lochner

Last week we took pictures of the flowering crab trees and lilac bushes to show everyone how pretty they looked. Bad weather with freezing temperatures cut short the lifespan of the blooms.






Flowering Crab Tree









Lilac Bushes










We're happy to report that our snowball bushes are now in full bloom. These pictures were taken yesterday ahead of a frost warning. Glad to say that the frost did not happen here and the blooms were not injured.

Cara-Nine Months Old

For Mother's Day I received the best gift from Scott and Emily, pictures of Cara.

Cara is a very happy baby with plenty of smiles for her family and strangers too. She is busy learning how to crawl, standing up with help, and cutting teeth. She is such a good baby and, of course, the most beautiful baby Grandpa and I have ever seen! She has changed our world and made it so much better since she came into our lives.

Field of Yellow

Our beautiful property is being invaded by dandelions. This yellow weed has taken advantage of the fact that poor weather conditions interfered with us getting outside to prevent this from happening.

I have not been able to help with the yard work, but a few of our wildlife friends pitched in by eating the tops off of the dandelions. You can also see that Ameridad got out the big machine and chopped down grass along with those yellow things.



Things in the yard are looking good now but we both know that by morning there will be more dandelions out there.

When You Have A Mother

Written by Susan P. Schutz

When you have a mother who cares so much for you that anything you want becomes her desires

When you have a mother who is so understanding that no matter what is bothering you she can
make you smile

When you have a mother who is so strong that no matter what obstacles she faces she is always
confident in front of you

When you have a mother who actively pursues her goals in life but includes you in all her goals you are very lucky indeed

Having a mother like this makes it easy to grow up into a loving, strong adult

Thank you for being this kind of wonderful mother


Special thoughts to two great moms, Ameridad's mom and Emily as you celebrate today. Whether you are an older mom, a new mom, or inbetween, here's wishing fun to all on this special day.

Yea for moms!

Chicago

A week ago today we were in Chicago, one of our favorite places to visit. Ameridad attended a convention and I went along and planned to go out in the city on my own. This, as I will explain later, was easier said than done.

While we approached the city, fog was coming in off Lake Michigan, hiding the tall, lit buildings. It was such a beautiful site. We watched the buildings disappear and reappear in a matter of seconds. As many times as we have visited Chicago, this is the first time we experienced this. How fortunate for us that we arrived at this particular moment.

We headed directly to our hotel, The Palmer House, and checked in. The Palmer House has been a Chicago landmark for over 125 years and currently features 1,639 guest rooms and 66 suites. It is the longest continuously operating hotel in North America, with turn of the century ceilings containing 21 large paintings and murals recently restored. It opened its doors as a twenty-five story hotel with 225 rooms on September 24, 1871. Thirteen days later it burned down in the Great Chicago fire. On November 6, 1873 it reopened with nearly three times as many guest rooms. The new hotel was constructed of brick and iron and claimed to be the first fireproof hotel in the United States. The new Palmer House was also first to have electric lights, to have elevators, and to have a telephone in each guest room. The Palmer House is now a four star hotel with renovations currently underway. When this work is done the hotel is hoping to have a five star rating.

On Thursday night of last week we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Miller's Pub. This is located next to The Palmer House and since I was still in a wheel chair, this made the location extra inviting. The walls of the restaurant are filled with pictures of stars, famous people, and politicians who have eaten there. You can enjoy these photos while looking through the menu and trying to decide what to order. The menu choices are difficult to make as all of the food there is great. For the expats who read this blog I am including a picture of the food we ate--sorry guys. I do want to mention, though, that there were three of us at dinner; I don't want anyone to think that Ameridad and I ate all of that ourselves.

On our trip to Chicago I had planned to tour Millineum Park, visit the Lincoln Park Zoo, and while Ameridad was busy at the convention, wheel myself around town. The first evening I realized that this wasn't going to be a trip for those planned activities. I came to this realization while trying to get an elevator in the hotel. I would push the button for the elevator to stop at my floor but by the time I got to the elevator that arrived, the door would close and off it went without me. Ameridad didn't mind pushing me around the city but there were too many pot holes, and I mean on the sidewalk. This being the case, we visited Friday morning with some old friends and then headed for the van to get out of town before the mad rush hour. We were on the road heading home around 2:00 pm and even with this early departure there were construction delays. Nevertheless we arrived home at a fairly early hour and were happy to be there instead of back in Chicago fighting the Friday night dash. Even with the difficulties the visit to Chicago was a nice trip and it's always fun to get away for a while.

Cara's Many Hats

When you are a small baby you have to entertain a lot of adults. When grandma and grandpa are visiting sometimes we go out to breakfast or dinner; you have to give out hugs, make everyone laugh, and share yourself with all who want to hold you, all of this while being happy most of the time.














Our sweet granddaughter does all of these things very well. There are always smiles on our faces when Cara is near. She is the joy of our lives.

Yea!

We have all experienced extreme joy as we ran out of school when classes let out for summer vacation. It has been a really long time since I had a feeling like that but I had it this past Wednesday.

I have not been able to do much or get out on my own since I broke my ankle four weeks ago. Last Tuesday was a day out for me having my husband take me to a doctor's appointment. Seeing the doctor and being reassured that the ankle is on the mend, that I am right where I should be in my recovery, and now being told to pace myself, I can almost see the end in sight. I was hoping to hear all of this positive feedback because the next day my husband and I were heading to one of my favorite places to visit, Chicago.

You are now probably wondering what triggered the rush of school's out feeling, I shall now fill you in. While packing on Wednesday for our getaway I realized that a trip to the store to pick up a few things was needed before we left for Chicago. This would require me to be the one to get to the store as Ameridad was at work. I was confident that I could do this as I am getting around well on the crutches and could get in and out of the van without having help.

This was the first independence I had in three weeks and let me tell you it was great! I found myself wanting to speed but made an effort to keep within the limit; I finally drove with cruise control on. While on the way to Kohl's a stop at Hardees drive-through was a must. I picked up a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit along with a medium coke. This I enjoyed in the parking lot listening to the radio and watching the traffic whiz by.

Next stop was Kohl's. I parked in the handicapped spot, getting me as close to the door as I could; I do have the permit for that. Using crutches to get into the store I found a wheel chair waiting right by the door. What luck, I knew this was a good sign. Wheeling around the store with a clerk helping me, I was in and out in record time.

When I got home I was tired and the old foot was swollen but it was worth it. Being laid up has made me appreciate the simple things. Always--and I will pass this along to all of you--remember to take time to slow down and enjoy the little things once and awhile.

Ode To The Goslings

The Webb family is here no more
I don't know what they have in store

In the life of a little goose
Who follow their folks like a little caboose

These little ones were taken away
For some reason their parents did not want to stay

All left on the morning of the fog
Perhaps marching down by the bog

Gone too soon after leaving their nest
We all wish the Webb family the very best

The Goslings Are Named

Let me introduce you to the goslings starting from left to right: Aurevoir, Arrivederci,
Auf wiedersehen, and Aloha

You may be wondering how these names were given to the little ones. It was quite easy because one day after their arrival no geese on the pond were to be found. The family has moved and left no forwarding address. So sad.

Bird's Eye View

This picture was taken of the Webb family nest showing two remaining eggs that did not hatch. We now know that a total of six eggs were laid.





This is the view that mommie and daddie saw as they awaited the arrival of their little ones, you can see the back of our house in the distance.


It's the perfect place to make a nest, lay some eggs, hatch the eggs, and have your little goslings near the water.