October 10 Rogue River walk

Saturday:  I have had two weekends in a row without a Friday night sleepover. Aidan was scheduled to come over this weekend, but it turned out that it is Homecoming weekend for Forest Hills Schools and Aidan desired to go to the football game Friday night and postpone his sleepover for a week. 

It was a beautiful weather day today. Total sunshine and 80 degrees at one point! I took a bunch of clothing that I no longer fit (and have firmly come to grips that I will NEVER again fit), folded them up nicely, and donated them to a place over on Plainfield. I forget the name of the place, but Bev has told me about it numerous times--how clean it is, how decently priced items are, and that it is a mission based thrift shop. I've been doing the old switching out summer clothes for winter ones in my closets, getting the warmer ones all washed and ready for wearing. After going through every single piece of clothing I own, I decided it was about time to get rid of those things that no longer fit (like I can't even squeeze myself into them--and who wants to be squeezed into their clothing anyway?). While I was at the shop, I did a looking around. Bev is right. What a nice place! 

After I was finished over at the thrift shop, I drove over to Rogue River drive, just off Northland, where they've been doing all of the road work as well as an extended walking path with a little walking bridge over the Rogue River. I parked my car off the main drag on a side street and took a nice, long walk.

This little cutie was watching me as I was gathering my keys and phone to go to the car ...

So this walking path has been here for awhile, but the county added fencing and I think they resurfaced it as well.

This path is directly by the golf course (the name of which I can't recall), so you can kind of look through the trees and see the golfers ...

This is a tiny creek that flows off from the Rogue.

Some dainty little blossoms that the Lord designed ...

Here is the walking bridge over the river. I'm not really sure it was necessary to build this--except recreational bikers had to use the shoulder of Rogue River drive to cross the river before. Now, no one has to worry about any traffic whatsoever.

This is from the bridge ... I'm going to have to come back when the colors are at their peak ... we have a ways to go yet for that to happen.

Can you see the rocks on the riverbed? The river is not very deep here, at least by my estimation.

It's a very pretty spot--don't you think?

I managed to walk two miles with my sore feet shouting at me with almost every step. However, I have found some exercises that are at least helping my knees and strengthening my quadriceps; so that's a good thing. I was really thankful to be outside enjoying the beauty of the day.

October 8 51+ years ago

Thursday:  I was surfing around on Facebook the other day and ran into this picture. I was truly excited to be able to copy and save it for my own memory's sake. 

The bride is a dear friend from college, Shirley. She and Dan got married in August 1975, and I was in the wedding. Can you find me? I had ZERO pictures of this occasion and I was always sad and regretful about that fact. I'm so glad to have this photo! See the pretty bridesmaids dresses? The day AFTER the wedding, I was touching it up with an iron and ironed a huge hole right in the front of the dress. Guess who never wore the dress ever again. Sad.

Shirley grew up in Tonawanda, New York (a suburb of Buffalo) and that's where she got married as well. Shirley is a year older than me and we met my freshman year and immediately connected. My roommate, Robbie, Shirley, and I all used to hang out together. Shirley and Robbie were in singing groups together, and they were also on the Homecoming court my sophomore year, with Shirley being crowned queen! It's good for me to remember the good things about those years, even though there were so many sad things going on in my personal life. Shirley was a real gift to me. We are rather out of touch, and have been for years now. Shirley and Dan moved to California (I think Dan had a ministry opportunity), but in their retirement, I believe they now live in N. Carolina. I haven't seen her face to face since her little Jeremy was about a year old--she came to Grand Rapids to visit me and stayed with Jim and I for a few days ... so long ago!

October 6 Pretty Flowers

Tuesday evening:  Mr. Ted notified me that he picked up flowers for Beverly (she and Ted are "special friends", with no intention of marrying at 92 and 91 respectively), and I while he was out shopping this afternoon. This is an almost weekly gift he gives us very blessed ladies! I guess since I was the one who introduced them and drive them to their "dates", he includes me in the flower giving. I appreciate it!

Look how lovely they are! Aren't the colors stunning?

Thank you so much, Mr. Ted. You are so kind.

I deliver Bev's to her when I pick her up to grocery shop every Wednesday morning. We bring the flowers into her "home" so that the other ladies can see them, and then we bring them upstairs to her apartment. She likes to show off her bouquets to the other ladies in the home, who LOVE to gawk over them. 
 

October 6 Study, Lunch, and Kiddos

Tuesday:  I had opportunity to pick up my friend, Feyming, for Bible study this morning. Some day, I will write an entire post just about her. She is my friend from Indonesia and I love her. She is one of the godliest people I have ever met, and she has lived through much hardship with such grace.

We are studying Hebrews this year in Women's Bible study. What a rich letter it is. I can't wait to dig deep into it! Our small group (which isn't very small at 17 people!) went well, everyone participated, and we learned a lot from each other. My friend got a ride home with her daughter-in-law, so Julie and I met for lunch at our usual place. That is, AFTER I finally located my car in the parking lot -- which took 15 minutes. Yikes. Julie and I had our usual yummy fried chicken lunch with such refreshing conversation and laughter.

I drove over to Dylan and Kelly's by about 1:30 and cleaned up the kitchen a little bit. Their house looked great, having had it cleaned just the prior day. There really wasn't much for me to do to improve it!

The kiddos came home at their usual time. We had our cinnamon toast and visited for awhile, but then they were in the house and out of the house for the next hour or two. Aaryan (I finally asked the little guy how to spell his name! It is pronounced like this: "R-A-On" ... at least that's the best I can do with it). I didn't get many pictures today, but here are a few of Gregory:

This is my Tetrus tower game, which we never did play. Cal preferred to build something with all of the shapes. Every one of these kids have high aptitude when it comes to building things.

Cal is very particular about his building too.

Dylan and Kelly came home with pizza, so the kiddos all ate their dinner. Kelly had to go back to work, so I stayed for just a little while to visit with them while they ate. Erin had been over at Emmy's the whole time, but since she was now in the kitchen with me I got to spend some time with her too. No pictures though, but we did have a sweet time together.

September 29 A full day

Tuesday:  

Women's Bible study began today. Well--actually, it began last Tuesday morning, but the church had a major power outage and the morning study had to be canceled. I've been going to Bible study on Monday evenings for years now, but decided (for many reasons) to sign up for Tuesday morning this year instead. My friend, Julie, requested that we be together in whatever small group was assigned; so we are indeed in the same group. This year we are doing an in-depth inductive study of the letter to the Hebrews. I am happily anticipating this! We had a good first session, received our study books, broke up into our small groups and introduced ourselves around the table. I was happy to find Wendy and her daughter, Amanda, in my small group. They live here at the village, but in the north section; in fact, they were directly across the street from my sister and Terry when they lived here and were very good neighbors to them.

After study dismissed, Julie and I ate lunch together--something we have not been able to do since last spring! I love her friendship so much, and it was great to catch up on each other's lives while eating the best fried chicken EVER.

The afternoon was spent over at Dylan and Kelly's--just doing a little bit of cleaning for them while waiting for the kiddos to get off the bus at about 4pm. We enjoyed our usual cinnamon toast, talked about their day at school, and then they all went outside to play! Erin went down to Emmy's, Cal crossed the street to play with Caden, and Aidan went to Aurien's (I have no idea how to spell this child's name). They all came and went for the next hour or two, playing inside and outside in the back yard. Brendan was at cross country, so I didn't get to visit with him today.

A few weeks ago, Gregory had made a book while at my house which I thought he had made for ME; however, it turns out that he made it to show to his family; so I brought it over to him today. Here he is showing it to Erin who is doing her best to follow the story and read the words Cal has written.

We shared some cinnamon toast with Aidan's friend before they played outside. I'm so glad these guys have good neighborhood friends to play with. Looking back, I remember how much fun I had playing outside in my neighborhood as a kid.

Forest Hill Fall Choir Concert:

Brendan is in the choir once again this year and tonight was their first concert at 7pm. Brendan had to be there early, but then the rest of us came to watch/listen to the performance.

When Brendan was in the upper elementary grade, his choir teacher was a phenomenal woman who really (1) loved kids,  (2) loved and understood music, and (3) knew how to encourage children to sing with all their hearts. No matter what song the children were singing, it was just enjoyable to watch them in action.

I don't know much about this high school choir teacher, but I find him much less than phenomenal. Perhaps it's his choice of music ... or perhaps his "odd" personage. I don't know what it is exactly. However, Brendan LOVES music, learns the songs, and performs with everything he's got. I love to watch his face when he sings (although sometimes it's difficult to SEE his face) because he is so expressive. His body is 100% into it too. I love this about Brendan so much.

I think the only song I recognized was "Jolene" (Dolly Parton) and also a version of "My Country Tis of Thee". The rest was old jazz pieces. I've never been a huge fan of jazz, although some I like very much--Gershwin, for example. 

Good job, Brendan. You sang well and I loved being here tonight to see you. 

September 25-26 Brendan's sleepover

Friday night/Saturday:  Brendan had Cross Country practice after school Friday, so I wasn't able to pick him up for his sleepover until nearly 6pm. I had dinner prepared ahead of time, so when we got here, we ate right away! I was a little stressed about dinner because I had inadvertently cooked the wrong kind of pasta--well, it wasn't wrong exactly--but it was a different kind than I usually cook when I mix it with chicken and broccoli. I was concerned because ... what if Brendan didn't like the looks of it and wouldn't eat it? No worries! He actually had THREE large helpings of it. Whew. 

After we ate our dinner, we played a game or two. One of them was Bananagrams. I enjoy playing this with Brendan because he is good with making words, and he seems to enjoy it. 

I wasn't sure what movie to suggest for us to watch--I had a few ideas, but none of them were agreeable to Brendan; so we went "surfing" on Prime and bumped into this movie titled "HOLES" (of all things!). We watched the trailer to the movie, and I wasn't sure about it--however, Brendan said he saw the book in the high school library and was curious about it. So we watched it! I can't begin to retell you the story because it was a little bit complicated and at places very "tongue-in-cheek". Sometimes I was downright confused as to what was going on; however, Brendan followed it quite closely and clarified a few things for me which helped. 

We slept in until 9am Saturday morning. We ate a breakfast of French toast, played a few games, and then drove over to Deer Tracks, where I finally remembered to take some pictures.

One never knows quite what to expect over at the Budgie place. It was probably 11:30 in the morning before we entered their pavilion, and Brendan barely took TWO steps when he was surrounded by budgies all jumping on his feeding sticks at one time, climbing up his legs, landing on his back ...

I think I counted 7 or 8 birds on Brendan at one time!

Look at this poor budgie (below) with the bald spot on his head! Poor one! Sometimes these guys will get into bad "fights" with each other--I wonder if this is how his hair got pulled out. I sure hope not.

Brendan is so patient and kind with these little birds. I just love to watch his face as he enjoys them.

At one point, the birds got a little out of control ... look at Brendan's reaction!

We also fed goats! Brendan spent about 20 minutes on the bigger of the playgrounds that has so many tunnels and climbing apparatus to explore.

We also fed the EMU, which is ... hysterical ... every single time. I'm not kidding. These guys are so funny and SO aggressive.

Beggars!

They will steal your entire cup of carrots if you get too close, so you have to watch out.

AND, if one of them gets a carrot and doesn't immediately swallow it, another one will come and steal it right out of its mouth!

Both Brendan and I backed WAY up at one point because these guys looked like they wanted to EAT US ...

We visited the Kunekune pigs too ... they are so cute.

As we were walking back towards the Gift shop we passed this goat wearing a red hat. One of the workers told us that he was part of the "staff."

And look what Brendan picked out at the gift shop! I offered to buy him an inexpensive item, and he chose this little moose. We named him "Mumbles". Brendan decided to leave Mumbles at my house instead of bringing him home with him, stating that he would get along good with all of the other animals I have here.

I added to my small 3-D printed animal collection: Do you see Mel? I also bought a budgie (on the R) ...

. . . a sheep, and also a crab (on the far R) to add to the ones I already had. I'm a sucker for these kinds of toys--I can't actually tell you why, except they are SO CUTE.

I already had the squirrel, owl, pigeon, chicken, eagle, and alligator. Yikes. 

I surely had a nice few hours with Brendan. Sometimes I worry that he is too old to want to come over anymore. Other times I concern myself with wondering if he will have any fun over here at all. So I did talk to the Lord about all of this (because that's what He wants me to do), and was able to relax and just enjoy this special time with this precious person who is Brendan. Thank you, Lord, for hearing and answering my prayer.