Birthday Party Day - April 17, 2015

I started off my day by checking the lilacs, and I have my first picking!  Placed right next to my computer, life is good.

I was up early and got 2 loads of laundry started before the house began awakening, except Jim, who is an early bird like me. Paul was up and gone even before I got up, on his way to Indianapolis to pick up his wife and daughter. Joe, Cathy, Jim and Joy headed to town for breakfast, but I had a mission of my own this morning, I wanted to get down to Princeton to visit my families' graves, and I am meeting Barbara at the Decker Chapel Community Center to help decorate for tomorrow night's Decker Chapel Alumni.

Maple Hill Cemetery is not being kept up very well, the roads through the cemetery are full of potholes, and it doesn't look like they have mowed here yet this spring, although we have had a lot of rain and it just might not be dry enough.  I never have any gardening tools with me, so I just add my little bouquets to the headstones.  My first stop was my mother's grave, followed by my father's.

I also made stops at my grandparents' graves, an aunt, a great uncle, and my sister that was born dead. 

From there I headed to Decker Chapel and spent a couple hours visiting and decorating, putting tablecloths on tables, etc. The Alumni president had received photos from some of the alumni and I came up with the idea of putting them into a scrapbook-sized 3-ring binder.  I happened to have one in the car with me, but I decided to run into town to see if I could find a red one.  Also, I had come up with an idea for an auction donation, so I needed some supplies for that.  After a stop at JoAnn's Fabrics, and Walmart of course, I got back to the house just as the birthday party got underway.

 I didn't try to count the attendees, but we had a house/carport full, with lots of children running around.  We had Bobe's pizza and salad, then Lucille blew out the candles and we cut the birthday cake.

 

She had to blow out the candles several times for pictures, so it was good that we only had two candles instead of 99.

It was a lively evening, lots of family and extended family around.  She got several gifts, including boxes of chocolates that she wasn't inclined to share.  But she loves entertaining her family and friends, so it was a good party.

 I went out to the RV to work on the the scrapbook for the Alumni photos as well as my auction donation -- a picture of the Decker Chapel emblem from my sister's 1962 class jacket.  I framed it and it really turned out looking very realistic (I forgot to take a picture of the finished product).  But during that process, I managed to drop the glass in the picture frame, so I couldn't finish it.  The red background in this photo is the actual scrapbook album I used for the Alumni pictures.  I had expert help from Joe Myers.  It's a real perk to have talented family around, as wel as computer geeks. 

 
I know I bought the last one of these picture frames in Walmart, and Vincennes does not have many options for shopping.  Joe suggested we drive back to Princeton in the morning to see if we could get another picture frame like the one I bought today.  So I wasn't able to get my project finished, and another trip is on tomorrow's agenda.

I invited Carmen out to see our RV, even though I had left everything in a mess from all my creative processes.  Eventually, Tom joined us, then Mike, and then William, so we ended up with a camper full of people.  It was a late night, but a good birthday!

Birthday and Terre Haute (April 16, 2015)

Today is finally the big day.  Lucille turns 99 today, and Cathy celebrated with 99 roses for her, to add to the bouquet from Collins and Marilyn.  Lori also added a dozen yellow roses, so the house is looking GOOD!

So while birthday events were underway, Joe and I took off for a day in Terre Haute, visiting friends from our past.  Our first visit was with Audrey Williams, who had just been to the doctor and wasn't feeling 100%. Her heart had gotten out of rhythm and she had gotten medication on Monday for that, and today she got a shot for her kidney function.  It is tough getting older!

Audrey had her spring/Easter decorations out, and we spent some time looking at recent pictures of her grandkids -- she has 12.

We stopped for lunch, then drove over to Brazil to see Diane Braden, who had just had a mastectomy two weeks ago.  In addition, Diane was suffering from an upper respiratory infection, and her cough from that just exhausts her.  It was fun catching up with her, but we tried not to wear her out. 

We had one more visit to make, but we took to time to drive by the house that we had built -- we always like to check on it.

Our next stop was my college roommate, Linda Chaido and her husband Tom.  Thankfully, both of them were healthy and spry.  We had a great visit with them, and I had some pictures of Linda from our college days to give her.

I meant to take a photo of the wall picture behind us -- it's an artistic rendition of photos spelling out their last name -- very creative.  But I forgot.

When we left there, we drove right past beautiful Deming Park, so we decided to drive through there.  Tiffany had a white duck when she was little, and when we got ready to move to the house we built (pictured above), we released Yakky Doodle in Deming Park.  Well, I think Yakky had a good life, and was busy -- we think we found her grandchildren.

Tom and Linda had talked about all the improvements in downtown Terre Haute, so Joe decided to drive down Wabash Avenue and look it over.  It is refreshing to see a downtown being revitalized, with new businesses (mostly small, specialty shops), and lots of restaurants with sidewalk tables.  Linda remarked that college kids today are different than we were -- they have money to spend.  

Our last Terre Haute stop was, of course, the White Castle Hamburger place.  Joe's been wanting White Castles ever since we left home, and Joy and Lori had actually stopped last night and picked up a bag, so Joe had gotten a taste (he didn't tell me how many he ate, but it was more than one -- I didn't eat any).  So we had dinner here -- made Joe one happy camper.

We missed out on dinner at Lucille's though, Jaclyn made coney sauce and Dixie bought 40 hotdogs/buns -- which were all gone by the time we got home.  And there were brownies, to go along with the 2 cakes from the day before.  When we arrived, everyone was sitting outside enjoying the weather, and the kids were playing baseball.  Then Lucille got a happy birthday phone call from her sister Nellie, in Florida.

Another euchre night, which keeps us up until midnight at least, although Lucille goes to bed before we stop playing -- she seems to sleep through our noise.

Although the birthday was today, we are having the party tomorrow, to allow more family to arrive for the big occasion.  So another day of partying is in store.

Wednesday, Visiting Gravesites of Classmates (April 15, 2015)

Our mission today (Barbara, Nancee and me) was to take the roses from the Reunion to the gravesites of our fallen classmates.  While I waited for Barbara, I tried out our new camera.  Joe had spent some time studying the manual and instructing me, but I hadn't actually tried to take any pictures yet.  Next to our RV is a pretty, blooming bush so I thought maybe I should capture the ambience of our campsite. 

I also got some shots of the house.

And I'm keeping a close eye on the lilac bush!

Another day or so and I'll be enjoying the fragrance of LILACS!!!!!

Barbara arrived, and we exchanged our supplies from the Reunion -- she had some of my stuff, and I had some of hers. We then drove down to St. Peters Lutheran Church to the gravesite of Brenda Rehwald Laue and Barbara placed a rose at her headstone. 

From there, we went to town and picked up Nancee, then drove across the river into Illinois to the town of Russellville, where Nancee's brother Donnie (Donel) is buried.  Nancee entertained us on this drive with escapades of her past.  Yes, quiet, little Nancee caused some trouble in her younger years.  At the ripe age of 4, Nancee set their smokehouse on fire.  They lived in Russellville during her early years, along with lots of her aunts and uncles, and cousins of course.  Nancee freely roamed the streets of Russellville and was well known around town -- she often visited her relatives and non-relatives without permission from her parents.  Anyhow, the entire town showed up to help put out the fire and witness Nancee getting her spankin'.  A year later, she tried the same trick on the chicken coop. Russellville is lucky to have survived Nancee.  Also during this time she jumped (or fell) out of a tree swing right through the boards covering the septic tank and fell into that muck (for lack of a better word). She always blames Donnie for leading her astray, but it sounded to me like she found her own way to T R O U B L E. Her family moved to St. Thomas when she was 5 -- she didn't say at whose request that move was.  She lived there until she was 13, at which time she moved to Decker Chapel and became one of us!

Anyhow, she directed us to the cemetery at the edge of Russellville where Donnie is buried, and we paid our respects here.  Nancee had the honor of placing the rose on Donnie's grave.

 This is a pretty, well-kept cemetery.  I think Nancee said her Dad had 15 siblings, so this is practically their own private cemetery because of all of their relatives who are buried here.

Our next stop was Vincennes, the gravesite of Stanley Pea. 

Followed by a stop nearby at Diane Wagoner Boyd's grave.  Barbara has included Diane in the list of graves she takes care of, and she knew right where both Stanley and Diane's graves were located. 

However, we could not find Brian Berry's grave.  Brian was killed in an airplane crash during his Freshman year at Decker High School, the year before Decker Chapel consolidated with Decker, so neither Barbara nor I never knew him.  She had researched his location but in those days the gravesites were not numbered, only assigned to a section, and although the three of us walked the entire section more than once, we never did find his grave.  But, Barbara will research this further, and we have no doubt that his rose will soon be laid at his headstone.

From there, we headed to lunch, at Dot's.  Then, since Nancee had left her cell phone at the gym she owns, Barbara drove her by there and she took us on a tour of that facility.

 This is Barbara getting ready for her Olympic tumbling demonstration.

 This is Barbara after trying her Olympic tumbling demonstration (lawsuit pending).

 And here we are, after the successful completion of our gymnastics routine!  I'm sure sponsorship offers will be arriving any time now.

Finally we ended our day, dropped Nancee off at her house, then stopped by Barbara's to finish our Reunion details.  Barbara drove me back out to the house for another evening of family and euchre.  Fred had come out today, and Dixie and Cathy had made chili for the clan for dinner.  Lucille took a little nap during the evening to celebrate her last day of being only 98.

Lori and Joy arrived about 8:30, so we had more visiting to do, and, of course, our nightly euchre games - that is a big part of all our memories of being at this house, so it's not too hard to get a table of players.  But it is different without Lucille joining us anymore.  Her eyesight is just too poor for her to see the cards, but all of our memories of card games at this house include her (and Dad) at the table).

Tuesday, April 14

Catching up on the blog.  I made pancakes for breakfast for the gang this morning, then we went our separate ways.  I can't believe how hard it is to remember just what we did YESTERDAY!  Getting old is tough!  That's why I take so many pictures, it helps me remember what we did.  Anyhow, our new camera arrived yesterday, but we haven't mastered it yet.  We bought a Panasonic DMC ZS50, with lots of bells and whistles.  I'm sure it's got more features than we will ever conquer.

I wanted to go back to town to reprint a few of my pictures that I had zoomed in a little too far (and chopped off heads), and Cathy had some errands too, so after breakfast we headed in.  I wanted to get some flowers for Lucille for her birthday as a present from Collins and Marilyn, so our first stop was at the florist.  Cathy had that on her agenda as well, because she was looking for roses for Grandma.  We didn't see anything we liked there, so we went over to JC's, the grocery store that has a pretty good floral section.  Well, the florist was gone for another hour, so we drove over to Walgreens so I could reprint my pictures.  Then we went back to JCs and got my flowers, and Cathy got information about getting hers (another trip tomorrow).  Then we went back to Walgreens so I could  pick up my photos.  It was good that Vincennes is small because we kept going back and forth, between stores, probably 1/2 mile apart.

While we were in town, another present was delivered.  Niece Naomi Ruth and Dick Beasley stopped by with a beautiful angel food cake.  So the celebration has begun.  

Lucille had a little outing today, Dixie took her up the road to visit Betty Wonning, who has been under the weather.  Back in Lucille's card playing days, Betty was her ride down to church for the senior card games.

We had leftovers planned for tonight's meal, and Dana and Michael were coming out to visit, so when we got back home we started heating up everything.  I had invited Dana and Michael to join us in our leftovers, but they were almost too late.  We never know how many people we are cooking for, so if you get here late, you risk an empty plate.

We eventually played 5-handed euchre again, and then called it a night.

Monday, April 13

These days are all beginning to blur together, and I got several days behind on my blog.  Although we've had some cloudy days, and a few raindrops occasionally, we have actually had some pretty nice days lately.  One night we had storm warnings all night long, and our old RV rocked and rolled, but I don't even remember which night that was now.

My agenda on Monday was to take my class jacket back to Monroe City.  We have a new camera on order, so we drove down to Mike and Rachelle's to see if they had gotten their UPS delivery yet, which they had not, so we set off through the country to Monroe.  I returned the jacket, then we stopped for gas in Monroe ($2.269).  We drove across the river looking for a campground that listed an RV dump but we never did find it.  We did drive to Russellville, Illinois, the first time I had ever been in that little town.  And we found Lake Lawrence and drove around it.  Just out for an adventure.

We stopped in Walmart to pick up a few things, as usual, and Dixie kept texting me with more grocery items.  I printed my pictures from the Reunion, so that took me a little while, but they weren't going to be ready for an hour, so we didn't wait for them.  We had plans to have dinner with Jim, Dixie, Mike and Rachelle at Applebee's, which is right across the street, so I knew I would be back in here later today anyhow.

Dinner at Applebee's was good, and it was nice to visit with Mike and Rachelle by ourselves.  We stopped at a gas station on our way home to get a bag of ice and ran into two of Joe's cousins there.  Lots of relatives around here.  When we got back home, we decided to play 5-handed euchre for a while, so that was a good end to our evening.

Sunday, April 12

We all made it to church this morning, and Jaclyn and Rachelle fixed Sunday dinner for the group.  Rachelle made Baked Shells and bread sticks, and Jaclyn made a wonderful salad.  We still have leftover desserts from the reunion, so we were all set.

Joe and Cathy arrived from Bloomington in the afternoon.  When Joe came in the door and saw Judy Kay's walker, Lucille's walker, and Joe's knee-walker, he said "You need a parking permit to come in here."  

In Arizona, we usually buy a 20-pound sack of pecans every year.  This year, Lucille decided she should buy a sack to bring "back home," so we brought her 17-pound bag with us in the motorhome.  Since I was baking on Saturday with MY pecans, everyone who walked by the kitchen table had to have a few.  So on Sunday, after we got Sunday dinner cleaned up, I brought in the sack of Lucille's pecans, my pecan-cracker from the RV, and put everyone to work.  Even the kids helped, especially Mallory and Adalyn.  David kept Joe's tray filled with the unshelled pecans, and he emptied the shells as our pans got full.  Adalyn helped put the pecans into plastic bags.  In just a couple of hours, we had 4 bags of pecans shelled and bagged, and I had my supply safely back in the RV.

Meanwhile, Mike had gone to town to get parts, and he finished the repairs on the outside faucet.  Of course, the kids got a little muddy, but finally everything was restored to its original condition. The faucet is a little taller than it used to be, but it is back in working condition.

Although we had a refrigerator full of leftovers, it was decided that we all needed a Bobe's Pizza, so we loaded up into 4 cars and headed to town.  We all LOVE Bobe's Pizza.  By the time we got back home, Joe was getting ready to head back to Bloomington, leaving Cathy behind.  Paul is probably glad to have another able-bodied person on tap, although Cathy might try to pick and choose her assignments.  So far, Paul hasn't been so lucky -- he always has a to-do list from Grandma.