We Are Thankful For Grandma

We were blessed to have Grandma join us for Thanksgiving dinner. I can remember many dinners around her table and she was an incredibly good cook. Now it's nice to have her over to dinner around our table.

Spike Loves Grandma

We had Grandma over for dinner this evening. It was nice for us to take a break from the fall chore list. And, it was a relief for her to get out of the institution for an outing that didn't involve a trip to a medical facility.

After dinner and pumpkin pie, she snuggled with Spike for a bit. He had been a little miffed that after all of his begging during dinner, the only handout from Grandma was a dry little piece of pie crust. And, it didn't even have Cool Whip on it.

A Grandma Sweatshirt

I took Grandma shopping over the weekend. She just wanted to browse the fall fashions, but ended up buying a couple of shirts and a pair of slacks. Generally she wears normal tops -- polo shirts or blouses -- but this sweatshirt caught her eye at the Grandma store at Concord Mall. I don't recall the name of the store, but it's specifically for older women. It's full of embroidered sweatshirts, stretch pants and red hats.

Grandma's passions include reading, NASCAR, college basketball, and her cat Goldie. If we could just add a photo of the #12 Ryan Newman car and a basketball hoop to this shirt, it would be perfect!

Grandma's a Card Shark

After recovering from the steak-induced food coma, we recovered enough to clean up the left overs and clear the table for a card game.

Grandma plays euchre quite a bit at the institution and she and her partner, Kelly, clobbered the competition (Gretchen and Michel) in this afternoon's euchre marathon.

We Crashed a High School Reunion

Sis-in-Law Gretchen was in town this week to visit with family and friends and attend her high school reunion. Bruce and I stopped by and hijacked a couple of no-show name tags and rubbed shoulders with several people we pretended to remember from the hallways of Jimtown High School.

Meet Me on the Island

I met up with Lynn, Judy and Gretchen at Beutter Park in Mishawaka tonight for WVPE's Meet Me on the Island party. As I was entering the park, I saw Rob, who I'd met in February down in Orlando at the builder's show. I asked where he and his wife were sitting and he replied, "She didn't come. I'm here with the band." I totally forgot that Rob is the drummer for the Elwood Splinters Blues Band.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Grandma, What Big Eyes You Have

Grandma's been having a hard time reading her bible and newspaper. Seems her arms just aren't long enough anymore or maybe the light isn't bright enough.

Either way, we're hoping today's visit to the eye doctor and the new glasses she ordered will bring the world back in focus.

Although her vision isn't as clear as it once was, you can see by the photo above that her wit is still as sharp as ever. I didn't want to take a photo when she was getting her exam as the flash might have interfered with her test. The doctor was kind enough to recreate the event so I could capture it. I didn't even notice, until I downloaded the photos, that Grandma stuck her tongue out at me.


She only tried on four pairs of frames before selecting these. The last time I got new glasses I tried on every pair in the place, at least twice. She's so easy to please. I almost had her talked into these frames (see below) but she thought they were a bit too young looking.

Putting Fresh Eggs to Good Use

Last Sunday, as we were leaving Bruce's family reunion, second-cousin Brian hooked us up with a dozen and a half eggs, fresh from his chicken coop.

Yesterday we had fried egg sandwiches for breakfast.

Tonight we used a couple of the eggs in a meatloaf.

Goldie Hates the Flash

We stopped by The Institution yesterday afternoon to deliver some fresh produce and cookies to Grandma.

Bruce and Goldie were having a fun game of fishin' for kitty when I ruined it for them. All it took was one flash from the camera and Goldie's play came to a stand still.

She walked across the room and I'm pretty sure she scowled at me. I guess she doesn't like having her picture taken.

Bruce's Family Reunion

After Bruce's father passed away last year, he assumed the role of the pater familias. With that role comes the responsibility to attend the family reunion.

My extended family has always been fairly close so I've often wondered why Bruce wasn't more involved with his family. Maybe it's because his father was an only child and all of the cousins, uncles and aunts were those of his father, not his. The first time I met most of the family was at the funeral last year.


We were really honored to be personally invited to this summer's reunion. It meant getting up really early and driving back from Lafayette, but it was worth the effort.

We passed this perfect Amish garden on the drive to the reunion.

We enjoyed watching Grandma catch up with the family. And, they were overjoyed that she was able to make the trip.

Cousin Brian lives on a beautiful 10-acre plot in southeast Elkhart County. The Elkhart river runs right through his property.

He has two vegetable gardens, chickens and a beautiful flower garden.

Brian's wife, Linda, said she makes 12 cups of hummingbird nectar a week.

Uncle Dean took a bit of a nap in the shade, but woke covered with insects.

This Ford Fairlane belongs to another uncle who, I'm told, also has a '65 Mustang convertible (my dream car)!

My Family Reunion

My cousin Candy lives way out in the middle of nowhere somewhere between Lafayette and Indianapolis.

We made the cross-county trip from Americus to Middle of Nowhere to visit with my family for a few hours Friday.

She has a beautiful country home with equally beautiful country flowers and a huge vegetable garden.

Her hubby, Dwayne, told me that he starts his tomatoes from seed in February and put them out in early April. He already has red tomatoes.


Here cousins Candy and Jacquie line dance with the disc jockey. Candy is my age and Jacquie is a year younger. Candy and I used to have so much fun terrorizing Jacquie when we were kids. It's amazing that she even talks to us now. Jackie's older brother, Joe (now known as Dan), is a pilot based in Denver and wasn't able to join us today.

The tough guys -- brother Mike and cousin Greg. Greg is a pretty good gardener himself. Last year his tomato plants were nearly 10' high.

Nursing Home Fireworks ROCK!

The Institution put on a great Independence Day celebration this year.

They provided lemonade, popcorn, watermelon and entertainment by Wil Yancy.

Although we're not really into the old-time music, we thought he was an awesome singer. At one point, Bruce wondered aloud if Wil was actually singing or just lip syncing.

And, he really knew how to play the crowd. He even got Grandma to sing a few bars.


The family sitting next to us brought along their kitten. They said he was one of a litter of barn cats, but the only one with six toes. Uuber cute.

The fireworks were donated from many local vendors. And, Tim the maintenance man, who is also Grandma's guardian angel, was the pyrotechnician.

Grandma Visits Wal-Mart and Garden All in One Day

It was a big outing for Grandma today. We took her to lunch at the OC Cafe and then to Wal-Mart to buy some sandals.

She was commenting on the flowers along the roadside as we drove through town so I asked if she'd like to stop by and see our garden.

She was up for it, so Bruce pushed her wheelchair through the back yard to the garden where she was amazed by all of the beauty.

California Boy Has Never Seen Hail

Bruce's second cousin, Jan and her hubby Phil were in town this week.

When Bruce's mom, Judy, called to say she had a spiral ham, we decided to have everyone over for Sunday dinner.

It was nice to get together with them, but the circumstances were sad. Phil's mother passed away and he was in town for the funeral.

I had just finished giving Jan and Phil a tour of the garden -- they were here last year right after we built the raised boxes -- when the rain started coming down.



Phil is a weather junkie, just like Bruce. They were both standing in the garage watching the storm pass through when the hail started. At first, Phil wasn't sure what was going on. He'd never seen hail before.

I took a video of the hail, but after You Tube was finished down sampling it, you can't even see the hail. If you watch this video, just disregard the board that is sticking up on the deck. And, ignore the fact that the cedar table and bench have been cleaned, but not the chairs. Those projects are still on our "to do" list.

Judy is a Guitar Hero

After dinner, Jan was visiting with her Aunt Iris (Bruce's grandmother) so I took the opportunity to teach Judy how to play Guitar Hero.

She was really rocking it out.

I can't wait until my Aerosmith Guitar Hero game bundle arrives later this month. Judy and I will have to have a guitar battle.

Grandma's Cat Goldie

Grandma was a bit under the weather today so instead of taking her out, we did a bit of shopping for her and then stopped by for a visit.

Here's a photo of her cat, Goldie.

Both Goldie and Grandma are enjoying a bit of peace and quite now that her noisy roommate has been moved to a different room.

It took a couple of weeks of phone calls to administrators at the "institution" to get the roommate moved.

It wasn't a problem with them getting along... the problem was the roommate played her TV, at full blast, all day and evening long. It was driving Grandma crazy.

Happy Mother's Day & Happy Birthday Iris

For the past several years, my brother, sister and I have celebrated Mother's day with our Mom by getting together for brunch. This year I made a breakfast egg/sausage casserole and took it down to Lafayette for the festivities.

My sister brought a delicious blueberry breakfast casserole and brother Mike provided fresh fruit and juices.

It was nice to visit with everyone and my three nices even dropped by for a short visit.


Mom actually had the whole day off work so it was a real shame that I couldn't stay in Lafayette longer to visit.

In the late afternoon we had Iris, Judy and her boyfriend Lynn over for dinner back at our house. We celebrated both Mother's Day and Iris' 92nd birthday.


Judy loved her DQ Mother's Day cake while Iris enjoyed her carrot birthday cake.

Dinner was grilled salmon, asparagus, salad and potatoes. We made the same yummy salad and potatoes as Christy and Gretchen prepared while on our St. John vacation -- much more interesting, and delicious than my usual fare.

Family Christmas in Indy

This was our first Christmas spent in Indy at sister Laura's new home. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and visiting with family.

Our Traditional Christmas Eve Dinner

This year, as we've done for the past several years, Bruce and I took Grandma to her favorite Chinese restaurant for Christmas Eve dinner.

After dinner, we drove through the Winding Brook subdivision to enjoy their display of Christmas lights.

Most homes in the neighborhood are decorated with bright and colorful light displays and blow-ups of Santa and Frosty.

This one stood out from the rest -- the actual sculpture in their yard is a bit out of focus in this photo, but check out the shadow it cast on their house.


We ended the evening with the candlelight Christmas service at the Osceola United Methodist church.