Entry #117

3 Things I am Thankful For:

~~ 1. TWO NEW BABIES made it to my birthday book. Congratulations to Kevin and Grace on little Silas and to Javier and Laura on little Cadence.  Born one day apart last week.  (Wow!  A week old ALREADY!)

~~ 2. SMILES

~~ 3. KIDDIE LAND.  I am thankful that I was able to go there as a child with my parents, as a teenager with friends and as an adult with my niece and nephew.  (For more about Kiddie Land see below towards the end of the post).

~~ Well, I think my birthday card now has stopped.  I thought it stopped after my last post but since then I have received three more cards.  This was my last (I think) one:

(a wheelie nice one from "Whendee," an inside joke but you can sort of understand it by looking at the card):

~~ Talk about cards, I received my first autumn card (below):

It is an original by Colin W.  And thanks to his sweet mama Kumquat for sending it.

~~ Last post I wrote about the RED tree. Here are some YELLOW leaf trees and an ORANGE leaf tree.

Many of our yellow trees didn’t stay too long, probably due to the cold and the rain.  I was glad though to be able to get a few good photos. The orange leaf tree photo was taken by Dad on the golf course.  He said one of the courses he goes to had some beautiful trees.  But another golf course had trees that turned from green to brown and weren’t very pretty.  I’m glad he got a shot (photo shot that is) of the orange one.

~~ We had a nice autumn weekend Gospel meeting.   The below is a photo of our elders and deacons and speakers:

Again we used most of the talent from our location, with one exception.  CCT was able to give a lesson one night for us as he was passing through this area.   It sounds like we may be doing this format next year.

~~ Dad had a nice birthday.  Below is a collage of his birthday doings.

 It was wonderful  that he was able to celebrate another one.  We went out to dinner on his birthday.   He also had a couple of friends that took him out to eat on other days.  And he received some really nice birthday cards and gifts.  Only 12 more years until the BIG ONE.

~~ Baseball season is finally over.  When I was younger I would hope so much that the World Series would go 7 games so I could watch a game on my birthday.  Now it is so amazing that it is in NOVEMBER! November baseball. . . who would have thought?  BTW, the Yankees were not my pick.

~~ GOODBYE KIDDIELAND!

Our little amusement park just outside of Chicago, called Kiddie Land has closed down.

It was NOT because it wasn’t making a profit due to the economy.   The reason is that the family that owned it had a conflict.   One part of the family owned the rides, amusement stuff, etc. and the other part owned the land.   The family side that owned the land decided they wanted to sell the land for a huge amount, leaving the other side of the family forced to close the park down.   The ones that had the amusement equipment thought about moving somewhere else, but since they are getting at an older age they decided it would be too much for them.   One developer in the Utica area was seriously thinking of buying most of the rides but the deal fell through, (this was probably due to the economy).   So now the pieces of rides are going to be sold to the top bidders.   The owners did let the people know about the closing this year so many people could and did come with their kids, grandkids, great grandkids again to see the park before it shut down for the final time.   We went by there on the last day and there were lines of cars waiting to get in for the final time.   Sigh!   Good memories.

~~   Well, that’s it for now.   Until then . . . I hope you used that extra hour you got last week wisely.  (I didn’t  )

   Bye! 

 Entry #116

3 Things I Am Thankful For:

~~ 1. FAST DRYING NAIL POLISH.

~~ 2. BLACK OPALS.  It is amazing how beautiful they can be.

~~ 3. KINDNESS.

~~　

I had a very nice birthday a couple of weeks ago.  Thank you everyone for your birthday wishes.  I appreciate them all. Here are a few photos.

Closer view of one of the above:

I made my birthday cake and I thought I would save time by just sticking in some silk flowers for the decorations.  One thing I have to remember. . .not to put the candles too close to them.  Two of the flowers, after the photo was taken, went up in flames.  It was amazing how fast they incinerated.   　

Dad had gone out to eat with several of his friends on my birthday.  He brought home some Chinese food in a foam carton for me which included. . . .

. . . SESAME BALLS. YUMMY!  I thought they would look good in the photos with candles.  (Yes, it was these candles that burned up the flowers)

If you will note on the collage, the photo of the cards on the bulletin board.  That is how many I received by my birthday.

This photo below, is the count about a week after my birthday.  I always get late cards, but that is okay as I leave my cards up on the bulletin board for about 3 weeks.  Have to celebrate the birthMONTH, right? 　

~~~~

This is what I see when I look outside my bedroom window:

A better view.

the photo below is taken from underneath the tree.

 Isn’t it beautiful? I love how it feels when I am underneath a tree that is red, orange and/or yellow when the sun is shining through it.  It feels like being engulfed in colour, don’t you think?

~~ That’s it for now. Until then. . . It’s Taffy Apple time.

  Bye!

Entry #115

3 Things I Am Thankful For:

~~ 1. THE LORD for bringing Dad through yet another illness.  (See writings below)

~~ 2. THAT DAD SEEMS OKAY after the medical scare.  (See writings below)

~~ 3. VACUUM CLEANERS.  I am grateful that I don’t have to sweep the carpets with a broom. I love the way it makes the house look cleaner.  You’d think I’d vacuum more if I like the way it makes me feel, but alas.

~~ We had a scare about three weeks ago, when Dad was in a Chinese Buffett.  He had gotten up from the table to get some tea and walked a little bit and then suddenly couldn’t walk. I was facing the other way so I didn’t see him.  I heard a man from the table behind me say very loudly, "are you okay?"  I turned around to see who he was asking and was surprised it was Dad.  I went right over to him as he was holding onto to another table about ten feet away and walked him back to our table.  He said he had felt weak and couldn’t move his leg and held onto the table.  But by the time I got to him he was doing okay.  We stayed there for about 10 minutes and then went home.  (When we got to the car, Dad said he was feeling okay. . .and that we could finish shopping and get the groceries. . .I said. . .no, we are going home).

Anyway, Dad went to see his doctor and the doctor checked him out and didn’t notice anything wrong but still scheduled 3 tests/scans, at the hospital.  Dad had those done and talked with his doctor today.  From what I gathered the doctor didn’t see anything in the results.  It is possible Dad suffered a mini-stroke, but if so it didn’t do any damage.  Dad is taking some new medicine- sort of like a blood thinner.

– Dad leaving hospital after some of his scans.

　Hospital Beeper:

This is the kind of beeper the hospital gave us as we waited for them to call us in the waiting rooms.  When it went off, it made a noise and had red flashing lights around the edges which made it look like a mini flying saucer.

I can tell you that the last couple of weeks have been a testing.  Thanks for those who knew about it and for your prayers.  I can see where Facebook would come in handy for a short note to put out a notification of something like this.  For some reason I think my Xanga post is more formal. . .don’t know why that is, but I do.  So maybe I will think further about signing up on Facebook, (now that is a maybe...not yet a yes).

~~ From what I understand from Kylee. . .MrDuBois had a little scare himself and went off to the hospital. . .and I hear he is doing well now.  Dehydration is a serious thing Mr D and I hope you are taking better care now.

~~ After the restaurant incident, a few days later, we found out that someone in one of the parking lots we were in had sideswiped our car...not too bad...but a deep scatch about an inch and a half.

We took it in to a car repair place. $373!!!  Whoa!  And they had to keep it for 2 days.  Dad got it fixed and the repairmen really did a good job of it and even washed the whole car, even the tires.

~~ CCT was able to have a Bible Study with us on Sunday night.

Afterwards we had a mini pre-birthday party for Tom.  I should have taken a video of the singing of Happy Birthday, but I forgot about having the video capability in my camera, but I did get a few photos:

No, we didn’t have a cake. . .but frozen yogurt (no sugar added) decorated with blueberries, Tom’s photo and candles to resemble a cake.  We were trying to think of things to munch on that didn’t have sugar since Tom isn’t suppose to have sugar.  We assumed he will have a birthday cake at his real birthday celebration at home and didn’t want to overdose him on his sugar intake.  Anyway, I know this is late but, Happy Birthday, Tom!  You are a good friend.

~~ Oh, I almost forgot.  Last week I received a nice little note in the mail (yes...real mail). I was impressed with Mr Blake H.  Not only has he his own secretary, he has his own personal stationary!  (Thanks Kelly).

~~ Guess that is it for now.    Until then . . . Time to look for that perfect autumn leaf and press it in your phone book.

 Bye!

Entry #114

Three Things I Am Thankful For:

~~ 1.  OUR NEIGHBOURHOOD POST OFFICE IS STILL OPEN.  Hopefully, it will stay open. Its hours have been cut, however.  It now opens at 9 AM, (sometimes a little later, depending on when the workers get there), closes for lunch from 1:00-2:30 and closes for the night at 4:00.  The old hours were from 8:30 AM to 5 PM and stayed open all through those hours.

~~ 2.  POPCORN.  I heard on the news that popcorn is good in preventing cancer.  It could or could not be true.  Whether it is or not it is good eating.  Hmmm.....I think I’ll have some this week......

~~ 3.  GOD’S WISDOM.  I don’t always appreciate it as I should.

~~ Whoa!   How did it get to be the last week of August already?  Sorry I haven’t posted sooner, especially to those that come and look at my post who do not get a notice when I do post (one reason to have a subscription to Xanga).

~~  Another thing hard thing to believe since I last posted is that Mark Burleigh, hasn’t won a game since his perfect game.

He has pitched four games, a couple of them were somoewhat good, but no wins.  And a win is a win is a win.  In fact, both Chicago baseball teams have seemed to taken a free fall and unless they do a turn about the Chicago baseball season will be coming to an end sooner than desire.

~~ Do you know what this is?

One of the sisters at our congregation, Yvonne D, was talking about garden stuff and she was telling me about  making deep fried zucchini blossoms.  She dips the blossoms in batter that has Parmesan cheese in it.  She said that it is an Italian thing.  Her children and grandchildren like them a lot, though she doesn’t make it too much.  I had never heard of deep fried zucchini blossoms, though I have heard and seen dishes that included edible flowers as decorations to entrees.  So the next time she made some, she made some for me.  They resembled, in looks birds’ claws, don’t you think?  They were interesting to taste and did taste good, but not sure if I would want to eat them all the time.  More importantly, of course, was the time she took to make them and I had the opportunity to try them out.  Thank you, Yvonne!

~~ Speaking of deep fried things.  Guess what Dad and I made on Saturday.  We hadn’t done this for a while. . .

Yep, we made eggrolls.  Dad does most of the cooking.  I am the eggroller. . .that is I put the cooked mixture Dad has cooked onto the eggroll wrappers and and roll them up.  We made shrimp eggrolls and pork eggrolls this time.  They are so yummy.  When they are first cooked, they taste SOOOOOO good.  Even though those we freeze and heat and eat later are good, there is something about fresh eggrolls.  They absolutely puts the taste buds in a very good mood.

~~  Talk about good Chinese food. When CCT was here on his way up to Michigan, he, Dad and I stopped at the Super Chinese Buffet after a good Bible Study at the church building.  Of course, with such a good spiritual meal, one would think one couldn’t eat anything......

......but this buffet has some really good stir-fry food, not to mention yummy Sesame Balls (my favourite, as I have stated before).

~~  Oh, I forgot to mention that since finances are on the low side at our congregation, we decided to have a  summer (June) Gospel meeting with our own members from Friday to Sunday.  We had four lessons (total) and on Saturday a Ladies Bible Class and a Mens’ Get Together.  Plus we had a pizza dinner in between classes and the lesson on Saturday and a pot luck dinner on Sunday.  Below are a few photos from then:

(Ha! Ha!  It looks like five of us got the note to wear black)

We will hold another meeting similiar to the one in June from October 23-25.  So if you are in the area, you are invited.

~~ Well, that’s about it for now.  Since I haven’t posted any Cards of the Month for a while I think I will end the post with one.

TTFN.

Bye...hope to see you in September, if it is the Lord’s will.

Entry #113

Three Things I Am Thankful For:

~~ 1.  WHITE SOX PITCHER,  MARK BUEHRLE.   He was perfect today.

~~ 2.  I LISTENED TO THE WHOLE WHITE SOX GAME TODAY ON THE RADIO.   It wasn’t on broadcast TV.

~~ 3.  As a result of today's win, THE WHITE SOX ARE IN FIRST PLACE.

PERFECTION:

In case you haven’t caught the drift of my "thankful things," this post is dedicated to the White Sox, in particular Mark Buehrle who pitched a perfect game today. . .which means (for the non-baseball fan), NO HITS, NO WALKS, NO ERRORS.  NO ONE GOT ON BASE OR SCORED.  An amazing feat when you think about it.  Everyone was perfect and the replacement of DeWayne Wise in center field was a brilliant change as he snatched a designated homerun ball in the next to last play.  (It in itself was a remarkable catch as he jumped up and caught the ball and banged against the wall and the ball popped out but he caught it again with his free hand).  Sure it is just a game but its more than that when something amazing happens AND when it is YOUR team.  AND the win today (5-0) put the White Sox tied for first place.  And to make matters even better four of the runs were scored on a grand slam by Josh Fields ...which has been overshadowed by Mr. Buehrle’s performance.   Mark Buehrle’s has had one no-hitter before.   This year he hit a homerun.  He was the only White Sox to be in the All Star game this year.  And now he is "perfect." 

~~ I have to thank my Dad because he reminded me the Sox were playing today but they weren’t on (broadcast).  And I said I’ll just have to listen to them on the radio.  Like the good old days listening to them on the radio.  VERY fun to listen to, a nervous kind of fun.

~~ This is a short one story post, because my happiness may be short lived as the White Sox play two games tomorrow against the Tigers (who are also in first) and I wanted to write about this before then.

~~ That’s it for now. . .until then . . . I hope you remember the tagline above for this post (from Romans 12)  and not grudge my happiness if you are not a White Sox fan AND I hope you are having a wonderfully perfect day.

Bye!