Chanel No. 5

Dragon Mood? -- reveling in the fragrance

Scientists say that some of our earliest memories involve smells. Smell of skin, smell of milk, smells of a place that evokes safety and security, they all are forged early in a person's life.

One of my early memories as a child was going into my grandma, Nana's, bedroom and being enveloped in this sweet fragrance. I later learned the fragrance was the perfume, Chanel No.5. Whenever I smell Chanel No. 5, I think of Nana. I can immediately feel the little girl part of me and I feel, sigh, all is well, with the world.

Having recently learned that I'm going to be a grandmother, I asked my partner, S, for 'grandma' perfume for Christmas. Bless her heart, she came through like a champ. I am now the happy owner of a classic, luxe bottle of Eau de Parfum, Chanel No. 5.

I can't wait to wear it as I hold The Colonel.

Transition

Dragon Mood? -- still in the early stages of adjustment

So, I told you in my last posting, that I'm going to become a grandma.

It's no small matter transitioning from non-grandma status to being a GRANDMA! Even the fact that I feel the need to capitalize Grandma tells you something about my internal process.

Like my most people, I had two grandmas. One, Granny Kunze, I knew very little, because she lived at the Texas farm and we lived up north. I have a few hazy memories of her in the kitchen, baking and cooking, but I can't recall a single conversation that she and I had together. She died in a car accident when I was ten.

My other grandma, whom I called Nana, is the grandma that informs my sense of who and what a grandma is. I always felt her delight in me. With Nana, I felt absolutely SPECIAL. Again, with the capitals. She and I had a Mutual Admiration Society that knew no bounds. Even in her last years of life, I can remember visiting her one night, unexpectedly knocking at her door. She opened the door hesitantly, cute as a bug in her flannel PJs, cotton robe and thick Coke-bottle glasses, looking more like a little girl than a mid-eighties grandma. I walked in and she bear-hugged me, like I was the only person on this earth. I hugged her back with just as much intensity.

So, as my grandbaby gestates and incubates inside my daughter, Caroline, I too am changing, slowly making the transition from mom/mother/Mamacita to grandma/grandmother/Nana. And what will my grandma name be? I'm kind of liking "Grandberry."

The Day before Thanksgiving

Dragon Mood? -- life changing feelings

While I am woefully late blogging about this, I learned something life-changing the day before Thanksgiving.

I had just pulled into my usual parking spot at work and was walking into the building when my cell phone rang. It was Caroline. I knew that she, Ron, Josh and Leah were all flying to Arizona that morning to spend Thanksgiving with Greg and Colleen.

We exchanged greetings and pleasantries and then she said, "Mamacita, I'm sorry to do this over the phone, but ..." And shame on me, I didn't even give her the chance to say the words before I interrupted and asked, "Are you preggers?" I think she was taken aback either by my interruption or the word, "preggers," but after a second or two, she answered, "Yes!"

So, Mary. You are going to become a grandma. A GRANDMA! Imagine that!

Recapturing a lazy Saturday morning

Dragon Mood? -- enjoying a lazy Saturday morning

Do you know it's been ages, ages, I tell you since I had a lazy Saturday morning to post here? I think back on all the times I wrote in this blog 'back in the day' when days felt longer, the sun traveled a more relaxed circle in the sky and time had no end in sight.

Nowadays, things feel accelerated. Everything is speeding by, at such a pace, it takes deliberate intention and effort to sit down, breathe and relax. And maybe write a bit here or there in this blog.

S and I celebrated our 24th anniversary this past Tuesday, October 26, 2010. Twenty-four years! I can hardly imagine it. Our relationship began innocently enough, coworkers at a work conference held in Hilton Head, South Carolina. We were both married, husbands and children at home, awaiting our return. One night, that last night in Hilton Head, turned my world upside down, S's too. And it was all so very innocent. All we did was share a bed and feel feelings. Amazing thing.

We celebrated our anniversary by going to hear Bob Dylan and his band perform at the MSU Auditorium in East Lansing. I had bought the tickets as a surprise for S. She and I rendezvoused in Wixom, in the Meijers' parking lot around 5:30, drove to Dusty's in Okemos for a quick, light meal and then off to hear Ol' Growly himself. It was a rockin' concert, loud and fun to move to the beat of the music. I felt good about buying the tickets, taking the initiative on celebrating our anniversary, and S thanked me numerous times for doing this for us. Maybe it was the strange windy weather, but something felt different in the air; youth and energy and maybe even a little bit of hopefulness. All this from an old poet minstrel, from another age, another century even.

Josh and Leah continue to be in my thoughts. I listen to music driving to work and I can get tears in my eyes thinking about them, their undiluted joy and happiness at being together, and all that life has waiting for them.

Caroline and Ron experienced the death of a friend this past week, a good friend and motorcycle brother. He died in a motorcycle accident. I haven't had the opportunity nor the heart to ask about the details, but J.D.'s death fuels one of my worst fears, that Ron and Caroline would be hurt or die in an accident like that. I feel so irrational about this, my fears so irrational (what are feelings but irrational?), that I have to keep a really tight leash on myself so that I don't say or do something inappropriate. Like call them up and scream in to the phone, "I TOLD YOU SO! I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE BEFORE ME!" (sigh) Like I said, inappropriate.

Work is getting better. Slowly, baby step by baby step, things are getting better. I have a disappointing morning or an unproductive day, but I also have good days where things are cookin', things are humming along and I think, wow, I'm really busy and this feels good.

I had my first candidate start a short-term assignment this past Monday and two more candidates will begin working next week. Yay! Yay for me!

(sigh) It's past noon. Morning is over, time for 'lazy' has passed. Things to do, places to go, people to meet!

Sweet remembrances

Dragon Mood? -- smiling inside and out

Good golly, Miss Molly, do you know I've been writing in this blog for well over SIX years? Is that a thud I heard, you falling from your chair? Yeah, me too!

I hardly ever look back. Except, uh, for now. I looked back here, a posting from this blog, from October 2004. And here's some truth that bears repeating:

My kids are the apples of my eye, the cream in my coffee, the joy in my heart ...

Lina is my older child, with her warm dragon-y outlook on life and people. She loves her dog, good food, "value" wine and that sushi-delivering motorcyle guy [now her husband]. The cup is almost always way more than half-full for her and Lina always looks for the good in people. I love the way she writes, her embracing of wildness and piratical "wenchiness," and most especially, I appreciate her good "eye."

Josh is my younger child, a curious combination of compassion and wicked smartness. His smartness is magnified by incredible tenacity and persistence. He'll bulldoggedly rip your illogical arguments to shreds as well as sit tenderly by, handing you tissues as you cry. He loves the company of women, especially strong women and he isn't afraid to tell Lina and me how much he loves us. He also has a passion for music, which at times, pours out of his being like a localized Niagara Falls. I love watching him at those moments.

Trees, martinis and Sally

Dragon Mood? -- waking up, catching up

Thursday morning, just past six a.m., I'm sitting here with my steaming cup of hot coffee, waking up, enjoying these few, quiet minutes to myself.

This past weekend, Sally was 'down state', visiting us, hanging out with S on another solo week of vacation ('sigh' -- one of the few negatives of my new job -- no time for vacation). S was busy working with Mike, the Tree Guy, selecting and placing half a forest of trees in our backyard. But mostly, S was working her tail off, cutting down many, many small, under-canopy deciduous trees (mostly chokecherry), bucking or sawing them into pieces, stacking them and chipping up the rest of the small limbs and foliage. Loads of work!

Sally seemed pretty content to hang out at the house. She and S met with Mark on Thursday evening for dinner, Matt and Sarah and kids on Friday evening (along with Tim and Nicki too). Saturday afternoon, we all stopped our respective activities and watched the Spartans give the Wisconsin Badgers a well-deserved spanking, beating them 34-24. Oh yeah! Next week, it's Michigan and I hope the Spartans are on the delivery end and not the receiving end of a spanking.

Saturday evening, we had a warm, tasty meal of pot roast, potatoes, carrots, onions and baby bella mushrooms. Mmm-mm good! Then we had a rare dessert, a pineapple-orange flavored cake that Sally had brought with her. It was moist and delicious with some (more) hot coffee.

After cleaning up the kitchen, we began playing three-handed euchre. If memory serves me right, I won the first game handily. The cards were definitely coming my way. To celebrate my victory, I announced I felt like having a dirty martini. I asked Sally if she would like a Bloody Mary and she said no, she'd enjoy a martini too. So I got to practice my newbie martini-making skills not once, but three times that evening. Sally tipped me off to use cracked ice rather than cubes for a better chilled martini. Wow, what a difference! And, I can see why Josh and Leah are so discerning about the olives they use in their martinis. Olives can make or break a decent tasting martini. Ours were not the freshest, but they did the job. Next time, I'll make sure to have fresh and probably better quality olives on hand.

And from my martini-making, I learned that Sally used to be a bartender at the Metro Bowl in Lansing, way back, 'in the day'. She had applied for a bookkeeping job there and ended up a bartender instead.

Obviously, the more liquor we drank, the more we talked and shared. And you understand, it's not like Sally and I haven't hung out before or that we haven't done our fair share of drinking together. But somehow, this evening was different. There was more the quality of two women letting down their hair, sharing life experiences. S was more bystander than participant. This is her mom, of course, and she chose to listen more than talk. The stories just got better and better.

Catching up, Madison visit

Dragon Mood? -- remembering and smiling

I knew this would happen. One day, it's Thursday and I can hardly wait to get on the road to Madison. Before you can say "lickety split," it's Wednesday, been there and back, and whew, where did the time go?

S was a champ and drove us the entire way. Driving her car may have had something to do with that. Not that she doesn't trust me. It's just that it's her car, you know?

We arrived about 1:15 a.m., Caroline met us at the door and Dakota stuck her nose in our crotches. And then danced and leapt around. Welcome!

Friday morning, Ron was in the kitchen, taking a break from his work routine, preparing to make Egg McRonbos for us. He not only made us breakfast, but French-pressed coffee as well. Delicious!

After eating, we cleaned up and headed out to St. Vinny's for our requisite visit. Gosh, what a visit! S found an aluminum frame lounger in near-perfect condition for $5, I found two pieces of pottery, Caroline a Fiesta dish along with a Hall china coffee mug. Steph also snagged four record albums (yes, vinyl!) for $1 a piece, while I picked up some 'pearl' earrings. Caroline got the best find though in a delightful, handmade rocking hobby horse for a small child. As she made her way across the big room, holding the hobby horse up to show me, I asked her, "Are you trying to tell me something?" Her answer was a big grin. (aside - While the 'deed' is not done, things are being set in motion for it to happen.) Oh yes, and Caroline also found a completely cute pair of angel wings, replete with feathers and shiny sequins sprinkled here and there. Halloween, watch out for a drunken angel!

Staggering out of St. Vinny's, arms loaded, we headed to a nearby Indian restaurant where Ron met us for lunch. Don't ask me what I ate. It was a buffet full of tasty, exotic dishes. I enjoyed virtually all of them ... well, maybe except the slightly chewy goat meat one. At Caroline's encouragement, I ordered a hot chai tea that was lovely and delicious. Not too sugary, with just the right amount of gingery warmth and zinginess. Hmm, I can still taste its yumminess.

Saturday was a bit of a slow start, but we made it to the Farmer's Market in downtown Madison. Oh my, it was every bit as busy and crowded with shoppers as I remembered. Every step of the four blocks-long market, there were stands replete with colorful veggies and tempting jams and humongous hearty mums and cheese curds and breads and honey and black Spanish radishes (just remember the amazing translation from 'jacquard' to 'daikon' -- "I speak Stephnie!")and too many other delicious treats to list. We went with two or three items in mind to purchase and left with Caroline's trusty backpack loaded to the brim. Chivalrous Ron toted the hefty thing around and never groaned, not even once.

We headed to the Soap Opera, but sidetracked ourselves into Paul's Club for the requisite spicy Bloody Marys. Yummy, as I knew they would be.

The Soap Opera was cozily intimate, busy and filled with sumptuous fragrances that always evoke an unexpected sense of well-being. I glided over to the table filled with Mistral soaps and began sniffing all the new 'flavors'. It's a place to simply give in to your senses, particularly the smell-icious one.

Saturday night, we all enjoyed Caroline's culinary gifts: corn chowder made with freshly frozen sweet corn and finely diced jalapenos (awesome!); Juliette tomatoes, fresh, backyard basil leaves and fresh mozzarella salad; and yummy fresh boiled shrimp with zingy homemade cocktail sauce bursting with horseradish. Talk about a feast! We ate our fill and then some.

The highlight of Sunday was a visit to the Sugar Shack, a vintage record shop. It was packed with album covers, vintage posters, memorabilia and crates and crates of old music. While Caroline and I poked around for a half an hour or so, Ron and S easily spent an hour plus sifting through the treasures awaiting their discovery. Meanwhile, Caroline and I settled down out in her trusty Mazda, called Uncle George for his early birthday celebration and talked with our cousins on speaker phone.

It was a great weekend!

singing "An-tih-suh-PAY-shunnnn"

Dragon Mood? -- like a drop of water on a hot skillet

While you can't see it through the thick fog of the internet's atmosphere, I am sitting here virtually dancing with anticipation at driving to Madison tomorrow night to see my beautiful daughter, Caroline, and her hubby, Ron. S is dancing too though she doesn't know it yet.

Up North Surprise

Dragon Mood? -- pleased

Once upon a time ... a certain person's mother decided that the only way to fill the void in her life was to shop, buy things, spend money (she truly couldn't afford to spend) and fill her house with knick-knacks, geegaws and other useless decorative frou-frou.  Did I mention to the point of bursting?

This aging mother (I'll call her Ally) is now in serious financial trouble and may actually lose her home and be forced to move.  Ally vehemently denies being a hoarder.  I mean V-E-H-E-M-E-N-T-L-Y!   She becomes highly volatile and agitated  at any suggestion that she is responsible for the cluttered, claustrophobic condition of her home.

Imagine my apprehension then at S and my plans to drive to Ally's home, three hours away, and work with her to go through possessions, sort things into keep/donate/trash piles and possibly move some furniture.

My apprehension was not without cause.  Within 15 minutes of our arrival, Ally's face became suffused with anger over the alleged judgmental 'look' on my face, followed with the statement, "You can leave and don't come back."  (Breathing out slowly.)  Okay.

I became quiet and avoided eye contact, much like you would with a scary, threatening dog.  (The adjective, "junkyard" comes to mind.)  Thankfully, that was the one and only outburst from Ally.

From that point on, S and I were able to move (correction, barely move) a large, overstuffed sofa (big armrolls, fancy scalloping on the back and huge cabbage rose upholstery) out the front door and to the garage for temporary storage.  That is, after S removed the front door off its hinges.  And then we struggled afterward to remount the door because the hinges were never properly aligned when originally installed.  Sheesh!

But getting that oversized sofa out of the living room was only the first step.  We took out two upholstered white chairs, along with a big heavy oak entertainment center (thankfully equipped with rolling wheels), several dark, dated side tables, a magazine rack, some lamps, a large television set and four or five wooden and painted chairs.  Our piece de resistance was a double-size mattress and box springs that had been previously professionally wrapped and stored in a pole barn.  S and I used a heavy-duty dolly to pull them.  As she pulled the dolly through a two-track sandpile, I literally had to run to keep up with her, my task to hold the mattress and box springs upright.   But we did it and we made it!  YaY!

Ally, to her credit, had been working since our previous trip to sort and organize items.  She had almost a dozen grocery bags filled with unwanted clothing (mostly Grandma's) that she had washed, folded and packed.  Those all went out to the garage to eventually be loaded in our truck.  A tacky bathroom shelving unit stowed forever in the main hallway of the house went out to the garage for donation.  (It's amusing to me how getting rid of certain items carries much more emotional weight and gratification than others.  Who knew?)  Ally sorted and I carried boxes and bags of old magazines for recycling.  By midafternoon, we ordered a pizza and moved out to the pole barn in the backyard.

Hoarding is an odd, curious phenomenon to me.  Ally is the only person that I am intimate enough with to see it up close.  Certain things appear to hold an unusual attraction for her:  glass jars of all sorts and sizes, coffee makers, tiny collectibles (she has an entire case filled with miniature tea sets), certain magazines (National Geographic and Smithsonian being the preeminent ones, because of their 'educational' value?).  She has glass everywhere.  Cut glass, leaded glass, ordinary glass, old Cheese-Whiz jars -- if it's glass, she hoards it.

But, here's the good thing. For all of my apprehensions and S's apprehensions, we had an incredibly productive day, a SURPRISING day, a day (almost) without any emotional blowups, and we drove home late that night feeling pretty good about our day's work. Let's have a BIG SMILE all around!

Saturday reverberations

Dragon Mood? -- life-changing goosebumpy

Still catching up from the awesome news that my son, Josh, and his girlfriend, Leah, in a few short moments, made the life-changing, goosebumps transition from boyfriend/girlfriend to engaged or betrothed.

But first a message from our sponsor, on the origins of the word, "betrothed."

Origin:
1275–1325; ME [Middle English] betrouthe, variation of betreuthe ( be- be- + treuthe truth; see troth)

—Synonyms
1. engage, promise, pledge, plight.

To me, betrothal is an old-fashioneded word, almost verging on archaic(?). Nowadays, we refer to a couple as being "engaged" rather than betrothed. Curiously, the definition above left me unsatisfied, like a bad fast-food meal, so I dug a bit more and found some historical context for the "betrothal" at Wikipedia.

Historically betrothal was a formal contract, blessed or officiated by a religious authority. Betrothal was binding as marriage and a divorce was necessary to terminate a betrothal. Betrothed couples were regarded legally as husband and wife - even before their wedding and physical union

I didn't know that did you? So Josh, your proposing to Leah at sunrise on Lake Michigan was no hey-whaddaya-say sort of thing. It was the REAL DEAL -- and knowing you for the principled, responsible young man that you are -- as you were most likely well aware.

Replete with happiness

Dragon Mood? -- smiling, tickled pink, thrilled

This weekend I was unplugged from my laptop and as a result, the internet.  Since I don't have a 'smart phone,' I didn't have a chance to share with you the good news I got this weekend.

I was up early Saturday morning, dressed, with a cup of coffee in hand when my cell phone rang.  It was Josh.  I'm thinking to myself, what is he doing calling me at 8:15 on a Saturday morning (7:15 his time in Milwaukee).  Is everything okay?

After a little chit-chat (rain, sinkholes, really?), he told me that he had proposed to Leah.  And Leah, also on the phone, said that she had accepted.  Yay!!

I am so happy and excited for both of them!

Brother Squares, Sister Triangles

Dragon Mood? -- fondly remembering

Iwoke up this morning, thinking about my son, Joshua, remembering him as a little boy.

One of the things I remember is making Josh peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches. The current (at that time) parenting gurus all advised giving children choices whenever possible, in order to stimulate their thinking, be more self-aware and to get comfortable learning to make decisions(!).

One of the choices I gave Josh was how did he want his sandwich cut? Brother Squares or Sister Triangles? Brother Squares was cutting the sandwich into four quarters, from midpoint to midpoint of each side of the bread, creating four small squares. Sister Triangles, as you may guess, was cutting the sandwich through the corner points of the bread, thus making four small triangles.

My recollection, though hazy, is that Caroline usually selected triangles, hence the name. Josh initially liked the orthogonal cuts, so they became Brother Squares. Later, he would change it up, selecting one, then the other, torn between his admiration for his god-like, older sister and his need to differentiate himself from the tyrant who was that same sister. I chuckle as I write, remembering this.

Josh, now with a degree in mathematics and a successful actuary, works with numbers, probability and risk.   Laying in bed, it suddenly occurred to me and I laughed at myself as I pondered it, why didn't I introduce him to Brother Squares, Sister Triangles and Buckminster Fuller Hexagons?   What kind of awesome choices would those have been?

June Twenty-Third

Dragon Mood? -- marking the passage of time in wonder!

Today is a day filled with remarkable events.



Here are the first four that come to mind for me:

• President Obama accepted the resignation of U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, the chief military officer of the war in Afghanistan, after he made unprofessional remarks in an interview with the magazine, Rolling Stone
• A 5.0 earthquake hit in Ontario with shocks felt in Boston, Cleveland and Detroit (lucky or not, I felt nothing)
• Federal investigators handed down a 19-count indictment against former Detroit mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick.  Insiders say this is only the tip of the iceberg in prosecuting his misdeeds.
• On a more personal note, today, June 23rd is the day that my ex-husband and I married. If we were still married, this would be our 37th anniversary. I must admit I'm amazed to think about the passage of that much time!  As a young, brash 20-something, I could never have anticipated the twists and turns of my life as they've occurred.

Where am I?

Dragon Mood? -- travel-weary

This post reminds me of a long-ago movie called If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.

Because of the generosity of several family members, I was able to attend the funeral for my Uncle Hemie. This involved some travel logistics, logistics I will summarize in this way:

• Night One - mid-Michigan
• Night Two - Chicago
• Night Three - Beaumont, TX
• Night Four - Houston, TX
• Night Five - Madison, WI
• Night Six - Milwaukee, WI

Suffice to say, that by Night Seven, I was rather tired and ready to sleep in my own bed.  Which I happily did!

Remembering Uncle Hemie

Dragon Mood? -- sadly remembering

A death in the family, no matter how much it may be expected, still comes as a shock ...

Two weeks ago, my cell phone rang shortly after eight o'clock. Looking at the screen, I saw the call was from my sister. Hmmm, I wondered. This is an unusual time for her to call.

She was calling to tell me of our Uncle Hemie's death. He had died that morning, Wednesday, June 9, 2010, around 5 a.m. The remarkable thing was that he and my Aunt Doris had actually talked with one another shortly before his death.

Uncle Hemie was 88. He had lived a full and vigorous life. These last two years, he struggled, breathing with the help of an oxygen tank 24/7, his world drastically shrunk by his poor health.

I will miss Uncle Hemie.  He was such a gentle man, soft-spoken but a master at telling stories, many of them filled with humor and his droll wit.  His eyes were the twinkling sort.  His hands were thick and well-worn, burnished with hard work and do-it-yourself projects, and I often saw him with his fingers interlaced as if in silent, private prayer.  He was a spiritual man and a faithful believer.  He looked forward to being with Jesus in heaven.

Warm air, gentle drone

Dragon Mood? -- slighty sweaty and relaxed

As the granddaughter of a farmer, I feel compelled to give a weather report. It's partly cloudy, warm, higher humidity than the past couple of days and almost no breeze to keep us cool. Report done.

I'm sitting in the camper, mid-afternoon, trying to stay cool and taking a 'break' from my sudoku to write. S and her mom are outside at the picnic table, talking. I've experienced this many times before with the two of them, where they are tete-a-tete, head-to-head, conversing intently, me slightly removed but within earshot. There is something profoundly pleasing and comforting listening to the up-and-down pitch of their conversation, the drone of it, if you will. I don't know if it reminds me of my mother and grandmother when I was a little girl or what other emotional dynamic it taps, but I find it oddly comforting -- like all is right with the world.

S called her mom this morning and invited her out for a late breakfast. She cooked thick-sliced bacon in the electric skillet (don't even ask about the saturated fats we ate!) and then a small carton of southwestern-flavored Egg Beaters. Just typing it makes me laugh -- what a meal of nutritional and dietary contradictions! Nevertheless, the eggs and bacon were outstanding, improved only by the fresh air and the lakeside vista. Sally brought some large naval oranges and a ruby-red grapefruit which she cut up and we then happily slurped and sucked up all their sweet juices.

This IS a relaxing vacation. After all the preparation and grunt work required to get ready, I'm starting to think it may have been worth it. Beyond minimal maintenance tasks around the camper, I'm doing as little as possible. My goal? To get bored out of my gourd. :-)

Two to the Fifth Birthday

Dragon Mood? -- happily remembering this momentous day!

Two to the fifth, that's how old my baby boy is today. Two squared is four, two cubed is eight, two to the fourth is 16 and two to the fifth is ... THIRTY-TWO!

Happy 32nd Birthday, Josh!

A month of absence

Dragon Mood? -- recalling & catching up

Where have I been? I've been away for a month - too long. Let me tell you what I've been doing.

July 29th, S's mom, Sally, had spinal surgery. The surgery went well and she came home to our house to convalesce. That was about three weeks ago. Since then, I've been here, at our home in the pine trees, while S has returned to Detroit to work during the week.

Sally and I have managed quite well I think, a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, "in-laws" of a sort, even though the good people of Michigan don't recognize S and my relationship as a marriage. We've talked and eaten meals together, sat out on the deck, listened to music, watched TV and videos, played some cards, worked on a large puzzle together. LOTS OF TOGETHERNESS. LOTS. You get my drift?

I'm ready to resume my normal, usual routine, at the pied-a-terre with S, being together, her working, me hunting for a job. I would presume that Sally would like something that feels a bit more normal for herself as well, but there's this wee problem of her driving. She has not been cleared to drive her car yet by the surgeon. That won't hopefully happen for another eight days. AND ... she has two appointments next week, one for physical therapy and one to meet with the doc ... to get the go-ahead on driving!

So, what to do? Call the doc, get the go-ahead early? Bite the bullet and stay here for another week? Go to Detroit for three days and come back early to drive her to her appointments? All three are possibilities. (heavy sigh) Caregiving can be a big pain in the ass!

Dragon Mood? -- excited, full of anticipation

Happy Wednesday, Happy Wendishday as we say in the family, and ... if you're working ... Happy HUMP day! I'll settle for the first two salutations.

For me, this is a few days of preparation and waiting. We will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, tomorrow night to join Caroline and Ron and friends to build the deck you've been seeing here in earlier posts. Caroline has spent over $1000 in pressure-treated wood, along with 32 bags of ready-mix cement to secure all the posts.

The deck will be L-shaped, the main portion measuring 12' x 20' with a 6' x 10' foot. It will be angled about 15 degrees off of horizontal and stand about 10 feet from the back stoop of her house.

S and I are excited. Well, I know that I'm excited. I think S is kind of exhausted with work, trying to pace herself through the week. Work is automotive-related and as a result, terrifically stressful. She walks in the door and I can see the stress all over her face. It is troubling to me to see her that way. I'm hoping that working with her tools, being outdoors, working with wood will help evaporate some of the stress from her body.

What will I be doing? Anything and everything that I can. Holding the dumb end of a tape, holding framing lumber while it's clamped, schlepping wood from one place to another and my specialty: I mark all the fine cuts for S to make. It takes a good eye and ability to visualize things that are yet-to-be. I imagine that I also may be involved with food prep, meal cleanup and myriad other little details.

The other event that I haven't mentioned is that my son, Josh, hopefully will be joining us for at least a small portion of the weekend ... and bringing a guest, a young lady. I know that her name is Leah, she's an MSU alum, a packaging engineer in the Milwaukee area and someone that I am looking forward to meeting. And I'm looking forward to spending a little time with Josh. He is a very successful actuary who works hard and spends long hours doing his job. He is in the busiest time of his work year, so we'll see him for only a portion of the weekend.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Pergola update

Dragon Mood? -- pleased with the result

Who needs a day job when there are DECKS and PERGOLAS to be designed? Our daughter, Lina, laughingly informed me that, "sorry, Mom, but there's no 401(k) with this job." Darn, and I was already counting those retirement pennies!