Here Today, Gone Tomorrow

I will start this piece by assuring the readers that I didn't even ask AC to pay me for this. It's kind of them to allow me to print it.

Some time back I wrote a piece directed mainly at the ones on my favorites list with the intention of assuring them I wouldn't forget them and would be back in business before long. That must have been wishful thinking on my part. When I get an occasional opportunity, I do read some of the articles written but seldom have time to comment. Please forgive that, and I will honestly try to do better as soon as possible.

Since the first of April, my husband and I have been home for a total of perhaps two weeks. Lest anyone think I'm bragging about our "travels," I must explain that most of the going has been for purposes other than pleasure.

In April we spent three weeks in England, Ireland, and Wales, a trip made possible by the generosity and thoughtfulness of my husband's nephew and his wife, who live in England. His nephew has taught school on air bases in Holland and England for almost twenty years and had been on us for years to come for a visit. When my husband retired--again--we thought it might be best to get on with it since we're not getting any younger. Suffice it to say it was a wonderful trip, once we actually got there. I hope to write about some of the sights we saw if I can ever get time and find the computer free.

When we got home from England, we mowed the grass, unpacked, did the laundry, paid the bills, and repacked. We then drove to Branson for about three days, then on to Broken Arrow to stay with our youngest granddaughter for a week while her parents made a trip to California, something business related.

Then we came home, repeated the pay bills, mow, laundry, pack routine and drove to northern California, a distance from here of over 2,000 miles, to see my elderly uncle and give him some assistance. He is almost 90, virtually blind, and lives alone since his wife died in September of last year. He wanted me to help go through her things and bring home her collection of yarn and cookbooks.

It took us six days to drive out there, and then we spent about 8 or 9 days helping him sort out his wife's things to give away, defrosting a big freezer, clipping the cat's nails, driving him to visit his wife's grave, etc.. It took us another six days to drive home. We decided it would probably be our last driving trip to the West Coast, as it takes a lot longer to make the trip than it did when we were younger. We were gone a total of three weeks.

As soon as we repeated the mow, pay, laundry, pack routine, we loaded the little fifth-wheel trailer and pulled it to Fort Gibson Lake which is located between Broken Arrow and Fort Gibson where our two kids live. Our main purpose for that was to be able to spend some time with our three youngest granddaughters who are involved these days in too many activities to visit us at home. The lake was 23 feet above normal so most of the campsites were closed. While the girls enjoyed playing on playground equipment that was mostly submerged, the most of the time they had with us was spent inside the trailer playing board games, since it rained most of the time we were there. Can you imagine being one of four or five people cooped up in a 22-foot trailer for hours at at a time? But it was great seeing the girls.

As soon as we got home and unpacked, my husband decided we needed to go see about his 90-year-old sister who lives 7 hours away. Only the two of them are left of five siblings (she the oldest and he the youngest), and her only child died with cancer a few years back. So we drove up there and stayed about 4 days.

Now we're home mowing, doing laundry, etc. and getting ready to go to Muskogee tomorrow to support our 10-year-old granddaughter who has a part in a church program.

Next weekend is the wedding of granddaughter #3 in Broken Arrow.

Three weeks after that, granddaugher #2 is getting married in Broken Arrow, and I'm supposed to be doing the cakes for that one.

When the weddings are over, I plan to paint our living room, kitchen, and our bedroom, and we must get new floor covering and a couple of new recliners. It's not every day that a couple gets to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary, so we hope to have the house looking nice by our anniversary in May. I'm so thankful to again be physically able to do the work I need to do.

Meanwhile, my husband is writing a book so I would have little time on the computer even if I didn't have other demands on my time.

Hopefully, in the fall, I'll be able to at least spend more time reading the writings of others, if not write some myself.

Meanwhile, I wish you all a great summer. Stay cool, and if you don't live in Oklahoma, be thankful for that!