Evening of Make-Up Ball Games

Finally a dry enough day to make up a couple of games that both Elijah's and Joy's and Esther's teams had missed due to rain. Woody and I headed off to Elijah's ball game a little after 5pm. At 6pm, Woody left the game to go to Monday night prayer meeting at church. A little before 6:30, Kathy and all the kids except for Elijah, headed off to drop Graham off at his Civil Air Patrol meeting and then head on to the girls' game that was to start at 7pm. I stayed to watch the rest of Elijah's game and get any pictures...especially the score board. Elijah's team won handily this evening. After Elijah's game was over, Nathan, Elijah and I headed off to the girls' game. Woody arrived at the girls' game just as we got there. The game started shortly after we got there. At a point during the game, Kathy got a text from Graham that his meeting was ending early this evening. They were going to have a friend bring Graham...but they got a text from the friend asking Nathan if Nathan had jumper cables! So Nathan took off to jump a vehicle where Graham was having his meeting. Graham and Nathan got back before the game was over. I came home with Woody and the rest of the crew split up between their two vehicles. It was a game of musical cars rather than musical chairs! The girls' team lost...but it was a good game. They played one of the best teams and held their own for most of the game. It has been a rather long day...and an especially long evening for the two of us out on the town so late! Woody did a lot of yard work...raking, mowing, weeding, etc. I even did a little yardwork (not my forte!). I did a little weeding, dead-headed flowers, and watered a few things. Then I sat on the porch and enjoyed looking at all our new plants and taking pictures of birds and reading a little. I didn't have school as they were on their return trip from several weekend juggling gigs. It was a beautiful day to sit on the porch...a nice breeze and farily cool temperatures. Woody went to the Life Care and had Bible study with Jeff.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our gardens grow with lots of joint effort. Woody looked forward to help with the weeding and mulching today. Melany, Wade, and Erin came and spent part of the morning and most of the afternoon with us. Woody started out the day getting our Saturday errands run early so he would get home before the Proctors arrived. He went to WalMart and made a stop at the library. After he got home, he headed out to the garden to get some more done before they got here. Melany got right to work and worked along side her daddy for a little while...I'm glad that I got to snap this picture before they moved to different areas of the garden. Erin and I worked on lunch...as did Woody when he took a break from gardening. We ate lunch and then headed back to the garden. I even put in a little time weeding. Wade headed off to buy me "some" plants for Mother's Day...he bought waaaaay more than "some!" I even got some herbs for our back porch herb gardens. Got hanging baskets, lots of pretty flowers, and some ornamental plants...someone to plant them...now to just keep them alive!!!!! Nice early Mother's Day visit...lots of pretty flowers and plants...visiting time with them...and some chocolates! What could have made the day more perfect...well, it would have been nice if Alex could have been here, but he is still at college...and will probably be staying most of the summer in Cookeville since he has an apartment. He's "supposed" to be looking for a job...time will tell on that one! This afternoon there was a threat of rain and it did start to sprinkle before all the plants got planted...Melany put the last plant in the ground when there was the first rumble of thunder...perfect timing. We picked up all the gardening paraphenalia and then adjourned to the front porch to enjoy the rain...just the right amount for the new plants...not long and not hard. It was a very cool day so very pleasant to be out working in the yard.

Cinco de Mayo

I decided that a photo taken in AZ would fit the bill today for Cinco de Mayo. We have had a stay indoors and try to stay dry and warm day. It has rained or at least drizzled almost all day. I never saw the thermometer read above the upper 40's today, but I just checked and the thermometer said that today's high was 51.6...chilly and damp! I spent a good part of the day tidying up the house. Melany and family are planning to come tomorrow. The plans are for them to help with weeding and mulching the gardens...weeding should be easy with all the rain we have gotten...I just hope that the cool temperatures don't hamper their efforts! It shouldn't be too hot that's for sure! I'm not sure which "winter" this is...but I'm hoping that our "winters" are about over. Brrrrrr! Woody fixed the marinade for the meat that we plan to cook tomorrow...meat is marinating away in the fridge. He also fixed some balsamic mushrooms...pretty good...though I didn't eat but one as one of the only foods that I have connected with some of my gout attacks is mushrooms...so these days I try to stay away from them. I think that I forgot to mention yesterday one of the weird concoctions that Woody made yesterday...he was following a recipe...but it just sounded questionable...balsamic strawberries! He made a big batch and shared them with Nathan, Kathy and family for lunch dessert yesterday. We all raised our eyebrows over the sound of balsamic vinegar mixed with strawberries (and, the smell of the vinegar permeating the house made us raise them even higher)...but, in the end, we all agreed that it did make a very good and tasty dessert. He made a reduction with the balsamic vinegar and there was no vinegar taste at all. Presently Woody is challenging our old computer to a game of Scrabble. I'm heading back downstairs to finish up a couple of cleaning jobs in the kitchen before I retreat to my chair for the evening. Happy Cinco de Mayo 2017!

May the Fourth Be With You!

I was certain that I would find a picture of one of the neighbor boys (or girls) in something that was Star Wars. I finally found this picture from last summer when Esther made this Star Wars-type mask using her Osmo Masterpiece app...so this one will have to do for the day! I think that I recognize Isaac's eyes behind the mask. Today is also the National Day of Prayer. If I hadn't found this picture, I was going to go back a few years when Woody and I were at The National Institutes of Health on the National Day of Prayer (May 5, 2011). Woody had surgery on May 5th and after he was settled back in his room and sleeping, I ventured out onto the NIH grounds and found their Day of Prayer gathering and snapped a couple of pictures. Woody, (much healthier six years later!) on this National Day of Prayer, headed out early and walked four miles. It was good that he walked early as it has rained off and on a good part of the day. I had a usual Thursday school day. Isaac and Joseph got out the play doh at the end of their time and played happily in the school room while I read with three of their siblings. They didn't pick up their play doh items until it was time for Abigail to come for her long time. Abigail completed catching up her sewing notebook and then picked out some more fabric to make another zipper bag. I worked on Sunday's Sunday School lesson this afternoon. Woody went next door late afternoon so Nathan and Kathy could have a date night. He just walked back in the door. I have done some straightening up in the guest room...after quite a few finished projects from Abigail and Joy, it was time to gather up some of the supplies and take them back to my sewing room! I'm thinking about dragging the vacuum out...if I have enough energy at this end of the day. I did take a nap late afternoon...so perhaps energy can be found!

He's Baaaaack!

Our very own SUPER Hero = Compost Boy returned this morning after a long absence. We were so glad that he showed up once again! Compost Boy is a super hero that Graham and we originated many years ago. One of Graham's chores at the time was taking the compost out to the compost pile in our back yard. Besides his family's compost bucket, Graham would stop by and get ours. We started calling him Compost Boy which got us thinking about a super hero cape and shirt. The pictures I took this morning of our newest Compost Boy were taken in too sunny of a spot so it is hard to see the symbol that we made up...but it is a large "C" with the Recycle symbol inside the "C" and I used camo fabric...which seemed the perfect fabric for Compost Boy's cape! At one time there was a mask. Before Isaac headed home, I talked him into doing the duties of Compost Boy! I had a usual day of school except that Esther swaped with Abigail for long time with me. Abigail and Joy had orthodontist appointments this morning. Esther cross stitched and drew using the Masterpiece app that goes with Osmo. Woody walked a long four miles early this morning before school started. Later in the morning he headed off to the grocery store for our mid-week shopping. He worked off and on the yard throughout the day. I headed off to the church library shortly after lunch. Donna and I got new books ready to be checked out. I came home caught my breath and then started in on our supper. I concocted a dish that I guess I will call Chicken Alfredo. I served it over linguine...pretty good for just using items that we had in the house. Lately I have been trying to use up items from the freezer, fridge, and pantry. The items on hand have turned into quite a few tasty dishes. After supper, I ended up taking a nap...about the moment that I first sat down after a long day! We are both settling in for another restful evening of doing as close to nothing as we possibly can!

Houses Divided

Tonight we had to divide up the two Dorrell households between two different games. Elijah played at 5pm and Joy and Esther had their game at 5:30pm and the games were at different fields in town. Woody, Nathan and Elijah headed off in our car for Elijah's game and I joined Kathy and the six other neighbor grandchildren in their vehicle to go to Joy and Esther's game...so no pictures of Elijah's game. Nathan helps coach Elijah's team. We all met back at their house after the two games and each gave accounts of their games to the ones that couldn't attend. Elijah had a super night...five hits...two of which were doubles. Their team lost as did the girls' but both had very good games and our three did fantastic jobs in playing. Esther had three hits and scored all three times. Joy had two hits and scored one time. Esther was given a pat on the back as their coach moved her up in the batting order to second batter (she had been close to the bottom of the batting order). The score of the girls' game was 17-15 and it stayed close throughout the whole game. Good games all around. The top two pictures are Esther gettin one of her hits and then coming across home plate to score. The bottom two are of Joy getting one of her hits and I missed her coming across the plate (picture I took showed an empty plate...she was two fast for her grammy!)so the last one of Joy is of her heading back to the dugout after scoring. Very good games...wish that we all could have been at both of them. We had a usual Tuesday morning and afternoon. Woody worked a lot out in the yard weeding and mulching. Isaac spent the morning with me while the rest of his family went to church...Kathy to Bible study and Nathan and the rest had juggling practice. Isaac had a really good school time and then had a snack and did his Tuesday paid job of vacuuming the stairs with the Dirt Devil hand-held vacuum. After that he and I went and sat on the front porch to watch for birds and watch for his family to return from church. After lunch, Abigail and Joy came over for their reading times. I decided to stew a couple of chicken breasts because I need cooked chicken pieces for a recipe that I have planned. We had last night's leftovers and also had scones spread with strawberry jelly. By then it was time for all of us to leave for the ball games. After Woody got a rundown on the girls' game, he left for the prayer room at church and hasn't returned yet. And, that sums up this second day of May!

Isaac's Choice

Isaac is over here while the rest of his family are at ball practices. I let him choose tonight's picture. He said that Joseph would really like the picture of the horses. I had started to blog a while ago and got distracted and just now thought about it...after getting water and a little snack for Isaac and playing one rousing game of Chutes and Ladders...that left Grammy waaaaay down on the board when Isaac was declared the winner! I just did too many bad things and had to slide down too many chutes! Isaac was just picked up...so no little boy here to watch me blog. Woody did a little yard work...not a lot as it was really windy today. He walked four miles. He also went to Life Care to have Bible study with Jeff and visited with another friend. I had a usual Monday school day. Joy got her sewing notebook caught back up and I found the pictures of one of her projects that we hadn't been able to locate. I printed those and we're waiting for them to dry so she can add them the next time she is over here. After finishing the notebook, she decided that she would read in her book...she is nearing the end and she said that it was really getting exciting. After lunch, Elijah came over for his long time. He spent half the time building with K'nex and the other half doing a math game with the Osmo app. I rested for a bit after his long time and then I headed to the kitchen to make our supper. We had Chunky Tomato Sauce with Italian Sausage...one of my favorite pasta sauces. We had it over linguine. As I was taking my last bite, Isaac came over. He had his screen time on their iPad and then he did several other things...including the rousing Chutes and Ladders game. Woody went to Monday night prayer meeting at church. He is home and settled in downstairs in his chair surrounded by TV, books, puzzles, etc. to keep him occupied for the evening. I am ready to head to my chair to either watch something on my iPad or read...or doze! But first I must head next door as when I typed about Isaac using their iPad over here, I realized that he had left it over here...so I am off to return it and then heading to my chair...no sewing tonight. I did finish another skirt last night. Now I have a knit top of some sort and a pair of jeans in the planning stages...need to decide on patterns before I can get started on them. I am enjoying being back in sewing mode. Welcome, May!