Hot August Saturday

Look who I spotted on the tip top of the telephone pole that sits at the edge of the street at the far edge of the shared garden between Nathan's house and ours.  Just sitting up there pecking away at the top of the pole.  From the looks of the holes that we can see at the top of the pole in this picture, that telephone pole has been visited often by a woodpecker of one kind or another.  I frequently spot these bright red-headed woodpeckers on this pole.

Woody got his exercise in today by walking to and from the library.  And, he reported when he got home that it was hot out there.  I have done a little of this and a little of that today.  I have washed and dried a couple of loads of clothes and put them away.  I have done a little cleaning. I got everything put back in the laundry room that had been taken out for the washer repairman earlier in the week.  Trying to get it into my head that school starts on Monday.  I need to get in and straighten up and dust in the school room and also in the guest room where we have sewing lessons.  I have been working on getting all the things put away that I got out to make Esther's top.  Getting all that put away so I can get out the fabric, etc. for her other top that was just a promise for her birthday. I have worked some more on a PDF file for my sewing club.  I've written about six pages of it and still have quite a bit more to write.  This one is one of the longer ones and after a while I just had to put it aside.  .

We did have a good time at Esther's birthday party yesterday.  I think that she enjoyed turning 11!  Kathy said that Esther was next door this morning just strumming away on her ukulele.  She's going to ask her violin teacher for some hints on playing the uke.  She said that her ukulele and her big set of paint brushes were her favorite presents this year.  She got a cute case for her ukulele, too.  Last evening Esther and Joy were invited to a friend's for a birthday slumber party...so Esther got to celebrate even more while her friend celebrated...nothing like ending her birthday with bowling and then learning a little about cake decorating...and, of course, probably not a lot of sleep.  Guess that is a way to stretch your birthday out...stay up a good part of the night!

Well, when next we meet, the first day of school for 2018-19 will be behind us!  It really doesn't seem like it is time to start back to school.  My head still says school should start the day after Labor Day!  

Look Who Is Eleven!!!

Eleven pictures of our eleven year old, Esther-Noel Rose!

Esther sitting on her throne (bean bag chair) awaiting gifts!

Esther and her attendants (gift-bearers)!

Joseph immediately knew what to do with this shirt!

Thank you, Auntie Cheryl!

Another instrument for Esther to learn to play!

Ready to perform!

Here's what Grammy and Goosey gave her along with
another promised top for Grammy to make.
Does she look like she belongs in the 60's?

Cookies and Cream Cake set aflame by eleven candles!

Do you see her little helper?  She did get them out with one blow!
Hmmmmmmm...do you think that Isaac helped?  She kept covering
his mouth so he wouldn't blow...but at the last minute...perhaps she
did have help!

Esther and her siblings and Goosey (Woody)!
Elijah looks like he might be up to some mischief
with that lighter!

Yum!  Abigail made Esther a yummy cake--a cookies and cream cake with cookies and cream ice cream...Esther's request this year!

Happy 11th birthday, Esther!

Shoe Shopping Day!

Woody got up and walked four miles this morning.  He said that it was actually cool for his walk...it hasn't been cool for a walk in a long time no matter what time of day!

I got up and headed back into the sewing room.  I kept at it until it was time to go to get shoes which we did after lunch.  It was Esther's, Elijah's, and Joseph's turn to get shoes today.  The brothers got matching...which Kathy said was okay since the size is obvious which ones belong to whom!  Esther got girly ones--purple and blue.  All seemed to be pleased with their choices.

Woody now has the garden beds that go along the front of the house all mulched...so another goal met. All that he has done looks great! A little before supper, I finished all the machine work on Esther's top including the buttonholes.  After I finish with the blog I will cut open the buttonholes and then sew on the buttons and we will have one completed item to gift Esther with tomorrow!   I'm not sure when we will be celebrating tomorrow, but I am sure that there is something planned!

Woody is ending his day challenging the computer to several games of Scrabble.

Like Clockwork!

As the minutes on a clock turn into an hour, so turned another page on the calendar today.  Our day at Vanderbilt went like clockwork today, too!  Woody was called back for each of his three appointments early and each of them ended before their scheduled time.  We were gone for "only" 5-1/2 hours today.  Three of those on the road and only 2-1/2 for three appointments.  Really amazing for a Vandy appointment day!  I think that it may be a record for shortest total time, but I'm not sure and could probably look back through the blogs to find out, but think that I would rather spend my time doing something else!

We got into Dr. Wyman's office so quickly that the CT scan report hadn't gotten to him.  He told us that he would call with the results and told Woody he would see him in six months unless something that he wasn't expecting showed up on the scans.  So we made appointments for six months and headed out the door.  Woody didn't really expect for Dr. Wyman to increase the time to come back, at least not yet.  When January comes around and everything is status quo and Woody is still in remission...then the next appointment should be a year away.

We had been home less than thirty minutes and the phone rang and I couldn't get to the phone in time to answer it.  But when I did get close I realized that it was Dr. Wyman leaving the good news that Woody continues to be in remission--what we expected to hear.  God is good...all the time!

Happy August!

Saying Good-Bye to July!

Once again a month is soon to just be a memory...this time the seventh month of the year.  Just think there are only five months left in 2018!

Woody has avoided strenuous exercise prior to his appointments at Vanderbilt.  He has been told to do this in the past prior to having scans.  This time he has heard nothing from Vanderbilt...except for when they changed his appointment from July 31st to August 1st.  Since we hadn't heard I checked online to make sure that the appointments really existed!  I was glad that I did check, as I found out that his scan is scheduled at an imaging place away from the Vanderbilt campus.  We would have gone to the wrong place first if I hadn't looked.  By looking he also did e-check-in...we will see if that makes him fill in less paper work! We pass the street the imaging place is on when we head to Vanderbilt so that isn't a hard change to make.  He has gone there for scans before.  His appointments start around noon tomorrow. At least we don't have to leave at the crack of dawn! Woody is hoping that the appointments go like clock-work so he can be back in time to go to his Bible study at church tomorrow evening.

Woody drove to the prayer room at church tonight since he was avoiding exercise prior to tomorrow's scan.  So he wasn't away as long this evening as usual since he didn't have the walking time to and from.

One of the first things that I did this morning was pop a turkey breast in the oven.  Woody is thinking that it will be okay for him to eat a little turkey (white meat)...but, when I sampled a slice, it was obvious that it had been injected with a saline solution...so probably not the best for him.  Definitely his diet is very limited! Sunday night Woody went to a covered dish meal at church and about the only thing that he could eat was fruit and the gelatin salad that I made for him to take.  Even if it was something that was okay for him to eat, he had no idea on how much the items had been salted.

Last night I did find a picture that my friend said would work for the gift that her Sunday School class wanted to give to a member who is turning 100.  I printed it out last night and then she picked it up this morning.  I did do some sewing today.  Esther's top is coming right along.  At this point Esther will be able to tell what it will look like after it is finished...but there is still a chance that I can get it finished before Friday.  I'm not sure how much more sewing I will do this evening as I have been sneezing my head off due to a break-through in my allergies...this happens quite frequently but usually late at night.  Between blowing my nose and sneezing and my eyes itching, I'm not sure how much I can concentrate on sewing at the moment!  It's perhaps a good idea that I leave my sewing alone and not take chances since so far it is going together well!  Maybe once this attack passes I will be able to work on the sleeves?

I'll fill you in on what Woody's melanoma doctor has to say when I blog tomorrow night.  I think that Woody would like to try to convince Dr. Wyman to put off the next visit for a year. I have a feeling that the doctor won't do that till January.

Well...when next we "meet" it will be the Dog Days of August!

Monday All Over Again!

As I was trying to think of a title for tonight's blog, I realized that this is my last "free" Monday for a while...school begins next Monday!  The summer has flown by...well, summer is still with us, but summer vacation has flown by!

Woody got up and walked six miles this morning.  He has also worked some more in the yard...still working on his mulching.  He is getting close to being able to say that the beds in front of the house are finished.  He went to Life Care for several hours this morning doing Bible study and visiting with several of the residents.  He has returned just a while ago from the Furnace Room Prayer meeting at church.

I have spent most of the day working on one of Esther's birthday presents.  I can say that I am now about ready to start the actual sewing of the garment.  Today has just been preparation for the sewing...cutting out the pattern and then doing some other work at the machine to get one of the pattern pieces ready to be put into the garment.

Just before starting tonight's blog, I got a phone call from a friend and she is in need of a picture of our church so I went looking through my "stockpile" of photos.  I found a couple, but I think that I will be taking cameras in hand and trying to get some new ones from a different angle.

Saturday

Woody walked to the library and back today for his daily walk.  I managed to get the Clinton/Patterson book finished before Woody left to go to the library.  The end of the book went much faster than the first of it so I was able to easily finish it.  Woody has worked outside quite a bit today.  He mowed and also started mulching the other garden in front of the house...the one on the other side of the steps up to the porch...it wraps around the house and goes to the air conditioning unit.  After I got the book finished, I made my way downstairs and put together Mother's recipe for Boston Baked Beans.  Woody even took a little taste of them, though beans aren't on his "okay food list."  A bite won't hurt him...at least not much!  I got them into the oven and then was able to forget them for six hours.  At the six-hour mark I took the lid off and let them cook another 30 min.  Once again they turned out quite good!  I got the pattern for one of Esther's tops traced and have started cutting out a muslin.  I haven't made anything for Esther in such a long time that I'm not sure what size to make for her.  Kathy says that she wears a 10, but a 10 in bought can sometimes be a lot different than a 10 in a pattern.  I have two more pieces to cut out of muslin.  I don't think that I will have to make the whole thing...I think that half should let me see if it will fit and check sleeve length and top length and width, etc. I guess I will head back to the sewing cutting table!