St. Louis Friday Night

Instead of planning the next part of The Bathroom Project, we played hookey. Warren picked me up at work with the car loaded, we jumped in, joyfully crossed the bridge, and raced to St. Louis. We got to Dan's law office, which is just a short walk from the Stadium, met Dan and Sarah, bundled up because it was already in the 40's, and walked over to make it in time for the first pitch.

This is the scene as we approach the Stadium.

Approaching the Team Store , which I managed to avoid, this time.

The Sea of Red we love to be part of.

Looper on the Mound, Glaus (new guy) on Third Base.

Got a good shot of Dan and Warren, later in the game.

Every good shot of Sarah and I got mysteriously erased from my camera.
Here's the only one of Sarah that survived. Cute pink STL hat!

At home after the game we unwound in another Two Cat House. Their living room is this vast expanse of carpet, waiting for a new couch. We lolled around at cat-level, playing cat-human games, entertaining us all.

Henry on the left, Jackson on the right.

The kewl thing about this is that the cats are IN the room. They usually don't come around people who descend on their house. But they lived with us for a year during Sarah's 5th year of college and I guess cats do remember people, because they were there and let us pet them. One of life's small pleasures, to interact with cats you've loved in the past.

Got these shots early in the morning. They each have their favorite snoozing spot upstairs.

Henry likes the back of the upstairs couch.

Jacksie Bear actually sleeps in his cat bed!

The morning fog in the valley outside Dan and Sarah's home.

They live in what is called Missouri Wine Country.

We hated to leave, but we knew we had plenty of garden work waiting for us at home.

The Last 10 Days, Part Two

Another sign of spring. I just can't get enough of spring this year. Especially when you consider all the ice we had a few months ago.


But here's the sight to warm a daughter's heart. Here's my 91 year old father walking just three months after total right hip replacement. Way to go, Dad!


Always remember, you're my Favorite Dad!


This one we do the "Sarah" way. Pretty fun, don't you think!

The Last 10 Days

Here's a recap of all the FUN I've had lately, while Mind Blogging.

(1) A couples days after the Creek is Flooding blog, a pile of bikes showed up in the road, as I swung the car around the curve, heading home from work.

A crowd of boys was having the time of their life slogging through the boggy creek bed, discovering treasures and muddying up every article of clothing they had on. I had fun watching them. Are they the ones who got that soccer ball?

I hope so. I'm just glad I'm not the mother of this pack of wild things.

(2) Spring is so definitely here, that I had to take a few shots of the evidence.



(3) It's easy to catch nice photos on quiet days, when just Warren and I and the cats are rattling around the house. It's when four more people come roaring in with suitcases and exciting lives and big plans and lots of stories, that I forget to get out the camera.

First my dear hubby drove up to St. Paul to pick up my father for an Easter visit. He hit snow on the Minnesota border, from 4 to 10 inches around the Twin Cities.


They got back the next day with little to show for it but the traces of salt that covered the car. (No photo of that. But I did THINK about taking that shot!)

(4) We had great times, sitting around the table with family and friends, chatting about so many things. I was lucky to get any photos during this time.


(5) Here's a shot of my three "kids." Dan--Sarah's dear hubby, Sarah, and Ben.


(6) During this time period we also noticed a bluebird pair scouting our bluebird houses. Maybe this year, we'll be blessed with bluebird eggs that hatch!

The male scouts out the box:


The female waits patiently in the redbud:


I'll be back. Things to do. More Mind Blogging to take care of....

Sarah's "New" H & J

Our darling daughter, Sarah, has been in the hospital for a few days. Long story. Short version, she needs a repeat procedure involving one of the bile ducts. Lots of pain put her in the hospital on Friday night. Procedure was done on Monday. She's recuperating now. Hopefully will be home soon and recovering. Usually takes two weeks of really laying low, then at least another couple months before you feel decent again.

But that's not what this story is about. This story is about Henry and Jackson, who've visited this blog before. See here. If you glance to the side of this page, you'll see the oil paintings we commissioned of our two cats, Mr. Hamilton and Miss Ellie. Recently we asked the artist, Nance DeClue, to do a portrait of Sarah's cats. It didn't get done in time for Christmas. But as things sometimes happen, it did get done in time to be presented to a groggy-on-pain-meds woman who was missing her cats and quite sick of being in the hospital. It was perfect timing and we couldn't have pulled this off as well if we'd planned it.

You can see her reaction here. She had no idea what we were going to pull out of that box. The oil painting has several more months to "cure" before it can be framed.

Thank, you, Nance, for all your talent and effort! You made Sarah very happy and brightend her gloomy day!

Here's a nice article about Nance.

Thank You!

Big thanks to Ben, Sarah & Dan!
I love all of you!
to quote a famous person,

How'd I ever get so lucky!

Love,
Mom

Early Arrival at the Office:


Later, budding already:

So I took it home.
Here's what I left for the office:


Thanks!

Miss Ellie and the Green-Eyed Monster

It's the next day. I catch Miss Ellie staking her claim to HER spot, for heaven's sake. I think she looks a bit sad here or is it mad?

Because if you look at the next photo, which happened right after I took the picture of Miss Ellie on HER blanket, she stalked over to confront Hamilton, who was stretched out on Warren's lap and legs.

Now, if you ask me, Miss Ellie looks decidedly JEALOUS here. Because Warren is her person, Hamilton is Marcia's cat, for heaven's sake. What is he doing on HER person? And if you look closely at Hamilton, he's really egging her on with his smug, proprietary attitude. I can read it all over his face. He's rubbing it in.

I guess this is entertainment in the cat world. They are having quite the time, engaged in this friendly scuffle over who belongs to whom and what belongs to whom. We try not to interfere too much. It's too fun to watch, and they say animals need stimulation. It's not like we take these two cats out on a walk around the neighborhood, like Sarah's Dan does with Henry!

Thanksgiving

We came and went at a furious pace this past week. Off to St. Louis for Thanksgiving dinner with 23 at the table of our daughter, Sarah's, in-laws. We feel like we know the family now, this being our second Thanksgiving with Dan and Cassie and having partied at the wedding with all the Marshs.

Then home again to work on Friday, then cook another Thanksgiving for 11 at our house on Saturday. Great fun--for us anyway. Different story for the cats.

I couldn't make my bed all weekend because the cats took to our bed as a reasonable alternative to getting stomped on under all the feet in the house. They came down when the coast cleared to triptophan out on leftover turkey. Then back upstairs or outside, avoiding the humans at all cost.

Our son, Ben, seemed to be the best one to hit up for turkey treats, especially when he cooked a leftover smoked turkey pasta dish last night. Oh my! That was good! Miss Ellie slept last night, I can tell you. Hamilton hung around long after the spreading darkness called for him to vacate the premises.

No pictures--too busy having fun or cleaning kitchens to snap any shots. Will have to get on that, I guess.

Meet H & J

Meet H and J:

Henry and Jackson are my daughter's spectacular cats. Case in point: See how much fun they have with this toy.

This is my favorite photo of Jackson:



This is my favorite photo of Henry:



Or maybe this one is:



These guys have been buddies of Sarah's for several years now. They came to live with Sarah while she was still in college. So at least 8 or 9 years, I think. They're good buds. Loyal through and through. Right now, they are still adjusting to sharing Sarah with her new husband.



Henry LOVES Dan. They go on walks in the yard and Henry never strays too far from Dan.

So far Jackson is still skittish. I keep reminding Dan that when Jackson lived with us for a while it took several months until Jackson would warm up to us. Just give him some time. Eventually, he'll come down out of "The Stacks" and be friends.



I got to loving them quite completely when they lived with us. Still miss them. Hamilton misses Jackson A LOT. they used to play together, wrestling and running all over the house. Now Hammy tries to interest Miss Ellie is playing rough-and-tumble, but--you guessed it--she won't have anything to do with this kind of play!