Farmer's are smiling!

      Awaking to rain falling and puddles on the street made me glad.  Retrieving my mail at the post office at 11:00, a local resident said her rain gauge reported 2+".  I haven't checked my gauge in the back yard which was put up yesterday.  One definition of pure joy is watching a significant rain after a prolonged dry spell! Perhaps my psyche was permanently impacted by the perpetual concern about rain during my childhood. Total crop failure from lack of rain wasn't in my experience.  Yet, almost every summer was marked by insufficient moisture causing less than maximum crop yields.  It seemed we were always waiting for rain. Hopefully this prolonged rain begins a wetter weather pattern. There is very little subsoil moisture locally.  Trees and grass are now smiling like the farmers. 

    The antibiotics the vet gave Kaia yesterday are working. When we visited the cemetery today there were two huge dogs there...perhaps newfoundlands?  Kaia chased them away! 😊 It's reminiscent of the old saw "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."  She was a third of their size and there were two of them. Kaia is normally very non-reactive to other dogs but if they give her any challenge she quickly puts them in her place.

Takk for alt,

Al

Today's random:  This is a waterfall we encountered as we hiked part of the Inca trails to Machu Picchu. 

UFFDA!

      Poor Kaia has a UTI!😟  As I was leaving the town the Sinai Rescue vehicle left the garage with lights on and siren wailing.  As I was driving to the veterinary in Brookings, I met 7 emergency vehicles, lights and sirens activated. My fear was a farmer with a machinery accident.

     Sirens are familiar.  The condo in downtown Minneapolis is near a fire station and a level one trauma center. The Old Folks Home is on St. Paul's west 7th street a thoroughfare for both ambulances and fire trucks. Every Tuesday at 1:00, Sinai's fire/storm siren sounds automatically. Either a banker or a butcher has to go to the siren tower and turn it off. 

    The emergency was another case of distracted driving.  A semi-truck driver, delivering liquid fertilizer to a local farmer, looked at his phone to check directions. Once his front wheel left the road the trucks was pulled into the ditch and rolled over. Fortunately the driver was not seriously hurt.  

Takk for alt,

Al

Yup, Earl has the right idea...just wash the sheets and put them back on the bed.

"Wind Without Rain"

       The late Herb Krause, Augustana College's (now University) writer in residence titled one of his books Wind Without Rain. That's an apt description of eastern South Dakota weather this spring. Yesterday was so windy it almost blew off my stocking cap when I tried to do a bit on a hill in the grassland.  Today brought thunder and a sprinkle. The weather app predicts 70% chance of rain tomorrow and 90% on Saturday. Nothing is predicted on the app about amounts. Here's hoping it's substantial. 

Takk for alt,

Al

    Much to my amazement they do pay to eat them and Joanne loved them. Go figure?

Recommended Reading.

      Dirk van Leenen was born in The Netherlands in 1940, shortly after the German, Nazi, occupation. Possessing a vast trove of information about the occupation, and the Dutch resistance to it, he was persuaded to make a written record for posterity. This is a very valuable contribution to the historical record of that tragic time. The American's Are Coming, is a sequel to his previous book Resistance On A Bicycle, and it picks up with where the previous book ended, following the same characters.

     These books are historical novels. The content is factual but sometimes arranged novelistically. Both books are filled with vignettes of life under occupation and the activities of the Dutch resistance. His focus is primarily on the effort to protect Dutch Jews from deportation to death in the concentration camps. While thousands of Jews were murdered thousands were also saved by the efforts of those who resisted.

    It appears that these books are self published and, if so, it's a special tribute to van Leenen, that this record is preserved. While both books are largely vignettes loosely tied together, the second half of Americans creates narrative interest as the desperate Dutch anticipate their liberation.  The current Russian atrocities in Ukraine are similar to what the Dutch experienced, though for the Dutch it lasted from 5/40 until winter '45, let's hope the Russo/Ukraine war is not that long. 

     This is not light entertainment but well worth the read.

Takk for alt,

Al

          Today's random: We climbed that peak behind Machu Picchu.

A walk in the....

      Hudson Talbot wrote an award winning book A Walk In The Woods.  There are more trees on the prairie now that the bison are gone and prairie fires suppressed.  One could find some woods in which to walk with a little effort. My walking tends to be in the grasslands, which I did today. Finally the wind subsided and the sun was out with temperatures in the 30-40 range.

    Some farmers have begun spring tillage. There was an interesting article to today's Minneapolis paper about the price of corn and soybeans. The prices are near all time highs. That news is offset by the high prices of fuel, fertilizer and farm land. With the increase in the cost of farm land rental prices are likely to increase. Adding to the uncertainty is the unpredictability of the weather. The cold spring has delayed field work and locally the lack of moisture causes concern about production.

Takk for alt,

Al

Virginia Hojer, February 13, 1935-April 19, 2022

         Virginia, mother of seven, survived by her husband of 66 years, Duane, was buried this morning. The service was at Oldham Lutheran Church, Oldham, S.D. In the eulogy her son asked everyone who had eaten one of Virginia's sweet rolls to stand.  Ninety five percent of the overflow crowd stood up. Rest in peace, good and faithful servant, Virginia.  Ah, yes, the generations rise and pass away.  "Teach us to number our days, and so get a heart of wisdom."

      Takk for alt,

       Al

Ya then

    Between Evy's birthday party and a drive to The Little House blogging got thrown off kilter. More tomorrow.

Takk for alt,

Al

Seventy Degrees!

    Finally a bit of warm weather! Perhaps ice has been scraped for the last time this spring. 😀 I'm enjoying having friends in the building. Some times we meet as planned and other times we simply encounter each other. Of course were Joanne living here she'd know everyone by now. But, I'm not the hermit she feared I'd become after her death. Introverts treasure fewer but more intimate friends. When my people bladder fills I can retire to my apartment where Kaia and books await. 

Takk for alt,

Al

      Today's random is the flower market by a canal in Amsterdam.

OFH

      Weather wasn't good, Evy's birthday is Sunday, so Kaia and I are back in the OFH. While we were gone the maintenance man mounted two new shelves in the utility closet. The housing supervisor announced that I'm next in line for a garage parking spot and a storage unit. It would free up a bit of space in the apartment if the Christmas decorations and a few sundry other items could go into a storage unit. It's beginning to look like we should stay long term in the OFH, which could be a lot worse. 

    When I was asked when I'd return to in-person worship at Grace U. Lutheran I said "When coffee hour resumes."  The assumption being that that would happen when it was safe to mingle. That pledge was broken becasue I couldn't stay away for Easter. Now, Grace has announced that coffee hour will resume this Sunday! and I'm in town!  Martin Luther said coffee hour was the third sacrament, after baptism and communion. He called it the "mutual conversation and consolation of the saints". He was correct! Roman Catholic and Episcopalian readers may ask what happened to the other five sacraments? Google it. 

 Takk for alt.

Al

US Highway 81, by Lake Joanne is closed again. It will be raised for the 4th time and widened even though it is several feet above water level now. This is an old picture from previous flooding.

My next tractor.....

       My next tractor is going to have a cab!  It's a seven mile drive from The Little House to one corn field.  At fifty degrees the heaviest Carhartt coat was sufficient. However, had a tractor been equipped with a cab the corn stalks could have been chopped days ago. Nevertheless, the task is done.

     The corn, planted to feed pheasants and deer during the winter, was stripped of all corn kernels. Hopefully the recipients were happy. Likely some of the fox squirrels from the adjoining trees also found repast. There will be little volunteer corn sprouting but the invasive water hemp is new issue with which to deal.

Takk for alt,

Al

Rite's of spring...

     Rite's of spring include golfers on the driving range, blackbirds searching the lawn, homeowners raking the yard, gophers scampering around the pasture, ducks looking for a mate, tractors starting for the first time in months.

    Yes, the tractors started readily after reposing since fall in the garage/shop. It may be warm enough tomorrow to venture out to the field with my cab-less tractor. Rain still avoids us....except for the one tenth that fell mid-day. Corn has hit $8.00 per bushel on the CBT!  and soybeans $17.  UFFDA.

Takk for alt,

Al

        Steaks today at the weekly bankers/butchers lunch.

Don't read this book...

       Don't read this book if your perception of mysticism has no room for animism. Beginning reading this adventure/memoir I naively thought the action...fighting a grizzly bear and surviving...would be the main focus. It's the pivotal point but only the beginning. 

      Nastassja Martin is a French anthropologist who has lived with indigenous natives in remote Alaska and Siberia. The encounter with the grizzly occurred in an extremely remote area of Siberia where Martin was living with indigenous people in the forest. This short book, 110 pages, is her record of coming to terms with the attack in the framework of her mystic animism.  It's the animism of the people with whom she's living. Her deep introspection using the concepts of the indigenous is mind bending. Fearlessly, she explores her own psyche to decipher the meaning of the attack and her survival.

      During my days volunteering in classrooms at the Hmong school, Noble Academy, a particular pedagogical practice intrigued me. During class discussion a student would raise her/his hand, and when called on, would announce "I have a connection" and then tell her/his connection to the topic of discussion. Two connections to this story come to mind. After Martin's attack she is treated in Russian hospitals, not always kindly. When Joanne and I were on a Baltic Cruise, while in St. Petersburg Russia, Joanne fell and broke her wrist. In the local hospital it was reset by one person pulling on her hand and another on her elbow. Back in the States surgery was necessary to reset it. 

     The second connection relates to my medical treatment at a hospital in Thakek, Laos.  Slipping and gashing my shin on slippery rocks in a cave I was taken to the local hospital for sutures. The emergency room of this hospital  was reminiscent of the Russian hospital described in the book.

    Do I recommend the book? Yes, with the caveat mentioned above. Do expect it to be mind bending.

Takk for alt,

Al

Today's less random:  This is taken from Thakek, Laos, across the Mekong River toward Nakon Phneom, Thailand,  just before sunset.

A pod of pelicans!

       There is a little pond across the street from The Little House.  When Kaia and I arrived at it this afternoon there was large pod of pelicans on the pond. Pelicans make me glad. Even if the weather is lousy, which it is, the pelicans, and some egrets too, have migrated back for the summer.  I'd guess there were 100 pelicans present. Likely they will disperse but it was a nice sight.

    Wind seems to be the new normal here.  It's 23 mph now which seems quiet after the 40+ mph on Thursday. No, I don't like wind, but what can one do?

Takk for alt,

Al

          Today's random:  Sunset on the pond across the street.

HAPPY EASTER!

     Twenty-five months! That's how long it had been since I'd been in my church. Returning from Asia at the end of  February 2020, COVID was much on my mind. In Bangkok, before I boarded an airplane, I was asked if I'd been in China. When I changed planes in Seoul, Korea, we had our temperature taken as we deplaned. Normal temperatures went left abnormal went right...I went left.

    Back in the States there was little notice of COVID. Sitting at coffee after church, the first Sunday of March 2020, I said "We'll soon be quarantined." Those at the table wondered "Why?"   While correct about being quarantined I didn't expect it to last more that a few weeks. 

    Being back in church was a bit surreal.  Mostly it felt as if I'd never left. In the intervening months there's been a change of pastors. Other than that, and everyone masked, it seemed the same. Many of the usual suspects were present. Yes, I was warmly welcomed...maybe I'll go back. 😀   

Takk for alt,

Al

                        Today's random: Kaia, the wonder dog.

Recommended Reading.

      Norwegian author, Roy Jacobson, has written a trilogy of  novels set on a remote island off the coast of Norway near the Artic Circle. The first, Unseen, was set about the time of WW I. In that book, Ingrid, is a young girl. In the second novel, White Shadow, Ingrid is 35, and it's during WW II. The reality of the German, Nazi occupation plays an important role.  Now the third, Eyes of Rigel, has been translated into English.

    When I was last in Norway, my friend Berger, gave me a copy of The Unseen. I was so taken with it that I read it twice. When White Shadow became available in English I read it and now I've read it again in preparation for reading Eyes of Rigel. It was good on the first read and even better on the second. It surprised me how much I'd forgotten even though its only been a couple of years.  Jacobson's prose, even in translation, captivates and intrigues with readers needing to read much between the lines. Seldom have I enjoyed books more than these two.

   While White Shadow, can stand alone it's best to read The Unseen, first. Many of the characters and the setting carry over from the first to the second books. Eyes of Rigel is on order and I'm keen to read it when it arrives. Yes, I highly recommend both volumes. 

Takk for alt,

Al

          Today's random: Delphi, Greece...no the oracle did not speak.

OFH again.

     We're back at the OFH in preparation for Easter. Tailwinds to S.D. and return gave exceptional gas mileage. It was cold enough overnight to refreeze the pond across the street from The Little House, this even though there was a stiff wind all night. 

   Yesterday a late neighbor's land was sold, 1500 acres in all. The highest price was $9000.00 per acre. Though if one counted only tillable acres on some parcels the per acre cost was over nine thousand. So the total for that 148 acre plot was $1,337,400.00.  The total selling price was approximately $8,401,000.00 for the 1500 acres. Watching online it looked like almost all was sold to local bidders.  Are land prices a bubble? Who knows? 

Takk for alt,

Al

               Today's random: Riga, Latvia. 

Recommended Reading.

       On a trip to the Half Price Bookstore there was a shelf of books by Anne Lamott. Always appreciating her writing, Imperfect Birds came home with me. Published in 2010, likely you've both read it. It did not disappoint.

      It's the tale of a family struggling with the chemical addiction of  a teenage girl. There's a compelling description of the web of lies, manipulations and co-dependency rife in that scenario. One of the features of Lamott's books is positive portrayals of the church. Few authors have the profound understanding of grace as does Lamott. Perhaps Japanese author the late Shusaku Endo might be her peer.

    Church lady, Rae is described as one who saw the world..."Everyone was a part of God's scheme, having been assigned to either help you or drive you crazy enough so you'd give up on your own bad plans and surrender to God's loving Love Bug ways."  P. 284  That's an exact understanding of Martin Luther's use of the law to drive one to Christ.

    She writes "Trying to reason with an addict is like trying to blow out a light bulb."  How true! Addiction is pure crazy making as Lamott understands. Yes, I recommended it, and perhaps worth reading again if its been awhile.

Takk for alt,

Al

                        Today's random: The Acropolis, Athens.

Synchronized

       The weather alert warned of strong winds and was that ever correct. Both of us, Kaia and I, needing our exercise headed to the leeward side of a double row of mature cedar trees. With the protection from the wind that these trees offered I thought I could look for cedar seedlings in the grass. Well, I could look, and I did for awhile, but the trees offered only limited protection from the synchronized weather. "Synchronized, you say?" Well the temperature was 32 degrees and the wind was 32mph!  Uffda! but we got some exercise and found a few seedlings to remove.  Predictions  are that the wind will blow all day tomorrow, too.  The Little House is cozy!

Takk for alt,

Al

            Today's, random: sunset reflected on Lake Joanne, during a controlled burn.

April 12, 2018

       At 6:30 a.m., on April 12, 2018 I asked Joanne "What's special about April 12?"  She shrugged her shoulders. Three hours later, surrounded by her family, she died. Now, four years later, I think about what she has missed.

    What's missed is a mixture. She's missed COIVD, the attempted overthrow of our government, Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine, the death of her favorite dog, Trygve, and much more. Grief lies closest to the surface when I recognize what she's missed in four years of growth with our granddaughters. Their deprivation of Grandma Joanne and her absence from them is painful to contemplate.

     The lessons I learned from her prepared me well for living alone. Often I've remarked that the grief has morphed from 'a knife in the ribs' to 'a perpetual, dull ache'  exacerbated and inflamed occasionally by anniversaries and memories.  Of course I find life meaningful and of course I acutely miss her.  Gratitude for the time and life we shared fills me. To be joined with her was blessing, which explains the grief of her absence. 

    So on this anniversary in the land of grief the presence of absence is acute. 

Takk for alt,

Al

Numbers

       Remembering numbers is not my gift. Joanne could call a phone number once and recall it easily weeks later. Perhaps that's why she was encouraged to be a math major in college. This was in the mid-fifties when women were not often steered in that direction. It is interesting to wonder what she might have done had she pursued a career in mathematics.  

     Numbers came up when I stopped at the local post office this morning. Because I have a house in town I'm given a complimentary mail box in the post office, #34. There is no mail delivery in town. As part of registration I was asked my driver's license number. Not having the license with me I was asked if I knew the number.  I laughed! 

    As I left the post office I thought I could have offered my Marine Corps serial number. My enlistment was before the time when the Corps had shifted to using social security numbers. In June it will be 60 years since my discharge, yet I've never forgotten serial number. Go figure!

Takk for alt,

Al

Comparative Sizes

       Kaia and I arrived at The Little House a bit ago. It was as we had left it a few weeks ago. Leaving the OFH is easy. Nick offered to take in my mail, because the OFH has no provision for that. Then, it's just lock the door and go.

     Of my three living spaces there's a significant difference in size. Comparing by square footage: condo 1835, apartment at OFH 880, Little House 725. So, calling it The Little House is no misnomer. It is helpful that it has two bedrooms, both of which would fit inside the bedroom in the OFH.

    A sense of peace descends driving out of the city through the farmland. It's particularly noticeable about mid-point where the prairie begins. I first became aware of this perception in the '60s. As I'd drive from the Cities toward Sinai it was if a pressure lifted when I reached the prairie. The imprinting of landscape early in life can carry forward throughout life. For one of my cousins, who grew up here in the dust bowl years of the 30's, the impression was so negative that she couldn't wait to leave. She came back only to visit.

Takk for alt,

Al

                Today's random is a prairie view.

Let there be light!

    The apartment in the OFH has much natural light. It protrudes far enough from the wall to offer windows on both sides as well as the front. This gives windows that will open on three sides. The living room has sliding glass doors to the balcony. To the side of those doors, off a bit, there are two windows. One window faces the same as the sliding door, the other to the side.

   In the bedroom there is one large window. Off away to the side is another window facing the same way. On the side wall is a third window to the third direction. The effect of these windows is great natural light and opportunity for cross ventilation. 

   Perhaps I should keep my place here. 😊

Takk for alt,

Al

               Today's random: Statue of Christopher Columbus, Dominican Republic.

Recommended Reading

     Early in 2020, when I was hiding from COVID at Lisa's house, I found Ann Patchett's State of Wonder on Lisa's shelf. It was a thoroughly enjoyable read. Then Patchett dropped from my radar until MJV sent me Patchett's These Wonderous Days. This book of essays reignited my interest in her as an author. Reading The Dutch House convinced me to look for more of her books.

     Not far from the OFH is a Half Price Bookstore, which held several of Patchett's books. Choosing Commonwealth, becasue it was among the most recent ones I hadn't read, now I'm recommending it. Likely many of you have already read it. One of the blurbs on the book jacket suggest it is the most autobiographical of her books, with which I'd agree after reading Wonderous Days. The book demonstrates Patchett's ability to weave a wonderful tale about the lives of two families. 

  The book opens at a christening party:

   "Albert Cousins handed over the bag and Fix looked inside it. It was bottle of gin, a big one. Other people brought prayer cards or mother-of-pearl rosary beads or a pocket sized Bible covered in white kid with gilt edged pages. Five of the guys, or their five wives, had kicked in together and bought a blue enameled cross on a chain, a tiny pearl at the center, very pretty, something for the future."  P. 3.  The gift of gin leads to scene like the Biblical loaves and fishes. What struck me was the memory that many people giving a pastor a gift assume it has to be something religious. 

      Toward the end of the book Teresa is flying from L.A. to Paris, on the way to visit her daughter. She's recently retired after a career working in a district attorney's office. As the 12 hour flight landed in Paris she thought "...she had aged 20 years. Prosecutors should insist the trials of murderers and drug lords be held in economy class on crowded transatlantic flights, where any suspect would confess to any crime in exchange for the promise of a soft bed in a dark, quiet room."  P. 275. That well describes my trans-Pacific flights.

      Commonwealth is by turns funny, provocative and and profound. Yes, I recommend it.

Takk for alt,

Al

Reading weather!

     These wet rainy/snowy days are good weather for reading. Another book recommendation is nearing. Sitting in my comfortable recliner with rain tapping on the sliding glass door, Kaia snoozing beside me...it could be a lot worse.

    Keening to get back to The Little House, probably next week no matter the weather forecast. The trees were smiling this morning with the moisture giving them an early spring drink. South Dakota remains dry, though my weather app indicates that it is snowing there. Hopefully there will be significant moisture content. 

   Company coming tonight for cheese and crackers and a peek at the OFH.

Takk for alt,

Al

Today's random: With Pear on her graduation day, Chaing Rai, Thailand. This university conducts all classes in English.

Company!

      It's Spring Break and I have company.  How fun is that? But best I keep this brief. Just to let you know that all's well at the OFH.

Takk for alt,

Al

      Today's random: University Graduation, Chaing Rai, Thailand, waiting for the Princess to pass.

Recommended Reading

     In 2014, All The Light You Cannot See, was on the bestseller lists. The story was set in WW II Europe. It was followed the next year by Kirstin Hannah's The Nightingale, also on the best seller lists. It's also a novel WW II, of two sisters in occupied France. . Both of the books were memorable enough for me to yet recall much of them. 

    Hannah, has been busy.  Since Nightingale she's published twenty two books. The last published is The Four Winds, in 2021. When I sat down to read Winds I'd read 150 pages before I looked up. That's also my memory of Nightingale, real page turners. 

    Winds is the story of farmers in the Texas plains buffeted by drought and depression. It follows some to relocation to California hoping to find work and stability. It's not a cheery book, recounting the trials and tribulations of ordinary persons facing financial hard times, abysmal weather and rampant discrimination.  It is the story of charcter, strong family ties, moral courage, bravery and the struggle for workers equity.

    Elsa, the main charcter writes in her journal:

   "For most of my life, weather was a thing remarked upon by old men in their dusty hats who stopped to jaw with each other outside Walcott Tractor Supply. A topic of conversation. Farmers studied the sky the way a priest read the word of God, looking for clues and signs and warnings. But all of it from a friendly distance, all of it with faith in the essential kindness of our planet. But in this terrible decade, the weather has proven itself to be cruel. An adversary that we underestimated at our peril. Wind, dust, drought, and now this demoralizing rain, I fear--"

   Yes, I recommend it.

Takk for alt,

Al

Today's random:  Highway 81, (this 7 miles south of Arlington)is no longer flooded but they're raising and widening it anyway.

OFH to OFMC

      The Phonak Hearing Aids, from the VA, are more resilient than previous versions I've used. Hearing aids and masks are not a good combination. Previous aids used a wire between the piece in the ear and the piece on the ear. Tangling with masks could break the wires. The Phonaks use a tube in place of a wire. Those tubes stand up to tangling with the masks better. 

   However, those tubes need occasional replacement. Today I drove from the OFH a couple of miles to the OFMC, (Old Folk's Medical Center), also known as the VA. I'm about average age of most of the vets I see. Reporting to the audiology department the audiology trainee, under the supervision of the audiologist, replaced the tubes in my aid. These aids are, by far, the best I've had. 

   Sixty-three years ago my initial pay, as a new Marine, was $78.00 per month. You might say, "Oh, yes, but you got free room and board."  True enough, and if you think it's such a great deal at today's pay, enlist. The benefits I've received from the VA the last few years total more than my pay for three years of enlistment. Yes, I'm grateful.

Takk for alt,

Al

        Today's random is a repeat: Our squad after a two week, field exercise on Okinawa. The color of the Okinawa soil is revealed by the color of our normally black boots.

Coast Guard Encounter

      There was a recent article in the Minneapolis Paper about a Coast Guard Cutter being stationed in Duluth. Have you ever been arrested by the Coast Guard? I have and, no, it wasn't while I was a Marine. Reading the article about the C. G. Cutter brought back this memory.

    From 1968-75, I lived in Mohall, N.D. Often I've given the geographic location as where Saskatchewan, Manitoba and North Dakota meet. Close enough. While I was there I was on the Board of Camp Metigoshe, a Lutheran Camp on Lake Metigoshe, in the Turtle Mountains of ND.. It's since moved to Pelican Lake. 

   During my board years the board bought a small houseboat for camp use. After the purchase four of us decided to take the boat out on Lake Metigoshe for a trial run. All was well,  we wee cruising along nicely, when a Coast Guard boat came alongside and told us to stop. Lake Metigoshe is international water lying across the border with Canada, thus the Coast Guard patrols it.

   A coastguardsman boarded our boat for a safety inspection. We failed. Among other issues there was neither a horn nor safety beacon. Because I was driving the boat I was cited. No fine was levied, no jail time either. but corrective action had to be documented. But, it's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Takk for alt,

Al

              Today's random: Fado musicians, Lisbon, Portugal.

A classic!

     Staying at the OFH because of wet weather rather than going to The Little House necessitates planning some daily outings so I don't just stagnate. One day it was a trip to Costco to get a couple of items and have a hotdog lunch. It doesn't get much more exciting then that 😁! Yesterday it was trip to the Half Price Bookstore nearby. Yes, I bought a couple of books.

   When I was done browsing the bookstore it was lunch time. Going to my handy phone GPS looking for food nearby, the Highland Grill popped up less than a block away. There a tasty bowl of soup provided my lunch. At an ad hoc dinner last, table group last night, I mentioned that I'd had lunch at the Highland Grill. Michelle responded "That's a classic." That was news to me. It was a cool place, to which I will return.

   Then, in an exchange of  texts with Les, I mentioned the Grill. He replied "Go a little farther on Cleveland Ave. to Cecil's Delicatessen. More excitement awaits me! Getting acquainted with a new neighborhood is interesting.

   The OFH does not have anyone on duty at the reception desk after 9:00 p.m. After watching the second semi-final basketball game in the Women's NCAA tournament I took Kaia out for her last walk of the evening at about 11:00 p.m. Access to the locked building is via an electronic fob which I left in my apartment. To gain access to the building I had to call Roy, who could let me in from his apartment. Two more such incidents and I'll be moved to the memory care floor 😜. But, will they allow me to bring Kaia?

Takk for alt,

Al

Today's random: On the day after Joanne's birthday here is a picture of her with her siblings and their spouses.

Joanne Elizabeth (Hanson) Negstad, April 1, 1926-April 12, 2018

       Four years ago to today Joanne celebrated her birthday on Easter Sunday. It was her last meal, at which she sat at the dinner table, and she did for two hours. Twelve days later she died. It bears repeating again, that after watching a recording of Grace University Lutheran Church sing happy birthday to her during Easter Service she said "I never knew dying could be so glorious." That was our Joanne.

    Now with four years in the land of grief, living with the presence of absence, grief moves from a knife in the ribs to an ever present dull ache. Leaving the condo and moving to the OFC awakened grief. It meant leaving the place where she died and we'd lived. It was the first move, since 1963, that I had made without her. Often I've remarked that "she'd love the OFH." Had she moved here on January 7, as I did, she'd now have 200 new friends, unlike my dozen. She'd be pleased that I'm not a recluse, which was her fear for me without her. 

    This important day is an opportunity for gratitude. Joanne was gift to me and so many others in so many ways. Having 50+ years together was pure blessing. Together we raised two children and fostered several others. Now, added to them is a beloved daughter-in-law and two granddaughters who, together, with my children are the light of my life. During the darkest days of grief, and continuing, myriad relationships of family and friends saw me through and for that I'm profoundly grateful. So, in the midst of grief, gratitude abounds.

Takk for alt,

Al

                  Grief hits the hardest when thinking of what she's missing with her granddaughters. 

                                            Joanne's Easter/birthday dinner April 1, 2018.