My Weekend & Sister Visit

My Weekend: That's the title of a paragraph Mrs. Filkins my third-grade teacher had us write each and every Monday morning of that year. And, we had to read it out loud in class. Hmmm.

Yes, I'm not as disciplined as Mrs. Filkins would have had it as I didn't get to this on Monday but maybe she started something anyway.

My Weekend:

Again, a family trip into the city for a Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's  2017 Showcase of all six of the young people's orchestras playing in Verizon Hall. Altogether, an amazing assemblage of 400 young people drawn from this region making music. And it's good music. Aidan's PYAO (Philadelphia Young Artists Orchestra) played Dvorak's Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op.88--an excellent, beautiful rendition of this piece.

The beginning of the week...

Weather Report: Filthy Piles of Snow. A little one-on-one, anybody?

The downpours this week have largely rid the area of these piles.

Lots of neighbor dog-walking going on.

Our mailman enjoying easier deliveries.

Oops, I launched this ahead of completion for this posting.

I stopped here to stop myself from further procrastination to wield the unwieldy. Vacuuming. Well, I did it! Now I'm back.  To continue...

It is good there are happily anticipated visits to spur the use of a vacuum which you might now have guessed is my household maintenance nemesis. The noise drowns out the music and challenges my patience beyond normalcy. 

The occasion coming up is a visit very soon by my sister Sandy whom I've not seen in a long time. It will be great to share some of our days here in PA, get some touring done, and swap our grandmother and great-grandmother stories.

I'll be watching for her arrival on her pony Tahoe. (Did I get the name right, Sandy?)

Breakthrough! My earworm is singing "younger than springtime am I".

Health Desk: What is Normal?

Some days I feel normal all day. Nice to have that sprinkled in. Which lead to getting outdoors and trying to walk to some shopping. I made it across one of the major roadways at the perimeter of this housing area but not the biggest one...

I might be the only pedestrian in this town. The intersections are treacherous in perfect weather. After the snowplows clear roadways there is no way to approach crosswalks, much less electronic crossing buttons. I couldn't even get close to the crossing.

The sidewalk that goes nowhere.

So, I gave up and walked back home. In the other direction, the Dunkin' Donuts place is hemmed in by big banks of plowed snow, too. A friend stopped by right after I got back and drove me to get the prescription I was after.

Marge was back for about a day and I got some shopping done. I thought I'd give bread baking a try and had a success. No kneading. Mix together flour, water, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon dry yeast. Then let it sit 19 hours.

19 hours.

Then shape into a round thing with cornmeal top and bottom sitting on a tea towel that you fold over it for 2-3 more hours.

Bake covered in a Dutch Oven at 450 degrees. After half hour take the lid off and bake 15 min. more.

Omigosh! The best loaf I ever made.

That's Grandma Steinbach's bread knife.

From last fall before things went crazy.

This week. This Tillandsia is thriving perched in Marge's shell on the windowsill.

Today, Miss Suzy came by and ate a popcorn I'd thrown outside.

Oops

I forgot to upload and post last time photos from Kimmel Center's enormous foyer that always has a new installation to see on our trips there for music.

Entirely of thread spools, the Girl with the Pearl Earring is hung upside down.

And a right-side-up crystal ball view was available.

A Saturday overnight at the farm took place this weekend. Alas, no restorative walk in the crusted layers of snow, making treacherous footing. Aidan busied himself shovel-sculpting an ice chair with the packed snow slush.

It's been a long time since I saw The Russians are Coming, the Russians are Coming! Aidan and I streamed it enjoying our cookies and milk together, laughing throughout. I got to thinking it was pretty instructive about the Cold War days putting a face on those times in a satirical way that informs current goings-on with that country now high-jacked by the bare chest guy.

Marge flew in Friday for a weekend here and a couple days work this week at State College. Good seeing her.

A shoutout to Wendy and John who contributed some transport when Marge arrived and her rental car plan had a glitch: Thank You!

It won't be long and Marge's southern climes stay will end and she'll take up full-time residence here again. A nice weather window opened up today for her in-state travels. I hope the weather trend continues so we can see what is beneath all that snow.

Wendy reports mustang Austin was able to get back through the gates into the still snowy pasture where she promptly rolled in the frozen mass to scratch her barn itchiness (despite daily brushing by Wendy).

The Tillandsia continue to thrive in the loft window. Here's one of my little friends with whom I hold occasional conversations...he says they don't mind that I talk to Marge now that she's here.

The fish pond is thawing out again, so I'll soon collect water from it on Tillandsia soaking days. This one pictured with the thicker growth needs once a week; the finer varieties twice a week. Pond water is desirable I learned from my reading because the bacteria feeds the air plants. So we'll see. I hope they aren't insulted with "dirty" water.

Is anybody out there used to Daylight Saving Time? I'm not.

This morning I thought about how our paths cross...

Friday launched a busier than usual weekend starting with Aidan's arrival for an overnight here on Saturday afternoon with the plan to migrate to the farm in the morning to put on his tux to play cello with PYAO in Perelman Theatre at Kimmel Center on Sunday afternoon with a call time of noon. John and Wendy worked in a nice time Saturday night with friends. Here, Aidan and I polished off the chili and corn bread left from Keoni's visit Friday.

Aidan is not a bored person...

Aidan capturing the theme from LaLa Land Sunday morning.

The program.

Celloman is first chair this year.

Cello section.

The view heading back home.

It's a good thing Keoni had a Saturday flight back to Georgia since the predicted blizzard is happening right now with New England and Mid-Atlantic flights pretty much shut down until maybe sometime tomorrow. The great shoveling and scooping is taking place as I write...

This blade came by twice already today.

I suit up and put on my Helen Mirren boots. (You know those boots she puts on in RED while dressed in her white gown.)

Outside, layers of fluff and layers of sleet await.

I'm proud of myself getting the snow away from the foundation that tries out my altered lung capacity. But it's OK. Not like days of yore but a bit more frequent leanings on the shovel take care of it.

Now what...

George, our next-door neighbor, finishes off all the front drive and sidewalk. Yay! George. Your efforts made my day. Thank you!

I go inside, shed all outerwear, stand the boots upside down and throw the rest into the drier. What Mom wouldn't have given for that option when five of us trooped into the kitchen in our snowy wetness from a long stay outdoors.

Shoutout to Jeanenne: Thank you, thank you! The powder room sink is dressed now in the very fine skirt you made and sent to us. I love it...

It was a pleasure to wake up to find I didn't have major cold/cough dregs choking up my morning. I hope I didn't pass it to anyone else. Also, installing the skirt makes me realize how I appreciate better brain function this week.

I think the storm is abating and moving away with some powerful winds.

I'll leave you with this little bird I saw yesterday morning in the back yard. It was going in and out of the birdhouse which is listing heavily. I badly wanted to straighten up the support but didn't want to pack down the sodden soil nor disturb my possible little neighbors.

After the hard winter weekend, on Tuesday it was wonderful to take a milder weather walk around the farm with Aidan in search of spring survivors. Wendy's crocus and jonquils were uninjured but a not open yet. Aidan began the walk just ahead of me...






There were signs of life...

Raspberry leafing out.

Onions.

And the pond was alive with frog activity though the croaking wasn't taking place. Maybe they knew another storm was coming by the end of the week.

The chickens are laying plenty of eggs and, alas, I forgot to bring home the dozen John offered.

Fancy and Toby were sharing on the back porch. Made me sleepy looking at them from the window...

It's been great having Keoni home all week. We all had dinner at the farm Tuesday night and Wendy treated us with a very, very nice St. Patrick's Day menu with the corned beef and cabbage. Oh, so good. A little music with the boys and Keoni drove me home.

Wednesday and Thursday were a blur of kleenex and congestion malaise. Very ugh.

Funny how I knew in the wee hours of this morning that there was snow outside. It was the glow on the curtains. A mild temp, heavy snow when I got up. Plunging temps tonight and for the weekend. How did the frogs know this?

Marge's back yard with neighbor's barn in back.

The soft, white silence attracted Keoni to a farm walk he said. He captured Frezz who doesn't mind the cold one bit...






Today, was the best health since catching this darn cold. Keoni and I lunched on chili and cornbread before heading off to the movies where we saw Hidden Figures which I liked very much. Wonderful seeing some barriers come down after really amazing hard work. I wasn't very much older than Keoni when all that was taking place. We who lived those times all remember the space race moments. How little I knew about hidden figures.

Weather Report: Poor Buds

If any poor buds survived the freeze last weekend to live through another balmy week--this week that ended in snow showers and hard freezing--they are doomed tonight.

I won't report anything else on my (bad, as it turned out) cold. It's running its course. I will survive.

Excepting last weekend at the farm, then church with music, friends and transportation...after months of coordinating and getting to a crazed amount of appointments, clinics, tests, hospitals, not driving; suddenly, my contact with humanity became like a New Mexico high plains sonar scope aimed at the Universe waiting for Contact! I've become very much the keeper of my own company. No appointments until April. (!) Relating to others happens via media (blog and such) with a break or two over at the Dunkin' Donut where the kind lady finessed me five donut holes since she hadn't seen me in awhile. As I've gotten better from the surgery other walks ensued but were necessarily curtailed this week.

When sickness takes over (or healing from surgery, as many will already know), my concentration ability gives way to chaos, mistakes, and dropped spoons. Action movies help move through the process, especially if they are on the cable channels with commercials--comedies, musicals rank right up there, too. The commercials work well since I can crochet during them and feel elevated to worthiness.

Exercise is going up and down the two flights of stairs--even when I forget something...yes, there's the mistake thing again.

Here's a good thing...the loft window with its Tillandsia and the rutabaga sitting close by there. I like being up in the loft these days. I talk to the Tillandsia now. They are good listeners. The rutabaga may not live much longer but I'm enjoying her. She's so down to earth and gets on really well with her exotic little friends. I have her on a transplant list if the week ahead warms up enough.

It was really pretty out early Wednesday morning...

Wendy sent over my buddy's picture...

Toby inside goat feeder.