2023 Review last half

 

I can feel my brain getting dimmer and it’s more depressing than alarming. I couldn’t tell you if its just normal aging or if something else is going on. Sometimes I just practice remembering things as if that could make a difference. When I was awake in the middle of the night, I started to review what I’ve done and where I went in 2023. I think I remember the important things but then I would not know what I don’t remember, would I? I have a lot of pictures to help me remember and I have written about some of the more interesting things that we did. We still have places to go, things to do and children to see turn into adults. I need to be present and remember those things for sure.

I just reviewed my blog post from the end of June. At the time, I said that we had no more travel plans for the summer except for the bluegrass festival. That turned out not to be true. In addition to the festival, we took a trip to the Poconos where we spent a week in a chalet with Kelly, Jason and the girls. That was a fine trip.

At the Festival

Kelly making pancakes

Kelly came by herself in August. We picked her up at the airport, went back to our house to get our loaded and ready RPod and headed up to Old Washing Machine Hill. Old Wash is the rough camping, no generators allowed campground at the far end of El Rancho Manana. Once there, we set up camp and commenced to enjoy the music and visit with family and friends. My brothers Doug and Ludwig can almost always be found on Old Wash during MBOTMA events, as can sister-in-law Mandy. Here are some pictures.

By the creek

Kelly found a VRBO in the Poconos and asked us to join them for a week at the end of August. We drove to Pennsylvania, primarily because we needed to go to Kelly’s house in Media to pick up “the crib” because our family is going to get a new baby next spring. Mandy’s daughter is expecting and said she would like to use the crib. But that is all on the side. The chalet in which we stayed, was what I call a preschooler’s paradise. There was a playground out front, a stream running around it with rocks to climb on, a swing in the living room and a fully stocked playroom.  There was a beach in walking distance and a trail back to a hidden lake. We also did a day trip to an amazing apple orchard. See . . . my memory isn’t too bad. I haven’t even looked at pictures to help me remember this trip.

Don and Andalu

Last summer our plan was to spend more time in Coon Rapids so that we could make more connections there and make it feel more like home. We have made friends with our neighbors and enjoyed a few meals with them this summer as well as looking out for each other’s places while we are gone. I went so far as to volunteer as secretary in the Tulip Street Homeowner’s Association, a decision I hope not to regret. So far it hasn’t been too much work. Our town homes were built in 1992 and some of the trees need to be dealt with.

Back in 2020 I had joined a book group at the United Methodist Church in Anoka that met on Zoom. I got to know a few people and enjoyed meeting with them on Thursday morning talking about . At some point, after the George Floyd events some members of the group decided to form another book group in which we would read books about social justice. After a couple of years, we decided that we would like to actually do something in addition to reading and

Class In Action

talking about these issues so we expanded our group to talk once a month and then do something once a month. We gave our group a name, CLASS (Christian Love and Social Stuff) and then CLASS in action. So this year I got to meet many of these folks in person and began to expand my friendships in Coon Rapids. Don and I participated in a painting project, tearing up carpet and bagging donated cookies to deliver lunches for some folks. And then I joined UMCA in September. We also started going to the Senior Center where we played some competitive, apparently high stakes, 500. It was only $1.00 each but you wouldn’t know that by how we played.

The finished floor

Tile removal

After we came home from the Poconos, we set about the task that I had been dreading all summer. We tore up floors in our foyer, laundry room and bathroom and replaced it with ceramic tile. Back in July, when Don said we would be doing this ourselves, I contemplated my options. I thought about going to visit my sister for a month while he did the job but then when I thought about how much I wanted to spend on traveling in the coming year, I figured that would be my payment for taking on the job. I also didn’t see how he could get it done without me. So we spent a week tearing up the old tile in the foyer which had a few inches of cement under it and removing the vinyl flooring in the other two rooms. I took the doors off the vanity and smoothed them out and painted them so that we have a nice modern looking cabinet. We proceeded to lay tile for several days with Greg’s help. We got a nice countertop for the vanity, painted the walls and put up a new light fixture in the bathroom. The whole job took about a month. I have to say that on the day we finished laying the tile I felt like we had finished a marathon. What a sense of accomplishment and I’m a little sheepish about my original reluctance. My knees are fine and that is a relief.

We celebrated the end of summer with a family party at our house. We had 35 or so family members come together to share some really good food and smoked ribs. Here are pictures of that group. Then at the end of October we headed south and made it to Palmdale on Halloween.

The family reunion

My brothers and sisters

St. Croix River cruise

River Cruise with Barbis/Ruffs

We are back in our normal routine around here. This year looks much like last year. We saw the SpaceX launch in November. That was exciting. I went to Cuba for 5 days but I’ve written about that in a separate post. We have friends over on our porch, go to exercise class, line dancing, walk around the park and go golfing. We enjoyed a seafood feast with neighbors to celebrate Christmas Eve. It was nice enough that we were able to eat on the porch.

We spent this week researching, shopping and finding a golf cart for Dick to buy so now he has wheels and can get around Palmdale.  I think we are ready for the new year.  

Neighbors Lyle and Judy moved their shed and were left with a small shed-sized plot of ground that needed to be tilled up to plant some grass. Don, who is in the business of solving neighbor’s problems, borrowed their shovel, purchased a hoe and enlisted me in cultivating the little plot of rock hard and muddy ground. We dug and chopped and got it into about 1-inch chunks. My brother Dick was using a couple of bags of potting soil to hold down the septic hose on his camper. Don took some of Lyle’s bricks and solved Dick’s problem and we put the soil on Lyle’s plot. Now Lyle planted some grass seed and we spend time watching for the seeds to germinate. 

We will be going on an Hawaiian Cruise with friends Kay and Max in February. So there you have it.