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I got some sad news yesterday. My cousin Jim passed away. I didn't see much of Jim as a child. I mostly saw his father, Uncle Durant. My dad was the youngest in the family and many of my cousins were older. Jim and his sister, Dorothy were married and lived in Oregon. Uncle Durant would tell me about his train trips out to Oregon. I always wanted to take the train out there to visit my cousins but never got the chance. I met Jim's younger sisters at Uncle Bill's funeral but didn't meet Jim until Uncle Durant's funeral. I started having family reunions and Jim would come. He enjoyed seeing all his cousins and filled me in on the family. My grandmother died when I was 7 and she spent those 7 years of my life in a hospital bed. I never really got to know her. I corresponded with Jim through emails and on facebook until he became ill and was unable to post. I miss hearing from him. RIP Jim.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
Friday Flower Bloggin'
My beautiful little redbud tree. This one was found growing in the middle of my walkway a few years ago. It was about six inches tall so I moved it over to the west side near my patio. It had only a few blooms for a couple years and this year it is in full bloom. It creates some much needed shade on the west side. I brought some others from Vineland but they are still smaller than this one and have never bloomed. I think they have too much shade even though the redbuds in Vineland were in deep shade. Maybe they need some fertilizer.
Thursday night, we had a thunder storm. Sparky had gone to sleep in the bedroom and when he heard the thunder, came running out to me for comfort. He wasn't always afraid of thunder but a couple years ago, there was an extra loud clap on thunder in the middle of the night and he's been scared ever since.
News fro the Vorlon Wife.
I was worn out after hosting my Easter dinner. I got the leaves of the table put away and the table back down to it's regular size. I stacked up the chairs but they are still sitting in my kitchen. I have to take things out of the shed to put them back in. Right now, stuff is piled up like a Fibber Magee closet. I went to exercise on Tuesday and did the financial work for the church. Wednesday, I went to Bible Study but we mostly talked about Barb's sister, May, and the serious medical concerns she has been going through. Keep her in your prayers. May has had a hip replacement that got infected. She had to have it removed and wait 6 six months to replace the hip all over again. She went to a nursing home where she got some other infection and had to wait even longer so the nursing home sent her home. She finally had the hip replaced again and developed the same infection. She doesn't want to go through surgery again but the doctor's claim without it she will die. She feels she couldn't survive the surgery. She has been suffering for 5 years with this.
We had choir practice last night. Only a handful of us showed up. I am worried about the choir. John and Kay may quit. They are upset because John wasn't asked the sing "The Ancient City" for Palm Sunday. It has been a tradition for years for him to do this and everyone enjoyed it. The director likes to do things differently but I like tradition. It you want different then go to the Contemporary Service is how I feel. Anyway, I wanted to hang some towels out on the live but they are calling for rain. It was cloudy and damp yesterday and my clothes didn't dry. My dryer's not working. I think I moved it too far and pulled out the wire harness. I haven't had the energy to pull it out, hope over in back of it and fix it. I had to hang my clothes on the shower rack. Fortunately, I have two bathrooms.
Time to take Sparky out.
News from the Vorlon Wife
I had a busy weekend. On Saturday, I went to my brother, Don's. We went to the cemetery in Broomall to place flowers on my husband and parent's graves. I had lunch with
Don, finished watching a movie and headed home. I had to search around for some Easter Flowers for my guests. I had to get the white plastic chairs out of the shed and wash them off. I washed the green plastic lawn furniture and go out the white table for the deck along with the cushion for the glider. It was going to be warm on Easter so I though some people might want to eat outside. I looked at the instructions for the ham and the stuffed shells and wrote down a schedule for the time to cook them.
Sunday, I was up early and into the shower to get ready for the Sunrise Service. It is always so lovely to watch to sun come up over the Canal. The Wesleyan Church hosted this year and served a wonderful breakfast of waffles, pancakes, eggs, scrapple, bacon, fruit, juice, coffee and cakes. I was stuffed. They also gave away beautiful purple petunias. Home I went to change into my dress for the nine o'clock service. It was a lovely service and I was so glad to see my friend, Joan who was recovering from pneumonia. After the service, I ran down to the General Dollar to get ice but they had none so I went to the Valero gas station. They had 16 pound bags but I had no choice. I took the large bag in to pay for it and the man said they had smaller bags so he took the big bag back and found a small one for me. It was going to be hot and I forgot to turn my ice maker on after I changed the filter in the frig.
It was getting hotter and hotter as the day went on. It was 89 degrees on the East side. The sun hadn't gotten around to the west yet so it was only 81 degrees. I dreaded having to turn on the oven in that heat but the house remained cool until 3pm when the temp on the west side reached 89. Just as I stepped out the door to walk the dog, the air conditioner kicked on. When I got back, I lowered the thermostat to compensate for the oven. It remained comfortable for the rest of the day. That was partly due to the sky clouding up making it cooler.
I had ten people for dinner including: Brothers Don and Rick, sister-in-law, Sylvia, nieces Cheryl with husband, Ed, and son Ethan, Tina with husband, Sean, nephews, Bob and Rick.
The dinner turned out well and everyone brought something to add to the ham, shells, and asparagus. We all stuffed ourselves and had a nice time. After everyone went home, I called my mother-in-law to wish her a Happy Easter and to see how she was doing.
It was a long day and I was beat.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
Thursday: I went to exercise class but no one showed up. I did a few things in the office and went home to do more yard work and wash. I heard a mower running around 1pm and thought that's odd as Juan usually comes at 5pm when he is done work. I looked out and saw my next door neighbor, Robin, mowing the lawn. We share the middle of my west yard and I have Juan cut along the side of her shed as she has never cut there. I had planted some purple cone flower there it was too late, she had already run over them. It was just the leaves so I think they will be alright. I had forgotten to mark them when I put markers out for Juan not to cut there. I quickly put a stake out next to the flowers and when Juan came later that evening, he saw them.
Off to church I went for the Agape dinner on Holy Thursday. It was a lovely setting with the partition decorated with little white lights and the Festus trees with their white lights. Marian had gone to Israel in February so had photos enlarged and posted on the partitions. She told of her visit to the Holy Land and how moving it was to walk in the places that Jesus walked.
After dinner, we had a lovely service with several stations. First, we dug our hand into a bowl of soil and pulled out a rock. The next station was to place the rock near the alter. The next station was to wash the dirt and sin off our hands and out of our life. The next station was to offer prayers to those we had concerns about. It seems my list of family and friends is endless. I picked the most pressing concerns, wrote their names on a slip of paper and hung it on the Prayer Tree. We sat silently in the pews while everyone finished their stations. Then we sang some hymns and were given the Benediction.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
Wednesday, I did a lot of errands. First to the Laundromat to was the king size comforter. Next to Big Lots to see what they had for sping decorations. Next to Acme to get the ham for Easter dinner. Next to the gas station to fill up and on to the car wash. Next to Redner's to get the rest of my groceries. Asparagus was on sale. Home to do more weeding. I didn't see any Easter plants for sale along the road ways. I hate it that the Apple Barn closed. They had such wonderful plants at a reasonable price.
The Anglican Church hosted the Lenten Service. They had soup and bread and then had a Communion Service. My eyes bugged out when I saw them sharing the Communion Cup. I am a germ freak and I was aware of two people who had just had the flu. I was last in the line. I dipped the tip of my wafer into the wine and imagined I had a sore throat and was probable going to come down with something. I know, I'm paranoid.
Tuesday, Sparky has his teeth cleaned of the tartar. I dropped him off at 7:30. He had to have anesthesia so was there all day. I went to Walmart and got 10 bags of mulch. It was on sale for 1.97. They had a flowering peach tree. I'll have to go back and get it. When I got home, I went to exercise class and then got the bills ready for Laura to pay. I had to make sure we had enough money as payroll was do this week. We did have enough so I went home and left it up to Laura my assistant treasurer. I did some weeding in my flowerbeds, getting the yard ready for Juan to cut the grass.
My lovely spring flowers are blooming. Some are just about finished. They made a bright splash of color after the bleak winter.
Palm Sunday. I always enjoyed singing "The Palms" but Trinity has a tradition of another song. I forget it's proper name but it's nick name is "The Donkey Song." Last year we did sing the Palms but some of the choir members didn't like it. They missed The Donkey Song. This year, there will be neither. The bell choir will be playing or some musician. I feel disappointed. Another tradition is John Redding singing "Jerusalem." One year, they had him sing at the beginning of the service. I was in the office getting things ready for the counting of the offering when I heard the music start. It was 8:45. No one was told of this change and John sang to an empty Sanctuary. Most of the people arrived when the service was half over. I hope John sings this year.
Yesterday, I scrubbed both bathroom floors and went to the church to get the financial reports ready. When I got home, I raked the leaves out of the gutter between the house and sidewalk. I still have more leaves to get raked or blown. Under the front steps and behind the shed where they drift from the wind. I also have to take the blower to the iris beds. I should have done that sooner as they are now a foot high.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I went to choir practice last night. Only 3 of us showed up along with the director and the piano player. I don't know where everyone was. Maybe they had to clean up after the storm. I saw the Inn parking lot was flooded when I drove by. They flood a lot.
Sparky goes to the groomer today. I wanted him to get done before he has his dental procedure done on Tuesday. I hope he doesn't need any teeth pulled and only needs the tartar removed. Still, they give him antibiotics to prevent infection so I don't want him get a chill. His fur was thin when he developed his thyroid condition. It is growing back in but is uneven so he needs to be clipped. I just don't want it too short yet as winter is trying to hang on.
My redbud tree is starting to bloom. Should be out today but high winds are predicted. I hope all the blossoms don't blow away. The trees are looking pretty.... cherry, pear, plum and magnolia. The flowers are looking lovely, too. I have a variety of daffodils that bloom at different times. They are looking pretty. The hyacinths are at there peak and the tulips are starting to bloom. The hardy primroses look lovely this year. I think adding some top soil and putting the edging across the back of the bed has helped. The soil slopes toward the house and get washed away. The edging holds it in place. I need to put it along the iris beds on the west side to keep the mulch from washing into them. They like their corms sticking out.
I have a lot of work to do to get ready for Easter. The hot water heater needs to be flushed and the dryer needs to be looked at. I think I moved it too far away from the outlet and the wire harness may have gotten pulled out. I pushed it back closer but I have to pull it out and get in back of it to see what the problem is. I hope I don't have to call the repair man.
I arranged for my next door neighbor to go down into the stream and clean up all the trash that's down there. He has hip waders as the muck can get pretty deep. I have done some clean up in years past but I didn't want my boots to get stuck in the muck and have to take my feet out of them to get out. I also arranged for Juan to cut the grass next week so I have to get the branches cleaned up. I did get the larger ones picked up but there are a lot of smaller ones scattered around. I also have some leaves that need to be raked or blown out. They are in the east drainage gutter, under the front steps and in back of the shed. I can hire the neighbor boy to do that. I also have to clean the house and get it ready for my dinner on Easter. I will be hosting it this year.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
The hackers found me. I had a system where they couldn't find me but it seems they caught on. I'll try something new. I don't know why people are so ignorant and disrespectful. Don't they have anything better to do. They probably have some program the automatically seeks out blog to post their stupid, irrelevant comments on.
Yesterday, I went to Bible Study, worked on financial reports, and went to the Lenten Service Last night. Our church was host. We had 6 different kinds of soup and I sampled each one. Three were excellent and the other three were OK. I should have stuck with the three excellent ones because I over ate. There was also a selection of delicious breads which I ate more than I should have.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I had a pleasant surprise last night. My nephew stopped in with his daughter and invited me to dinner. They were on their way to the Chesapeake Inn. The problem was, I had just finished eating. I guess I should have gone and just ordered an appetizer and ice tea.
I finished the reconciliations of the churches finances yesterday. There were several issues that needed to be corrected or resolved. I worked on it for 2 days. I still have to make a correction but was able to get the accounts reconciled.
I have to run the report today to make sure everything was posted correctly. The Bible Study class has resumed. I thought it was suspended for lent as some people were away and we have the Lenten Services on Wednesday night. Tonight they will be held at my church. The churches here in CC take a turn each week of Lent.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I raked out some leaves yesterday on the east back corner flowerbed. I should have done it sooner as my pretty mauve lilies are coming up. I still have some work to do on that flowerbed but it's supposed to rain today, Thursday and Friday. I also ironed some jeans and corduroys but I did some wash yesterday and there will be more ironing. My sewing pile is sky high. I don't know if I'll ever get through it.
I will be hosting Easter dinner this year. I wish I had gone out and bought a new sofa but it is too late now. It wouldn't get here in time. I wish I could find one to match the sofa bed I have. I really like it but it needs new covering. I haven't been able to fine a material I like. It is a tropical print of blue and mauve. It has wicker arms. The covering of the seat cushions is OK for now but need the foam needs to be replaced. One of these days, I'll take them to the foam factory in Eddystone. .
I want to keep that sofa and get rid of my love seat. We had it custom made but didn't like it after we got it. The seat was too short and the back too thick. The arms are high and one can't lay on it comfortable. Maybe a child could. It only seats two. I should have gotten matching sofas so I could seat 6. It is have to find one that will co-ordinate with the one I have.
I have exercise class today and have to go to Concord Pet to get Sparky some dog food. I should get him an appointment to be groomed before he has to get his Dental surgery. He has tart on his teeth. I hope he doesn't need any to be pulled.
I need to order his Heartworm and flea medicine. The Vet has a fair coming up and you can pre-order a years supply at a discount and also receive rebates from the manufacturer.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
I can't believe it's been 10 years since Ted passed away. I miss him so much.
I attend a memorial service for my friend's husband and the pastor from the Methodist Camp sat across from me wearing Ted's tie with the joggers on it. A few years ago, I donated Ted's ties to the church Bazaar wondering who would want a tie with joggers on it. Pastor Jack is a jogger and he bought the tie along with one with poinsettias all over it. He gave that one to Pastor Mark. I was so happy to see Jack wearing Ted's jogging tie.
Yesterday was our last concert for the Spring season. It was kind of sad for the season to come to and end. I enjoy it so much. I just wish I could sing better. It is a relief to not have to go out every Tuesday night. We have a nice long break until September when we start practice for our Christmas concert.
Lots of yard work needs to be done. I dread it. Especially since the pollen is creating havoc with my sinuses.
Sparky is doing well with his thyroid medicine. Now he needs the tartar cleaned off his teeth. I hope he doesn't have any cavities. He also needs to go back to the Chiropractor for treatment on his leg/back.
News from the Vorlon Wife.
