Nina – Connecticut Yankee

On Tuesday I now go to an assisted living home to teach crafts.   I mostly  don’t feel like I am a crafty lady !!!    But I try to provide some entertainment to the women I visit.   Yesterday after class was done and I was driving to town, I had a sense of peace and well being and I have reflected on that.  I realized how much the women gave to me.   I might be the one going to them  to teach a craft but they are the ones that teach me.  They are fun, they admire their work and look at it as their personal art gallery.  They share their happiness with the other ladies, they want their children’s names written on their projects.  They admire the beauty of their own creations.  They are ready with a smile and willing to chat.  They really don’t want much.  Just someone to know they are there and worth while.  They draw me to them by their honesty and joy and caring.   I came away with a deep sense of  gratitude that we can be together.

I have also thought that when we care more about others, then we care about ourselves, we become better people.  We do not always have to be right.  We can learn to be more patient and more forgiving and to be more kind.  Being kind to others is not always easy, but it is always the right thing to do.    I hope that in this small part of the world, here in Idaho, that I will be able to learn how to become a better person and to be mindful of others and be willing to give.

So this morning,I go to swim laps before water aerobics.  Good work out.  I find a quarter in the pool !   We have substitute instructor.  She brings no music..not a good sign.   After 15 min. or so of stretches I determine this class is not for me.. I tell Roland I am leaving.  He tells me he paid money on our gym bill.  I tell him it is taken care of.. so now I need to go to the desk and have it credited to our full bill. I go to change into street clothes. I discover part of my wardrobe is missing.  You can figure out what that is !  I go to the front desk to fix mistake.  Reese  (who is perhaps 22 or so) is the one who “made” the error is still there.  I explain to her the problem. She thought Roland was in the  ”senior a.m. group”  This group is for people over 60 and they can get a discount at the gym if they are 1. over 60  2. If they leave the gym by 4 except on weekends. 3. they also get a 10% discount if you pay the whole bill in a month.  I am like surprised.  We have both been over 60 for 4 years.  I have been over 60 since going to the gym !   Reese in her kindness did not see us on the “senior a.m. ” book so she added us in.  Then along I come and tell her of  her “mistake.”  Poor girl was all out of sorts.  After chatting and me doing some math I figured out even without the 10% that we would save money by being in that senior a.m. book.  So she calls for some assistance and the end result is With both Roland and I on the senior a.m. plan and with the 10% discount we will save around  $150 !   I had already paid $250 dollars and now Roland’s payment added to that makes us owe barely nothing.   I tell Reese she is an angel and will be in my remembrance forever. I tell her I am putting her on Facebook !   We had a good laugh over her “mistake.”  It saved us $150 and she RULES !

So the summary of all of this is.  1.  Doing laps first is good, and I found a quarter in the pool. 2. Having a substitue that was not to my liking workout wise is good.  3. I left early because of the class being not to my liking which lead me to Roland telling me he had paid money, 4 which lead me to head to the front desk to “fix” the problem.  5. which lead to Reese having made a mistake that was really a gift. 6. It was Roland who told the desk that he needed to pay money on a bill. 7. Due to my missing part of my wardrobe, I drove EXTRA careful going home, so I would not get a speeding ticket !!!  LOL  All three of us made all of this morning just course of human events in my life.  A seemingly small set of events has made my morning pretty darn special.  A big thanks to Reese !

Yesterday was our 46th wedding anniversary and I reflected on what an amazing 46 years of marriage I have had.   Now mind you it is not always a bed of roses.  There are many thorns along the way but it is what you do with those thorns that matters.  Sometimes it has taken me longer to make changes then it should but I do manage to make them.  Roland is a wonderful, generous man.

I have thought about how he left Pocatello to join the Air Force so he could get out of small town living, because he knew there was a bigger world out there.  How when he joined the Air Force they eventually sent him to Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut to learn the Chinese language.   How I lived in Hamden, Connecticut which was next door and how I just happen to be able to go on a blind date with him.   Fortunately for me he was not blind when it came to falling in love with me.  He still tells people it was my mother’s good cooking !  Thanks Mom.

We have lived in so many awesome places, seen so many awesome things and met so many wonderful people, all who have enriched out lives.  Most importantly we have above and beyond the best children, sons and daughters in-laws and the bestest of grandchildren.  All of whom I love with all of my heart.

If any one asked me if I would do it all over again, the same way, and marry the same person, in a nano second I would say YES !  This morning as Roland left the house to go to an early morning church meeting he said to me “Happy 27th year.”   In deed it will be a happy year.  Will it sometimes be hard.  You bet !!   But it is all worth it.  It is a joy to walk  together, in the sunset of our lives.

Last week I decided I would do lasagna gardening.  Dawnmarie had told me about some time ago and when Eileen mentioned using newspaper and mulch to garden I remembered the lasagna gardening.  I looked it up on the internet and that was all I needed to convince myself that I would do it

The method of lasagna gardening is easy.  If you have a grassy area that you would rather have as a planting area and you don’t want to dug up the grass then lasagna gardening is a good idea.  You take news paper lay it on the ground, over lapping, add cardboard boxes that are flattened, add grass clippings, veggie scraps, fruit scraps and basically anything else that you would use for composting.  It is all layered hence “lasagna” gardeing.  You do not need to turn it over you just leave it and let it do its thing.

Being as how I have no flower beds I decided I would try this.  I am going to document the whole process and if this first area works then I will do more areas.  So yesterday Roland said he would help me get mulch which was nice.  We did three trips to the “free mulch” area and now we have a mini pile in our back yard.  Next will be to secure some newspapers, cardboard and green grass. I am currently working on all of these areas.  I hope by some time next week I will be able to begin the whole process.  Stay tuned for updates !

Our pretty bird.

This is a picture of one of the other birds that frequents our feeders.  Last year he was all by himself.   This evening I saw that there were now two males and I spotted one female.  I think he is quite pretty.  I have forgotten the name and need to get my bird book out.

Mom Smith and I went shopping together and also had lunch together here in town.  It was a very fun afternoon and I am sure we need to be doing this way more often.  It turned out to be a nice warm,sunny day.    It is soon time to go to bed and before I do that I will work on some indexing and I should write a bit in my journal.  till next time.

Bullock Oriole

I love the month of May especially in Idaho.  It has such a variety of weather !  Yesterday we had hail, snow, rain and sun.  You just have to love it!  I also love that there is the color of green every where. The hills are slowly turning green and it is truly the prettiest time of the year here.

I was about a month late in getting my hummingbird and bullock oriole bird feeders up.  The day after they were up all of the birds seemed to arrive about the same time.  We now have two sets of bullock orioles and they are just so pretty and fun to watch.  The hummingbirds are back in full force and we have a small blue/brown bird that appeared last year for the first time and it has been hear for the last 4 days are so.  For me all is right with the world when my bird friends are once again here !!!

I have spent pretty much the whole last two weeks working on organizing my genealogy. It has been a huge task and it is partially done.  Now the records have been switched from folders to note books and the next part it to get the information organized and to add more to my PAF files.   I have also been indexing part of the 1910 census. Currently working on Pennsylvania.  I am addicted to this.  I have indexed around 500 or so records.  The family search web site has the indexing project and any one can do it.  It is very easy and very rewarding.

This week we have Jim and LeeAnn and kids coming for a visit. We are so excited to see them.  Having family come to visit is always a huge highlight for us.  I am grateful to live in such a wonderful part of this country.  It is a beautiful time of the year.

About a month or so ago at 4 in the morning the phone rang and when I answered it there was this happy, cheerful women saying hello to me.   I said who is this ?  She then realized that she had called the wrong number and was very embarrassed due to the early hour.

Well this afternoon the phone rang and I answered it and a women asked how I was and if I had finished dinner.  I said dinner was done. She said well Carl just made the best curry ever.   I said I think you have the wrong number and she was very apologetic. I said you sound like the lady that called me  some time ago at 4 in the morning.   She remembered the call.   I told her she sounded like a person that one would like to be friends with. Then she proceeded to chat to me.   She went on to tell me about the neighbor that cooks so good and how her son he is living with her temporarily and is a great cook but she is not and how she wants to tell her neighbor about how great the curry was  I thought this could be one of those people that you would actually like to meet.  I have her phone number and last name and perhaps I should just send her a thank you note.  :-)   A nice happening today.

I have 2 sisters, one lives in Ohio and the other in South Carolina. I am in Idaho.  I called my sister in South Carolina and we chatted for some time.  I just happen to of mentioned that we had meatball subs for dinner last night and that it was the first time I had made them.  My sister says I also had a meatball sub.  We decided that we were indeed connected. I mean what are the chances of that happening. Then I called my sister in Ohio and I said I wish I was in Pompeii and she says we were watching a program on the volcano there and I mentioned that today I was watching a program on volcanoes and told her about my conversation with our older sister and then she says that we were thinking of having meatball subs for dinner tonight.  We laughed and we knew that the Nettleton gene pool is safe and strong.    It might seem like nothing to most but to us we feel connected by what we were doing, and all of us were unaware of what each other had done until today.  I wonder how many other times we might be in sync with each other.

Even though we are far from each other we are together. There is a higher power with sisters and I am so grateful for mine.

This past Thursday I was at the women’s prison for 2 hours to teach a craft class.  Toward the end of the class an inmate asked me if the trees in town were in bloom.  I mentioned that some of them were and that they were pretty.  She then said how much she missed seeing the trees with their flowers and leaves in the spring.   They can see trees where the prison is but most of them are pine trees.   Not too many trees that flower and leaf.

I thought how much I took such a thing for granted.  It simply never occurs to me to think about that fact that I get to see a tree bloom.  Some of the women have been in the building for a very long time.  I have wondered since then what would I miss if I was in the same situation.   I am still out on that one.  I think my list would be quite long.  The next time I am up there  I am going to ask all of the women what they miss the most.  I am sure the answers will be quite different.  I do know that when I see a tree coming into leaf or getting flowers, I will think of this gal. It will always remind me of her.  I will remember not to take such a common occurrence in the spring time for granted again.  I will remember to see things through different eyes and to be truly grateful for nature and its beauty.   These wonderful women constantly teach me about the small, simple and wonderful things in life.   I am grateful that I get to associate with them.

We had a delightful cooking afternoon here at the house.  Four girls, were here for chocolate chip cooking making.  We divided it all up so everyone had something to do.   They are just too much fun.   We have a fairly large collection of Pez Dispensers and they were very popular.  That even had to be viewed before the cooking making could begin !  Within an hour we had the cookies made and baked and plated and some eaten, along with cookie dough consumed  and in general a good time.  I found an hour and a half was just about the right time to get things done.  While the cookies were baking we folded some origami.

I guess when you do not have grandchildren in the state you live in then you invite the neighborhood children to come and have fun at your house.  It worded well today.  So as the were leaving one of them asked me if I we could “set” another play date !   I said absolutely.     It is as much fun for me as it is for them !   A nice afternoon.