Christmas - past

I've been reading a lot of blogs today and several of them have set my mind to wandering back to when I was a little girl.

A childhood memory - Dad bringing home the tallest and fattest tree he could find. He always had to cut some of the bottom off for it to fit in whatever room we decided to put it - either living room or dining room. And mom decorated it. She took lots of time because she wanted it to look beautiful. (and it did) Remember icicles? She would take one at a time and place each one so that the tree truly looked like icicles hanging on it.

Another memory - A black and white puppy with a big red bow sliding across the dining room floor in his haste to get to us. He was a Springer Spaniel we named Skippy.

Another memory - my aunts, uncles, cousins and us would draw names and each family would take turns hosting all of us on Christmas Eve after the children's Christmas program at church. The one gift that I remember well was from my Aunt Beth. It was 5 books - Little Women, Little Men, Eight Cousins and 2 others (can't remember the names) Even though Aunt Beth didn't have children of her own she really had a knack of buying just the right gift for her nieces and nephews.

Christmas letter

Merry Christmas,
We have had several dustings of snow but with the sunshine and warmer temps it has all disappeared. It would nice to have some snow for Christmas.

I continue to accompany the Park Rapids Classic Chorale – our Christmas concert was this past week end. In the summer I’m the rehearsal accompanist for the Northern Light Opera Company – we performed “The Music Man” last summer and next summer we will be performing “The Sound of Music”. I love being part of an ensemble - it’s exciting to see the end result of a lot of work by a lot of people. I think the most satisfying music for me is playing the organ and piano for church – especially the piano arrangements of worship music.

This has been quite a year for me. I had cataract surgery last winter and then last August I had a total knee replacement. And I will have to have the other knee replaced this spring. The knee surgery went well but it took a while for the rest of my body to recuperate – a bit of depression. But with the help of my family and a low dose of Paxil I am now back to my “normal” self. Thank goodness. Do I sound like an old person or what?

My kids are all doing well and it would take several pages to tell you about all of them so I’ll not do that – except to say that two grand kids entered high school (9th) this last fall and in the spring two grandkids will graduate from high school. Two granddaughters are married and one grandson is engaged to be married.

I’m very blessed to be able to live in the home Lowell and I shared for 40 some years and that I have children and grandchildren that are happy and healthy.
I hope your Christmas is a blessed one and the year 2012 will be a successful and happy year for you and your family.
Jane

My goodness, it's been 8 months since I've blogged. Much has happened as most of you who read this blog know about. Although it's been only about 3 months since my knee surgery it seems much longer. My knee is doing well and I'm exercising 3 time a week. I have 5 sessions left at the hospital rehab excercising place and then I will have to look into something else. I was giving thought to continuing at the hospital (it costs some) or Anytime Fitness (cost more). Then I found out that my medical insurance will cover the whole cost if I go where Silver Sneakers is offered - Fitness Center in town. So I guess the decision is pretty much made for me. A friend of mine is involved with a swimming program a couple of time a week so I might look into that, too.

I need to keep up the excersising because I probably will have my other knee done next May. Piano lessons will be done, classic chorale concert will be done and opera rehearsals will not start until the end of June. So that seems like a logical time to have it done. Whatcha think?

My granddaughter, Hannah, is living with me for a while. She's taking classes for her LPN at Wadena and since she doesn't have classes everyday and works one day a week at the nursing home I suggested that she live with me. She lost her bedroom when she went to Moorhead state last year and a sibling took over her room :) She's lots of fun and easy to have around. My two little dogs love her. But she thinks I should get a kitty - NOT.

Spring

When I went to town today my first thought as I got onto the highway was "I think Spring is here" Most of the snow was gone in the ditches and fields. My yard is mostly dry although a few piles of snow are still around. For the first time in many years I don't have a "lake" down by the barn. Most years that "lake" extended from the barn way out into the west field. When my kids were young and "unafraid" they would build a raft and float out into the field managing to get under the fence but not managing to keep dry.

Most of my driveway is dry, too. However ----- I made two big holes when I backed up out of the garage. There were already "dips" there and with the melting snow I got stuck in the mud and as I tried to rock myself out I just suceeded in making the holes deeper and deeper and ---- well, I was so stuck that I listed to the left with both the front and rear tires mired in the mud. I had to have Sharon and Scott pull me out. I wont be putting my car in the garage for a while.

I can't imagine the stress and mess that the flood in Fargo and Moorhead is causing for the people in those cities as well as the surrounding communities. I'm so gratefull that I'm "dry"

Music quotes

As I was looking for something to add to my March newsletter for my piano students, I found many music quotes. Thought I would add some of them here:

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach This is my favorite quote - I use it in my newsletter.

Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. ~Maya Angelou, Gather Together in My Name

You can't possibly hear the last movement of Beethoven's Seventh and go slow. ~Oscar Levant, explaining his way out of a speeding ticket

An intellectual snob is someone who can listen to the William Tell Overture and not think of The Lone Ranger.
Dan Rather (1931 - )

I'll add quotes again sometime. My eyes are doing ok although it's taking a while for my brain and eyes to decide to work together. My eye doctor said that it will happen but might take a while - I was relieved to here that.

blind?

So on Thanksgiving day I open the door at my daughter in laws mothers house and my 6 year old grand daughter takes me by the hand and says "let me help you up the stairs, grandma, now that you are blind" BLIND? hmmmmmm. Simone had heard only part of a converstaion that her mother had with someone and this is the story she told her older sister - "Grandma got poked in the eye and mom had to take her to the emergancy room and now she is blind in one eye?" So Janessa asked me what really happened. So this is MY story - at my last eye exam the dr. told me I had cataracts and he suggested I have them removed. So on November 22 my daughter in law took me to Bemidji to have the surgery. Dr. Shanfeld must be an early morning person because we had to be there at 6:50. He did the surgery on my right eye and we were home by 10:00. I had to go back for a post op the next day and again my daughter in law did the driving. I'm glad we had to go right away in the morning because the weather got kind of nasty and roads a bit slippery. The next ten days my eyes tried to cooperate with each other and didn't always succeed. Neither my regular glasses nor my music classes helped. I could see distances pretty good without any glasses but reading music was a challange. So yesterday when I went to see my PR eye doctor I said "help - I need to see my music" And he did by having me get a pair of reading glasses. So now I can see my music!!! Maybe I was a bit blind after all. I have the other eye done December 20.

Obviously not a deer hunter

One very foggy morning many years ago Lowell came into the house and announced "the horses are gone". At that time we had about 9 head - why? I don't know. So we loaded a saddle and a couple of pails of oats in the back of the pickup and started looking. We found them in the field just North East of us not far from home. When the horses heard the pickup they knew there would be oats in it so it wasn't hard for Lowell to catch Smokey and put a saddle on him. As he started across the field with all the horses following him it suddenly occurred to him that it was OPENING DEER SEASON. So he put his head down by Smokey's ear, slapped him on the rump and said "Let's go". As he and all the horses galloped across the field toward home he was pretty sure there were several dear hunters annoyed with him.