Crack Me Up

Friends, lately I have been hooked on watching Doc Martin on Netflix.  Now, I know I am really late to this party, but man, am I glad I made it.   This series is bloody hilarious.

Set in beautiful Cornwall, the show is full of humorous and endearing characters.  Big T likes it too....and that almost never happens.

If you like Doc Martin, you will like the Rosie Project.   This book is about a quirky geneticist who decides it is time to find a wife. Get ready to laugh.  A lot.

The sequel is just as funny. The geneticist is now married to Rosie and they are having a baby. 

 I love to laugh.  Don't you?

Soul Work

My grandmother embroidered two of these pillows for Big T and me for our wedding 27 years ago.  I still sleep on it when I want to feel her near.

I embroidered this one for each of my girls when they were little.  You can buy pillow cases already printed with a pattern, like this one, or you can design your own.  Maybe their new monogram for T and S?

I made this one for my niece when she moved into her big girl bed.

I made this one for B to take to college with her.  Try it!  You might help someone sleep better.

Melt My Heart

I spent this morning volunteering at Village Presbyterian Church.  This church serves our community so well.  Village has a special relationship with Operation Breakthrough.

Operation Breakthrough serves children and their families in the urban core.  To qualify for services here, you must make less than $15,000 per year.  One in four of the children are homeless.   

On Wednesday mornings, some of their preschoolers come to Village to receive one on one reading, craft and snack time with a volunteer. 

Each child picks a book that they get to keep.  My darling four year old chose Rumpelstiltskin.  She knew the whole story and we had a great time reading it together. When the morning was over, she asked me if I could go back to school with her...my heart melted.

Invincible Summer

I was told I had cancer on April 15, 2013.  The next morning, Big T had this sign hanging on my bathroom mirror.  He was determined that I would stay positive throughout my battle.

My four sisters sent me this painting, done by a local artist in Leland.  They knew I would not be able to get up North that summer, so they sent me this to remind me of many good times to come.  I would imagine sitting on the beach with my sisters when I needed inspiration to keep fighting.

When my dear friend Mary came from Minnesota to visit during my first course of chemo, she gave this to me before she left.  She took this photo from my screened porch on the peninsula.

Before my first surgery, on December 12th, the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, my dear friend Cindy's husband painted this for me. 

I will never be able to fully express my gratitude to all those who helped me survive.  But I figure I can honor them all by living a good, grateful, joyful life.  Time to get to it.

Re-entry

Big T and I arrived back in KC late last night.  I had a ton of mail waiting and 86 voicemails on my land line. 

Weeds have taken over my gardens, and this is my only living pot.  The spiders have made themselves at home.  You know, the usual.

And to add to the excitement, we have had a little construction project going on this summer. 

Dust is an inch thick on every surface.  The alarm is making a continual intermittent (does that even make sense?) sound because when the windows were replaced, the wires were all cut.

This is what I walk through to get into my house.  The project started in the beginning of June and was suppose to be finished before I returned. Friends, they are not. even. close.   Nevertheless, I was really ok until I went to the grocery store and realized I only had to buy food for Big T and me.  I have no children left at home to feed.  I knew it was going to be difficult when I arrived back in our regular home and all the bedrooms would be empty....but re-entering my Kansas City world has never been so hard...in fact, the tiles may be coming off...

Read on

I am packing up the old homestead...time to head back to Kansas.  You all know by now that I like to listen to books while I am doing boring household chores like winterizing the cabin.   I just finished a great one. 

It took awhile to get into this book, but it is definitely worth the effort.  Doerr is an extremely talented writer, and his book is full of outstanding prose.  The setting is World War II in France and Germany, but the ideas of life and death resonated with me here and now. 

Memorable quotes:

"Don't you want to live before you die?"

*****

"And is it so hard to believe that souls might also travel those paths...hary the sky in flocks..like starlings...That great shuttles of souls might fly about, faded but audible if you listen closely enough,....the air a library and the record of every life lived...  We rise again in the grass, in the flowers, in songs."  

See what I mean?  Read it.  Even if you have to wade through it.  

Both sister number 5 and my college roommate have highly recommended this book....also set during WWII.   I will have to wait until I get back to KC to begin this one.

Time to get back to work...these two need a bath before they get in the car with Big T for 12 hours.

The Old Art Building

Tomorrow morning will be my last yoga class in the Old Art Building.  The season is over for me, so this weekend I am heading back down to Kansas City. Friends, I am not ready to leave my happy place.

The Old Art Building sits on the river in the village of Leland.  The community has been gathering to appreciate art, in all its many forms, here since 1922.  

I am going to miss this yoga that helps loosen my lingering pains from radiation.  And I am going to miss the community of Leland that supports this Old Art Building so well.  It is a special place.

Art Leelanau is one of many ways the area comes together in support of the arts. Every summer, local artists donate beautiful paintings and we residents buy those beautiful paintings while drinking wine and catching up with neighbors. Of course, I am always happy to whip out my checkbook for a good cause.  (I am just really philanthropic that way...ask Big T.) 

This year, when I saw this beautiful painting by David Westerfield of a freighter passing in front of South Manitou Island, I could not resist.  It is the view I have from my beach.

Have I mentioned that I am going to miss this place?  Does anyone ever want summer to end?

Serve on

Big T (who loves taking selfies) and I were in Washington DC this weekend for a dear friend's investiture into the Order of Malta.  The Order originated in the 11th Century and developed the concept of modern hospitals. Today its primary purpose is to serve the world's sick and the poor.  We were delighted to be able to be there to show our support.

Our first event was dinner at the Metropolitan Club. 

 The woodwork inside this club was amazing. Cell phone usage was not allowed, but I did sneak one quick snap of the library.  I texted this photo to B as a gentle reminder that the library is a good place to be...

Next on the agenda was the Investiture Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle.  This parish is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, and our new Pope will be here next week.  I just love Pope Francis.  Who doesn't?

 Those red banners are for the Order of Malta.  The white eight-pointed Maltese Cross is a symbol of charity towards mankind and comfort and consolation to the sick and the poor.

The mass was a long one....but I never got tired of looking around.  Ornate churches really help me to imagine God's beauty and grandeur.

For you history buffs out there, this church is where President Kennedy's funeral took place.

 His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl was so humble and gracious.  He suggested taking this photo.  He impressed me so very much with his Christ-like attitude.  I bet he voted for Pope Francis...

We celebrated with a delicious dinner at the US Chamber of Commerce.  

This was our table.

More importantly, this was our dessert.  Two years ago, when Big T was invested into the Order of Malta, I could not make the trip. This weekend, while it wasn't easy, I could do it.  I am so grateful for how my body has healed. 

 On the flight home Big T was reading an article in Newsweek about curing cancer.  My surgeon, Dr Martin Weiser, was listed as one of the top colo-rectal surgeons.  Thank God  for Dr. Weiser!