Sonnystone Acres

i’ve been 50 for almost 2 years now, so i’m not saying that is old—his knees have creaked for a long time and his gray went white quite a while back. but i can’t resist the urge to post some pictures of him…..after all, he still has his teeth….this picture was taken 25 years ago…it looks just like the guy i fell in love with:

this pic, taken last summer, looks just like the guy i woke up with this morning…

join me in wishing manymanymany more happy birthdays for this young man.

we had a great thanksgiving holiday! we started out for st.louis early thanksgiving day, stopping at a cracker barrel in mt. vernon, il for the “old timers breakfast” around 9:30 a.m. the missouri botanical garden was launching its “gardenland express” and we arrived around noon.


we’ve spent fri, sat, and sun putting up christmas lights, going through all the archival christmas decorations and arranging selected vignettes. wink is intrigued by the glitterati and sound. i took a new angel arrangement out to my mom&dad’s maus, started rehearsals for the kids christmas program at concordia, cooked, ate, and made lists. i’m ready……come on Christmas!! in the meantime, it’s great to see flowers bloom…..

the little town of ferdinand, in had a to-do this week-end and the caseys were there with the piersons, making the scene. according to the brochure there would be an organ grinder, glockenspiel performances every hour, a trolley to take us back and forth from the venues, and free tours of the monastery on the hill….bratwurst with kraut and perhaps some dark beer were on my mind as we drove up early saturday. at the appointed time for the glockenspiel performance, out came a high school group of german dancers (the lone fella in the group was not enjoying himself in his lederhosen) doing a little clock dance. puh-leeze. we packed into the trolley and were met at the community center by the organ grinder—a festive touch even without a monkey. wine-tasting and brats there settled me down and we walked from there up the hill to the monastery.

the st. benedictine sisters have been there since 1890something and it’s beautiful; however, we did not get to see the church!!! it’s under renovation!!! we saw a video and were charmed by the elderly sister who spoke to our group, but were busted trying to break in to the church for a glimpse of the stained glass and statues. on the way out, i ran in and purchased some chow-chow and pickled beets and there was a young girl shrieking christmas carols—very bad, very awful..shudder…. we did enjoy being with lana and charley and ended up back in evansville having dinner and drinks, but i guess i’m spoiled by disney. the view from the monastery turret of the nun’s graves shows the entire town and indeed, the monastery/convent is probably as large as the burg itself–but where are the glockenspiels?

my sister’s claim to fame with my children (and many others) was her grilled-cheese sandwiches–made with velveeta, crisped to a brown perfection, cheese melting threateningly over the sides.mmm….these treats were invariably followed by her well-worn washcloth wiping their faces and hands and that was part of the charm. however, given the value of a certain gc sandwich with the alleged image of the virgin on it, i can’t help but wonder just how many religious icons were ingested by the children in our family. i mean, knowing my sis, there had to have been at least a disciple or two, though in a light brown; maybe a magdalene or a woman-at-the-well was chewed without thought to its message of…whatever. thinking back, i’m fairly certain i saw the zig-zag man on my toast the other day, but he melted under the butter. i’ll never be rich.

i can’t pass up the opportunity to say something about the 35th anniversary of “Sesame Street”. my season with the SS ‘hood started in 1976 when my daughter was around 2. i was working as a waitress, doing a “split shift”–11-2 lunches, then back at 4:30-10 for dinners. between shifts i’d bring rightmoon back home, often with some of my co-workers, and we’d watch the Street from 3-4 together. nowadays we take for granted the way that show teaches numbers and letters, values (yes, values), and encouragment, but at that time i was amazed…this was so much better than capt. kangaroo! i read today that jim hensen’s mission with Sesame Street was: “to make the world a better place by inspiring people to celebrate life”. mission accomplished, mr. hensen. Thank-you grover, oscar, slimy, big bird, cookie monster, the count, sherlock hemlock, the amazing mumford, bert, ernie, mr. looper (no, big bird, it’s mr. hooper), maria, alan, gordon, luis, bob, snuffy, kermit–elmo didn’t arrive until 1985, but let’s thank him, too, and all the muppets and humans i don’t remember–who was the news guy? it seems an appropriate time to stop and ask, “Who are the people in my neighborhood?” (hint: they’re the people that we meet each day.)
celebrate life!!

even though the night temperatures are finally getting into the low 30’s and my county ag agent warned of frost, it’s still green time with many of my perennials (lavendar, black-eyed susans, hydrangea) and i’ve put off planting more spring-blooming bulbs. today i’m off to buy 100 or so tulips, hyacinth, crocus and get them planted in the flower garden. it’s been on my list for a month now. my list is not a real commander in my life; many things i just transfer from list to list until i either decide not to do it or get it done. right now my list contains tickets to buy for the holiday season: porgy & bess at the philharmonic; m.w. smith at christmas; sing-a-long messiah (anybody want to go with me?). my list includes: order christmas music–underlined because this is the 3rd list containing that request. a new section on my list, “bridal shower”, will eventually branch out to a list of its own. at the bottom of my list i’ve written the mall-walkers hours and i’m hoping that inspires me to do some daily walking….but this is the first time it’s been on the list so it might take a little while. such a busy, important life i lead…i’ll close so i can go make a grocery list. wink says, “hi!”.

i got to play with ben again today…he’s a big 2-year-old now and is talking up a storm… he laughed at wink, yelled his name: “NEENK!” and told me, “bye-bye, doe”….we watched mr. rogers (it was great to see trolley again); sang/danced/played the piano and guitar. and it was revealed to me: the answer is the children, always the children. love the children and teach them love and the world will survive. over the years i’ve been able to help a lot of folks through my work as a nurse and i feel good about that, but nothing compares with the time i’ve been able to spend with the little ones–the sheer, unexplainable joy i feel when i listen to the kids sing the songs i’ve taught them, singing their hearts out (sometimes with actions)….it’s supernatural!
there is hope…

so i determined that i would begin watching election results after the west coast voting booths closed and almost made it (it’s been dark a long time in c.s.t. daylight-saving-time by the time the sun goes down over venice beach) so i furtively tuned into cable news around 7pm. i then turned attention to a ranting blogattack and lost count until about midnight; went about my day this a.m. and was shelving books at the library when kerry conceded. upon my return to sonnystone, i felt a certain excitement that my self-imposed tv-news fast could end and sat in front of the tv mesmerized: shep smith!!! i have missed him so bad….wolf blitzer…he is family, man….chris matthews–give ‘em hell! i relished the graphics and muzak. watched the kerry concession/bush acceptance loop dozens of times; listened to criticism of the exit polls ad nauseum…soon the diamonds turned to rhinestones: o’reilly makes me puke, aaron brown should find a new career as an undertaker, and since when does anybody respect ron reagan, jr? i found myself siding with pat buchanan on a debate regarding red state people vs. blue state people and was so sickened that i found the strength to TURN IT OFF!!!! i’m in search of a way to make this all better…..

i have successfully avoided any, and i really mean ALL news regarding our upcoming presidential elections. i am proud to say that i am probably the most uninformed voter in the u.s.a., and have protected myself and those around me from innumerable gasket-blowing, peace-killing confrontations yelling at the t.v. talking heads, who would not have changed my prejudice anyway (nor would i have changed theirs). i have kept up with current events by reading print news reports on the internet and censoring any unwanted or aggravating opinions. i didn’t plan on this becoming such a way of life, especially since husband likes to listen to the network news, as well as cnn, fox, etc., but should have seen the writing on the wall when i stopped my local newpaper subscription. i suppose some would say that all this political b.s. is worth fighting about or that if i listened to the airwaves i might learn something, but listen here, buster: most of those programs are headed by mean-spirited people of both sides and they’ll just have to live without my attention. no matter who wins or loses, i am eternally grateful for living in the USA— may God bless us all.