Tuesday - May 12

 Said our good byes to George and Susan - so many connections - both Air "Streamers" (a new term George used), Notre Dame, Brady knowing Professor O'Rourke and his namesake "O'Rourke's Irish Pub", Susan a pilot along with our boys, etc.    They are headed to St. Louis today to visit friends.

I left for town at 9:45 and had several errands before I met the BBB gals for lunch at Rob Dobs.    Many years ago we bridge friends formed this club - "Babies, Bridge, and Books"    Well, we haven't played bridge in a LONG time, we now talk about grand kiddos (no more babies) but we all love our books.     In fact, for several years, we would all bring our favorites to trade and share.    But that was long before the kindles, I-pads, etc.,     It's been many years since we got together and sorry that Karen and Holly could not join us today.

Ruth, Pat, Sharon, Sue

But the rest of us enjoyed yakking away for 2.5 hours over a yummy lunch.    Ruth was our inspiration.....91 years young and sharp as can be.    It was a delightful afternoon!

It was a VERY WINDY afternoon - crazy out here in the country.  Mark and I caught up on our day and read and played games rest of the time.

Had a very light rain - walked later - no new states tonight.

I watched the 7th episode of "Call the Midwife" and then Anne and I beat the computer 2 of 3 games of euchre.   And we had some heavy rain!

Monday - May 11

 Nice sunny day and warming up a bit more each day.   We met the Monday morning group at The Hornet's Nest in Heyworth for breakfast.....Ken, Sigrunn, Pat, Brenda and Darrel.

The girls sat in a booth and the guys at  a nearby table - plenty to chat about and food is good and cheap here!

Stopped at Holy Cross Cemetery and visited Patrick's gravesite.

Then laundry time in Normal - 3 loads, washed, dried and folded and on back to KK.    Nice quiet afternoon.     The MNFs are not meeting tonight as we're having dinner Thursday night (Pickled Radish is not open on Mondays.)

An Airstream came in across from us this afternoon - they are from Colorado and just came from South Bend.    George is a South Bend native and they were visiting long-time friends,  James O'Rourke was head of the Mendoza College of Business and retired 1 year ago.   Brady remembers Professor O'Rourke and later we had a chat with George and Susan (our Airstream neighbors) - small world.    Susan retired one year ago as a United pilot after a career in the Air Force..   George's Grandfather was a track coach at Notre Dame in the 1920s and was a roommate of Knute Rockne's.    George's Dad was a dentist and one of the football team's dentists for 20+ years.   

The Social Security Administration recently released the top names for boys and girls per their records and the #1 name for boys for the 7th straight year is "Liam" and "Olivia" for girls!    How about that!!!    I remember so well Patrick saying his firstborn son would be "Liam" and that was 21 years ago!!!    

Colorado is a new state tonight     Orange chicken from Trader Joe's was supper.

Mother's Day - 2026

 It was a beautiful Mother's Day here in central IL.    We met Anne for 10:00 Mass at Holy Trinity with Father Bo and then breakfast at Flame@Bloom.    It was very busy but sooo good.   I had not been there for breakfast (just dinner) - we were all very happy with our meals.

Moms and Mimosas

Back home and a quiet day at KK.    So enjoyed hearing from my kiddos, grand kiddos, family and friends.    

Linda and I shopping at Milaeger's and buying the same top!

And the pretty shopping bag

We went for a walk - one new state tonight - Arkansas

Zoom tonight was with 9 siblings - health issues, Auntie Karen's car was totaled from hitting the deer, so she'll be car shopping, what the Moms did for Mother's Day, wedding plans for Alex and Adam, First Communion for Doris's grandson, Paxton, grandparents day for Tom H and his little Evelyn, etc....

Thursday-Saturday, May 7-9

 Thursday - we left KK for our little getaway around 9ish and drove to Minonk and the Brickhouse Coffee Bar.    This place is cute and has great coffee and pastries (all made by Erin, the owner).   We sat with our Ipads and enjoyed breakfast and then went for a walk but pretty chilly and windy.   Stopped at the Minonk Chocolate Co. and got some treats and onto Mendota,

Stopped at Bob and Linda's and then we went to Stonecroft to see my Aunt Marian and her daughter, Paulette and Marty visiting from Cocoa Beach, FL.    Had lots of fun catching up and then we all played several games of bingo in the dining room with other residents.   Said our good byes. 

The bingo players

Aunt Marian, Paulette, Marty, Mark, Linda, Bob

Aunt Marian - 97 and doing well!

   Bob and Linda were off to Ottawa for doctor appt and Mark and I drove to Sublette to visit with another cousin, Dave and Mary Jo at their family farm.    This was just down the road from where Bob and I (and Ron) grew up.    The home was torn down a few months ago and we wanted to see how it all looked now.    Had a nice visit with them and appreciated Dave coming in from planting corn to see us.   Did not get a picture! 😒

The farmhouse where I grew up

Onto Sublette to visit Mom and Dad's gravesite and see the pretty flowers from Floralcrest in Mendota.    Back to Mendota and later, we went to Main Street for dinner with Bob and Linda.    This place has new owners - very good!

Friday - we were all up early and on the road by 7:30.    Mark had gone to Scooter's Coffee for a latte for me and Linda had some pastries before we were on our way.    Racine is about 2.5 hours away and a long-time favorite for shopping, boating (12 years for us) and of course, Kringle, the Danish pastry we've enjoyed so much thru the years.

Our first stop was the O and H Bakery - Linda bought 20 kringles and 7 for us.    She had orders from friends who wanted a particular flavor.    They were very busy with people buying all their yummy pastries, desserts for Mother's Day, etc.

Linda and Bob making some big decisions

Then to Milaeger's, a favorite for Linda and I - wonderful clothes, gifts, home decor and flowers which were selling like crazy yesterday!    Time for lunch and off to The Yardarm, a long-time favorite from when we boated here and been around for 43 years - now its actually called "Joey's Yardarm".

We drove around Reefpoint Marina and checked out all the new remodeling happening on the east side.

And then to Borzynski's for more shopping.   Left for Mendota but final stop was Costco in Rockford.    Wow....we packed in lots of good shopping and eating!

Bob and Linda's son, Jason lives in Boston and drove straight thru arriving just minutes before we returned last night!    So good to see him.

Jason

Saturday - Mark loaded up the car, we enjoyed some of the yummy pastries from O and H and then went downtown to the Coffee Barn for coffee/breakfast sandwiches for Bob, Linda and Mark and cinnamon roll for me.   All very good.   Linda and I checked out the new bookstore in Mendota - "Inked Maiden" - cute place and we sure hope she has good success.

Bob and Linda

GREAT host and hostess

We left Bob and Linda's around 11 and met Annette's parents, Dave and Judy at Culver's in Peru.    We were with them last October at Drew and Tessa's wedding so lots to catch up on.    Fun visit and lunch.    Made a tentative plan to visit their farm in September/October and see all the new projects they've done including a new gazebo as they lost their other one in a fire.

Dave, Judy, Pat, Mark

Back to KK and a fun time away.   It's another crazy windy day.    We took a nap, unpacked and settled in.    Later we walked around and although there are several campers here, only one new state (Indiana) and 2 from that state.

Luke is canoeing and camping at Lake James with his buddies - Adventure Core group

Luke

Brady has finished his sophomore year at Notre Dame....and now an upperclassman!   He's back at Lake James tonight.

Liam and Connor have finals this week....we wish them the best of luck!

HAPPY   MOTHER'S   DAY

Wednesday - May 6

 BIG day and here it is 8:50 and we are finally home.   I left before 8 this morning to pick up Anne.    We stopped at Starbucks and then onto Springfield where she had an appointment with an eye specialist at the Springfield Clinic regarding her biopsy of spot under her eye.     Today was a consultation with Dr. Su who also specializes in reconstructive surgery with the eye.

Anne will be having the s"slow Moh's" procedure done in Springfield to get out the remaining cancerous (melanoma) tissue and that will mean 2-3 trips to Springfield as each session will take 10-14 hours to process.    After that is done, a few days later, Dr. Su will do his thing.    Her eye and the area all around look perfectly fine!

What started out as a simple little skin tag (or so the eye doctor first thought).....and now all this.    Dr. Su comes highly recommended and this is his specialty.    So, we left the clinic with our heads spinning and went to lunch at Obed and Isaacs.

Back to Bloomington and I changed clothes at Anne's and left for my 3:45 appointment with Dr. Lucy (our former dermatologist) to check my leg.    To back up, 3 weeks ago today before we left Fort Myers, we had our dermatology appointments with Dr. Kagen and he did a biopsy of a lesion on my leg.   A few days later they said it was pre cancerous and they felt I could wait till mid October when we would be back in FM, but if I had the opportunity to see another doctor, I should.    So that's what today's visit with Dr. Lucy was all about.

She felt Dr. Kagen misdiagnosed the pre cancerous condition and not to worry.   Leg wounds can take a long time to heal, so just keep covered for at least another week.

Whew.............too much going on.    Mark met me at Dr. Lucy's office and after the visit, we drove to Champaign where we met his brother Tom and Beth for dinner at Silver Creek.    Our first time here and very good - sooo fun to catch up with them.    Tom is enjoying retirement and playing a lot of golf.

Tom and Beth

 

Tomorrow we are taking a little trip to Mendota/Sublette to visit family.    We'll be back Saturday.   I'm going to take a break from the blog for a few days.