Friday - November 13

 Much cooler this morning for our morning walk.   Connor texted that it was snowing in Urbana....and then friends wrote, "Snowing in Bloomington"!    Ugh....oh well.....the season is coming and hope we won't be there - ha!

I played canasta - back to losing, but Sandy, Vicki and I had a good time against the winners, Beth, Becky and Lisa.

On home for lunch - what started out as a cloudy, cool morning turned into sunshine and 77.

Naps, reading, games made up our afternoon till time to go for last walk of the day!    Had a good visit with Mark L.   He and Brenda are back.....also with Barry.   He and Donna just got a new RV (to them) - having "fun"? settling in!

WOW....................so proud of Maeve.   Her school had a contest for designing the best "All Seasons" Christmas card and she won!    Here she is with her beautiful art work (and certificate showing her as the winner!    Zoom in close to see all the detail!    Her design will be the school Christmas card that is sent out.

Congratulations Maeve!!!

Two big events today in our country - FAA doing a ground stoppage of flights and the tanker/cruise ship collision in New Orleans - thankfully all passengers and crew are safe.

Have a good weekend and warm thoughts for those folks affected by the cold weather

Thursday - November 12

 UGH........3 years ago today I slipped on the wet leaves and went flying down the hill on a trail near Michael's home....resulting in a reverse shoulder replacement and ongoing nerve pain in my hand.    Oh well....could've been worse!    Just a bad memory

We walked (very humid again), but cooler weather is coming our way!

Mark went downtown to get new license plates for Big Red(such an ordeal.   He had an appt. for December but decided to just go get in line and wait - either way, it's not the best experience - so many people and some of the staff are s l o w.....but we are all set for another 10 years!

I did some laundry and gathered more stuff to take to NC next week.    Also ordered more gifts online.

Mark took one of Flo's tires in to be checked as it's had a slow leak....

Tonight we met Connie, Steve, Jim and Lydia at The Vue (Shell Point - retirement community where they all live) for delicious dinner followed by "So Good" The Neil Diamond Experience at the Tribby Arts Center.   They had some very delicious mini desserts in the lobby along with champagne before the show.

Mark, Pat, Steve, Connie, Lydia, Jim

And what a fantastic show - Robert Neary sang 23 of Neil's songs.    He's a former actor and 6 years ago started performing all these awesome hits that we all know and love.    Robert even had a resemblance to Neil and of the Neil Diamond tribute shows, Robert and his 7-piece band were ranked #1.    The show ended with "Sweet Caroline" and the audience all were given batons that lit up to sing along and wave.    FUN evening!

Wednesday - November 11

 

My favorite veteran - thank you Ryan

We left for downtown and planned to have breakfast at Peter's only to find them closed in observance of Veterans Day.    So we went to Cafe Blue - sat outside - good pastry for me and sandwich for Mark + our coffees.    We sat with our Ipads and then walked around a bit before heading out.    Lots of boats downtown for big show this weekend.   And the Christmas decor is all over....

Sad and surprised to hear that Capone's Italian place downtown is closing 11/25.    We've enjoyed some good meals there especially, pizza.   No explanation given for the closing - they were always busy???

Downtown lamp posts

At Dillard's entrance at Edison Mall

We stopped at The Paper Store - had been past this many times and thought it was a Gold Crown Hallmark store as the sign said, but actually so much more....very nice!!!

Then time for 2nd visit with Dr. Lee (Endodontist) and finish up this 1st root canal.   Now to hear from Dr. Baxmann (dentist) to see him before we get started with the 2nd root canal.

Dr. Lee and his hygienist, Heidi are so very nice,    Dr. calls me Miss Pat and always asking if I have any ? and explains things very thoroughly.   

Mark ran some errands while I was doing my thing and had just gotten back to the office as I was finished.  Much shorter appt. today.

How did we ever survive without Amazon?    Ha.....Mark placed an order this morning and when we got home at 1:00 this afternoon, there it was outside Flo!    

So..........this afternoon we walked over to Matt and Christine's lot for a "Frozen Beverage Happy Hour".    They were our neighbors for a short time until a much bigger lot became available.    Imagine our surprise, dismay and disappointment to find out that the party was YESTERDAY!!!!    How did I mess that up?    Ha....

Matt said they had around 75 people and went thru 14 gallons of the stuff (he has a new slushie machine) to make pina coladas, root beer creams, margaritas, rum punch, etc., etc.    Oh well....next time!   I kept thinking how good that would taste after all the novocaine! 😄

No canasta today or Lucky 13 tonight as CT had a special breakfast and dinner for our veterans.

 

It's great to see familiar faces arriving back for the season but also so many new faces/names in the park? 

 

Tuesday - November 10

 Walked, did 2 loads of laundry and left at 11 for Chicken Salad Chick to meet John and Beth.    Always a fun visit with them AND delicious lunch.    We've only been here one other time (different location) but did take out....so many choices.   We were all happy!

Beth and John

We will not see these dear friends till late January with travels coming up for all of us.    After our good bye hugs, Mark and I went to Publix and walked all the aisles (steps) and picked up a few things.   Another stop at Dollar Tree and on home.    

Quiet afternoon reading, napping, etc.   We had a great chat with Connor and loved hearing all about his marathon accomplishment!   And Davis called wishing Grandpa a belated Happy Birthday and they had a long visit.    

Monday - November 9

 Walked, played canasta and WON big time!    Lisa, Becky and I beat Lisa, Joanne and Sue.   Fun as always!   Home for lunch and then a power nap for each of us and off to the mall to walk some more and Mark picked up his new sunglasses which had been ordered and came in today.

Back home to read and just hang out.    We had our leftovers from Harold's tonight!