October 12, 2020 Monday-1pm

Good afternoon!
It's a beautiful sunny fall sweater day.

That tree on the right has definitely turned red.

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It was so windy yesterday that both my coleus planters were knocked over.  This morning I went out to haul them upright, water all the planters, clean the bird dish, sweep the patio, prune the dying geraniums, and put out fresh seed.  I made a batch of rice in the rice cooker and am currently doing laundry.  Where did I get the energy?  Well, I slept really long (and well) the past two nights and I took the entire weekend off--made it a pajama weekend--after the long appointment with Dr. Kessler on Friday.
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The osteopath introduction went well.  I like her.  We spent the entire time going over my history, family history, recent and current health issues...goodness!  And I stopped at the lab to have blood drawn to check my vitamin B, D, and iron.  (All okay, but vit B just barely in normal range.)
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I have a "plan" to follow.  Was too shot to print it all off until yesterday (have only skimmed thusfar).  But I know she wants to focus on gut health first.  I likely have had leaky gut for years.  Toxins and such leaking through my intestines into my entire body.  Bleh!  I know there are some supplements she wants me to take and diet changes.  I will finally get to making a list and going through the plan today.  I need to go back in two weeks for a blood pressure test again because it has been running a little higher...might need to increase the dosage on my blood pressure pills.  I go back to see her in about four months.  Need to schedule both those appointments, too.
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Anyways, on Tuesday Leah picked me up.  We went to the pharmacy drive up to pick up my BP pills (since I switched primary doctors I was on the phone again because I never got mailed my pills).  What is it with me and tpharmacies this past year--LOL!
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We brought the taboret over for Ian's classroom!

It is always such a treat to see the boys!

Ian's school stuff fit into the five drawers of the taboret just perfectly--four classes and a supply drawer.

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I arrived mid-afternoon--had something new I had discovered and wanted to see if the boys would like.  On Amazon Prime--it's called Guess How Much I Love You.  Just such a sweet and gentle kid's show!!  I had only watched the first episode but I was hoping they would like it.  Well, we watched it until dinnertime!  They both enjoyed it--especially Ian...and Gramma, too.  ;)  Ian spent most of the time cuddled with me on the lounge chair.  And they even wanted to watch a bit more before bed!  :)
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Funny--Ian has been totally obsessed with the Slime Rancher game for months and it is a treat to have some time to do that after school.  Leah texted me this picture the next day.  Couldn't believe Ian had wanted to turn off Slime Rancher and watch more of Guess How Much I Love You with all the critters!!  

All the first episodes we watched were set in the spring and we wondered when they would get to winter shows.  Dagan called on Friday evening just so that Ian could tell me that they finally got to winter shows--LOL!  That makes Gramma so happy!  Harder to find more gentle shows that teach you good, positive, kind lessons...kind of like Mr. Rogers, you know?
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Filling out the forms online last week for the appointment with Dr. Kessler took a lot longer than I expected...like 2 1/2 hours.  She knows more about me than most people on earth--LOL!
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Otherwise, the only project I happened to start was removing all the leftover Christmas and Birthday cards from a dresser drawer they have been getting piled into for years.  I found a box to put them in for now. 

You know how you are hunting for something and run across something else you've been meaning to do...

...well, now I have yet another project lined up.  Leah and I figure that we could use some of the Christmas cards for just winter cards, you know.  (And I might save some of the birthday cards to send extra ones to the boys.)  The rest of them I will divide up into zip lock bags and leave in the entryway of our building for anyone to have for free.  I figure that with so many of us in isolation--especially since it's a senior building--maybe more people might want to send cards and letters, you know?
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Leah said there were too many pieces of Ian's homework for the little clips to hold them all on the wall...

...so she emptied this wall thingie she had in the pantry and hung it to the left of Ian's table to try it out.

Awesome!  If it works well for him she will order one for him...there's a a colorful one on Amazon!
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Can you tell how much I loved school?  I am always asking for update pics of Ian's classroom--LOL!
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This new blogger is like being in a foreign land, but I am learning my way around enough to get by.  And I just might torture you will different fonts now that I discovered I can switch those up easily.  (At least something is easy!)
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I am so glad to be able to visit you all and appreciate each and every blog comment and email...and the actual snail mail from those of you who send letters and cards.  You all have made the isolation since March and this past 16 months of poor(er) health so much easier and fuller than it ever would have been.  Can you imagine this all happening before the internet?  We are so fortunate.  
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Well, got to go hang and fold clothes...and grateful I am feeling up to it today.   
Till next week...
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"Behold this day, for it is yours to make."
Black Elk

October 5, 2020 Monday 4pm

Good afternoon!

I have already been working for a couple hours (in-between laundry loads, sweeping the patio, and feeding critters) going through our pictures and Leah's videos.  Am just now getting to the actual uploading on to YouTube so I can then post the videos here...so this is going to take a while--LOL!  

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It's been a busy week...or as busy as I get, anyways.  Tuesday I had a video chat with Leah so we could finalize the Cashwise pick-up grocery order...and to just chat, of course.  :)

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Was a beautiful end to September.

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But...construction started across the street.  This was taken standing outside the front door to our apartment building.

That patch of wild field is now gone...

...and so is the thirteen-striped ground squirrel.  I am so sad.  :(  I still see the partridges.  They come pre-dawn and toward dusk when the machines are quiet...but I have a feeling they come from farther away than before.  The sparrows are here all day long, though.  Human activity doesn't bother them much.  ;)

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Thursday Leah dropped off a few groceries.  Friday afternoon I read to the boys over a video call while they had a snack.  Those were my only events to speak of.  But I did get started on the studio--finally!  I emptied out the taboret!  The five taboret drawers...

...loosely took up three drawers in the new IKEA cabinet.

I have room to spare...maybe.

Next I will be searching through the studio for other watercolor and Chinese brush painting supplies...

...so things might be shifting about quite a bit in this cabinet.  :)

But it is nice to have a start!

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Annie scared the hell out of me this week.  I woke up and...no Annie.  No Annie begging for her food and following me about.  No Annie when I called for her.  No Annie when I searched and searched the apartment.  I fully expected to find a dead body!  But I finally caught the glint of her eyes underneath my desk behind my desk chair--where she has never gone before.  She wouldn't come out but she let me give her a quick pet as long as I wasn't trying to pick her up.  She wanted to be left alone.  So I let her be.  (I certainly know the feeling of wanting to crawl under the porch to lick my wounds in solitude when I am feeling awful.)

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Later on I went to get her can of food and she did come out for that...but never made a sound.  She did eat and was drinking water...was peeing and pooping...so I figured maybe it was something she ate?  The night before I noticed her carrying a big injured or very old, dying cricket in her mouth and setting it down in the back corner of the living room. She batted her new toy about to torture it a bit...but before I could get over there to remove it Annie saw me coming to spoil her game and let the poor thing crawl behind the bookcase.  Maybe she later ate it?

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Anyways, she wasn't herself all day but was gradually improving some.  By the following day she was more herself again, but she threw up once (no cricket remains).  She's seemed okay ever since.  Hopefully that was all it was.  She's back to crying in the morning and following me all over the place.  Whew!  I thought I had quite suddenly lost her out of the blue...but she seems fine now.  I'm still keeping an eye on her.  ;)

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Meanwhile, since I have the 80 minute introductory osteopath appointment on Friday I will definitely have to quarantine for 2 weeks.  Have a long form to fill out online before I go.  I am nervous because of covid, of course, and I have no idea what an osteopath does...but I am looking forward to having a doctor who knows all my issues, you know?  Somebody who will look at me as a whole human being.  ;)

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So, I'm going to visit McFamily tomorrow before I have to stay away for a couple weeks.  Maybe longer as Leah needs to see an eye doctor in order to get new contacts ordered and Dagan needs to go to one, too, for his glaucoma checkup.  (But he is not going down to Minneapolis for his annual checkup with his cardiologist this fall--just doing his usual pacemaker check via the phone.)  Having longer doctor and eye doctor visits are more exposure than usual for us--so might not see much of McFamily in person for a while.  Covid is still on the rise in North Dakota so I decided to put Caroline's cleaning on hold again for now, too. 

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The taboret will be going over for Ian's classroom tomorrow!  Here's what it looks like now on the upstairs landing.

He's got little clothespin clips to hang up his work... 

...and a huge whiteboard (was Mama and Daddy's) behind him. 

So far he is liking school. 

So glad the taboret is going over there.  I have loved that little cabinet and want it to stay around for sure.  :)

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More meanwhile...
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I worked on a set of Christmas cards this week, too.  We had folded one base the regular way we always do it but then decided to have them open up at the top this time for something different.

This is only the second set of cards we've made using the Martha Stewart corner snowflake punch for the inside lining.  Leah had been punching away and it broke...wouldn't come apart anymore...just awful.  

So pretty, but sure didn't last long!  We have been disappointed with several products by Martha Stewart and will be avoiding buying her products from now on.

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So, I drug out the various corner punches I have.

This is one of the oldest I have but it still punches easily. 

This three corner Fiskar's punch was pretty much a bust for me.  Harder to position and to punch down.  I messed up several corners so I didn't do many with that punch and only used two of the three choices because it was just too hard on my wrist/arm.

The good old corner chomper--plain but works well to just round corners.

But my arm and hand got tired so I left the rest with square corners.

So...if you don't get one of the cards with the pretty snowflakes punched in the corners inside...blame it on Martha!!

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My patio plants are still hanging in there.  

The coleus have suffered the most with the frost we had once again this last week.  They are constantly losing leaves.  But it still is looking so pretty out there on the patio.  :)

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Okay--as you know, Dagan and Leah (and the boys) have been working on landscaping most of the summer.  Leah did the walk around the house I requested...but her phone/camera is old and it kept shutting off on her--ROFL!  I got a kick out of the series of videos.  I decided to post the sliced up tour because several of you have asked what they planted where.  Loading and transferring all these little videos is why this post will be up quite late this Monday--LOL!  Feel free to skip the tour if you're not interested, but Gramma loved it.  I will be waiting to see what all this will look like in a few years!!  Whoohoo!  :)

Whew!  I got them all in the right order!  Adding pics and videos seems more difficult with the new version.  I couldn't get them to line up on the left correctly, but I got them in here.  :)

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Also have a couple of short random videos of the boys.  :)  Ian loves his tomatoes.  Eats the big ones like apples!

And here Liam was helping to dig a hole for a tree.  :)

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And finally...

now you can now really see that the righthand tree across the way has turned red.  One down and two to go.  ;)  Will the center one turn next?

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With the new blogger and YouTube being so very slow...well, I started about 2pm and it is now almost 8:30!  I guess blogging has kept me out of trouble for the whole day--ROFL!   

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Anyways, got my ballot in the mail last week--tada!  The partridges were here and gone for an evening meal!  I had my evening meal, too, while I waited for videos to process.  But I made it to the end!!  Whatever errors are in here are in to stay.  I am done and dusted--LOL!  Stay safe and enjoy your precious week.  :) :)

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"I am especially glad of the divine gift of laughter; it has made the world human and loveable, despite all its pain and wrong."

W.E.B. Du Bois

September 28, 2020 Monday 1:30pm

Good afternoon!

I know it's hard to tell but the tree on the right is starting to turn. 

 I am always curious to see if they change right to left every year.  Has begun no differently this year...despite it being such a strange and backward year--LOL!

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Since I last chatted with you--Caroline came to clean on Tuesday; Leah made an indoor bigger monthly trip to Costco and I made a pot of soup on Wednesday; Thursday I made up a batch of Annie food using liver and beef hearts; Friday I did laundry and that is when--besides the usual visitors...  

...I had a new one!!  Whoohoo!! 

You know how much I LOVE my thirteen-striped ground squirrels!! 

When I moved to the chair closer to the window it just shows the screen better--LOL! 

Annie was absolutely thrilled to see the ground squirrel, too! 

And it has been back every day since! 

Annie has been spending a LOT of time by the patio door. 

You can definitely tell Annie spent time hunting food when she lived on the street in her youth because watching our little friend makes her hungry. 

Annie has to take regular breaks to the pantry to grab a few morsels from her food dish...which cracks me up.  ;) 

The ground squirrels and voles (which have disappeared this year) and small birds make her hungrier than the larger partridges. 

Maybe she knows these are a bit to large for her to tackle successfully? 

She watches their every move, regardless.  But I notice she just isn't as compelled to make quick trips to snack on some kitty kibble when the bigger birds are here.  Maybe she is too lost in planning and fantasy?  Or she knows when they get scared and fly away they don't come back quickly like the small birds do?  Annie does LOVE her CatTV!

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I watched a compelling series on BritBox this past week called The Street.  Caused these old eyes to well up more than once.  Each episode is fly-on-the-wall type knowledge of some family on the street.  Good actors.  Only three seasons made and I didn't want it to end!  Has anybody else seen it?

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Still am tired and achy and dragging myself around.  Added extra vitamin D and B12 to my daily pills a few days ago and am hoping that might help.  Time will tell.  Meanwhile, Annie and I have been spending these fibro flare days (many weeks now) quite nicely.  The hint of Jack Frost in the air seems to lift out spirits, regardless.  Annie has been racing about the apartment like a kitten and was even chasing her tail one day!  That was even before the ground squirrel showed up.  The cooler weather and Rita's Critter Cafe being reopened really has wound her up--LOL! 

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Anyways, I hope they don't trap or kill this sweet little ground squirrel.  It has avoided the poison traps they put out along the outside walls for the voles...that are still out there...but the voles are not.  I haven't seen a ground squirrel for soooo long!  I can't remember for sure, but I don't think I saw any at all last summer.  I thought they were gone for good.  Well, it will only be coming to grab seed until hibernation time.  It knows I have food here so will be less likely to try the poison traps.  I will gladly help it stock up for the long winter.  :) :) 

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This little critter has brought me great joy these past few days.  Annie also--but in a different way--ROFL!!  Me--I am having childhood memories of the tall prairie grass fields next to the lake when I was a kid...skinks, dragonflies, toads, frogs, salamanders, mallards, turtles, garter snakes, meadowlarks, red-winged blackbirds, crows, bats, flickers, monarch butterflies by the thousands on the milkweed...and thirteen-striped ground squirrels.  Annie--she is salivating as she remembers the thrill of a successful kill and tearing through that fur to get to the warm meaty flesh.  Very different memories, indeed, but a joy to both of us, nonetheless.  ;)

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In fact, as I peek up from the dining room table I see the little ground squirrel filling her pouches in the middle of many sparrows pecking away.  Canadian geese just flew overhead.  Their constant squawking conversation is a sure sign of spring and fall up here.  I often wonder if they are discussing where to go, how far to travel, where to hold up for the night...or if they are just plain excited to be in formation on their journey?  No matter how many geese in the formation it always sounds to me like 2 or 3 of them are calling back and forth.  Maybe the current leader and the one in the back--checking to see everyone is okay--letting them know if they need to change up leaders?  I read somewhere that they take turns being the one on point because it is the more exhausting position.  I wonder if that is true and maybe why they need to talk back and forth all the time as they fly?  I ponder things like that all the time--LOL!

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Anyways, till next week, my friends...stay safe and be well.  :)

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"In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart."

Blaise Pascal

September 21, 2020 Monday- 11:30am

Good morning! 

I've still been feeling a bit withdrawn and not like talking...but in a good way, I think.  Still feeling calmer and less stressed, I guess.  Just been on a resting and healing retreat...peeking my head out from under the porch.  ;)  Been catching up on letters (finally), making soup, doing laundry...nothing extra really.

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I went to McFamily's for a visit on Tuesday and then to the clinic for a blood pressure check on Thursday.  Exposure...so won't be visiting McFamily for quite a while because we are doing Caroline (cleaning at my place tomorrow) and Costco (Leah doing grocery shopping on Wednesday) and will quarantine for a couple weeks after that.  This month Dagan's work decided to pass on adding another 1/4 of the workforce at the office.  Covid on the rise here, so we are glad he can still work from home and go in after hours to fix computers.  :)

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I called my mom around 4pm on Friday and she was in an ambulance!  On her way to the hospital because of the swelling in her legs again.  But they let her go home to her apartment this time instead of keeping her overnight.  I'm sure because she is now on assisted living there--so she has a nurse and others in and out to check on her and they take care of her pills, etc.  I am soooo glad she is where she is and not down in Florida all alone.  I talked to her again on Saturday and she is happy they have some new sports on.  She can't see or hear well enough to follow a movie but she can get the gist of basketball or football.  Glad she's home again.  :)

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You may recall I forgot to get pictures of the partridges last week...well, it must have been in the back of my mind this week as it is the only pictures I took!

 I'm not sure if I have one big group or two but they are here every day...usually more than once.  I have been sweeping into the grass when I clean off the patio and they love to search for the few seeds (preferred over the cracked corn in the mix that they all eat last--lol!).

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I forgot to take a single picture when I was over visiting McFamily.  Leah forgot to send me pictures of Ian's "classroom" now with the little additions.  I know they were busy planting more trees this weekend, though.  Just one of those busy weeks over there.  Not sure how mine felt busy and flew by, but it did.  :)

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Very short blog this week.  I know--you're shocked--ROFL!
Till next week...
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"An act of love that fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that succeeds, for love is measured by its own fullness, not by its reception."
Harold Loukes

September 14, 2020 Monday- 2pm

Good afternoon!  

I've already been at this since noon going through my photos, Leah's photos, uploading a couple of short videos (second one isn't finished yet) and trying to get them all on to the blog--LOL!  A bit trickier than it used to be but I am getting the hang of it...I think.

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Myself, I didn't take many pictures at all this week, as you will see--but I got you kind of caught up on some of Leah's pics since July.  

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Caught a flock of sparrows and didn't even get a shot of the big family of partridges--even though they've been here every day. 

Just been either busy or too tired--LOL!
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Before I forget, though!  For those of you devoted letter writers, I have to warn you that something has changed besides just the mail being slower.  Remember when if you had a letter that was too fat (over 1/4 inch thick), too rigid, or an odd shape it was 70 cents?  You could stick an extra stamp on there and have covered more than enough for the hand sorting--no problem?

Well, I mailed a couple of pen refills I had ordered for Leah a bit ago (when we were isolating)...put on two stamps because it was rigid with the refills in their little container.  Leah had to pay several dollars before they would deliver the envelope!?
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Well, I thought that must have been a fluke and some cranky person in the post office made a mistake.
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Not so, apparently. 
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This envelope that came to me had an extra stamp on it, just as I had done with Leah's envelope and have been doing for YEARS.  With two stamps that is $1.10...but I got a notice that I had postage due of $3.30 before they would deliver my "parcel".     

This envelope was that parcel.  ??

I went to the USPS website online and it still says that an envelope that is rigid, square, or odd shaped is supposed to be 70 cents.  Didn't mention about the being over 1/4 inch thick, though, under the regular envelopes.  So I looked under large envelopes (even though this was regular size as you can see and so was mine to Leah).  Well, they did have a category for over 1/4 inch thick under large envelopes--but still that was $3.80...so how did they come up with a total of  $4.40??  What a mess!

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Therefore--my days of adding in little goodies in the mail are over--unless they are perfectly flat and bendable--LOL!  Things are changing at USPS so I thought I'd give you all a heads up.  Makes me wonder if anything hand-sorted is now considered a parcel?  And are they just randomly making up prices?
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Anyways...
Monday I baked.  
Tuesday was Ian's first day of kindergarten--from home.  Even so, they took their traditional picture on the front steps of Ian...

...and both the boys. 

No backpack needed this year.
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Ian has his school area upstairs in the hallway--cleared out so no distractions. 

Little table and chair with his laptop that the school district gave him to use.

Since then Leah's added some satchels, etc, that I sent over from my place.
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I did a video chat with Ian after his first day.  He met his new teacher and was learning on the laptop how to mute, raise his hand, and stop the picture but leave the voice on...and demonstrated everything for me.  :)
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Here's pictures of the McFamily vehicles.  The big burgundy one and the new-to-them little black one...

...which is an electric car!  Nissan Leaf, I believe.  Really cute and spunky!

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McFamily has been working a lot on landscaping this summer.

The boys help, too.

They planted trees in the front yard.

This was back in July, I believe.    

Ian took over videoing.  Going to be funny to show this to him when he's older.

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They've been getting rid of weeds and putting down rocks.  This is one side of the house.

Here is pre-planting after hauling rocks along the back of the house by the deck.

Planning where all the plants will go.

Going to be so nice when they are finished to watch it all take hold and grow.

The boys are always such good helpers.

Holes dug...

...and plants planted.

Looking good!

I would like a video of a walk around the house and yard when they are all done.

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The boys have had a couple of visits with their cousins.

Harder to do the bubble with them since school has started and their parents are teachers.  More quarantining now.

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Back to my week...
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Thursday Leah dropped off a few groceries from Cashwise.  She's been doing the drive up now every week or two.  Looks quite stark at the waiting area.

But wonderful that they bring it out and put it in your trunk.  She'd go less if we got everything she asks for--LOL!  Still shortages.

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On Friday the maintenance man came with the part and spent a long time fixing my dryer.  I was praying he could fix it as I realized that I would be in deep doo-doo if he couldn't...as you can see!

I'd have to remove all those bookcases in order for him to get the dryer out of here!  Never thought about that before.  Gulp!  I hope they never have to be replaced as long as I live here.  Five years and counting...
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So, of course, I spent most of the day Saturday washing clothes and towels.  I thought I was going to go to visit McFamily on Sunday but Dagan got called in to work for a little while and Leah was doing the last day of an online weekend seminar...so we switched to tomorrow.  Ian doesn't have any classes after lunch.
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Today...blogging (good 4 1/2 hours again) and making more bean soup.  Am watching Scott & Bailey on BritBox and finally have been back to writing letters.  
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Still feel kind of on a mental/emotional vacation, spending less time online, and plan to keep it up as long as possible.  So much better than being all stressed out over things I have no control over.  Now, sending out positive energy...spreading the love...that is something I can do.  I hope you can feel it!  Won't be long and we can vote!  I'm expecting to get a ballot in the mail fairly soon.  Meanwhile...take good care of yourselves and have a good week--come what may.  Till next time, my dear friends...
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"We have a responsibility to hold to the power of love that we know to be true, and to not allow the world around us to deaden that in ourselves."
Lucas Johnson