Red Hat Fun.....Post Views...31, 547

 Time for our annual Red Hat Mamas' High Tea spring outing at Myrtles. 
  A week ago Thursday we lovely red hatted ladies made our way through sunshine and rain to High Tea about 30 miles from here. That is a fun time to dress in our finery and enjoy endless tea varieties and a delicate, filling lunch. We had a private tea room.

Cleaning the palate....

Red  Hat Elegance......



Sharing tea with friend, Julienne. 




Now that I am back (8 days ago) I need to get to my desk and focus on piles of  disorganized paperwork.  It doesn't much help that my desk is directly in line with the TV.  


A couple "I'm home" stories.  
First off, when I got into Ted (my little SUV) and drove to water aerobics I was startled to experience the brake abruptly catching.  It gave me quite a jolt. I was afraid something had happened to Ted while I was gone.  I gingerly drove around the park and applied the brake and each time jerked to a stop.  I was fearful of driving it out on the roads.   I parked it and then drove it around the park again the next day.  It didn't seem so severe.  Then it struck me!  (Not the brake, the realization.)  Back in Park Falls

(back east, as the say out here) when I buzzed around in my red wheels I'd have to floor the brake before I could stop.  I got used to that and it didn't seem peculiar. NOW, maybe I didn't need to apply "the force" to brake little Ted.  So after some adjustment with foot pressure the brake action seems to be less severe and actually normal for Ted. The End. 

The mystery of the locked garage door.  

I needed to take some garbage and recycling out to the garage a couple days after I got home.  
Actually, first of all, I needed to turn off the outside light that was on.  I went out to open the garage since that is where the light switch is.  I could not open the door.  I knew it stuck a bit but not that bad.  My granddaugher must have locked it while I was gone.  Where is the key??  And why is the door frame curved?  I thought to raise the front main car door but there was no handle and I had no idea where the remote opener might be, if I have one. I looked several places in the house where the key might be.  I did find a couple I had no idea what they were for.  Fortunately, one slid into the keyhole and the deadbolt lock.  Oh, Oh, neither would budge. Must not be the right key.  A couple days later I told friend Nancy my dilemma.  She said the fellow living behind my fence has a remote garage door opener and maybe his would work for mine.  (The fellow isn't literally living behind my fence and, anyway, how does Nancy know he has a remote garage door opener.  I need to have a talk with her soon.) The next day there was a message on my answering machine.  It was Nancy. She has talked with the good fellow and he is willing to try his remote on my garage door.  His name is Dennis O'leary. I call him and he says he is ready to get in his car and drive around the block to my side of the fence. (He didn't say that, but that's logistics.)  I meet Mr. O'leary by my driveway and he bravely aims his remote and shoots.  Nothing happened.  Nothing happened.  He gets out of his car so we can devise a plan B and maybe C.  After we examine a side window I mentally decide plan B is for me to get a ladder, take out the window and I think I could climb through. I would have to borrow the neighbor's ladder since mine is in the garage.  Perhaps that should be plan Z. We walk around to the back. Mr. O'leary is impressed with my little Hobbit yard. I respond that I wanted something green but didn't want to mow.  The green is Irish moss, he should know about that with such

a name as O'leary.   I explain to Dennis (by now we are on a first

name basis) that I have a key in the house but that it didn't turn anything.  I told him I had already tried the "jimmy it with a credit card" trick, but that didn't work.  I brought out the useless key to show him how it goes in but doesn't turn.  I knew that the deadbolt wasn't locked because the credit card would slid up and down without interference.  So I got the key in and ready to show him how it is jammed and..... WALA.....the knob turned and the door opened.  OPPS   Dennis said he had put his thumb on the door. Must have been the luck of the Irish....he goes on to say he always tells people that neighbors are meant to help each other. We exchange a few pleasantries, shake hands and Mr. O'leary found his way back behind my fence.  Oh, what about the curved door frame, you ask?  Well that seems to be a photo optical illusion since when I went to visually check the door, it appeared perfectly straight.  The End.   

I must have done something right.  The 2 days before I left for my trip I pulled out a bunch of weeds that had grown along both sides of my house. The morning I left on April 6 I hurriedly sprinkled a weed preventor on the cleaned out gravel.  It needed to be hosed to moisten the granules.  Since rain was just starting I hoped that would do the watering.  
    How gratified I was when returning home to observe "no weeds" after 4 weeks.  I must have done something right.  
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Busy week......
Nice to be back to budding spring and blue skies....





Back in Wisconsin on Saturday....
2 daughters and 2 sons, 3 grandkids welcoming Lou back home....

On Monday, Gram G advancing with her physical therapy.  More exercises, now for muscle strengthening.  


   
Glorious midweek day!!
      Wednesday introduced us to the return of spring and WARM, SUNNY weather! 
      Checked out a  DIY you tube video on how to clean (take apart) a Maytag dishwasher.  It hasn't been cleaning dishes for several
 weeks.  Rather than buy a new one I am preparing to "clean" this one and see what results.  I have discovered there a wide difference in the quality of DIY videos. The first one was rather sketchy. I did a quick white vinegar cleanse.  With the wonderful weather the full cleaning will have to wait for a rainy day.

     At that point it was time to get out and enjoy the returned warm, sunny weather before it gets too hot by afternoon.
    2 mile walk, Baby!!

        Oh, look!  pink snow!!


This has been a good 7 Red Hat Fun days in the life of Grandma G.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no greater commandment than these." (Mark 12: 30 & 31)