Our Week in Condensed Form

Last Sunday we received word that Ray's half brother, Clarence Cihlar, died at the age of 88. We learned that his funeral service was planned for Tuesday in Sturgeon Bay. Our first reaction was that we would not attend, but several hours later that changed. Before heading to bed we had packed and decided we would leave at 8 a.m. the next morning. The drive north was uneventful and after 7.25 hours we reached our destination.

Carl and Karen arrived in Sturgeon Bay the previous Thursday. Karen noticed the obituary in the local newspaper and called us otherwise we would not have known. Shortly after our arrival we visited the funeral home to offer our sympathies and respect. Clarence's wife Dolores preceded him in death several years ago, but we had met her at least once on another occasion when we were visiting Door County.

The next morning we attended the funeral service and joined the procession to the cemetery a few miles outside the city in a rural area. Clarence was in the Merchant Marine followed by a stint in the U.S. Army from Feb. 1944 to August 1947. Because of his service he was given a military salute at the cemetery.

Preparing for a four gun salute

Folding the flag ceremony

The gun shell casings were presented to Gary Cihlar,
Clarence's oldest child. Gloria, his other child, stands
next to her husband.

We returned to the church for a luncheon and visited with Ray's sisters and other family members at our table.

Later that afternoon Ray invited me to join him for a walk to the Fire Tower in the park that is next to the Scafidi property. It's about a 20 minute walk and then we climbed to the top of the tower for a beautiful view of Sturgeon Bay, the water, that is.

Bad hair day due to lots of wind on top of the tower

The return trip to Greenwood was much longer due to a rainy day, some backups on the highway and making one wrong move that put us in downtown Chicago. The Loop is crowded and traffic doesn't move fast. Eventually we found our way back to the Interstate and were on our way again. The traffic on I-465 was slow--we learned later there were tornado warnings with Kokomo having lots of damage. When our gas gauge showed empty we decided to stop at the first station and we were able to fill up the tank. However, water was pouring off the canopy even though it wasn't raining any more. The station has a huge drainage problem! Not much later, as we were exiting the Interstate we could hear tornado sirens. As we pulled near our mailbox, Ray stepped out the car and nearly had the umbrella pulled from his hand by the wind and he ended up getting very soaked. Five minutes later the deluge stopped and the sun was shining! The trip home took about 1-1/2 hrs longer than the trip heading north. Quite an adventuresome day.

That was the first half of the week. On our way north I received an email that one of our church members had died and the funeral would be later in the week. On returning home I learned the funeral was planned for Friday evening. With the help of several others, we served a meal at 7 p.m. following the church service. The internment was Saturday morning since the cemetery was some distance away in another small town. As it turned out, the Friday evening service was beneficial to me as I was able to accomplish some of my usual Friday morning activities.

The title of this post indicates it's a condensed version of our week, but perhaps I should change that. Wonder how long this would be if it wasn't condensed? You don't want to know!

A week of watching the Olympics

With the gym we frequent most often closed for a week, we actually used the facilities in our Club House one morning. There are two treadmills and since it was raining we decided to spend time there, but one of the treadmills was not operational. However, I used a bicycle and an elliptical and took turns with Ray using the treadmill.

On Wednesday we drove to Franklin for lunch with Pat and Max Walker and enjoyed a taco salad on the restaurant's outdoor patio. After lunch Ray and I walked a block to the Johnson County Museum and enjoyed seeing the myriad exhibits and were surprised how much we knew of the history of the county even though we weren't born here. Our personal history dates back to 1968 when we moved to Greenwood the first time.

This afternoon we headed to Indy to see a live performance at the Indy Fringe Festival. The weather was beautiful and we saw many people strolling Mass Ave. and found parking. We had to walk about four blocks to the venue and found a line at the theatre. Unfortunately, the show was sold out and without a backup plan we headed back home. Next time, we'll know to purchase tickets in advance! There are several more performances scheduled before the festival concludes so we may still have a chance to see Calder: The Musical.

Our TV was tuned to the Olympic Games most of the week. One of the highlights was watching the end of the gold medal soccer match between Brazil and Germany. The game was tied 1-1 after two overtimes and was finally decided on a shootout. Each team has five shots at goal and the outcome wasn't decided until the fifth shot! The Brazil goalie stopped a German shot and then the Brazil player scored on the final shot! We aren't huge soccer fans but this was exciting to watch and I was happy for the home country to get their first Gold Medal in Olympic Soccer.

I can hear the closing ceremonies in the background as I finish writing. Back to regular TV viewing this week.

And it don't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime

I couldn't help but recall these lyrics the last two days. It's not true! The last two or three days have given us rain, then more rain and still more to come. It's the month of August. Isn't that when the lawns are brown and don't need mowing? For those who enjoy stats, I just learned that for the month of July we had 5.66 inches which is one inch above average. So far in August we've already had 2.65 inches when the average is a measly 1.40 inches.

August is the typical month when gyms close for a week to make renovations, do maintenance or whatever is needed. The gym where we play Pickleball twice a week is closed this week to redo the floor. Last Friday after play was finished we stayed late to help take up the taped lines. We are still trying to figure out what we'll do as a substitute this week but weather may play a factor especially if we have more rain.

We stopped by for a short visit with Nancy after leaving the gym on Friday and were also able to visit with Dustin and Kylie and, then, Jayden when he arrived after school. Joe eventually arrived home and we were able to enjoy a short visit with him too. One purpose of our visit was to pick up some produce from the Martin's garden. We came home with tomatoes, green beans, green peppers and cucumbers. The row of carrots looked good so someone decided to pull one. Then Jayden wanted to get in the action.

First Carrot of the Season

A few minutes after the above photo, Jayden was enjoying the pool.

Jayden does a flip as he enters the pool.
Boo, the dog, watches.

Jayden loves to run a
few feet before jumping into the pool.

Still enjoying the Olympics several hours every day. Signing off until next time!

Olympics, Baseball & Football

The Summer Olympics in Rio opened last Friday night and we've already watched many events with Cubs baseball games in between and this evening we'll watch part of the first preseason game for the Colts. With all the sports events we're immune to the world of politics for which I'm very grateful.

Just learned that the NFL Hall of Fame Game with Indianapolis and Green Bay has been canceled due to field conditions. We knew that Andrew Luck would play only one series! Instead we can concentrate on the Olympics!

I've been involved in a reading olympics of sorts. On May 25 I began reading one of the longest and heaviest novels I've ever encountered. The 4.5 pound book has 1344 pages and I'll be finishing the last chapter later this evening. I think that books of this length are often published in several volumes. My sister Judy mentioned last May that her book club had selected this book for their summer selection. Helen Hooven Santmyer is the author of "...And Ladies of the Club" which was published in 1982.

The story is set in Waynesboro, Ohio shortly after the Civil War in 1868. I've met several generations of the main characters as the book comes to an end in 1932. Period stories like this always give the reader a good picture of social and economic life. I saw many changes in daily life; from horse and buggy to automobile, the addition of telephones and indoor plumbing and so it goes.

Time to sign off for this post so I can finish the last few pages...