Ready or Not!

    Christmas is coming, ready or not! I'm not the type to have everything ready two weeks before Christmas, and even though I wish I could, it has never happened. One of the hardest things is to select gifts. 

    However, we are prepared for our trip, which begins tomorrow. We have our boarding passes and a reservation for parking near the airport. I plan to do some laundry in the morning and then pack our bags. Our flight leaves Indianapolis at 6:15 for Phoenix.

    On Thursday, our bridge group met early for a pitch-in lunch. We had a delicious spread, and none of us went away hungry. 

My Everyday Life - December 15-21, 2024

    We enjoyed watching the Colts win today. Although the team may still have life left, realistically, we are waiting until next year for a better season.

    Did any of you watch the College Football Playoff games yesterday? I think it's interesting that all the teams playing on home turf were the winners. We must wait until New Year's Day and the bowl games to see who advances in the series.

    Merry Christmas to all! I'll be seeing some of you very soon.
 

Two For One

    I began a post a week ago but never finished, so this post will cover the past two weeks. On a Saturday afternoon, we went shopping at Walmart. We usually shop at Kroger to get gasoline points, but I wanted to purchase some candied fruit for baking, and Walmart was the only store that carried it. We loaded up our cart and saw that they only had self-checkout. When I tried to use the wallet on my phone, I learned that their card readers weren't set up for this technology. We dug out a plastic card, but that didn't work, so I went out to the car to get another credit card, but that didn't work either. Finally, a third manager came to help us, and she reset the card reader, just like rebooting your computer when it isn't working. We finally were on our way home. I still prefer Kroger when shopping for groceries. Some of Walmart's prices are better, but Kroger's checkout is easier!

My Everyday Life - December 1-7, 2024

    After our church service this morning, everyone was invited to the Fellowship Hall for a Christmas party. We enjoyed watching the children dressed in costumes and listening to the Christmas story. In addition to cookies, a special cake was served to honor our organist's 20 years of service. 

    After the Christmas party, we stopped at Joe's house. Kylie, Jayden, and Dustin arrived a little later. 

    Tanner is sitting on Kylie's lap. Ten years ago, Kylie's grandmother, Christy Wildmone, was ready for a new puppy after losing a dog. Tanner was Christy's puppy until she passed, and then Tanner was cared for by Andy, Christy's husband. Not long ago, he also passed, and Dustin rescued Tanner so he wouldn't be sent to a shelter. 

My Everyday Life - December 8-14, 2024

    The Colts imploded in the second half of their game today and are out of contention for a playoff berth. Purdue basketball also had a challenging game against Texas A&M on Saturday and lost. This week's big question is how IU will play against Notre Dame in the college football championship series. 

A Big Change

    We've had a significant change in the weather. The weatherman has been predicting much colder temperatures, but after above-average temperatures this fall, we find it hard to adapt to below-average temperatures.

    On Friday afternoon, we headed to Joe's house with the turkey breast I had prepared in a slow cooker. Shortly after arriving, Dustin was called to work. A few flurries were in the air, but we didn't get any snowfall. In my opinion, his supervisors were overly cautious when asking on-call employees to come to work. Of course, they didn't realize it was Thanksgiving Day for the Martin family. 

    We enjoyed reminiscing with Joe about the snowmobile trip to Yellowstone Park. That was about 30 years ago when Kylie was only five years old, and she still regrets not being allowed to go on the trip.

Joe's dog "Steelo"

    In addition to my turkey breast, there was an assortment of food, including ham, loaded potato salad, corn casserole, green beans, rolls, deviled eggs, and more. The dessert menu had even more options. 

We had many dessert choices.

My Everyday Life - November 24-30, 2024

    Since it was lopsided, we only watched part of the IU-Purdue Old Oaken Bucket game. IU prevailed 66-0. The Colts defeated the New England Patriots this afternoon. It wasn't an easy game, and it came down to the last minute to win. During Manning's years, the Patriots were hard to beat, with Tom Brady as their quarterback. 

    I'm trying to stay calm, knowing that Christmas is coming soon. With Thanksgiving late in November, it seems we have less time to prepare for Christmas.

 

A Few Firsts

    Unfortunately for IU fans, IU lost its first football game to Ohio State, 15-38. They are now 10-1. This afternoon, the Colts lost to Detroit at home 6-24 and are now 5-7.  

    Another first happened last Wednesday when I fell while playing pickleball. I have never fallen while playing, but this happened when my partner lost his balance and knocked me down. I didn't see this coming, but I got up and walked off the court after a few seconds. Later, I was back playing. Everyone stops for a minute when someone falls to check that no one is seriously hurt. 

    A third first was our first snowfall of the season. We woke up Thursday to snow on the grass. Even though it was in the low 30s, I went out for a jog. Later that afternoon, when we were leaving the senior center after playing bridge, we found the car covered in several inches of snow. We had to rely on our windshield wipers to clear the snow since we didn't have a snowbrush in the trunk. There is one now! The snow didn't cover the sidewalks or streets and was gone the following day.

My Everyday Life - November 17-23

    Thanks to all who read this. I'm grateful for your continued support and wish you an enjoyable, relaxing, and beautiful Thanksgiving week.

Mid-November Memories

    I mentioned in my last post that we had a new TV but couldn't install the soundbar. On Monday, Dustin and his friend Josh came to help. Kylie came along since she was off work after her back surgery. The two guys quickly got everything working. After finishing the installation, we met for lunch at Tried & True Alehouse, less than a mile from our house. If you recall, Monday was Veterans Day, so Dustin and Josh had a holiday. As a veteran, Ray had a $15 voucher at Tried & True and had a free meal. 

    When it was time for our evening meal, I scanned a list of restaurants offering veterans' specials, and we chose Golden Corral. The parking lot was crowded when we arrived, but we could get inside and wait in a slow-moving line. Several veterans at the door handed out "I Served" stickers to those who qualified. Eventually, we reached the front of the line and waited for a vacant table. The restaurant was at total capacity. After a few minutes, to our surprise, a woman approached us and asked if we would like to join her and her friend. She recognized us from a distance and was a pickleball player we had met years ago. She was finishing her dessert, but we had time to catch up and enjoy a great conversation. I didn't know much about her other than that she was an excellent pickleball player, but I learned that she grew up on a farm and had written two books about her experiences.

Available from Amazon in 
paperback for $10.99

    She also has a second book "More Tales from Turkeyneck Hill." I hope to order a copy soon. 

My Everyday Life - November 10-16

    The Colts defeated the New York Jets, with Anthony Richardson returning as quarterback, ending a three-game losing streak. The Indiana Hoosiers have a bye week but will play Ohio State in Columbus next Saturday.

An Unexpected Shopping Trip

    When I realized we had no plans for Saturday, November 9, I knew I had time for some much-needed cleaning. After breakfast, I began vacuuming behind the furniture and in spots that hadn't been cleaned in a long time. I made progress and even wiped down areas that needed extra attention. 

    When Ray turned on the TV around noon, we discovered a major problem: broken and dead! We checked the usual suspects, including the circuit breakers. I called a local Samsung TV repair service, and the technician estimated that fixing the TV would cost about $500, suggesting we could buy a brand new one for the same price. I also surfed the WEB to learn what might be available if we purchased a new TV.

    At around 3 p.m., we went to Menards to buy light bulbs and then to Best Buy to look at TVs. The store had many boxes of TVs scattered throughout, so I couldn't estimate the number of TVs in stock. Finally, we spoke to a sales representative who suggested an LG TV. It was $150 more expensive than the $500 repair but featured the latest technology. He also suggested purchasing a soundbar to enhance the audio. We took the TV and soundbar home in our car and immediately unpacked the boxes. In about an hour, we had the TV connected. Surprisingly, the IU-Michigan game was still on, and the fourth quarter was about to start. 

    The Hoosiers defeated the defending national champions, Michigan, 20-15, achieving a record of 10-0 for the first time in school history and only their third win against Michigan since 1967. Do you think IU should be playing in the college football playoffs?   

Following the game, an interview with IU's Quarterback.
We really like our new TV!

    I have yet to be able to install the soundbar and need help understanding the installation instructions. Dustin and his friend Josh are coming tomorrow to see if they can assist.

    Although my cleaning project was interrupted, I am pleased with what I accomplished and hope to finish it soon. Below, you can read about the rest of my week.

My Everyday Life - November 3-9, 2024

 

Are You Liking These Hoosiers?

    For the first time this season, IU fell behind 0-10 in its football game yesterday against Michigan State. Some fans were heard shouting, "Overrated." However, the Spartans never scored again, with the final score of 47-10 proving, I think, that IU has a chance to be in the College Football Playoffs. Of course, they have several tough opponents in the next three weeks.

    We enjoyed a few days of 80˚ before the rain came on Halloween. We had one of the driest and warmest Octobers in recent memory. We thought the early morning rain was over, and Ray and I went out for some exercise but came home damp. We cleaned up and got ready for our afternoon of bridge. I encouraged coming in costume the previous week since we would meet again on October 31. I found our costumes from several years ago, and we were ready for some Halloween fun. Not all the bridge players came in costume, but six of us did.

We enjoyed candy and cupcakes, too!

    This week, the Colts made big news when they demoted their young quarterback for the rest of the season. The Colts are playing Minnesota this evening, and I won't have the results before finishing this post. In fact, with a late start, we may not stay up for the game's finish.

    We set our alarm clocks back last evening, and tonight, it was dark as we started our evening meal. It was nice this morning to wake up to daylight.

My Everyday Life - October 27-November 2, 2024

 

🎵"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" 🎶

     Today, the church celebrates Reformation Sunday. Someone suggested that we wear red today, and I thought it was a great idea. However, I forgot and wore olive green when I selected something to wear this morning. I should have left myself a note. We sang Luther's Hymn "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" with trumpet accompaniment!

    The small children heard a story about Martin Luther before they went outside for Trunk or Treat. The weather was cool but sunny. The children were dressed in their Halloween costumes. This event has been a tradition for several years, but something I hadn't seen before. At least a half dozen car trunks were decorated, and candy treats were handed out to the children as they came by. Someone even set up a bubble machine to add to the festive atmosphere.

Bubbles everywhere!

    The IU football team did it again. They defeated Washington State 31-17 yesterday and are now 8-0 for the season! The Colts did not win today. They were in Houston against the Texans and lost 20-23.

    We aren't planning for trick-or-treaters on Thursday evening since we haven't had anyone knock on our door since we moved to Beckenham Way. What about you? Do you stock up on candy for Halloween? What is your favorite to share?

My Everyday Life - October 20-26, 2024

Birthday Week

     Our celebration was low-key, with phone calls, greeting cards arriving in the mail, cake at the senior center, where we play bridge on Thursday afternoons, and a flower arrangement. A local restaurant offers a free personal pizza for your birthday, and we enjoyed that, too. We had a Zoom visit with Bart and his family in the evening. Today, a gift was delivered, and we put it to good use this afternoon since we had lots of sunshine.

A special gift:
Monogrammed Corn Hole Bags

    I baked a cake and cookies for the birthday celebration. The two recipes called for melted butter, but I must have overheated the butter because I heard a loud explosion and opened the microwave door to find this mess. 

I set the microwave for a few seconds, 
but it was enough to cause a butter explosion!

    A few days ago, I saw a post about the Indiana Live Steamers Club in Johnson County Park. They offer train rides once a month, and yesterday was the last one of the year. The weather was ideal; we drove south for 30 minutes to the park after lunch. When we arrived, a large crowd was waiting to purchase tickets. 

Waiting in line for our turn.

We had a few minutes waiting for the next train.

This is our train coming into the station.

Just about ready to depart the station.

My Everyday Life - October 13-19, 2024

    

    Football update: Indiana beat Nebraska convincingly yesterday, 56-7! Today, the Colts outlasted Miami, 16-10. IU is 7-0 for the season, and the Colts are 4-3.

Murder Trial

    On a warm February day in 2017, two teenage friends, Abby and Libby, went hiking on a Delphi, Indiana trail. They didn't return to the arranged point for a ride home, and a search was begun. The next day, the girls were found murdered. The story received national attention, but no suspect was apprehended until two years ago. A local Delphi man, Richard Allen, was arrested, and his trial begins this week. The trial will occur in the county where the girls lived, but the jury comes from Allen County, the home of Fort Wayne. The jury will be sequestered for the duration of the trial, which is expected to take weeks. 

    I can't begin to imagine what those jurors' lives will be like. They will be far from home, and their lives will be on hold. They won't have access to much outside of the courtroom. From what I've heard, jurors are closely monitored. No cameras, recording devices, or TVs are allowed in the courtroom. We'll be hearing daily reports when the trial begins after the jury selection process is completed. 

    On the days I go jogging, I like to get out of bed and go outdoors fifteen minutes after waking up. I've noticed that it's barely light when I leave the house. On a clear day, I can even see the sun rise above the horizon. Later this week, we will have some mornings in the low 30s, so I'll need to jog later when there's daylight and warmer temperatures. 

My Everyday Life - October 6-12, 2024

    
    I wish all my readers a lovely week. I hope to see some fall colors soon and share them with you.

 

More Football and This and That

    Sadly, we watched the Colts lose to Jacksonville this afternoon. The Colts have not won on their turf in the last ten years. The Colts were without their regular starting quarterback, running back, and center. Joe Flacco played an excellent game and tied up the game, but Jacksonville had enough time on the clock to kick a field goal and win the game.

    On Saturday afternoon, we cheered IU as they went 6-0 for the season, defeating Northwestern in a well-played game. IU is the first team to achieve six victories to be bowl-eligible!

    Before the IU football game, I helped with the Lutheran World Relief ingathering. Nine volunteers loaded the truck with quilts, school and personal care kits, fabric kits, and baby layettes. We also had help from several people who were dropping off their contributions. Churches from central and southern Indiana made the trip to Greenwood to bring kits to load on the truck for transport to the warehouse in Minnesota.

More than 400 boxes were loaded on the truck

All the boxes are moved to the front of the truck.
It's a big job, and these guys worked hard.

    Today, we celebrated LWML Sunday, and many women and some men wore shades of purple. October 6 is Dustin's 29th birthday, and we enjoyed visiting with him and his friend, Josh, for lunch at Tacos & Brews. 

Next year, he'll celebrate #30!

My Everyday Life - September 29-October 5

 

Football and Church News

     Let me start by talking about the Colts, who defeated the Steelers today, who were 3-0. The Colts started on fire and quickly built a lead, but Anthony Richardson, our quarterback, left the game with a hip injury, and Flacco finished the game. Pittsburgh made a valiant comeback, but it wasn't enough for a win. I'm concerned about Richardson since he was injured in his fourth game last year and was out for the rest of the season. Today's injury was not as severe, but is he prone to injuries? Does he try too hard, and can he be a franchise quarterback? We should know by the end of this season.

    We watched the IU-Maryland game yesterday. IU is on a winning streak, and it was fun to watch. Even though IU had four turnovers, they dominated the game, winning 42-28 and are 5-0 for the first time since 1967 (the year they went to the Rose Bowl). 

    We were disappointed that the Fever couldn't advance past the first round of the WNBA playoffs. However, they ended their season, finishing 20-20 after a 1-8 start. Caitlin Clark needs a vacation! After competing in Iowa and playing in the national college championship game, she went directly to the WNBA as the top draft pick in mid-April and began playing a month later. 

    On the local sports scene, high school football games were canceled Friday because of rain and high winds triggered by Hurricane Helene. The games were rescheduled for Saturday. I've noticed many leaves, twigs, and branches on the ground. Some friends had power outages for a few hours. We had two power outages that only lasted for a few seconds. 

    This morning, after our regular church service, the congregation met to call a new pastor. We have been without a pastor for the last fourteen months. Earlier this summer, a call was extended to a pastor from Missouri. He declined the call mainly because of his family situation—his wife was pregnant (a high-risk pregnancy) with their sixth child, and we didn't have any children the same age as their older children. Since they are home-schooled, that was a problem for them. 

    The committee presented four names on the original call list to the congregation. In addition to the pastor who declined our call, another of those men recently accepted a call, leaving only two names on the list. After considerable discussion, the vote was taken to call a Michigan pastor serving dual parishes. Interestingly, he is a chaplain in the Army Reserve, and one weekend a month, he will be away with a two-week training session in the summer. In the fourteen months without a pastor, there was no Sunday when we didn't have an ordained pastor leading worship. We have been blessed. The meeting lasted 90 minutes, and I was home in time to see the beginning of the Colts / Pittsburgh game.

My Everyday Life - September 22-28, 2024 

Signs of Fall

     After 50 days with barely a drop of rain, today's prediction was rain beginning at 1 p.m. Because of the threat of rain, the annual church picnic was moved indoors. Ironically, when we wanted to host an outdoor event, we couldn't. We drove home in a light drizzle. Let's hope we'll get some real rain later this afternoon.

    Today is the Fall Equinox, and I've noticed signs indicating the seasons are changing. A few trees drop their leaves, but most are still very green. Also, I note the change in the sun's angle when I'm out early in the morning. On Tuesday, my shadow was directly in front of me, but two days later, my shadow was no longer in front of me. It had moved several degrees to my right. When the sun comes through our windows in the morning, there's a big difference between June and December. The sun's angle keeps changing, reminding me the season is changing.

    The Colts won their first game of the season this afternoon, defeating the Chicago Bears. The quarterbacks for these teams are the two youngest in the NFL, and they both threw interceptions. 

    The afternoon, the WNBA Fever played the Connecticut Sun in the first playoff game for the Fever since 2016. Unfortunately, the Sun defeated the Fever 93-69. This is the first game in a best-of-three series. The Connecticut Sun is coached by Stephanie White, an Indiana native who played college basketball at Purdue and led them to the 1999 Women's College Basketball Championship. She played for the Fever and even coached the Fever and other college teams before joining the Sun.

    Caitlin Clark has more awards and firsts than I can post here. She has made a significant impact on the WNBA. 

My Everyday Life - September 15-21

Yesterday Wasn't My Best Day

    It would have been a rant if I had written this blog 24 hours ago. But after sleeping, I felt much better. Let me explain. I discovered a charge on our credit card that didn't make sense. It was for $18 at a local microbrewery. I couldn't recall ever visiting the place. I talked to an agent at the credit card company, and they suggested calling the brewery. I called them and had a good conversation with the man who answered the phone. He agreed to check their records and called me back to tell me they had no record of us. I thought having the charge taken off our account would be simple, but the conversation deteriorated when I couldn't understand the agent. She had a decided accent and spoke fast. I asked to talk to someone else and was transferred. I regret how I spoke to the agent. I tried to be respectful but failed. The end of the story is that they determined fraud was involved and will issue us a replacement card.

    At the same time, I was trying to log into our xfinity account and kept getting a 400 error, which added to my stress yesterday afternoon. xfinity uses chatbots on its website, which is frustrating because they aren't smart enough to understand what you want. I finally picked up the phone and called them, but that didn't go well. After several minutes of getting nowhere, I finally told the agent that I was too tired, and she suggested I go to the xfinity store to get an answer to my question. All I wanted to do was to change the credit card to a different one. That should be simple. However, they are concerned about security, and I guess that's a good thing.

    An update: A few minutes ago, I successfully logged into my xfinity account and changed the credit card payment. It was easy, but why did I have so much trouble yesterday that left me stressed?

My Everyday Life - September 8-14, 2024

    Today, the Colts lost to the Green Bay Packers. They didn't play well. The Fever game wasn't available on TV; the good news is that they won their afternoon game 110-109!

 

First Week of September

    Last Sunday afternoon, we were at the reception following Rebecca's wedding to Kevin Leonard. 

Ceremony at St. Paul Lutheran Church

Bride & Groom enter the reception hall.

    We stayed overnight at an Airbnb not far from the church and reception. On Monday, Labor Day, we were up early and began our drive back to Indiana after a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts for a bite to eat. When we got on the road, we never stopped until we parked the car in the garage. We should have stopped halfway through the trip for a quick stretch of our legs.

    Have I mentioned before that we enjoy watching the WNBA Fever games? The Fever have achieved a playoff position for the first time since 2016 and won overtime this afternoon against the Atlanta Dream. Unfortunately, the Colts lost their season's opening game at home against the Houston Texans. They haven't won a season opener since 2013. Both games were in downtown Indianapolis this afternoon. We enjoyed watching the Texas vs. Michigan game yesterday since we knew a few Texas fans in the stands and how they must have had a fantastic time cheering the Longhorn team. 

    Yesterday evening, we were invited to a surprise birthday party for a bridge friend. The party was held in a clubhouse, and after the meal, we had time to play a few rounds of bridge and had cake and ice cream before heading home.

    Today, Jayden celebrated his 17th birthday. A big crowd of adults and young people enjoyed today's mild weather at Joe's house. We enjoyed tacos and birthday cake.    

Ruth, Dustin, Jayden, Joe, Kylie, Ray

My Everyday Life - September 1-7

Ending August with a 10K

    I aim to post this missive this afternoon since we're heading to Chicago in the morning to celebrate Rebecca Zielke's (Ray's great niece) wedding in the afternoon. We'll stay overnight and return home on Monday. 

    We've had a long string of 90° days. We may complain, but other parts of the U.S. have had hotter days and other weather events. We feel fortunate to have had some rain on Thursday and this morning.

    I signed up when I learned that the Indiana Women's Running Festival offered a 10K in addition to the Half Marathon and 5K. The Indiana State Games in June did not provide a 10K, but I had to find a local one to qualify for the National Games next summer in Des Moines. Yesterday afternoon, we drove to Carmel to pick up my race bib.

Beautiful Flower Pots in front of the
Renaissance Hotel

Ready for the race! 
I was impressed with the well-designed shirt.

        I set the alarm for 5:15 last night but had difficulty sleeping. We had a thunderstorm that wouldn't quit. It didn't bring much rain, but I heard wind and rain on the window. By 6 a.m., Ray and I were driving to the race site. It was dark and overcast, and the sun never showed up. We had free parking and walked to the start as it started to drizzle. I'm not familiar with Carmel. It's considered an upscale community, and I can see why. I saw lots of art and beautiful buildings during my run. I would like to return and get a close-up view of the art.

    I received a butterfly-designed finisher's medal, a long-stem rose, and a bottle of water at the finish line. The usual bananas and chewy bars were also available. Runners could pick up a small glass of wine at another tent, and the next tent served grilled hamburgers. Two kinds of cookies were also given away. I checked in at the timing tent and received the results of my run. There were 274 runners in the 10K, and I finished at #217--first in my age division with a time of 1:26 for a pace of 13:54. For my first-place finish, I received a wine glass to add to my collection.

My Everyday Life - August 25-31, 2024

    Have a safe and fun Labor Day Holiday, everyone. 

An Early Fall Feeling in the Air

This was not an ordinary August week. Although the temperatures were in the 70s most days, this is a new week, and they are back in the 90s. The days last week felt like late September. Since we haven't had rain, I watered the planter on the patio.

Several times a year, the Greenwood Senior Center is closed on Thursdays for a fundraiser, so we can't play bridge there. One of those days was last week, but we found an alternate place to play. One of our regular members recently dropped out because of an accident and is now living in an Assisted Living Community. We used their community room, and he was so happy to see everyone and play cards again.

We watched the Colts' last preseason game on Thursday evening. The Colts played starters, but the Bengals played second—and third-string players. The Colts managed a win. Our quarterback only played four games last year, so he is inexperienced. I hope he lives up to his expectations. He is a work in progress.

My Everyday Life - August 18-24, 2024

Halfway Through August

    This past week has been a blur as I spent all week helping prepare for our annual church rummage sale. We had a great team working together to prepare the donations for the two-day sale. For the effort, we were rewarded with the largest sale anyone can remember. 

    We usually play bridge on Thursday afternoon, but the senior center closed on Wednesday and will not reopen until tomorrow due to COVID concerns. I don't know anyone ill, but the closing allowed me to spend more time at church sorting clothing donations. I've worked exclusively with setting up the clothing area for several years and avoid sorting all the other "stuff." I even gave up playing pickleball but plan to return to the court tomorrow morning.

    Speaking of pickleball, Ray and I attended the "Making Memories" tournament last Friday evening. Greenwood built a beautiful 16-court pickleball complex that opened in June. We hadn't seen it since it was finished. A local food vendor had food available, and Mashcraft Brewery served beer. We watched a few matches and visited with several pickleball people we hadn't seen in a while.

This is one-fourth of the new complex.
(Photo from the dedication -- the largest in our county)

 

My Everyday Life - August 11-17, 20224

Lessons Learned!

    Last week, I wrote about our TV problems and that we were expecting a tech to come on Tuesday to fix them. Fortunately, I looked at the setup again on Monday and realized I failed to insert the cables correctly. Because of my mistake, we would have been charged a $100 house call. I canceled the order, and we are enjoying our former setup. 

    Have you noticed the proliferation of self-checkout lanes, especially at the grocery store? Yesterday morning, I stopped to pick up a few items. I went to this particular grocery store because they had sent me some good coupons, including a dozen free eggs. I chose the self-checkout lane and scanned them without any problems. Then, I scanned the coupons by inserting them into the provided slot. I didn't see the discounts on the screen and asked for help. The attendant asked if I had clicked on the button to select coupons. It was apparent at that moment that I had made a big mistake. I had to pay the total price for all my items and lost the value of the coupons. That was another lesson that I learned.

My Everyday Life - August 4-10

        We watched the Closing Ceremonies for the Paris Olympics and saw Tom Cruise's surprise appearance. Now that we don't have the games to watch, what will take their place. Oh, I almost forgot. The NFL season is about to start. We'll watch the Colts and the WNBA Fever when they begin playing again.

A New Month/New Problems

    This past Wednesday was the last of the weekly concerts in Franklin. The Indiana Wind Symphony provided an entertaining program with many lively marches. We learned that the Symphony was organized seven years ago, with the founder recently retiring. The new director and the assistant director shared the podium, each directing half of the numbers played. The new director has been the director of the Purdue Marching Band for the last 19 years. This will be his last season at Purdue. This concert was one of our favorites of the season.

This is a large orchestra, filling the chancel area.

    The rest of the week wasn't much fun. On Monday, I contacted Xfinity to see if they had any promotions to reduce our monthly fees. I chatted with an agent who suggested signing up for NOW TV, a streaming service with a significantly lower monthly payment. I agreed and learned it would work best if I had their Xumo box. We stopped at the Xfinity store and picked up the box at no cost. However, I couldn't connect the box and talked to an agent for some time, but they couldn't get it to work either. They decided a house call was needed, and an appointment was made for Monday (tomorrow). When I learned that local channels weren't included with this service, I canceled the house call, returned the box on Friday, and signed up for our former service. All I had to do was plug in the TV box we still had and insert the HDMI cable into the back of the TV. That sounded easy, but it didn't work. After talking to their technicians, we have an appointment for Tuesday when someone will come to the house.

    I've learned not to interfere when something is working OK. Just pay the price! Fortunately, we have  Roku, and since I signed up for Peacock (to watch the Olympics), we are not without TV service. 

My Everyday Life - July 28-August 3

    
    I appreciate your patience in reading about my problems if you've read to the end. I hope to have a good report the next time I post.

Rainy Wednesdays

The summer concert season is almost over, but we missed the one last Wednesday. Six of the concerts were scheduled for an outdoor venue but were moved indoors because of rain and one because of heat. We hadn't seen a notice of a change of venue last week and headed to Franklin to see The Happy Enchiladas, but we were disappointed not to see them. We checked two places but had to head home when we couldn't find where they were performing. As a consolation, we stopped at McDonald's on our way home for an Oreo Frappe. The last concert is this Wednesday, scheduled at an indoor venue.

We enjoyed "Christmas in July" with friends from our bridge group on July 25. We had a themed meal before the main event began.

We played several trivia games with a Christmas theme, but our team was near the bottom of the winner's list. 

The week began with cataract surgery on Monday and Tuesday. I'm enjoying the freedom of not having to wear contacts, and I hope nothing changes in the coming weeks.

My Everyday Life - July 21-27

We'll watch lots of TV in the next two weeks to see as many events as possible at the Paris Olympics. What is your favorite sport to watch?

 

A Quiet Week

It's been a quiet week here on Beckenham Way. We again drove to Franklin for the summer mid-week concert. This was the first concert on the grounds of Franklin College. Because of rainy Wednesdays, many outdoor concerts were moved to an indoor venue. 

This week, the Indy Ceili Band was featured. We heard lots of reels and jigs and enjoyed the songs performed by their lead singer. The band had two flute players, a banjo player, someone on the keyboard, two violinists, and a drummer. I enjoyed the lively Irish music, but it was repetitive, and I couldn't tell the difference between the reels and jigs. 

The drummer is hidden behind the lady with the red shirt.

When we drive to Franklin for the summer concert series, we pass by fields of corn. The corn crop at this time looks excellent! We have had weekly rain, and the corn is tasselling. It is a beautiful site.

My Everyday Life - July 14-20