Mother's Day

To tell the truth, I wasn't looking forward to Mother's Day this year. For one thing, I'm still recuperating from surgery. But more importantly, it was my first Mother's Day without my mom, so there would be a mom-sized hole in a day that should be all about her.

But on Saturday evening I got a call from Chris, wishing me a nice Mother's Day. We talked a long, long time. Then I got a sweet message from Tim, as well, so, by the time I went to bed that night, I was feeling loved and remembered and ready to take on the big M-Day.

On Sunday, Dan started my day off right by giving me a card with a very special message. I chose one of Mom's necklaces to wear, to help me think of her all day. I can't sit long enough to make it through both class and worship yet, so we showed up just in time for the worship hour. Dan dropped me off at the door and went to park the car. I came inside and headed toward the auditorium, and that's when I saw the sweetest sight . . . a little blond headed boy, sitting in "our pew", and looking back at me with the biggest, sweetest grin on his face. It was Robert! Next to him was Clara, holding a big bouquet of flowers. And, of course, Chris and Kelsey. What a wonderful surprise!

After church Dan and I took the kids home while Chris and Kelsey went to the Chinese restaurant to get lunch for all of us. We got to visit for another hour or so before they had to hit the road and head back home.

It would have made my Mother's Day special to have Chris and family here, no matter what. But I doubt that they will ever fully know what a difference it made to me on this Mother's Day, in particular, to be surrounded by loved ones.

19 Days Post Surgery

My knee replacement surgery went well. I checked in at 7:30 a.m. On Thursday, April 16, and was in the operating room very quickly.

I have some sketchy memories of being in the recovery room this time, unlike my first knee surgery about two years ago. And I do remember being moved into my own room, where I was so happy to see Dan again. He stayed with me most of the day, I think. The truth is that my sense of what happened, and when. is a jumble of hazy memories. I do remember visits, over the next couple days, from friends including Rodney, Donna, and Ron, but I don't remember much about what was said. I also remember a scary incident on (I believe) Friday. I had been sitting up in a chair for a half-hour or more, doing just fine, when all of a sudden, for some unknown reason, I got very light-headed, started seeing stars, and felt nauseous. A nurse was right there and began taking my vitals. My blood pressure and heart rate plummeted. The nurse pushed some sort of emergency button, and in no time my room was abuzz with ten or twelve doctors and specialists. They got me back to bed and started an IV with fluids. They had me breathing oxygen, and before long my vitals returned to normal. Sometimes, as patients, we can get a little impatient when it takes a while to get a nurse to our room to help with this or that. But this incident demonstrated that when there is a true emergency, a skilled team of docs and caretakers arrives quickly, each one performing his or her part of well-rehearsed steps needed to stabilize the patient. I was really grateful for their speedy and effective care.

On Sunday afternoon I was discharged. Dan drove me home and got me settled in for the evening. My physical therapist started working with me on Tuesday.

Therapy has been really difficult, but it's also been very effective. Every day I'm stronger and able to do more. It's been almost three weeks now. I'm starting to cut back on the pain meds, and have given up the walker for a cane. I even made it to church on Sunday morning.

Wanda and Doreen, two precious, elderly ladies at church, gave me a get-well care package. Among a dozen or so fun, quirky little gifts inside was this stuffed bulldog. I love him, because I think his tenacious expression mirrors my own as I'm going through my PT exercises every day.

Weekend Get-Away - New Braunfels, Texas

With little or no planning, we decided, late last week, to escape the routine and go out of town for the weekend. We tossed around several ideas, and finally decided to visit the New Braunfels area, since we had never been there. We found a reasonably-priced hotel in Schertz, just down the road from New Braunfels, so hopped in the car Friday morning for the just-over-two-hour drive to Schertz.

New Braunfels is in the heart of the Texas Hill Country, and was founded in 1845 by German settlers. The German heritage is apparent everywhere you look. We wanted to enjoy a German style dinner, so I called a highly-rated little restaurant named Alpine Haus to make a reservation. I was told that they were full for the entire evening. Dan and I talked it over and decided to try for Saturday evening, so I called back. The fellow was so sorry to tell me that they were also full for that evening. But he took pity on me, I guess, and said, "Since there are only two of you, I'll make room for you tonight!"

We got to New Braunfels a little bit earlier than our reservation, so we strolled down the street and went into a couple of the interesting shops. One was a quilting shop, and the other a leather shop. Both of them gave us free "gifts" - some fabric squares at the quilting place, and two leather key fobs in the shape of the state of Texas at the leather store.

We had a little trouble finding Alpine Haus. It is located in a little old "haus" that sits behind some of the shops. It turned out to be worth the hunt, though . . . friendly folks, a great atmosphere, and delicious German food. I had schweinebraten (roast of pork) served with spaetzle and red cabbage.  Dan had rider roulade (stuffed beef steak) with German potato salad and red cabbage. Both meals
were superb. And, despite our full tummies, we couldn't resist apple strudel for dessert. Yum!

The next morning we went back to New Braunfels to explore more of the shops along the quaint main street. We especially enjoyed the old-timey hardware store and a large antique mall. A lot of the shops said they were from 1860 or thereabouts. The buildings are all historic and the original horse-rings are still embedded in the sidewalks.

Street scene

The hardware store

Barber shop

Most of the shops had original tin ceilings and decorative pillars like this

Courthouse

Horse rings

Many of the houses were historic, grand and beautiful, but this little tiny house with the log shed caught my eye

 We went back to our hotel for a while after lunch, and before dinner we went out for a drive to do a little exploring. The drive was jaw-dropping beautiful, with rolling hills, vibrant green fields with trees, and wild flowers of various colors carpeting the fields and sides of the roads. A few miles north of Shertz we stumbled upon the Natural Bridge Caverns and Wildlife Ranch. Sadly, things were closing down for the day. Now we have a good reason to return to this area. I SO wanted to explore both of these. They are located right next to each other, in the midst of some of the lushest, most beautiful countryside. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me on this outing, and my iPhone just couldn't capture pictures worthy of posting.

On Sunday morning we started home, driving up I-35 through Austin, and to the Round Rock area, where we stopped for church at the Westside Church of Christ. Our friends, Robert and Susan worship there, and it was fun seating ourselves behind them and surprising them.

All in all it was a very relaxing and enjoyable little weekend get-away. We knew we had to take advantage of this weekend or lose our chance, since I will be having my second (left) knee replacement surgery on Thursday. That will lay me up for awhile, so it was our last opportunity to do something for a few weeks.

Easter Weekend with my Grandkids

The last time the grandkids were here, they had to be on their best behavior. Everyone was focused on the loss of their Nanny, and emotional tension ruled the day. Throughout it all, they were very well-behaved. So when we learned that they would be here for Easter weekend, I determined to make this visit focused on FUN.

Chris and Kelsey are smack-dab in the middle of a move, from one house to the other, so Chris wasn't able to come this weekend. But Kelsey, despite this being her third trip to our house in less than a month, packed up the kids and all of their paraphernalia, and drove to Temple so Grandma and Grandpa could enjoy them for the holiday weekend. And enjoy them we did! Here are some  pictorial highlights of our time together.

CLARA PERFORMS ON THE RECORDER

A SOAPBALL MAKING KIT (But the kids got creative and used cookie cutters instead.)

BLUEBONNET PICTURES (An annual MUST-DO for kids in Texas)

KIDDOKINGDOM - THE BOUNCY HOUSE PLACE (Tuckered out, at the end)

ROBERT SHOWS OFF SOME OF HIS TAEKWONDO MOVES

DYING EASTER EGGS

WRITING A LETTER TO THE EASTER BUNNY

WATCHING SOME ANIMATED EASTER VIDEOS ON NETFLIX

THE EASTER EGG HUNT

DRESSED UP FOR CHURCH (And showing off the stuffed animals they got from two sweet, elderly ladies from church, Miss Doe and Miss Wanda.)

TIME FOR A LITTLE SILLINESS

CINDERELLA

No pictures for this one, but we also went to the theater to see the new Cinderella movie. I wasn't sure that Robert would want to go, and offered to let him opt out, but he didn't want to miss out on anything, so we all went. An hour or so into the movie (about the time his popcorn ran out), however, Robert was thinking he might not have made such a good decision -- too much romance and "girly" stuff for him! But the rest of us gave this sweet re-do of the classic Disney movie two thumbs up. The take-away theme of the movie is, "Have courage and be kind." You can't go wrong with that!