Mushroom memories

Mushroom season is here.

Although I won't be hunting morels this year, I am indulging myself in mushroom memories.

You won't be surprised that these memories involve Mimi,

who delighted in this seasonal treat.

The mushroom was wonderful 

 but the hunt, out in the spring woods at the farm,

seeking out those hidden sites

 and finding the well-hidden treasures

ah - that was a triumph!

All the more fun with a Mimi picnic on the farmhouse porch afterwards.

Oh Mimi, I miss you in Mushroom Season!

The celebration ends...

I just have to accept it.

My birthday is over.

 The lovely roses have faded.

 The lovely chocolates are eaten.

 Birthday cards have given way to Halloween decorations.

 The traditional picnic has been enjoyed.

 Presents have been opened and put to use.

Oh wait...there's one more!

It isn't over yet!

Amazon.com, here I come.

Oh March, you mixed-up month

Oh yes, March, you came in like a lion,

with more snow than we cared to see.

And by your end there were flowers (even though your weather wasn't lamb-gentle).

You brought birthdays

and birthday celebrations

and welcome company.

You saw Granddad getting better

and the poor lame horse getting worse.

You brought a long anticipated treat

that brought us together

for good times.

And the good times were rolling along...

until our own Jersey boy left the table 

and the good times stopped rolling for a while.

Yup.

March, you are just a mixed-up month.

Elvis has left the building

We have celebrated Hoosier Kitty's anniversaries at the library for years. At first there was a large group of us who celebrated 10 years together, then 15 years. Not so many remained for 20 and 25 years (but we did get a nice party).  I think maybe four of us at 30 years?   By 40 years Princess Pat and Hoosier Kitty were the last left standing.

Now the library is bereft of old timers, and Hoosier Kitty is celebrating...

 RETIREMENT!

 There were parties.

 A poem was composed in her honor,

and a video made from old pictures and sad farewells from friends.

 There were good things to eat and drink,

 flowers and presents,

friends and conversations.

One last evening on the Reference desk

one last time closing the library.

Followed by drinks 

 at Nick's, as tradition dictates.

She went home to find flowers popping up in her snowy yard.

And to find that lots of other people are enjoying her being retired.

Let's go out for lunch, okay?

Granddad in Winter

Granddad was not too sure about Christmas.

It's hard for him to keep track of the months.

He  did have a few clues that it was a holiday.

(You know he loves hats any time.)

He had company,

and he always loves having company.

He amused the folks in his dining hall on New Year's Eve.

The horn was loud enough that even the hearing-challenged heard it.

But the next day, having dinner with his family all around the table, he had to head out for the ER.

He was in the hospital for seven days.

He doesn't remember this at all.

 It was worrying enough to bring far-flung family together to visit him.

He left the hospital to return to the nursing home in palliative care.

Declining, on oxygen, not eating, feeble...

we all sat and worried around his bed.

Yesterday I went to the nursing home as usual.

The nurse could hardly wait to tell me what Granddad had done.

I expected to hear that he'd maybe sat up in his wheelchair.

Well, yes, he did that.

And more.

He'd gone off with a group of nursing home residents to have lunch at the Golden Corral.

What?!

"I filled my belly," says the man who has been refusing food for three weeks.

That Granddad!  

Just like him to go from death's door to a steak dinner.

As his favorite hat says:

"I'm 95.

I'm allowed."

Still singin' that song

You know, the one that wails:  "oh, oh what I want to know -oh - where does the time go?????"

Wasn't it just December?

Didn't Mimi and I just go out looking for inspiration for decorations?

 Weren't we just yesterday thinking about getting ready for Christmas?

 Surely a whole month hasn't gone by since the Christmas concert?

 And the cards - are they really all sent?

 The decorations all taken down now...

 the last of the goodies gone?

 Christmas eve was surely just a day or so ago --

 and Christmas morning?

Not very long ago.

 The company?

How the time flew when they were here!

All safely back home already -

 the mystery mansion game completed,

 the special Christmas plates put away -

how did this happen?

What I want to know is:

Where did the time go?????