Sad End of the Year

 December 31, 2021

Wendy called me this morning with the sad news that Maureen died through the night.  At our last lunch on December 16th, she was in such high spirits and looked so good.  It's hard to believe she is no longer with us.

I made reservations for a New Year's Eve dinner at SRS.  It would cost $35 per person for a four-course dinner with wine pairings.  I cancelled when Laura invited Peter and me to spend the evening with them and Bob and Barbara Farriday and Barbara's sister Marilyn.  There were filet mignon sliders, barbeque meat balls, vegetable pizza, plus other noshes.  We had a fine time munching and talking until about 9:00 p.m. 

 Peter and I watched TV in my apartment until it was time to call it a night.

I made a ham-cherry tomato-mushroom-spinach frittata for breakfast; Peter could take some home for his breakfast tomorrow. We listened to Christmas music, watched TV, watched part of You've Got Mail until I paused the DVD and couldn't get it to continue where it left off.  We watched Chicago instead.  I love the pulse of that movie.

In the meantime, Rosemary dropped off a container of czarnina that she made.

At 3:00 p.m. we went to Marlene and Dwight's open house for a short while.  We were one of the first to arrive and had a glass of wine with cheese, crackers, herring and cookies.  As more people were arriving, some in wheel chairs and walkers, it was time for us to leave to allow more to come in.

We watched Bowl games, especially the Rose Bowl where Ohio State beat Utah State in a surprising finish.

Peter left at about 9:00 p.m. as a light dusting of snow was falling.

2021 Christmas

 Christmas Day

Yesterday I had dinner in the dining room with a small group, but more joined us.  I put a piece of oplatek at everyone's place and we shared the tradition of breaking pieces off each other's oplatek and wishing Merry Christmas.

Today was the first Christmas mass celebrated at St. Rita; I feel like I'm part of history.  I shared oplatek with Joe, which made him very happy.

Peter picked me up at 2:30 p.m. to go to Jay and Laura's.  Annika's friend Jacory was not vaccinated, so he was eliminated from the group.  Consequently, Annika wanted to be with him so she was absent.  But Aleksei brought his girlfriend Suzy.  I don't know when we'll be with Anton and Aleksei again, because Anton is moving to California to be with Aleksei and work in his hotel.  Aleksei has been promoted to General Manager.

We had plentiful appetizers and beverages to satisfy us while we visited and waited for dinner.

Janice is now in charge of making pierogi.  I think she appreciates the effort that goes into making them.  But she has different methods and even modified the recipe to exclude eggs, milk and butter.

Dinner was superb with beef tenderloin, baby carrots, hasselback potatoes, pierogi, 7-layer salad and another salad.  All this was topped off with assorted cookies and coffee.

Afterwards, Peter drove through neighborhoods to view the holiday decorations.

My Decorations

 Saturday, December 18, 20201

So far, all I have decorating my area are the carved Nativity scene on my shelf

 and a Santa outside my door.  I have the sparkling Nativity lantern on my table.  Some balconies have very nice lights, so I thought I'd add some lights to mine.  

I bought a set of 135 icicle lights, a silver garland and a dusk to dawn timer.  The lights and garland went only half way around my railing.  The lights kept going on and off at intervals.  I thought they were defective.  Then I realized that it isn't dark enough for the timer.  Once I turned the timer manually to On, they twinkled nicely.

Today was my day to complete my shopping after my hair appointment.  Jocelyn urged me put lights on my Ficus tree if I'm not getting a Christmas tree.

After my hair I stopped at Verizon to have my SIM card removed from my old phone and set it to factory restore before returning it.

Next I went to Stein's to exchange my timer and buy more icicle lights, another garland and lights for my Ficus tree.

Target did not have replacement bands for my Fitbit; I bought some hearing aid batteries.

The traffic was bumper to bumper on 76th St. as I was planning on going to Best Buy for a refund on my charging cables for my car.  I changed my mind, deciding to go when it's less crowded.

Once I got home, I finished the balcony and put lights on my Ficus. I also found a few ornaments. As I was wondering how I could prop it up from tilting, I came upon a solution.  I anchored it to the bracket that holds the blinds cord.  Perfect!

Celebrating Christmas at SRS

 Friday, December 17, 2021

Our celebration began with lunch in the Tratoria: pork or beef tenderloin sliders, fruit salad, house made chips, and assorted cookies.  I joined a table with Dan, Jackie, Jim, Maryanne, Beverly, Sandy and Bob.  A cellist provided holiday music while we ate.

This was Mark Pietila's last day at SRS; he'll be moving on in his career.  As SRS becomes almost filled to capacity, he has less to do.

Following our lunch, we exchanged gifts with those that participated. We drew numbers to determine the order we would select one of the gifts on the table. Once one opened a gift it was up for grabs by anyone who wanted it and the loser would have to pick another gift, either from the table or someone else.  It seemed everyone liked the gift they chose.  My gift was a Milwaukee mug from Marilyn Minor.

We concluded our party with Marilyn leading us in singing ten Christmas carols.

Family Dinner

 Saturday, December 18, 2021

Our plans to spend the family weekend did not materialize due to a snowy forecast.  Alternate plans for a family dinner did not happen because Jay was nursing a cold and Annika wasn't feeling well.  It happened for the best since Bonobo overbooked the private room Jay had arranged.

As I'm leaving my apartment, a box was outside my door from Masako.  In it were a small bowl, a container of ginger snaps and a small box of chocolates.

We were able to gather tonight at Bonobo: Jay, Laura, Anton, Claude, Brad, Janice and I.  We were led to the private room which had little kids at two of the tables.  It was brightly lit with chalkboards to amuse the kids.  Soon, another family with kids arrived.  We were not amused. All that was missing was a cage with balls for the kids to jump in.  We were offered seating in the bar area at tall tables, which I refused.  The manager apologized and after a short wait, situated us in the regular dining room.  Probably the manager assumed there were children when Jay made reservations for nine.  When we were seated, Jay complained that there were too many adults in the room. 

We were very satisfied once we were seated in the dining room.  Laura and I shared a bottle of red wine, the others had various beers.  My braised short ribs were delicious; everyone else seemed to enjoy whatever they ordered.  Janice was especially pleased with the vegan selections.  Brad and I completed our meals with creme broulee.  It was a very relaxing, satisfying evening.

On the way to their house, Jay drove through some neighborhoods to view the holiday decorations.

Deck the Halls

 Monday, December 13, 2021

Our bus took four of us to Candy Cane Lane.  Many cancelled thinking we wouldn't see enough lights at 4:00 p.m. when we left.  But it was dark enough when we got there for us to appreciate all the effort these people did for this project.

We also drove on Lake Drive to view some of the lighting there.      St. Rita Square is also in the holiday spirit with lanterns on tables,

a Christmas tree that is growing with ornaments from residents,

and Frank's Nativity arrangement

Lending An Ear

 Sunday, December 12, 2021

The stollen with coffee for after mass went over well; I'm glad that I bought two.  Next week I'll bring the second one.  At least that way I won't be eating it all.

Sue Evans called asking me if I knew more details about Rockne Koch's death.  I didn't know more than she did, but we didn't seem to agree on when he died.  She is very heartsick with his passing because they became quite close.  At dinner recently he gave her a bottle of German wine because she shares her wine with him quite often.  I left some slices of stollen on his shelf when I knew he liked German things.  He promised me some of his maple syrup.  We also missed him at dominoes on Thursday; I know he really liked playing Screw Your Neighbor.  Sue and I had quite a lengthy talk.

Marilyn Minor called saying that she had a little thank you gift for me for including her on my membership to the Domes.  She came at 7:15 p.m. with a little jar of home made cranberry sauce/jam.  I had planned on watching the Packers/Bears game, but I invited her to sit down.  We started talking about various subjects when I mentioned that I watched TCM, which she was not familiar with.  I turned it on and "Finian's Rainbow" was playing.  We watched it to the end. I made tea in the meantime and we continued our conversation about SRS, her family and travels.  I didn't interject any of my travels for fear of prolonging the evening longer than it was going.  I did check the Packers' score on my phone, and was relieved that they won 43 - 30.  She looked at my digital clock and could not believe it was 12:44 a.m.  But we had a very comfortable evening in conversation and getting to know one another.

Domes and More

Thursday, December 9, 2021

Just Jack and I showed up for the 10:00 a.m. sheepshead, so we played gin instead. He won big, just as expected.

Our bus took us to the Domes for the Holiday Show.  I could use my membership to include Marilyn (in the red jacket) with me.

The Show Dome was lovely, as usual.

We went through the Arid Dome.

                                                  Aloe

I love the imaginative use of containers.

And the Tropical Dome.

                                        Pitcher Plant

                                          Cocoa Tree

We were back at SRS by about 1:00 p.m., just enough time to have a bite and get ready for dominoes.

I won one game, but Jack won three.

We had a nice group at the Brass Key for our WAUC dinner.  We had a separate room, nicely decorated tables and a menu with a choice of four entrees.  Peter and I had sirloin tips over noodles, very tasty.  We sang some Christmas carols and played BINGO.

December Book Club

 Tuesday, December 7, 2021

We discussed The First Mistake with mixed reviews, generally favorable.

I don't usually join the Book Club group for lunch afterwards; it would interfere with sheepshead at SRS.  But because sheepshead is canceled, because of the COVID pandemic, I agreed to go to lunch at Ruby Tuesday Restaurant at Southridge.  Both Terry and Kathy had specials on their phones: Kathy had a buy one get one free; Terry for a $5 Cheeseburger.  Kathy could use if for just one other person; this Ruby Tuesday does not recognize Terry's.  Soon the manager came to our table explaining that the fine print on the offer applies to participating Ruby Tuesdays.  Terry was having a good-natured banter why his restaurant didn't participate and it should.  It went on for a while, but mostly in fun.

We enjoyed our meals with no other mention of the offers.  When it was time to get our bill the waitress said that the manager paid for our SIX lunches, including beverages.  We left good tips for our waitress.  The manager came to our table and we chatted about all kinds of crazy things and thanked him for his generosity.  We promised to be back next with with more complaints.

Terry and I got together afterward, examining our new phones and transferring data.

covid Booster

 Monday, December 8, 2021

I was up way too early and couldn't fall back to sleep.  I got on my computer searching for locations to get a COVID Booster.  Walgreen's site offered boosters; I just had to fill out a form and pick a store and time that was convenient.  The first to pop up was the Walgreen's on 84th and Greenfield at 8:55 a.m. today.  Since I'm up, why not?  I skipped breakfast deciding to have breakfast after the shot.  I got there in plenty of time with a light dusting of snow on the ground and a very cold wind.  I walked very carefully.  

I  got the shot by a very personable pharmacist.

I drove to Pegasus Restaurant on 77th and Greenfield and had French toast and coffee.  That should satisfy me until suppertime.

I spent most of the day watching TV: Acorn and Midsomer Murders.

Terry called to say her phone was delivered; she had to sign for it.  Mine was in the mail room.

Visit with Laura

Sunday, December 5, 2021

We are still on lock-down with advice to avoid gatherings.  We are free to be out of our rooms and carry on our private business, but no group activities.  I decided to skip mass because that is a pretty crowded and there is no spacing.

Laura came shortly after noon with packages of turkey noodle soup and a package of frozen  rolls.  Lucky there was someone entering the building with her to let her in, because I was pressing 8 instead of 9 on my phone to answer her call.  She wasn't too thrilled.  We visited with a glass of wine.

The soup hit the spot with the hot crusty rolls.  Just enough for a Sunday supper.

December

 Thursday. December 2. 2021

Usually, Thursdays are pretty busy.  We are playing sheepshead at 10:00 a.m. because Herman likes playing, but he hasn't been coming.  Jack, Jon, John Peter and I were playing.  We got news that all activities are cancelled because three people in IL tested positive for COVID.  That meant no dominoes, Happy Hour or dinner.  

I took advantage of my free time to get the Low Tire Pressure light remedied at Boucher.  I also needed a tire valve.  Then I picked up a couple stollens at Aldi.  I don't know what I'll do with two, but they will be nice to pass around.

I called QNails to see if they could take me for a dipping powder and they could.  It has been well over a year since I had my nails done; they really looked shabby.  I have a nice bright red for the holidays.

I picked up a blanket to donate to a family SRS is helping and did some grocery shopping at P & S next to Kohl's on Hwy 100.

That pretty well filled my day.

Thanksgiving 2021

 Thursday, November 25, 2021

Jay and Laura's house smelled like Easter, instead of Thanksgiving; it was the bacon wrapped turkey that I smelled.  Brad and Janice arrived with a big assortment of appetizers that we noshed with beer/wine while waiting for dinner.  The table setting was lovely and the dinner was excellent.

The turkey was deliciously moist and flavorful accompanied with mashed potatoes with chives, green beans, dressing, gravy, broccoli salad and a cranberry ice.

Laughter helped us digest this repast with Brad the butt of the humor. That was followed by chocolate pecan torte with a candle to celebrate Colin's 28th Birthday.

Claude took me home so that he could check the connection on my VCR.  He was having the same trouble that I had.  He just happened to have a co-ax cable that he traded with mine and he got it to work.

I spent the rest of the evening watching "You've Got Mail".

Creative Monday

 Monday, November 22, 2021

I worked on Thanksgiving place card boxes.  I used photos instead of names and they turned out really nice.

I'll fill them with trail mix.

The SRS bus was out of commission so Cookie offered to drive Lanore and me to the Jewish Museum.  The featured exhibit was Scrap Yard.

There were displays and videos of how scrap was collected and processed; copper being the most valuable metal.

The rest of the museum was on the settlement of Milwaukee, a timeline of events and notable people in our community; I spotted a photo of  Dr. Weil, my psychology professor.  It was a worthwhile visit.

Cookie mentioned the origami wreaths she was teaching.  I said I'd love to learn how, but I'm in Hales Corners playing sheepshead when she was teaching it.  She offered to show me how.  I met her in the Trattoria at 3:00 p.m. with my origami papers and we went to it.  The folding isn't too complicated, but assembling takes more time and skill.  I managed to complete one.

Then I made another with smaller paper.  It kept falling apart, but I managed to hold it together.

It might look nice with a little sparkles.

Dinner Is Served

 Sunday, November 21, 2021

Brad and Janice came early afternoon laden with food for our dinner. We watched the Packers lose to the Vikings while munching on tortilla chips and guacamole.  We watched more football until Janice began preparing our feast that was all premade, just to assemble.  The main dish was pierogi.  She made them very small and delicate, but the taste and consistency was just like I make.  Because Janice is vegan, she modified some ingredients, but none of the taste was sacrificed.  She also had a mushroom dish and broccoli salad.  We had pumpkin pudding for dessert.

We had such a pleasant afternoon: visiting, relaxing and enjoying a wonderful meal.  I have left-overs for tomorrow when meals are not served at SRS.

I am so grateful prior to Thanksgiving Day.  Every day is Thanksgiving.

Festival Symphony

 Saturday, November 20, 202

My concern for parking at the Bradley Symphony Center is resolved.  Parking is at the rear of the building, with a walk through an alley, not a problem at all.

Peter and I joined the Vagabonds for our first experience at this fabulous new venue for great music.  The music was moving with a beautiful flute performance of Mozart's Flute Concerto no.1 in G, K313 by Emma Koi.  Also on the program were Five Variants of "Dives and Lazarus" by Ralph Vaughan Williams and a rousing Symphony no. 3 in A minor "Scottish" by Felix Mendelssohn.

Walters on North finished the afternoon with a hamburger and beer for Peter, a liver sausage sandwich with fresh onions and catsup and two beers for me while watching the Badgers beat Nebraska 31- 28.

Peter took my Roku TV and will have to work on his Spectrum password before he can use it.

How Vulnerable We Are

November 20, 2021

I arrived at SRS on May 24, 2021

My  Roosevelt across the hall died, I never met him.

Jackie had surgery and is recovering.

Judy Engle fell multiple times; taken to East Castle, then St. Mary's.  Might be coming back to Assisted Living.

Connie Haas fell at our Wednesday Bar Hop

Susan Cantrell fell and broke her femur while shopping.  Is in the hospital.

Tony is in the hospital with a foot infection; efforts are being made to save is remaining leg.

Connie came back from the hospital this week after suffering tightness in her chest.

Patti was taken to the hospital this morning with tightness in her chest.

Small World

 Thursday, November 18, 2021

At Happy Hour today Rosemarie made some reference to the Rudolph Cheese Factory.  I said I know where that is; my family went there on one of our December family trips.  Rosemarie said she grew up in Junction City.  I started naming people I knew and she knew them all.  LaNore was her best friend, she knew Peggy, she worked at the grocery store and knew all the places on the main street. She lived on O past the cemetery and knew Tom Knietch.  It was such fun recalling old acquaintances and places.  I sent her a photo of our class reunion.

Steel Magnolias

 Sunday, November 14, 2021

We were super early for the Rep in Depth, lucky to find parking relatively close.  The St. Kate Arts Hotel had a wonderful art exhibit, "Visual Sirens: Collections of Final Warnings", co-curated by Samantha Timm, curator at Saint Kate, and Milwaukee-based artist David Najib Kasir, the exhibition features paintings, sculptures and installation works that consider positive cultural innovations alongside their historical and contemporary cultural destruction. Guests viewing the exhibition are inspired and challenged with different perspectives as they take in every piece.

We needed to show our vaccination card, which Peter did not have.  A man helped us get the Wisconsin Vaccination center on my phone, filled out Peter's information and it appeared.  So now I have it on my phone and Peter's.

The theater had a few people not wearing masks, despite the announcement to keep masks on; but there were extremely few.

"Steel Magnolias" was funny with some sadness.  We both enjoyed the performance.

Afterward we sat at the bar of St. Kate and had a pizza with wine, two reds for me.

Veterans Day 2021

 Thursday, November 11, 2021

I made a Chex Mix for the Happy Hour today.

We had a special luncheon to honor all veterans at noon.  Baked potatoes with various fillings, chili, cookies and a patriotic cake.  At 1:00 p.m. each veteran was introduced and told about their branch of service.  A prayer was offered and each branch stood when their respective music was played.  It was a very memorable and well planned event.

Jane, Chuck, Jack and I played dominoes until Happy Hour.

My Chex Mix was appreciated.

I skipped dinner because I had enough to eat at lunch.  It was Asian buffet.

The Harveys Visit

 Wednesday, November 10, 2021

I had better luck at sheepshead today in Hales Corners.  Not as much fun without Tim at our table, but it was still nice.

After our games I invited Bob and Terry to SRS for dinner and to see my apartment.  The dining room room was empty with the exception of Table 10's usual group.  Most of the people were watching a documentary movie.  The group welcomed Bob and Terry at the table.  We enjoyed our meals: Bob, cod; Terry, tuna casserole; I had salmon; we all had a tossed salad.

Terry really liked my apartment.  We had a very pleasant visit, with Hello Dolly begging for attention.

Wrong Date

 Sunday, November 7, 2021

Peter picked me up at about 12:30 p.m. to go to the Rep for "Steel Magnolias".  We went early to try to get closer parking.  We never parked so close, right next the entrance.  We waited until it was time to go the the mezzanine; surprised that there weren't more people.  No wonder...I had the wrong date!  It's next week!  This isn't the first time I made mistakes with dates, or times.

So we had a day to explore.  It was sunny and in the 60s as we drove to Peter's house through State Street, past sidewalk diners at many establishments.  Peter wanted to pick up a brochure with directions to a caring horse farm in Dousman.  The trees along the route were spectacular up on the hill with the sun at the best direction. He worked with the couple at B&S who operated this farm.  I put the address in my phone but it was impossible to find.  We got the message, "You've arrived" more than once, but the site looked nothing like a horse farm.  Peter kept asking me if I put in the right directions, also to get an Apple because we were not getting any results.  A biker couldn't help us, but another man put the address in his phone and pointed us in the right direction; the same way we passed more than once.  When we got, "You've arrived" and it still didn't look like a stable, we drove into a driveway and Peter talked to a couple who said that they knew the people we were looking for, but they moved fifteen years ago.  That's how long Peter keeps stuff.

It was time to think about going for something to eat and the Delevan Brewhouse seemed like a good destination.  Peter turned into the wrong ramp, then overshot it the second time.  This was really not our day to find where we were going.  We each had salads while watching the Packers lose to the Chiefs.  Because Arron Rodgers was out with COVID, Love took his place.  Final score 13-7.

Fantasy House

 Friday, November 5, 2021

I met Terry at the Outpost on Mooreland Rd. then drove to Good Eats Café in Pewaukee before visiting the Ronald McDonald Fantasy House on a bright sunny day.  A van was waiting to take us to the site of this $1m+ house, plus lot.  Masks were required throughout, including the van.

Decorations galore filled each spacious room.

 

The house was lovely, but not as ritzy as others we've been to.  The kitchen was enormous.  Anyone that can afford this priced home should have installed an elevator.  The stairs were impossible.  The laundry was on the first floor, but I can't imagine carrying clothing and bedding to the upper floor.

Other homes we visited in the past had a gigantic tree where Terry and I would have our picture taken, but not this one.  This tree was in an insignificant room that I don't really know what it would be used for.

It was great being able to resume activities that we enjoyed doing in the past, especially the Fantasy House.

Assembly Required

Sunday, October 31, 2021 

I call my apartment "functional", but it could do with some better organization.  I have many plastic bins of varying sizes holding odds and ends on my shelves in my bedroom. It really looks cluttered.

After considering other storage containers, I thought some drawers would look neater.  I ordered 3 two-drawer units from Wayfair.  They arrived yesterday (Saturday).  I had a pretty full day, so when I opened the carton later in the day I was overwhelmed with all the parts and the directions.  I invited Peter to give me a hand, which he willingly agreed to.

After mass on Sunday I felt more alert and tried again looking at the directions and I was able to assemble one drawer.  Peter arrived at about 2:00 p.m. with a set of tools and went right to work.  I guided him at first, since I had one drawer completed.  I assembled the cabinet and had to redo it, because I had one unfinished edge facing forward.  Then when I tried putting the drawer in, it would not go in all the way.  I think I took the cabinet apart two times, and thought I was going crazy turning the boards around countless ways.  Peter came to the rescue by noticing that I tightened the drawer stops too tightly and it was hitting the runner.  Once I loosened it somewhat, it worked just fine.  Once we knew what we were doing, the third unit went together with ease.  We finished about 4:40 p.m. just in time to get to Jay and Laura's for dinner.

We munched on cheese, crackers, nuts, etc. and wine until we sat down to a delicious dinner of pork tenderloin and mushrooms in Marsala wine with mashed potatoes and green beans.  We had ginger snaps for dessert.

Continued:

Monday, November 15, 2021

Why didn't I buy another set to complete the bottom shelf?  I did just that and I was able to assemble the drawers and cabinet in one hour!  I think my shelves look much better.

Cards and Reunion

 Thursday, November 4, 2021

My project for today was making cards for SRS birthdays.  I had two sheets of white card stock, but when I put them in the printer the Austrian Club Membership list got printed on them.  Then I cut the colored card stock wrong, but the smaller version worked better without matting the pictures, but I had to rearrange the text boxes to have everything placed right.  I printed four sheets of vellum and three sheets got smeared with ink because vellum takes longer to dry.  I finally made eight cards, but it took me the entire morning.

Chuck, Jane and I played dominoes until Happy Hour.

As we were visiting during Happy Hour, Connie mentioned more than once that her friend is joining her for dinner tonight.  Her friend's name is Marilyn, then she specified that her friend's name is Marilyn Schroeder.  I said I know Marilyn, she lives on Frederick Ave.  That's the one.  Connie was so thrilled that Marilyn would meet another friend.  And Marilyn was really surprised to see me when she walked in.  As we were in line for dinner (buffet on Thursdays; Mexican today) my across the hall neighbor Alan was in conversation with Marilyn.  They knew each other from years back and have kept in touch through the years.  I arranged two tables together in the dining room for Connie, Patti, Marilyn, Alan and myself.  There was non-stop talking, picking up where everyone left off.  Many memories and stories were shared.  Marilyn lives not too far away; I'm sure that she'll be returning.

Grohmann

 Monday, November 25, 2021

The day started rainy, but the sun appeared as Abby took four of us to the Grohmann Art Museum: George, Jon, Lanore and me.  The wind blew us from the bus to the entrance.  It was a very enjoyable experience and for those who backed out or did not sign up, it was their loss.