The Fearsome Six-some

"June 3, 1993:  Howard found a potato the size of a small walnut -- he ate it raw.
June 4, 1993:  Bonnie F. played for me at Pinochle Club.
June 5, 1993:  Brogren reunion.  Tom, Bill and Nancy gathered the silk flowers from the cemetery before we had dinner -- at Legion Hall.  After the reunion the four kids set out all my flowers!!  They had a lot of fun.  After they finished we had coffee -- the first time in years just the six of us were together.  Saturday afternoon after reunion Darrell and Marva H. came to see 'Grussfather and Grussmother's' house.  Looked at my quilts, too."

What's not to like about these entries?  We have it all, in no particular order -- garden, quilts, family, ancestors, flowers, coffee.  And I am guessing the weather was wonderful.  No reason I should think that, but it just seems fitting.

This was an easy photo to decide on.  Just looked for the first one that caught my eye that had the Original Six in it.  Handsome bunch.

Crack that whip!

"May 28, 1993:  Nancy came in p.m.  Started housecleaning upstairs.  To Alumni Banquet in evening.
May 29, 1993:  Nancy continued work upstairs -- put flowers out at cemetery.
May 30, 1993:  Ate dinner at Legion and Nancy finished upstairs.  Too wet to set out flowers.  Month of May had more cloudy, rainy days than sunshine -- real depressing."

Well!  I certainly hope Nancy rested after all that activity, both work and pleasure.  I wonder how late she was able to stay awake at the banquet.

And so as not to leave on Grandma's depressing note, here is a cute photo of Dale.  (Like they all weren't cute....)

Petunias

"May 22, 1993:  Greta and I to Wakefield to buy petunias, etc.
May 23, 1993:  Greta, Howard and I to Wahoo for Jayme's confirmation.  Nancy, Tom, Merilyn there, too.  Also Sandy and Hazel -- friends of Jenny and Bill.
May 24 - 27, 1993:  Sorting, cleaning and putting things upstairs."

They are quite ordinary, but I really like petunias.  And they seem to like me.  I had volunteer petunias for many years until we cleared out that particular flower bed and had a deck built above it.  Granted, the volunteers were all pale lavender and didn't have the variety you can get by buying new each season, but I appreciated that they tried so hard and came back so nicely.

I learned this just now from wikipedia:  "Petunia is genus of 35 species of flowering plants of South American origin, closely related to tobacco, cape gooseberries, tomatoes, deadly nightshades, potatoes and chili peppers."  How nutty is that?

I know the photo is of tulips but with all the dry and brown going on right now, I thought some green and other colors would be welcome.  And we get Grandma's behind as a bonus.

Heart on the mend

"May 12, 1993:  Pentecost breakfast.  Talked to Marina in evening -- home from the hospital already.
May 14, 1993:  Pinochle Club at Ida's.
May 19, 1993:  Busy Bees ate out at noon in Norfolk."

Darn it!  Work is getting in my way of updating this again.  Glad to have work, actually, and so am not really complaining. 

I guess I was right about Aunt Marina being okay.  The more I think about it, I recall Grandma and/or Grandpa commenting on how quickly after surgery they had Marina up and walking around.  Rather unheard of compared to how they used to do things, but better obviously, or they wouldn't be doing it that way.  Some one is always out there learning something.

For no real reason, here is Anna on the 4th of July in 2001, hopefully not giving herself heart palpitations with all that smoke.

Little bit of everything going on

"May 5, 1993:  John had a cataract removed this morning.  Marina was to have her heart surgery.  Don Orvis came with bill for the shingling.  It was $272 instead of the $400 he gave as an estimate!!!  Greta came and helped Howard plant some more garden.
May 9, 1993:  Mother's Day.  Greta, Howard and I to Lincoln.  Howard, Nancy and I at Tom's for brunch.  In p.m. Bill's, Dale's, Mary's and Greta came for visiting and lunch.  Kids gave me a cordless phone -- combination birthday and Mother's Day -- also received cash."

No report of Aunt Marina's surgery, but I seem to remember it all went well.  Otherwise, everything here is plenty straight forward. 

Since the celebration was for Mothers' Day, here are five moms.  Well, not all were moms at the time, but you get my drift.

Good times, bad times

"May 2, 1993:  To church.  Greta, Dane, Nancy and I ate at the Hitching Post at noon.  Nancy and Dane headed home between 3:30 and 4:00.  
May 3, 1993:  Howard was asked to be an honorary pallbearer for Bill Hawkins.  Ddn't go because of the steps at Methodist Church.
May 4, 1993:  Helen and I Scrabbled in p.m.  Irene is on the rampage -- very abusive -- uses rough language."

We really should have been keeping track of the number of times Nancy brought Dane up.  What fun.  The first kid does usually get the best deal, but he didn't get tooooo spoiled and the others don't complain (much), so it's all good.

The words "rampage" and "rough language" shouldn't go in the same sentence with Aunt Irene's name, but as I said in an earlier post, those things happen.

Oooo!  Where did those bowls go?  My birdie friends would like them.  And check out Aunt Irene's necklace!

Apricot trees

April 29, 1993:  Started quilting Kyleah's quilt that Greta made.  One day this last week Anita and her husband Paul stopped to visit.  They've been married four months or so.
April 30, 1993:  Back to clouds and rain after two days of sunshine.  Pinochle club at Leona's.
May 1, 1993:  Nancy and Dane came in a.m.  Apricot trees are in full bloom and beautiful, pink and sweet smelling.  Nancy house-cleaned the downstairs bedroom."

I thought all the apricot trees were cut down long before 1993.  I don't remember helping pick up any around that time, ever actually.  Maybe at this point they weren't producing much fruit.  I am drawing a total blank.  I do think I need to plant an apricot tree on our property though. 

Not sure how this photo is remotely relevant, but I like it.