Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where August has felt more like September with cooler temps and dryer air.  It has been so nice!  Everything is still green and flush though, and the  lowers are still blooming and some of our resident birds are still singing.  We are taking in the last days of summer, while looking forward to my favorite season, Autumn.

I follow a page on Facebook called "The Northern Life" which posts amazing pictures of nature at it's best and sometimes worst.  We love seeing the Northern Lights and miss them down here in the "south" where they only rarely show up.  Having spent many years in our home state of Minnesota we still miss what it has to offer.  Between the two of us we have lived in 7 different towns/cities in the land of 10,000 lakes!

This was a week of visiting with family and friends.  Monday my sister Kay took me to pick up the prosthesis that we ordered from rehab.  We had a nice visit!  We saw family last Thursday on our way to Rochester and this past Tuesday we drove 4 hours round trip to visit my older sister who helped raise me along with my sister Janelle.  A complete surprise was learning our oldest daughter, her hubby and daughter were heading home from our middle daughter and family's place.  We were both in the cities at the same time so they came to see Gr. Jo. and we got to hug on them too! What a nice bonus!  Thursday our old friend we have known since seminary days came by.  His dear wife died last November.  He stayed in his 5th wheel Thursday night and then Friday morning Dan and Joel went for a bike ride.  It was great to see him again.

Joel was planning to take off this week and ended up with 3 in the hospital and a funeral.  Best laid plans..........  Still, we got in a trip to the Twin Cities in MN and a visit with Dan.  Yesterday we headed to the cancer center here and got things set up for chemo to start next Friday.  I will be getting a port put in next week hopefully.  And so it begins..........I already ordered one head covering for when the hair goes, and I am getting some ginger/peppermint oil mixtures together for the nausea. My brother-in-law used this combo for nausea when he had chemo and it helped him greatly.  We have to take a "chemo class" on Monday to get us prepared.  Looking at the warnings and information given about the drugs that I will be given is very scary.  Good thing God is fighting for me.

I saw that Mayo Clinic just published a study that shows having a dog is very beneficial for people's heart health.  Isn't that great?!  On that note, we struggle with not having a dog anymore. They are a lot of work and if you travel?  But we miss having a pet.  They do bring an added blessing to their human families.  Pretty sure God planned it that way!

I have been reading another fiction book by Dave Rosenfelt this past week.  As a mystery writer, he always has a dog or two involved in his plots.  The more I read his books, the more I want a dog! Oh boy!  What are you reading?