Good Saturday to you from our corner of the world where we celebrate the first official day of fall tomorrow. This past week the temperatures has been pretty hot and humid but starting today they are going to be more "Porch Sitting" kind of weather. The geese are gathering, and the other night we opened our window to listen to an owl serenading us from a nearby tree.  it was rather comforting and made us both smile to listen to our resident friend. Some of our flowers are finally winding down but Joel brought home two big beautiful mum plants this week for me to enjoy. What a nice gift. We are looking for rays of sunshine where we can find them...

It has been kind of a rough week here in the Dahlen house. Recovery from surgery last Saturday was challenging for a few days but it's much better now. Normal enough now to be ready for next week's kidney stone surgery.  Unfortunately, on Monday I noticed that my eye had an area that was shaded. At first I thought it was from the surgery because I do have a funky eye but on Thursday morning I called the retina doctors in Des Moines and was told to call and go into the clinic here in town to see what was going on. The doctor on call said to me after testing, "Well I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is that your macular in the right eye is stable that's not the problem. The bad news is the glaucoma has gotten worse. I have had a tendency to forget about the glaucoma because that has been quiet for so many years. So it has been scheduled that I will go in for a visual field test and a treatment plan two weeks after the next surgery I  have. This coming Thursday the 26th is surgery. It does not seem to slow down. I am working hard to continue to trust God while praying and waiting for my healing.  Losing my vision is not a death sentence, but it darn right scary to think about.  I trust you God.  

Joel has been able to do some bike riding, some putzing in the garage shop, and quite a bit of caretaking. I have been listening to the book The Women by Kristin Hannah who is an amazing author of historical fiction. They are very few books available on the Vietnam era and especially regarding women nurses. She has done an amazing job combining history with fiction in a powerful story. I waited 2 months on hold through Libby to be able to get the audiobook and it is well worth it. Of course all the talk about Vietnam, the climate,  the environment, and military really brought up a vast number of memories. While living in the Philippines Joel was a forecaster of weather for the pilots that flew to Nam and other places. We both participated in operation baby lift when Saigon fell. But we stood on the outside looking in really and had no clue about all the experiences our soldiers, doctors and nurses were going through. Yes we were in the military during the time of War protests where soldiers were treated like crap when they came home. We didn't experience it ourselves.  Some soldiers became extremely broken by Nam and self-destructive or just plain destructive. Enough said.  The book is an eye opener and I highly recommend it.

A couple that we met at Hope Lodge in Rochester Minnesota while we were staying there for radiation,  are coming by to see us tomorrow.  We are excited to see them.  It will have been 5 years ago in December that we stepped into Mayo Clinic for radiation to begin. Five years already.

On that note I am closing today's scribbles.  Laptop work is more challenging than ever but I am grateful I can still see to do it!  Grateful for two beautiful mum plants to enjoy.  Grateful the stent is no longer making my bladder complain.  Grateful for being done with antibiotics and recovering enough to move forward.  Grateful that Joel can ride bike and get out in his shop.  Grateful for fall temps coming. Grateful for Kristen Hannah's book, The Women.   Grateful for porch sitting, a friendly owl, noisy geese and even Friday night football we can hear from our living room.....another sign of Fall.  Grateful for texts, phone calls, emails, and so much more....

Enjoy your weekend...

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you as we end the first week of September. Fall has arrived with cooler temperatures at night. We are liking that! And so are all the birds and little animals as they scurry about. I think our resident squirrel is already storing things away for winter....but then he won't be able to find them later on! Ha   We are still enjoying our black-eyed Susan ivy which our neighbor told me is also called Spanish Eyes! I like that one too! We may get some mums and just bring them in at night. And believe it or not are pansies are still producing flowers! Loving that!

 Joel kept working on projects this week and kept bike riding. Today he's riding and a beautiful trail that starts about an hour north east of us. This trail goes all the way to the Minnesota border so he will have a fun time. He's looking forward to nature at its best.  He usually does this trail once a year. 

I'm still walking 25 minutes a day, listening to audiobooks while I walk. Wednesday morning I saw the dermatologist for a melanoma check and a check for an autoimmune condition I have. Then in the afternoon I saw the retina doctor. It had been a while so it was great to see him. All looked good and steady and that's all we can ask for with this wonky eye. Actually, it's not all we can ask for, we can ask for healing! Jesus healed a lot of eyes in the Bible!

 This past week we watched the movie "The Boys in the Boat".   It was really really good! Monday my sister Kay and her husband Danny came over for strawberry rhubarb pie in the afternoon and we had a nice long visit. We made a visit to the Dollar Tree to stack up on cards. Don't you just love that you can get a nice card for only 50 cents or a dollar ? The card ends up costing less than the stamps to send it!

I have mentioned before that we have a Frank Lloyd Wright House in the neighborhood now. It's called a usonian house for reasons I'm not sure I can remember!. There hasn't been one person that has asked us about it or commented on it that liked it. It has been described as stark or looking like a business center? But the people who built it? They love it. And that's really what it's all about. I'm sure they had to follow Association rules when they built it and there was no plan to paint it pink or purple. It would be a bit boring if we all had the same house......reminds me of a song fromthe 60's..."Little boxes, little boxes and they are all made out of ticky tacky....Little boxes, little boxes. and they all look the same." Sang by Pete Seeger.  I guess it is a matter of making your house look.....and reflect YOU.

 What's your favorite kind of house? We lived in so many personages and we just enjoyed what we had to move into. One was a split level, one was a really old 1 1/2 story house, and a couple of ranches that were quite large actually. Not one of the parsonages we ever lived in had air conditioning. Just saying.   All but one got air conditioning after we moved . When we were moving down here and buying our own home the priority was air conditioning. Don't want to live without it after so many years. We're very blessed to have it! 

Getting back to favorite houses I would say my favorite style of house is a one-story but it's more of a square house instead of a rectangle. A Craftsman style maybe.  We have lived in a split level, tri-level and this weird sorta five level house with lots of steps!  I don't mind an open floor plan but I would never want vaulted ceilings with and open staircase again. I do like bungalows but the number one thing for us besides air conditioning is a porch. When we eventually leave this house I hope we can find a place with a porch. Speaking of porches, we haven't had too many porch days this year because of all the bugs. So many bugs.. But  after the first freeze will be out there a lot!

On the little boxes note I am closing my Scribbles with thanks for having a house to live in!  Grateful ...our son does off duty work among the homeless in his city....so hearing his stories ...and having lived in a third world country?  Yeah....grateful for a home to come home to!  Grateful for good doctor reports.  Grateful for caring doctors.  Grateful for cooler temps and fall weather making it's way into our area.  Grateful for a porch to sit on.  Grateful for biking and walking.  Grateful for movies that make us think.  Grateful for Wordle and other games that keep my brain sharp.  Lets add Wheel of Fortune to that list!  Grateful for texts, photos, emails, and phone calls.  All this and so much more.......

Enjoy your weekend!