Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Northern Iowa where Fall is showing off in so many ways. The trees are turning all my favorite colors here.....browns and golds greens rust and oranges. What's not to like! The most beautiful tree in town is right here in our cul-de-sac so we can see it every single day. Nature and its best.

 Speaking of nature, we actually got to see the Northern Lights on Thursday night right from our front yard! They weren't vividly strong but they were there. I could see the pinkish color somewhat and Joel could enjoy all the greens and reds and pinks! After I went to bed Joel went back out and saw them again. He noticed our neighbors lights were on and knocked on their door and they came out and looked too . It was on our bucket list to see them and we're very thankful to have been able. Especially now.

It's been a rough couple of days here getting news that we were hoping not to get. I saw the eye doctor on Wednesday and after the testing she told me that my right eye, the only eye I have now, is only seeing half of the vision field. the top half is gone due to the glaucoma. She believes that since it happened two days after the first surgery on the 14th that I actually had a drop in blood pressure in the surgery which did something to my eye,  causing a stroke in the optic nerve. This happened because my eye is very fragile. For us it was very sobering to hear.  It is really not a matter of if I will lose my vision it is a matter of when I will lose my vision. Next week I see the oncologist and we decide whether the drug that I've been taking for 4 years to keep the cancer away is part of the problem . And so the journey continues and at this point we are trying to process it all and what it means for our future. For those who are open to prayer we ask that you remember us with the decisions we have ahead. 

Joel has been able to get in some biking and some yard work. Enjoying his conference pastors and coffee group.  He has ridden 1000 miles this summer so far,  We are very grateful that our next door neighbor  picked up four and a  bags of leaves for us with the riding mower that he has. So very nice!  I made pancakes for lunch today but have kept close to the house  and sofa in recovery mode.  Been listening to an audiobook and just startd a new one by one of my favorite  authors, Jan Karon.  "At Home in Mitford" is the first of a series about a small town and it's well loved Episcopal priest Father Tim.  Wonderful series!  Joel and I actually went and saw her in person at Luther Seminary and had some of our books signed....so many years ago. 

Giving thanks today for Fall, for our favorite cul-de-sac tree showing off, grateful for seeing the Northern Lights.  Grateful for Joel hitting his goal of 1,000 miles.  Grateful for moving forward in recovery, for good doctors, for God being in the future....whatever it holds.  Grateful for comfort food....pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream. Grateful for phone calls, texts, and prayers...and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where fall is blessing us with so much Beauty! All the Fall colors are starting to come out and the temperatures have been lovely. Warm and dry. There is just everything to love about October!

Speaking of October,  my sister Jan arrived on the 3rd to spend a few days traveling with a friend who has a daughter in a nearby town. While I'm on the sofa she's in a nearby recliner and we are definitely enjoying each other's company. It is all good!

As I write this Joel is on his way to Rendezvous Days in southern Minnesota just 45 minutes away. He makes a yearly trek there to spend the whole day stepping back in time during those days of trapping, muzzle loading and campfires. It will be a bit more challenging today as the temperature is supposed to get up to 89°, which is insane for October! He will lstill have a good time and he'll come home smelling like wood smoke with a bag of kettle corn and stories to tell.

It was a challenging week in some ways with me spending a lot of horizontal time trying to get some energy back. Slow moving but making progress. Joel has been keeping things going at home and getting in a few bike rides. He also stepped in as nurse to take the stent out of from my kidney and bladder. There is something to be said for that "for better or worse" part of our marriage vows.   He was also able to catch up with his Bible College roommate John and his wife Joan and cousin Norma. Norma lives in town and they were able to get together on Tuesday. I hated to miss it ...they had a good time. It has been a long time since John and Joel roomed together! Somewhere around 56 years? Okay then

A short scribbles today with so much gratitiude for getting through two more surgeries.  For recovery moving forward.  Grateful for Janey being here to visit and hug on.  Grateful for Joel's help.  Grateful for the beauty Fall brings.  Grateful for porch sitting and flowering mums.  Grateful for old friends (John) and new.  Grateful for phone calls, texts, and so much more.

Enjoy yiur weekend!

 

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!

Saturday's Scribbles

Good Saturday to you on this very last day of August, 2024. September is eagerly waiting for August to pass the Baton. We had some pretty miserable days again with very high heat and humidity and some storms. We also had heavy rain Thursday. But today it is cooler because a cold front has moved through bringing with it low humidity... my favorite two words of the summer. Our flowers are still blooming although we are debating whether to buy mum's this year because of our resident rabbit and pesky deer. They've eaten enough of our flowers already! 

Speaking of passing the Baton I have been watching the Paralympics yesterday and today. I think it takes a lot of courage and effort to do what they're doing. I was watching the long jumpers who were vision impaired or blind.  Their assistants  let them know where they are at when they are running and gauging when to jump. Amazing!! We watched a little archery too . And swimming for vision impaired . Again amazing ! 

Joel has been busy biking, working on projects and doing a little vacuuming,, etc. Monday he drove us to Rochester and the heat index that day was 113! Grateful Beyond grateful for air conditioning. We stopped at Trader Joe's and then  ate out at Culver's where I found a delicious chicken cashew salad to enjoy. On our way home we go through my hometown so we stopped at a relatives for a visit. It was a nice 2-hour break before heading into Iowa. We are very blessed to have Mayo Clinic within 2 hours of our home. 

I've been walking everyday getting some chores done listening to audiobooks and going over articles that I've written for that book that keeps calling me. 

This has been a busy week for our family in regards to transitions and events. Kids getting back to college, a surgery for a grand, and one of our families transitioning with a big move. I certainly remember all the moves we have made. Some easier than others but bringing with them a lot of changes. Over the years we moved 22 times mostly to new cities, states, and sometimes to just to different houses. Anyway we look at it, it was a lot of packing and a lot of unpacking and a lot of making new friends, going to new schools and settling in to new communities. In the military it was a way of life so everyone knew this and just jumped on board and made quick friends before it was time to move on. In the ministry we had a community waiting for us every time we moved to a new congregation. That was really nice and I'd say we still miss that. Now that Joel's retired we don't have that village, we have to make our own and and it's not any easier when you age or have health issues. Just saying. Moves are opportunities though for new experiences, new adventures and new purposes.

It is Labor Day weekend.....most of ours are spent quiet and when the kids were all around we spent some of the weekend preparing for school to start....and for some strange reason we usually cleaned the garage!  I can't give one reason why we picked that time.  Hmmmmm  Joel does like an orderly and clean garage!  He did my sister Jan's when we visited her the end of May!  Today we are making homemade pizza .......we uses a cauliflower crust, refried black beans, ground turkey, red sauce for Joel, black olives and cheese.  I really enjoy it!  It's not Godfather;s Pizza but it is good!  We'll do some grilling too I expect and have a special dessert.  Head to church and maybe the park or lake.

I'm going to wrap this up and share a few things I am grateful for.  Grateful my Mayo check up was good.  Grateful for a trip to Trader Joe's and a family visit.  Grateful for cooler weather!  Grateful for biking, walking, chicken salads, homemade pizza, a clean house, rain, phone calls, lthe prayers of others, a grand's surgery going well.  Grateful for transitions that we walk through with God to guide us.  Grateful for emails, texts, phone calls and in person chats.  Grateful for all this and so much more........

Enjoy your weekend!

Saturday's Scribbles

 

Good Saturday to you from our corner of Iowa where we continue to have August heat and humidity. Looks like it'll be an indoor weekend with heat indexes into the high 90s or triple digits. The plants seem to like an okay. Speaking of plants, we bought a hydrangeas a few years ago and it just never grew. joel moved it three times in 3 years and this year one beautiful bloom appeared. Sadly it also disappeared before we were able to enjoy it. We think the same pesky rabbit that ate all our geraniums had a tasty morsel last night and now it's gone. Sometimes it's hard to commune with nature. The other night I fell asleep to an owl hooting. We don't get too many in our yard but it was familiar and in some ways comforting. Joel has spotted a few deer on his bike rides too.  We drove to Clear Lake Sunday afternoon to do some people and lake watching.  It was a beautiful day for it.  We continue to enjoy August knowing that in four short months it will be the end of another year.  

Joel has been busy doing some repairs on the house. He did hire a man to power hose above the porch cleaning off the siding and roof, caulking and repairing and then painting that area's siding. He himself has been climbing ladders to put new trim around where the old trim was starting to deteriorate. I could write a speech about how I feel about him on ladders but it has all been said before. He thinks he's Spider-Man I guess. He's also been biking and getting ready for Sunday when he'll preach at a church here in town where he was Pastor for 10 years. He enjoys seeing all the familiar faces!

I've been walking mostly indoors, saw the chiropractor and had my checkup for the glaucoma. Things are steady there so that's good. I've done some baking and some cleaning..... the same old same old that takes up a lot of our days.  Another activity that can take up my days is listening to books on tape.  When I walk I listen....when I clean around the house I listen....when I have rest time I listen.  Yeah....I figured I have listened to around 40 books this year so far.  Lately it is one every 5 days.  I have always gotten "into" the book I am reading/listning to..  Once many years ago I was cooking while reading and set a book on fire.  Really just singed a few pages, but you get the idea.  I limit my book hours.  As a child I would get lost in books...they were my friends inviting me into a different world.  I guess that is still true.  I much prefer holding a book in my hands but also thank God for audiobooks!  I love that you can go on Libby or Hoopla and connect through your library to "borrow" books for 2 or 3 weeks to read or listen to on our phones or devices.  What a world we live in....what opportunities at our fingertips!  Books have always been "members of our family so to speak.  Books grace the homes of our kids too....in abundance!  One extended family member once said, "You know you are in a Dahlen house when there are books for your convenience even in the bathroom!  Haha

Speaking of books, I have been listening to Kate Carlisle and her Bibliophile Mysteries along with an Ann Voskamp best seller from years ago....One Thousand Gifts..  We have watched AGT and Murdoch and Mallorca Files once in awhile along with the quirky Northern Exposure and also Antique Roadshow.  

Bringing Saturday's Scribbles to  close, today, I am grateful for A/C.  Grateful for a few porch sitting hours.  Grateful for the chiro and eye specialists.  Grateful for walking, biking, resting, baking, cooking, cleaning, and all the other day to day activities that remind us we are still here!  Grateful our Spanish Eyes ivy is too high off the ground for our pesky rabbit to get!  Grateful Joel got to see in Hydranges finally bloom...for  day.  Grateful for neighbors, friends, and families.  Grateful for books!  Books we hold, treasure, and listen to.  Grateful for one wonky eye that still works.  Grateful for texting emails, photos, and phone calls from those we love and care about.  Grateful for all this and so much more.

Enjoy your weekend!