Oregon Living 2023 – Blog #48 – Saying Goodbye to Some of the Family & A Serious Surgery

 

                                       

Sunday, November 12^th., 2023…… We slept in bit this morning. Cat and I took the girls out while the rest of them slept in. She made breakfast for us and waited. Mary fixed her own and then Cathye cooked for Heather and Charlie. They watched tv together for a while. Might be hard to see but Mary has Charlie on her lap.

Then made plans to head on home. I took a couple of pictures and we said our goodbyes and they left. The drive would get them back home in time for Charlie’s concert tickets for tonight!  We hung around the house (no church today) and watched tv for the most part. Cathye worked on finishing up a shoe bag for her square dance shoes that Mary sewed up yesterday. Mary worked on a baby quilt for one of her husband’s expectant chiropractic patients. I worked on the blog and watched football and finished up the last of the taped Mecum auctions.  No races today.  Later, we headed off to class. Mary came by later and took a couple of pics. Here’s one….

We went to the pizza parlor with the group afterward then came back and hit the spa before bed.      

Monday, November 13^th., 2023…… Gym for us this morning.  After that, we met Mary for breakfast at Kevin’s then they took off for the day. They were headed off to Spirit Mountain Casino. The Gambler Sisters on sabbatical!  When they returned (with less money than they had when they left), they had already had a meal so I went out and picked up mine. Tv and spa until bedtime.

Tuesday, November 14^th., 2023…… We had our class at the senior center this afternoon. There was only enough beginners for one square but afterward there was enough to do a bit for us experienced dancers. Mary went over to visit with Justin and we spent the day working on removing all of the Thanksgiving decorations. Yeah, I know – that was too early! But we wanted to get things put away so we could get out all of the Christmas stuff and get it going. Randy and Maryanne are coming up for Thanksgiving but not for Christmas. I wanted them to see the house with Christmas decorations up this year!

Wednesday, November 15^th., 2023…… Mary took off in our Honda this morning and went and picked up Justin. The plan for them is to drive up to Portland and stay in a motel tonight and then check in for Justin’s eye surgery tomorrow morning. Then they will come back to the room for the night and then go back in for another exam before he is allowed to come home on Friday. We didn’t have too much going on today. I went out and got us KFC for dinner. I also got enough for tomorrow. Tv and spa and then bed. Sometimes it is pretty cold when we head out to the spa. But the brief encounter with the cold is no problem and the spa is so warm and relaxing!   

Thursday, November 16^th., 2023…… Not much on the agenda today. After we got home from the gym and breakfast (and trips to Wilco and Walmart) we spent some time working on bringing Christmas boxes off the shelves in the garage. We hung around after that until it was time to go for our massages. I went first and Cathye came later. We had our KFC dinner early in the afternoon. We found out later that Justin’s surgery went well. They have him bandaged up so he doesn’t know how well he can see (and won’t until he goes in tomorrow morning). We have been catching up on some of our taped shows. Tonight was Survivor and The Masked Singer. Mary is caught up on the Golden Bachelor so we will wait until she gets back to watch the next one together. 

Friday, November 17^th., 2023…… Cold morning today. We walked and fed the girls then ate leftovers from Kristi’s. Later, I spent a few minutes hauling all of the boxes out of the garage and up onto the porch. The first step for me is to put together my Christmas Village. Every piece is still in original packaging so it takes me a while to get it all out and set up. With Cathye’s help, we got all the village people (no, not those village people!) set up and got everything plugged in and we were done!

The tree will come together tomorrow. Mary got back here and we got an update. She said that she got Justin back home and he was resting comfortably. Surgery went well. The vision should improve. But he has to be very careful for the next several weeks. Amy will be there now to take care of him. Mary was beat and spent the day recovering from the chaotic past few days. She has a few days to rest because her flight out isn’t until Monday. I’m sure she is tired and ready to go home but she made such a difference for Justin and I’m sure he was extremely thankful to have his mom here for his traumatic experience.     

Saturday, November 18^th., 2023…… The weather is still pretty chilly and this morning was no exception. Temps in the high 30s. High today will hit 50°.  We had the dogs out and walked and Cat made breakfast burritos. Yummy! Mary went back to visit with her son for the day and we worked on the Christmas tree. Our tree is pre-lit but I found a few missing bulbs and on one section we can’t find the bad or loose bulb. I need to go get bulbs but if there is a good deal on a nice tree – well maybe we’ll change it out. Ok, it’s later now and I found the problems on the tree and resolved them. But we think we will now look for a new tree, maybe an after-Christmas sale. Cathye went out and ran a few errands while I worked on this blog. Later, we fed the dogs and headed out. We have tickets for another play at the Hult Center in Eugene. We left early enough to go to one of our favorite fish restaurants in Eugene – Fisherman’s Market. Not a fancy place and one where you order from the counter, but the food is really good. But this time I was not impressed. While Cathye had a delicious crab mac and cheese, my scallops were disappointing.

This time of year they only have bay scallops which are not my favorite and were rather bland tasting.  We left there and got parked at the Hult. We are seeing Dirty Dancing.  This is not a play though – but rather a film-to-concert experience.  It is a digitally remastered film on a cinema screen, with a live band and singers performing the film’s iconic songs. We had seats on the main floor in row L so we had a nice view. The group of seven came out in period costumes and even changed at intermission to fit the final scene. They were really excellent and it made the film even more enjoyable. I think it was 10 to 1 girls in the audience to see Patrick Swayze on the big screen.  Every time he came on screen, the girls would sigh! Cathye was in love!  

After the show, we got out of the parking structure pretty quickly and on the road. We were home by 10:30pm. Mary was still up but sent pics of her and the dogs on her bed.

 

Long night but really nice to get out.