A sad day for the Bloom family....

Our brave leader has been injured. He will be back as strong as ever....but it will take awhile.

Christmas cookies

Baking with my favorite chef (You can tell she is the new Julia Child by the flour on her face)...

Cincy trip

The weekend in pictures....

Thinking about cousins....

I was looking at this picture of these cousins and thinking about the difference in age. Ian and Scout are almost as much older than Nevy as my cousin Kay is than me! Not quite but almost. I can remember Kay babysitting when she was in high school and I was a preschooler. I was her flower girl when she got married. (I tried to think of Ian or Samantha getting married with Nevy in their wedding....couldn't do it!)

I'm not sure where I'm going with this so I'm just going to stop with one last thought. I wonder if my grandma got as much pleasure from seeing me with my Kay. I know that I love watching my grandchildren building their cousin connection.

A First

I'll admit that I have a cold. My head is stuffed up and I have a cough, a good productive cough. But at the same time, my hygiene is just fine, thank you. I know how to cough into my sleeve, I deposit my used tissues in the trash, and I wash my hands often, singing Yankee Doodle all the way through...twice.

So when I got to school today and had a big note on my door that said "You must see the nurse before seeing students", I wondered what was up. Turns out I was too germy for school and I got sent home. It seems that my cold (and I called my doctor just to be sure) is their H1N1.

I know this is one mean virus and I don't mess around when it comes to illness and other safety issues. But this is overkill, folks! I'm expected to walk around at school with my can of Lysol. I think I'm in as much danger from chemical poisoning and depletion of the ozone from all the whatever-they-ares in that aerosol can than I am from anything else.

A few pictures from our Cincinnati trip

A great trip...there was time for napping, modeling new hats, playing with favorite toys, hanging pictures and hooks, planting bulbs, celebrating birthdays, eating, cat watching....a busy but good weekend.

Baseball by Ken Burns

We have been watching our tapes of the the Ken Burns PBS Series. I've seen it several times. It is still as powerful as the first time I watched.

We watched 30 minutes tonight and I was in tears three times: when Lou Gehrig made his "Today I'm the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech, when hearing about the antisemitism that Hank Greenburg faced, and again with a story about Satchel Paige and the Negro Leagues. I cry at every story about the Negro Leagues. The injustice and hatefulness are something I cannot hear about without an emotional reaction. This reaction is not new to me but the intensity has changed. Nevy puts a new spin on the old story.

One thing that Burns makes clear is that baseball tells the story of America. The big historical issues America has faced time and again....labor, race, class...are issues with which baseball has also grappled. Watching Burns' documentary has almost made me decide to forgive MLB for the strike of 1994 and the McGwire/Sosa homerun farce in 1998. Maybe it's time to pay attention again.

Photos by Samantha

I needed a new picture for the Display Case at school so we went to our favorite local photographer. (I should have realized that stains on my shirt would show vividly!) She did a fne job...Mac looks good in every shot!

End of summer vacation

School starts tomorrow....and all I can think about is Lake Michigan. Sigh.....

Long time, no blog

Not much happening around here....just some Tetris, some Sally's Spa, some Facebook, some reading, some knitting while the healing happens.

The dressing they sent me home in!

Lovely boot and rollabout

That was some party!

What a weekend! Friends and relatives poured in from all over the midwest for Nevy's baby shower hosted by Aunts Kate and Ellen and cousin Samantha. It was the best shower ever!

Extra special cupcakes

Uncle Don won the prize in amazing fashion!

Big boy Eli meets baby Nevy

Saying hello to Emma

Great aunt Beth's turn

Handling guest-of-honor status with grace

Presents!

Refreshments are always welcome at any social gathering

Thoughts of a surgery wimp

* The pain wasn't so bad but the boredom might kill me.
* I'm puzzled why the boot is called "one size fits all". After the first three patients to use one, it should have been clear that that ain't so.
* Is it the surgery or the laying about that is making me feel peckish?
* I am so so lucky to have Stew for my nurse!
* If this is all I can think of to write, maybe I shouldn't write.

A few last photos before surgery

The garden is looking good....I have had pizza and fun times with the family.....The triplets have some new summer clothes....Nevy is wearing grandma-knits and has been cuddled and loved....I guess the only left to do is to have my Achilles tendon repaired. I'm as ready as I'm going to be so let's get on with it.