Enfin

Sorry I have not posted lately, but I guess it is no secret that I have been vacationing in the Slough of Despond for the last few weeks. I am now on my feet again and ready for life....And it has been good.

Thanks so much to Rick and Susanna for giving Dad such a wonderful holiday in NYC. He enjoyed it immensely, and we have both been refreshed through it. You are wonderfully hospitable, R & S - so lovely to spend time with you, always!

Last Monday Andrew, Pat and Maryanne,Grace and Justin came over so we could spend Memorial Day together. What a wonderful city this is for wiling away a few hours. We headed over to the fountain so the kids could play for an hour, ride the carousel, then went to Green Life for gelato...On home for a bbq...A lovely day.

Yesterday was my last regular day with the Ryans...They will probably have me back the odd time to babysit...The kids had a "National Mrs. Challies Day"...They really do love me, and I will miss them. At the same time, I do pray God will give me a more local way of making money. It has been stressful commuting such a long distance and has done the car no favors! Pray that God will lead me into something that will leave me enough time and opportunity to spend with my children and grandchildren - my ultimate desire. I love to be available to you kids!

As for the car, I continue to be caught between Charybdis and Scylla...Our car looks good, relatively speaking, has new almost everything relevant in the engine, and shows few signs of transmission problems. It truly seems a miracle vehicle. Anything we would buy to replace it would have, probably, 150,000 miles on it. Would we just be buying problems we have already addressed in our own vehicle? Theoretically, the transmission on such a car would be ready to wear out. WOuld we be any farther ahead? Yet putting $1,000 into our old thing does seem silly. I just go around in circles, and in the meantime we don't have a decent vehicle to drive! Pray God will protect us from making the wrong decision...

Some good news - Jane Frye connected us with one of her old friends from high school days - Babs Rymer. She and her husband have a large estate Dad has done some work on. They have offered him regular work there at a very decent hourly wage, plus would like him to take on maintenance work at their condominium - with a likely outcome of individual landscaping jobs with the various owners...A wonderful and timely opportunity...The Covenant groundskeeper job at Covenant has also come up again, but I think - all told - Dad would rather work with Babs with colleges so fragile at this point. Still, he has applied.

The local gang of us will celebrate Dad's sixtieth birthday tomorrow. Maryanne, and probably the kids, will stay overnight, them Sunday afternoon Grace's friends will have a shower for her here...Fun for all!...The next Wednesday, unknown to Dad, we will have a gag-gift birthday celebration at the mid-week meeting.

So ends my submission!