Coming Back To The Twenty First Century

 The aroma of roast and veggies in the crock pot fills the downstairs with delicious goodness. It might be supper or it might be for lunch tomorrow. We shall see. Added some of the tomatoes from the garden so the taste will be extra special. 

Our plans for today did not include staying home but I had a bit of a sleepless night and a little flare up of the rash that has developed since the biopsy thing. It almost goes away and comes back with a vengeance. The prescription cream is helping and taking Benadryl is doing the job most of the time. 

The low today, twenty degrees. Wowsers! That is cold. The Garage at the Catmore Estate is full. All huddled up in the beds and makeshift places to keep kitties warm. Once it gets above freezing today, they will head outside and get the zoomies taken care of. This evening one of the little kittens let me pick her up. She was sitting on the steps by the door. We fed them outside tonight since it was a balmy 56 with sunshine. 

The last paragraph began in the morning and of course now it is evening. We have had internet or Wi-Fi problems all day. So we took a giant step back into the twentieth century and depended on books and chores to keep us moving all day long. I worked on this Sunday's lesson. All prophecy and as I tell the class, if it is prophetic I am pathetic. But after a lot of reading and research I believe a lesson can be taught that won't drag cause my brain doesn't get around a lot of these timeline things. Then, I discovered a lot of what we think is a sign of end times is just merely the first birth pangs. Each gospel has its own twists and turns. This chapter in Mark has the most red letters of any chapter in the book. I am always intrigued by the disciples and what they understood and what they didn't. So can identify. 

 Since I had that very early wake up, I took a bit of a nap this afternoon. As I laid back, after finagling part of the blanket from GMoey, my mind drifted off and that sleepy dreamy feeling took me back. I thought about my mother's brothers and families. We have totally lost touch with them and I think it has been well over fifty years since seeing any of the family. A couple of weeks ago in class, I told the story of my Aunt Mary. My Uncle Charles and she, married in 1961, this being the second marriage for both of them. My uncle's first wife had been sort of a glamour girl, but Aunt Mary? Never had I met such a woman, such a force and she scared the pewadlin out of me.  I first met her the summer between third and fourth grade while spending the summer with Grandma B. Her voice was gruff, her manner hurried. She didn't suffer fools lightly. I retreated to the couch with my face smashed into the back of it. I wouldn't turn around and had to be coerced to finally sit up to meet her but believe me I watched her every move. She was not a glamour or trophy wife. She was a machinist for Borg Warner, I think. She smoked, drank beer, and bowled in a league. I never knew any woman that did all that. She was rather short but walked halfway bent over, not due to back pain but she believed she was more aerodynamic that way and could get more things done. As each summer came and went, she didn't scare me, well as much. She wasn't anything like Aunt Joanne. She married my mom's twin brother. I think my father dated her a couple of times and then introduced my uncle to her. She was neat and proper. I knew enough not to speak until spoken to. She wasn't friendly or at least overtly friendly. She rarely came over to visit when our family was in town or I was there in the summer. One particular time I remember and my parents were there, that Doug and I were told to stay outside and play. Our presence would upset our Aunt Joanne. Later we found out that she and my Uncle had recently lost their first child an hour or so after he was born, our parents told us after the quick visit. They did have another child, a girl, but in my child mind, our aunt never was the same. Truthfully, she didn't have too far to go cause she wasn't very personable. Back to Aunt Mary, she being the total opposite of any family member. I told her story in class because this gruff, beer drinking aunt, did one of the kindest things ever. My cousin Lois had invited me to go to church camp with her, but her mom didn't believe I had the appropriate clothes for church camp. This news upset my mother something awful and truthfully, I didn't have long length shorts, at least not for a really strict church camp. Aunt Mary to the rescue. She took a day off, retrieved me from my grandma's and took me to the dime store. Back in the day dime stores had really cute clothes. Aunt Mary who was raised Catholic, but non practicing, no more knew about a Baptist camp than I knew brands of beer. She bought several outfits for camp including several peddle pusher pants now named capris, two casual dresses and then several short outfits for non camp wearing. We then headed over to the lunch counter and had a delicious dime store lunch. That whole time with her was such a delight. I never knew if Aunt Mary did this on her own or if my mom reimbursed her for the clothes. My aunt took good care of my grandma as well. Like so many, the gruff and rough ones can have a heart of gold. 

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I just came in from greeting the Feral Fam. Got them some treats and the number wanting some pets on the head are increasing. Cha Nay Nay, Fido and Beanie always are clamoring in but Coco, although close by, wouldn't let me pet her. One of the kittens let me pick her up both yesterday and today. Now that's progress.

Spectrum is coming on Monday to look at our signal. It has been really spotty if not horrible since yesterday. Wow, I had to read a book. No complaints there. I also got the lesson finished up for Sunday. So tech wise, we are getting closer to the twenty first century Wi-Fi but still living like the olden days.