Soon....

"...the winter is past;

 

 

 

 

 
"...the flowers appear on the earth,"  

 "the time of singing has come"

 We have had some frogs singing.  I LOVE that sound!  I tried to find the frogs but they stayed hidden.

As a child growing up in Japan, we lived by rice paddies and every night I would sleep to the sound of frogs.  Lots of them!  Soon there will lots of baby frogs and lots of frogs singing here too!

 "...the vines are in blossom"   (portions from Song of Solomon 2)

 By next week, I think these trees will be FILLED with showy white flowers!

 They are ready to burst out!

 Soon!

Moving Mom home!

Almost 2 months ago, mom was taken in for brain surgery because of a brain bleed.  Today, she was discharged from health care!

Mom and her new wheels!

We stopped to see daddy and say good-bye.  Well, not much of a good-bye.  Mom will just be across the street and will stop to see him every day, probably 2 or 3 times.  But she isn't just down the hall anymore.

 Dad is doing much better.  The pain meds are helping him with the 2 compression fractures he has.  We are planning on having a kyphoplasty procedure, where they insert cement into the spine.

 Mom stopped to thank all who cared for her and to say her byes.

Then we walked across the street to her duplex. So happy to be home!

 I used the borrowed wheels to move her belongings back, before returning that to rehab.

Mom was anxious to go to Wendy's, one of her favorite places!   We shared a salad.

But of course no trip to Wendy's is complete without one of these!!  

Ice-cream is my mom and my dad's favorite treat! 

Then we stopped at Dillons for some things.

Mom's cupboards were bare.

Mom will  have to begin preparing her meals once again.

I will be taking her 1 portion size frozen meals from meals I have prepared at home to help out and she is wanting to try some of the meals in the freezer section.  She's never done that before so we will have to see what kinds she will  like the best!

Blessings, Mom and I'm so happy for you!

Donkeyball

Donkeyball?  

What is that?!

Well, let me tell you.  You take a few donkeys....

* * * * * *

We went to Little River, where Al's sister and family live, to go to a very unusual fundraiser.

 Any good fundraiser has delicious food of course.

And raffles.   They were raising money for the Little River child center.

There were a few cute kids there!! 

Al and his sister, Julie

Of course you have to start with the national anthem!

The grade school came out on the court to sing.  I don't think I've ever seen that done before.  Sweet!

So, to tell you about donkeyball - you take a basket ball court

 and a few players willing to play basketball on the backs of donkeys!

 

My niece, Susie and her team - The Seniors

Then there were also teams made up of 

the teachers of the grade school,

the teachers of the high school,

and the city chamber.

These donkeys came from Wisconsin with a company that trains them to play for fundraisers.

Of course there are always a few bucked off!

Especially when they rode ones called Widow Maker.

 He was trained to buck.

Here he was bucked over the top of the donkey's head!
                       

 It would have been fun to video tape, but it was not allowed.

 Sometimes the donkeys were pretty stubborn.

Get the ball Susie! 

You could get off the donkey to get the ball, 

but in order to pass the ball, you had to be riding on his back.

Some of the players had a hard time riding.

The seniors won their game. 

This photo turned out blurry, but this lady backhanded the ball and it went in!!  The play of the night!

 My brother-in-law, Russell.

His team also won, which meant he would be playing Susie for the final game.

This guy's grass skirt fell off revealing...

 Before the final game between the Seniors and the Chamber, there were kiddie rides.

This man was challenged to ride Hemorrhoid.

Oops.

The Seniors won the final game.  

What a fun time we had!!

Thanks for all the laughs, Russell and Susie!