THISILDO: May 2008

Dear All,

It was the best of times..............it was the worst of times........ (sums up May so far!!)

Sometimes when I sit here to write, it seems I have nothing much to say and other times, I could ramble for eons!

May began with a bang...........literally............Kelly was in a nasty car accident. Unfortunately, whilst on the road for work, she collided with a ford truck of some description, which consequently rolled 7 times!!!! Although she was going slowly, the truck was not..... Fortunately, although her lovely new mercedes was written off, the air bag deployed saving her from possible serious injuries. The driver of the truck was trapped in his vehicle for some time, which added to the trauma for Kelly. It seems both Kelly and the other driver suffered similar injuries. Neither were seriously hurt, but both sustained a lot of muscle trauma and as a result Kelly has been suffering from headache, backache and muscle pain for almost a month now. It has begun to subside somewhat, but is still with her.

She has been commuting to work in a hired car whilst insurance gets it act together and hopefully, she will soon be back in another mercedes, which is a good thing, as it seems, if one must have an accident, it is one of the better, safer cars to have a collision in.

Lauren also started off her month with a bang. Whilst commuting on a bus in London with a girlfriend, there were only 3 other people on the bus. Two of whom were girls. There were sitting behind Lauren and her friend and they decided to try and steal Lauren's friend's handbag. They jumped on her from behind and Lauren went to her aid, so one of the girls started hitting/punching Lauren. Lauren asked if the other passenger on the bus was going to help them (he was a male), but he just sat there.

Eventually the driver pulled over and called the police, but the girls ran from the bus. They were later apprehended by the police and although Lauren wants to press charges, the other girl's parents, does not want her to pursue it as they are fearful that they girls will seek her out for retaliation! Lauren ended up with a sore, bruised face and jaw, plus a sore arm, but she has since recovered.

When I last wrote, I mentioned several cancer cases. Well the good news is - all is well. My friend Paul is recovering well and is cancer free. Jim our neighbour and friend has also recovered well and has been given the all clear from the doctor. Erin also was given an all clear, so it is good news on all fronts!!!!

Chris & Erin came up for Mother's Day weekend and we took the opportunity to check out a few wedding venues. Unless we find something we like better we will be having it on June 6, 2009 at Brook Lodge. It is a beautiful setting, but we do have some details to sort out before making a final decision.

Chris and Erin also have become parents to an Australian Shepherd puppy called Toohey (after the Aussie beer she likes). He is 16 weeks old and looks very much like Mack. They will bring him up in a couple of weeks to meet us.

The weekend after their visit, we travelled to Chicago to celebrate Sid & Mary's 50th wedding anniversary. We had a great weekend. We met with Lucky and Nancy (friends) for breakfast on the Saturday morning, shopped for a short while afterwards and then visited with Millie and Murphy (Paul's cousin and his wife).

Erin has now finished her first year of nursing. She is doing summer classes and if all goes well, she will be finished her degree this time next year. It is a two year accelerated course. She had one week off, so took off to Wisconsin with friends for a couple of days........hence the fish picture at the end of the blog. Please note, she assures me that her cell phone shrinks things (animals only), and that the fish was indeed much, much, larger than the picture shows. She said it was far too big to eat, as there were only a few of them to share the meal, so she decided to release it back into the (fully stocked) pond where she caught it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We met Sid and Mary for dinner and then relaxed for the rest of the evening. The anniversary party was held at Di Nolfo's and it was great. We enjoyed catching up with Sid's family and others.

That evening we went back to Sid's for awhile and then headed back home on Monday morning.

A couple of weeks later Sid, Mary and Danny came up for a long weekend. Poor, poor Mary left some of her clothes behind, so we had to go shopping and replace them on the Saturday morning, leaving the guys at home to do man's stuff i.e. clean and sort out boy's sh......... in the barn!!! We wish we could have been here to help them, but Mary needed clothes to wear to church on Sunday and a girls got to do, what a girl does best!!!!

It was great to have them here and Paul and I were very grateful for the help. Danny also put up Paul's surround sound for him in our bedroom. I don't know how we ever lived without the walls shaking from the sound!!!!

On the Saturday evening we went to Sam's Joint - a great place for ribs around here, and later that night, Mack took off into the bush after what we thought was a racoon. Much to our disappointment, it was not a racoon, but a skunk!!! Yep, Mack managed to get skunked again. Although he stunk, it was not as bad as last time. Needlessly to say, Paul and I spent the later part of the night in the garage, bathing Mack in hydrogen peroxide, dawn, baking soda and tomato juice. Danny, Sid and Mary went through the house, closing windows, lighting candles, spraying and fumigating............ I would like to say he has learnt his lesson, but I very much doubt it.

Last week I went to Atlanta to spend a few days with Kelly, Nate and Kyler. It was wonderful.
Kyler has grown so much, but yet is still a cute little baby. I was able to have him home with me on the Friday, so I could spend more time with him. Unfortunately for him, he was unwell - he developed croop and an ear infection, so Kelly and I took him to the doctor's on Friday afternoon. Considering he was unwell, he was so good. He certainly kept me busy chasing after him as he went on one "search and destroy mission" after another.

He is physically very active and he has a wonderful sunny nature......... he is continuously smiling, laughing and babbling. He so badly wants to walk and pulls himself up on everything....i.e. table legs, chair legs, people legs, couches etc. He then lets go, but as yet does not have sufficient balance to take off. He is not yet 8 months, and has been doing this for a few weeks now. He also likes to climb and his little legs are continuously being lifted in the vain hope that they are long enough to climb onto things. He will be a bruised and battered baby until he can accomplish what he wants and he persists in trying even after many failed attempts which result in falls!

It was very hard to come home and leave him there, but despite my pitiful pleas, Kelly and Nate would not let me keep him!!!

They are coming to visit with us for the 4th July weekend and we can hardly wait.

Paul managed very well in my absence. My friend Alex was also away when I was in Atlanta so her husband John, plus Paul were excited about a bachelor's weekend, until I pointed out that they were not bachelors, just married guys whose wives were away for the weekend!

Needless to say, although I was concerned about being away, friends and neighbours were wonderful. Paul joined the breakfast club for Saturday breakfast, John and Jerry came by on the Sat. night and they cooked dinner. Sunday Paul went to breakfast with Dave and his darling daughter Hailey and in between he visited with several of the neighbours. Much of the food I prepared for him was left untouched as he was tooooooooo busy.

It was good to know that he was okay and having a good time also.

May also saw the arrival of two new citizens!!! One a little Aussie (my great nephew), born to my nephew Gerard and his wife Melissa. He is a fair haired darling called Luke Thomas. I have included a photo of him with his two "big" brothers, Joel and Harry and one with his cousin Jude who is now 7 weeks old.

The other birth was to the best attorney in America - our friend and attorney Mike and his wife Julie. Julie gave birth to William Michael (to be called Liam) on May 21st. He is a beautiful dark haired little boy. Unfortunately, I can't include a picture of him as the only picture I have was sent via a cell phone and the link has expired. Hopefully, I will have pictures in the near future.

Many of you have asked how Michael's surgery went. He had a quadruple by-pass and was released from hospital on Tuesday. The surgery went well and he is also recovering well. He is sore and tired, but that is to be expected. Hopefully, each day will be renewed strength and less pain.

Well folks, I will close now, as I think I am finally out of news......... (bet I remember something, when I am done).

Love to everyone,

Kathy

Erin with her catch of the day!!!!!!!!!!!!