The final cold snap of the season?

Wednesday morning was fraught with surprises.  First it was only in the upper 30s.  Second it had rained about 3/4 inches during the early morning.  Third, there were small icicles hanging from the wires behind our house.  And last as I went to our park resident barber for a haircut, ice particles were falling from the high palm trees, reminding me of some sleet storms we have memories of when we lived in Indiana.  The height of the trees made the ice particles painful if they fell on my head.  I dodged most of them.  Evelyn got the day off from therapy.  We did miss a call from the spinal doctor during the day.  It happened that our friends, John and Sue, lived in a park that was without electric power and came here to get warm.  Our park had been without power last week but only for a couple of hours.  Theirs lasted about 8 hours during a period of lower temperatures.  We were blessed to be able to offer them some comfort.  We stayed indoors until the time for choir practice in the evening.  It was still cold.

Thursday Evelyn and Sue went to the $5 jewelry sale at the hospital to look for some birthday gifts for the granddaughters born in February.  She didn’t find all of the things she wanted.  She came home before lunch but then had to return for therapy at 1.  While she was gone and I was working on my next sermon, the doctor called and prescribed a muscle relaxer for Evelyn.  She picked it up on the way home.  I have never met anyone who garnered much relief from them, but they may be better than what she has been taking.  Joe and Bonny picked us up to go to dinner at Don Pepe’s Mexican Restaurant.  We had been there 2 times before and used our price reduction certificates both times.  When I tried to use a third, it was refused.  We paid full price, and I later found that I had used the refused certificate before.  I have another.  We attended our 3rd in the concert series in McAllen.  The performers were Exile, a group we had never heard of from Richmond, KY.  They sang many songs we had didn’t remember even though they claimed they had written them and had reached number 1 but recorded by other artists including Janie Fricke and Alabama.  They only recorded 1 hit, and we had never heard it either.  We did agree that it was the best of the series so far.

Friday is nearly always a kitchen band day.  Today we went to Valley Grande Manor and had a great time.  There must have been over 30 residents there, many in wheelchairs, and they were quite active while we performed.  I have never had so much fun performing to a nursing home since in my early 20s.  We have been in this band for around 10 years, but this was the best.  After lunch we went to serve at the hospital.  I always enjoy Friday afternoons but Evelyn often has to chase down her supervisor to get directions.  Today she felt pretty good and was without much pain in her leg.  She was hurt as usual yesterday after therapy.  I am sad to report that I have alienated one of the men I work with.  I didn’t understand what he said to me a few weeks ago, but after a few weeks, he acts different from the way he did before the incident.  I think we will be able to continue working with each other but not as before.  Our other male partner has been gone for the past 3 Fridays and had to miss today because of a dental problem.  Evelyn made Carmel corn in the evening, but he recipe wasn’t as good as the one she normally makes.  We must arise earlier than usual because of commitments tomorrow.  More on this later.