I have been so down in the dumps lately.  Lonely and lonesome.

It's been over a year since I've been up to The Farm.  My car is not stable enough to make that 25 mile trip.

Yesterday, my sister came all the way down from The Farm to pick me up.  We stopped at Culver's to get a butter burger for lunch and then drove the back roads up to our home town.

I don't know why, but she has a key to the church--a church I attended from the age of 6 weeks of age on, so we went inside so I could look around in the sanctuary.   They have added those large video screens up behind the altar.  I don't like them.  I like to hold a hymnal, so I can see the notes so I can harmonize.  Nowadays, they post the words on the video screen and, I guess, people just sing the words in unison with no harmonizing.

I have been having a lot of trouble with my legs.  They are very weak.  I had walked around the church quite a bit and when we got ready to leave, I stepped down on first step of the stairs...my left leg went out and down I went...landing on the step on my behind.  I couldn't even pull myself up by the railing, so I just bumped along, down each step, until my feet were on the floor, then I grabbed the hand rail and my sister grabbed my other arm and I was able to stand.

Then we drove around town a little bit, remembering who used to live where and what stores used to be on main street.  We drove on out of town and stopped at the cemetery where all of our Daddy's ancestor's are...and where we both will be too.  I walked a bit, finding it difficult and painful in my back to walk on uneven ground.  My sister put the flowers in the urns and then we drove around the perimeter lane in the cemetery and stopped to "see" friends and family members who are buried there...my best friend and her husband are there.

Then we drove the 3 miles over to her house.  I enjoyed that drive.  Some of the farmers are already tilling their fields...it's a bit early, but we've had an early spring.  We drove by my oldest daughter's home--was my grandparents home and after my grandma died, we moved over there and raised the kids in that home.  Then up on the corner where my son lives on what was my parents farm and the place I was born.  Then 1/8th mile down to sister's place.  The farm our great great grandparents settled on in 1855.  5 generations of my family have lived in that house.  Of course sister and her hubs updated it a  bit when they moved in 9 years ago.

Then

Now

Instead of leaves, that entire front lawn is covered by tiny purple May flowers.

We talked.  Some serious talk about things I want to go to certain people after I die and she will take care of the distribution.

We laughed and then she got out some old home movies our Mother had taken and I had put on a DVD and we watched.  Once again, so many friends and family members.  It was great to see my sister when she was little and I was a teenager.  To see your Daddy and Mother and grandparents and great grandma walking around.  We wish there had been sound so we could hear their voices again.

Then, she brought me home.  I had been so lonesome to go back "home"...where I know every inch of those houses, the fields, the woods.

It was such a wonderful day..

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Of course today, my legs hurt so bad I can hardly walk.  I rubbed them down with some horse liniment I got from a Vet.  It helps horses that have gone lame and...I tell you the truth...this old nag has gone lame in the last few months...but at least I'm not homesick anymore.

 I finished a cross stitch project last week.  Of course, it is wrinkled and needs to be washed and pressed, but you get the idea.

It goes with this one I finished at Christmas time.  Although I won't frame either one.

My cross stitching is a "something to do" in my life now.  I can't just sit and watch TV--I fidget.  So I do the cross stitch, to keep my hands busy.

Now that one is off the hoop, I found another free pattern to download.  This should keep me busy until 2022.

I thought I would do it on grey cloth until I realized that the entire background is varying shades of gray stitches.

And so I begin.  Upper right corner.  I may go mad until I run into a section of pretty colors.

Oh well.  It's just "something to do".

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It's rather ironic...all the research I did on the Covid vaccines and then decided the Johnson & Johnson was the safest, with no after effects.

 For the last year plus, I haven't even known anyone who has had Covid.  In the last 3 weeks, 4 people I know have died from it.  Not elderly people.  Men, in their 50-60's.

Vaccinated or not, I think we will still be wearing masks next fall, while we wait in line for the booster shot.

This Pandemic is far, far from over.

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Granddaughter-in-law had Toxemia or whatever they call it nowadays.  Her blood pressure was so high, "they" feared she'd have a stroke, so they induced labor this past Monday.

Now, I would think a C-section would be quicker and safer on high blood pressure than having to labor for 26 hours, but....what do I know.

Eliana Katherine was born on Tuesday, weighing only four pounds.  She kept forgetting to breathe, so they put her on forced oxygen.

She is off oxygen, but still has a feeding tube.  Momma may go home tomorrow.

We have never had a preemie in our family.  I had Toxemia with Jennifer, but I went full term.  Our babies usually have a birth weight of 8 pounds or more.  My Jen weighed 9# 4oz.  They were big enough to hop off the delivery table and walk to the nursery.

I can't imagine Momma and Daddy going home and leaving baby at the hospital.  How do you deal with that?