First donut day

First donut day of the season was yesterday. Andy was at church crazy early to be the first shift captain. I drove up later for my 5:30 a.m. shift. Kind of nice to be driving when no one else is out.

The church at sunrise.

My job was coater/bagger so I started out putting cinnamon sugar on the warm donuts ...

then switched to bagging them, three donuts to a bag. This was a few of the donuts I had bagged in my three-hour shift.

One of my church friends posted this picture. The Historical Society is having a vintage car show in June and one of the men who will be showing his car in it parked by the Farmers Market to advertise the show ... and he's handing out the flyer I designed. My worlds are colliding.

$10 for me

Sometimes it's worth it to clean up L's things.

RIP Schubert

Schubert posing for me, Sept. 16, 2020. His mom texted me yesterday letting me know he died of kidney disease that morning. He made us a stop on his daily walks sometime in 2019. In August, we were referring to him as the "random neighborhood cat" when he jumped into the car as E and B were packing to move into college that fall. He even attended B's U of I graduation party and was a tour guide when the new neighbors bought their house last year. In 2020, he kept us entertained during the pandemic and we looked forward to his visits. We put a bowtie on him and he kept it on for quite a while. I'm not sure when we learned his name or met his family. He was such a sweet, friendly cat and had the best curly fur.

He often kept us company as we sat in the back yard or had a fire. His mom said he was a "beloved neighborhood staple." Indeed.

This is one of my favorite pictures of him, sitting by our garage wondering if he should stay with us or make the walk down to the alley to his house. RIP Schubert, 2007-2024, 16 years old.

This is the obit his mom put on FB. With August sick, then getting the news of Schubert, I just couldn't go over to their house his celebrate Schubert with a cantaloupe skewer, but I did text his mom and explain our situation.

Close call for August

Andy took August to the vet yesterday. We thought they'd put him down but they said he was dehydrated and very constipated. They gave him some meds so we'll see how that goes.

When Andy was carrying him out in the carrier, Muffles ran to see him. We thought for sure it was the last time we'd see him.

B came down to tell him goodbye and L Facetimed from Florida.

I even manged to get a pic of the brothers together, just in case.

B and I were very surprised and happy when Andy came back with the carrier ... and August.

L’s Disney trip

Tuesday was the first day in Florida for L and her friend T. They successfully picked up a rental car and drove to Disney's Animal Kingdom. She said it was warm.

Dinner for L was a Florida deep-dish pizza with too much (in my opinion) meat.

On Wednesday, they went to Epcot and were lucky enough to ride Guardians of the Galaxy ... and heard "September" during the ride. T lobed the ride; the hour wait, not so much.

This is their AirBnB. It looks like a renovated hotel but she said the price was good. No kitchen, just a microwave and small fridge. And a desk and bathroom of course.

They were at Hollywood Studios on Thursday. T is a big "Star Wars" fan so he enjoyed that area and the rides. Here they are having a snack at my favorite people-watching spot.

Friday at Magic Kingdom. This picture seems familiar.

They rode Tron!

The rest of their trip was spent apartment hunting. They both liked this one at Abaco Key, 10 minutes from Disney. It's the one they filled put the application for. Their flight home arrives very late tonight. I assume they'll drive back to Champaign on Thursday.

Done with apartment shopping, they went to Typhoon Lagoon on Tuesday bit bad weather closed it so they got a oass to return within a year.

Hard puzzle for us

I think I got this puzzle in a trade from the local puzzle exchange FB page. Not sure what I was thinking. It was hard.

B and I both worked on it when the cats were preoccupied and it still took us a long time. The good news is that we did finish it and all of the pieces were there.

Houdini

Aptly named, Houdini, escaped from L's room and went to rest in the bathroom sink.

Mom’s Day

B treated me and Andy to breakfast for an early Mother's Day treat. We discussed going out tody but thought the restaurants might be too busy, so Saturday was the day! We stayed local and went to Al's Grill. The waitress said it was a good thing he was sitting on a side by himself because he ended up with three plates and needed the room. I had my usual ham and cheese omelette.

B and me.

Andy gave me a nice card.

I asked E what kind of water bottle I would need to keep water cold in a hot car while I'm at work or out running errands. She said I needed a Stanley cup so the kids got me this pretty one. It was nowhere to be found here or in Champaign so E bought it in Washington and shipped it home. It's bigger than I wanted, but E said they didn't have it in the smaller size so I'll stay quite hydrated. B bought the initial charms and straw covers. This will come in handy ... and I'm on trend lol.

B surprised me by baking a pan of brownies for me while Andy and I were out shopping.

Though I'm happy with the gift from the kids and breakfast out, I've learned from experience that it's a good idea to buy myself a Mother's Day present (also a good idea for birthdays and Christmas). I rarely treat myself. This year my Mother's Day gift to myself was a new pair of Birkenstocks. Love the shiny Graceful Taupe color.

Northern Lights

E took some nice pictures of the Northern Lights from her condo complex Friday night.

I'm glad she was able to stay up late enough to see them ... and send me pics. These have no filters on them.

Lots of people in Illinois saw them and were posting pics on FB. I'm not convinced if I could stay up to see them I'd be able to because there's so much light pollution. We rarely see stars.

August’s antics

One minute August is just sitting calmly, looking around ...

the next time I see him he's eating the grass I bought for the back yard.

Field fotio pics

The Field Musem had a fotio booth at the Members Night on Thursday. Always fun to grab some props and pose for a few pictures.

I wanted to hold the squid/octopus prop but it really doesn't fit in with the rest of our props.

Should have tipped the hat back for this one.

Another Members Night

Andy and I went to the Field Museum for its annual Members Night last night.

We stopped in the specimen room where they were disecting a huge beaver that had been hit by a car.

We had a bite to eat in the Founders Council lounge.

They had quite the spread.

This artifact had just arrived at the museum so they brought it to the Founders Council lounge (the vice president's office) so we could see it before it's put on display for the general public. It's a replica of a Zimbabwe Bird. It's old and fragile lol. The employees who work with the Founders Council didn't know too much about it since it just arrived at the museum (though they were very excited about it) but it will be neat to eventually see it on display.

Everyone was also very excited about this fossil, only found in Germany. This one at the museum is the only one in this hemisphere. We didn't wait in line to see it up close but I took this picture so I can research it later.

We walked through the "Unseen Oceans" exhibit. We missed the opening reception in March because we were at Disney.

We talked to the Rivian representatives inside the museum and stopped as we were driving away to look at the Field Museum's Rivian parked out front. Pretty nice. We have Rivian stock and they said the company is on the way up. Let's hope so.

Rainy night but the skyline still looks pretty.

Some of the free things we picked up - a pen, bookmarks, notebooks, lapel pins, a car sticker, other stickers and cute little plushie dinosaurs.