Thursday, December 27, 2018

Christmas Day


On Christmas Day we headed out to Lake Michigan to hike at Rosy Mound County Park. On the way we stopped in and spent some time with Franny, John's 103-year-old mother. She was sleeping in her wheelchair but quickly became quite clear headed. The first thing I said to her as she was waking up was your son John is here to see you; she said hi to him then looked at me and I said I’m his wife Ruth. Then, as cute as she could be, she said in a very pronounced way: well, I’m Frances Worst. I stepped out to ask the front desk if we could turn the TV off and so John could play Christmas music on the piano. (The 10 people watching were all sound asleep.) When I got back to the room, John was saying a nursery rhyme with her, so as soon as they were finished, I started “T’was the night before Christmas.” She was good, finishing a couple lines that I messed up. So off to the piano, she singing along with me only if I really urged her. But she went straight through Ps. 23 and John 3:16, no coaxing at all. Back to her room and then we were off to the Lake. What fun hiking through the wooded dunes, up and down steps, then down the final 100 steps to the sand dune bowl and around the boardwalk and on to the shore where we encountered the sun. Ended up walking a long way and picking up some nice driftwood. Back to our condo for a while and then on to the shop where John built a nice fire in the wood stove in the loft, Carlton joining us for clam chowder and fixings. Kayla was off with the Sosa family. She and Ariel will join our little family Christmas Sunday, Dec. 30.