A NINETY SIX YEAR OLD HELPS AN EIGHTY SIX YEAR OLD

 NO, THIS IS NOT A MONARCH BUTTERFLY

Nine thirty this morning found us sitting down for breakfast at Bayfield's Renegades Diner with our good friends Richard and Gayle.  It had been a while since we'd last got together for breakfast so today was it.  I think that a good old-fashioned bacon and egg breakfast is probably my most favorite eating-out meal nowadays.  It's just too bad it has got so expensive.....like everything else!!  And, by the way, Renegades is in the process of changing ownership at the moment.  I sure hope the new owner doesn't turn it into some kind of Abbysinian Inginidgious place featuring fried fish eyes, live eels, and raw octopus tentacles!!

A walk around the Park's pond this afternoon netted me a few pics.  I was looking for any wildlife other than more Frogasaurasus guys.

OUR LATE SUMMERS PARK'S POND IS STILL LOOKING VERY LUSH

 WILDFLOWERS AT THE POND'S EDGE

 SPOTTED THIS LITTLE GRASSHOPPER FELLOW ON THE UNDERSIDE OF A MILKWEED LEAF

 AND HERE HE IS ON THE TOP SIDE OF THE SAME LEAF

ALSO ON THE SAME MILKWEED PLANT, I SAW THIS MONARCH BUTTERFLY CATERPILLAR

 WILLOW TREE ROOTS ALONG THE POND'S SURFACE AT THE WATER'S EDGE

 I COUNTED HALF A DOZEN PAINTED TURTLES IN THE POND

 THIS MIGHT BE A MOTHER AND TWO SIBLINGS

 I WAS LINING UP A SHOT OF FOUR TURTLES ON THIS LOG WHEN PHEEBS WALKED BY AND SCARED THEM ALL OFF THE LOG INTO THE WATER

As readers know, I call my Aunt Jean in Florida every Friday night to see how she's doing.  The dust from her big move a few months ago is still settling.  Since moving into Sunnyside Village she has especially enjoyed the great food there but there is a problem.  Despite eating so well she has been losing weight and has now dropped to below a hundred pounds.  Her Doctor ordered a number of tests to determine why the weight loss.  Not all of the test results are in yet so at this time the reason for the weight loss has not been determined.  Being 96 and having been a registered nurse she knows, understands, and accepts her situation but I know it is weighing heavy on her mind........ To lighten that weight a bit, here's a little side story about Aunt Jean and her good friend Joyce at the Village.  Joyce is 86 years old and is undergoing radiation treatments for cancer.  A week ago, Joyce was in a dilemma when the person who normally picks her up to take her to the cancer appointment phoned and told her that they had been in a minor fender-bender accident and couldn't make it.  Joyce related this to Jean and Jean, being the helping and caring person she is, quickly said, "No problem I'll drive you there".  So, that is what she did.  She drove her friend Joyce to her appointment and back even managing to lift Joyce's walker into and out of the car.  A couple days ago Jean once again drove Joyce to another radiation appointment but on their way home Jean noticed a low whistling sound emanating from her car's engine.  Jean doesn't carry a cell phone with her and knew that if they broke down in the heavy Sarasota Florida traffic they would both be in big trouble.  Luckily, they made it back to Sunnyside okay without any incidents.  I said to Jean that had they broken down they might have made the 6 o'clock Sarasota news with a headline that might have gone like this, 'A Ninety-Six Year Old Motorist Helping An Eighty-Six Year Old Lady Broke Down In Heavy Traffic On I-75 This Morning Without Either One Of Them Having A Cell Phone To Call For Assistance.  Luckily, A Passing State Trooper Spotted The Two Elderly Seniors Hitch-Hiking With Their Walkers And Was Able To Get Turned Around And Pick Them Up'.........On a serious note though, Aunt Jean's friend Joyce was suddenly taken to the hospital by ambulance Friday morning and due to her poor condition, Jean is worried her good friend may not return.  And, on another sad note, two of my longest blog readers are a couple named Norma and Jim.  Norma is my first cousin on my Mother's side and her husband Jim has been battling cancer.  He was rushed to a Kitchener hospital yesterday and arrangements are now being made to place him in Hospice care.  A sad time for a once young and vibrant downhill skiing, golfing, and adventurous traveling couple.    

 AN OVERTURNED CANOE IN THE WEEDS AT THE POND'S SOUTH END

Al's Music Box:)) What's Going On by Marvin Gaye from his 1971 album 'What's Going On'.

 NOW YOU REALLY DIDN'T THINK I'D LET YOU AWAY WITHOUT ANOTHER FROG PICTURE DID YA

GROANER'S CORNER:(( In our home we tend to get the children to help out. One day our youngest son came in to the living room and asked, “Does anyone want a cup of coffee?”  “Yes please!” we said.  He replied, “What kind of coffee do you want? Capitated or decapitated?”

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Did you hear about the two radio antennas that got married?  The wedding was terrible, but the reception was excellent!

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Just as a surgeon was finishing up an operation and was about to close, the patient awakes, sits up, and demands to know what is going on.  "I'm about to close," the surgeon says.  The patient grabs the surgeon's hand and says, "I'm not going to let you do that! I'll close my own incision!"  The doctor hands him the needle and thread and says, "Suture self."

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