Hello on Tuesday

Dear Friends,

It was another great day in Paradise for us in the Berkshires. I was the only one who had to leave the house because I needed propane for the gas grill. One tank ran out while I was doing my Chicken Novena on Sunday night, and the other tank ran out because I left the grill on all night after I took the Chicken of the grill. This was an $18 mistake which is the current cost for a refill.

Linda had a relaxing day right up to the arrival of the Mah Jongg ladies.
Three of the four ladies enjoyed the hot dogs and hamburgers which I cooked on the grill. The fourth lady couldn't make the cookout because she was ???????

The Ladies started playing Mah Jongg at 6:45 PM just as our next door neighbor decided to cut his lawn. The ladies couldn't hear themselves think because they were playing in the screened in room on our deck. Luckily, the lawn cutting ended in 15 or 20 minutes. The ladies were having so much fun that they played until almost 10 PM.

While the ladies were doing their thing, I started a new book. Linda told me to savor it because she has no more hard cover books, but there are whole bunch which I could read on my IPad or on her Kindle.
Speaking of her Kindle, it died a couple of days ago. A new one arrived at our house on Monday. All she has to do is send the old one back using the mailing label which came with the new device.

Weather -- I am watching the forecast right now, and we will be hitting 90 degrees by noon time. Relief is on the way in a day or so. That is why I call this place where we live Paradise. Our friends and relatives who live in the Southern States get this Hazy, Hot, and Humid weather and it lasts all summer long. How can you have a cookout when the weather is unbearable?

Home Run Derby before the All Star game -- It came down to a Yankee versus Red Sox player in the finals. The Yankee home run hitter won the contest. I didn't watch a minute of it because I had heard that the baseballs used were juiced up!

Politics -- The budget wrangling is still going on. The President might have to settle for a short term budget to keep government running, but he really wants a deal to be worked out.
Sarah Palin thinks that she can get the Republican nomination, and eventually beat the current President in the upcoming election. I chatted with a diehard Republican friend while at the baseball game last Friday night who knows very well that I have those Liberal Democratic tendencies.
He said that so far he hasn't seen Republican candidate who is strong enough for him to support and vote for.

CNN -- There was a good article about siblings coming to Mom and Dad requesting financial help. Mom and Dad know that the siblings won't repay what the parents supposedly lend them. The gist of the article was to just say "No"! We have told our children that if we every win the lottery, we would help them out. If we choose to give them a financial gift then we don't expect anything except for a "Thank You". If you helped you children with paying for College that is quite a gift in itself. In our family, we hope that we passed on the concept of solving your own financial problems in life as well as other bumps along the road. So far so good in Curley world!

Social Calendar -- Linda is the only one socially engaged today. She has a Red Hat Picnic at a friend's home at which they will honor a couple of colleagues who retired this year. The picnic starts at 2 PM. I will be napping when she exits the house. It is a covered dish affair, and I am not sure if the Red Hat host is doing any grilling.

Bootman -- My strained Achilles seems to be healing quite nicely. The danger is that if I return to normal activities before it has completely healed, I could re-injure it. We still have a full summer of activities, and I don't want to wear the boot all summer. Linda is already nervous about me working the next Third Thursday. She has already told me that if I hurt myself; other parts of my body might be inflicted with pain by way of her hands.
I have 7 AM Physical Therapy Appointment on Wednesday.

Grandchildren -- Our Isabelle called yesterday to talk to Nana. The 3.5 year old said that she misses us and that she is enjoying their home in Valdosta, Georgia. The recent pictures which they send us have Isabelle swimming in the family pool. Her one year old brother Gabriel wants to jump in the pool like his older sister so Danielle has to be super vigilant. Her Lt. Colonel dad is home for a few more weeks before being deployed to Afghanistan.

The Tewskbury grandchild, Max, loves water but of the sprinkler variety.
Kevin and Kyla took him to a water park in Lowell over the weekend which had multiple sprinklers. In the video which they sent us, he appeared to be having a lot of fun.

Well, I have to do some ironing of shirts which I will be wearing for the weekend wedding which we are attending. The pants and boot wearing issue has been resolved too, but I won't be playing golf with the wedding party males / couple female golfers the day of the rehearsal party.

Have a great Tuesday!
Drink plenty of water so that you don't get dehydration.
Talk to you soon. The Curley Lad