March 2024

 Dear Family and Friends,

I have been waiting for something exciting to happen so I could write about it in my monthly letter, but it hasn’t happened yet, so I’ll go ahead and share what I do have of the mundane things in my daily life.

I‘m trying to use my Buddy leg more now that the sore on the end of the stump has healed. Mostly just going around in the house with my 3 wheel walker, but occasionally outside too. When I need to get into a car, I use the ramp but not with the walker because of the slick ramp surface. Instead, I leave it at the top and grasp the handrails and carefully walk myself down putting pressure on the heel of my Buddy to keep the knee from buckling under me. Then True or someone else has to bring the walker to the bottom of the ramp for me to use to get to the car. Sounds easy enough, but it’s tricky because the rails end a foot short of the end of the ramp, leaving me with two steps to do before I can transfer myself into the walker while still on that ‘slippery slope.’ Going down is bad enough, but taking those two steps before reaching for the handrails when going up is really a humdinger! True says that’s something I need to work on, but it takes two people to accomplish it and she’s not always available, because she works from home and is heavily involved with rewriting the novel she began years ago. I like to help True edit her freshly made chapters. We make a good a team.

I am trying to be more consistent about using my 5 pound weights to improve the strength of my arms and leg, which is vital to holding me up and being able to use the walker. I haven’t felt confident enough to use it at Church yet, but I soon will. My stump likes to play tricks on me occasionally, because out of the blue it will suddenly jab and jerk me and make me yelp. Sometimes it continues for hours, even into the night and robbing me of sleep. So I just put up with it until it decides to quit. I sure thought all those nerves would be dead by now, but evidently not. Oh well, such is life with a stump!

I don’t go to a physical therapist anymore, so I’m on my own now and I try to remember all the things I was taught there when using my Buddy. After a long time off, it’s like starting all over again. But I am definitely not homebound. With the help of True and Linda and others driving me around, I’m still able to attend all the meetings and activities that I enjoy, especially those that include a potluck. True is very helpful  making sure I have something to take to the Relief Society Ladies Luncheon and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers meeting. We both go to the potluck here at the Riviera clubhouse, and I always take a bunch of copies of my ‘puzzle of the month’ to share with all those who attend these potlucks. I now have plenty of pencils for everyone too, since I was recently given a pack of 80 small ones, already sharpened. What a nice surprise from Marielle Nelson. Now, if a pencil is not returned it won’t matter.

Now that I've made a ‘word search’ puzzle for every occasion celebrated during the year, I won’t be making any more, but will reuse the ones I have, hoping that people won’t remember them from before, and will enjoy doing them again. I enjoy doing ‘crossword’ puzzles too, but I've never been successful in making up one of my own. My hairdresser Norma is also a puzzle enthusiast, and has a special “easy” (ha ha) crossword puzzle book there for me to work on while under the dryer. She’ll offer help if I need it, but when we’re both stumped, I refuse to check for the answers in the back and keep working at it. When True is gone, Norma will come get me and take me home after she has made me “beautiful”! Her home has an attached salon and is just a short distance from the Park. I used to walk there each week and pick up trash along the way. At 85, she has retired and closed her shop to others, but still attends to me and Maxine from the Riviera. She is such a wonderful lady and a good friend too.

My True, bless her heart, had been struggling for a week with a stye on her right eyelid. She treated it with cold compresses and then switched to hot compresses, that seemed to work better. Even though it was painfully swollen so that the eye was almost shut, she was still able to laugh about it, saying she now looked like some prize fighter. And when she covered it with a eye patch, I said with my peg leg we could be mistaken for a couple of pirates! Then the stye broke, and within no time she was healed and felt no more pain. Thank goodness. We were both happy because she has been feeling so much pain with her teeth and jaw problems. She is very grateful to have her new molars in now.

True’s orchids on the window sills have now finished opening the very last of their buds, so their stems are now covered with about eight beautifully blooming flowers of various colors. They’re gorgeous! The camellia bush outside by our front porch, which didn’t bloom at all last year, has burst into full bloom this year. It's pink and I love how symmetrically shaped its little petals are and how flat it sits, just right for a shallow dish or a coat lapel. In past years, I have cut a number of camellias and taken them to church to pin onto the lapels of our bishopric and a few other special men. It has delighted them, and me too, to be able to do it for them. So this year I asked True if she would please cut quite a few so that I could do the same for our brand new bishopric. It worked out well. They were pleased, even though they had to kneel down to receive their lovely flower. On another Sunday, I plan to do it for the young boys serving as priests and deacons for the sacrament. It makes them feel special and important.

On March 1st, the Rogue Valley was visited during the night with a blanket of snow. It was such a surprise because our winter had been so mild that we'd already welcomed spring. I was feeling bad that I had missed getting to see any snowflakes fall. But sure enough, two days later as I was getting out of bed, it started to snow again. I was thrilled to see those lovely white flakes peacefully floating to the earth. Snowfall is fascinating to me, and I was happy to watch it for as long as I could. But it didn't last long, and was soon gone.

My, how things seem to be moving along so fast. On the 10th we moved our clocks forward and had our Stake Conference that same day. The last day of March will be Easter already, and then the first Sunday of April will be General Conference. Wow! And with every day we get a little bit older too. But I’m just thankful to my Heavenly Father that I am still alive and able to greet each day as it comes along. And may He bless you as you eagerly await each day, that it may be filled with joy as you continue to follow Him and stay on the Covenant Path.

Now until sometime next month, I leave you with my love and His love too, to bless you.

Marie