May 2026

 Dear Family and Friends,

This month seems to have come and gone quickly for me and I am caught trying to remember what occurred that was worth telling you about.  One thing, I have put the new dentures away and have gone back to using my old ones so that I can enjoy eating - biting and chewing - once again.  But I don’t want to say anything more about that.  Mother’s Day was very nice.  I received lovely cards from each of my children and was treated to an enchilada dinner, of dear Cathy’s making, that was really tasty!  It was cheesy, just the way I like it.  Dan returned from his three week train trip by himself and enjoyed it immensely.  As the month has progressed they have gone together on several short little trips and soon a longer one to Utah.

When both are to be gone during appointment times for me, they always make sure to provide a way for me to get there.  One time it was young Jonothan, but he left for BYU Idaho, so older Frank was chosen for the job this time because he was unoccupied.  He is married to little Doreen and they live in a trailer park south of Sebring.  They are without a car, but Cathy lets Frank use her car when she goes off with Dan.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints lies a short distance north of us, and Frank got me there and to other places just fine and with time to spare.  Except for one Sunday!

First,  I’ll need to describe more about my house.  It has a front door with a screen door that opens out and over the steep threshold plus the wedge or small ramp placed there to connect with the entrance-walkway.  This makes it easier for the wheelchair to enter or leave the house.  That door is used occasionally.  The door most commonly used is located between the kitchen and garage.  This one has a somewhat smaller threshold followed by a gradual decline to the overhead-type garage door.  The garage door is operated by entering a code from the outside or pushing a button on the wall just outside the kitchen door.  I, of course, have never used either opener by myself.

The Saturday before this particular Sunday, Frank had said he would also be picking up someone else for church.  Members come from all over to the Sebring Ward, and he had no idea where the address he was given might be so would have to depend on the GPS system to find it.   Frank also said the man uses a walker, which meant something else had to fit into the back end of the car along with my big heavy wheelchair.  In thinking it over, he decided it might be better to take each of us separately to church which starts at 10:00 AM.  Therefore, he would pick me up first at around 9:00, drop Doreen and me off at the church and then go get the other fellow.  When Sunday came I wanted to be sure to be ready for Frank, because I figured he’d be a little pressed for time.  Every clock in my house is set at 5 minutes fast, just for that reason. Anyway, when it got to be after 9:00, I thought I would make it a little easier for him by being ready and waiting outside on the driveway.  So with a lot of ‘oomph’ power I made it up and over the kitchen door threshold and then went sailing down the little decline to the garage door, which of course was closed!  I had forgotten to stand and reach up for the button just outside the kitchen door.  Silly me! There were a couple of box-like things along the side of the overhead door that I thought might contain a release, so I stood up and stretched high to reach them.  But to no avail, there was nothing there to touch or to push.  I heard the telephone ring in the kitchen but couldn’t get back up into the house to answer it.  Remember, I don’t have a cell phone, but I do have my emergency button around my neck to use if I were ever really in need, but I knew Frank would be opening that door any minute now, so I just waited.  I had somehow managed to close the kitchen door behind me and the garage was very warm and stuffy.  It seemed like a long time, but without a wristwatch I didn’t know how long it actually was.  I thought - “So much for trying to be a ‘Helpful Henry or Henrietta’  Now look at the mess I had gotten myself into!” When Frank finally did arrive, I learned that the phone call was from him telling me he would be late but not to worry.  I didn’t mind waiting though, because it gave me time to think how foolish and risky it was for me to do such a thing as standing on my one leg and reaching high above my head, without proper support.  I seem to do dumb things like that a lot without ever thinking about what the consequences might be.  Even though my sister Carol keeps telling me to not do anything “unsafe”  I still do.  And I’m sure it is the hand of the Lord that protects me.  Frank did drop me and Doreen off at church in time, but was late in getting back with his other pickup.

As I said in the beginning, nothing much happened to me in May.  I did manage to share at various times and places the four puzzles that are associated with May: Cinco De Mayo, Mother’s Day, Women of the Bible, and Memorial Day, along with Graduation too, knowing that many do occur in May as well as in June.  Memorial Day weekend was quiet for me, though I knew that Boatnik with its hydroplane races down the Rogue was in full swing back in Grants Pass.  I was so glad True visited the cemetery and put a rose on the grave of all 12 of our family members who lie there.  I will have to admit, however, that for me a good part of May was occupied in thinking about and actually creating a new word search puzzle for the anniversary of America’s 250th birthday on July 4th of this year   It was my daughter Linda who first got me interested in it by asking if I’d ever thought of doing such a puzzle?     

I’ve had people ask how long it takes me to make up my puzzles and I have to tell them “It varies, but is always longer than you’d think”  And so it was with this one.  It’s impossible to describe the number of hours involved in this one (with more yet to come).   America has such a spectacular history in rising from obscurity to becoming the world’s greatest leader in all fields of endeavor.  There are so many words that come to mind that I say “How can I ever boil it down to just a few words for a puzzle?”  So I think and ponder, then ponder and think as my mind fills with words pertaining from the early days of 1776 through to 2026, and I begin putting them into categories of National Interest, Disasters (wars, etc), Inventions, and Accomplishments.  Now that I’ve got a bunch of words, what do I do with them?  I have to make a grid wide enough and long enough to accommodate my longest word or group of words that should be kept together and treated as one word (Bill of Rights).  Then comes the problem of fitting in some way, somehow all the words I have selected.  Starting with the largest ones and placing them so that their letters can hopefully be used by other words.  Then I try fitting all the smaller words into open spaces and seeing how they might be used in different ways.  When I’m satisfied I’ve used as many of my grid’s spaces as possible, I count up all the open spaces still remaining and try to fit something meaningful into those exact spaces.  This is sometimes the hardest and most exasperating part of the whole puzzle.  But I like doing it that way, instead of using meaningless x-y-z’s.  And that’s what makes my puzzles rather unique, I think.  This of course is all done in pencil with lots of erasures.  The copier doesn’t print pencil very well, so it all has to be redone in ink.  That’s when good eyesight and a steady hand are sorely needed.  Sometimes I lack one or both and make a mistake that must be corrected somehow.  I love sharing my puzzles.  That’s why I make them.  I take pride in presenting a homemade puzzle that is as nearly perfect as I can possibly make it, so that all ages can enjoy the challenge and fun it gives them.  I’m hoping that the ink rendition of this one will prove to be without mistake of any kind, so it can be printed up and put into use long before the 4th of July and its festivities are over.  Because then it will be of no value.

I often feel guilty about spending / wasting so much time with puzzles, especially this one, since it will be used only once and not year after year like my others do.  I could and should be doing something more productive.  But when others tell me it is an excellent way to keep the brain active and functioning well, then I don’t feel so bad.  I wish I were faster at doing things though, because I’m so slow.  Always have been, probably always will be.  But I don’t like it taking me ten times longer to do something than it does for others.  Like this letter, for instance.  Would you believe that it has taken hours, spread over several days, for me to complete this simple letter?  That’s because I use the hunt and peck method of typing and do too much staring, pondering, retracing of what I’ve already done, checking for errors and continually changing things here and there, as the whim strikes me, so it never feels really absolutely done.  

But I want to get this letter done now and given to Dan, to edit and put on his e-mail list, before they leave for Utah.  They’re going to pick up and bring back for the summer  four of Cathy’s little grandchildren, ages three to ten, now that school is out.  That should be a lot of fun.  I love children but haven’t been around any for a long time.  In Junior Sunday School I taught 3 year olds for a long time, had day care and foster children, plus three of my very own.  Now that I am very old, I wonder if I will be able to ‘connect’ with these little children?  I hope so.

So, I’ll close this now and wish all of you health and happiness and great blessings from the Lord.  And especially lots of love from me.    Have fun and keep smiling! 

Marie