Lots going on in the next few weeks!!!

Today being the 25th of October, MacGyver and I are hoping to be on the road one month from today.  We have a busy few weeks coming up before that. Of course, next week is Halloween and I need to get my broom tuned up and ready to ride…Yep, that’s me on the left..

I have my fingers, toes, legs, and eyes crossed that Dennis will be OUT of the corn and beans after today. The weather had been prime for harvesting, with mostly sunny and cool days this Fall. On November 6th, we will be heading to Zionsville, IN to watch Terrie, Tim and Chris run the Monumental Marathon, and Kelly and Cindy run the Mini Monumental Marathon (John Wolff isn’t running this one, he is contemplating another Iron Man Triathlon.) This is Terrie’s first marathon and Kelly and Cindy’s first mini..Kudos to those kids..not sure where the running “gene” came from..not ME!!

John’s last Triathlon was in Louisville, KY, last August, and we went to watch…He did awesome!

 

I consider it a great time if our family can come together and no one gets arrested..

This year at the Indianapolis marathon, John will be our driver, driving Den and I, plus his 2 boys and possibly the Heiser boys around to checkpoints.  We want to cheer our family on! The race is on November 7th and Den and I are staying over the following week to watch the Wolff Cubs while Chris , John, Kelly and Cindy travel for to Key West for the Wolff’s Anniversary. I will definitely have much to blog about when we come back home on Friday, November 13th.  The Wolff Cubs, Aiden and Maddox, are VERY athletic too. Aiden, age 7, is in tag football and made 2 touchdowns in his last game…Maddox, age 4, is in soccer and scores well.

THEN, when we get back home, our youngest Heiser grandson, Campbell, has a part in the Harter Middle School Fall play. Campbell is a 6th grader this year. He seems to be following in his thespian sister’s footsteps.  We will be going to that on Saturday, Nov. 14th.

Yes, I agree…You could fall into those big dimples.  And he was blessed with 4 names, all family names. .Love you, Campbell (Den’s Dad),William(His Grampa Heiser), Ross(my maiden name) ,Heiser!

AND… the following weekend, our only granddaughter, Taylor Heiser, will be in the Kaneland High School performance of Romeo and Juliet.  The Wolff clan is coming up that weekend to see the play and we will have our early Thanksgiving here Saturday evening after the play…Taylor has the male role Sampson, and also is the understudy of Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin. “Benvolio, whose name literally means "good will," is a classic nice guy: stuck playing the straight man to Mercutio and the non-romantic-idiot to Romeo, constantly telling everyone else to chill and stop fighting and "keep the peace”.  Her understudy role as a lot of lines, and we are going to see the special performance by the “understudies” on Saturday.

The character, Benvolio, is the one on the right..This is the role Taylor has..

This was taken from the movie, Romeo and Juliet (1968) Directed by Franco Zeffirelli from the play by William Shakespeare. Michael York as Tybalt and Bruce Robinson as Benvolio

Tybalt: What? Art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? (Draws sword) Turn thee, Benvolio. Look upon thy death.
Benvolio: I do but keep the peace. Now, put away your sword or manage it to part these men with me.
Tybalt: What, drawn and you talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward!

I cannot fathom memorizing all the lines she has, let alone in the Shakespearian tongue…YOWZA!

I do believe this post is turning into a “Grama’a Brag Book”..right? At any rate, I have to give kudos to Peyton Heiser, our middle Heiser grandchild and Campbell’s big brother. Peyton is a Sophomore at Kaneland High School and is part of the Kaneland Knights Cross Country track team. This last weekend they ran in the regionals and came in second place. This means that they move on to sectionals next weekend and if they get in the upper 6, they go to the State finals…Peyton was chosen as one of the alternates for the team..We are sooo very proud of him. He is only a Sophomore, and will advance to varsity next year..He has just started to grow taller…and his legs are getting so long!

WOOT! WOOT! YOU GO PEYTON!!

In between all this action, we are attempting to get our Hiker ready for travel…Whew!…Our leaves down here are turning and the air is so crisp and wonderful..I usually clean my 2 crystal chandeliers in the Fall before we leave for the Winter…Now THAT is a job all in itself.  I take each group of crystals off one by one and wash them and rinse them by hand. This small chandelier has 398 crystals on it…

But the difference after it is clean is evident in the colors of the prisms shining through…My bigger one is less crystals, only 252…

Now that’s a good job DONE!!!

OK, you can wipe the druel off you chin and wake up now..I am done blogging as a braggadocio grandmother…Here are a few photos of our Fall colors, taken on my morning walk through our fairgrounds just down the street from our house…

 

 

The last photo is of our house..Note my blue ribbon to support our local police on the tree closest to our house…Ya gotta love Fall!!!

“This too shall pass..”..and it did!

Happy to report that my stone/stones passed..I didn’t actually SEE them, but I went from writhing in pain Wednesday evening to waking on Thursday feeling like a human being again…It possibly was our trip to Chicago on the train, and the 3 mile walk to and from my new doc, that helped the “movement” downward and out of me.

We boarded the Union Pacific West in a little farm town called Elburn. This is the West end of the line and we were almost alone on the train when we got on at 6:35AM..That was short lived once it began picking up commuters on their way to work.. There is no ticket station as of yet, only the shelter to wait for the train, you buy your fare onboard . We arrived at Ogilvie Transportation Center (train station , downtown Chicago) at 8AM sharp. Then we walked 1.7 miles to Northwestern IL University Hospital..

 

It was a beautiful day for a walk along the Magnificent Mile….Right photo is the Galter Building, part of Northwestern University Medical and the building my doc was located in.

Upon arriving at the Galter Pavillion, MacGyver and moi rode one of the marked elevators up to the 14th floor, found the Endocrinology Dept. and went back to floor 1…After visiting many and various bathrooms, Den and I got a much needed cup of Joe at one of the kiosks in the building. We had 45 minutes to kill. Long story short, I loved my doc..Dr. Eve Bloomgarden. Of course she was very young, but extremely professional and thorough. I had gotten most of my records sent to  her, but a couple important ones were not there yet…including the OR record from my first “unsuccessful” surgery. I had signed a release in the doctor’s office, but no one told me I need to get THAT record from the hospital…HELLLOOOO! OK, I can take care of that. Dr. Bloomgarden spent about one hour with me, and also did an ultrasound of my neck in her office. After all the missing documentation is in her capable hands, I will most likely be seeing a parathyroid surgeon to discuss surgery.. Den and I left her office feeling like SOMEONE was finally going to get answers…YEA!!!!!!

We opted to take the scenic route back to the Ogilvie Transportation Center…It was about the same distance, but followed the Chicago River ..and went near the ORIGINAL Billy Goat Tavern..Ya gotta open that link..it’s one of the mainstays of Chicago history.

I would have loved to go in to the Billy Goat for the famous “cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger..chips no fries” Saturday Night Live Skit, but by now, I felt like crap and just wanted to get to the train and go home. However, the walk was really beautiful and showed just how lovely this city of Chicago can be…

Arrived back at the Ogilvie Transportation Center and found out we had about an hour wait for the next Elburn bound train…There was a little bar just across from the train entrance, so we ducked in there and Dennis had a beer…Yep, only one…even though he wasn’t driving. I had a Coke, and our bill was about $8.00 ..plus tip.

I never knew this, but you can get your drinks “to go” and take them on the train with you…And I thought all those people had coffee or soda…HA!!!  So that’s the reason for the bathrooms on those trains!! Food for thought, as I will in all likelihood have to make this trip again…

Of course I cannot let you out of this crazy blog without a family photo or two…right?  Our granddaughter, Taylor, had her Kaneland High School Homecoming game and dance last weekend…Here a couple pictures..

Tay was a busy girl…performing with the Poms Friday night at the game, and Saturday night the Homecoming Dance..Above, right is her and her date..Her Dad, Tim, (a police sergeant) was cleaning his guns…

 

Proud Mom and Dad…Taylor is a Junior this year…hard to believe she will be a Senior soon!

Left, is a photo of Tay and her brother, Peyton..He went stag..Right …well…what can I say…THE END!!!!!!