The Incomparable Sunflower and I in the tree house on one of the trails at Arbor Lodge last weekend

Good evening friends,

On HBO FE tonight, I am watching "The Music Man"

I remember a night When My Mom and I took a bus downtown and ate at King Fong's Chinese Restaurant then went to the Orpheum and saw "The Music Man." We took the bus home and got an ice cream cone to eat on the walk home from the bus stop. This was my first Chinese food and my first pistachio ice cream cone.

Mom passed away seven years ago, and I miss her every day. I remember this movie outing like it happened last week. It was forty five years ago. I was nine years old. Tonight, I am up later than I should be, and I have had maybe more wine to drink than I should have, but I am remembering that night so long ago, and watching the movie through eyes oddly blurred........

Well, a couple of strictly routine weeks have gone by since my last attempt at writing the most boring blog in cyberspace. The fall weather here has been creeping in. Last weekend, we caved in to the inevitable and put the hard top back on the jeep for the winter. This weekend we will be making our annual tripp to Arbor Lodge. J. Sterling Morton (of the salt Morton's) lived in Nebraska City. He was the founder of Arbor Day. His property now has a large Hotel/Conference center in the middle of a working apple orchard. We go every fall as the leaves are turning for a calm, quiet weekend of walks through the surrounding forest, great food in the hotel restaurant, and just a general time of relaxation, quality time and renewal.

A month can go by so fast you hardly realize it has been that long since I bored you with my mundane life. Nothing amazing going on here, just normal activity. A couple of weeks ago Sunflower heard a loud crash in the night and woke me. Just as we got to the door, a neighbor from up the street came to get us. He had been walking his dog and saw a guy in a pick up truck hit our daughter's car then drive away. He had ran behind the truck for awhile and was able to get a partial license plate number, and had called the police on his way down. Sure enough, Anne's car was pretty badly damaged. The truck had been driving on the wrong side of the street and hit it pretty much head on, and the whole front end was mangled. Anne wa pretty upset. She had only had this car for a month, and had just pt the first license plates on it. It had less than three undred miles on it.

The next morning, Anne got a call from a detective. They had found the guy who hit her car. He had called the police to try to turn his damage in as a hit and run and when faced with the evidence, admitted that he had hit Anne;s car and left the scene. Anne was contacted by his insurance company and all worked out well.