Lookin' Good

Or maybe I should say "Good Lookin'"

Not to be overshadowed by the "big sister" drama queen, the grandsons needed to be included. They are two very handsome guys.  And as different as night and day. Of course, we wouldn't want them any other way.

Until next time,
Peace,
JE

Beautifulness!

This is my beautiful granddaughter in her Easter dress and sparkling shoes. So much beautifulness in a small package. I told my son that in a few years he'd be beating the guys off with a bat. He said, "No, I am licensed to carry." Enough said!

Until next time,
Peace,
JE

Just for Fun!

Found this and copied it from a fellow blogger. Thought it might be a way for readers to get to know me a little bit better. Maybe, I just posted it for the fun of it!

Four names I go by:  Dad, Jim, Sparkie, Papa

Four tunes I adore:  Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”, “Does He Love You,” “Baby Grand,” “Canon in D.”

Four things I hate: spiders, broccoli, rudeness, and high winds.

Four places I have worked: a lumber company, a sporting goods store, GenCorp Automotive, and our public Middle School.

Four things I love to watch: Youtube videos, good movies, sunsets, and people doing what they do.

Four places I have visited: Old “Cowtown” in Ft. Worth, Gettysburg Battlefield, Disneyland, and Bad Axe, Michigan.

Four things I love to eat: Rib-eye steak, baked corn, Rosemary’s sugar cookies, and biscuits and gravy.

Four favorite drinks: Coca Cola, Margaritas, Jameson’s, and Dos Equis.

Four shows/plays: Les Miserables, Rent, A Chorus Line, and Jesus Christ, Superstar .

Four things I am happily anticipating: Spring, Billy Joel in concert, Summer, arrival of grandchild #5 in the fall.

Four things I am dreading: changing physicians (mine’s retiring), next prostate exam, next winter, and doing the next load of laundry (always).

Four items on my bucket list:  a trip to Nova Scotia, reading all of Shakespeare’s works, spending a winter where it’s warm, laying on an ocean beach somewhere.

Until next time,

Peace,

JE

WOW!

I received my new hearing device yesterday.  Let me tell you, it's a whole new world out there. And a LOUD one, too.
After 3+ months of waiting for the "portal" to heal, the final step was a visit to the audiologist to get the device. This is not your ordinary hearing aid. This is a state-of-the-art device that attaches to a portal that was embedded into my skull behind and above my left ear. My cochlea are both still viable, and this device actually transmits sound waves through the bone to the inner ear to the cochlea. Since my hearing loss was greater in the left ear than in the right,( 5% hearing in left) I am wearing the device mounted on the left. Because both cochlea are still viable, sound is transmitted to both and even tho I have no device on the right, it will retrain my brain to hear from both ears.

For the first time, I was able to talk to my youngest grandson and hear what he said back to me very plainly. I met him and my daughter-in-law as they were leaving Nursery School and he ran to me saying "There's my papa!"  My heart swelled! Then he told me "cool hat, Papa!" Made my day.

I had no idea how loud the air coming through the heat vents was, how much I could hear trains from my living room, how loud the wind chimes that hang outside my veranda were. My refrigerator sure is noisy and so is traffic along the state highway that runs past the end of my street.  Birds actually do chirp and I can now lower the volume on my TV from 96 down to 30 on the sliding scale of 0-100.  I had to tell the audiologist and my daughter (she came home just to go with me) that they were talking entirely too loud.

This is going to take some adjustment and is somewhat overwhelming, but wonderful. I will be able to rejoin my church choir and my quartet can start singing again. (They have been waiting on me) and do all the things I want to do with new confidence.

This has to be God's work. Man was given the ability to advance technology this far.  Hallelujah!

Until next time,
Peace,
JE

Incoming News Flash

Surprises never cease around here. My son and daughter-in-law announced that I am going to be Papa again in the fall! This was not expected by them, so I don't know who is the most surprised. Seems that birth control pills only are effective for so long. That being said, another little one will be welcome whenever he or she arrives. I did, in a somewhat joking manner, remind my son that his is the generation for twins on both sides of our side of the family! I thought I saw a fleeting look of panic on his face!  Gotta have a little fun!
Next month I get to go along with them to hear the baby's heart beat. I did this with my granddaughter and it was a marvel. I am looking forward to it. This will make #5 on the grandchild scale for me. My daughter has 1. My son will have 4. Let the fun begin!

Until next time,
Peace,
JE

Food For Thought

Have you people who are getting older, like me, noticed that the older you get, the more invisible you become. I don't mean literally invisible. What I mean is that as we get older, the younger generation seem to forget about us. They no longer are interested in what we have to say or how we feel about things.
I have been a parent for almost 45 years now. I have notice that the older I become, the less attention my children pay to me. I know that sounds like I am whining, but I am not. I also see it in stores, where clerks seem to not see me, and in church where people I've know for years don't seem to know I exist.
I just wonder if any of the rest of you seniors out there feel the same way, or if I just am being overly sensitive.

Until the next time,
Peace,

JE