Here we are on the second to last Sunday of January 2022 as it is the 23rd1

 TERRY

As I write it is about 9:30 and Terry is reading the paper with the TV on.  She said she is feeling pretty good today.  She has already eaten a breakfast of French toast with a side of bacon.  She said the FT was super!!!

We are in the middle of a cold spell.  We will have a high of 64 today as it will warm a bit from a morning of 47.  Tomorrow morning it will be 42 and get up to 66.  As I look at the 10 day forecast five of the 10 days do NOT get out of the 60s and Thursday we have the high for the 10 days as 74.  I am guessing there will be long sleeves on the tennis courts and many of the women will have tights on.  But it still is WARM compared to St. Paul where in the next 10 days the lows five days will be minus including Wednesday where it is supposed to bottom out at -17.  On Tuesday the HIGH is -1 but then by Thursday the high is 31!  So I guess I need not say anything about Naples temps!

I certainly started the day out right as I enjoyed hash browns with bits of bacon and topped it off with a South Bend backyard fresh egg from Liam's flock of chickens!  I tell you it was the absolute BEST!  AND of course it needed to be fried in the cast-iron skillet that has a picture of Arches National Park on the bottom.  That's the best way to go for sure!!!

I could write about a lot of things today but will start out with my interest in pens.  Perhaps it started way way back when I was still at home on the farm.  I could listen to Harry Cary who was the voice of the St. Louis Cardinals at the time.  He advertised this pen & pencil set in the shape of bats.  

I ordered a set and fell in love with pens.  Of course I have NO idea what happened to them except maybe there were still in my memory box of things that went up in smoke when the farm burned.  Anyway ever since then I have liked pens.    Here are some of the ones I have today.

1. That is currently my favorite as Henry gave it to me for Christmas and he made it.  The wood is beautiful.
2. That is a pen from long ago that has a broken cap but I used it for years and years as I headed Servant Camp
3. That pen is the only pen I have that also serves as a tire pressure gauge which is on the top!
4. Is just a beautiful green pen that I like.
5. When heading Servant Camp we gave out pens to people who were awarded the George Simmons Award.
6. That is another pen that Henry made and gave me.
7. That is the most versatile pen in that is has a ruler and a bubble for leveling things!
8. Is just a nice pen that I often use.
9. That is a pen from the school reunion that took place last summer.
10. Well this little pencil is from Audubon Country Club.  Past neighbors Diane and John belonged to that club.  More than once they treated us to Sunday brunch there after we played croquet at the club.

So as one can see I need NO more pens but still am always on the hunt for pens from different places.  Perhaps one of the most funny things about pens happened at a meeting long ago when Henry was maybe 3 or 4.  Grandpa had a pen and Henry wanted to see it.  After looking it over he thought he would like to be like Grandpa so he put it into his upper pocket in his bib overalls.  There happen to be a hole in the pocket and next thing he knew it was on the floor.  At first he could not understand it so again he put the pen in the pocket and presto it was on the floor again.  Well one can now guess that he figured out this was kind of a fun game!!!  Well Grandpa had to stop it after a few times.

IF MY 2022 CALENDAR IS CORRECT MY GRANDMA LEE WAS BORN ON THIS DATE IN 1891

If everyone had a grandma like Emma here the world would be a much better place to live.  Grandma was the kindest, best cookie maker and most loving grandma ever.  She died in the Veblen Hospital in June of 1965.  Her berries and fruit trees on the farm were amazing.  Her garden was the best and I should add that she loved her BLACK dog that she named WHITEY!  I am thinking that we NEVER visited her without having at least 1 cookie!  AND I have to add there was one thing I did not like, her oatmeal breakfast!!!

Here it is a few minutes past 10 AM and time to sign off.  With the FP gone and still many many memories in my mind that seem to never go away I will stop for now.