Rainy But Good Day

 We had rain start up last night and now it continues on and off today and probably thru Saturday, except on Saturday snow might mix with the rain at times. 

The grass has greened up and I see flower buds on my daffodil plants. Today is still fairly warm (around 60), but we could see highs only in the 30's as the week progresses and into next week. 

We went to Creighton's Crazy Egg cafe for lunch today. We had eaten breakfast here before, but this was the first time for lunch.

 On the way home we stopped at Meijer to buy some grapefruit that had been advertised. My husband is the grapefruit eater. BOGO free so a good deal. I half-heartedly walked to the back of the store where the soft drinks are. They had some caffeine-free diet Pepsi! I have been trying for over a month to find this in several stores. Snapple was also on sale. And we even managed this shopping while the rain was stopped. We turned onto Highway 30 from the parking lot and drops started falling all the way home. 

I have been coping with lower back and hip and thigh pain for several years now. It has gotten worse in the past few months. I can only walk about 4 blocks before I need to find a place to sit to relieve the pain.

On March 4th I woke up with a stabbing pain on my left hip. When I lifted my leg to put my sock on the stab was terrible. I managed to communicate through the portal with my primary care doctor. She said to see an orthopedist. But since she thought all of the pain was related to the back, I saw the nurse practitioner of a back specialist. I will be starting some PT next week. However, the stabbing pain which is different in nature than the deep aching pains, the NP thought was bursitis.

 Last Monday I saw a hip specialist. He did X-rays and an exam. He also thinks it is bursitis. I am to take a strong anti-inflammatory prescription med and do some PT related to the hip. 

Falling apart is not fun. 

No News Is Good News, Right?

 I haven't posted for a while because things have been fairly routine around here. I did finish and electronically file our federal and state income tax returns this afternoon. I also wrote my book review of the Fives Wishes of Mr. Murray McBride for this coming Wednesday's Winona Literary Club meeting.

A few weeks ago I used Hoopla for the first time through my public library because I had seen a review of a book I wanted to read but didn't want to purchase because I was unfamiliar with the author. Art and Faith by Makoto Fujimura was an interesting listen. Yes, the only thing available on Hoopla was an audio book. I prefer to read (even electronically) because I remember things visually better than by listening. For that reason, I won't post separately about the book. It becomes inaccessible on my tablet on March 17th anyway.

 Mr. Fujimura was born in Japan but became a United States citizen. He lived near enough to ground zero on 9-11 to have to find other accommodations. He writes on how the terrorist attack in New York affected him and his art. He starts the book with comparing the Christian life to the Japanese artform of repairing broken pottery (ceremonial tea cups) with gold. The gold represents the suffering and brokenness in our lives that God redeems to create something extraordinarily beautiful. He also has an intriquing chapter on the tears of Jesus. 

Once when I accompanied my husband to Chicago where he had a conference, I signed up through the Chicago Historical Society I think, for a tour of the Ukrainian Village, an ethnic neighborhood.

The Ukrainian National Museum was a delight to see. I learned about Chernobyl's nuclear accident, how Stalin starved Ukrainians by taking all of their grain and food products, and more pleasantly about the painted Easter eggs and the folk costumes of the country.

The museum tour guide had originally come from Ukraine. He mentioned that there were a lot of undocumented Ukrainians in the neighborhood who came on tourist visas but did not return. They blended into the community because so many people still spoke Ukraine in every-day life. 

We visited the nearby Eastern Orthodox Church where I was surprised to learn that the church ladies were preparing lunch for us. There had been no mention of that in the tour description. 

I mentioned several years ago about the Marcel Fund that provides for impoverished babushkas in Ukraine. I saw in an email from a local church that they had to relocate some of the workers in the eastern part of Ukraine to safer places. That was before the recent fighting by Russian forces, the actual invasion by Russia. Some of the workers decided to stay in danger in order to be available to the elderly ladies.

Our local newspaper had a story today about 2 local men who joined 2 others in a ministry in Poland to help distribute aid. These men had gone to Poland many times to preach and teach and had friends and contacts in Ukraine. They will be there a few weeks. They described the ministry of a church that they knew from their trips.

Continue to ask God to intervene and stop the killing. It looks dark from a human perspective, but a miracle could happen.
 

Precious Hummel

 My husband's oldest sister died on January 22nd. She moved to her Grace Village apartment about 5 1/2 years ago so we had lots of interactions. I greatly miss her as she was not only my sister-in-law but a good friend as well.

I heard about people asking for and taking some of her things. I asked myself what would make a good remembrance for me. I associated her with Hummel figurines because she had a collection, most of them gifts from her husband I believe. When she moved from her Warsaw condo to her apartment I helped her wrap in tissue and cardboard these Hummels. I never really studied them so had no particular figurine in mind, but decided I would ask for one.

Her daughter had taken them to Michigan with the goal of selling them. I asked for a small girl figurine. She brought 3 to the memorial service on February 5th, and I made my selection. 

Other than knowing they were manufactured in Germany and were child figurines, I knew little about them. I did some research on the internet.

My little girl is labelled Sister. Around the edge of the base is incised M. I . Hummel. The artist who had painted the children requested that her name be on the figurines to show she approved of the product. Berta Hummel showed artistic skills as a child and when she attended a formal art school she boarded with a group of nuns. She felt called to join them and took the name Maria Inocencia. 

Franz Goebel owned a family company which produced porcelain items including figurines. He was looking for ideas to add children to the line. He saw some of Berta's paintings as post cards. He then negotiated a contract with her (now a nun) in 1934. The receipts that were to come to Maria Inocencia were designated for her group of nuns. The first figurines were sold in 1935. 

When Hitler came to power, he allowed the Goebel company to continue production, but none were to be sold within Germany. He did not like the image of sweet children when he was creating disciplined youth corps. Around 1936 the figurines were for export only. 

From what I have read, I believe the Sister figurine was first designed in 1938. It was manufactured in different sizes for over 60 years. I know that mine was manufactured after 1963 as it has the trademark for the period 1964-1972. Inside the statue is the Hummel number 98. After that is a slash with the number 2. Those numbers after the Hummel number indicate the various sizes. My Sister is about 4 1/2 inches high; one of the smaller renditions. 

Hummels are still being manufactured. The numbers are at least in the 2000's now. I saw somewhere that the Sister was "retired" (the mold broken) in 1999. The most valuable figurines are the earliest ones, the larger ones, and those with multiple figures on the same base. There are lots of photos on ebay as people regularly try to sell them. I saw the Sister figurine on a base with Brother so there are not really 2000 unique children, but differing combinations.

American G.I. s brought Hummels to the United States as gifts. They became very popular in the 1960's and 1970's. They probably do not appeal to the current younger generations, but they do sell on ebay regularly but at much-reduced prices. The demand is not high now and the supply is plentiful.

Sister Maria Inocencia died of tuberculosis shortly after the war ended in 1946 (age 37). Her group of nuns suffered much because there was little revenue during the war and they had scant food and fuel. The sisters continued to supervise and approve the making of the figurines after her death and received payments. 

We are expecting 2-4 inches of snow tonight into early tomorrow morning. I see the grass is already coated so it has begun. I bought some tulips to cheer me up and remind me that spring is only 4 weeks away. 

New Kitchen Counter Tops

 When we moved into our Grace Village condo about 10 1/2 years ago the kitchen still had the original counter tops installed in 2008 I think. 

The flooring had been replaced at the same time we replaced the wood laminate flooring in our bathrooms. The washing machine failed to stop filling with water and overflowed into the hall bathroom ruining the floor. We tried to pick kitchen flooring that looked OK with the counter tops from the choices presented to us.

However, for over a year now the counter tops have been delaminating, i.e., the colored part separating from the base. Also, when we moved in, the seam where the counter next to the stove met the intersecting counter had separated. That reached the point of 1/8 inch gap by last year. 

We came to an agreement with Grace Village that we would share the cost of replacing the counter tops. I was allowed to choose from the samples at Copper River a laminate (not granite or fancier stuff). I chose a really light color because the kitchen always seemed dark with the existing laminate. I really like how this lighter-colored laminate goes with the almond appliances, the wall paint, and the wooden cabinets. I don't think it is the best match with the flooring, but it will do.

Here the seam is almost invisible which had not been the case for the 10 years we lived here.

My husband never liked the brown/gray laminate. With a legitimate reason for replacement, we changed, and he is much happier.