It’s hard to believe another week is over and we’re already creeping into the middle of October. It seems like yesterday it was Sunday and I had the whole week ahead of me. This week though has been one of my favorite kind of weeks, one I didn’t have a lot of things planned that took up a large chunks of my time. I like a good balance in my life; maybe two or three days with plans, but I want to be footloose and fancy-free the rest of the time, sort of like being retired! It’s so liberating to have a whole day or two when you know you can do whatever you want.

I had a few appointments, and I met with my brother-in-law to discuss my brother’s Celebration of Life, which was tough. I had a dentist appointment to fix my chipped front tooth.

After ten years of hard work, my daughter finally bought a house and I got to be there at closing when she got the keys to her new home. My cousin in Nebraska encouraged me to join a Grief Share group, so that and choir made my week. It sounds like a lot, but it was spread out enough that I had quite a bit of downtime.

One afternoon I went down the genealogy rabbit hole trying to piece together how our Ehlmann family was related to the people who owned a place called “Kuhlmann’s Grove” where I can remember picnicing in the 1960s. (It’s called “Cedar Grove” in this drawing above.) This building now houses the St. Charles County Heritage Museum. I was looking in my mom’s photo album for photos of my brother for his Celebration  and I found a photo of an Ehlmann family reunion taken about 1974. This discovery started my trip down the rabbit hole.

I put the finishing touches on three of my quilts for the quilt show next month, and I made a Nativity wall hanging and almost completed a large Nutcracker. I managed to throw in a little cleaning, a little cooking and a little yard work.

Oh, and a small fire in my chiminea on this beautiful Friday evening while the Great Hunter is on a motorcycle ride to Milwaukee with his sons.

They assured me he would ride in the middle so he could follow one son (and not get lost) and his other son would follow him in case he fell off (just kidding!)

It’s been a good week.