Daddy and the Fink

“The Visit” — it’s finally happening.

This weekend, Daddy and his lovely wife Kathy will arrive in Finkville, in person. For those who don’t know the story behind all this fabulousness, click here. For those who do, isn’t it great? My sons and the rest of our family have been waiting a long time to meet “Granddaddy” and Kathy, and this Saturday, it all happens. Exciting times.

It was a little touch-and-go, as Daddy has recently had shoulder surgery and a difficult recuperation period, but the report is that he is determined to make this voyage from Mississippi, so it’s on. We plan to have a feast here at the homestead Saturday night in their honor. It is going to be a finktastic weekend.

But for now, we concentrate on other pressing things, like getting back into the swing of rehearsals every night. Last night was #1 — a session with the men. It went well. This new system of sending out mp3s and pdf files of the music through our Facebook page (facilitated by this — which EVERY choir director needs — you seeing this, Bando??) has really helped to cut down on the in-person note-bashing sessions. I luv it.

The question of the week: When will tap choreography be finished? Probably a week from tomorrow, just before the first company tap rehearsal that very evening. Ai.

No matter. All is well. Daddy’s coming to visit, so I’ll worry about the rest next week.

Yikes…you know how it feels when your routine has been jangled around and you feel like 700 miles of bad road? That’s me this morning.

Great, awesome, amazing weekend, but now the week starts. First DT rehearsals, and this Friday, a very special pair of visitors arrive. So, no fooling around for the next five days.

As most of you know, it was grand seeing my Illinois family on Saturday. Not only did I share memories and fun with them, I got to take off by myself and relive some private memories by seeing my childhood home and the elementary school I attended in my neighborhood. The memories were overwhelming; living in that house and going to that school rank near the top of my list of the happiest time in my life.

I laughed all evening with my Illinois family, and had a great time reminiscing over photos with my aunts and awesome Uncle Jerry and Aunt Betty, who flew up from Florida.

But now, alas, it’s (past) time to hit the shower and the road. Hope everyone has a great Monday — sometimes, they take work. Heh.

FO

What a crazy 48 hours…

First, let me thank all those who wrote encouraging messages and had kind thoughts about Rousseau, the Wonder Dog. As most of you know from Facebook, he has Horner’s Syndrome, and will make a slow — but hopefully complete — recovery.

It was bizarre: the doctor put adrenaline drops in his bad eye, and it cleared up immediately, proving that something is amiss in the transmissions between his brain and his eye. When given artificial stimulation (the adrenaline), the eye behaved as it was supposed to. As you can see by the picture, it was fine for the ride home, although it reverted to its weak state by bedtime. The good news, of course, is that while it is clouding his vision a bit, it’s not hurting him, so he felt pretty peppy when the doctor sprung him. He still really, really wanted to ride shotgun.

Well, scratch that. He just got up, and he’s squinting and panting. Not a good sign. I will call the doctor today and see what he suggests. Yeesh…

But on to the bizzy and the birthday. The Thriller is 61 years young today, and we are celebrating tonight with a family feast out at BFF Kay & Bob’s. Should be great fun. Today will be spent baking two cakes (one for the meal and one for decorating class tomorrow night), and making chicken and noodles for the birthday boy. The house already smells goot.

The rest of my Tuesday will be spent getting the house ready for overnight company. My nephew and his friend are staying with us (I have an empty nest of bedrooms, whereas Mavis has a full house) to break up their driving trip. It’ll be great to see him; it’s been a couple of years.

So, I guess I’ll wrap this up, finish the coffee, and keep moving. Yay!

Awesome afternoon on Charles Mill Lake yesterday. It was supposed to rain, but ended up being beautiful.

Seamus & Hannah have a pontoon, and they and the Js invited us out for a ride and a cookout — right on the boat! — yesterday. What fun. We motored around the lake at about 5 MPH: the perfect speed for this non-lover of aquatic travel. (I have a couple of reeeeally good stories to tell about seagoing horrors.)

Jake, first mate

The boys are little fish, and totally comfortable on the boat and in the water. We pulled into a small cove and parked the boat so they could get out and play. It was a perfect afternoon.

We were driven back to the dock, just feet away from where we’d parked. Talk about door service! We drove the 15 minutes back home and sat down to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. I have had much to say on Facebook about it, both last night and this morning, and the blogs and news outlets were lit up with reviews today, so I won’t go into it yet.

Mr. Pool Noodle, fearless swimmer

Perhaps tomorrow — although the little minnows are coming to stay the night, and Grammie might be too worn out to do much of anything.

Suffice it to say that it was a very different Opening Ceremony — unlike anything we’ve ever seen before, guaranteed. “Spectacle” could describe it in a couple of different ways. More on all that later (or in the comments, mayhap?).

Hey, it’s the weekend! Café mocha all around.

FO

It’s hard to go on with one’s carefree daily life when a pet is sick. Many of us know this firsthand.

Rousseau took a second trip to the vet at 7:30 last night. At first, she thought it was an infection, as the nictitating membrane — what is known as a dog’s third eyelid — was pulling up over his eye and making it retreat into its socket, indicating he was in pain. But the antibiotics and topical cream she gave him on Friday morning did no good (in fact, the cream eventually made it worse). So she put him on a different antibiotic, and said that if he’s not better in a couple of days, he will need to see an eye specialist in Akron.

Oy. Poor puppy.

Looking sad after his bath yesterday

He and the Thriller just got up, and he looks a *little* better. We’re still on for the specialist if things don’t improve by tomorrow night.

Getting to work isn’t near as fun when something like this is on my reptilian brain. But the work still has to get done. Hey, you need to get busy too — have a great Tunesday, fiends. If you like, I’ll keep you posted on our precious Mr. Old Bones.