The Gift

 

My replacement plate!

In May 2019, we purchased a set of Correlle dishes. Prior to that we used dishes Joe had purchased or inherited. My husband is an amazing human, and I love him to the moon and beyond. He has this thing about blending in and not calling attention to himself, which I totally respect. This desire to blend in extended to his brown stoneware. About fifteen years ago I convinced Joe I’d like a different set of everyday dishes, and we purchased a green and white stoneware set. While pretty, they chipped, cracked, and were heavy.

Finally, in 2019 we purchased two Corelle Square Splendor sets. I loved the red and grey on a splash of white. I still smile every time I use these plates. The plates have held up well with only minor scratches on a plate or two. Then on Sunday evening a 10-3/4”  plate shattered when it accidentally dropped. I felt a bit sad and told myself it was “just a plate.”

On Tuesday morning, Joe made a trip over to Cub to pick up groceries. He came back from the store excited and said he had a surprise for me. Now you know my last surprise was a lawnmower and as a result I may have been a tad bit unenthused at his announcement. He surprised me though with a replacement plate for the broken piece. It is the exact same pattern. Which made my day!

Who knew that when I chose the design and ordered on Amazon five years ago that I would end up in Saint Michael, Minnesota in a town of 18,000 with a Cub grocery store that would stock my choice of design? I guess you just can’t take the mid-west out of this girl! And yes, Joe has redeemed himself as a great gift giver.

Night two of the 2024 Democratic National Convention did not disappoint. I especially enjoyed the state roll call, Doug Emhoff’s speech, and Michelle and Barak Obama’s speeches.

I learned something new about each state during the roll call mini speeches. And the speakers! Doug Emhoff’s love for Kamala (Momala to her stepchildren) was obvious. Emhoff’s recounting of the awkward phone call he made to Harris to introduce himself at the beginning of their relationship was endearing and authentic.

The Obamas are authentically nice people like Harris and Walz. The 'nice' is so refreshing in politics after the last eight years. I read an interesting article today entitled “Why Gov. Tim Walz Drives Them Crazy." Here is the link:

https://statuskuo.substack.com/p/why-gov-tim-walz-drives-them-crazy

The “them” is former President Trump and J.D. Vance and some (certainly not Republicans as a group - I personally know lots of nice Republicans) of their followers. By the way "nice" does not mean people are perfect human beings. Perfection is over-rated and impossible. Niceness and meanness are behavioral choices.  I'll take the "nice" any day over meanness.

Topic change: Joe has four of his planter boxes almost finished – just waiting to add topsoil. The compost place did not have any wood chips/mulch today to finish them up, so he has moved on to working on the very back of the property.

Looking out of the sunroom to the backyard. No fences here allow us to

see the side of one of our neighbor's homes. We are keeping the groundcover in the

foreground - just getting rid of buckthorn plants and the sapling volunteers from the trees. Now that

the brush is cleared out, we can see the neighbors directly behind us have a little garden area.

In the middle of their garden is a seating area and a firepit.

Another angle - you can see the area Joe cleared first and the wood

the neighbors used to outline their garden area.