Jonquil's and grandma

Hook News:
The new afghan is coming along. I have 8 rows completed and have bumped into the same puzzle I always bump into with afghans. The starting chain was 36-inches, the first row was 36.5-inches, but now that there is some real body to the afghan it measures 39-inches. I don't know why this happens. I know the answer is rooted in math and/or science somewhere, but I don't remember enough from school to solve this mystery. I'd sure like to know the where and why so I could fix this for the future.

Crook News:
Mr. Retired and I are both battling colds. His is worse because it causes his asthma to flare. You might remember us in your prayers.

Yesterday we picked out the house colors. :) The official names are: Jonquil for the main house color (the color is hidden in the mid-yellow/gold in this picture of jonquil's), and Morning Sun for the trim. The colors remind me of my grandma.

Grandma J. was out here visiting, and I had some daffodil and jonquil bulbs to plant. Not having a green thumb, I asked grandma (who could grow anything!) for help, and she and I went out back and dug in the planter box. We took out rocks, and broke the soil up with our hands. Now I was going to use the small garden spade and fork to do the job, but grandma said gardening was a “hands on and personal” project. Once the soil was tilled to her satisfaction, we used our fingers to make the holes, planted the bulbs, talking to them as we did, and then lightly watered the garden. Every morning while she was here, she went out and watered those bulbs and talked to them. A few months later I had the most glorious bed of daffodils and jonquils I've ever seen. I took pictures and sent them to her. I have always thought of this as “Inez' garden”. I followed her instructions on removing the bulbs and over the years I have enjoyed planting and growing “Inez' garden”. It's one of the few things that I've ever been able to grow. So every time I look at my new home, I will think of grandma.

This afternoon we will be working on fixing the printer. After 11 years, it's decided to retire itself. We sure would have liked it to continue to work for another few months at least, as we have things that must be printed. Maybe we can get one of those cheapy inkjet things at CompUSA. I saw one for $29 a few weeks ago. Who cares if it only prints for 100 or so copies? That would be all we needed. Well, it will work out, I'm sure.

This evening we are having dinner with our friends, Dave and Shirley. We've known them for, gosh, 29 years—maybe 30. I can't remember exactly when we met. Over the years we've shared dinners, evenings of laughter and fun, tears, sorrows, church and more. We don't see each other as much as we used to—mostly my fault for not reaching out as I should have—but we are still friends and it will be nice to have dinner together one final time.

Proverbs 18:24: A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

I hope that amongst those you count a friend is the One who sticks closer than a brother.