A Caretaker's Holiday

Some of you may know I've been encouraging John to take a break from helping with my every waking need. He's so wonderful at it, but he needed and deserved a break. He is now on a wonderful tour of Texas starting last Tuesday visiting :

Ross's Danna in Vernon where Wednesday they shared Ross's first anniversary into Heaven and John's 78'th birthday.....1 night

Son William and Karen, Carly and Emily in Austin who spent Spring Break on the Buffalo River..... 2 nights

Grandson, Kenneth, who is in school in Austin. They visited when William's bunch were at work or school, I think.

Daughter Anne in Yocum, where this morning they dug up flower beds....2 nights

Sister, Lillian, on Sun. in Bandero, where she has her pretty new place with room for her horses...1 night

Good Friends, Kirby, Rene and James Herron in Grapevine....1 night

When John calls it sounds like he is having so much fun.

When he saw I was getting better, he started warming up to the trip idea. He started weaning me from his doing all my meds. I still need help buttoning, zipping, fastening, putting on things, etc. but not desperately. I'm still on meds that prevent me from being alone.

So, such a treat, my dear friend since the University, Susan Marshall-Winslow flew up here from Austin for this week. She's barely been back to Arkansas for 20 years (when she was Matron Honor in our wedding!) so we've enjoyed riding around on little "field trips" to catch her

up on how neat Little Rock is now. I only wish I could stay out longer without tiring.

We sort of have our days and nights mixed up by staying up talking til 1 a.m., but sleeping late is sweet!

My dear Koinonia Class and other friends are still bringing food which is such a gift to me. I still can't cook and even lifting a plate is hard. I can't say enough how much I appreciate this, and I know John does, too. However, I've told Kay, who coordinates the meals to stop it the end of this month. Boy will I miss the good food! But, I'm able to ride to Frankie's or elsewhere now and John gets around so well in the kitchen now! I'm thinking if I can get help chopping onions, celery and peppers to freeze, John can help me by stirring, lifting, etc. He can steam perfect broccoli now. Perfect with only adding lemon-pepper when done.

My Grand Debut: The John Tollison Concert

For weeks I had set as a goal for myself to attend the John Tollison Concert at the Govenor's Mansion for which John and I were co-hosts. We were last year, too, but at the last minute couldn't attend. These events benefit the Gov Mansion Fountation which supports the needs of the beautiful new great hall. Turned out Susan went in John's place and dear childhood friend, Anne Corson Hagen, from Hot Springs Village, went with us. This was perfect because we all 3 went to the U. of A. Before, during and after those years John Tollison and his band were the hottest dance and rock n' roll band in Fayetteville, usually playing at the Shamrock Club, where we all loved to go to dance on weekends. You should have seen all the "Seniors" in their 50's, 60's and 70's dancing last night. The floor was just as spirited and crowded as the Shamrock 50 years ago! Due to fatigue and weakness I had to leave early. Susan and Anne were so understanding and helpful. Hated to leave and am so glad we got to go "back to the fifty's again."

This was the first time in 6 months I fully tried to apply make up. Took forever and nearly wore me out!

Susan's First Cousin, Judy Brittinum Is Here and Will Spend The Night

Susan and I are thrilled Judy drove down from Fayetteville today. We're having a great girl party. I nap and work on the Blog to give them time to catch up after many years. Judy is a professor of landscape design at the U of A and has done some research on the Fordyce family for a book she's writing and has communicated with John's sister, Mary Allsopp, a lot about this.

Mary came over this afternoon and they had a great visit. All 3 of our ex-husbands are now in the Razorback Hall of Honor. That's some coincidence, especially that Susan and Judy are first cousins.

Having dear, dear friends here, including Anne, sure is good medicine for me. The other day Anncha joined us for dinner. I asked Susan to contact Anncha when Anncha was recently in Austin and they hit it off and visited 4 hours. I always like for my good friends to get to know each other.

Deno took me to get Susan at the airport and still comes over daily to see if I need help as he does when John is here. I'll be so happy to see John Tuesday. We'll have lots of stories to tell.

My Love to Everyone,

Linda