21 October 2024-long. Much is going on.

Wow. It’s been almost a month since Writer sat down to put something on paper. Journalist writes every night, AND that’s a darn good thing. Yesterday we gained a “new” person. She has probably always been in The Hermitage, BUT Queen’s oldest son called her out yesterday as he addressed her as Archivist! Hmmm…She is more than likely bosom buddies with Family Historian, Journalist and Writer, as well as others, and there she was.

The Hermitage is NOT by any means back to order, NOR is it the way ANY of us want it to be, but we are dealing with it the best we can. The paths through most of The Hermitage are wider. The stacks of boxes lower. The counters and island are basically cleaned off in the kitchen, and THAT is a bonus for ALL of those who work in there. They were getting annoyed with nowhere to work.

Meteorologist and Weather Girl told us all that it would cool down. Always promising this, and it did for a few days, but then it was back up over 105º for several days. Most of the time we ALL just roll our eyes. However, it was 53º the other morning. The highs have been in the 80’s and the lows in the 50’s. We LOVE it. Chauffeur and Shopper had a laugh Friday morning. It was 73º and quite nice. They went over to the local Multi Shopping Guild and as they drove through the parking lot, people were wearing heavy coats!!! WHAT THE HECK?!?!? They thought the weather was lovely, but some of these people were all bundled up waiting for snow. At least that’s what they presumed. They laughed out loud until they disembarked from the carriage. Then they snickered to each other and laughed silently inside. How funny. When they arrived back at The Hermitage, and told their tale, WE all laughed out loud!

We ALL saw the October SUPERmoon, but never saw the comet. We tried, but it just didn’t work for us.

Organizer has made daily lists for everyone every day. Some days they are L O N G, others it isn’t too bad. She has had to add many events on the calendar. Everyone is busy in one way or another.

Grandmomma and Athlete have gone to little league games. Thankfully it is getting cooler. The kids seem so tired out there on the field in the heat.

Disciple has been busy with Church, choir, working in the Temple, and helping with the service projects. She was able to help three Spanish speaking sisters in one of the sessions and they were so thankful and gave her hugs and kisses. Also, 70 missionaries went through the session before that! WOW!!! In our prayer meeting two things were mentioned by two different people. 1) Our job is to lift up, not size up. 2) Blessed are the flexible for they shall not get bent out of shape. Seamstress helped Disciple stitch 6 teddy bears for the First Responders, and as many burp cloths for the NICU. Seamstress donated two sewing machines to the cause. Hopefully they will be of some use. She helped several others with quilts, baby blankets, pocket hearts, and cards. It was enjoyable to work with all of the other women providing things for others in need. Disciple is also working with another sister and the young girls 8-11. The first meeting we did bracelets with memory wire. The second meeting we did “Home Sweet Home” pages and framed them. We have decided that girls that age are NOT the way we were at that age. There is a HUGE difference. But hopefully they will think what we are doing is fun. Disciple also watched all of the General Conference sessions. WOW! The things going on are amazing! Talks were wonderful, and the choirs were fabulous! AND 17 new temples were announced!

Social Bug, who really ISN’T that social, made a few appearances in the last few weeks. She went with Disciple to a FHE, and went to two memorial services.

A friend, Adela Salazar, from 5th grade was in town for several days. Her father was also Queen’s math teacher. He would bring snakes to school in burlap bags for “show and tell.” THIS is why no one in The Hermitage is afraid of snakes. Thank you David Salazar. Queen’s family returned to Albuquerque in 1970, when she was a sophomore, Adela was in several of her classes. Correspondent has kept in touch with her over the years, and back in the 80’s went to her wedding. It was wonderful to see her and visit. We took a drive out to Hemenway Park in BC and saw the Big Horn. She was pretty shocked to see them and how close they were. Adela is Spanish/Navajo, having ancestors on her mother’s side here in America since the 1500’s, and her dad is Navajo and Spanish. Genealogist and Family Historian has been helping her with her family tree, and actually found that she and Queen are related on their paternal sides from the 1700’s making them 10th cousins. That was interesting. She wanted to cook for us, and made “New Mexican” food for us with Hatch chiles she brought with her.

Board Member has been inventorying trees in the community with the landscaping company. The trees are over 50 years old and the last few summers have taken a toll on them. She walked several miles with the arborist assessing the trees, deciding which ones needed to be removed and which needed to be trimmed. Steps were achieved that day! She also worked with the guy fixing the locks on the gates, and helping another board member with cameras, sprinklers, etc. Late one night Board Member was alerted to police activity two streets over. The police were chasing a couple who broke into a home for sale and were “living” in it. They were arrested, the car they had (it was stolen) was towed the next morning. Board Member, with the Board Member from across the street, spent part of a morning painting over the graffiti on a wall. So annoying!

Queen had her hair done! It was SO nice to just sit and relax. So much is going on and just sitting and visiting with our favorite hairdresser was incredible. AND she always makes us look SO nice.

Correspondent had an issue. She was mailing something, and was told to take it to the UPS Store as USPS didn’t recognize the address, and it “probably” wouldn’t get where we were sending it. Chauffeur took Correspondent to the UPS Store. She explained the conundrum to the girl at the counter. She didn’t seem to care, and charged Correspondent $2.00 for stamps and said that USPS would pick it up around 3:30 that afternoon. NO!!! She explained AGAIN in firmer tones, the SAME story about the address, USPS not recognizing it, ETC! The girl said, in quiet little tones, “Well, it shows that we deliver to that address, so I’m sure the USPS does as well.” AGAIN, in more aggressive tones, SHE EXPLAINED they don’t!!! OH MY GOSH! Never mind! So, rather than be arrested for unbelievable behavior in a UPS Store, she took her item and had Chauffeur take her to the USPS on Sunset! JEEZ!!!

Now that it is cooler, Gardner has been mowing, dead-heading roses, and doing the general maintenance with Landscaper. They REALLY want to do more, but have been engaged with helping INSIDE The Hermitage. They are bored, and sometimes cause petty problems because of it, but they are kept in line by the Enforcer.

The youngest and his lovely wife have been close to the hurricane areas, so we have been checking on them. They received a LOT of rain, and the river near them went from one you could walk from one side to the other, to one you wouldn’t be able to traverse. They have seen a lot of animals; Eagles, otters, weasels, and black bears. The youngest is mainly interested in the bears and spent most of one day just watching them while working outside. He was excited to see so many. They had to put down their oldest dog a few months ago and have been saddened by that, only to have to put another one down last week. ALL of us in The Hermitage are broken hearted for them, and the loss of these two granddogs. We loved them too.

Chef has been busy making things for quick meals. One was deviled eggs. Shopper bought a bag of eggs, supposed to contain 6, HOWEVER Chef was pleasantly surprised to find a “baker’s half dozen!”

Several of us in The Hermitage have been moody, emotional, frustrated and melancholy. Others have been joyful at the progress we are making, and finding humor with some of the things we are discovering in boxes! We found the Hot Diggity Dogger. It makes AMAZING hot dogs! We found a rather large leather horse. Correspondent only had to make one call to find out who that belonged to. He didn’t remember where it came from, BUT did remember it well. We’ve found AT LEAST a dozen, IF not more, clipboards. The brown ones with the silver clip part. After making three calls, we have found that ALL of the children of The Hermitage have clipboard issues. They admitted that yes, they love clipboards. Hmmm…no one claimed the legal sized one though. We are not sure we understand this desire for clipboards, and what we shall do with all of them. We’ve also found MANY pairs of safety glasses. Said child made the remark that, “at least you know I went to school.” Hmmm…the reasoning behind some of this is interesting. Curling irons. OH MY GOSH!!! Queen has two girls. WHY have we found over a dozen curling irons? ALL sizes, styles, etc. Absolutely incredible!!! AND scrunchies! Not to mention all sizes and styles of bobby pins, hair clips, banana clips, and every other kind of hair paraphernalia.

Chief Head Mechanic replaced the front brakes on the carriage this evening. He is incredibly busy and we hated even mentioning it. He seemed happy to do it, BUT we feel bad that it falls on him.

We are SO grateful for those we have been able to help and provide service to, as well as things they need.

We are SO grateful for those who have helped us. Who care for us and love us. We know everyone is busy and feel blessed they take time for us.