Year End 2024

 

     Here we are at the end of another year. This is my report on happenings and activities for 2024. One big (for me) event overshadowed everything else. Death crept into my life. My dear Pete left this life quietly on his 82^nd birthday, August 10.

     Pete and I had wonderful times together for nearly eight years. He was good, caring, generous, smart and never argued, although we would disagree sometimes. I loved it when we were together. He was the introvert and I am the talker; he was the scientist and I am the liberal arts person. It all worked out very well for us while it lasted, for almost eight years.

    He was a great fan of plays so we continued to watch local professional productions. We also sat in his living room in front of his oversized television screen and watched dramatic series. We sat at my kitchen table and played Scrabble and Trivial Pursuit; usually I won Scrabble and He won Trivial Pursuit. We played a card game called Nerts that is big in his family. We didn’t have as many trips in the first months of this year as we had other years because he didn’t feel quite up to par as time went on.

     Pete and I enjoyed the first half of the year doing all this, and then summer came. Big change. He went to the hospital in early June, was diagnosed with bladder cancer and some infections, stayed most of the summer in the hospital and a few days in the nursing home, and faded away. I sat there with him every day except the times when I had visits to Washington Island as I do every year. The day he died I was away at the island. I called his nursing home to wish him a happy birthday, but a lady who answered told me that he could not speak but could hear me so I hung up; ten minutes later the same lady called back to say he had died. Our time together had ended. Alas.

     Life went on for the year. I went to Washington Island several times during the summer and again enjoyed the rustic cabin on the campground. Daughter Dori and her family of Steve, Robbie and Dhyana were there with me one of the times as we walked and sat in the woods; we were when I got the call about Pete’s death. I love being on the island. This year I did not exhibit my art there as I have in other years; the Art and Nature Center has good exhibits every summer, and I have participated in past summers.

     Other things happened. Tom and Carmen Colburn, lifetime family friends, came to Viroqua,Wisconsin, in October where Carmen had medical work done by her favorite doctor there. Brother David and Marcie live there so I went to Viroqua and we all visited and ate dinner in a local establishment, after which I drove Tom and Carmen back to Madison to catch their plane home to Texas. It was very good.

     I showed my colored pencil art in the annual exhibit of the Wisconsin Regional Art Program in March in Madison; attended my 64^th reunion of the Sturgeon Bay High School class of 1959; hosted our annual family get together in my back yard in June; continued with my volunteering at the local library and a few other places; and continue to have dinner weekly with John and Sherry. I took a day trip via tour bus to Chicago in August where I spent time at the Art Institute.

     The last few months of 2024 have been quiet and less active as I have learned once again to be alone much of the time. My friends at St. Dunstan’s Church have been a plus as I have lived with the big change. I am blessed with John, Sherry. Laura and Ian, nearby in Madison, are doing well, and Ian is graduating from UW-Madison one of these days with a degree in computer science. Congratulations to him. I wish I could be with my other adult children a bit more. I love our family.

Pete Weiler Tribute

 The world lost a good man a week ago. I did too. Pete Weiler was the best. He died of cancer on his  birthday, August 10. We had a relationship that lasted almost eight years. Here was a man who was good, honest, caring, loving and smart. And he refused to argue. How about that? We did well without arguing. Old people can do that.

 Pete and I met in October, 2016, at a speed dating event held by the Madison Senior Center. It didn’t take long for us to get acquainted. He was quiet and not inclined to talk about his long life, and I managed to talk too much on our dates. That was just one of our non-essential differences. Pete had a PhD in physics and loved science. He spent many years working at writing software for the University of Wisconsin. I used to say that his computer was his other girlfriend. My English major and librarian background didn’t match his, but it didn’t matter. We were great.

 Who was planning on dating through a pandemic? Covid 19 arrived in 2020. We had been going to plays at Overture Center and American Players Theater. While we skipped a lot of plays, we watched programs on his very large screen in his living room. We brought carry out food to my kitchen. We played Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, and Nerts, a card game he taught me. That’s activity for people who can’t go places for fear of spreading disease. As the pandemic seemed to diminish, we went back to the plays.

 Pete has a loving, wonderful family. He has no children, but enjoys two brothers and a sister, plus nieces and a nephew and their spouses and families. They get together for birthdays and other events, and I have been included happily. Every year Pete treated them to dinner and a play at American Players Theater in Spring Green, which was well attended until this year when Pete was sick and the others went to the play that was rained out. It was part of the ending of his life.

 Pete went to the hospital where he was diagnosed with stage four bladder cancer and some infections. He was in the hospital for two months and then days in the nursing home at Oakwood, and never went home. His life ended. This wonderful man was gone. I will miss him for a long time while being happy for the good times we had together.

Year End 2023

 

  2023 is coming to an end. A lot has happened in my little space in the world. We have no snow on the ground late in December. Unbelievable. This is my report on the ups and downs of the last year.

   Pete and I continued to enjoy good times together. Not everything involved him, such as my exhibiting in art shows and the times I spent at Washington Island, plus ongoing volunteering at the senior center and library branch near my home. When we were together Pete and I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of plays in Madison, Spring Green (American Players Theater), and Milwaukee. We ate and played together regularly, too, with plenty of day trips to points of interest. We also spent several days in Chicago and visited his sister in Minnesota. In October we celebrated the seventh anniversary of the day we met in 2016, with dinner. Our seven years together have been wonderful.

   A big event this year was the Covid-19 pandemic that afflicted me and many others. I became part of history when symptoms of a very bad cold took over my life for a week and a half in October. Much nasal congestion, coughing and sneezing but no fever. I stayed at home for a week and a half until I tested negative and my life resumed its routine. Pete wisely distanced himself from all this except for daily phone calls. He finally returned to my abode without catching Covid.

   As in other years I had great times during the summer. I went to Washington Island for as much time as I could get away from Madison, where once again I stayed at the campground alone in the woods. A couple of times I stayed in daughter Sarah’s camper trailer and other times I sheltered in campground cabins. Being in those woods is like meditation. I walked a lot on the woodsy roads, sat in my lawn chair and read, and went to services at the local Lutheran church where I know some of the people. I used the local library’s wi-fi when possible. I listened to jazz by Doc Westring and his little combo. Some of the local deer walked out onto the road every now and then, but they did not say hello. Pete did not come to the island with me since he seems to not see the charm of the woods.

   One very good thing for me on Washington Island was displaying my colored pencil drawings in the annual exhibit at the Art and Nature Center. It is for participating islanders, and I qualified due to the amount of time I spend on the island every year. This exhibit goes on all summer and includes paintings and various media. We are among many good artists. I have exhibited there for several years.

   Speaking of art exhibits, I was happy to exhibit colored pencil works again this spring in the large Wisconsin Regional Art Program show for Wisconsin artists at the Pyle Center in Madison. Besides that, I gave time and artwork to the Madison Senior Center, where student volunteers and I helped hang its annual show for Dane County seniors in May. No prizes for me in either event, but these are good exhibitions.

   What a delight! Family friends for all our lives, the Colburns came to Door County this summer after many years. My Allen brothers and I and the four Colburn adult children who are about our ages all grew up together and spent summers at our cottages in the woods of Clark Lake north of Sturgeon Bay. We and our parents were close friends. The occasion for their visit was distributing the ashes of newly deceased Johnny Colburn, their oldest, in Clark Lake. I went, as did my brother Eddy and wife Mary Lou, and we got together with many Colburns and descendants and friends for enjoyment and food, and, of course, a fish boil outdoors next to the bay of Sturgeon Bay. I came the first day a bit before the activity began and had a good visit with Sally and Richie. Over the years I have been in touch with Tom and Carmen Colburn more than the others.

   Pete and I had an enjoyable six-day vacation in Chicago in May, where we and our Road Scholar group visited museums and the Art Institute. We had a scenic boat trip on the Chicago River to see the downtown architecture, and we heard a lecture about the history of Chicago politics. Pete and I both were born in Chicago and lived our early years in the suburbs, but it was good to see the well-known sights again.

   I didn’t see my adult offspring much during the year other than John and Sherry who graciously gave me dinner at their home on Monday nights, with Laura and Ian present sometimes. The Covid pandemic has changed the occasions for getting together even though the disease seems to be waning. Libby, Dori, Steve, Robbie and Dana came to Madison to see me a few times. Sarah continues to recover from radiation treatment with cancer she had a couple of years ago, so we don’t see her as much as I would like. I didn’t see Mary and Gareth in Maryland at all in the last year. Alas. When and if life returns to normal, we can move around more.

   Life has continued to be busy as old age creeps up on me. Plenty of volunteer work at the senior center and library keeps me busy every week, and life is good in the company of the church group of ladies which I call the book group that hardly ever discusses the book. We get together online on Zoom and comment on politics and other life situations during our meetings. Did I say I am getting old? I’m only eighty-two and still getting around. I expect to be here for a while longer.

Covid, a World Event

 

It seemed like a bad cold. A simple test changed everything. A Swab in the nose and a fifteen- minute wait. A world-wide pandemic has come to my home. I have found myself with covid19.

Covid is like a bad cold for me, just as today’s rain and gloom are like unpleasant days. I feel okay after more than a week of respiratory symptoms such as cough, runny nose, sore throat and tiredness, but no fever. I have had several days of staying at home reading, doing puzzles, cleaning house, cooking real food from my refrigerator, doing whatever else needed doing, and mainly missing Pete. Boyfriend Pete does not have covid. We were together until I tested positive for covid and he tested negative. Now we talk on the phone daily but do not share this illness. A week ago this was a cold; now it is disease.

What to do? I have taken walks every day, using the newfound time that has arrived after I canceled all my outside activities. One afternoon I walked in Elver Park. Another day I walked on the Ice Age Trail Verona Segment; another on the Military Ridge State Trail in Verona; another in Governor Nelson State Park on Lake Mendota. Walking has helped with morale and prevents boredom. (Of course If I really was bored I could have done a lot more housework.) Today it is raining; walking will commence another day.

I think of a song that cheers me. Years ago the Beatles sang “I Want to Hold Your hand.” This connects me with Pete and how I feel about being or not being with him. “And when I see you I feel happy,” they sang. It works for me and the isolating aloneness. I sing with the Beatles and Alexa. Covid feels okay then and so do I.

Today’s clouds and rain will give way to sunshine and autumn leaves in a few days. Another song reminds me that the sun will come out tomorrow. I sing with the Beatles about holding hands and know that everything will get better. The clouds of covid will give way to sunshine. This pandemic of our century will go away eventually. We will have been part of a historic medical event. I am no longer sick, but just contagious.

Year End 2019

Year End 2019

What, already? Yes. It’s time to say goodbye to another year that was filled with activities at home and away. Life has been pretty good. I have been busy with community volunteering, trips, a class reunion, plays, and other events. Much of all the activity included family members and Pete, my boyfriend. I am thankful for all of them. A congenial family and an enjoyable male companion are this year’s happy blessings.

In February, much to my unhappy surprise, I sprained my knee in the Madison snow without even falling down. I twisted my knee as I took a shortcut over a large, packed snowbank left by a plow, and pain lasted for four and a half months. A Google source said that a sprain will heal in a month or six weeks; even my doctor thought so. Maybe that is the case for babies, but some old people heal gradually. I continued with daily life as much as possible, but now I know I am mortal. Also healed.

Pete and I took a trip to Virginia in June. We spent four enjoyable days visiting the homes of three of our Presidents, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe. We spent the most time in the Jefferson environment at Monticello, and the rest of the time at the estates of Madison and Monroe. They all lived in the mountain area near Charlottesville,Virginia. Road Scholar provided local experts who gave talks to our group. We also spent some time looking at the University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded.

Another tour took Pete and me to Minneapolis in August. We took time for an overnight visit to Pete’s sister Phyllis and her family in northern Minnesota at the start of the trip and some time with my daughter Elizabeth (Libby) in suburban Minneapolis at the end of it. During the tour with Road Scholar we visited Minnehaha Falls, the big waterfall in Minnehaha Park; the well-known Guthrie Theatre, two art museums, and other sights. At the Guthrie we saw all the backstage things that professional theater requires, including costumes made as needed, sets needing assembly, and various props that filled large rooms. We saw the stage area, too, and later we saw the performance of Guys and Dolls. And for me no trip to Minneapolis was compete without Sunday brunch at Hell’s Kitchen with Libby.

During the year Pete and I saw many plays. The best was Hamilton.  We saw it in Chicago in April with a group of seniors, and in Madison in November, and we loved it. It’s the biggest play of the year, in my opinion. We saw MacBeth at American Players Theatre in Spring Green with Pete’s family. We saw Guys and Dolls in Minneapolis. We saw other plays in Madison, where drama seems to flourish.

I attended my 60-year class reunion of Sturgeon Bay High School in October. A large crowd of classmates with spouses and dates filled the Lodge at Leatham Smith. We enjoyed seeing people whom we had not seen in many years as well as some we have known over time. A list of deceased class members was read; it appears that about half of the class has left this world. I was glad to have time to talk with many of the people who came to the reunion of the class of 1959.

Once again this year I took several trips to Washington Island in Door County. Daughter Sarah and I were there for the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.  Grandchildren Laura and Ian came with us. I was there other times for several days at a time, enjoying the woods, the lakeshore and the hassle-free rural environment. I stay in a cabin at the island campground whenever I go there.

Back in Madison I have been doing volunteer work mostly at the Madison Senior Center and the Meadowridge branch library. Also, I exhibited some of my art work in the Wisconsin Regional Art Program and at the senior center. The Friends of the Madison Public Library gave me some recognition for volunteering more than ten years.

As mom and grandma, I enjoyed the family’s musical concerts with Ian’s school concerts and John, Sarah and Laura’s instrumental performances. John and Sherry gave me supper approximately once a week so I wouldn’t have to eat alone but could enjoy their company. It’s good to have them living nearby. I flew to Maryland for a few days with Mary and Gareth, and drove to Minneapolis (not on tour) to be with Libby. Dori, Steve and Robbie came to Madison for holidays when the noisy (adult) kids all talked together simultaneously and seemed to love it. It’s very good and very talkative when the family gets together.

I am still active at St. Dunstan’s Church. When the church went through renovation, I stored the church’s lending library in my home basement for several months. No borrowing happened but the books were safe and accounted for while the church got its facelift. Did I mention that I am the church’s librarian?

May we all survive another year of chaotic politics with the Trump administration and joys and concerns at home. Life is good.