Dear Kids,

My fingers are shaking and it’s hard to type, because I’m high on oxycontin from  my toe surgery on Friday.  But it all went very well.  My foot is still bandaged, so I don’t know if it matches my other foot now.  On Thursday I get to unwrap it and see, and have the stitches taken out.  

Tom and Kim hiked the Grand Canyon on Friday, north rim to south, and they did just fine.  Tom said the last four miles were really hard for him, but he said Kim was good all the way.  They had beautiful weather, probably in the 80's down at the bottom.  I’m glad they were all right.  I was worried because it’s so late in the year, and so dark now, and it could even have snowed on them . . . you know how moms worry about things.  Actually, I’m a little bit jealous that I couldn’t do the hike, too.  But with a chopped-off toe, it never would have worked out.

Back in September people were giving us peaches, and we got fruit flies along with them. It’s hard to get rid of those buggers!  They always seemed to hang around our sinks, so I tried spraying them with insect repellant, but it didn’t do any good at all.  When I saw a batch crawling around the drain, I figured they might be breeding down there, so I poured bleach down every drain.  That seemed to do it, except for one pesky fly, who still seemed to be hanging around.  He always kept just to the side of my vision.  Finally I realized it was just a floatie in my eye.  (If you haven’t had one yet, you aren’t old enough.)  So now I know how to get rid of fruit flies, and for the floatie, John said to just give it time.

Messiah practice starts tonight, so we won’t be having our usual Sunday night get-togethers until after December 12, which is the performance date.  Our house will be dreadfully quiet.  If you want to come over in the afternoon, we’ll be here until 5:30 each Sunday.

And yikes, Thanksgiving is in 2 1/2 weeks!  We’ll be celebrating at the cabin.  So far Tom’s and Donna’s families are on board, and I’ll probably be calling some more of you.  Nora will be hosting the Mairs, but maybe her family can make it for pie, which we’ll have about 5 pm.  The turkey dinner will be about 1 pm.  I’m excited already.

And Christmas will be coming up before we know it.  There’s no end to the excitement.

Love, Mom