Bless Our Hearts: One More Grandparents' Day In The Books

This is Mr. Moon's chair which lives in the room we lovingly call The Glen Den for obvious reasons. If I took pictures of the walls you would have even more of an insight on why it's called that as there are numerous examples of the taxidermy of deer, ducks, and fish. I would take photos but I'm afraid many of you just couldn't handle the reality.
There are also shelves full of his memorabilia which includes everything from beer steins he got in Europe when he was playing ball there, to antique irons, to old timey tools, to pictures, to a signed football (I have no idea the story behind that), to antique fishing lures, to a pillow that his mom needlepointed for him with the Auburn insignia on it.
The TV is in that room. And I still have baby and child toys in a corner in baskets which I truly need to get rid of and somehow, just keep forgetting...
I have appropriated one end of the couch (also leather) and an end table and a nice lamp I got at Wag the Dog where I can do needlework of various sorts when I watch TV because I simply cannot just sit and watch TV. I have also claimed a few shelves on which I keep yarn and garments to be mended and so forth and I will admit I've got a lot of that sort of stuff in baskets and bags on the floor and on the end table. I rarely sit there and watch TV but it's all there for when I do.
Anyway, back to The Chair.
When Mr. Moon is not working on something he is generally in that chair. Now he is working on something or other most of the time but he does spend time there with Maurice in his lap. They quite often have a little nap together. He does his computer research there and he sometimes does his paperwork there. As you can tell, that chair has been used. A lot. One of the sweetest things he ever did was to let me have it when I was recovering from broken ribs and could not get comfortable either lying down or sitting up. The recliner was perfect. I spent my days and my nights in it for a few weeks.
But the thing has HIS body's impression on it. It has cradled him for many years. We can't even remember how long we've had it. As he said just a few minutes ago to me, it is his nest. I believe it was even once sent in to La-Z-Boy for a repair and then returned for many more years of service.
But this morning, when he moved from our bed to the recliner to drink his coffee and peruse the news, a spring or something broke in the back of the recliner and well, folks, it is done. He can still sit in it with the back propped against the wall but that is not comfortable.
So one of our missions today was to go recliner shopping.
More on that in a minute. I know, I know. The anticipation is overwhelming but calm down and just hang on.
Before we did that, we went to the Grandparents' Day lunch with Ms. Magnolia June. I made our lunches following Maggie's instructions as closely as I possibly could and off we went. Approximately 58,000 grandparents show up for this event which is pretty cool, really. It's only a thirty minute meal because they have all the grades to go through.
Come to think of it, the brevity of the situation may be part of the attraction.
You can preorder a Chic-fil-A lunch for you and your grandchild and pick it up at the school but I refuse to give one cent of my money to that bigoted, pseudo-Christian company. Which is why I make our lunch. And Maggie never complains. I think she likes the fact that I make her whatever she wants.
So off we went and we found our girl in the massive crowd of Grade Fours and sat down and I unwrapped and presented the sandwiches, the Cheetos, the cut up cucumbers and peppers with ranch on the side
as per instructions, the juice, and the cookies.
The cookies were the only slight problem as she had thought I would make them myself which I did not do but I bought the fanciest looking ones at Publix I could find with frosting stuff in between two cookies which were heavily sprinkled with sprinkles.
She survived.
Maggie's other grandmother came too, which was sweet. She did get a Chic-fil-A lunch and I will admit it looked pretty good.
Not gonna lie.
The sweetest thing was that Maggie kept saying, "I am so happy you wanted to come," and that made it all worthwhile. Her best friend at school, a girl named Mary, kept coming over and hugging her and that was pretty sweet too.
Before we knew it, it was being announced that Maggie's class needed to clean up and prepare to go back to the classroom but we had to get a picture in front of the backdrop they'd set up for the purpose.

Shall we start taking bets on how long it will be before my granddaughter is taller than I am?

After we walked her back to her classroom, we drove over to Hank and Rachel's house where I delivered the chicken soup. I hope they like it. I think it's pretty tasty. I got a chance while there to chat with them for a few minutes and it seems to me that Rachel, while not fully recovered yet of course, seems lighter and more relaxed than I've seen her in a long time. This healing is a process and I believe she is doing well with it although of course, it's always one step forward, two steps back.

And then- off to look at recliners!
Now here's the problem.
Mr. Moon, being as tall as he is, cannot just go find the most comfortable recliner on the floor of the furniture store. He has to find one that extends far enough in the leg area to accommodate his height and the length of his legs.
This is not easy.
The one he has now has an extender at the foot of it which can be moved outward to offer support to long legs like his.
Guess what? They don't make any models with that feature anymore.
Sigh.
So he ended up sitting in many, many recliners to see if any of them would offer what he needed which was basically a foot rest in the reclining position that his feet did not extend past.
Well.
That didn't quite happen but he found one that was close and he generally puts a large pillow on the footrest to elevate his feet and that offers the length and support he needs.
So. A work-around was found.
And this recliner ROCKS. As in, it's a rocking chair too. Which is rather cool.

Of course it's going to take at least six weeks to get a new chair. If he does indeed order it. He wanted it in leather of a certain shade of brown whereas the floor model was in a fabric which he found to be too warm (he is very sensitive to heat). I think he wants to check out a few more options.
The whole process took the rest of the afternoon but I wasn't complaining. After awhile I went outside the store and sat on one of their outdoor chairs on display. That chair rocked and swiveled which I thought was quite keen. And this is what the sky was looking like from my perch.

I had had quite enough of the fluorescent lights in the store and my presence was not really required.
The sky was like that all afternoon and it would be a sin not to spend as much time contemplating and admiring it as I possibly could.

And now we're home. Glen went to check on Tom, our friend who lives nearby and has many physical ailments. Glen spent months last year moving him out of a trailer that a tree had fallen on into a new tiny home on his property which took a great deal of time to get moved onto the property and set up to live in. He took him some of the vegetable beef soup I'd made which, to tell you the truth, will probably be the best thing Tom eats this spring.
I asked Glen, when he got home, how Tom looked.
"Like he's going to live another twenty years," he said.
"Good!" I said. "He can take care of us when we need help."
This is a man who's had at least one stroke and cancer and, oh, I can't even keep track of it all. He is alive simply through mulish stubbornness. He is a force of nature.

In a different sort of news, Hank has taken Gibson to a show tonight. No, not a movie show. A show with a ska band that Hank likes. Here's a picture Hank sent to all of us.