All ‘s Quiet on the Mid-western Front
It’s been a quiet year of 2022 in the Heartland. The only big “event” was our cruise around Italy in May, described below. Otherwise, it was the usual mundanities. I guess we should be grateful for that. In chronological succession, here are the “highlights” of our annum.
N.B. A PowerPoint of the Italy trip and other events can be found on my website: Jameslandreth.com
Jan: G&S at Winter Opera. Aleda and I support this local opera company. One production was Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta Gondoliers. We like G&S but find ourselves in a peer group of octogenarians. Soon there will be few left to enjoy lyrical Victorian humor and it will pass into the realm of historical vignettes.
Feb: Covid!! (both with mildest of the mild cases). In spite of being triple vacillated, we both came down with the new plague. Very brief, very mild. Perhaps it boosted our immunity for any future ‘rona contagion.
Mar: Royal Tea with fascinators. As above, a W.O. event. Aleda went with Ruth Nepute and Cheryl Gaynor (RIP) and they got to wear their fascinators and look like Royals.
Apr: Mark & Megan came to town for Aleda’s Bday and Easter. They migrate south only rarely but it’s always a pleasure to see them and it’s always an expensive meal at some fancy restaurant.
May: Medi trip, Barcelona to Florence. This was the main event for ’22. It was originally planned two years before but Covid intervened, so we finally dove into the Mediterranean cruise. We went a day early to Barcelona to visit the Picasso Museum and the Familia Sagrada. Then, then the Oceania cruise on the Marina to ports in France, Italy and the Dalmatian Coast. With the new countries we visited, it brings our total up to 44. The food, as expected, was excellent. The boat was only half full, so we got excellent service with no lines. The cruise was originally to end in Venice but the Venetians rebelled and said “no more cruise ships”, so we debarked in Trieste. Had a visit with James Joyce, though he had a beautiful bronze tan We did get to Venice, where it was quite warm Aleda got to have her “Bucket-list” items of a ride in a gondola (speaking of the gondolieri) and a visit to Murano glass works. We then took the train south to Florence to stay with our friend Violetta Buti at her villa in the Tuscan hills. Very pleasant and we didn’t even have to harvest her olives. We got to go to the new Donatello exhibit at the Strozzi, which was spectacular.
Jun: Jim had “the Lift” for BPH, but this may be TMI for some. I’ll spare the reader the details. Midsommar picnic with the local Swedish Club with the traditional dance around the majtrae helped by the free imbibition of schnapps. Never a shortage of herring or Swedish meatballs either.
July: Just to show you how mundane our year was I mention our new washing machine. But like everything else in our house, including the inhabitants, the old one finally wore out.
Aug: “Diner’s choice” at Dominic’s with W.O.. There are several fund-raisers through the year for this company and they feature fine dining accompanied by arias sung by Gina Galati the founder and principle soprano. She solicits requests of tunes to sing from the supporters. Jim always submits a dozen or so and of these, some will be sung, often standing by his side. For example, she sang “Poor Wandering One” from Pirates of Penzance and “Song to the Moon” from Dvorak’s Rusalka.
Sep: Mark, the son, and Megan, la compagne, flew to Scotland, toured around, sampled the wares at several distilleries and went to the Edinburgh Tattoo and the ‘Fringe”, all with encouragement from his parents.
Oct: J. & A. gave a PPT presentation of the Italy cruise at a luncheon of the “Sisters of the Skillet”, (as Jim’s father called the two bridge clubs which Jim’s mother belonged to) i.e. the ladies of the Church Service League of our church. J. & A. were also appointed to the Exec. Board of the Swedish Council. Primarily this means working their events such as Lucia Fest/Christmas Market.
Nov: Barefoot with Moonstone. Our friend Sharon Hunter, wife of Mike Raney, from WCR, Jim’s prior employer, is director of Moonstone Theater Company and we attend their productions two or three times a year. This one was N. Simon’s Barefoot in the Park at the local Kirkwood stage. This is always followed by another fancy dinner, usually attended with Jim and Ruth Nepute. Jim was Jim’s boss at the above noted West County Radiology.
Now that Leanne has taken over the traditional holiday celebrations such as Thanksgiving, that relieves Aleda of lots of preparation, though there are still some traditional “sides” that she re-creates every year. See below.
Dec: Lucia Fest, another Swedish tradition usually celebrated around Dec. 13th. That’s the one with the girl with the candles stuck in her hair wearing a white bed sheet with red ribbon.
Last but not least were the visits and celebrations with Leanne and Kurt and the grandson, Ben. We relish any occasion with them and cherish our chances to child-sit with Ben.
Each of the celebrations of the year have associated with
them certain desserts or treats that have become traditional. Herewith they are enumerated:
And so, another year passes. We think of our friends and wish them a Merry Christmas and a joyful New Year.