This Sunday the weather was considerably better than last week but a bit cool. Perhaps it was our Florida winter that conditioned us but even people who had been here all winter were cool. It was the first time I had seen the choir in a while and was touched by a hug from our choir director as well.  The tenor section insisted that I join them for next week's Mass the final of the choir year and Deacon Mike caught me by surprise with a welcome home buddy while offering the cup.  At the end of  Mass, Father invited all who were celebrating an anniversary this month to stand  for a blessing.  Mary and I hesitated for a senior moment before deciding that included us. Later in the afternoon we went to Taste of Poland at St Julie's. Mary had asked "What was Polish food and we agreed that neither of us was sure.  We soon found out as we enjoyed wonderful sauerkraut, cabbage rolls, sausage along with a potato pancake and a pierogi.  Father Artur seemed to be having a great time acting as host. Someone jokingly asked if he cooked.  His response was that unlike Father Steve who rolls the meatballs for Taste of Italy, all he did was pick the menu and pick up the phone.  On return home I continued to root out paper (unneeded downloaded manuals etc) which had not been read in years in preparation for Monday garbage pick-up.

 

    Monday would be decision day. I had an appointment with the Ortho surgeon who advised on a hip replacement. Since we are going on two trips in July and South for the winter, it could be possibly done during that time with a start to finish recovery of 3 months.  I headed for the Veterans' Center and arriving a bit late 12:45, and found Commander Matt and Past Commander Sal getting some prep done for this week's Poppy Days.

    Every year we send teams out to offer the traditional poppy in return for donations.  Thursday morning during the morning commute we had teams at the three METRA stations as well as the corners of 143rd and LaGrange and 143rd and Southwest Highway.  After finishing at the 179th Street station a couple of guys went to Jewel at 179th street and Wolf Road.  We will make a full scale push there on Saturday.


 

  Friday was the actual day of the aforementioned anniversary and we celebrated with our friends Mary Ann and Joe at Palermo's on 143rd St.  The food and drink were good and the conversation even better.  We returned home in time to see Numb3rs one of our favorite shows.  Even though sweeps week is over and it was a repeat it was a couple of years old and I am not sure we had seen  the original airing. With that we called it a day and retired.