Memorial Day Flag Planting

It's my husband, Jeff's tradition to go to the Veteran's cemetery and plant the flags on the graves in time for Memorial Day. So today was the day for his volunteer group (the GE employees veteran network) to do the task. In past years Jeff has taken our granddaughter, Chloe with him. As a toddler, she rode along in her wagon and handed her grandpa the flags. This year was very different.

Chloe is a fast study.  She watched her grandpa put his heel up against the headstone, then make the hole for the flag at the end of his toes using the length of his foot as a measure to make all the flags in the row look uniform.  Chloe wanted to do this task for him.  So she stuck her toes up against the headstone to measure and put the flag at the length of her foot. Grandpa had a difficult time explaining to her that his foot was a little bit longer than hers thus lacking the uniformity as intended.  Oh well.

Chloe's little sister, Avery had to help too. She sat in the wagon and handed Chloe the flags. So it was a very cooperative operation and we got all the flags planted in our rows in no time.

Jury Duty

I have to say, I really wanted to figure out a way to get out of it. In  fact, I probably could have gotten my doctor to write me an excuse, However, I decided to do my duty and get it over with.  I worried about what would happen if I actually got on a case, but I was never called out of the pool of jurors. So in the end, I'm glad I went and glad that I am done.

VA Hospital Visit with the Legion Riders

Today is our annual visit to the VA Hospital (the Clement Zablocki Medical Center to be exact). My church's quilt group, Sweet Sundays made a bunch of lap quilts for me to take along. Since we visit the spinal cord unit, most who are there are wheelchair bound so it is a nice useful gift for these veterans.  Every year I make little treat bags in Christmas colors. I fill them with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. That way, if these patients really aren't supposed to have sweets, this tiny little amount shouldn't really hurt. It's not much but they do look pretty.

This year was a special treat. We had some enlisted men with us who brought books and cans of hard candy. Our coordinator, Pat Moore also brought some t-shirts along that he got as donations from local businesses. We even had Santa Claus join us while we prepped our carts full of goodies to hand out. 

The staff at the hospital are always thrilled when we visit.  Some of their patients are far from home so they don't get many visitors.  So we are glad to help. We broke up into groups and went from room to room wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and thanked them for their service. Many wanted to chat. We stayed as long as we could and listened to their stories.  

These patients have spinal cord injuries, some severe, most unable to ever walk again. Funny thing, they never want to talk about why they are there. No conversations about surgeries, medical procedures or pain and suffering.  They only want to talk about where they are from, what branch of the service they were in and their military experiences.  I find that amazing. And inspiring. 

Annual VA Hospital Christmas Visit

Candy gifts for the vets

Our Legion Riders group spent the evening visiting the veterans at the Zablocki Medical Center.  We always visit the paraplegic ward during the holidays.  A neighborhood elementary school makes and gives us hand-made Christmas cards to give to the veterans.  We take along little packaged of candy wrapped in red and green and my daughter, Jen gives us baseball-style caps from Harley-Davidson.  The vets are always thrilled to get the hats.  Even the hospital staff like the hats (we had a few left over to give them as well).  It was a heartwarming experience to spend some time with these heroes.  And we are glad to be able to do it.

Legion Riders at the VA Hospital

Vets receive quilts made by my church group



The group hands out Harley hats and candy