Pope Leo

 In April, the Catholic community received some sad news as Pope Francis died suddenly on Easter Sunday after giving the holiday mass.  It wasn't a complete surprise as he had spent quite a bit of time in the hospital this winter with pneumonia.  Even so, I was sorry to hear it and was thankful that my Bible study class chose to spend a morning talking about his legacy and his influence on the Catholic faith.  

The news that was shocking, however, was the announcement of the new Pope.  First, it was a lot quicker than anyone expected as he was elected on the second day of the Conclave on the fourth ballot.  Second, he was not anyone that had been on any betting board in Vegas.  Third, no one expected him to choose the name Leo as John, Paul and Francis were the most common names used in the last seventy years.  The biggest shocker of all, however, was when the announcement came through that our new Pope was from the United States.  There was no one that I knew in the Catholic community that ever even dreamed that there would be a Pope from the US in our lifetime.  Even better, he was born in Chicago and still had family living in the city.

The Heinisch group chat lit up as soon as the Papal choice was announced.  Cal sent a picture of Pope Leo from a visit to Maggie's high school last year.  Meg suggested immediately that Brett choose Leo as the name of his second born son.  Brett was beyond ecstatic about the choice, and Cameron mentioned that it was hard to believe that we now had a pope that had been to Portillo's.  There was a pizza place in the south side of Chicago that had already renamed one of its booths to Pope Leo in honor of the pope's visit to one of his favorite restaurants in the past year.  Doug and I were more than happy with the choice and enjoyed all of the interviews with his oldest brother who now lived about two hours south of us in Florida.  Overall, it was great news not only for our family, but for the Catholic faith in general.  We look forward to the direction that he will provide our church.  

Thankful for the Digital Memories

When Meg got married, I hinted that maybe it was time for her to get her own iCloud.  It was nice to be able to share photos with her, but lately my apps were starting to become filled with her data.  When I would check my Fitbit, it would count me with 28,000 steps because it added her steps to mine.  It also started to change the information that was used on my phone, showing me in places that I wasn't and routing me to stores in Orlando instead of Ocala.  It became too confusing to navigate, so once Meg moved to Florida, I asked her to please find a way to change her iCloud to stop the confusion.  Meg was reluctant because of all of the shared photos, but in the end switched over this week when I promised her that she could still sign in to mine on her iPad to download any photos that she wanted to keep.  

Meg spent the past few days sending herself photos that she wanted to keep in her new iCloud.  I sympathized with the immensity of the project.  We had a lot of digital memories on our iCloud, many of which were hers. I did enjoy seeing a few of those memories show up on my photo stream today.  The pictures were adorable and reminded me of all of the fun times that our family had spent together on vacation and in everyday life.  It was also a wonderful reminder that the closeness our children felt then had not changed.  I would never want to relive those days, but I sure enjoyed reminiscing about them today.

On the Move

Cameron and his study abroad group traveled to a small town in the northeast part of Greece today.  His professor had grown up in the area and she was excited to show them that particular region of her home country.  They traveled close enough to the border of Turkey that they could see the fence between the two countries.  Cameron had told us earlier that the people of Greece did not get along well with those from Turkey.  I guess the fence proved that point.  

While they were traveling, the IU students also toured several different food factories along the way.  Cameron's favorite part of the trip was visiting a goat farmer that was living "off the grid."  He enjoyed his way of life and the lunch that they shared while they were there.  The last stop of the day was a peanut butter factory where they got to sample several different fruit flavored peanut butters.  His favorite was the banana one.  The group ended their evening staying in host family homes near the border of Bulgaria.  The house was small, but Cameron really liked his host and the conversation that he had with him. 

 

A New Sound System

Doug and I decided not to get each other gifts this year for our anniversary and instead purchase something that we both wanted.  Our current record player needed a new band and was turning slower and slower because of it.  We also wanted to upgrade the speaker system that we had with one that was wireless.  That way we would be able to listen to our record collection while sitting on the back patio or on the lanai during game nights.  

Both Doug and I liked Meg's record player a lot.  It was very easy to use and sounded a lot better than ours.  I started looking for one like it and found the perfect player on Best Buys website.  I ordered it and a Bluetooth speaker that had great reviews as well.  The shipping date was delayed, so it would miss our anniversary, but it would still be delivered by Memorial Day weekend which was our goal.  We had planned on spending a lot of time in Ocala over the holiday weekend and knew that we would get a lot of great use out of it over the three-day break.  

On Thursday, I was very disappointed to see that the delivery date moved to the Tuesday after Memorial Day.  The speaker had already arrived, but it didn't work with our old record player.  I decided Saturday morning to look online for another system that we could pick up locally.  There weren't a lot of options, but after searching, I finally found the exact same system that I ordered at a Walmart about ten minutes from our home.  They only had one left, so we hurried over to the store after visiting the Ocala Downtown Market.  Not only did they have the record player, but it was quite a bit cheaper than the one from Best Buy.  They had the same speaker at a discount as well.  In the end we were able to listen to our favorite vinyls all weekend long for a $160 less than we would have with the Best Buy purchase.  

That alone made our music sound even better.  

Crazy Cucumber, Heathbrook Square & Gainesville

Since Nick was flying this weekend, Meg decided to spend Memorial Day weekend with us.  She arrived last night and we enjoyed dinner with her at Crazy Cucumber after mass as that is Meg’s favorite restaurant in Ocala.  While we were at Heathbrook Square, we also did some shopping at Old Navy, Home Goods, Marshalls and Barnes & Noble.  Doug offered to pick up cookies from Crumbl while we were there, but Meg really wanted to make her own recipe tonight.  Meg invited Phil over once we got back home and we had a nice evening on the back patio listening to music.

Today, the three of us headed to Gainesville for the day.  Doug and I renewed our membership at Kanapaha Botanical Gardens and despite the heat, we had a nice walk through the bamboo garden.  Meg purchased several fun postcards for her friends and family back home before we left.  Next, we had lunch at Relish.  Out of all of the burger places that we have tried since moving to Florida, it is still our family’s favorite.  The last stop in Gainesville was Swamp Head Brewery.  Meg had never been and liked it a lot more than I thought that she would.  I believe it was because of all of the different types of beers to try and the fun atmosphere.  Either way, I was glad that she enjoyed it as much as we do.  It was a wonderful way to spend our day.

Downtown Ocala

Neither Doug nor I had been to the Ocala Downtown Market since my parents had been here in February.  Thus, we decided to head there this morning and check out all of the vendors.  I don't know if I remembered it differently, but to me it was a lot bigger today with more food trucks, tents and booths.  We first stopped at the vegetable stand so that Doug could pick up some okra and peppers.  While he was waiting to pay, I found a man who made homemade pickles of various flavors.  Doug bought one labeled horseradish with the hope that he would really like the interesting pickle flavor.  Needless to say, he did.  After checking out all of the food vendors, Doug and I then browsed through the arts and crafts booths.  There was a lot of really cut items, but the gnomes dressed in red, white and blue were the ones that caught my eye.  We not only took one home, but also the women's card that made them as I thought that they would make the perfect Christmas gift.  

Once we were done with the downtown market, Doug and I walked to The Big Hammock for lunch. He hadn't been there in quite some time, and I loved their "Admiral Turkey" sandwich.  The food was delicious as always and the Silver Springs decor was nice as well.  Our last stop downtown was Grandpa Joe's.  It has definitely become one of my favorite stores in Ocala.  We purchased a few items before heading back home to wait for Meg to arrive.  I was very glad that we ventured out this morning as it was the perfect way to start a fun, relaxing holiday weekend.  

The Music Man

A couple of weeks ago Meg started watching the music man. She hadn’t seen it in years and only remembered a couple of scenes, so she really wanted to see it again. Meg was absolutely amazed at how much she loved the movie. Professor Harold Hill and Winthrop played by Ronnie Howard were her favorites. She went around singing or listening to the songs for the next week or so. While Meg was listening to the soundtrack, she also noticed that many of those songs were favorites of Grandma Heinisch as well as she used to sing them quite often, especially Pick -a-Little, Talk- a-Little. I didn’t remember that, but Doug could remember her singing "Goodnight Ladies" quite often. Meg talked about the movie so much that Doug and I started watching it as well. It was just as cute as I remembered, and I agreed with her 100% about the two best characters in the show.

While I was at Meg‘s house last week, she said that she would love to get the soundtrack of The Music Man on vinyl. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to find it but knew that it was one that she would listen to all of the time. I started looking on eBay right away and discovered that there actually was a vinyl from the movie. I also saw that there was one from the Broadway musical of the same name that starred Robert Preston as well. That made sense to us as he had originated the role of on Broadway and carried it over to the big screen. I suggested to Meg that we order a copy of the one from the movie and she agreed immediately. I found one for less than $10 and soon it was on our way to our house. 

Once the vinyl arrived, I was so excited to give it to Meg that I didn’t even open the package. Meg took one look at the cover and said "Thanks Mom, I'm super excited, but this is actually from the Broadway musical." I was so disappointed in myself. I I was sure that I had ordered the correct copy but thought that I must have made a mistake. I went back to my orders to see what had happened and realized that the seller had actually sent me the wrong album. I messaged her with the hope that she would still have the other one and quickly got a reply. She said that it was her fault and that she felt terrible. She offered to give me a complete refund and send me the correct album right away. We told her that we didn't need a refund and to just send us the one we wanted.  We would then return the one we received in error as we knew it was a lot more expensive, and we didn’t want her to be out the money. 

Today, the movie version of the Music Man arrived, and I was extremely happy to give it to Meg. There was also a paid postage sticker in the package with a big thank you for returning the one that she sent in error.  I headed to the post office and Meg played the new vinyl right away. I was glad that she was happy, and Doug and I enjoyed listening to Seventy-Six Trombones blaring on her speaker all night long.