Fix-ups, Waterfalls, and Food

Daughter Lise and her friend Toke did lots of things around the house, and I am so pleased and thankful that they did. I didn’t get a photograph of every fix, but here are two.

Base for a low birdbath
Preparing a burn barrel




I had immediate gratification when Toke prepared my new telephone. The old one had bogged down so that I had to manually remove things every other day. He set the new one up and transferred all the apps. I am a happy camper! He also repaired my rolling pin and replaced a broken window blind. There was a learning curve for cleaning the solar tubes, but he and Lise mastered that with my brother’s help. Because son John $ had taken a video of the plumber replacing the water filter, Lise and Toke were able to change it easily. I may not have remembered everything here, but I will notice and be thankful when I pick up a repaired item.

We all like waterfalls, so we shared our favorite, Sunburst, with him. His photos are exquisite.

Toke at Sunburst Falls

For the foodies: We ate at a Mexican restaurant and compared two barbecue joints. Toke enjoyed eating at two Southern diners and tasted collard greens for the first time. I cooked a childhood favorite of Lise’s as well as shrimp and grits. Toke prepared two Danish meatball dishes one day and a Chinese chicken dinner another day. He learned Mandarin and lived in China, so the food was authentic and delicious.

I took a day off and stayed home when they went to Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi River. Lise said the facilities there have been improved since she went years ago. I haven’t been back since son John $ took us before we moved to North Carolina. I saw a couple of Toke’s photos and didn’t miss out completely.

22 thoughts on “Fix-ups, Waterfalls, and Food

  1. Beautiful the photo of Toke at Sunburst Falls. I like. Toke Very well doing work & all repairs. Lise and Toke doing lots of things around the house. Enjoyed Southern diners and tasted collard greens.

    Tack Care ,Anne!

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  2. Anne, This getting older thing can be a nuisance at times. I read your account of Toke & Lise’s fixer-upper efforts, and when I got to the “burn” barrel these old eyes saw “bum” instead of burn. I will spare you the image my mind provided! In the “things we’ve got in common” department, Elizabeth and I have a live-in version of Toke. Our son Jason has been living with us about three months now, and he is a marvelous cook and carpenter. In addition, he’s more equipped to fix household stuff than this old man. A year ago we had visits from a local plumber to locate the source of a whistling noise in our plumbing. They replaced two parts over the course of their “expert” service, neither of which fixed anything. We were still being whistled to death. When Jason looked at the situation it took all of 30 seconds to arrive at the conclusion that the shutoff valve in our hall potty wasn’t closing completely. He said it was worn-out. The local hardware store yielded a new shutoff valve – cost $10. That was a far cry from the $500 expert! We’ve had blessed peace in the hallway for the last three months! I have mentally disposed of the expert plumber’s contact info; I flushed it down our bum barrel.

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  3. Bud keeps my mother up to date. It’s getting to be a challenge for a 77 year old man. I head heer off if it’s too big a challenge for him. She’s 96, so she thinks we’re kids. I’m glad you got some good help. I’ll bet Logan will pick up repairs soon.

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