I’ve been writing. I’m working on the third Sandhill Island novel and as always, I love being back there. It helps to soothe my need for the sea.
But in between bouts of writing, I’ve been working on a project for my writing club.
I am a member of the Enid Writers Club, the oldest writing club in Oklahoma. We’ve been in existence since 1923. No, I haven’t been there the whole time, but I have been a member since 2009. I love this club and the people who are in it, and I want what is best for it. So, to celebrate this momentous achievement we are celebrating for a whole year. The actual date is January 6, 2023, and we will celebrate up to and beyond that date.
The club was founded by Professor RJ Wolfinger of Phillips University. In the years since Professor Wolfinger was teaching on that campus it has been sold to Northern Oklahoma College. My club and I have been in touch with the college and asked about placing a plaque on the campus in celebration of this milestone. And they said yes!
And one thing led to another. We have contracted with noted Oklahoma artist, Nancy Russell, of Alva/Guthrie and she is sculpting a plaque with our logo on it. She presented us with a maquette of the sculpture, and we were so excited! It will hang on the former Phillips University, now NOC, and we will have an unveiling sometime later this year or the beginning of 2023.
We have other plans for the year to celebrate, one being a writing workshop held at St. Matthew’s Episcopal church in October with three outstanding speakers, Rilla Askew, Stephen Jones, and John Biggs. There will be more to come when we have the plans in place.
We’d love to have you help us celebrate as the year goes along. I’ll keep you informed.
What are you reading/writing this week?
This week, following a 50th anniversary celebration, my husband had his third shoulder surgery. Yes, I said third, on the same shoulder—in a year. I guess the older you get the more your body refuses to heal correctly. The surgery didn’t hold the first time. His body reacted badly to surgery the second time and they had to quit before they could finish, and the third time was the charm, we hope. 
June 24, 1972, I married the love of my life at the ripe age of 19. We were broke, living in his parent’s rent house, with a baby on the way and no idea what to do with it. But we persevered. 
Then after our freshman year of college we married. The baby came much too quickly, and we were both terrified. But she soon taught us all we needed to know about how to parent her. Four and half years later we did it again—this one a boy.
It’s Father’s Day and since I wrote about my husband’s days as a father last year, this year I’ll talk about my dad.
He hired on at Vance AFB in 1960 to teach maintenance. He spent some time in Houston with NASA as Director of Aircraft Maintenance. Then later returned to Vance and retired in 1989 after becoming the Director of Aircraft Maintenance for them. 
(I’m the middle kid in front of him). 
Toward the end of his life, in the hospital for heart surgery while my mother suffered with lung cancer and chemo, his dementia increased. His doctor smilingly told me Dad thought he had once worked for NASA. I informed the doctor that the frail old man in the chair who couldn’t remember what he ate for breakfast that day did work for NASA and that was the one thing he still remembered. It was the highlight of his life—next to his family.
It’s been an uneventful week. I like those now and then. Next Sunday is Father’s Day and the following is a milestone anniversary for my husband and me. Fifty years—and they said it wouldn’t last!
Several years ago, my aging neighbor across the street brought me some strawberry plants in a three-pound coffee can. He could grow anything, and they were overrunning his little area where they were planted. I was excited to grow strawberries in the front flower bed. They lasted a year and fed the birds. I was not a successful strawberry farmer.
My husband should be having a third shoulder surgery soon. We’re waiting on a date. We had a well dug and a sprinkler system installed and waiting on sod for the back yard. We’re having a 50th wedding anniversary this year and a short trip planned. Such is the life of retirees. I remember my parents went to south Texas in their motorhome to stay for the winter and had many adventures. Our retirement seems to pale in comparison to theirs.
I mentioned last week my husband is looking at another shoulder surgery. To say the least we’re not looking forward to it. It’s not his first and we know what he is up against.
My husband had shoulder surgery this year and is looking at another. He is not happy with the idea of being incapacitated and so we work together on the yard work. 
Peggy Chambers "Views from the Hammock" site 