12 Oakdale

Out to visit Mary, who says she is doing well. Ryan is still in a hotel somewhere in the Mideast. I’ve brought my sketching and paint supplies, a scarf I’m remaking, and our computer so I can update the Bloom and Grow PowerPoint.  The week’s project, in my mind, is to get all of the school supplies currently in piles on the living room floor stored so they are accessible. I always forget to take a ”before” photo. Mary had made great progress by sorting things into piles. So many markers, so many crayons. Just way too much for what shelves are available. Long term: items not used will be moved on. Short term: get things into the upstairs storage room with distribution TBD.  Well, finding the mouse and her nest certainly helped our decisions to throw stuff away. After 6 days of plodding away, going through the garage moved to the top of list. A full van of items donated, and a full garbage can thrown away. Thank goodness I looked in the cubby with the stuff from Ryan’s old car. ...

It is 25° at our house. I fear for our bananas, but have done all I can do with watering. Now time will tell if they survived. No trimming for a month to see any green shoots. I am in California, visiting Mary for a week. Grant is home, managing plants. He moved the potted ones deemed cold-intolerant into the garage and put sheets over my bat plant. The vegetable beds are on their own. All of the native plants should be fine.  This our third round of cold weather, but the previous 2 only got down to the mid-30’s. This is the coldest winter we have had since we’ve moved to Windermere. I wore the sweater I made years ago from yarn  Betsy brought me back from their scouting trip to Australia in 1985. Grant is also caring for the turtles. Yes, plural. A couple of weeks ago, we got Robert, a 21yo box turtle from Matt, whose wife died 5 years ago. Matt decided time to re-home Robert and put a Free notice in our Nextdoor app. I fell for it. Robert is more red than William, so I don’t...

I have almost recovered from the 5 days I spent with Mary on Pacific Daylight Time. I flew out Wednesday and returned Monday. Except for this Thursday morning, when my 6:00 alarm woke me up for EarlyBird Toastmasters, I’ve been dragging myself out of bed after 7:00. Gracie is displeased with her late breakfasts. Besides seeing Mart et al and their new house at Camp Pendleton, I went because I’d scored the opportunity to buy 5 tickets to the Savannah Bananas in their online lottery. When I entered it, back in the spring, I’d chosen Petco Park in San Diego as preferred venue. All good, because we were able to ride the Coaster train from Oceanside, then change to the trolly to the stadium. Next time I come, I may just use public transportation from the airport to their place. In any case, the Bananas were fun. We arrived about 2:30 after having lunch at the Hasta Mañana Cantina, chosen because they had 6’ bananas out front. When they heard we were going to the game, they gave Bella and Re...

Monday, after taking Peg’s truck to not 1, but 2 mechanics to find out why the check engine light kept coming on, she and Betsy arrived in time for dinner, still not sure what the problem was. I had made the lentil salad we’ve enjoyed, this time with the suggested radicchio, and a lemon pie using the can of cocoanut cream left in the fridge when Spaulding came and made piña coladas. Both delicious, although I’m unlikely to recycle the pie recipe. Key lime is still our favorite. They had been up in Gainesville, organizing more of Jen’s things, so Barton can decide what to do with them when he is ready. The other project was building a cat-proof fence in the backyard so his kitties can spend outdoor time. I’m sure the cats are grateful.  Tuesday, we dropped Betsy at the airport for her many-hour trip home, via Atlanta and LAX. So glad to have so much time with her, so very sad to say goodbye. Visiting next year is on my agenda, even as I keep looking at a Nile River cruise. That even...

Dang, I forgot to pack my pajamas. My legs were cold at night, so I woke up enough to find my long socks. At home, I would have clicked on my electric mattress pad and enjoyed a full-body heated experience. We’ve put away the flannel sheets, but decided the one-touch warmth was good for all our aches and pains. Such luxury. Tomorrow night, I’m putting the extra blanket on the bed. I was able to come on my planned visit because Trish and Paul so kindly accepted my offer of a free Florida vacation. Grant is getting around just fine with his walker. He was able to cook bacon to add to the Cobb salad I’d left him when I went to a garden club event a week after he fell. Just needs the right motivation. Now 3 weeks in, he would have been fine home alone, but it was nice to have time for a long visit with his sister and bil. This will be the longest Grant has gotten to see them since 1989, when we rented a house together at the beach in North Carolina Outer Banks. Bella and I are committed to...

We decided to go on our planned trip to visit Mary even though she and Bella had been sick with A H3 influenza, and Remi was coming down with it. Mary developed pneumonia and was exhausted.  Crossing our fingers that the germs would be gone by the time we arrived. Fortunately, everyone seems on the mend. They all still coughing, and Mary is frustrated that she has no energy and is very short of breath. I have resisted (somewhat) telling her, “I told you that pneumonia takes a long time to recover from.” Mostly I try to reinforce that she should give her self a break, literally and figuratively. She is being pretty good about resting. Of course, her impulse to do too much (genetic or environmental?) comes up. Shortness of breath tamps it down.  Ash on the car To add insult to illness, the Border Fire is raging away about 10 miles east, and ash is raining down at their house. I think we are safe, but we encouraged Mary to put important papers in a suitcase, have som...

Saturday, Remi opened my door at 6:30 AM and said it was time to get ready for Brick or Treat at Lego Land. Yes, we were going; no, not that early. Thankfully the rest of the turtles moved slowly, and we arrived there about 10:30. The regular parking lot still had spaces in the first row, reinforcing Mary’s decision not to pay more for the preferred spaces. I had been there 25 years ago for Patten’s 10th birthday, the year this theme park opened. Our whole California vacation of renting an RV was arranged around his spending his birthday at Lego Land. We’d flown into Reno, spent a week in Lassen National Forest with the rangers on an archaeological project, driven through Camp Pendleton, camped backed up to the ocean at Carlsbad State Park, and investigated tide pools. What we hadn’t planned on was his coming down with chicken pox. A phone call to our pediatrician confirmed my diagnosis.  We decided to stick to our plans. Just breaking out and probably at his most contagious, Patte...

Easy flight to San Diego, upgraded to first class, with me in a window seat on the front row, and Grant back in the last. A chance for me to see if the bulkhead seat makes me claustrophobic. Wouldn’t be my first choice, but an upgrade is an upgrade. Welcome to the fun chaos of a household with 2 active children. Grandma, grandma, grandma. Music to my ears. I had written to the San Diego Audubon Society for birding ideas, and Peter answered with a suggestion of the Tijuana Estuary, a place to see ridgeway rails.  At the crack of mid morning, we were there. Little legs didn’t move very fast or cover much ground. After a while, Grant, toting the scope, offered to sit on a bench with Remi while Bella and I walked to the end of the path. She and I saw great egrets, black-necked stilts, a peregrine falcon kiting in field, and more, but no rails. We were assured by a woman we met, they were there, including some chicks. I was skeptical we’d see one since rails are notoriously shy. Yet, af...

What I assumed to be allergies while we were in California turned out to be colds. Both Bella and Remi were coughing but with no other symptoms. Either they were sick, or maybe we picked up a bug from the flight attendant on our airport shuffle who was complaining of a head cold. I wanted to say, “Lady, no one wants to hear that. Complain of a sinus infection, if you have to say anything.”  In any case, my sinuses filled up, and I joined the TB ward brigade, hacking and wheezing away. On Tuesday, after Ryan’s overnight shift, we drove out to Anza Borrego State Park, a 90 minute drive up and over the mountains. Going there and coming back just about did me in. A bunch of the snot in my nose drained down to my stomach, so in addition to my sinus headache, I was nauseous. Delightful.  But it was worth it. The rocky scenery looks like pebbles in a stream, but house-sized. I guess the remnants of glacial action? We saw a wild turkey crossing the road on the way. The desert flowers ...