Happy new Year Everyone!

Fresh Air, Fresh Hair

 At last the ever present smoke has gone. We finally got some rain and many of the smaller fires are out or at least tamped down. After several dry months the first rain was an actual record breaking day long dump. No moderation here.  Last night we had our first freeze. We can see the foothills of the Blue Mountains from here and they are quite white down past the tree line. Feels like it happened fast. Making up for lost time maybe. 

Started cooking soups and muffins again. I opened my last freezer bag of local blueberries and this was on top. Must be some kind of record. I plunked it on top of my oatmeal ala the cherry on top. Then I made blueberry muffins.

Life is semi-ordinary for now. I am glad to accept that.  My Great-grandson will be one year old this Sunday. That went fast. He is walking now but if he's in a hurry he's down on all fours breaking land speed records. Did I say he is very cute. Again.

I finally got a haircut, the first in two years. I feel like a new person which in my opinion is what a haircut is supposed to do. It was shoulder length but it's not as thick as it used to be and has taken on the texture of dandelion fluff. I like the color, its a natural streaky gray, white and silver, used to be a streaky mixed blond. But the best thing is the woman who does it all. The senior center here, after a long covid hiatus, has reopened the salon. Affordable haircuts, pedicures, manicures etc. from the very personable woman, Teresa, who was there before. Lovely, someone to cut my toenails when my back refuses to cooperate. And I really like her.

My sisters are faring "ok" with mixed results. The second one with advanced dementia still has days when she sounds ok, but then there are those phone conversations with the stories repeated three times. But at least I can talk to her. My third sister is highly offended and angry with her diagnosis and cancelled all her appointments with the geriatrician. I can understand;  the appointment was made without notifying her and they sent a note to her telling her to bring her "guardian" in with her. Um, she is not under guardianship. I think if it were me I would not have gone either. Most telling, her husband thinks they mishandled it and he used to be a manager at that hospital. Sister four, my youngest sister by 20 years is teaching her last year as a fourth grade teacher and caring for her husband when needed. He is receiving chemo for stage four metastic cancer. He is still working between chemo sessions and she has a very supportive team at her school so she is able to take time off to accompany him to his appointments and stay home with him when things get rough. Any prayers you can offer would be welcome.

I am currenting reading my pile of Anne Lamott books. She has a lot to say about accepting and moving through the life that we've been given. Not preachy, just an example of accepting of our own whiney shortcomings and moving through it. This week I am working on seeing myself as loving and kind. Also I am working on forgiving other people. I'm pretty good but I still have a "list." I have a ways to go there.  I'm 80 and I don't want to carry that load of s--t through what is left of my time here.  

Love and Hugs everyone.

Fall

An autumn tree in the Fort Walla Walla Museum pioneer village. Not my photo. I'm still hiding inside and avoiding the wild fire smoke that is parked on top of us. I hope to get out tomorrow and get some photos of my own. It was pointed out to me that those KN95 masks many of us have are really good at filtering out smoke particles. Jupiter was right next to the beautiful full moon but you can't see the planet here because of the smoke. The Hunter's Moon by name. Amazing, even with the smoke it's so big and bright it seems like I could touch it.

A less happy note. Two of my sisters now have dementia. What I said when I heard the news is not repeatable. I'm the eldest sister and it's my next youngest sister, who is 78, who has rapidly expanding Alzheimer's. In six months she's gone from losing things to not knowing her TV remote from her phone. I knew she was forgetful but it worsened rapidly. I had a long telephone talk with my nephew discussing options. She is still living alone but only three blocks from him. He's been handling her life business for months now. He got her a credit card with a small limit so she can still shop some but not over do it. She once ordered a pile of stuff from QVC and didn't recall doing it, nor did she want any of it. He asked her to come live with him but she's refusing. Her doctor thinks she needs to be in a memory care facility. She still drives but she recently thought her driver's license has expired but she drives anyway which is her lifelong M.O. She managed to shut off the power to her garage so she can't get the door up and the car out anymore which enabled the conversation about whether or not she should be driving.

Last week my 71 year-old sister was told she had dementia and was referred to some kind of a geriatric clinic. I am gob smacked. Neither of our parents had dementia. Nor any of our aunts and uncles.  Neither do I. My youngest son told me I was just my usual oddball self but I got tested after the 2nd sister's news and his assessment was correct thankfully. He said he wished I would forget some things.😁

More upbeat, the new son in my son's household seems to be doing OK so far. He's next on the list for a learner's permit. He'll be 16 soon.

Go out tonight and check out the moon. 💙

 

Birthday and New Beginnings

The weather is still in the 80's but not the suffocating heat we had all summer. I watered my patio plants twice a day but still wasn't certain they would make it. With the cooler weather my lavender burst into bloom again. It smells wonderful and I am so surprised. I was about to give up and prune it for the season.

Then my Geranium staged a comeback. Not quite as fabulous as the lavender but enough for me. 

Today is my eldest son Chris' birthday. He passed the 50 mark. Our family dinner last night was his birthday party. Again I failed to do photos, too busy talking. However, he got two desserts a delicious lemon cake and some brownies that I made. 

The family party was made larger by one more person. My youngest son Dave and his wife (with the nine assorted kids) who both said "no more" changed their minds and now added an almost 16 year-old boy to the family. He's been homeless over year since his remaining parent abandoned him. He's been going from shelter to shelter ever since until the foster system caught up with him. Foster homes are really scarce in our State even more so for teenagers. The boy is a sweeet kid who some how has managed to keep up with his studies for the last two years, which is pretty impressive in itself. The two 16-year olds in the house have taken him under their wing(s). After the five eldest left you can believe there are spare bedrooms and now the new boy has his own room. There won't be any photos or names, the State would get their panties in a bunch and then there is the issues of the boy's privacy. I like him, the other kids like him. I think it's a great match. He and my son sat on the sofa after dinner looking at the same thing on their phones and chatting about it. He's starting to smile. 💓

Happy Fall Equinox

Well drat! I got half a post written and managed to erase all of it except one letter. I was nattering on about all my grandkids going back to school. Let me see if I can redo it. Sigh. Oh yes, the 11 and 10 year-olds are back in school so my park walking, movie watching companions are busy. Although I did take them overnight on a Friday night a week ago and had a movie marathon. 

The newly minted 16 year-olds have their new driver's licenses are busy now too. No, They are not twins. One is adopted and their birthdays are one day apart. My youngest son who (in high school) swore he would never have kids) has three home grown ones and six adopted ones. Ha ha ha. Four years ago he saw a shiny black used Chevy truck for a good price (no good prices now) and it ran well. I tried to talk him into letting me buy it. He saved it for the two now 16 year-olds to drive. He thought, as did I with his brother and he, that wrapping the new drivers in heavy metal might save their precious bodies from damage in an accident. The truck I bought my sons was kind of a beater but this one is a beauty and I think I'd be temped to speed along in it, radio on, windows down, omg. My inner child is 16 unless she's 10. 

I am so glad the 100+ degree days are gone. Fall is my favorite season. My eldest was born in October. We camped at Mt. Helen's three weeks before he was born, long before it erupted. It was a beautiful park. And so quiet all the tourists had gone home. And fall was when we got new clothes for school. I still buy myself new undies in the fall. 😁 I will try to get a photo of the park pond here when the trees change color. But right now I am having trouble getting my photos to download so until I figure that out I will quit for now. Maybe it's time to take myself for a walk in the park. 💓

Just found this, not my photo. Belongs to the Whitman Mission National Historic site. Fresh today. This is about 7 miles out of town. I love walking there as well.

Still Standing

I haven't posted in quite awhile. After two+ years of social isolation my urge to write sort of evaporated. I have some of those underlying conditions that dictated staying inside. Our weekly family dinners went on hiatus and I began having my groceries delivered. Now things have loosened up. My whole family from elders to baby (and all vaccinated but one) caught Covid. I've escaped it so far but my daughter-in-law's younger brother, the unvaxxed one, died from it. On Christmas Eve. Only 43 and left a young family behind. He was a great young man, loving family guy and an artist. It will be a long time before Christmas will be quite what it was before.

I'm lining up an appointment for my fifth booster, the combo shot along with the usual flu shot.

I celebrated my 80th birthday on St. Paddy's Day dining out with my son and his wife at a new fancy steak house here. It was delicious and I was thrilled. And, I'm a Great-grandmother now. This little sweetie was born last November and just turned 10 months old. He's pulling himself up and trying to walk.  Hard to believe my youngest son David is now a Grandfather. I was there the first time he held this little guy and he had tears in his eyes. Things are not well with baby's Mom though and our baby is being adopted by my Dave's eldest daughter. He so surrounded by people who love him.

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During this long period on my own I've been reading a lot, especially about aging. I've been lucky, I have some health things that may do me in but that's hardly novel. The sad part is seeing friends and family off into the great beyond. My Dad used to refer to himself as "the last man standing" after our Mom and most of his friends had died. Now I see what he meant. His doctor told him he was depressed and tried to give him an RX for that. He refused, he told the doctor he was depressed his whole life and had managed fine with it. And he had, he had a PHD in Biology, a good career, a loving family, pretty much everyone liked him. He wasn't fibbing about the depressed part, the family all knew. He was a good guy, loving and overly responsible.

Dad grew up very poor, as did our mother. She spent a lot of time trying to get him to not be so grim. When she died he was really lost. For the next 8 years. Then he had a heart attack.  He, who lived in Portland, OR, called me who lived 300 miles away not my sisters who all lived in town. I've never really figured out what he was thinking but I had two phones at the time, landline and cell, and I called for help and called the desk in the place he lived to get their nurse in there. Then I called my sisters. I did speed racer to the hospital and I got see him. What he had could be surgically repaired but he refused. He asked the staff to send us home. At 3AM my sister woke me to tell me the hospital had called and he was gone. I know there are those who would not agree with this, but we are Dad's kids and all feel that what little control you have over dying should be your own. I went home and rewrote my medical instructions. My mother felt the same. She died of emphysema and had a DNR over her bed and said maybe she should put it on her chest with permanent marker. But why did he call us, because he'd been in pain for four days (OMG) and couldn't take it anymore. He needed pain control, comfort. 

This is longer than I intended and went somewhere I hadn't expected. I'm thinking about old age; a brand new Great-grandson, most of my grands launching themselves into new lives, and the burden of seeing friends and family die. Can I live to see baby out of high school?  Probably not, but  maybe the 10-year olds. And I've seen three really beautiful weddings this year. My Grandgirl Mya got married New Years Eve in the Pavilion at the Fairgrounds and it snowed. 

Blessing everyone. 💓

I Need to Get Out More Covid or Not

 

Won't match my bathroom decor but I have a son who would love it.  In my opinion they hung the toilet paper incorrectly ha ha ha. 

Since Covid began I feel as though I have been living alone in a cave for the better part of two years due to my age and the usual "underlying conditions." Early on we called off  our Tuesday night family dinners. We are dining together again.  We are all doubled vaxxed and boosted except for the 10 year-olds who have just recently started their rounds. They are home schooled so their exposure is less. After my second vax I started shopping up my own groceries again. I really like picking out my own fruits and veggies. And I went to a few movies with my sons and many grandkids. 'Shang-Chi." I am an uncurable Marvel fan. Plus, among others it starred Tony Leung Chui-wai, one of my favorite actors. I think he was worth the price of a ticket. We have one theater here and you can reserve your seats and they are filling only every other row.  Our town's national covid rating per the New York Times is very high. Yesterday's tally was 175 new cases in our town of about 30,000.  It's been 200-250 for weeks. The good news is that though the ICU is quite full here no one has died in quite awhile. So I am taking the 10 year-olds, Ella and Jacob, to their fencing classes Sunday. I will mask up and keep my distance and take pictures. Their father calls it their "stabbing class." 

Tuesday was the Lunar New Year so we ordered out for Chinese food and got little red fortune cards and some other related decor and we really had a fun time.  Everyone wanted to read their fortune out loud and it caused a lot of laughing. Laughing is good. My almost 3 month-old great-grandson was awake and went from lap to lap around the table and now he laughs when everyone else does.  This is my son the newly crowned Grandpa (also the father of the "stabbers") with his grandbabe.

Stay well everyone.  Stay kind. Hugs you all.