ONE MORE MONTH!!! And other bits and bobs...

Mexico, here I come! Feels like a year since I left, and not a very good one at that. I've said it before: I don't know WHY people live in Minnesota. Worst weather anywhere.

My Create Crochet Team wants to know: What holiday am I most looking forward to and why?
Halloween. It will mean I'll be in Mexico. As a child, all holidays were miraculous: family, friends, food, festivities. As an adult? Not so much. Just some mess to clean up, not enough sleep, extra expenses, stress. And as a disinterested and ungifted cook, having to produce copious quantities of food for the masses has to rank right up there with root canals.

It's the ONE small area of discord in my love for our Mexico life. The Pot Luck. Pot Lucks occur at least weekly there. You gather a whole bunch of elderly white folks together and you get pot lucks. I have trouble enough producing meals for the two of us. We more or less just graze at home, whatever and whenever. To conceive and execute an edible entree that's ready at a specific time? Oy. We pass quite often. There are also very frequent Happy Hours, much easier, just snacky things. Take something out of a bag and top it with something out of another bag, or can or carton.

My last day of work is October 4th, then a week of packing/condensing. So yes, looking forward to Halloween, which follows Ron and the grandsons' hunting trip "Up North". Then on to Mexico.

Recent photos!

Dylan's hair, coming out of the tube slide at our RV Park playground. He starts Montessori school this week.

Dylan took this one with my camera. I think he's a natural behind the lens.

He took this, also, of Grampa Ron and Nora. Ron has a new smile, and a white beard.

Went to a Bon Voyage and Birthday party at Caprice and Donny's on Saturday. Linny's moving to Huntington Beach, CA to be a surfer. Max turned 19. Donny made Kebobs. See what I mean about the food? Kebobs, for chrissake. They were amazing!

Donny with his little boy Bryan.

The girls share some of Linny's give-a-ways.

This is Dexter, Max brought him home.












Today's my day off, awake at 2 AM, of course, thunderstorm and yowling cat. VA appointment today. Lots of those pending: in addition to the known issues (spot in lung, bleeding kidneys, hemorrhoid surgery, bayonets in the ear) I have cataracts in both eyes. I'm only 57.

So we're in the home stretch. Feels pretty good, mood is lightening daily.

A Visit From An Old Friend

Oh my, I haven't written for over a month! No wonder, it's been a total zoo. Now that the work shifts are all 8 hours, I'm working 4-5 days/week. We've had the grandbabies for 2 or 3 days in a row a few times. (They wear me out, man!) I have weekly therapy appointments. (It seems I'm depressed.) AND, I had a visit from an old friend!

Kitzie (her sister couldn't pronounce Christine) and I met in kindergarten. We've been friends for 52 years. We lived in each other's homes in Omaha until I was 11,when my dad was transferred to Minneapolis. We don't talk often anymore, which is really SO sad in the age of technology. But in truth, I suppose we no longer have that much in common except for an idyllic early childhood. She and her husband are retired and VERY busy, as are we. It's pitiful that we seem to only see each other for funerals.

Kitzie wanted to see my mom again before she died. Mom has Alzheimer's, and doesn't know me from a lamp, but it meant a lot to Kitzie to see her. They drove up from Nebraska and checked into a nearby motel. I'd just gotten off work, and they came right over. All the intervening years melted away, it was 1960 again and I was happier than I've been in months!

Besides visiting Mom (who really did seem to know there was SOMEONE there to smile at!) we ate out (a lot!), barbequed, went to the Big Mall, the swap meet, sat and looked at the Mississippi River, and played with my grandbabies (and she's indefatigueable with children! She doesn't just push them on the swings, she tickles, pinches, etc. on every sweep!) She sat on a hard rock for 2 hours helping them throw rocks in the river.

Here's some photos: Click on them to enlarge.

My Kitzie

Throwing rocks

River scene, my son with the hair, husband in lawn chair, and Kitzie still throwing rocks. Yes, that's the Mississippi River. It starts just a few hundred miles north, so is still nearly walk-across-able.

Chef Jon

It seemed a big letdown when they left. I miss laughing, and I miss having someone I can tell anything to.

In other news, I'd been thinking for a long time I needed a tiny coffee table for in front of the couch for my drink, ashtray, smokes, book, and a place to put my glasses when I fall asleep. They don't make tiny coffee tables, though. Space in an RV is quite limited. I finally found a really old, primitive table at an antique store for 5 bucks. Whaddya think?

It does crowd us a bit more, but is SO useful. PLUS, my neighbor here at the park decided she needed MORE room and took out one of her chairs. I was eyeing it for the space where MY recliner used to be ("it's in Mexico", familiar refrain...) and one day after work, I found it in my RV! (My agoraphobic hubby does get along well with my single-woman-neighbors on each side of us...I suspect they have cocktails and eat bonbons in their lawn chairs all day long while I'm at work.) It looks great, huh? I just had a folding chair there before.

Yes, the trash can is obtrusive, but necessary. And this is where I sit most of the time:

I'm there right now, can't you see me?

Here are assorted family pics: Nora 2, Gramma's girl. Yes, my hairdresser scalped me, plus told me I'm now 80% white, 20% blond. Great...

 Nora with Grampa Ron

Dylan, 4