Radiating Beauty

We've been home a week. It's funny but being home just a day makes me feel that I've been there for a much longer time. Today we are back in Colorado and it feels like we never left. We've attended the temple twice; a very good feeling. One of my friends from there sent me a sweet e-mail message, where she told me that I "radiate beauty". I thought that such a sweet thing to tell me!

We spent our week cleaning the house and working in the yard. I have complained before that we are surrounded by dirt. I'm getting tired of brown all

around. It seems to take such a long time to get things established sufficiently to support plant life. There are a number of things working against growing things here. One is the almost continual wind. I believe that could be solved with trees, especially evergreens that shied from the ground up. Layne is against evergreen trees but I'm hoping to wear him down. The second problems is clay soil. We are in the process of mixing good stuff into the soil to soften it, but that takes time. The third problem is water; ours is full of boron and salt. Most plants don't like that much. So we have installed cisterns to catch the rain water.
That'll help quite a bit for some of the plants. Others are tolerant of
our water. It is trickly to get the right plants in the right places. So we haven't; at least not yet.

We have been busying ourselves getting the front yard ready for planting. The guys have finished the walk-ways and I am building a dry creek bed. I'm hoping to create something that will "radiate beauty". It curves nicely and I'm now filling it with the many stones that lie about the ground all over this place. They are quite pretty so I think they will look lovely. The days at home have been hot! As I worked on the creek, the heat was almost overwhelming. I even found myself sweating! That is something for me. In fact, for two days I could not stop sweating. Layne found it quite attractive!Here is the progress on the dry creek bed.

Friday night we had the pleasure of attending a special, fund-raising, golf tournament, sponsored by our investment company, Valentine Wealth Management Corporation. They found out about Carmen and donated some of the funds from the golf tournament to the family for Carmen. What a marvelous evening! Isn't it wonderful to see how good-hearted people are. It makes me feel so good about the American people; we are a caring bunch, for the most part. Reed spoke at the dinner following the tournament and was very well received. Many approached us after the celebration to meet Carmen and offer various forms of help. How inspiring to be among such giving people. We met and bonded with many of the Valentine family, especially the young daughter of John Valentine, Alexis. She was Carmen's age and sought her out. She talked to Carmen and hung around until our shy girl opened up and they formed a sweet bond. "Meet my new best friend", Alex told us. How sweet it was, for all of us.

We found a bed and a chair for Mom on Craig's List. Both are in good condition and do more things than the items mom is now using in her house. So I'm hoping that she will feel comfortable when we bring her home in November. Ah, it's good to be home! I love our home, it embraces me. There are easy visits to be had with family as well. I love it here!

We arrived back in Colorado yesterday, where we found Mom to be in good condition and functioning better than when we left. I have mentioned her lack of sparkle in previous writings but now understand that her stroke has caused her emotions to "flatten". Apparently, strokes on the right side commonly have that effect on people. She shows little emotion now and I miss it. I miss the mom that used to be even though I still enjoy her as she is now. But I miss the passion.

Pictures above are of Allegra on the left top and Layne on the right top. Family bonding is happening at the kitchen table.

Come on Little Hand

Layne and I have just spent another week with mom, who continues to make progress. With Physical, Occupational and Reading therapists and bathing aids coming regularly, mom is being stimulated and cared for effectively. Here she is at left trying hard to read all the way to the right of the page; one of her greatest challenges. On the right you see her exercising her legs. She is becoming more animated and taking more and more of an active role in exercising her right side, especially her right hand, which is still unresponsive. But she is working it gently and talks to it by saying "come on little hand, move!" She doesn't seem to be discouraged at the challenges before her; she just keeps trying. It is paying off.

My cousin Michael came to Cedaredge while we were there. He has an old house in town. He brought his girlfriend Rose along. He visited with us one day and stayed for 6 hours! We had a great visit. We spoke a little about God; he considers himself an agnostic. As we discussed the creation of the world I agreed that it could have happened by chance through evolution but it was far more likely that the wonder of the life on this earth was created by an intelligent force. He had to agree. I cannot understand why the scientific view of the creation must conflict with the idea of creation by God. Can He not use scientific methods? I believe He does. Anyhow, I felt that our conversation offered me a chance to express my faith in God in a way that Michael might consider. He has a good heart but has lived a life that has not made him happy, in my opinion. We spent many hours in philosophical conversation when we were young. He seems now to have given up his idealism and lost himself in the pursuit of things; especially properties. They are his babies. He cares for them and has trouble letting them go. I hope he is still in Colorado when we return in a week.

Mom has agreed to come home with us for the winter! I'm excited about that. Layne suggests that we rent a small trailer and bring her bed and chair with us when we drive home with her in November. I think that is a good idea. My mind is filling with ideas for making our space here fit her needs. I believe we can have a good experience with her and that she will enjoy her time on our little hill.

Speaking of little hills, Cliff has laid the groundwork for our front yard pathways. I like it! Soon the guys will get the stone in place and we can add plants. Things don't grow easily here. I hope we can get the hang of making a furtile field out of our surrounding grounds. Layne refuses to be frustrated by this challenge. He just keeps on trying things until he finds a system that works. I love that quality in him (it is generally contrary to my own!).

Our trip home from Colorado on Saturday was an adventure. We flew from Montrose to Denver without any problem. In Denver we found that every flight west was oversold! Fortunately the airport offers free internet service so we used my laptop to access the United web page and searched every flight out of Denver that could possibly connect us to a flight into San Francisco. We wound up in Pheonix! Layne discovered that the flight to Pheonix was wide open. The SF flight out of Pheonix was also wide open. We took a leap of faith and it worked! It took us all day but we made it home Saturday evening.

It is always good to be home. I feel such peace here. The house is organized just right to serve our needs in great comfort and convenience. I'm grateful for it. This crazy time of flitting back and forth between Colorado and here is a bit jarring. I am beginning to feel confused about what is here and what is there. I'm glad we will be bringing mom home with us for awhile.

The Social Bug

Colorado is cooling down. Layne and I are here caring for mom again. We arrived last Thursday just as Maryanne was leaving for her home on the train. The nights are cool but the days are still warm. The skies change by the minute with occasional rain to add beautiful variety. As I look out from mom's deck the view is full of living beauty, in every direction. Colorado is a nurturing place. Cedaredge has fostered our Kiser family for over 100 years. We have deep roots here! The picture above was taken today just as the sun was going down. Note the foxtail is highlighted by the setting sun. Mom hates foxtail!

Mom looks good. She is functioning much better than she was during our last visit. She is such a resilient girl. We took her to a concert in the park, on Main St. She came alive. She is such a people girl. Interaction with people is her source of energy; she gets high on it. We took her to Church today, for the first time since the stroke. Tons of members came up to her and welcomed her. It was a great experience. She really enjoyed it. She doesn't seem to get tired when she is socializing.

We had a steak dinner tonight, followed by peach pie. Yum. Mom has a fine appetite, as has, unfortunately, Layne and I. We eat very well here. Mom's life is full of activity; she has various therapists coming almost every day. In between I work her, so she is getting lots of action. Her right hand is still unworkable but she can now move her arm and is feeling some nerve shots up her arm when her hand is moved. I take that as a good sign that her brain is beginning to wake up and notice that there is a hand there. It is interesting to see how her brain works to regain awareness and function on the right side. It responds to demand. So we are trying to demand that it acknowledge the right side's parts. It is starting to!

The picture of Layne was taken right after Sunday dinner. Doesn't he look satisfied?

Mom and I read the scriptures together for awhile today and had a great discussion on various meanings and interpretations of some of the verses. She is very good at such things and has intelligent opinions. She isn't as talkative as she was before the stroke; she must be prodded to converse. I miss her free offering of ideas and opinions. Perhaps it will return in time.

Layne and I will be here until Saturday. I'm looking forward to it. Here is a picture of mom on Sunday. She has her Sunday duds on and is offering us her current version of smiles.

Home news

Layne and I have been home from Colorado for over a week. There's been lots of activity around here. I took Rayne and Carmen both birthday shopping. Rayne choose clothes, of course. We shopped her favorite store, Forever 21. It was full of young gals, loud music and plenty of cleavage. But I'm happy to say that Rayne bucks the trend with beautiful modesty. She will be 19 tomorrow! She's working at Norstrom now and loves it. She'll return to school in January.

Carmen has been 8 for a month now but we have been gone so the birthday shopping trip had to be put off. She was willing to wait, so we had fun choosing some fun stuff at the store of her choice, Target. Carmen is looking better and better. Saturday the 6th was a special day for her and for Reed, who turned 36! Carmen was baptized on Reed's birthday. Alexis turned 5 on that day as well. Here are some snaps of Carmen on her baptism day, with her folks. I got to speak at the baptism and used a story Layne told me about his dog, Rusty. Rusty's experience provided a neat little metaphor for sin and cleansing.

This past Sunday all the local family met at our place for a birthday celebration for Reed and Rayne. It is always fun to have everyone together. Tomorrow Layne and I will return to Colorado for a bit more than a week.

Mom turns 91

On September 3rd, mom turned 91. Layne and I were home and she was with Maryanne. Mar prepared an array of goodies and invited many of her friends to drop by sometime during the day. Mar reports that friends filled her day with their visits and wishes. She was a happy girl. She is a "people person", you know, and gets high on interaction with friends. It sounds to me like Maryanne did an outstanding job of honoring her on her special day. Wish we had been there.