Spontaneity

Before I married Layne I was quite an unstructured creature. Spontaneous, I like to call it. I did what I felt inclined to do, rather than follow any kind of actual plan. Then came Layne. He was Mr. Structure himself. He had lists and schedules that were not to be meddled with. That was a learning curve for me. I admired it from afar for awhile, but I couldn't help being influenced by all that planning. Over time I morphed into a girl quite tied to a schedule. I never would have recognized my more structured self in my earlier times. Now my children actually complain that I am not very flexible!

So I hope you will be amazed and impressed when I confess to not just one, but two examples of spontaneity this week. I have been working off of lists and schedules all week. In spite of what I have become in the way of organized, it is hard for me to stick with extreme structure. But this week I did. And I accomplished a lot. Until this weekend. Audrey decided to drive to Brentwood to visit son Reed and family on Saturday. On a whim, I decided to abandon my list and go with her. This is big for me. We spent the afternoon driving and visiting with Reed and Dorothy. It was such fun! I have forgotten how it is to just do something fun on the spur of the moment. There is something about it that generates a bit of excitement and unpredictability. I liked it. Then Ben called and asked me to attend his Sacrament meeting, to watch their 5 children while they both gave talks. Well, I had a schedule that doing that would interrupt. But I went. And took granddaughter Allegra with me. All on the spur of the moment. Again, it was fun, and worth what I didn't get done, for what I did. I loved hearing the kid's talks, in between caring for babes; they are both excellent speakers. We made it home in plenty of time for our own Church meetings. That just goes to show that making time for the people in our lives trumps the stuff in our lives just about every time. I'll get to the stuff in good time.

Layne and I hosted an empty nest Family Home Evening on Monday night. I cooked dinner for everyone and then we had a sweet message from one of our group. I guess I like hosting. I don't even mind the cooking. It was such fun for me to have friends over. The evening was especially sweet because it was warm outside and a full moon lent a lovely glow all over our yard. As folks left, that sweetness enveloped us all. Nature has such gifts to give, if we just notice.

We attended another wedding reception on Friday. One of the latest things at receptions these days, I am told, is a photo booth for guests to use. There was one there, so Layne and I had our pictures taken in a booth much like those we had fun with in former days at fairs and parks. Here you see one of our snaps. Shown also is Mom's dining room set, which she gave to Audrey. Mom has trouble doing that, as I've mentioned before. I'm anxious to show her how her furniture looks in Audrey's space. I hope she'll be pleased.

Mostly Going

Granddaughter Rayne turns 21 in September. We'll be in Colorado when her birthday comes, so she talked me into taking her birthday shopping on Monday. "I've pre-shopped, Gramma, so I know just what I want." How can you refuse such a request? Rayne and I have a tradition of birthday shopping so our shopping trip on Monday was just a continuation of a cherished way of life. Hum. This year we went to Norstrom's rack, a great discount place. Rayne works at Norstroms so we had her convenient employee discount to work in our favor. It is hard to pass up deals on things for some of us. I'm one of those. Rayne found some things and so did I! Everything was discounted, plus we got Rayne's 20% off that. Somehow shopping takes on real pleasure when you get a deal.

Our missionary grandson, Chase, (brother of Rayne) left this past week for the Missionary Training Center, in Provo. Audrey, Cliff, and Rayne drove there with him. It is just a quick drop-off now; no extended good-byes. So their boy is gone for two years. To soften the blow, they drove on to Colorado for a quick bond with my mom and to get her dining room set. She told them they could have it and bring it home anytime they were ready. So they packed up the whole set in the back of their truck and drove back home. Mom is notoriously tight with her things, of which she has many. But she appears to be loosening up a bit. We are kinda thinking that, when she offers to pass on something, we should not waste too much time claiming it. I hope we are right about that. Above all, I want my mom to be happy. Sometimes giving one's things away brings happiness and sometimes feelings of loss. I'm hoping for the happy.

Son Gerald went home. Now it almost feels like he wasn't here. Funny how that works. I find that being here makes Colorado seem far away and being there does the same for here. Are you following my thoughts? I don't like traveling. I've said it before, but for me there is no place like home. But I'm working on liking what comes. And travel is in my agenda. At least for now. So I will take what joy I can from it.

Above is Chase, dressed as a missionary, with his sister, Rayne (the shopper).

Kindred Spirits

Written on Sunday August 15th
It is rare and wonderful when you find a friend that shares your mental track. I have several of those kind of friends; but most are far away. So when the chance for bonding with such a friend comes up, it seems wise to go for it. Since the death of my friend Deb Anderson, my desire to keep up connections with friends has increased. So when friend Pat Green suggested a get-together I worked hard to make it happen. Our plan was to meet in Salt Lake City on my way home from Colorado. Instead I flew to Salt Lake last Monday morning.

Standby is so tricky. I decided to go for the earliest flight even though it was oversold. Amazingly, I got on! You just never know how things will turn out on these flights. Sometimes the full flights are the best ones to try for since other stand-bys often don't come and paying passengers often don't show up. Monday was one of those times. I arrived in the morning with the whole day open for bonding. I felt so blessed! Pat picked me up and we headed for son Gerald's Draper home. It is a lovely place in a lovely setting, and fully stocked. We had the place to ourselves since Ger and family just left it last week. What fun to have a whole house to play in. We talked the days away, and included in our bonding a trip to the house of friends Richard and Karen Winkel. We three girls spent one afternoon huddled in a local restaurant just talking non-stop. Here's the amazing thing; at the end of that time we weren't through! In a good bond, conversation can go on indefinitely. Layne has a hard time understanding this principle, in spite of many efforts to explain it to him.

Thursday morning came very early as I stood by for another oversold early flight home. Guess what. I made that one too! What an enormous blessing my travel has been of late. And to think I don't even like to travel. In this case my traveling companion was a cute girl named Brenda who turned out to be very talkative. So I enjoyed another gab session on the trip home. You could conclude that I must be talked out by now. But I think there is still a little gab left inside yet!

The reason I came home on Thursday is that Gerald was due at our house on that day. He dropped his family and exchange students off at the LA airport and drove to our place so that we could take care of his car. He'll go home sometime this week. It has been wonderful to have him with us. He's a talker. So more bonding has filled my days since being home. He's another kindred spirit for me.

Our whole local family gathered for granddaughter Jacqueline's baptism on Saturday. Son Ben baptized her and I was blessed to speak at the stake ceremony on baptism. It was a fun assignment and I felt good about it. We also spent some time with Ben's in-laws, the Aults. They are a fine couple and I think we could be good friends if they were closer by. So this week has been as full of people connections as I could possibly hope for. My spirit has loved it. But my body is beat.

The top picture is of friends Pat Green (on the left) and Karen Wilkey (on the right). The middle picture shows my three sons: Benjamin, Gerald and Reed. The bottom picture is Ben with his oldest daughter Jacqueline, on her baptism day.

The Joys of Air Travel

I did go on and on about the joy of thunder storms last week, didn't I? This week we discovered the underside of that. My sister Maryanne and hub Bob showed up in Colorado on Wednesday and we headed out for the trip home on Thursday morning, early. I have explained, I think, the challenge of stand-by travel before. We only go if there are empty seats. An early arrival at the Montrose Airport paid off; we got on an early flight into Denver with no problem. But our ease ended there.

It seems that thunder storms had caused the cancellation of a number of flights out of Denver, over several days. So by the time we arrived Thursday morning the airport was loaded with passengers, all hoping that this would be the day they could escape to destinations of all sorts. So every flight into San Francisco was oversold. Ditto every other western destination that we could head for that could eventually get us to San Francisco. Hum. We found ourselves running from gate to gate, hoping that enough passengers would not show up to empty just two seats for us. No luck, until we managed to squeeze onto a flight to Sacramento. The flight from there to SF looked hopeful. Except that once we arrived in Sacramento, that flight was canceled. So we got creative. We decided to take the train. We taxied to the railroad station and got on an Amtrak train for a 2 1/2 hour trip to Fremont. The cost for old folks was just $15 apiece. We qualified, so for a small investment we enjoyed a scenic and comfortable ride that took us closer to home than the airplane trip would have. It was a surprise blessing. So I guess that goes to show that the most frustrating of circumstances can turn surprisingly pleasant.

Grandson Chase had his missionary open house this past Saturday. Family, friends and Church members gathered at our house to wish him well. It was tons of fun. One of our ward emembers made him a cake that was a work of art. It seemed wrong to cut it (but we did!). Check out the accompanying picture and see what you think. It was amazing. Chase gave his missionary farewell talk this past Sunday. He was a good guy and spoke on a religious subject rather than rambling on with various mundane thoughts. He spoke instead on the importance of exacting obedience to the Lord. I was impressed.

You may think that I have enough of air travel. You would be right to think that. But I have committed to friend Pat Green, from Idaho, that I would meet her in Salt Lake for a few days of girl bonding. I never do this sort of thing. But Pat is a kindred spirit with whom good things always happen. So I kept my commitment and once again headed for the airport early Monday morning. That adventure will wait for another blog.












Chase wouldn't give me a decent pose so I'm giving you this
goofy one. Someday he'll be embarrassed. Or maybe not. Here also is granddaughter Allegra, on the left of the girl trio, with two of her Fremont buds.

P.S. Granddaughter Carmen would have been 10 years old today.

Thunder Showers

This past week has been quiet but busy. I've been trying to sort through some of the stuff Mom has stored in her garage and out buildings. Wow, it is renewed in my mind what a burden most stuff is. Mom has saved just about every scrap of paper her hands ever touched. They sit stored in boxes in every structure on this ranch. There is plenty of other kinds of stuff as well. I am thinking that sorting through some of it while Mom is here is a good idea as there are little treasures hidden in the massive amounts of useless stuff that only she can explain. Seeing all of this makes me want to dejunk my own stuff right now.

I've indulged myself a little. I actually had a professional cut my hair. If you know me, you know that this is a rare thing indeed. I usually cut my own hair, with mixed results I admit. But mostly it seems to work OK. But a girl reaches a breaking point every once in awhile. I simply had to let someone who knows what he's doing to do the job. So I went to a well-recommended hair guy on Main street here. As he was beginning to do my hair all the power went off and it didn't come back! So I got a cut and shampoo but no style. Still, the cut is good. I'm amazed what a good cut does for my efforts at styling hair. As it turned out the power was off for quite awhile, all over town and beyond. So, this coming week I'm returning to my hair guy for a styling with every faith that the power will hold. I'm excited and anxious to see how it turns out.

In California there is no summer rain. Our hills and landscapes are "golden" (in other words, dead) as a result. So it is magical to me to experience rain and warm at the same time. This week has been filled with thunder storms. Mom and I have sat on her deck several evenings, watching the storm clouds move in. Lightening flashes in the hills beyond, followed by thunder. We can see the rain in the distance. Then it slowly comes to us, bringing all the excitement with it. Inside we go as the rain begins. Lightening lights up the sky and thunder rattles through the house and booms in our ears as the storm breaks right over us. Pouring rain follows, drenching everything outside. How magnificent! Here is a picture of my mom's driveway and garage in the middle of the downpour. I imagine how beautiful our little spot would be with this kind of summer. I love it here and I would love it there.

Five weeks in Colorado seems like such a long time. But our turn here will be over in just a couple of days. Home we will head for the month of August, then back here again. I have come to love being here. I can lose my sense of home happenings so easily as I involve myself in life here. Caring for Mom feels light and mostly very pleasant. Layne is a good companion and assistant. I almost feel like we are one with those folk who travel between two homes, to follow the seasons. The impact of the events of life depend so very much upon personal interpretation. I'm working on interpreting this time in my life in the best way I can.