A California Thanksgiving

I feel like I am in a fertile field of love and friendship.  Every day we spend here puts us in the way of people that we have known and loved for many years.  It is wonderful to remember that we have a history!  This past week has brought us several happy encounters with family and friends.

My theory in dealing with grown children is basically to keep my mouth shut, unless invited to give advice or suggestions.  I am trying to give only what is asked for, and only in small doses.  I feel like I can look at my children and grandchildren and see much more clearly now what mistakes I have made and what can be done to avoid them with grandchildren.  But I rarely speak of it.  I think that advice is generally poorly received unless requested or presented in the most positive light.

We did some family sealings at the Oakland Temple on Wednesday with Audrey and Cliff.  Our grandchildren, Scott and Allegra provided the names!  I was surprised to see that the Christmas lights were up, BEFORE THANKSGIVING!

I don't mean to suggest that I feel my grandchildren are poorly cared for.  On the contrary, I feel quite joyful about the parenting they are receiving and grateful that the older ones seem to be turning into such good, quality people.  So I have great hopes for the future of our Galbraith, Gendreau and Adams-Hart children.  I am trying to discover what it is that I can contribute to their welfare and have decided that, perhaps, my efforts should center around building family ties through family history, and building patriotism by giving them information about the principles of freedom.  And spending time with them and loving them too, of course.

We had a sweet connection with our Sunol neighbors, Bev and Ernie Trutner.  They are buying a home in Sonoma, which we visited with them this week.  Ernie is having all sorts of health problems and it saddened me to see his struggles.  He is a vibrant, muscular man with a heart of gold.  But he is having problems with balance and prostrate cancer.  He uses a walker now and cannot lift anything.  It is hard to see him diminished, but I have hopes that his condition will improve.  I know it is the time of life for physical decline but it is still hard to see, and harder to anticipate.  The spirit within me still says, "no, not me; I'm not going there."  But I suppose I will.  And I suppose that I will accept what must be.

I helped Jessica rearrange and reorganize the girls' bedroom on Monday.  It was such fun and I think they all liked the results.  We rearranged but didn't finish the reorganization of things.  But the groundwork was laid.  On Wednesday I made 5 pies with the BJ kids for Thanksgiving.  Jess' parents, John and Judy Ault, were there.  I really like them.  When we talk we blend.

Thanksgiving was at Ben and Jessica's.  All the local kids came so the house was packed.  But it was fun to be all together in a blend of chaos and cheer.  It is not hard to give thanks in such happy circumstances.  Everyone contributed to the food, which was abundant and delicious.  Afterward there was a pleasant lingering.  I am so GRATEFUL!

Our Thanksgiving table at Ben and Jessica's home in Palo Alto.  Layne, Cliff, Rayne and Audrey are on the left.  Ben sits at the head of the table (phone in hand), Dorothy is next to him.  The empty place is mine.  Jessica's mom, Judy, is on the right.  Not seen is her husband, John, and Jessica, on the end.  Kids were at another couple of tables.

Ben is serving up his homemade ice cream for Thanksgiving dessert (along with the pies).  His youngest, Victoria, is "helping."

I'm anticipating another wonderful week of bonding and performing in the Nutcracker.  Then we will be homeward bound.  Christmas is in the air!


Grandson Vincent (son of Reed and Dorothy) is playing in a marching band during  small parade on Saturday.  It was such fun to see a hometown parade, supported by lots of onlookers.  It was short but full of lively, good spirits.  We loved it.

A California Escape

It was cold, and the yard was full of snow when we drove out of Idaho on our way to California.  It is that time of year when our commitment to performing in the Nutcracker, on Temple Hill in Oakland, brings us back to California.  We left a week earlier than planned to attend our grandson, Scott's, farewell.  He's going to Thailand.  The Idaho roads were snow packed and slushy when our trip began.  But as we progressed into Oregon the bad weather cleared and our drive became pleasant and full of sunshine.  I was hoping that we would use the 11 hour drive to record some of Layne's life story.  I've been bugging him to write it so we can share some of his adventures with the grandchildren.  I had my computer in hand for this golden opportunity.  But he would have none of it.  When he is driving he prefers silence.  So he can concentrate.  This is yet another example of our differences, which I'm trying to celebrate.  If I were doing the driving, I would like stimulating conversation, lively music, or a good story to listen to.  But that's me.  So we enjoyed some small talk, enjoyed the views and munched our way to Audrey's and Cliff's home in Mountain House.  We got there in plenty of time for dinner.


Here we are with grandson Scott, who entered the Missionary Training Center on November 19th.

California cannot be beat for beautiful weather.  Although this past week and a little more has been mostly filled with rain (so treasured since the rather severe period of California drought), it has been relatively warm.  Especially compared with the single digit cold and snow of Idaho.  Of course the local Idahoans claim this is most unusual.  The Boise area is, after all, a sort of Idaho "banana belt".  Unusual or not, our current home state has been filled with cold and snow for the duration of our visit here, thus far.  It is only now beginning to warm up enough to melt the snow.  So we've escaped a bit of early winter!

One of the things I dislike about living in Idaho is that we are strangers everywhere we go.  There are no familiar faces to bump into as we go about our routines.  But here in California there are friends everywhere.  So far, we have run into people we know everywhere we have gone.  It is so sweet!  I love that about here.  We have a 40 year history.  That covers a lot of friendships.  There are even school chums to find here.  That is going back some 50-60 years!  I love the joys of familiar faces.

We visited with our busy foster daughter, Michelle, who works with special needs kids.

We had lunch with good friends Hedy and Chris Eyre.

Here is my Uncle Mike.  He couldn't believe that I could take pictures with my phone!

We visited my Uncle Mike last week.  He is my Dad's younger brother.  At 94 years, he is our last living relative of the older generation.  I was hoping he could share some of his memories of his parents and grandparents, and Cedaredge.  He did share some things but I was a little disappointed that he could remember nothing of his grandparents.  He has always been, as the is true of the Kisers, quiet about much of his thoughts and feelings.  But I believe he was very happy to see us.  His daughter and my cousin, Judy Kiser Perry and her husband, Stan, met us there as well.  We had a lovely time visiting with all of them.  Uncle Mike appeared to be in good shape for his age and was clear in his mind.  He lives alone in a very cluttered home in Healdsburg, a three hour drive from Audrey and Cliff's.  I have a feeling that this could be the last time I see him.  But perhaps not.

I went hiking with Audrey, Rayne and Allegra.  Our trail took one and a half hours to complete.  Sore muscles followed!

I took this shot of my three girls through this metal sign.  It seemed to me to be a very creative idea at the time.

One of the many beautiful views in Sunol-Ohlone Regional Park, where wee did that 1 1/2 hour hike.

We have had such fun visiting with our kids and other friends this past week or so.  Today we are headed to  Ben and Jessica's to do some work for them.  Ben has a list of "to dos" for Layne, and Jess wants me to help her organize the girls' room.  The new baby is going to be a  girl, so the other four girls in the family will need to be in one room.  My mind has been filled with ideas ever since she asked for my help.  I love to organize things!  I'm not sure why such an odd thing should appeal to me so much, but my mind seems to take fire when the thought of organizing comes up.  I hope not to overwhelm her with my ideas on structuring things up because I can get carried away.  I'm looking forward to helping her with this particular challenge.  So we are off!

Garden Death

We harvested the last of the garden this week.  It was tomatoes mostly.  And they were mostly green.  But we picked them (Audrey and Allegra helped when they were here).  Several of the locals said that green tomatoes make good things and that they could be stored until they turned red and eaten with almost as much relish as vine ripe ones.  So I collected them on my kitchen counter and looked for recipes.  I found what looked like a good one for making green tomato relish.  I bought the ingredients called for and set to it.  I chopped up all that was called for, including Jalapeno peppers, and put it all in a big pot.  It cooked as directed and we tasted the final product with anticipation.  Ugh!  Not good.  Nope.  Not at all.  So we dumped the whole batch on the compost pile.  It was a bit deflating.  So I've decided I'm through with green tomatoes.  We put the rest of them in the garage to see if they will turn red.

I've not worked with hot peppers before.  I didn't realized that the oil from them settled into hands and doesn't wash out for awhile.  So when I took my contacts out, the pepper oil got into my eyes and did they burn!  It has taken several days of frequent washing to get all of the oil out of my hands.  Just a wee tingle now remains.  So now I know.

Layne loves the look of this tree in our yard; completely red (the best of colors!)

Fall decorations at our front door.  A bit understated I now, but it feels good to do a little something.

A beautiful full moon lights our yard this Fall morning.  I can't resist trying to capture its magic in a picture.  I never really works well.

We are in charge of our empty nester Family Home Evening tomorrow night.  That means we host and teach a lesson and prepare some kind of refreshment.  I just read a book son Gerald sent on the Founding Fathers and their vision of the Constitution.  It was written for children, which is just about my speed, so I really liked it.  I determined that the ideas in it would be perfect to share at the FHE.  I showed Layne and he agreed.  For a couple of days.  I worked out what I thought to be a good presentation and was really looking forward to doing it.  Then, as we were walking, Layne said he would like to something completely different!  I was so disappointed and did my best to talk him out of it.  When that didn't work, and in a bit of a huff, I just turned it all over to him.  But the disappointment lingered.  Layne made his lesson plans, then suggested that I give mine the first part of the evening and he would finish up with his.  So.  It'll be interesting to see how that turns out.  But I'm back on tap and a bit excited to share the basic information in that little book.  Here's hoping it goes over well and that our two presentations somehow mesh. Whether they do or they don't, there will be pie for dessert to sweeten things up.

A Family Halloween

The saddest time for me here is holiday time.  No family.  I didn't realize how much I had centered family activities around holidays until we came here.  This year I decided to decorate a bit anyhow and it has cheered me.  But what made this Halloween super is that Audrey and Allegra drove here from California on Friday.  They arrived early enough to share dinner and a happy Halloween celebration.  We watched a wacky Don Knotts movie called "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken."  Cute and a light, fun way to touch on the darkness of Halloween sentiments.

Audrey, next to the warmth of the fireplace.

Allegra, eating cottage cheese.  Poor girl is on a soft food diet since having her wisdom teeth pulled.

"You won't have many trick-or-treaters," our neighbor assured us.  But we bought two big bowls of candy anyhow, just in case.  Good thing.  The door bell rang all during the movie and our two bowls were empty by 9:30.  It was a busy night!  I loved this Halloween time.

Now that it is cooling down, I am excited to do develop of my creative ideas for the house.  I painted our hall wall with a family tree awhile ago.  This past week, during a night of insomnia, I printed up and framed pictures of all the family and hung them on the wall tree.  I'm so happy to see it!  It is a pleasure to see everyone, especially since they are all far away.

The Family Tree, filled with family!

It is beautiful here!  The leaves are all sorts of colors and the mountains are dusted with snow, thanks to yesterday's storm.  Our garden is pretty much finished.  I will glean what I can tomorrow morning and then let the garden go.  Layne now has more indoor time; he really misses being outside.  But he doesn't like the cold, so an indoor guy he will be.  I have all sorts of projects in mind to keep him busy.  I just have to delicately talk him into doing them!

The first snow of the season, in the hills.

Fall in our yard.

Audrey and Allegra leave for their home early Tuesday.  I'm going to miss them.