October Celebrations

I love the color red.  And I love red hair.  So I got a wild and crazy idea a week or so ago.  I decided that I would like to put just a touch of red in my hair.  Red hair is the ultimate wonderful hair color in my opinion, but it would not look good on me.  But why not just a stripe of red?  So I bought some auburn hair color, thinking it would be subtle.  I decided to put the stripes on the white part of my hair.  So I did it.  I was shocked to see splotches of brilliant red scattered in my hair.  Not subtle, more in your face.  Hum.  I had to cover it up...all but a little bit in the front.  So I covered it with brown.  So now the gray that I've been encouraging is now covered with brown.  I'm a little sad about that.  Here's a sample of the red.  It has faded slightly...see what you think.

This year I decided that I wanted more Halloween in the house.  It's because the kids are here and that makes such a difference for me.  So the house is filled with Halloween.  Orange lights fill the living room and beyond.  I even did a picture for the mantel.  

October holds several family birthdays, all the first week.  Reed, Dorothy and kids visited us that week, so we celebrated all three birthdays together.  It was so fun!  We began with Seth.  He turned 15.  We showered him with the meal of his choice, birthday wishes and, of course, birthday presents.  His treasure is a pair of custom made athletic shoes, made to his order.  Here he is with one of the shoes.

Layne turned 77 on October 5th.  "Don't get me anything!" is his yearly mantra.  But I always manage to find some little thing that I think he can use.  This year it was a pitch pipe.  I think he liked it but I'm not sure.  Our friends the Becks gave him a fruit bouquet.  We all loved that!

The kids gave him a sweet BD note and he loved that.

Our girl Dorothy also had a birthday on the 7th.  We celebrated it a couple of days early.  Dorothy has thyroid cancer, which has been a worry for all of us.  Prayers have flown to heaven in abundance for her.  Her surgery was this past Wednesday.  Reed confirmed that it went well.  It looks like the cancer was contained in the thyroid and now gone.  What a blessing!

Our days with Reed, Dorothy and the boys were especially tender and pleasant.  Bruce had fun going through my coin collection.  Timmy was open and friendly.  Vincent was his usual very pleasant and friendly self.  They are such a nice family and so great to have around.

Here's Vincent with his ever-present gallon of water.  He carries it everywhere, refilling as needed.  It just about never leaves his sight.

Here is the whole Reed-Dorothy family.  Or the ones that visited.  Here's Reed, Bruce, Dorothy, Vincent, Timmy and....Seth.

It has been a wonderful family time this month so far.  We are settling in with Seth and Angelica.  Seth was in a school concert this week and he loved it.  It was a fantastic production, due to the excellent work of the teacher whose first name happens to be...Seth!  The kids are still in what I would call a "honeymoon" stage being here, but they seem to be happy so far.  I hope we can do them justice.  It is beginning to be more relaxed and fun as we settle in to a new routine...having kids to care for.   

Charleston

For years Layne has kept track of two Navy friends.  Of all that he happily associated with, these two stand out as men of integrity.  They have been loyal friends through the years even though they have seen little of each other since their Navy days.  One of them, Larry Durbin, decided that the time had come for these three to meet and bond in person.  So, last spring, he arranged a week together and chose Charleston, South Carolina, as the place. Layne was excited to reunite with fellow pilots, Larry and Lonnie.  This past week was our scheduled meeting.

Heres Lonnie, Larry (always the shortest guy) and Layne, friends since their days of navy pilot school in Pensacola, Florida, in the 1960s.  Lonnie made a career in the navy and is still flying; Larry flew for United Air Lines, like Layne, after leaving the navy.

So we arranged for Allegra to care for Seth and Angelica.  Gerald flew home on Thursday.  We flew to Charleston Tuesday.  I've never been there before.  What a beautiful place!  It is a place where plants of all sorts really want to be there.  The issue is controlling them, not talking them into growing, as is often the case out here in the West.

Charleston is one of the oldest towns in the country.  It was organized in the 1600s.  It is a charming place, filled with signs of its past in buildings and grounds all throughout the area.  We enjoyed eating out each day at the many delicious restaurants and went on a boat ride that exposed us to more distant sights.  We were reminded that the Civil War began here.  

Larry and Lonnie talked about airplanes endlessly while we girls, Teddy and Audrey, did a bit of girl talk.  They are both lovely women, good at heart and nice to be with.  However I couldn't talk them into doing much looking around.  It was hot outside.  These women, Teddy from hot Florida and Audrey from hot Arizona, didn't want to go outside!  So I did a bit of shopping on my own.  There is always something interesting to see!  We all toured a plantation called the Magnolia Plantation with amazing grounds filled with trees, plants of all sorts and an abundance of water.  The grounds are the treat, but we spent what I thought to be a very short time only touring the house.  The group wanted to leave after that.  So we didn't get to see the gardens.  I was disappointed.  But, again, it was hot.

Here we all are:  Layne, me, Teddy and Larry Durbin, Audrey and Lonnie McClung.  All of us have been married for 50 plus years.  That's somewhat rare these days!

In spite of my disappointments,  we had fun together.  I'm glad to have spent time with these good people.  I believe Layne had a wonderful time.

The few days we had together passed quickly. Soon we were on our way home, arriving Friday night, just in time to share a Friday night movie with the kids.  Gerald got safely home and Allegra and the kids are happy and in good shape.  We've spent the weekend watching and enjoying General Conference; one of the best treats ever.