Autumn and the leaves...

Was just sitting here thinking that here it is Autumn and outside the temperature has reached a cool, or should I say a hot 100! I remember the "good old days" when Autumn meant that the leaves were starting to fall and the temperature had fallen and one almost always had to wear a light sweater. The flowers were the Goldenrods, and of course the Zinnias and Asters were pretty good Fall flowers! The leaves seemed to fall, and fall, and fall. One could rake them up and the next day there would be another pile to rake up. (Or was it because it was so much fun to run and jump into the pile of leaves, scattering them everywhere!) Today I looked into my small garden and the Roses were still blooming and the Crepe Myrtle trees are in full bloom! By this time they usually have lost all their blossoms!!! It has been kind of a crazy year all around. Was warm very early in the Spring and then turned very cold and seemed like Spring and Summer were here and gone. Oh, we had a few hot days but this was not the usual thing this year. This Spring and into Summer it seemed like the fresh tomatoes didn't come on the market as early and since we live in a grape growing area, it seemed to me that the grape harvest didn't start as early!!! There are still fresh peaches in the market and they, the store clerks, etc., say that the peaches are locally grown! And they do taste like it! Not picked "green" so to speak and then "warehoused" to ripen!!!! Before we know it, and we really will need it, the rains will start again and the cold weather will begin and so begins another cycle! I was talking to a Granddaughter day before yesterday and she was telling that she was looking for her wedding dress for her upcoming wedding in June of 2010!!!! I thought, so far away and yet looking at the way the past year has flown, "Wow" I had better start getting around a little better so I can attend! I said last February when I heard about a Grandson's August wedding, I will try and make it but I can't promise anything!!! I did attend the Wedding and now here is something else to look forward to!!!!! I would like to see another "little one" or two before all is said and done with me!!!! Not pushing, just dreaming!!!!!! First the weddings though!!!!

Another trip...

When, several years ago, I recieved a letter inviting me to my High School Reunion. The reason for the Reunion was that the School was being torn down and so everyone that could be reached and had gone to the Academy was sent an invitation. This included my sister Genevieve, my brother Bob and me. It was to be at the Immaculate Heart Academy and we really were anxious to be in on it! They sent the usual data as to Hotels, Motels, etc. It was to be a three day affair. But, I was going to talk about another trip! After the Reunion, (which in my notion was a complete sucess,) we, the three of us, Genevieve, Bob and I started home. Did I mention that the Reunion was in Couer d' Alene, Idaho?? We left for home anyway, after Mass on Sunday morning and went the same way back through Oregon and when we got to California, we decided to take the "scenic" route along the coast which meant going through the Redwoods. Since I had never, and Bob had never really taken time for them, we decided that this was the time. Genevieve's husband Phil was a forest ranger with the State of California a long time ago and so she had been there. She was a pretty good Guide. We took our time and really got a lot of beautiful pictures but by the time we started to leave it was getting on in the afternoon! We went on to Highway One which by this time, (since the previous trip up Hwy. 1) was a pretty good Highway. Still not all that wide or anything but we were traveling in the early evening and it was summer! Genevieve wanted to go past a couple of the State Parks where Phil had worked and where they had lived and so as the old saying goes "time flies when you are having fun!" It was getting later and we had planned to go to another brother and wife's home in Sebastopol and spend a couple of days with them. We kept looking for a small cafe and someplace to spend the night before going on. We got to Fort Bragg and found a restaurant, had dinner and asked where we might find a motel for the night. We came out of the restaurant and found that we had left the lights on in the car and hence had a dead battery!! We called AAA and they came after about 45 minutes and we went inside and asked the people who were running it if there was any place we might spend the night! They told us that the Democratic Convention was in San Francisco and the Forty-Niners Football team was in the Bay area for the last game of the season and hence there was no room at any Inn for miles around! Someone pointed out a small hotel at the bottom of the hill and said we might get a room there but it was up over a bar and all! We thought that that was all we needed so decided to head over to Highway 101 at Cloverdale and take out chances at finding something along that Route. Every little small village or bigger town was full and had "No vacancy" signs everywhere. and when we did stop and ask, just in case, we were told that it was doubtful if we would find anything at all down to San Francisco and beyond!!!! Well, we got to Santa Rosa and since that meant we could either go home or go to Sebastopol, which was closer. I was really tired by this time and we were all getting a little cranky and so I looked in my purse and didn't have any change to call David and Bob was saying, "What should we do?" I said, "Just give me a damn quarter and I will call David and see if they are home and if not we will go home!" I called and Jeanie, his wife answered and said, "You just caught us home! We have been gone all evening! But please do come over and stay a couple of days!" So they told us how to get there from where we were and we arrived to find that they had beds all set up and all and were more than happy to have us!!!! But did we go to bed? NO! We sat and visited for hours! But we were rested when we decided to get back to Lodi and the old routines again!!!!! We, my sisters, and Bob and I, have taken several trips and some were good and some were, let's say, very memorable! I will tell about a trip we took by train to Texas to go to another brother and wife's Golden Wedding! That was, as I wrote in a letter and sent to all my family, entitled The Trip to Hell!!!!! Oh the Golden Wedding was nice and being in Dallas was nice but the trip there was something else!!!!

Dumb trips!

I have really taken a lot of trips in my life! After Cappy died, I felt that I hadn't done too much traveling "just for the fun of it!" But one trip we took when he was alive keeps popping into my head and so I decided to write about that! We had traveled to San Francisco to see Cappy's folks and his sister Leona called and said, "Why don't you guys come on up here?" They lived in Bodega Bay at the time. So we took Cappy's parents and his daughter and son with us to visit there. We had to take another car because we couldn't all fit into ours. During the visit my Father-in-law said that someplace he had always wanted to see and really wanted to see was the California Redwoods. So Leona said, "Why don't we drive up there now"? Well, someone had sense enough to say that we had better take something to lunch on till we got there because this was about 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon. So, we started to get food together for a "picnic" sort of meal to eat on the way and that took about an h0ur or so and Mom Farnsworth thought we had better take some blankets with us because we had Florence, Lester Bert, Bobby A. (Leona and Al's boy, Bob's age) and our boy Bob Earl, and they might get cold, etc., etc., etc. And off we went. We were going to go up Highway one which at that time looked like an old country road but it followed the Pacific Ocean front. We hadn't gone very far when the fog settled in and we were creeping along to get to the Redwoods! The fog got thicker and thicker and it was getting later and later and finally we couldn't even see to drive!!! So we decided it was time to stop and have a bite to eat and see what kind of a situation we were in! We pulled off on the right hand side of the "road" and found ourselves on a big flat "rock"! The men started to gather driftwood to start a fire to keep us warm and while we were eating our "picnic"! It was really late and the fog was so bad behind us and in front of us, in fact, we didn't know where we were or why, at that moment. The little ones, the two Bobby's anyway were getting fussy, (hey, they were only about a year and a half old!) so I told my Mother-in-law that I was going to get in the seat of our car with our Bobby and I would use our coats to cover us and I was going to try and get some sleep! Mom decided that she and Leona, Bobby A. and Florence would get into another car and the men said they would keep the fire going till morning!!!! I must have been very tired because the next thing I knew it was dawn and the men were standing around the fire trying to decide what we were going to do! Someone was smart enough to suggest we try to see the Redwoods another time and so we got the fire put out with the sand that was all over at that place and we headed home! Now we could at least "see" where we had been, getting up there to that spot and how lucky we were not to have ended up "shark food"! We just took right off for San Francisco and left Leona and family in Bodega Bay!!! When we got back to San Francisco my brother-in-law Lafay called us and wanted to know how he could get in touch with Cappy and so Cappy took the phone to hear him tell us that he and another brother, Bert had a job for Cappy in Mexico if he wanted to take it! And that was why and when we went to Mexico to live for??? We didn't know at the time how long it would be!!! In later years I got my chance to see the Coast Redwoods and it would have "possibly" been worth the trip, fog and all!!!!!

Rain!!!!!!!

This morning I woke up to a feeling of dampness, and no, it wasn't what you think it was, it was rain! Despite yesterday being a pretty decent day, I guess in the night it clouded up and was raining pretty good! I stood for a second and just breathed in the good fresh air that a rain usually brings! Then when I went back to bed I felt pretty good! Of course just having the door open that much brought the fresh air into the house too!!! Seems like so many people these days have arthritis! And the sufferers seem to be getting younger! Could it be diet, or lack of exercise, or what? I know people who always seem to be eating the best healthy food and doing a lot of exercise, etc. and still they are complaining about having either back pain or leg cramps or some other pain someplace! Arms, hands, etc. In fact I came in here today to my computer because using this seems to limber up my poor hands! And yesterday and today I have been having pains in the joints of my fingers!!! My mother when she lived with me complained about pains in her toes, (I get those too!) and in her elbows and then in her shoulders. Not so much "charley horses"! And my legs are usually what bother me. My sister Genevieve, when she was alive had terrible pain in her hands as did my sister Teresa! Teresa was so crippled up with this stuff! My boys, from Les on down to Steve are complaining about "back trouble"! There is medicines out there for it but the only thing that works for me is Tylenol. I am allergic to so many of the other medications. Steve was telling me that he has been literally downing Ibuprofin this past week because of the pain. And yes we are all weather forecasters with it! A drop in atmospheric pressure and the pain begins!!! And the funny part is they, the pains begin about a week ahead of a good storm! Wind, rain, or whatever!!!! Enough about this and my complaining! My fingers have loosened up and I've run out of gripe material! Enjoy the "good weather" wherever you are , guys and gals! Winter will be here before you know it!

Alex's Party

The week I went down to Simi Valley, Wendy called and told me that she had set up a party for Alex who was going into the Army on Sept. 1st. It was to be a sort of "going away" party and the guests were just Bill and Wendy's family and Bob and Marilyn and myself! I was happy about this because Alex is my Godchild and I didn't want him going "off to war", so to speak, without being able to have my own little time with him. Wendy fixed it so that we, Bob, Marilyn and I arrived early and so I got a chance to tell him how much I would miss him and to tell him that I was sure that he would make it O.K. He has joined the Rangers which is a great branch but one of the rougher parts of the Army. I didn't know that he had signed up for eight years till later! It was a great party and Afton wanted to do the planning of it and arrange all the food, etc. (he is attending College to become a Chef or something related to cooking!) Wendy had made a cake decorated with little flags and as you can see she fixed the centerpiece for the table with the American flag and appropriate branch of service flag. The meal, a lunch, consisted of salads, (pasta, potato, fruit and vegetable), and pulled pork sandwiches and also other lunch meats and cheeses, chips, and all the usual drinks, (iced tea, coke, lemonade, coffee, etc.) and we ended up with the cake with ice cream! It still didn't make me feel any less anxious for Alex but Wendy told me that she and Alex would come over in a day or two and just visit me. And Alex, when he signed in had asked to be allowed to attend his brother Aaron's wedding and so the recruiter just told him that they would sign him in on the 1st of Sept. !!! We have heard from him a couple of times and he said in his first letter to his family that the thing that was the hardest on him was being away from the family! Which was part of my talk with him! He was put into his first platoon the first part of last week and so now the fun begins! He will, he was told be able to come home after basic training which will be in time for Christmas!!!!

Here I am!!!!

Got to looking at my blog and realized that I hadn't been writing about anything for such a long time! Hey guys! I'm getting old!
Well, since I last wrote I traveled South to the wedding for Grandchild # 7 on the 15th of August! It was a really hot day and the wedding was an outdoor event! There was about 100 guests, my granddaughter said! She was the hostess for the wedding and the reception since it was in her really lovely back yard!

The wedding was at 5:30 in the evening and so the good old sun was really blazing!!! The reception area they had covered with a big tent so that was nice. They had tables set up for 8 people each and of course the yard and tent, etc. was decorated to a fare-thee-well!!!!

Mindy's (the bride) colors were a pale green, sort of an avocado, and off-white. They had built a bridge over the pool and the groom and groomsmen stood on the far side of the pool. Mindy and her attendants walked through the yard and across the bridge, highly decorated with tulle and flowers, to where Aaron was standing.

After the ceremony, the wedding party came out of the back door of the house and walked to the reception area. There was the Bride and Groom, all of the attendants and both sets of parents. The music was supplied by a deejay. The reception was catered and was very nice but it was getting late and we had to leave before they cut the cake.

After dinner, they had the usual dancing of the couple and the parents then tossing of the bride's bouquet, the bride's garter, etc. It was getting late. My feet were swelling and Bob was getting very tired so we made out excuses and left for home. We didn't get to see the cake and certainly didn't want any after the dinner that we had!!!

It was lovely Aaron, and I want to wish you and Mindy a good long married life!!! Love you both!!!!