Random thoughts on the passing scene

My disclaimer: usually I try to have about equal parts pictures and text but sometimes I don't, and this is one of those times. I haven't blogged much lately. Besides finding it difficult to get my share of computer time (I'm saving my pennies for a computer!!!!!!!), events and obligations have been "herding" me along day to day. I have felt I have had to have a "triage" mentality--determining which person or task required immediate attention and, once that was handled, going to the next.

The people who have lived in the Tri-cities my whole life I think of as "Old Timers." It really isn't an age designation; it is a designation that the person has lived here since my first recollection, since the town had about 300 folks and back in the day when we knew most everyone "in these here parts." One of those Old Timers (DVG) passed away about two weeks ago. He is also a second cousin. Throughout his funeral, I kept thinking over and over, "I've known him all my life." It is sad to see the "adults of my youth" passing away. We're all the poorer for it and I will miss him. And it is sad knowing "we're next."

I've posted pictures of "Tom's" house--the post was a draft and when I posted it, it posted before the entry about L's swim meet, so if you're interested, you'll have to scroll down. That project has taken about twenty hours of my time lately, partially because of a stop-work order we received from the city primarily about an electricity issue (all resolved now and the electricity is hooked back up). There is more for me to do this week to move things along. I am in excited anticipation for the outside of the house to be finished this summer. I'll post more pictures, as I said, when the stucco is on.

My brother J and his wife C and children (A,M, R, C, & R) were here, off and on for the past week. I really wish we lived closer to one another but I don't see that happening. My kids love to be with the cousins. I had not known they would be staying until Saturday. I thought they were leaving Thursday and I was the sole female adult taking the young women to our Stake Youth Conference for Friday and Saturday. I was very sad about leaving without saying good-bye in person and that I had to leave while they were still here.

My cousin JS called me a couple of weeks ago about the two of us putting together a G family potluck dinner for local family members. We scheduled it so J & family could be here. It seems that the only times the extended G family gets together now is for funerals so it was nice to have a non-funeral reason to meet.

As I mentioned, I took five young women to the Stake Youth Conference this weekend, one of whom was my own daughter L. The location of the conference was the girls' camp area on Kolob. The girls who went from our ward are such good girls and so well behaved that I had a very simple job--just be there. They paired up with friends in the stake who were also good kids. They attended all the activities and enjoyed themselves. While I have to say I was not eager to go, I had a nice time and I even found time to read a book here and there. :-) At one of the workshops on Friday, we had forty minutes of dance instruction--things like a couple of line dances, the Macarana (sp?), the Hokey Pokey, the Bunny Hop (too much shakes when I hop so I sat that one out) and the Hamster Dance. For those of you who might not know, at one point in the Hamster Dance you squat down and touch the ground in one count and jump back up (well, really you are to touch the ground in front and behind you in rapid succession and jump back up but I felt good just being able to squat down and touch the ground once in the amount of time allowed). While my group did the zip line, I did the dance class a second time. I woke up Saturday being stiff when I walked and I have stiffened up from there. Today, when I first get up from a seated position, I'm walking a bit like Frankenstein. I'm sure all of my faithful blog readers wish there had been a video of my dancing! Alas there was not. I also slept in my van Friday night. I have had visions of sleeping in my van and being very comfortable. The reality was different--the back of the van wasn't quite long enough. I came home sleep-deprived but my young women said girls and leaders who slept in the community center snored all night long so I guess I came out OK. Because the stake required that the ward have just one leader per vehicle of youth, there were a lot of leaders there without anyone else from their ward (I'm speaking only of the women--who knows about the men). So I made some new acquaintances, saw other acquaintances and had some nice conversations. I thought the whole event went really well and I was glad we went.

A week ago Saturday, my mother had a bad fall while closing the blinds at the same exact location in her building where she had her last fall that also necessitated a trip to the ER. My sister and I took Mom to the ER that Saturday (we were there from about 10 p.m. until about 3:30 a.m.) and had to take her back on that Sunday. As far as I can perceive (because Mom's self-reports are unreliable), Mom's worst injuries occurred on her face. The ER doctor on Saturday said the CAT scan (she had two--one of her eye and one of her head) showed that the bony area below the eye socket "was in pieces" and there was a skull fracture from Mom's eye socket out toward her ear (but it "wasn't moving"--whatever that means--so she was allowed to go back to her apartment). Her eye was bashed and bloody. It was the eye that necessitated her second trip to the ER and a follow-up visit to the eye doctor on Wednesday. Her eye checked out OK, thankfully. "They" had also taken x-rays of her chest and right arm but those checked out OK. She doesn't seem to have the same level of complaints about this fall that she had about her fall about six weeks ago (she's fallen about six times since Christmas and she did have one fall between this recent fall and her last "ER" fall about six weeks ago). Her face, of course, has been swelled and discolored as has her eye. Every day since the fall her eye and face have looked better and better. I plan to see her today and see how she's been while I was away at youth conference.

My kids have all had morning commitments that have kept me driving back and forth to one of the Tri-cities for most of the mornings this past week. Of course, L has swim team. J is taking swim lessons--last week and this coming week (and passing off his scout swimming merit badge). T is driving in the driver's ed car. All these things happen at different points around town and all at 8 a.m. They all end at different times. B and I have had to divide up to shuttle everyone around. This is not to mention the occasional piano lesson or other obligation thrown in there.

If you've noticed, we've been too busy to do our Summer Science day trips the past two weeks. I feel bad about that but it couldn't really be helped.

In all my rushing around, I've been packing around a book to read in the waiting time that inevitably arises. I've found that where I would normally be irritated about waiting so much, I look forward to waiting when I know I can read my book. :-) I've been reading the The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I had read the first volume probably two months ago, and although I liked the book, I wasn't really motivated to read beyond that one (and it hadn't merited mention in my blog). However, recently, I found myself at the library with little time to look for books but needing some "waiting" reading, so I grabbed several of the subsequent volumes of that series. I've been hooked. The subsequent books are better than volume one (which I liked enough). These are fairly thin books and can be read fairly rapidly. Once in a very great while, I enjoy a book so much that I want to own a copy of the book. That is high praise. Once in an even greater while, I would like to re-read a book--I almost never want to re-read even my favorite books. That is highest praise. I would like to own this entire series of books and I would like to re-read these books.

My sister and I had a nice visit with our childhood friend ABA this past week. Our friend was here from out of town. Visits like these always remind me that it takes a long time to make an "old friend." We could just pick up where we left off last time we saw one another.

After a meds doctor's appointment two weeks ago, I had lunch with another old friend TGZ. We realized we had not visited together in nearly a year. Lots had transpired in our lives this past year (including the loss of her wonderful mother whom I love) and a lunch "hour" seemed hardly long enough.

I've probably forgotten other highlights of the past few weeks or have left some things out on purpose :-) but this post gives a glimpse into our recent state of affairs. The next few weeks look just as hectic. We have girls' camp in about ten days.