Home at Last!!

Well, my much-anticipated trip to San Diego is but a memory now...a dear memory. I arrived after a lengthy flight from St. Louis to warm sun, blue skies, and light breezes. My best friend, Fran was there to meet me and we immediately went to El Comal for the absolutely best Mexican food! My favorite restaurant; well, one of them. Then off to her house to unload and regroup. She and her Hal have recenly moved into a lovely mobile home a street away from their other home, which is now inhabited by their daughter, son-in-law, and 2 delightful grandchlidren. Here is Fran's house. The entry is so cheery, and the flowers are spectacular. Got settled and spent a wonderful evening catching up. The next picture is of myself and my former teaching partner, Jan. I spent 4 hours at the school and we snagged a lunch lady to take our picture while we were catching up in the lunch area. Jan and I used to take groups of students to Washington, D.C. every spring and groups to Europe every summer when I lived out there...ahhh, the good old days!

On Tuesday, I went to dinner with my bible study group - again, at El Comal. Just can't get enough of good Mexican food!. There they are! I'm right at the very end of the table - wayyyyyy back there, in the dark. Even with the flash on, it is very dark in that restaurant. It was great getting to see everyone again! I miss you ladies!

When the plane landed, I looked out the window and saw a literal carpet of purple. I had forgotten about the jacaranda trees, which are in full bloom at this time of the year. You can't turn in any direction without seeing a jacaranda tree or a eucalyptus tree.

On Thursday, Fran and I boarded an Amtrak train to Los Angeles, then a subway train, and came out at the corner of Hollywood and Vine to see this lovely sight! Our destination was the Pantages Theater in Hollywood for the play "Wicked". What a thrill! I love the music and missed seeing the play when it was in St. Louis and Kansas City. And I didn't want to wait to see it in Tulsa next year. So glad we made the effort to go see it. I think it's even more my favorite than seeing "The Producers" in New York City in 2002!

Sunil was the manager at the Quality Inn in Hollywood. He was so nice. He ordered taxis for us and made sure we were comfy in our room. Thanks, Sunil! And then it was time to mosey to the train station for our ride home to San Diego. Los Angeles Union Station is an old fashioned train station...long, gloomy hallways and tunnels that lead out to the train platform. Luckily, there are nice folks there to direct lost travelers to the right tracks to catch their trains.

I flew home yesterday to meet up with DH...I surely did miss him! Don't get me wrong, I had a marvelous time, a simply wonderful, fantastic, stupendous time in San Diego, seeing friends, eating at my favorite food places, and seeing wonderful beaches (from the train windows) and blue skies. But after 35 years, I kinda got used to having Mr. Wonderful around and I missed him!

To all the folks in San Diego, I say, THANK YOU for being my friend and for being who you are. To all the folks here in Missouri, I say, THANK YOU for being my friend and for being who YOU are. To all the folks who come to read this blog, whether I've met you in person, or met you only online, I say, THANK YOU for being my friend and for being who YOU are. Each of you have blessed me in ways you may never know.

Ok, I'm done for now...have to go finish unpacking...More later.

Sock Wars III

Remember a while back when I entered several sock-knitting competitions and there was talk of an intervention? Well, it didn't happen. And I did it again! I entered Sock Wars III.

SW3 is an international battle of knitters. The original battle was in the fall of 2006 and only had about 800 folks entered. Since then, our fearless Supreme Commander, Julie Gardner, has amassed an army of over 1200 knitters from all over the world to compete in the 'bloodiest battle ever"! The pattern is called The Detonator! I'm still knitting on the first sock in my pair - so my target can relax for a bit. My target is Paula in Colorado...with luck I'll get killed by Patricia in New York before I leave on my vacation on Saturday and won't need to tote the sock/s on the plane and mail from my vacation destination. John will be looking out for a package from NY if I'm not killed by the time I leave. Then I'll need to package up the unfinished socks, plus yarn, plus target info and mail everything off to Patricia in the hopes that she finished them and kills my original target before she herself gets killed. With 1200 folks competing, some from overseas, this could take months to finalize! Anyway, wish me luck - I have no hope of winning the thing...I'll merely end up with a pair of socks made especially for me by someone I do not know. Maybe I'll make a new friend?

Yes, I'm off on a short (10 day) vacation on Saturday. John isn't traveling with me - it's just me! Country life is fine if all you have is trees, grasses waving in the breeze, and no traffic sounds except the occasional car coming down our dirt road. If, however, you have attitudes of "well, we aint' ever done it that way before and we ain't gonna start now", it can turn a city girls insides into knots. My knots are getting a bit uncomfortable so I'm heading to the big city for a few days of smog and traffic and restaurants that stay open after 6:00 p.m.! That ought to get rid of the knots for a while. I'll try to make a blog entry while I'm gone, where I'm going they have internet cafe's!

Thanks for checking in.

UPDATE

I know, I know...it's been a while...but when you look at this picture, you will understand why I needed time to recover.

Please note: tractor with bucket uplifted to about 8 feet - 12 foot ladder standing in bucket - crazy retired sailor-man standing at top of said ladder, nailing roof of barn. What you might not be able to see is our neighbor standing at the front of the tractor, keeping an eye on the brake and emergency brake and JOHN and the rope that is tied about 1/3 of the way down, holding the ladder to the side of the barn. Frankly, it took longer to rig this whole thing than it did for John to hammer in the roof. I suppose if he could climb to the top of a standard rigging pole to adjust a gyrocompass bird on a military ship, this is a piece of cake. The only difference is that he TOLD me about the gyrocompass bird after the fact and I witnessed this barn thing in person.

On another note, our beautiful oldest granddaughter, Emily, turned 8 years old on Thursday last. Not only beautiful, she is talented and loving. She is the best sister to younger siblings, Charlotte and William. And this past Saturday, she was baptized in the Mormon Church. John and I aren't members but our son and his family are. They tell us this is a big deal for an 8 year old. We are so incredibly proud of Emily. Happy Birthday and Booya!