Ho Ho Ho! Hurray!

The patio is finally finished just in time for Christmas. The greenish stain was applied the last day the sun was out.

The Christmas cactus is blooming and the weather is a warm 68 which doesn't much seem like winter.

We put up our decorations today including the tree inside. Mom was here for lunch and dinner plus a egg nog with a "stick." It's supposed to be very cold next week but we're prepared.

Happy Thanksgving

What a beautiful day! We've had some unusually warm weather and the sunshine was spectacular.

Marylou and I cooked all morning and ate all afternoon or so it seemed to me. I took desserts and cranberry relish out to Larry's for the big dinner there. Mom came out to enjoy all the crowd of boyfriends, in laws and friends of the family.


I finished the ramp for Mom's wheelchair so she can get into my house easier. I've ordered a transport chair for her that's narrower than the one she's given by her facility. She hasn't been able to enter interior doors as they are more narrow than the exterior ones.


My next project is to stain the patio concrete Stone Moss. I want to have it all ready for Christmas so I can have everyone especially Mom over.

Patio Progress

I've continued to work on the patio. I just finished expanding the back door landing and added 2 steps. The idea is to make it wheelchair accessible. The last time Mom was able to visit I couldn't get her into the house in her electric chair. Next time I should be able to.

The weather here has been exceptional warm making everyone want to be outside as much as possible. I took Mom for a Sunday afternoon drive to see the fall colors in all their glory and over to the house to see the patio's progress. She was glad to get out but stay "it takes the starch out of me for several days."

Wow! What a weekend!

Our family celebrated Christy's wedding to Mike on Oct. 11 in San Diego atop a hotel on the bay. It was just wonderful. We all had loads of fun for days on end. The rehersal dinner on Friday included alot of toasts and praises for the couple.

Saturday was a blur of getting ready,of pictures, the ceremony, dinner and dance. I danced until my knee gave out. It was great. Here's just a few of the 174 pictures I took.

Marge gave me a tour of Christy & Mike's house after she took them to the airport. They went to Hawaii for 2 weeks for their honeymoon. I also saw where Ryan and Scott live. Here's pictures of their homes.

Sam brought Cody, Heather and little Sam up to Fresno to see "GG", greatgrandmother. Here's some pictures of Sammy's breakfast and him "singing" "Itsy bitsy spider".

I just have to say again how much fun I had the whole visit to San Diego. It was really good meeting Mike's family and friends. Taking lots of pictures of the wedding party and all their families and babies. Lastly I thought it was a cute picture of Chica and the cater. Can't you just hear her saying "Have you got something for me?"

Keeping Busy

September was a busy month of more home improvements and medical issues. I decided to paint the kitchen and winterize the patio. Having completed that I'm starting to remove the brick flower bed which is on the patio now and fill that space in. I'm not sure if I'll use the brick or just pour more cement. Here's the latest pictures.

On the other issue of medical problems, Mary Lou continues to struggle with leg pain secondary to lower back arthritis and stenosis. She's had two spinal injections with poor results. The leg pain cause poor sleep and appetite. She's always had a very positive outlook but this has drug on so long it's getting her down. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

On the fun side, I'm taking a photography class and am learning lots. Our last assignment was to take a picture that answers the question, "Who am I?" Here's my results. What do you think?

Another fun class I took which was without a doubt the best class I've ever taken was Laugh Yoga. It was very short, 3 weeks, but joyous. Here's a couple of class pictures.



I am really looking forward to Christy's wedding next week. I can't wait to see how much Sam has grown. I love reading Heather's blog and following the pictures of his growth. He is so cute!

Coast & Day trips

In July we took a week trip over to San Simeon and visited Cambria 2 miles to the south. We love this area as it's less crowded and there's lots of places to run the dogs. Unfortunately, it was foggy most of the time so I haven't many pictures. The dogs are running on San Simeon's beach, the next picture is Cambria's walk and the last is the coast line.

August has given me a chance to reconnect with family and friend. I had lunch with Ron Lopez, a retired rec. therapist, I used to work with and a chance to see his newest grandchild, Elias.

My sister, Kay's daughter, Denise, and her family were up at Shaver Lake so I went up for the day to visit. I met lots of really nice members of the extended family; some were from Kerman which is nearby. They went fishing and intended to have a big fish fry that night.

Later we took the RV to Pinto Lake, a regional park in Watsonville for a week. It's a cute place and only 6 miles from the beach where I could take the dogs to run everyday. We explored the area: Moss Landing and Monterey were day trips. We always eat great fresh fish at Phil's in Moss Landing which has next door the Monterey Bay Aquarium's biological lab. Their beach and the one at Pajara Dunes allow dogs to run freely. Ari caught a duck at Moss Landing...ugh. I had to laugh as MaryLou usually falls down on vacations but this time I fell off my bike in Monterey. Have a big road burn but hopefully no other problems.

Our cat, Hissy, is looking out the trailer door and Sherman is dancing in the waves at Moss Landing. MaryLou and the dogs are at Monterey's pier and I'm in a nearby park.

I'm overlaping entries but oh well.