Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

Thanksgiving was very lovely.  Thanksgiving Day I was actually alone as Maria and Johnny were driving up and the Valko children were at their Dad's in Susanville where Grandma and Grandpa Valko were visiting.  But I enjoyed finishing up details for tomorrow's Thanksgiving Dinner and setting the table and watching the parade, football, music, and one of my favorite DVD's 'Holiday'.  With all the fluffy snow on the ground and the sun shining brightly, it was a beautiful day.  I enjoyed calls from Linda and the Hardy family.

Maria and Johnny arrived in the late evening and it was fun talking with them.  Mike and Matt came up later and settled in.  The next morning Matt and Johnny worked on my garage door, the snowplowing, and Mike drove down for Mitch and Melissa.  Matt and Mike also did the neighbors's driveway so Amerigas could put in a new propane tank for me. 

We ate around 1 and Johnny cut the turkey, Maria made the sweet potatoes, creamed corn, and mashed the potatoes.  Mike had baked his cheesecake the night before and made his favorite green bean dish.  Melissa brought her special pecan pie.  It was all delicious.  I had made rolls, and the stuffing, the cranberry salad, waldorf salad, baked the turkey and made lots of gravy.  The cream corn and cranberry salad were the first gone--need more of those next year and we all loved the cheesecake and pecan pie.  Great meal with everyone's help.

That evening we watched "Immortal Beloved", the story of Beethoven (great movie and glorious music).    We also played a fun guessing who game.  Then Mitch entertained us with his guitar, harmonica, and voice, and Melissa added her accents on the organ.  It was very fun.

Saturday morning Mitch and Matt loaded the wood and put all cut wood in the shed, and we went to lunch in Susanville at the Pizza Factory and met Dixie and Mike Valko there.  The drive down was gorgeous as it was snowing again and staying on the trees.  Johnny picked up needs to fix the broken garage door and fixed it beautifully when we went home.  He also put down the cherry wood strip from the hall to the bathroom and that looks great.  He further checked out my broken dishwasher and decided I may as well buy a new one as try and fix it.  It was 23 years old!  All in all it was a very productive weekend for me with the help of Johhny and the boys.

Matt, Melissa and Mitch stayed at their Dad's and Sunday morning Mike, Maria and Johnny left for San Diego and Bandido and I slept until 1 PM!!!  Great weekend, love my family and enjoyed getting acquainted with Johnny.

Thanksgiving Time

Fourteen years ago we went to bed in Maria's family room and Richard passed away at 2:20 AM. He had just asked for an aspirin for his sore throat and we couldn't find any. He asked me If I would turn on the tv so he could go to sleep easier. Within a few minutes he had cardiac arrest and left us.

Thanksgiving is always a sad time of the year for me as I reflect on the devastating events of that day and many more to follow. I like the above picture as it reflects happier times with Christmas at Park City. Today as the sun pored in and I looked out at the winter wonderland I couldn't help but think, though, what a wonderful place this has been for me to live.

It was Thanksgiving twelve years ago that Maria and I drove up to Lake Almanor and I fell in love with the area and found my perfect little home. The big trees on the drive up the hill were just as laden with snow as they are today. I knew immediately that this is where I wanted to be.

My Little Christmas Tree

Actually something is new, my Blue Spruce has grown a lot this year. I tried to find some battery operated Christmas lights for it but they are ridiculously priced up here. Oh, well, it is a sweet little Christmas tree anyway.

Unfortunately it is also a little thinner.  The deer have been living off the tasty branches this year!

Another Catch 22 in My Life

Seems everything in my life is a Catch 22 lately.  I just had to go outside and put up the mailbox again.  If it is too close to the white line the snow plow knocks it over.  But if it is too far from the white line, the post mistriss can't reach the box...

And I would put up a new pix but it looks just like the one above.  It is a beautiful wonderland this morning.  And the new fence the neighbor put in really catches the snow--good for something...

They are looking for actors for a New Testament movie--I think Mike would be a natural--I am leaving the site out for him to peruse.  Too bad, they already had auditions in San Diego in October.  Doesn't he look like he walked out of the New Testament, if you take off the glasses and put on a robe?

Well, I Asked, Now I Know

The most common cause of heel pain is plantar fascitis which is commonly referred to as a heel spur. Plantar fascia is a broad band of fibrous tissue which runs along the bottom surface of the foot, from the heel to the toes. Plantar fascitis is a condition in which the plantar fascia is inflamed. This condition can be very painful and cause considerable amount of suffering.


Often the pain is worse on first rising in the morning and after rest and is aggravated by prolonged weight bearing & thin soled shoes.


CAUSES OF SORE HEELS


Excessive load on the foot from obesity is a major cause of plantar fascitis. Which is why this condition is common in middle aged and over weight adults.

I Learn a New Word

I learned a new word tonight.  I was watching a French film with subtitles and at the very end we find what the woman had was erotomania.  The movie was extremely well done.  The first half is her version of things and it appears real.  The second half is his version and then the end when he finally realizes what is happening and who is stalking him.  Supposedly John Hinckley Jr who shot Ronald Reagan was suffering from this with Jodie Foster, the movie star.

Erotomania is a type of delusion in which the affected person believes that another person, usually a stranger or famous person, is in love with him or her. The illness often occurs during psychosis, especially in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar mania. In one case, erotomania was reported in a patient who had undergone surgery for a ruptured cerebral aneurysm...   Usually the patient then returns the perceived affection by means of letters, phone calls, gifts, and visits to the unwitting recipient. Even though these advances are unexpected and unwanted, any denial of affection by the object of this delusional love is dismissed by the patient as a ploy to conceal the forbidden love from the rest of the world. (From Wikepedia)

I have sometimes imagined someone loved me.  Now I realize I was delusional.

I just used my spell check and it does not recognize the word erotomania!!!

Winter Wonderland

No pix but beautiful snow this afternoon--winter begins.  I should have a gorgeous pix in the morning.  It has been snowing for hours and is still snowing and in the morning everything will be piled on the trees and houses like a marshmallow world.

Matt showed up about supper time with a friend and took his snowboard things back to Tahoe.  I knew he was coming so had chili for them.  They came straight up 89 so only took two hours to get here but were going back the long way as he needed his snowboards from his Dad's house.  Hope he doesn't injure his knee again.

It would be fun to walk in the snow tonight as it is warm and fluffy like spring snow.

If It Isn't One Thing. It Is Another

Marjorie was right, the black speck in front of my eye is called a "floater".  I thought this Chinese opinion was the most interesting of those I have read.  It is like there is a piece of something on your eyelid or haning down from your hair.  Very annoying.  I first noticed it last Monday while I was waiting for Mike at the eye doctor.  How appropriate.

CHINESE MEDICAL VIEWS
In the Yinhai Jingwei (Essential Subtleties on the Silver Sea), a text on ophthalmology from the time of the Ming Dynasty (1), there is a discussion of floaters, described as "black blurred specks in the eyes resembling fly wings." The pathology is said to be related to the "water of the kidney" refers to the kidney yin, as distinguished from the "fire of the kidney," which corresponds to the kidney yang or mingmen fire:


[Floaters] are a sign of weakness of the water of the kidney. The kidney is the mother of the liver. If the water of the kidney can not nourish the wood of the liver, the liver will display deficiency heat. The gallbladder lies beside the liver. If the wood of the liver is withered and parched, the qi of the gallbladder will be insufficient. As a result, whenever one starts or halts a movement of the head, black specks resembling fly wings float in the spirit water of the eyes.

The Many Faces of Maria

Beautiful Baby

Early Walker and Speedy Stair Crawler

 Little Sister

Mischief Maker and Classy Dresser

Middle Child and  Big Sister

Can Fix a Great Breakfast

Charming Smile

Food Lover

Fun Auntie

Terrific Mom

Fun Traveler and Sister

Loving Girlfriend and Adventurer

Appreciates Nature

                                                     Fun to Be With and Wonderful Friend!

Caring Daughter

And no picture-- but a very successful career lady in a very intricate and difficult career--and a writer we all love to read...Happy Birthday Maria, you've come a long way, Babe.

Love One Another

Tonight I received a beautiful note of appreciation and friendship from a ward member.  It was so unexpected and yet so needed.  We are all in need of validation and support from others and yet how often we forget to express our thoughts of admiration and appreciation.

I immediately thought of two other women in 7th Ward who would write a nice note whenever they thought you had said or done something well.  What a kind thing we can do for others. 

Richard was good about that.  Even silly little things like, "I love how you have Christmas in our house from October to January."  or "Let's count how many dolls and stuffed animals Janet has in the house."  He could have made fun of my collections and traditions but he never did.  In fact, I remember so well when he insisted on buying the blue velvet bunny I had admired at the Craft Fair. I still love it.

I have probably said this before but if anyone would want to know how to show love to their partner, they should read the book about David and Emma McKay written by a son.  Their expressive love was legend and many couples learned from their example.

Through the Years with Mitch!

Mitch with his little cousin Jimmy.

Mitch with his Mom.

Mitch with his cousins.

    

Mitch in college and now he is 20!!!

Mitch, you are a sweetheart, and I like those curls.

My Sister Carole has a Birthday.

Today my sister Carole is turning 72 (I think). She is such a special person, I just want to pay tribute to her (again possibly.

She was always the sparkler of the family, the one everyone always enjoyed being with, listening to, or being heard by. She is a great Mom, teacher, speaker, and just a wonderful human being.

One of Carole’s best qualities is her ability to listen. She is not only a good listener but then she always has something positive to say. She Is a nurturer, one who cares, I don’t think she likes to let anyone feel badly. When I need a kind and sympathetic ear, I always call Carole.

She can also be very wise and speak up when a sane voice needs to be heard.

Carole always had lots of friends, like Marilyn, she acquires friends easily.

I can’t remember a time when Carole hasn’t been there for me. During high school, she was a lot younger so I mostly remember her as being cute and funny and always having a pet that she loved. She was always tender to the animals.

I can’t remember why we were at college one time together. Maybe it was the summer before I went to teach in San Diego. Anyway I just remember coming home too late to get in the dorm and her hand was waving out the window to let me know she would let me in.  No scolding, just being there.

When I had my first baby, she was teaching in San Diego, and was always there for me as a baby sitter, companion, listener, helper.

Carole also likes to decorate and move things around to make them more interesting. I tend to get things one way and leave it there forever. A funny story is when they were staying with us for awhile in the 1980’s. Richard and I had gone out and when we came back she had rearranged all the living room furniture, and that was not easy. It was a big room with lots of heavy furniture. Richard was incredulous, that she would have the nerve to do that. I didn’t think too much about it, just glad she was interested in making it better.

She was always the creative one, the one who could do things with flowers and such, talent I never inherited.

Of course, she was not for paper work. How well I remember when she worked a day in our loan office for one day and as she sat there there and looked at the paperwork, she looked at me and just said, “I can’t do this, I’ll go crazy.” Or something like that.

Oh, yes, she and I are very different, very different in deed. But I am so glad she has always been there for me, to make me feel loved and capable, and share in my grief and joy. 

She and Len are at Lolo, Mt with son Hunter and his new bride Toni.

Carole, a wonderful sister. How blessed to have sisters in my life.

Easter Dresses

I told Maria we always had new dresses for Easter. This is Mom, my sister-in-law Mary, me, Marilyn and Carole one Easter. I know I made my dress, not sure about the others. Everybody liked new dresses for Easter, and often hats...

Fun

Fun? Yesterday in the video Maria had on Facebook, it said to have Fun. So I have been thinking about what is Fun for me? Not going back to the Montana years but just from my adult years in San Diego, what has been fun for me?

I know what it is not—not fishing, not golf, not hiking, not clubs.

When I was a young, single, school teacher in San Diego it was going to the beach or bay every Saturday, just being lazy in the sun and chatting, body surfing, walking, eating, any kind of beach activity, day or night. That was fun.

Also when I was single the years of sailing every weekend. That was fun, really fun, I loved it. Never could get into the motor boating and water skiing but I loved the sailing. That was fun.

Though I wasn’t young, I loved the walking on the beach in Guam in 2002, 2003. You could go for about a mile in back of all the hotels. It was after work but still warm and light. There were so many interesting people to watch, music streaming from the hotels, beautiful sunset. I was sometimes with a friend and talking, but most often alone. The air was intoxicating, the view breathtaking. And then sitting on a chaise for awhile when the stars came out. That was fun. Really fun.

Also as a single, the dancing, the stake dances and then the officer clubs and hotels. After I married, same thing, stake dances, hotels. Richard was a great dancer and I always loved topping off a date night with dancing.

Of course, eating out is always fun, no matter what age...

The music, after Richard died, the music became such an important ‘me’ time…over 200 cds and 100 vcrs and dvds later I still love to turn off the tv and just hear the music, all my favorites, over and over…and if I have a really great book to escape into, yes, that is fun for me.

Also after Richard died, beach and bay biking with Nadine, yes, that was fun.
You can bike from the bay to the beach and it is all flat.
Very nice. 
When the children were little, here again, I think the beach and bay trips were always the must fun for me. I liked it much more than camping.

And then the skiing, loved the skiing years, that was very, very fun. The whole scene. Especially a sunny day and a rhythmic ski with family or friends and the eating in the lodge at the bottom. Yes, loved the skiing years. That was fun.

But all those years in the sun were not good for my fair skin—and I don’t have the body anymore that does well lolling on the beach. I also don’t have a friend with a sail boat and no skiing anymore so except for casual walks on the beach  or beach family gatherings when I am in San Diego—

So where is my fun now? Still enjoy a great book, still enjoy my music, I dance alone, not quite the same. I love the solitude and beauty of the mountains.  When I am in San Diego I enjoy the grandchildren, the family get-togethers, the eating out. That is fun.

But I am alone here…really not much opportunity for the kind of fun I once enjoyed…and no, I don't enjoy the golfing though I live in a Country Club with great golfing facilities and  I don't enjoy clubbing at the clubhouse.

Yes, I need to find new fun besides walking, blogging, family history, organizing my life, and yard work...

"I'll think about it tomorrow!"

Cute Great Grandchildren...

Halloween Fun!

 

Kristi has such cute pix of the darling great granchildren Kate and Ryan it is hard to choose, but I must have some for my annual book even though there are lots on her blog.

Kate turns 4!!!  So hard to believe.  And she gets a bicycle...

She is really a big girl now--with her auntie Sarah.

Happiness is a new bicycle with all the trimmings...

What a cutie amoungst the pumpkins--Ryan, Just turning 2 this week.

Kate can choose her own...

Double birthday party, double the fun, double dipper Birthday Cake...

Kristi, your children are living the life all children should have...

Meanwhile...

It has not been above 30 degrees all day and last week it was hot!  And the snow is sticking to the ground.  Should be a winter wonderland by morning, So glad I am cozy in here by the fire.





"There's a Horse in the House"

I have in my bedside table a speech that has been there since 1992.  It was given at a Women's Conference in the same year it was published in BYU TODAY, an alumnus magazine.  The Ph.D speaking was Maren M. Mouritsen and the story is one that resonates with me so strongly I like to read and reread it.

It is called "There's a Horse in the House".  And the whole story is delightful but the meat of the story is when the pony that she had been anticipating being born is finally born and then in a terrible accident the mother mare rolled over on the pony and the pony stopped breathing.

The father says to her, "It's over, sweetheart--it's over.  I'll care for the mare. I'll give you a few more minutes.  We'll have another foal." 

She says, "I was used to the ebb and flow of life on the ranch, but I don't remember a time when I've ever been sadder because this was to have been my pony.  As I held that little thing in my arms, those little childhood phrases were echoing in my mind".  "If you have faith, anything can happen.  if you just ask, you can receive."  " I probably didn't do it consciously, but with the simple faith that only a chld can have, I thought, "It's time to try.  I've got to try."  With every ounce of my being, I prayed that it wasn't so.  It just couldn't be so." 

Then suddenly those little eyes, with the longest eyelashes i had ever seen, fluttered and opened.  There was tension in the body, there was warmth.  The next thing I knew it was standing.  When my father came  back, he was amazed.  I  was amazed.  My pony was standing, my pony was alive and he was mine...

That night, I slept in a little tiny nook by the mare and my pony.  As my father lifted me into the manger, he whispered in my ear, "When you are good, and you have done all you can do, and you have faith, and you ask for help, then miracles can happen."  And this had been, for me, a miracle.

This is my testimony, too, I have memorized the above phrase, I believe it totally as I have seen it in my own life.  But every once in awhile when I become gloomy and sad and sorry for myself, I get out this beautiful story and read again of the miracle in a little girl's life, a little girl who grew to be an Assistant Vice President and Dean of Student Life at BYU and I am sure a great influence on all the students and others whose lives she touched.