Feelings of Christmas

It seems I always have to go through a certain amount of melancholy feelings before I can really feel the joy and fun of the Xmas season. The above picture is a Xmas card from Germany. I feel sad to think of the Xmases Terry missed while he was stationed there. His experiences there changed his life forever. In fact all of our lives. Worse is the happy Xmases he has missed by dieing young. My sister Melba, who was living with me died the day after Christmas. I think these losses sometimes hover around near the holidays. This is not to say we haven't had many happy times at the holidays. Friends have Christmas parties and kindly invite me. I can laugh and enjoy the Xmas spirit after a while. The best of times are when there are children around to be surprised and thrilled. I have enjoyed many of those great family times. My heart fills with gratitude as I think of those times.

Cheryl talking of cutting a total ly fresh tree, and the glow of her red lights on the Boulder Creek brought back happy holidays in Boulder, and some regrets of how I have choosen to live my life. Nothing is better than to take three little boys to the mountains to find the perfect tree. When LeFair and I were first married we went up by Hell's Back Bone and found the most perfect blue spruce tree I have ever seen. Before then or since. We didn't have electricity in Salt Gultch at that time so we decorated with really fancy balls and tincel.

Now that I don't get out as much to the stores to find the special gifts I mostly send money and everyone has to find what their heart desires the most. This is not so much fun. Chistmas time in the city is definately different than the country. Where I live I'm in a nice neighborhood but feel I'm neither in the heart of the city or in the country. (Although we do have many quail and the not so welcome rabbits come to visit. Frequently a cayote will wander into our yard.) Writin g and recieving cards is still fun and I make my traditional goodies. I'm an expert with fudge and pop corn balls.

Terry loved Christmas and even though we always teased him about waiting to shop until Xmas eve, he could come up with the most thoughtful gifts of all. I hope his spirits is visiting his little Grandsons in Illinois since they can't be with us this year.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL THE DEVOTED BLOGGERS OUT THERE.

Family, fun, Thanks, And of course great food.

My only grandson, Mason (shown above) came to spend time with me on Wednesday and I loved every minute of it. He is a sweetheart. Warm, generous and smart. Of course this is speaking from a grandma's point of view. Right now he is going through a rough time as his maternal grandfather is about making his passing to the next world. Mason has been so incredibly close to his grandfather he could hardly take time for anyone else so it was a real treat for me. He whipped right through some changes he thought would make things better on the computer. He is very savvy with electronics. When he was about 8 he would go into his dad's office and get all the computers they had given up on, take them apart and make them work. He said his Dad can program any of the very best computers ever built but he likes to depend on Mason to do all the ordinary things. After my lesson in electronics he took down a curtain rod for me, took my car off to be washed and filled with gas, and any little chores he could see I might need. It was a treat. He had came to play scrabble with me and I told him he didn't need to put himself through that but he insisted he wanted to play so at last there was something I could teach him. We spent a lot of time talking about Terry as he had only known him during his worst times with alcohol. Still he liked him very much so I told him all sorts of stories and I know Terry would be pleased to have Randy's son so interested in him. He loved hearing all about Boulder and the three boys growing up there. I would say this visit was the highlight of my Thanksgiving holiday.

Thursday I went over to Rog and Sandy's house for the typical turkey dinner topped with pumkin pie. There I had fun visiting with friends and came home for a nap. Soon Karin's Dave and Mici came by bringing an entire dinner. I had brought lots of left overs from Sandy's house,so our refrigerator is stuffed as well as our stomacks.

One always reminice a bit about Thanksgivings past. I rarely got to my famiolies get togethers but LeFair's sister Dixie always managed to get the Hall family together, either at her house or ours. I remember feeling very intimidated the first one at our house with twenty peole buty with LeFair's help we amanage and it turned out well. Now-a days my cooking is very limited. I did manage an especially good fruit salad though. This seems to be what grandmas manage best in their declining years. Once you get all the wonderful ingredients gathered up you can hardly go wrong with a fruit salad. It is really quite delightful to have88 degree weather for Thanksgiving.

Thank God for Airbags.

Larena just called me to talk about having an accident today, strong enough to deploy the airbags. Only she and Trevor were in the car and neither were hurt. Trevor did have a headache but she thinks it is from being hit by the airbags. The car is totaled but they do have insurance. I'm so grateful neither one of them were hurt ,but I can tell she is pretty shook up. I have worried about her as they are on the go all the time, running to work a half hour away and taking the boys to or from sports.

I worried about her after visiting as sometimes she seemed so distracted. Of course this sort of thing can happen to anyone at any time. The van in front of her stopped unexpectedly and she didn't even see her brake lights. She drives a smallish car like mine. In fact it is an Altima the same color. Both Brian and I have cautioned her about wearing a seat belt. She is like her dad (and mom) very stubborn when she makes up her mind about something. I thought for sure the bad accident she was in here would make a believer about seat belts for her but that didn't happen. She is very concientious about the boys being buckled up so it is not that she doesn't believe in them. Maybe she gets claustraphobic. I suspect more that is a feeling of wanting to live on the edge a bit. I just wanted to hug her and the boys. Thank goodness Brian is so supportive. we can never take life for granted.

Home owner assoiatiosn.

Oh these HOA's can get ugly. Our present board members decided to spend $35,000 to rezone some lots along Aire Libra. It was voted in 2005 to sell two lots. The market was at the top then. Now suddenly it has become 25 lots which incorporates a grassy spot behind the tennis court. Naturally severl home owers are upset about this but the board of five members plans to go forth. The market is at an all time low so this alone makes it seem a dumb idea. Any money gained cannot be distributed to home owners as it is a non profit organization. All against it now has hired a lawyer to help. I made a small contribution to the fund. It is not that I care so much about the park at this juncture of life but I do feel strongly that there is some nefarious activity among the board members and this is just wrong. Therefore I must rally behind those who have the energy to fight for right. Greentrails is now at war.

One pretty girl!!

One of the most beautiful girls in our family is my sister Beaulah's daughter Diana Joyce. This picture is a couple of years old but she looks the same. Would you believe she is 66? When Joyce's mother died very young Joyce was devastated . They had been the best of buddies,and loved each other so deeply. It was such a shocking blow, for Joyce as well as the rest of the family. Joyce helped her father and brothers with cooking and house keeping, whenever she was not in school. As soon as she graduated from colledge she went to Germany to teach school. She made the very most of this experience.

My friend Fran and I took our first trip together to Germany to visit Joyce and see my son Terry, who was in the service. It eased my heart to see him even though he couldn't spend a great deal of time with us. Joyce made up for this lack by taking us into her home and cooking fantastic meals for us. She took us sight seeing to all the little villages, through Boveria and into Vienna on the border of Austria. It was wonderful as we were not experienced travelers and Joyce knew all the most lovely places to show us. We had such a great time.

It was there that my mind turned to thinking more about reincarnation. We took a small cruise on Konasea lake. As we were leaving the shore I looked back and to my surprise here was this perfect image of cottages and water that had been in my dreams. I had dreamed of this exact place several times and always felt it was significant somehow. On the boat I was so struck I said, (rather loudly) That is my dream. I explained I had dereamed this for years.

When we went to Burgus Gaden (Hitler's Crow's Nest) I got up at 5:00 a..m. one morning and went for a walk. It was so beaautiful high above the valley, I took time to meditate. I was so struck to think someone could actually be in a place that looked like that and plan such destrution.

When Joyce was through with Germany, I suggested she come to Phoenix to live. Truth be told I wanted her comany. She did, and taught school many years here. She met Ejner, the perfect husband for her. They now just completed a lovely large home in Huntsfille, Utah. She is over joyed with her surroundings and to be only fifty miles from Bountiful where she grew up.

Joyce is pretty on the inside as well as the outside. She has one of the most loving and thoughtfuls spirits a lady could have. As Thanksgiving approaches I think of how she has enriched my life and am thankful for lovely her.

Wedding at the quaint little church on the corner.

When I first moved to Phoenix, Gary and Candy were being married at a small church on the corner of Sandra Terrace and Cave Creek road. This was only about a block from me house and I was happy that I had been invited to dear Gary's wedding. Then I realized I didn't anything even remotely appropriate for a wedding. In those days I couldn't just run to Macy's and pick something up. Sweet ,generous Ann said," Oh it is no problem, I'm sure we can whip something up. I think I even have some fabric that will work." She indeed managed to do what to me would have been a huge task. I wasn't exactly used to wearing large printed gowns but I loved what she did. I understand she is still very creative about 'whipping up' a costume or a dress for a grand daughter in need. I thought it was a very touching gesture. Incidentally the wedding was beautiful and it was a happy day. Wasn't I lucky to have such friends to make my transition from the country to the city, from marriage to divorce as easy and interesting as possible?

The picture from left to right is
Ann(The heroine of this story, ) Margie, Me, LaRae, Linda and Gerry. I was raised in a family with five sisters so I was very happy to have a group of five sisters to adopt me.

Thoughts on Gay Friends.

When I was in Colorado Lucinda was joking how she really needed a gay guy friend to help her decorate and buy the beautiful things only they can spot and appreciate properly.(She does a darn good job herself.) Randy hates that stuff so just goes along and pays for all the 'stuff'. It started me thinking about the fact that I have always had a gay friend that I enjoyed very much. I thought about how this could be, and why. When I became a Boulderite dear Richard kept me from being too bored and going crazy while husband was working twelve hours per day. We hiked, we played scrabble and he even tried to teach me to play piano although I'm sure he could tell from the beginning it was a hopeless task. His story telling ability made every happening in town down right funny. I tried to make friends with Kiven but that was in defence as I didn't want him to be seducing my boys. He was a good story teller too and of course all the kids in town were quite fascinated with that. The only fun I had with him was dancing. He was a good dancer.

Then in Phoenix I met Roger, the interior decorater for both Design Master and Excecutive Homes. I only saw him a couple of times per year when he came to decorate models, as he lived in Florida. He was so funny, he could crack anyone up. I loved funny. He wrote very funny letters to my friend Sonney which she shared with me. We of course would elaborate on what ever he said and laugh harder. For a few years after I retired I didn't have any gay friends. Then I joined a scrabble group and I'll be darned if there was not a very charming gay guy who is a champion scrabble player. I quickly made friends with him. Now in the Winter of my life I think the best thing about having a gay friend is that they love and respect old women. Let's hear it for these inveterate charmers.