Another update as much for myself as anyone else. Elcie, who will be 20 next month, is visiting this weekend. Right now, she's busying herself picking dog hair out of the carpet sweeper. Why a dog? He turned up (long story) and just wormed his way into our lives. He's a border collie mix (mostly Border) and a good little guy. We still have a couple of cats living in the yard but they're quite wild. Made one of her favorites for dinner - chicken and dumplings. She's been spending every other weekend here. A little crowded in this tiny house but we manage. Rochelle (now 18) will be here for Elcie's birthday next month -not sure about Rebecca yet. I don't see as much of her. Son Jim is still receiving medical treatment at Ft. Lewis. His wife and their two boys will be moving to the Seattle area next month. I'll miss them, darn it. When I moved here from San Francisco in 1993, I left everyone behind. They all followed, eventually. Now I'm the only one still here except for my oldest granddaughter (Samantha) and her mom (maybe one of her brothers too but I'm not sure). Other than that, things are about the same. Tim & Juan are in Southern California and seem to be doing great. Tim's in college once again. I don't know if I every said my daughter Carol's younger son turned up a couple of years ago. We never thought it would happen but he found us. Great happiness all around and he and his wife have provided me a great-grandson to go with the great-granddaughters. I'll try to update now and then - meantime, I'll see you on FB.

Rebecca, the youngest of the three great-granddaughters, will be 17 tomorrow. Seven years have passed since I first started writing about the girls here. The was such a little thing then. Happy birthday, Halloween girl!!

I Should Find Some New Pictures

So what's new? Not much. Rebecca and Rochelle will be high school seniors in a few weeks. Amazing. Elcie has transitioned from assisted to independent (sort of) living right around the corner from me. She has a cute little apartment, she's close to me and even closer to my friend Dawn if she needs help (or gets bored or lonely which does happen. Right now she's unhappy because her scooter battery died about 4 blocks from home. Fortunate, she was with Dawn and her 12 year old daughter who pushed her the rest of the way. She's back in her manual wheelchair so can at least get over here. Ray is still about the same. We've been married 23 years as of July 1. Doesn't seem like that long. My adoptive mom died last May. She would have been 100 this month. My "baby" brother turned 72 two days ago. Son Tim is living in Anaheim with his husband and two cats. Son Jim is back in the USA from his second (and last) tour of Iraq but is still at Ft Lewis due to some medical issues. Hope to see both of them before too much longer. Les Miserable (the musical) will be in theaters in December and we already are planning. The three of us have seen the live production twice in San Francisco and I know Tim has seen it more than that. I've seen trailers of the film and I'm impressed already. My tomatoes are doing well after a bad year in 2011. Our temps are hovering between the 90's and 100. We expect to pass that today with no real end in sight. And that's my life. Still getting out for coffee at B&N or a neat little downtown shop called Coffee Bandit which reminds me of San Francisco. I hope they succeed. Still political but now primarily on the net or the phone. Walking is becoming more difficult (although no walker just yet) and I tire far more easily than I once did. Other than that I'm okay and really blessed. I have my sight, my hearing (somewhat), and my mind (although some days I do wonder). No major illnesses, not even the flu and no prescription meds. Ray makes up for it so I don't think big Pharm is going out of business anytime soon. I'll be back. If anyone is out there, take care. I was looking back through my old posts over the past couple of days and remembering all my online buddies. I've lost track of some unfortunately (my fault). I'm keeping the blog if for nothing else than to read back over life with the girls.