Not having posted for two years, here's a copy of an email sent early this morning:

Well, at least I'm not the only one not getting any email....(facebook
is the only place I pick up bits of news...).

Here are some bits from our direction: Bruce and I are doing fine.
He's still doing his temporary work for the state Energy Office, but
is taking a day or part of a day a week off to do some volunteer work
for the town of Pittsboro (working on diagnosing the source of the
mysterious odor problem at the new library, and also the mold at the
RAFi building), I'm still collecting my 150 a week unemployment and
loving going to Curves 3-4 times a week and how much better the
movement is making my arthritic self feel. Also doing a bit of
sewing, and some knitting, and playing 'words with friends' on
facebook which is fun.

Talked with Ariel this week as she was walking home from work, and
she'd met some friends for a 'girls weekend', halfway between LA and
Palo Alto and had a lovely time. She said that Derek is making good
progress on his dissertation.

Logan and Jessi are having a dispute with their apartment complex over
where to park their bicycles, and are quite aggravated by it all.
They're also going down to the LA area this weekend to meet a possible
second (hairless terrier) dog, that they might adopt if she seems to
be compatible with them and with Striker, their current one.

Bruce's sister Melissa's daughter Charleane in Jacksonville spent a
day and a night at the hospital after having some possible issues with
pre-eclampsia. She was discharged Thursday, and everyone's hoping
that she will have no further problems...she's pregnant with twin boys
due in May but expected in April. And Melissa's son Bret's wife was
just delivered by c-section yesterday morning - their second daughter.
They named her Isabela.

No current news from Jon and Lisa....

Today is Will's birthday - Happy Birthday, Will!! ( I guess when
you've reached the point where you consider your birthday "just
another day", as Mary says he said, you're 'a grown-up'....Sigh....so
it goes...)

And.....that's about it here I guess?...

Happy Valentine's Day coming up, and Cheers to all!

Logan and Jessilyn - Nov. 23, 2009 - Danbury, NC - Wedding

A misty day for this momentous occasion in the NC foothills....Such a beautiful couple, full of love, hopes and dreams...And all their families' prayers and blessings are with them.

God, I love the Library!!!

After visiting the doctor's office today, I went on to the Library - hadn't been there for over a month (!) which is a long time for me. After picking up a couple of used paperbacks to purchase, I wandered around and picked out several books.....and while walking up to the desk to check out, had just an overwhelming sense of joy and delight at just being there, surrounded by such a wonderful wealth of "worlds".... right there waiting to be explored. Free. Available to most anyone who just reaches out.....Man! Amazing!

Spring Snow

The snow is coming down - bigger flakes, and sticking a bit to the ground and evergreens,  but it's just mostly a "show snow" here - that kind that's wonderful to watch from the window or a warm house, or look up at a street light at,  when walking at night. Apparently it takes more of a REAL snow to amount to much here in Deep Gap.  (But it's really coming down here...!!)

Last evening we went to hear the last lecture in the Darwin series that's been going on this year at ASU....the lecture was interesting but the best part was walking back to the car as the snow swirled around us,  seeing it collecting on emerging tree leaf buds and looking like a mass of white flowers, and the whirling cloud in the lights around the 'Yosef' statue.

My Linus Blanket group for today is cancelled, but Gail from next door just reminded me that tomorrow is the blood drive day at the Hospital.  I hope the roads will be okay, because I'm scheduled to donate at 10:30.  

Only three more days until we go to Chatham County for a few days, and then fly to Paris to see Ariel and Derek!!  It's funny, when we made the reservation it seemed to be a really long way off, but now the time is almost here!  I feel  such a mixture of excitement and nervousness about being there - it's almost 50 years since we lived in France, and although I used to be fluent in French, I certainly am no longer!  The imaginings I have of seeing all the wondrous sights there are tinged with worry about the actual getting there.  The French phrase book I ordered was sent to our Chatham address (my mistake!) so I haven't been able to do the studying up that I'd hoped to do.  I guess that Monday I should be able to collect it from the p.o.  I can hardly wait to see Ariel and Derek, and will just have to push past my (typical) fears.  That's what you get for being born in the Year of the Chicken, eh....

Today is Pammy's  appointment with the ENT doctor there in Omaha;  I hope that she learns that she's making good progress following the ear surgery she had!!  She's had enough 'stuff' happen to her and needs a long spell of good things.

Spring ...!

Officially, it's the first day of Spring today!  Facebook reports from Pittsboro tell me that the redbuds are blooming, and dogwood not too far behind.   Here in Deep Gap I believe it'll probably be another couple weeks to a month until we get really visible signs,  although the buds are swelling, and we've had a big  influx of robins....(now that I can see them up closer I find that they're much bigger birds than I realized!).

Yesterday was my first full day at the Hospital.  In Medical Records I got to do exciting things like remove staples from ER reports, prior to them being photocopies for charts, and separate medical reports and discharge records by physician name, seal them up into envelopes, and poke the envelopes into the different doctors mailboxes.  All around me there was constant activity and conversation (how do all these women get much done, with all the talking going on?) as the clerks went about their daily routines.  I am always amazed at the amounts of paper involved in record-keeping.  How many times is each sheet handled by someone, one w onders?  Are they usually looked at again, once they're filed?  Where might they store all the files, once people are discharged?  Or do they keep hard copies?  hmmmmmm......lots of things to find out.

Then I had lunch in the cafeteria - a small cup of chili, some broccoli and some fried zucchini, and went over to the gift shop for the afternoon shift.  Once again, busy enough to not be bored, but not too busy.  The past few weeks haven't brought much new or interesting merchandise (probably fortunate, for my wallet's sake!) - I guess fall/winter/christmas is probably the biggest time for the shop.  Maybe our economic downturn is affecting it all too?

There was a small drama in the afternoon, when an attractive youngish woman came in, asked where her friend was, and when she didn't see him, angrily deposited  his bag and jacket at the reception desk out front, and stormed out saying she had to drive to Raleigh to meet the body and didn't have time to wait for him.   About five minutes later the guy appeared, having gone to the restroom or something, and learned he'd been abandoned.  It seems that he had flown over from NYC to support her as her grandmother was dying, and now he was left  in a strange town .   The ladies at reception and I tried to help him sort out his situation, and he made a lot of calls on his cell phone.  I don't know what finally developed with it - when I left just after 5:00 he was (temporarily?) gone from the lobby.  I really hated to leave with no resolution to things, and just hope  he worked something out.   [But of course he did - something - I just don't know what.]  

 Imagine abandoning someone who made a special trip to support you, in a strange city/state, that way!  Sheesh.....he'd been hanging around all afternoon waiting for her - even if she was distraught about her grandmother, seems like she could have waited a few minutes...

People are amazing!

A good Thursday, and another change...

Had a positive visit with the dentist this morning - no new work needing to be done - hooray!   Then wandered around Big Lots for a while, picking up a few cleaning supplies.  The store is all loaded up with Easter decorations and goodies, outdoor furniture and gardening supplies (makes me think about Easter in Minnesota - we'd get new outfits to wear to church for easter, and more than likely the weather would be frigid and snowy, so we'd stand around shivering in our new spring clothes).   The afternoon at the hospital gift shop was just busy enough to keep things from being boring, and quiet enough to work on a crossword puzzle when no one was there, so that was fun.  The new development with my volunteering activities, in addition to the gift shop and Linus Blanket/baby hat knitting group, is that starting next week I will be in medical records on Thursday mornings, doing clerical work of some sort.  ( Who knows, maybe this might eventually open up a chance for some actual paid work there in the future?)

Our brief and wonderful springtime has made a retreat;  it's cold out again, and the forecast is calling for snow tonight.  We'll see what actually materializes, so far there's nothing.

And so to bed.....

A big milestone

Well, I seem to have crossed over yet another threshold, and while the step was quite effortless at the time, the impact is definitely lingering and growing.  Tuesday evening after yet another discussion with Bruce about it, we decided that I should go ahead and apply to begin collecting Social Security.  An everyday occurrence in our world, but to have it actually be in my own personal life, and to me - amazing!!  Still trying to wrap my mind around it....