Trapped in the Airport

Recently, my husband Doug and I flew from California to JFK on Delta Airlines red-eye flight. Our schedule was cutting things pretty close. We were to land at 8 AM, and his connecting flight would take off at 9 AM. He would go on to visit friends for a week in Virginia, and I would take an Uber to Connecticut to spend a week with my son and his baby while Mommy was going to be away at a family wedding along with her mother in Paris. The first part of our excursion went as planned. Doug was taken by an arranged wheelchair from check-in in SFO through security, and on to our gate, with me trying to trot along next to the quick-paced wheelchair pusher. I had taken a spill two days before, injuring my right knee, (a bad abrasion of the skin), and wondered at times if I should have asked for a wheelchair for myself, since it was so far to the gate. One good thing about needing a wheelchair is that you get to board first, and we got settled in for our 5 and a half hour red-eye flight, leaving at 11 PM, California time. Soon after we took off, Doug realized that he had left his cane on a luggage trolley back at SFO. "Darn! That was my new one that had shock absorbers. It's a good thing that I brought my old one in my suitcase!" I can never seem to sleep on planes, but made the nighttime reservation with the hope that I would. We both took our nighttime pills,and Doug promptly dozed off at take-off. I thought I'd play with my iPhone or listen to my Calm app to relax, or if that didn't work, I'd listen to the end of a Louise Penny, Inspector Gamache book on Audible. Then I discovered, to my dismay, that my phone was in near death mode, and the cord I brought with me to charge it was one of the newer, smaller models, and wouldn't work with the bigger socket on the back of the seat in front of me. I had the old-fashioned one in my checked bag. So much for the new earbuds that I had bought for the trip. I put them back in my pocket. I hadn't brought headphones with me, since my new phone doesn't have a place to plug them in, so I couldn't plug into the entertainment right in front of me on the seat. Finally, the attendant came by offering free headphones! I attempted to amuse myself with a couple of games, occasionally watching Doug peacefully sleep with his head on his chest. He's very talented that way. He awoke in time to have the offered applejuice and cookies, but dozed back off again shortly afterward. I ended up watching 2 and a half movies on the back of the seat in front of me with the earphones that the steward provided. I almost thought I'd see the end of the last one, since we kept on circling around New York, perhaps because of the turbulence we were experiencing. I grabbed Doug's arm as we bounced around, and he drowsily said, "Hmm? Oh, we'll be all right", and went back off to dreamland, to my envy. Time was passing, and I started to worry about Doug's connecting flight. We landed at 8:40, and though we usually stay seated to be one of the last ones off the plane so we don't hold everyone up, we tried to get up with our backpacks and stand in the aisle. Being at the middle of the plane didn't help, since everyone ahead of us was already crowding the aisle, pulling down their carry-ons. I had half-expected the flight attendants to announce that everyone should let the folks out first who had a connecting flight...but no. A young woman next to me in the aisle commiserated that she was in the same boat. Her phone was working, and she said her flight had been changed to 2:57! I recognized that as the other option I had when making our reservations. My son Lucas texted me wondering if we had landed yet. He said that he and the baby could hardly wait to see me. Hmm, I thought. We wondered if there were any earlier flights that Doug could take. Doug got a message that his Virginia friends had already arrived in DC, and to let them know when he landed there so they could pick him up. Uh-oh. When we finally reached the front of the plane, there was a nice man from Portugal waiting to pick Doug up in the wheelchair. He tried to figure out if we could still make it to our flight, but it was taxi-ing away. Uh-oh. We wondered if Doug's luggage had gone with it. The wheelchair man left us at a very far away gate, where he thought another flight was leaving soon. He strode away with the wheelchair, leaving us at a desolate gate with no one in sight. He said someone would be there in about an hour. I plugged my phone into a charger next to the seats, and then I walked around to find a restroom and look at any board I could find with lists of flights. I couldn't find the one he talked about at 10:30. I reported back to Doug, and we agreed we shouldn't just sit there, but without a cane, he couldn't walk far. We spotted one of the wheelchairs abandoned near the escalator, and there was a ramp going up to the next floor near it. Doug encouraged me to abscond with it, saying, "Go ahead! Be bold!", even though they're only to be pushed by the official pushers. The ramp was longer and steeper than we realized, and as I got toward the top, pushing him, with him holding our backpacks, a Jamaican woman dressed in a uniform called out, "You can't be pushing the wheelchair yourself! It's not allowed!" I huffed and puffed and said, "Just let me get to the top! I can't stop now!" "Okay, but you really shouldn't have done this!" She was nicer after she heard our story, and called around to find out if there was an earlier flight. She even had the manager of the wheelchair team come down, and some other Delta higher-up. They all did their best, but Doug just ended up being pushed what seemed like a mile, with me trying to keep up alongside him, occasionally hopping on a people mover to get a bit of a free ride. I waved as I went by. We ended up near the gate where he would leave from at 2:57, and they brought us to the restaurant nearby so we could have breakfast. They took away the wheelchair again, saying we could call someone to take him over to the gate later. We ordered one breakfast to share, and Irish coffees, with an "it must be 5:00 somewhere" attitude. With our phones plugged in, I contacted my son and Doug's friends with the update. His friend Sarah had decided to visit her sister in DC, so that was lucky, and I told Lucas I would try to figure out how to get an Uber to Connecticut as soon as I could. After breakfast, it struck me that I had never picked up my luggage, and we wondered where Doug's suitcase was too. I said I'd go try to find out, and he agreed, with the caveat that I try to find him a Wall Street Journal, since he was going through withdrawals from his daily printed paper habit. A Hudson News store was right across the way, and I got their last copy, so he happily sat esconsed with his paper in the restaurant. I walked and walked, following the signs pointing to baggage claim, making a call to Lucas as I went. My knee started hurting a bit, and I coveted any wheelchair I saw along the way. Finally, I'm almost there, and as I took one step through a door, I realized that there was a sign that said "No Return" that I had just passed. I turned around to be approached by a very officious looking security guard who told me in no uncertain terms that I couldn't come back in! I tried to explain what I was doing, and that "I'll be right back with our suitcases", and "look, just let me come back through the door, and I'll go join my husband again!" "No!", he said, pointing to the ceiling,"Cameras would see you. I would get in trouble! Just go to the office at baggage claim and they'll give you a pass to come back in." The baggage claim lady had a line of tired looking passengers, some with small children, and even though I hadn't slept all night, I felt blessed to be alone. I also felt proud of myself to find our baggage claim receipts in my pocket, and when she checked them on the computer, she said they were still circling around waiting to be picked up! It was hard to believe, but there they were, two lonely bags going round and round! She told me to go over to Delta on the other end of the airport to try to see if they could give me the pass to get back in to Doug.I walked another long way, pulling both of our suitcases, thinking that my Apple watch would be very proud of me for all my steps. When I finally reached my destination, however, getting a pass to re-enter the airport is something that, I was told, can't be done. They said that because I didn't have a ticket to go anywhere, I wasn't allowed to go through security! I had Doug's suitcase with his cane and meds in it. I told my sad story to the people that were in charge of wheelchairs, and by the time I talked to the third person, I got the manager. He reassured me that he would get someone to go to the restaurant to get Doug, (which he wouldn't be expecting), they would bring him out through baggage claim, and over to Delta check-in, where he could go through security once again with his suitcase that I had for him, but without me. I tried to call him to give him the heads up, but of course, as usual, his ringer was off on his phone.... I sat, wringing my hands for over an hour, and finally, he wheels up, furious that they wouldn't trust little old me to come back to get him myself. "Did they think that you looked like a terrorist?" I asked if we could sit together for a while until he calmed down, because then he would be taken over to check-in and we would say our good-byes for a week. We promised to keep in touch (he would keep the ringer on on his phone), we would call most days to try to do our Wordle game together, he would have fun with Tom and Sarah in Virginia, I would have fun with Lucas and Thea, and then we'd meet after that for Thea's baptism. After a tearful good-bye, I pulled my suitcase along with my backpack on top of it, and walked outside to order an Uber. Once settled in, I tried to spot familiar New York City buildings as we drove along, but then discovered that somehow, falling asleep in an Uber was much easier than on a plane.

Late For Mass!

Ever since our favorite priest, Father Oliver retired, from a church near to us in Nevada, we've followed him around like puppies, since we haven't found anyone who comes close to bringing us the message of Jesus. If you're a retired priest, you don't just sit around on your laurels. There aren't enough of the younger priests to go around to all of the parishes, so the retired ones take care of the shortage. Father Oliver really loves to say a mass when he's asked, so we've followed him down to Gardnerville, Nevada, and more recently to a small chapel in Coleville, CA, which is about an hour and fifteen minutes from our place in South Lake Tahoe. It's worth it to us to go to listen to him preach. He has a different way of presenting mass that makes you feel as if you're sitting around a campfire listening to Jesus. Every Sunday, he gives an explanation of each reading before it's read, along with personal stories, some from his life growing up in a big family in Ireland, that link in with each reading from scripture. When the reading is finally read, we all understand it more since it wasn't just recited by one of the layity. Everything is tied together neatly for us. He may say, "Thank you for listening to me. I know I do run on!" And we all look at each other and smile, saying with our eyes, that, "that's why we come!" The last couple of months, we've asked him if we could stop by his home to pick him up on our way to Coleville. It's become a regular thing now. He enjoys being able to look around on the beautiful scenery between Nevada and California along the way down Hwy 395, and afterward, 6 or 8 of the parishoners usually meet together at a nearby restaurant. Then we bring him home. I usually set several alarms to make sure we get up in time. He likes to leave home by 9 am in order to make it to Our Lady of the Valley in Coleville in plenty of time, so we figure that we should at least give ourselves about 40 minutes to get to his place, plus, time to make breakfast, get ready, etc. This morning didn't work out quite as expected. For some reason, I neglected to set all my alarms the night before. One alarm always goes off anyway on my phone, at 8 am, belting out "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", and it jolted me awake. I dreamily watched the pine trees out the bedroom windows as I relaxed back into the pillow, until, I sat up straight, like the mother in "Home Alone" when she realized the family had almost overslept for their flight to Europe. "It's Sunday!", I told Doug, "and it's already 10 after 8, and we'll be late to pick up Father!" That woke him up quickly too, and he said, "Oh no! We'd better get a move on!". "Let's just jump into our clothes and pick up something to eat at MacDonald's" "No time! There will be a line", I said. "I'm going to call the bakery down the street and have them fix us something we can pick up when we get there. We can eat it in the car." While I pulled up my pants and put on my shoes, I called and ordered a ham and cheese croissant, heated and cut in half and one large coffee, via speaker phone, that we would share in the car as I drove. "Smart cookie", Doug said as we walked out the door. I locked the door from the inside and we were on our way.....until I got to the car and the door wouldn't unlock. I felt for my keys, and found I didn't have them or even my iphone. I didn't even have the wrist pocket I use for a purse, holding my ID! Doug was almost to the car, so I said, "Could I get your keys from you? I left mine inside!" He felt for his keys and said, "Uh-oh! I don't have mine either!" "No? Gosh! It's a good thing we have a housekey in our outside storage!", I said, trotting down the path to our porch. I reminded myself of our younger neighbor who always walks so fast. But, when I opened the closet, the key wasn't where it was supposed to be! What now? I called out to Doug to tell him it wasn't there, and he started walking back to the house. Since we rent out our place sometime, I thought, all is not lost, there's a lock box with a key in it. I have the code on my phone.... but I don't have my phone! "Sweetheart! Hand me your phone so I can get the lockbox code from it." "Um. I don't have my phone either!" "Oh no!", I said. "I haven't used the code very much, but maybe I can remember it. I wracked my brain. "I think it's something like 1,2, something something." I started to frantically punch in several options, to no avail. "You do know that there might be as many as 9,999 possibilities, right?", he offered. "Now Stop that!", I snapped, "Don't be negative. We have to pray. What else are we going to do?" "Maybe the window is unlocked", Doug offered. "No. We Never leave them unlocked because of bears, right?", I answered. I was starting to lose hope. People were depending on us to pick him up, and we couldn't even call Father Oliver to tell them the situation and that maybe he should start driving himself to Coleville. 1,2, 6,7..1,2 5,8... Then I see Doug walking from the storage room with a screwdriver saying, "I was just thinking..." "What are you doing?", I whined. "It's worth a try", he says as he works at the screen on the window. "What are you going to do? Break open the window?", I say. But the next thing he does is slide open the window! "Remember? our neighbors said that the renters had the windows wide open with the heat up high?" "Genius!" I said. Thankfully, the window sill was low enough for me to climb right in, stepping only on some reuseable shopping bags that we had ready by the door. I ran over to the counter for my keys and wrist pocket and Doug's keys and his phone. I forgot my phone, but it didn't matter. We locked up again, and strode out to the car. "We'd better skip the breakfast we ordered", I said. "No! I'm hungry! And you might get a bad reputation at the Sugarpine Bakery if we don't pick it up.", he said. That was a thought. I drove down the street and tried to turn in to the exit driveway, and almost ran into someone coming out. I pulled sharply into another parking place and walked quickly into the bakery. "I'm the one who ordered...." "These?" she said as she placed them on the counter,"One ham and cheese croissant, heated and cut in half and a large coffee?" I started to tell her all that we had been through, but thought better of it, and brought it to the car. I took my half and started munching ravenously without even thinking, but I had to start thinking about driving. We hit all of the green lights along Hwy 50 toward the casinos, and then finally hit a red light, and took advantge of stopping so I could have a sip of coffee. I was shaking. "Try to calm down and concentrate on getting there safely", said Doug. "We're only going to be about 10 minutes late. We'll be fine." He tried to call Father Oliver, but he didn't answer. We tried once more as we came over Daggett Pass on Kingsbury Grade, but no answer. Then, at 8:59, we received a call from him as we were almost to his place. "We're running a little late, Father, but we'll be there in about 5 minutes! We'll explain later." He was waiting out in front as we drove up, and I tried to calm myself and drive, but as we recounted our last hour, I got all excited again. He was very forgiving of us, as we drove along. He even tried to distract me with comments about the lovely rock formations that he never noticed as much when he drove himself. By the time we drove by Topaz Lake, I knew we were almost there. "Good girl!", said Father Oliver. "You made good time, but you did drive pretty fast". "I'm sorry", I said as we pulled into the driveway to the chapel with 10 minutes to spare. "I bet you were saying your prayers there in the back seat!" "To be sure", he said. P.S. Three days later, just to show you that my mind was still thinking about Sunday morning, I awoke to realize that I had had my fairly new and unexplored iWatch on my wrist the whole time. I checked, and, sure enough, I could have looked up the list I had on my phone to see the combination for the lock box.

Rings On Her Fingers......

 It's been quite a while since I've written about what's going on in our lives. All the while that I haven't been writing, we've been busy remodeling our old family home in order to rent it out again (at a higher price)... We traveled back and forth from Palm Springs to Richmond, figuring out how to organize all the repairs, and we even put on two garage sales, that let us get rid of many things, but didn't make us very much money toward the cause. Some keepsakes were sold cheaply, or given to those folks that showed a genuine interest in them and the story behind them.

The one things that traveled back and forth and were always with me, are my rings. "You have so many rings on your fingers!" folks exclaim. Well, that's because there's a reason for every one of them.

My wedding ring is a story unto itself. Before Doug proposed to me, he went with his daughter Charity to the Costco jewelry department and got me a diamond ring to present to me at the Nantucket Restaurant, in Crockett, CA. We had been there before, and had even had a special walk out on the pier, where we would lay down on boards and cuddle while looking at the stars. Pretty romantic, eh? 

We sat at a picnic table outside, and he proposed to me with the beautiful ring, and I said yes, and then my cell phone rang. It was my ex-husband, and it was irritating to Doug that he should call at this time. I didn't pick up, but then he called again. I answered, and told him what had just happened, and that he shouldn't be calling me so often, but I would call him. Every once in a while I had to remind him, "Divorce, right?"

Time went on, and I got to tag along on one of Doug's many business trips to Europe to buy antiques for his store. He decided to make a side trip to Scotland once, and after we landed and drove to an inn, I pulled my hand out of my pocket, and a diamond was missing from my engagement ring! The little prongs of gold were empty. When we got home, we went to the Costco jeweler and they seemed to happily replace it. Another diamond fell out once again, though, and then I confessed that I would really rather not have a diamond that was so big, (It seemed like it could be used as a weapon!), so we asked that it could be returned and we ran off to the Oaks Jewelers, on Solano Ave, in Berkeley. I chose a modest, even cloudy diamond, lower than the others, and surrounded by three little diamonds on each side. I was happy, and I even saved Doug some money!

After a while, I wanted to have another ring on my left hand, but since I usually am attracted to silver rings, I thought it should be a gold one so they wouldn't clash. I'd call my left one "my gold hand". So, while on a trip to Capitola, a favorite beach town since my childhood, I went into a shop called Super Silver Capitola. They have lots of choices of jewelry and at least at that time, they only charged you by the ounce. I told the person that I wish they had something in gold, and she showed me a couple of bands that were gold-plated, warning me that the gold would eventually wear off, and it would be silver. For the price, I went for it, and the nice Celtic looking ring lived on the third finger of my left hand. Later, it moved to my right hand when, just as she warned, it lost its golden sheen.

I had bought another silver ring at that store before, which I still wear. It's one of my favorites. It's smooth and strong, and always shines, showing me it's wave-like design, reminding me of Capitola. 

The ring that gets the most attention, even from strangers, is the one that Doug bought me at the ranger station at Olympia National Park for 20 bucks. It has a beautiful swirly setting that catches the eye, and if the sun catches it right, the opal fascinates folks. I explain that it is made from little chips of opals, not a whole one. It's still the winner.

A couple of years ago, our granddaughter, Karis, started a little online business for herself, marketing the rings and other jewelry that she makes. I noticed one that I liked, one that she constructed amazingly out of silver wire, winding it around and around in a very pleasing fashion. She quickly made one for me and sent it to me. I hope you'll check out her website: bishopkarebear.wixsite.com. Tell her "Gramma Patty sent me".

My latest rings happened pretty recently. Doug discovered that we had known each other for 20 years, on April 11th, 2022. He wanted to get me a special ring to commemorate it. The trouble is, that my fingers are rather large, and everywhere we went to try to find that special ring, they didn't have my size 9 in stock. It was the supply chain, because of Covid, they said. (The old story...) Finally, in Macy's, I asked the person to measure my finger for the size, just to be sure. Next day, we looked online on Amazon (of course), for a size 9 ring, and I found one I liked.

It has small diamonds, is silver and has a kind of a twist in it that attracted me....sort of symbolizing our meeting. 

A couple of weeks later, before that ring arrived, we had a reason to look into our safe deposit boxes. There I ran across my mother-in-law, Helen's, (Tutu's) wedding ring. I tried it on the middle finger of my left hand just for fun, (where the new one was supposed to go, and it fit so well!

I always thought that Tutu had smaller fingers than me. It's a platinum band with tiny diamonds as well. I decided to add it to my collection. When the new "meeting" ring came, it was a little too large, and I found that if I put it on first, and then added Tutu's ring on top of it, it held it in place. 

All of these rings have a special meaning to me, and they help me to remember people, and even pray for them. I think of where I was when I got them with fond memories. The only trouble is, that it's a full time job keeping them all adjusted and facing upright! Oh well, that gives me more time to look at them....

I've decided though, in case you wondered, I don't think I'll ever put bells on my toes.

One More Different, Smaller, and a Very Electronic Christmas 2022

This year we decided to stay in Southern California, for Christmas, in our trailer/cottage in Palm Springs. There were lots of factors in making the decision. Most of Doug's kids had other plans, or just didn't have time to travel the 8 hours down here from the Bay Area, and we thought Doug was going to have a second cataract operation on the 21st, but then he changed his mind. My kids are both back east, and we just planned to communicate a lot by FaceTime  especially when my new grand baby would be born. Doug's two sons and 2 of the grandkids promised to drive down on the day after Christmas, but that left us alone, together for Christmas, opening up a couple of gifts wrapped in Amazon packaging. 

It's a good thing that we put up our solar Christmas lights, because before Christmas, Covid raised its ugly head once again. First, Doug tested positive and I tried to not get it by insisting I isolate myself by masking around him and sleeping in the tiny bedroom at the end of the trailer part of our home, as instructed by the doctor. He confessed later, however, that it was a relief to him that I finally tested positive! I guess that's okay, since we both had mild cases. Besides, it was difficult to be so strict when we were in such a small space. My symptoms were mostly exhaustion, everything tasted like garlic, and I had heartburn and nausea. He had a little fever for a couple of days, a headache, and general malaise. We just self-isolated and were brought gifts of homemade sour dough bread, cookies, and even a huge package of toilet paper, (which we had gotten dangerously low on), from friends and neighbors.

I kept trying to force myself to finish up the annual family calendar I put together, and then when they came, I set up my Mom's old card table in the kitchen to gradually wrap them and any other gifts that I had to send out in the mail. When I finally tested negative, I went to the post office to get some priority mail boxes to pack up all the families' gifts and treats so I could come back to stand, masked, in a surprisingly short line to send them off.

We had bought each other gifts that we both wanted, even before Christmas. Doug did a thorough study of mobility scooters to buy, since he enjoyed the one we rented in DC a few months before, and he suggested I get an Apple Watch, so I would get credit for any steps I do.

The scooter came with a caveat that it would have to be stored in our parlour, in front of the wall where I usually compose my "wall tree". I was still tired from Covid, so it didn't take too much convincing for me to let that go. We went to the Angel View Thrift Shop and came home with a little 3 foot fake tree, and covered it heavily with solar lights, and ornaments, and put it in our bedroom. Thank goodness the solar lights are almost worn out. They only work for a few hours and then have a faint twinkle for the rest of the night, not keeping us up. It sits next to our little table with a minimalist creche on it. We added a couple of cute sheep to it this year. They're very cute. The bigger one looks over at the manger, and the baby one looks at us, as if to say, "Are you paying attention?"

Doug loves his little red "scooter", he bought it with the idea that it would encourage him to walk more, rather than less. When we start out, I ride in the scooter, while he walks with his cane, and after about a block and a half, we switch so I can get some steps in. We're in the habit now of doing our walk/ride a few blocks over to the market, or CVS, or to eat lunch at our favorite restaurant, Mario's. I've learned to switch my watch over to the workout mode to get credit for my exercise. It's getting ridiculous, how I'm trying to "close up all my rings" now. Before Christmas, when we both had Covid, my watch seemed very disappointed in me, sitting in my chair and reading or taking a nap, since it urges you to get up for a minute every hour during the day. It's training me pretty well, and I keep on increasing my daily goals. One night before bed, I confess that I went outside to walk a few more steps to close up the move ring!

On Christmas Eve morning, I baked a double batch of Toll House chocolate chip cookies with added pecans and tart dried Montmorency cherries to hand out to friends and neighbors in our mobile park. I put 3 or 4 cookies each in ZipLoc bags and placed them in a beautiful red bag that a friend made for me, and we looked very festive as we did our walk/ride routine all around the neighborhood and visited with all the happy recipients of the cookies. I told them, "If you're lucky, you might get a tart dried cherry in a bite", since the cherries were in short supply. The next day, some folks came up and excitedly said, "And I got a cherry in mine!" 

On Christmas Eve, we went to a beautiful mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe, and I got teary eyed as  a little girl in a pretty red dress reverently walked down the aisle with Father Robert, holding the baby Jesus on a cushion, so  she could lay him in his manger. Between all the sparkly lights, and the beautiful singing of our favorite cantor, who we have dubbed, "Sings Like An Angel" singing Ave Maria, our Christmas was just about complete. 

When we got out to the car though, Doug said, "I don't want to go home to left over Chinese food tonight. Not on Christmas Eve!" He wanted to go someplace special, and his first choice was closed. I suggested a local "dive" bar, a Palm Springs classic, Pete's Hideaway. When we first got there, it was almost empty, except for an older woman all dressed up in her holiday garb at the end of the bar. "She said, "Oh! You're finally here!",  to which I curtsied, and then she said, "Oh, I thought you were someone else." We sat at the bar and had a cocktail, and toasted to each other, and then all the people who had reservations started arriving, and a singer came to start singing his holiday songs with his guitar. We decided to stay and share a plate of their Italian stuffed pasta dinner. A lovely time after all. 

Our Advent wreath.

Earlier in the day, we had decided that we would join in with our neighbors for a Christmas morning potluck, so I had to come up with a dish to bring. I just had to buy another dozen eggs, and I revised a Christmas sausage and egg and cheese casserole that I found online, similar to one that is usually served at my sister Lorraine's house on Christmas morning.

We also were invited to Doug's second cousin Greg's and his wife Julie's home in Desert Hot Springs at two on Christmas Day, so we had to leave the brunch early, having tried to not stuff ourselves. We were happy to actually have family to visit with on this special holiday. The desert is becoming pretty popular for retirees. A couple of members of my own family have moved down here recently too. Maybe we'll get together with them next year.

The story goes on.... Doug's sons John and Matt and our granddaughters Ava and Resie drove down to visit on December 26th in time for a dinner of what has been dubbed "Harboghetti". Then we all opened gifts to each other, so that seemed even more like a complete Christmas. 

John's better at electronic things than us, so he helped us to hook up an upgraded version of Roku that is voice activated for our TV. I had also surprised Doug with an Alexa, another toy that is voice activated, which he was delighted with. (He actually looked like a little boy on Christmas morning with a new train set.) He didn't think I would get one, since I had pooh-poohed the idea. John had to help install Alexa too, and then she, (if there really IS an Alexa), was probably tearing her hair out at all the ridiculous questions she was being asked, but she still happily answered. 

The weather cleared up for them one day for a nice day at the pool, since it's been unusually cloudy and rainy here. 

Doug went out to ride in a golfcart with them while Matt and Ava golfed, and I stayed home with Resie. We took a little walk, and then worked together on constructing a Disney Lego project out on the patio, and we accomplished it! 

The next day, we put together a nice ham dinner, and we've all done a good job of working on the great supply of holiday cookies, candies and treats that everyone brought. We're thinking of not looking at the scale for a few days.

Everything's quiet now. Our company is on their way home and we're feeling rather drowsy. Tomorrow night is New Year's Eve. Here's to a wonderful, and especially Peaceful 2023. 

New grand baby Thea and Petie