"Happy Fall, y'all!"

 

Fall has a different look in SoCal. For example, it's usually hot - but this week we got lucky and got some rain!! Always appreciated. It's hot in the day time - but does cool down at night - mostly. I had a friend once say to me, "At least the days are shorter." And I have learned that it makes a difference to have shorter hot days - combined with cooler nights, it's not as bad as the peak of summer!

The leaves don't all fall at once either j- by January they will be all gone - but they drift down for months. As a kid I assumed that was the norm. So it all depends on what you are used to.

For me, fall mostly means school starting,  for our family lots of September-October birthdays,  the St. George Marathon - someone is running it, General Conference, Halloween, Thanksgiving, getting ready for Christmas.

And I always love still being able to hang sheets on the line to dry. 

On the road -

Harry and I took a road trip to visit Mary Taylor, his cousin who is dying of cancer. It was a quick one - left Monday morning at 5:30 - got there at 4 p.m. Had checked for flights but there weren't any cheap or even convenient ones - one had enough layovers to make it a 12 hour flight!!

Harry wanted to clarify things with Mary, since he and Frances are the trustees. And he wanted to help with the heavy lifting of boxes from her basement so she and Frances could sort through them.

We had a good trip up - listened to Louis LAmour - always good for a long car ride. And were having a good trip back when Google sent us on a 16 mile detour - which we never could ascertain the reason for!!

Once Harry is released, we can go up more often.

Mary is such a dear person - we will miss her.
 

Happy 20th to Annika!

 Annika is on a mission to Washington DC South - Spanish speaking, and it is her 20th birthday!! And I am remembering a Grandma's Birthday weekend when we went shopping for her gift of choice - and it was a Dora the Explorer metal wastebasket! I  was sure Bruce would be horrified - but he wasn't. Said she obviously loved it - and wasn't that the point?

The above photo is my fave of Annika and me - we were in VA at Eliza's - had come for Theo's blessing - I even remember how good it felt to hold that little hand - and how happily she held mine!

After October, 8 of our 24 grandchildren will be 20 or older. It is bittersweet to watch them grow - there aren't many Birthday Weekends anymore - and no one asks about the Grandma's Treasure Box either. But the calls and the visits with these marvelous young adults is worth the tradeoff.

And there are still 16 kids under 20 - and great grandkids too!

Prayers for Mary

 Mary Taylor is struggling with a recurring cancer.  We will be going up to Utah next week to spend some time with her. Mary - in the red in case you don't know her - has lived a happy serving life - and we are hoping we can help ease her transition. But it is still a sad outlook to contemplate.

The stories are legion - and hopefully I can share some with you. Right now I am recalling that every time she came down to SoCal to visit - a visit to the Huntington Library was de rigeur!! (That's French and it may be spelled wrong!!)

And whenever we visited Mary, it seemed like we brought her joy -- at least she always expressed great joy when we arrived.

Last September, my sister Alice and I went to visit her - and we went out to lunch. She was not as ill as she is now, but she was ill. But you would not have known it from the way she greeted us - and regaled us with tales of medical misadventures!!

Oh Mary - we love you!!

April - before it's gone!!

 Happy 60th Birthday to Bruce - oh my - how can that be??

Missed March too!

Well, it looks like I missed March too! But in honor of March - here's a treasured photo from an Ides of March party of  yore! We haven't had them for awhile - although a couple of years ago we had one with just Bonny, Harry, and Noah's kids - it was fun and a wonderful time was had by all. Especially Francis - who can't get over how funny it is to say, "thou saucy wench!"

Missed January!!

Looks like I missed January - and the important birthdays:  Ara, Richard, Hester, and Theo - and not in that order.

There were other birthdays and important occasions - but I seem to have a hard time keeping up.

I used to blog daily - and at length - but that changed - not sure anyone even reads it actually!

But social media is not my fave place to be so maybe I will resume.

Or not.