Party for Colette!

On Friday night Walter and I attended a surprise 50th birthday party for our friend Colette. The hostess did a wonderful job with the decorations. The food was wonderful. Thanks to a miscommunication Colette ended up with two birthday cakes - one carrot and one white with raspberry filling. Yumm!!

I'm not sure how surprised Colette was because she had to give a guest list to the planners. But she was most gracious about it, and everyone had a great time. We couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather. The hosts have a lovely home in Lynnwood with a deck that's just perfect for entertaining as you will see from the pictures.

You can click on the picture of the birthday girl to see more photos in the album. Enjoy!

Garage Sale-ing

Last Saturday the 17th we had what will hopefully be my mother's last garage sale. We have had garage sales for the last couple of years trying to get rid of all my Dad's things (he was an avid collector of tools and other things) and this year my mother added her own household items to the mix.

There are still more things to get rid of, and I'm looking for solutions to that. It would be easier if her home were in Seattle because I could more easily take advantage of online services like Craigslist. But she lives in Lacey. I guess I have some research to do.

Despite the work of the garage sale we always enjoy getting together as a family. The 17th was a special day too because my nephew Ben turned 18. Even though I'm sure he was eager to go meet his friends, he dutifuly hung around with the family and helped out. What a sweetie!

You can click on the photo to see more pictures if you like.

No News is Good News

My friend Cynthia is still in the hospial awaiting her little one's arrival. Her water broke a week ago today with the baby at about 32-1/2 weeks. The longer the baby can stay inside the better for his development, but they have Cynthia on antibiotics and are monitoring her carefully for any signs of infection.

The biggest hurdle was getting past the first 48 hours because they wanted to give her some shots to help with development of the baby's lungs. Now that's past the baby can come any time. The doctors plan to do a C-section at the first sign of contractions or any indication of infection or other problems. At the longest they can wait one more week and then the baby will be delivered regardless.

Best of luck to Doxey, Cynthia and Lil Giuseppe!

Looking Like the Enemy

I just finished reading a book that I would recommend to anyone. It is Looking Like the Enemy by Mary Matsuda Gruenewald. The book was written by the aunt of my friend Marguerite and describes her experiences in the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II. Reading it I felt transported back in time as though I was experiencing those events with her. Her story is powerful and moving and was a slow read for me because it's so emotional. But I got through it a few pages at a time.

I was very impressed with the author's parents (Marguerite's grandparents). They demonstrated such courage, grace and forgiveness in the face of extreme prejudice and adversity.

It's hard to believe that American citizens were put into prison camps for no other reason than their skin color and ancestry. That happened here in this country, the "land of the free." Let's hope nothing like it is ever repeated.

If you would like to read more check out the book here.

Baby Coming

As I mentioned earlier, my friends Doxey and Cynthia are having a little one soon. The little guy was supposed to arrive August 4th. But I guess he's impatient because Cynthia's water broke at about 4:00 this morning! That's about 6-1/2 weeks early. According to Cynthia the doctors think the little one is at about 32-1/2 to 33 weeks.

Mom is doing fine so far but will have to stay in the hospital until the baby arrives. They are hoping to keep the contractions at bay with medicine for at least a couple of days and may even be able to forestall the baby's coming for up to a week. We shall see!

Thoughts and prayers going out for Cynthia and Doxey.

Postcarding Fun

I've been trying to get back into sending postcards regularly. It takes a little bit of time if you like to keep things organized. But it's so much fun, and it's always a welcome surprise when the mailbox holds a bit of friendship instead of just junk mail and bills.

This week I got this beautiful card of Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz:


And I received my first ever postcard from New Zealand! This one depicts the area where the Americas Cup Yacht race was held.

Another Good Eye Report

Clay went in for another exam by the eye surgeon yesterday. I don't think it could have gone any better. On examination of Clay's eye the doctor remarked "you're looking better than you ever have been!" Wow. He saw no dryness problems, Clay's eye pressure is under control, and all is healing well.

Clay offered from his perspective that he's enjoying reading restaurant menus now. That's something he used to be able to do only with glasses and even then he sometimes needed further magnification. From time to time he asks me about something that looks funny to him, but really it's just something he has never seen clearly before - like the skin on my face! Okay, that's close enough, Clay. I tease him that he now has a bionic eye like the six million dollar man and he had better use that power for good. :)

The doctor reduced his dose of the antirejection drug eyedrops from 2 drops per day to 1 drop per day. He doesn't have to go back now for six weeks.

Old Family Postcards

I wanted to share these postcards which are part of my sister Jozi's collection. These three postcards were all sent from my grandmother in Elma, Washington to my mother in Olympia. They date from 1956-1957. The first two had 2 cent stamps for postage and the third one had a 3 cent stamp. You can click on the pictures to see them larger.

This first one is funny:


This card depicts skiers at Mt. Rainier in the wintertime:

This lovely linen card fooled us at first because it says Mt. Baker on the back. But it's from a Mt. Baker in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado! Not the one in Washington. I suppose I would have figured that out if I had looked at the picture more closely. This mountain is not shaped like our Mt. Baker and the vegetation below does not look like Western Washington.