Here is a test

This is a test.

And the verdict is...

guilty on all 9 counts. The charges? Two counts of theft and 7 counts of false statement on a Medicaid claim.

As I mentioned in my previous entry I was an alternate juror which means I heard/saw the whole case presented but did not participate in the deliberations.

The story of this case begins in 1999. There was an 18-year-old girl (P) who up to this point had had a pretty rough childhood. Her parents were dead. We don’t get to know the details of that chlidhood or her parents’ demise, but we know that she grew up in St. Louis and was sent out to Seattle to stay with one of her many aunties (Aunt A) and her husband (her uncle). This young girl had some mental problems and the family at this time did not know exactly the nature of those problems.

The arrangement to stay with her Aunt A did not work out and the uncle called another of P’s aunts in Seattle (Aunt B) to say that he was putting P on a bus back to St. Louis. Aunt B told him No, do not put P on that bus – she will get lost on the way back to St. Louis! She was afraid for her niece that she would not be able to find the right bus to get on for transfers and could get lost along the way. Aunt B took in P and began to take care of her.

Within the first year Aunt B realized that P had some mental issues that she did not understand and so she took P to a doctor. It was discovered that P had a developmental disability. She had Downs Syndrome. Auntie B applied for some assistance to take care of P. She got SSI (Social Security) payments for P. Even though P was an adult, Aunt B applied to be and was named representative payee for P. That meant the checks for P would come in Aunt B’s name and she was to use those checks on things for her niece’s benefit.

Aunt B also applied to a special Medicaid Personal Care program as a paid caregiver to P. Aunt B was allotted a certain number of hours per month she could be paid for services rendered for P. This included things like personal hygiene, shopping, cooking, laundry, etc.

After a few years P decided she wanted to be more independent and she felt she could make it on her own. She no longer wanted to live at home with Aunt B. She got a part-time job at Safeway. She started staying at friends’ homes more and more. Eventually she totally moved out of Aunt B’s home and was exclusively living with friends.

You might guess what happened. Aunt B continued to collect both the Social Security and Medicaid checks. P wanted to get her own apartment and live completely independently but she needed more money than she made at Safeway. She started asking for her SSI checks and was told that the checks had been returned. But some checking with the Social Securty Administration showed that the checks had not been returned and had indeed been cashed.

There was a period of 7-9 months when Aunt B continued to claim money from Medicaid for caring for P and she continued to cash the SSI checks. It’s easy to see how this happened. Aunt B was probably desperate for money, and this money was already coming in. But that doesn’t make it right or legal. Sometimes good people do bad things.

The two counts of theft were for the money taken from Medicaid (the state) and Social Security (federal government). The 7 counts of misstatements were for each month that Aunt B. placed a call to an automated voice mail system claiming she cared for P at the full allowed amount when P was no longer residing with her.

It was clear that P did not want to testify against her Aunt B – she loves her very much. She was rather emotional and teary at times. But she got on the stand and she told the truth.

P is now living independently. She was awarded assistance with housing and backpay for her SSI quickly after they figured out what was going on. The last question P was asked when she testified was how she likes living independently. Her answer was a huge smile and the words “I LOVE it!”

I am told that sentencing will be done by the judge in a few weeks. Hopefully this will bring closure to this family who had become divided over this matter.

Adventures in Jury Duty

I reported for jury duty on Wednesday, March 4 expecting to serve for 2 days and be excused. But I was selected to sit on a jury right away! The estimate for length of trial was that we could be there through the 24th of March. Thankfully, they overestimated.

The hardest thing was rescheduling all my responsibilities for the three-week period. But aside from that, it was really a good experience. I think serving on a jury is always interesting. You get to see how the process of justice works, and you always learn a lot. And you get to meet some great people.

In the case of my jury, there were 14 of us selected. We were told that after we saw the whole trial and before deliberations began they would select two of us to be alternates. The alternates would leave and the other 12 people would deliberate and decide on the verdict. If one of the 12 got sick or became unable to serve, then an alternate would be called back and deliberations would begin again.

Interestingly, out of the 14 of us, only one was male. We spent all our breaks together during the trial, so you can just image a room full of women with lots of talk about knitting and pets and care-giving, etc. Every one of us (including the male who was a great sport about being the only man) got along great. By the third day of trial people were teasing that wouldn’t it be fun to have a potluck or bring in platters of goodies and food to the jury room? And maybe they could share some with the judge! Pretty funny.

In fact we were having SO much fun we had to ask the bailiff how much they could hear in the courtroom what was going on in the jury room. The jury room is just on the other side of the wall from the back of the courtroom, you see. Was our loud boisterous laughter disturbing anything? The bailiff (also a woman) told us that she only heard us because she was standing right in front of our door. And if we could be heard with the door closed it only meant the others in the courtroom would be jealous. It seemed like every time the bailiff opened our door to ask us to line up and return to the court room there was a roll of laughter that escaped the door before we could quiet ourselves. I remember the bailiff telling us “okay, you are having entirely too much fun in here, it’s time to go back to work!” She was smiling when she said that.

The case itself was interesting overall. Like with any trial though there were some hours of testimony that were verrry dry and we were glad for our breaks. As I mentioned above, the length of trial length was overestimated. At the end of the day on Tuesday the 10th both sides had finished presenting witnesses. We came back on Wednesday morning and were given jury instructions and then heard closing arguments. Then the clerk pulled two names out of an envelope to see who would be the alternate jurors. And I was chosen to be the second alternate! So they sent me home. The other alternate juror was the male juror. I traded email addresses with a couple people before leaving so I could find out how everything came out.

After over a week of being told I could not talk about this case until deliberations, I was now excluded from deliberations and still could not talk about it. I was “on hold” until the conclusion of deliberations because they might need me back. Late Thursday the bailiff called me to tell me the verdict and that I was now free to talk about the case.

Overall it was a good experience. I was a little saddened to be sent home “just when it was getting good” but I trusted my fellow jurors to render a fair verdict, and they did. I will write a separate entry to tell about the case.

Farewell, Dear P-I

Our newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will print its last paper edition tomorrow after 146 years of publication. I can’t express how sad this makes me feel. This paper has been the voice and historical record of a community for longer than any of us has been alive.

The P-I will continue online. For a paper with less than 120,000 print subscribers it ranks in the top 30 online newspaper venues in the country. They will be enhancing the online presence of course. Can they make it profitable? Only time will tell.

I am sad for all the people who lost their jobs. Where are those people going to find newspaper jobs these days? Only 20 of 180 newsroom staff members were retained to work on the web version. They hired 20 new sales staff for the web.

It is true that the P-I is not Seattle’s only major newspaper. The Seattle Times remains ... for now. Our subscription will be automatically switched over to the Times on Wednesday. But of course the Times is not the P-I.

Tomorrow’s last P-I will be a very special commemorative issue. They are promising 20 to 24 pages of photos and stories on the P-I’s 146-year history. We live in a large apartment complex and the paper comes to our door out in the hallway. Walter is planning to get up extra early to bring in our paper tomorrow so no one steals it before we can get to it. We will be saving that issue.

Doing My Civic Duty

Have you ever been called for jury duty? I have several times. I served on a jury when I was 21 and living in Olympia. It was a week-long criminal trial and the charge was indecent liberties. Deliberation went on quite a while but eventually we convicted the defendant. I believe he got a 30 day suspended sentence.

I have since been called for jury duty once in Kent (at the Regional Justice Center) and once or twice to the downtown King County courthouse. Each of these times I was lucky if I got called up to serve on a panel of jurors to be picked for a particular trial. I spent most of my time just waiting to be called for something. A couple times I was called to a panel but was not needed or excused for some reason. The rule in King County is that if you do not end up on a jury within the two days of your jury summons you are finished for that summons. But if you are selected for a jury you serve for the length of that trial.



A month or so ago I received a Jury Summons for March 4th and 5th. I showed up at 8am bright eyed and eager to go, but not expecting to be chosen. I was expecting yet another experience of just hanging around waiting to be called for something so I brought my book and prepared to be bored. This time such was not my fate. In fact, my name was the third name (of about 200) called that morning. I was Number 3!! What does that mean? Well in this case it meant I was in Seat #3 in the jury box for the first trial called. After voir dire (the process where they ask the jurors a bunch of questions and eliminate some) I was still there. In Seat #3. And that's where I still am. And the judge explained that this was a 3 week trial!

To say the least, I was shocked to be sitting in that seat and in that position. If you ever get called to jury duty, here is a tip for you. Bring your calendar! They ask you who would have a hardship if they had to be there every day for the length of the trial. And you have to give specifics. Fortunately I knew most of my calendar in my head. I told the judge about doctor appointments and a recent skin cancer scare for my Mom. He made me call my sister and ask her to take Mom to the appointments, which I did. So many people try to get out of jury duty for whatever reason that they are really sticklers about it being a real hardship before you can be excused.



The good news is that the length of our trial seems to be overestimated and it looks like I will serve only a few more days. Also, I'm getting my exercise in walking back and forth between the courthouse and my office a couple times a day.

The King County Courthouse is a pretty cool old building, and I must admit that I love looking at the architecture when I enter on the Third Avenue side of the building. The elevator lobby is beautiful and quite unique compared to anything else I've seen. There are also some murals on the walls of the main hallway on the first floor.

The photos above are from the ceilings in the third-floor entryway. This is where you stand in line to go through security. It can take a few minutes, so it's nice to look up and have something beautiful like this to ponder. The photo below is the first floor elevator lobby. By the way, it's not just the first floor elevator lobby that is this beautiful, all the floors are similar in the central elevator lobby area. I have not yet taken any photos of the murals on the first floor. I may have to photograph them and share those later.

Spring Ahead - In Winter??

Don't forget to set your clocks back tonight!

Twice each year when the time changes I always recall which direction to move my timepieces based on the old sayings "Spring Forward" or "Fall Back". But it occurs to me that we now "Spring Forward" when it's still winter. That seems a little crazy to me. Good thing Walter sets most of our clocks.

I get a little cranky about losing an hour of sleep at this time, but of course in the Fall I love that I get it back.

Many people use this clock setting time to take care of some other twice-annual tasks such as replacing batteries in smoke detectors. Whatever is your tradition I hope you get to bed a little earlier tonight so you will be nice and refreshed tomorrow to accomplish what you need to do. Happy Time Change.

Heart Disease Doesn't Care What You Wear - It's the #1 Killer of Women

Did you know that more women die of heart disease than men? It's true. Today is National Wear Red Day. It's a day to wear red and raise awareness that heart disease is the number one killer of women in this country.

So what can we do about it?? Well, the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute recommends the following:

Ten Commandments for a Healthy Heart

1. Know your risk factors for heart disease.

2. Talk to your doctor about reducing your risk of heart disease.

3. Have your blood pressure checked regularly.

4. Know your cholesterol numbers. [These include total cholesterol, HDL or "good" cholesterol, LDL or "bad" cholesterol, and triglycerides.]

5. Have your blood sugar level checked for diabetes.

6. Do not smoke cigarettes or use other tobacco products.

7. Eat for your heart health.

8. Get regular physical activity. [At least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most or all days of the week.]

9. Aim for a healthy weight.

10. Know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack and the importance of seeking medical help immediately.

You can go to this page for more information on lowering heart disease risk.

I, for one, certainly have my work cut out for me. There are several areas where I could lower my risk. How about you?

By the way, my post title is not original. It's this year's official slogan for National Wear Red Day. And it's the truth!

Please take care of you, and spread the word to your sisters, mothers and daughters.

The Beatles!! Recreating a Moment in History

I saw a Beatles concert yesterday! Sort of. A few days ago a coworker sent me a link to this story about the 40th anniversary of The Beatles last live public performance. That last concert was an impromptu rooftop performance in London to get footage for their film "Let It Be."

A Seattle Beatles cover band, Creme Tangerine, planned a re-creation of the rooftop concert for the anniversary here in Seattle. The location? The rooftop of the Copacabana Restaurant right here in Pike Place Market. Ken Mansfield, who was the U.S. manager of The Beatles' Apple Records and who was on that rooftop at the original performance attended this one as well. Of course I had to go!

Creme Tangerine did a wonderful job recreating the concert, performing the same set list from 40 years ago plus a few more songs. The concert lasted a little over an hour. Unlike the original concert the police did not come to shut it down. It was cold out there (around 40F, the fog just lifting), but people didn't seem to mind. The music was amazing. I took some video which I have yet to download. In the meantime, I found this TV video from King5 online. It's just 4 minutes long if you'd like to check it out.

I feel fortunate to work just a few blocks from Pike Place Market so I can take advantage of events like this when they come up!

Elena, Zachary and Lilli in Halloween Costume

Each year my friends Jim and Kristina bring their little girl Elena to my office on Halloween. Jim works just upstairs and when they go to visit dad's office it's usually convenient for them to stop by at my office for a visit too. This year Elena came with her little brother Zachary. They were in costume, of course. Zachary was dressed as a bat and Elena came as a poodle. Very cute!



And speaking of cute, we were also fortunate to have our first Halloween visit from Todd and Wendy's little girl Lilli. She made an adorable strawberry in her little red outfit.

The little ones were the talk of the office of course and everybody enjoyed seeing them. I took a bunch of pictures and had trouble picking the best ones. You can head over to my Webshots album here to see all the pics. Just click on one picture to enlarge, and you can use Next and Prev from there to see the rest. Or, for easy viewing you can see an automated slideshow here.

Thank you to Elena, Zachary and Lilli for coming to visit. We love seeing you!

My apologies to the parents for taking so long to post these. Sometimes life gets in the way of updating the blog. Enjoy!

Volunteer Recognition and Evening at the Symphony

I have previously mentioned my volunteer work for the Debt Clinic which is one of about 25 clinics in the King County Bar Association's Neighborhood Legal Clinic (NLC) program. Today I continue to volunteer at the Seattle Debt Clinic as a Clinic Assistant.

About 2 years ago I also took on the role of Scheduling Coordinator for the clinic. It’s a pretty detailed job which is my thing. Scheduling is no easy task, but I find it fun and challenging, and I get to work with some of the nicest people around. Yes, I’m talking about attorneys! Attorneys who volunteer their time to help people who just need some legal advice and probably can’t afford to retain their own attorney privately.

About 6 weeks ago I received a voice mail from the woman in charge of the NLC programs. She wanted to know if I would be available on the 20th of November for their volunteer recognition event. Why? Because they wanted to honor me as outstanding scheduling coordinator! What a surprise. Well, shock is more like it.

I try to do the best job I can, sure, but I had no idea anything like this would happen. I certainly don’t do this for accolades. The work is so rewarding by itself especially since the clients are very appreciative and you know you are making a difference in some lives.

As for the event, of course I would be there. The evening was held at Benaroya Hall (Seattle's symphony hall). It started with a reception followed by the awards ceremony. And after that we attended the symphony concert for the evening which included Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.

One of the first things I did was call my friend Kimber to see if she and Mike would like to come along and enjoy the evening with me and Walter. Lucky for me they said Yes!

The evening was really nice. It was fun to get a little dressed up. We met Kimber and Mike at my office building (next door to the symphony hall) and walked over together. We all wore name tags and since I was receiving an award I got a red rose corsage. Thank you to Kimber for figuring out how to get it attached to my blouse. That was no easy task!

In fact I really want to say thank you to Mike and Kimber for making the evening even more special and certainly more fun than it would have been without them.


Walter and I enjoyed watching the awards ceremony and chatting with them about various topics. When it was my turn to receive the award, Kimber cheered me on (Yay Carm!). She also took some pictures for us.


I participated in a group photo of all the award recipients. We enjoyed some cheese and cookies and drinks and more chatter. And then we went off to the symphony concert.


As you can see from the photo we had pretty good seats. I was very pleasantly surprised as I was afraid we might be at the back of the hall. Not only could we hear well but thanks to Mike and Kimber we had fun picking out some of the more interesting characters in the orchestra. (Imagine a violinist with a beard down to his waist and a cellist with Einstein hair!) At intermission and at the end of the concert we enjoyed more conversation with Mike and Kimber about symphony orchestras and what goes into them. It was a really great way to spend an evening with our friends.

Thanks to the King County Bar Association for sponsoring this special evening. From now on I will plan to attend the annual volunteer recognition events if for nothing else than to support all the other volunteers.

Random Silliness

A friend on 43Things shared this wonderful video as an after-Thanksgiving pick-me-up. It's just something fun to make you laugh. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Walter and I celebrated Thanksgiving with my Mom and my sister Jozi in Olympia today. It would be a bit difficult to transport a full Thanksgiving dinner from Seattle to Olympia and of course my mother doesn't cook any more, so we all went out to eat at J J North's Grand Buffet.

We weren't the only ones who had that idea. The buffet was full of people with some waiting, although the lines were not as long as I've seen them in a past year. We didn't have to wait long (less than 5 minutes). We saw a lot of folks with canes and walkers which makes sense as those people would be less likely to make a big meal at home.

It felt like we were eating with the community instead of just eating alone at home. People were not afraid to talk to each other and everyone seemed to be in a good mood. We enjoyed it. The food was good and we all ate way too much. Here's a cute picture of Jozi and Mom.


I hope each of you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving feast and time spent with family and/or friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

Walter's Birthday

Yesterday was Walter's birthday and he chose to go out to The Old Spaghetti Factory for his birthday dinner. It was a fun evening. The food was delicious (gotta love that spaghetti with the mizithra cheese!) and they sang Happy Birthday to Walter after lighting a candle in his ice cream dish.

I had to wonder if people only came to the Spaghetti Factory when they were celebrating birthdays – Walter’s was the fourth table we heard get birthday singing in our section! When I first told them it was his birthday and they mentioned the singing he protested a bit. I told him if he didn’t want the singing we didn’t have to have it. But he said “It’s okay.” When they actually did it I think he really enjoyed it.

I told him after dinner I wanted to go to our local mall and pick out a card for my sister who has a birthday in a few days. He said fine. At that point he had no clue that I had previously ordered his birthday gift online and had it shipped directly to the mall’s Radio Shack. Radio Shack is Walter’s absolute favorite store in the world and he loves to spend time in there.

When we got to the mall I deliberately parked near the mall entrance where we would have to walk past Radio Shack to get to the card store. When we walked inside he said “okay, you go to Hallmark and I’ll just be here in Radio Shack!” He was kidding, but I knew he would love to go in there so I said “no, we have to get a card first, then maybe later.”

We went to the card shop and it didn’t take long to pick the right card and we were on our way. As we approached the Radio Shack on our way out, Walter started pulling me in that direction and made another joke about going inside to look around for a while. I asked “you want to? We can if you want to!” He said “naw, that’s okay.” But I told him “no, we can go inside for a few minutes, let’s see what they’ve got.” And of course he gave me no argument.

We went inside and he started looking at some stuff and I pretended to look at other stuff. He called to me to let me know “hey the good stuff is over here!” So I looked at what he considered “good stuff” and then drifted over to the counter. There I handed the sales clerk my ID, the credit card I had used to purchase the gift, and the printout from my email. I told him “I believe you have an order in for me.” Walter was busy looking at more “good stuff” and paid me no attention.

It took a while for them to bring the box out from the back room and then finish up my order paperwork. In the meantime Walter stayed busy looking around and I floated between him and the counter. Finally everything was done, and I got to take the large box with me. I set it down next to Walter’s feet and he asked what I bought.

I told him “I don’t know … just something! But you can carry it for me!” When he picked it up I told him it was his birthday present. He decided to wait until we went home and he could open the box to find out what it was (it was in a shipping carton).

On the way out he said something about how I must’ve had that all planned out. I told him "Yes, and it wasn’t difficult to get you into Radio Shack either!" He said “You know all you have to do is walk me past it and it’s like a magnet!”

The gift was an HD radio. He has been hinting for one for months. Today he hooked it up and played with it. He called me at the office to let me know how much he loves it.

Happy Birthday Walter!!

Tap Your Toe, It's a Bluegrass Concert!

Walter and I traveled to Greensboro, North Carolina last month to visit his mother and her husband Lee. Walter's brother Rusty and his wife Cathy drove up from Florida too, and we had a great time visiting. It was just so good to see everyone.

I will write a little more about the trip and share some family photos soon. In the meantime, I wanted to share one special evening of our visit.

Lee has played with a bluegrass band for several years. One evening while we were there the band came over and played music around the dining room table. We had the pleasure of meeting a couple of really fun neighbor ladies - Angie and Patsy - who live on either side of Walter's mother and Lee. They came over to enjoy the music.

The band is called Crabgrass (like "bluegrass", get it?). It was impossible not to at least tap your toe while they played. Of course I had to take some video so I could share with all of you.

What you see below is a YouTube player. I recorded 6 songs. When you click Play it will play them one after the other (with credits in between), you don't have to tell it to move on to the next video. Of course if you don't want to see more just press the Pause button.

I think I did a pretty good job of keeping the camera still - I didn't have a tripod and it's not easy to shoot video while tapping your toe! You will see Lee on the far right of the video. He's wearing the dark cap. I hope you will enjoy this "bluegrass concert" half as much as we did in North Carolina.

I want to say a special thanks to Lee, Henry, Bob, Jimmy and Jerry for the toe-tapping fun.




I will be away from the computer for about a week, so the next new posts will come after I return.

Anniversary of Meeting in Person

In addition to our wedding anniversary the end of August also brings the anniversary of the first time Walter and I met in person. Why do we celebrate meeting "in person"? Because we met online while Walter was living in Kentucky and I was here in Seattle. We developed our relationship first online then over the phone lines. Finally we decided that what we had was more than friendship and we decided to meet in person.

Walter came here to Seattle for the first time on August 31, 1986. It is no coincidence that our wedding anniversary is so close to our meeting anniversary. We planned our wedding date for the closest Saturday to a year after Walter's first arrival in Seattle.

During Walter's first visit I played tour guide and showed him a lot of Seattle's fun tourist sites. On our very first day we visited the Ballard Locks and then had dinner at the Totem House fish and chowder place across the street. In celebration of our anniversary we went back to the Locks and had dinner (as we do each year on this anniversary) at Totem House. We don't usually go there the rest of the year because really their fish is pretty greasy. But it's a fun thing to do in commemoration of our first meeting. It's too bad we can't repeat the rest of that week which included a visit to Expo 86 in Vancouver. That was fun!

I was taking a picture of Walter at the locks and a friendly stranger offered to take our photo together. We love tourists!


The official name of what we refer to as the Ballard Locks is "Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Carl S. English, Jr. Gardens." The locks which are run by the US Army Corps of Engineers were built in 1911 so that coal and timber could be easily transported by boat. They serve to allow boats to pass between the saltwater of Puget Sound and the fresh water of the Ship Canal connecting to Lake Washington and Lake Union. Just like the locks in the Great Lakes and the Panama Canal, our locks help the boats move from one water level to another. Surprisingly there were not a lot of boats going through the locks this time otherwise I would have some video for you. Usually the locks are very busy with boats coming and going, especially on a summer day.

I liked this photo of the locks showing moss growing on the sides and reflecting in the water.

There is a fish ladder at the locks which simulates a salmon's natural return from salt water to freshwater where they will lay eggs and die. There are windows to the locks where you can watch the salmon as they rest between each step of their journey. We saw a few fish in the ladders during this visit and I got this photo through the glass.

I noticed some new art on the premises too. Here is one of several new mosaics in the fish ladder area (this one is above the fish ladder windows).


Of course in addition to the locks we also enjoyed the beautiful botanical gardens on the premises.

It's hard to believe that 22 years have passed since Walter first came to Seattle. I'm so glad he decided to stay and make Seattle his home and me his wife!

If you would like to see more photos from the day you can get to them here.

Our Own Anniversary

Last Friday the 29th Walter and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. I had to work that day but I took off a little early so we could head down to our favorite restaurant, Bahama Breeze, for a celebratory dinner. Bahama Breeze serves Caribbean food and we always love whatever we order there. Of course we have some favorites (too many!)


Walter loves the Cuban Black Bean Soup and I love to order the Roasted Cuban Bread appetizer. The food was pretty as well as tasty so I took some pictures. But not before digging in, so most of these photos have some pieces missing from the food.


For our entrees Walter ordered the Pan-Seared Salmon with creamy mango butter sauce which came served with yummy cinammon mashed sweet potatoes and green beans. I went for the Seafood Paella. Mmm mmm!


For dessert we shared this incredible Key Lime Pie. Walter is from the South and he loves his key lime pie. He insists this is the best you can get in Seattle. I don't know if you can tell from this photo but this is one HUGE hunk of pie.


Fortunately for our tummies we brought home some leftovers. The portions are not skimpy there and certainly there was more than we could eat in one sitting.

Not only does Bahama Breeze serve delicious Caribbean food but their decor and landscaping serve a tropical feast for the eyes. As we headed back to our car I took a few photos of the landscape plantings. If you would like to see them you can check out a slideshow here.

In addition to the dinner out as our celebration we also plan a day or two visit to the coast a little later this month.

Thirty Years of Marriage - Wow!

Walter and I would like to send a big congratulations out to Walter's brother Rusty and his wife Cathy. Yesterday they celebrated 30 years of marriage. Way to go!! Here is a photo of the happy couple taken on our recent trip to North Carolina.



Anniversary Toast

Here's a toast to the two of you
As you celebrate together;
You're the poster kids for happiness,
In sunny or stormy weather.

Your love continues, warm and bright;
May it shine throughout the years;
You’re an example for the rest of us,
So here’s to you: Three cheers!

By Joanna Fuchs

Happy Anniversary Rusty and Cathy! And best wishes for many more wonderful years together.

Sisters

Sisters are a good thing. And I count myself fortunate to have several! I know I've mentioned my sisters Diega and Jozi here several times. And I've spoken of Pitas (we call her Petra). But did you know I have a fourth sister? Her name is Susan.

Pitas and Susan grew up in the Philippines. They have the same father, but a different mother than Diega, Jozi and me.

Until recently I had never met my sister Susan as she had not been to the U.S. before and I have never been to the Philippines. I remember as a young girl hearing about my two sisters in the Philippines. I always wanted to meet them but so far they were a mystery to me.

One day as a teenager I was walking home from the school bus stop and a taxicab passed me heading to our home. Taxicabs are extremely rare in Nisqually Valley so I was very excited to see that one was heading to my house. I had heard rumors that perhaps my two sisters might come to the United States. I envisioned that perhaps that taxicab contained my sisters coming to visit. Excited, I ran all the way home. The taxicab contained a sister, all right. It was my sister Diega who had missed the school bus. My Dad was at work and my mother doesn't drive so the taxi was the only way for her to get home. Diega was in a bit of trouble!

In 1980, a few years after the taxicab incident, Pitas and her husband Obet moved here and made their home in Renton - close enough that we could see her fairly often. Their children soon followed and eventually Pitas' mother came over too. Although we didn't grow up together it has been a real joy to get to know Pitas and her family over the years. They are great people!

Fast forward to a couple months ago, the day before my great-nephew Niko's first birthday party. Pitas called me on the phone. We had not spoken in a while and she was apologizing for not having called me earlier. Well no need to apologize, I too had been busy and had meant to call her. At first I didn't realize she was saying that because she had something to tell me. You see, Susan and her husband Freddie have moved here and are now living with Pitas, Obet and Pitas and Susan's mother! She was calling to tell me because I would get to meet Susan for the first time the very next day. Wow!!

And indeed I met Susan at Niko's birthday party for the first time. It was really great to finally meet her after so many years. I liked her immediately, and as many in the family had told us, we share a family resemblance. (We both look like Dad.) Our meeting was a bit emotional for both of us as I'm sure you can understand.

We got to see Susan (and Pitas and the whole family) again on Saturday when we attended niece Pam's wedding. (Pam is Pitas' daughter.)

Here is a photo taken at Niko's birthday party. From left to right that's Pitas, me, Walter, Pitas and Susan's mother, and Susan.


And here's a beautiful photo of Susan and Pitas all dressed up for Pam's wedding.


Welcome to the States, Susan. I am looking forward to getting to know you better!

(By the way, Pam's wedding and reception were wonderful and I will share pictures as soon as I have a chance.)

Vision Report

Walter had his quarterly eye exam on the 20th of August. His vision has not been what we hoped for lately. It's not scary bad like we saw last year, but it's not at the benchmark I always hope for - where he can see the big E on the eye chart. It seems Walter's vision has been slowly declining since the last good report in February.

If they show you the eye chart and you cannot quite make out the big E at the top they measure your sight by how far away you can count someone's fingers when they hold up their hand. The assistant will hold up a certain number of fingers maybe 4 feet away and ask how many fingers she is holding up. I'm not sure what the outcome of that test was, but it was disheartening to watch the woman hold up 5 fingers and have Walter say he saw 3 fingers. They also gave him a device that has pinholes to hold over his eye because sometimes when you look through the pinholes you can see a little better. When he looked at the E with the pinholes he said it was little better. But I think he still would have hesitated to identify it as the E.

The good news is that the three things the doctor looks for were doing well:

1. the cornea looked healthy and not inflamed
2. the doctor could see the retina and it looked good; and
   
3. his eye pressure was well under control thanks to the valve implant they gave him last year.

Of course my goal is always for the best vision. But I get the feeling the doctor's goal is to have the three elements above be healthy. After that Walter's eye is so unique they don't really know what else to do to improve his vision.

The decline in eyesight is discouraging, especially to Walter. He finds that he runs into walls a little more easily when going around a corner, and I see that when I hand him a glass of juice he has to study it more carefully before he can reach for it successfully. We have to be especially careful when going out at night or when he goes into a darkened restaurant from daylight. We just take it slow and so far we haven't had to curtail any activities except for hiking (which is just too scary given tree roots and other unexpected surprises).

Our hope is that Walter can hang onto his eyesight without further declines for as long as possible. We really appreciate all our supportive friends and family and those who have expressed their good wishes and prayers for Walter's sight.

In case you were wondering about the photo above, that's a picture of a rubber ball I picked up in the little store in my office building. We've had a lot of focus on eyes lately between Walter's recent checkup, my own annoying issues with dry eye and friends who are suffering from one eye ailment or another. When I first saw this ball I told the lady at the counter that the eye looked like my own eye felt! Then she told me to bounce it. So I did. When you bounce the "eye" ball the white of the eye lights up and flashes blue and red! I had to get it. Walter and I have been having fun playing with it.

We're Back

Walter and I had a great time visiting his family in Greensboro, North Carolina. Unfortunately there has been a bit of a delay in getting pictures and video off my camera due to technical difficulties. Yes folks, I filled up my computer’s hard drive. I am having to make some room (backups and moving files around, good things like that) so I can offload my camera and then share with you. I’ll get them posted as soon as I can.