Hot August - Days and Nights

It's been a long, hot summer, as many in the west know all too well. Fires everywhere! Little relief in sight.  For the next 10 days our forecast runs between 95-100 for the days, and 64 - 72 for the nights. That's just too hot when the nights don't cool.  The 64 at night isn't until about the 10th day.

July 17th found me traveling north with my friend Panda, me in my car, she and her little doggie in hers. I was headed to my aunt's in Oregon, she to her daughter's in Washington. We had a fun two-day trip traveling together this way.

The first two weeks were spent at my aunt's doing the usual summer things we do. The exception to that, was meeting a 4th cousin (to me) for the first time. He lives only a little over an hour away from her, so we met at a restaurant and shared family history information. 

There was also a special class reunion. Our class has been exceptional in having a picnic reunion on the 5-year anniversaries, and a full weekend with a casual meeting at a bar (small town, I don't drink but have gone on occasion), nice restaurant dinner the following night, and then the casual picnic the next day for the 10-years. Some make it for all events, others only one or two. This year was special as it was in-between a 5-yr and 10-yr time frame and we chose to invite the class that was ahead of us, and the one from behind us. Our graduating class had only 71 students, of which 5 or 6 have passed away, but but we still had around 20 or more show up. The lower class had only three, and the upper class just a few more than that. Being a small school community, everyone knew who everyone else was. Our next reunion will be a major one...50 years! It's hard to believe!

The better portion of the next two weeks, was spent traveling to Kansas and back. My aunt's oldest granddaughter is attending school there for the next two years aiming for her master's in mathematics. There were two cars and five people going, and one car and four people returning. We went through portions of Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Kansas, and spent a day at Yellowstone. We stayed two nights in Kansas, and a couple hours from the school is the location where my great-grandparents lived. He had been there in 1893, married a gal from Cincinnati, OH in 1902, and my grandmother and her sister were born there at the property in 1904 and 1905. They then sold out and traveled to Oregon around mid-1909.

While gone I missed the every-third-year (paternal line) family reunion, but figured this would be my only opportunity in life to visit Kansas and the original family homestead (maternal line) so off I went.

After spending 10 days in motels and 8-10 hours a day in a car, I rested only two days before returning home to California, spending a night just three hours from home.  The drive wasn't bad except for the smoke from the fires, and crossing the border from Oregon, all the way to the inspection station, it was black on either side of the freeway - made me cry! And that wasn't even part of the Carr fire in Redding. Only the smoke from that one could be seen from the interstate. There were signs of many fires that had burned at different places all along the interstate. Rain would be a real good thing about now, as long as it wasn't a sustained deluge.

There were only a couple of days where I felt temperatures were reasonably cool. One day was spent at the Oregon coast, the other was the day at Yellowstone. Everywhere was hot, hot, hot, and Kansas had 60%+ humidity while we were there. On the return, we spent the last night at La Grande, OR. 106-degrees at 5 o'clock at night.

Now I'm spending my days getting caught up after Marty and Nick "bached" it for nearly a month. Laundry is done and I started in on the kitchen only to promptly clog the kitchen drain after putting very old sauerkraut down the garbage disposal...who knew? Marty tried, but didn't have the necessary equipment to clear it so called in a plumber and $145 later, good to go.

On the 24th or 25th Marty heads to Colorado to comply with his late father's wishes for his ashes to be scattered near Steamboat where he had spent much of his life; same time as my sister plans to drive down for a visit for a week and which is the same length of time as Marty will be gone.

Nick will be starting his school year again soon. He continues to work at the pizza joint and seems to be happy there.  

This is probably enough update for now. Perhaps there'll be a picture or two in the days or weeks ahead when I take the time to download from my phone and camera to see if any are clear enough to post...taking photos from a car speeding at 80-mph or more isn't conducive to good photography!

Scanning Along

Over the weekend, I received a chat message from my brother Eugene.  He lives along the Texas gulf area.  He let me know my brother Dean's lung cancer had returned and he would not be seeking further treatment.  I don't know the current status after his doctor appointment on Tuesday where he planned to ask 'how long?'.

Sadly, our family is one that has always had a lot of issues and strife.  Dean "disowned" me after my Mom passed away due to a misunderstanding of a request I made on behalf of my Dad, and no attempts to rectify it have worked.  I pray for him and leave it at that.

Eugene asked about the photos that had been separated by sibling and when he was going to get "his" and also asked about Dean's.  I told him I had taken Dean's to my aunt last April and she gave them to him, but he was not happy with what he got.  I guess he had expectations of more, but at this time, the siblings are only getting the childhood photos in which they alone are in, and any photos of their offspring.  Before sending those, I am scanning them.  In fact, I scanned most of them after my trip north a year ago.  My plan was to send them their own pictures in addition to a thumb drive containing all the family photos - including any I've acquired from other family members over the years.

When I scanned them, I did so at 200 dpi.  As I prepared to package up Eugene's photos, I realized that maybe 200 dpi was not adequate, so I set to re-scanning all of his photos at 600 dpi, which is better should any larger reprints be made from the scans.  Now, to get them packaged up and sent to him.

Going forward, the question will be whether to re-scan ALL the family photos.  This small segment took me the better part of three days.  It could take weeks to re-do the entire family set, and I no longer have the originals of Dean to re-scan.

Holding Pattern

I'm in a bit of a holding pattern again, at least for a day or so.  I have a lot to do and I'll be busy, but it looks like I'll be hitting the road again - I just don't know exactly when.

I'll be headed north, but this time not for my dad, though I may visit him.  My uncle, the husband of my beloved aunt, the both of whom I stay with when I go north, has reached the point where his days are few.  He was taken to the hospital Saturday night with breathing difficulty.  My aunt had been saying for days that he was having more trouble breathing and getting up and down, but they had been carrying on as usual after he rallied a bit from using oxygen for awhile.  It was a different story upon going to bed Saturday night, so she took him to the emergency room.  His lungs were filling with fluid and an x-ray revealed a dark area behind his lung(s) - but unsure if it is pneumonia or what.  Up in the air is when he'll be able to go home on hospice care and what exactly that will entail.  The hospital (or insurance) there has a maximum "in hospital hospice care", then they have the patient transported home on hospice and on "comfort care".  They have a meeting with the Dr. today, so they will be better informed as to what's what with him and his care and the expectations.

In the time since I was last in Oregon, my aunt & I chat daily, his memory issues (he has dementia far more advanced than my dad's) have worsened and his overall health declined.  He also has congestive heart failure and another issue that's been treated for a number of years.  He is 83 and has led a long, good life.  He's a good man.  He has a unique, hearty laugh and upbeat spirit, though in recent years that laugh has not been as robust as when he was young and healthy.  His example gave me a love for crossword puzzles.  He has always been loving and welcoming of my visits.  He and my aunt have had 52 years together.  He is 10 years older than she.  They have three great children, my cousins, and six sweet grandchildren.  Some of their kids & grands live right next door, others a mile away and the furthest no more than 20 miles away.  

My cousins have been great with helping their mom & dad, but they need to get back to work, so my aunt has expressed her desire in my coming up to help and appreciation for me to do so.  

Please, if you think of it, pray for my aunt and my cousins as my uncle heads into his final days, and for him.  Also for me as I'll be driving, probably within a couple days.  I'll know more later today, but I have much to do, so I'd best get to it!

Family Time

Don't forget to check out my quilting and other needle work projects at Webs of Threads.  And while there, go ahead and follow me on that blog too.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Above is the only existing photo of the five of us siblings in existence that was not taken when we were still teenagers and younger and living at home.  You might say we haven't been a very close family.  This was taken in my Mom's hospital room after she'd been placed on hospice comfort care and before she was transported to the house.  She used to say "None of you kids can get along long enough to be under the same roof for more than five minutes."  Well, on one hand, that was pretty much accurate.  This 'all under the same roof' lasted only about long enough to get this photo!  And she was still aware enough to know we were all there at the same time.  I would have had us gather around her to include her, but had promised I wouldn't take any photos of her in the hospital, and I kept that promise.   It isn't that we don't get along, we just have different life styles and three of us live in different states.  The two in the same state live an hour and half apart. The brother with the beard was only 12 when I left home at 18.  The one with the red head band has a job that takes him to job sites all over the country under contracted durations, but he has also spent time in Antarctica and St. Croix.

Here, we have L-R, my daughter, my sister, my dad, my sister's son and his two children.

Taken during my week at home in mid-March, my daughter (Victoria), Marty, and Nick.  I would have really enjoyed having my daughter stay with us longer than just the couple of days she was able to be there.  I really miss her and she's about 1200 miles away in a different direction. 

My dad, his youngest daughter from his first marriage and her two daughters.  I had not seen her since we were teenagers or younger.  Stuff like that happens when you live 900 miles apart and didn't have a close relationship.  I was, during my teenage years, close to her oldest sister, in part because we were close to the same age and she and I had stayed in touch in my early years away from home but as life goes, we eventually drifted apart.  I've spoken with her a couple times though while I was there, and hope to take my dad over to visit with his daughters, he has three, when I get back up there.  I enjoyed meeting this step-sister's daughters.  One expressed an interest in learning about her family's genealogy and I can certainly fill her in on that as I've done quite a lot of research on my dad's ancestry.

Vacation Moments III

It dawned on me a couple days ago as to why, at least in part, the years are flying by.  My years are only about 11 months long compared to the normal 12.  That's right, only 11 months, give or take a few days.  How is it they're only 11 months you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'll explain.  With my annual summer vacation trip north to the wet land, which is nearly a month out of each year, it's like being outside of time so it doesn't fit in with the other 11 months.  I usually leave in one month and return in another so that whole block of time is just something else, but it's not part of the year.  Makes sense to me, hehe.

Here are a few more photos of vacation with the Sisters Quilt Show thrown in, as well as quilts from an outdoor show in Coburg, OR which, by the way, was a great way to spend the morning of my birthday :) 

An entire wall of a building covered with quilts.

A quilted 'ball'.  I was told there was a car that was also quilted but we didn't see it.

This was at a vendor and I thought it was really neat, a great idea for a bird house.

Love all those windmills.

At another vendor, love the horse shoe art.

A Dear Jane

A very nice red, white and blue.

I loved the fussy cut vignettes in the alternating blocks.

Lovely piece, amazing peacock.

Nice pattern.

And who can miss this Easy Street?  This was within the walk way of some shops, so lighting wasn't as good.

Suttle Lake

"Boo" my mom's cat.

My cousin Liddy and I.  Liddy is the daughter of my paternal grandmother's brother.  That entire branch of the family was 'lost' until I found Liddy about 10 years ago and oh have we connected, right from the very first phone call.  She is a real dear and I have been blessed to find her.  Since then, we have uncovered a few other 'lost' cousins from that branch and I met them for the first time last year.

My mom and I.

Nick and my mom.

My 92-yr old cousin once removed, Arlene.  Nick and I visited with her and had lunch with her at the retirement apartments where she lives.  She was my biological dad's cousin and is now the oldest remaining from that side of the family, and only one of two remaining from that generation of cousins.

Nick and I and my aunt Irene went to the coast one day.  This was on a path near the bridge that spans the bay at Newport, OR.  Nick barely fit under that low-hanging branch he's coming up on.

And I think that is enough for today after all.  I'll leave the quilts from the Coburg show for the final installment of our vacation moments, which I'll post in the next two or three days.

I Had a Visit From Family !

Family doesn't visit me very often. I live a long way away. Like 900+ miles from my closest family. Well, actually there are some 2nd cousins an hour away but we've never been in the habit of getting together except at our reunions which are held every three years. This past week though, my middle brother (#4 child of my mother) stopped in for an overnight visit. His original plan was not to come this far south but mountainous weather issues forced him to take the 'safe', albeit longer, route so I got to visit with him briefly for the first time since early summer '10.

Then I got a message, lol, through one of the game chats (which I hadn't looked at in 3 days) at the social network saying my cousin, his wife, m-i-l & son were at the happiest place on earth, and would we like to have dinner with them on Friday. It took them about 2.5 hrs to get here once they left there, so it was truly brief. They spent maybe only 20 minutes at the house and then maybe an hour and a half out at dinner. We have a favorite Mexican food restaurant that's close so that's where we went. What a treat. Family...in MY home. And two family visits in one week! So awesome.