Long Time No Post

Wow, this is already December. I've been a busy woman. Some of the highlights of the last few months have been:A month as a caregiver for a friend during June and part of July. We went to Vail, Colorado so she could have an intricate hip operation and the therapy required. A lot of work, but a good cause. The mountains were gorgeous, but the altitude was a bit much.
Lots of exercise during the summer. I still love walking around the Chambers Bay Golf Course. Check out the website, so you can see what I mean. If I keep on exercising my back pain stays under control, so guess what! I exercise. In the Washington weather I go to LAFitness. Do aqua aerobics, etc.
A fun new church calling is teaching English as Second Language to the Buena Vista Ward. It was supposed to be for the Relief Society Women, but several men have joined the class too. Seven countries represented.
I've been getting in more music too. I have a lovely piano teacher. I'm the ward choir director in my new ward. They realigned the boundaries. I believe in Sunday morning miracles! I think some people got up to sing that I had never even seen before, but they all sounded good. Now, let's just hope our numbers for Christmas work out as well. As a brush up I took a choir directing class on four Saturday mornings.
Two other classes I have just finished are a drawing class on faces and features and the first time for me: a birding class. That was fun, but the field trip was in a bad storm and we almost froze, but the ducks were really cute and I saw my first kingfisher. Floyd used Kingfisher as his CB handle. Now I can recognize three different kinds of cormorants. When I was in China, I watched some fishing and gagging up the fish. Then they let me hold one on my arm. It was very light, but the claws scratched me.
I've had fun going to concerts and plays with friends: Showboat in Everett. The Stradiverius Quartet. The Wizard of Oz , and yesterday to The Nutcracker to see my young friend Amy dance. She had to stay in a split position for so long I could hardly stand to watch it. This week I'm taking three of my friends to Kent to see a musical based on the orphanage that my great grandmother lived in when she was young. It's called"Joy to the Children." It's an amazing story about George Mueller and his orphanages in England. You can look it up on the Internet if you're interested.
I'm writing this without eyeglasses. I have two new eyes. I got the first one two weeks ago and the second one four days ago. I had cataract surgeries and my replacement lenses are miracles. I can see everything. After wearing glasses for 60 years!
Two of my friends and I have decided to go to Egypt and Israel this spring for a two week tour.

Recent Activities May 2009

Since the little girls have been gone, I have had a dramatic change in my activities. I have so many very good friends who help to make my life fun and interesting. We've been to an opera, a dance concert, and a few other concerts, today we went to the wonderful "Reflections of Christ" exhibit in Olympia. If you haven't seen it or you can't, please Google that title, you will see and experience something extraordinarily beautiful which will touch your heart.
I don't have any pictures to go with this yet, but I might be able to include a fun one because I just learned how to scan at Kinko's. I also have a new camera which I am very excited about. When I brought it home in the box, I followed the directions and read the manual first. Two days later as Iwas ready to try it....no camera! I had the box from the one on display. So I got a new one and a new box.
My piano lessons are wonderful. This time I am really making progress. I can do a lot more than I could on the organ, but I still practice the one in the church too. My piano teacher invited me for Mother's Day. She lost her mother recently. She was a good friend and I have good memories of their family when they were little kids, and her sister was one of my campers at Girls' Camp. So I had a nice day.
For eight weeks I will be taking a drawing class called "Faces and Features." I started doing this several years ago, and then I had to drop it. But I am enjoying it again. I am the least capable in the class, but Grandma Moses started at 90, I believe.
I also continue my gym workouts and I'm tutoring a couple of young boys in math. Well, I'm making myself tired just thinking about doing all these things.

Julie's baptism

Julie was baptized Feb. 21, by her grandfather, Gene Skyles. My friends Lynna Brown and Maurine Reintjes gave the talks. It was very special.

Empty House

My little girls are gone. Julie and Lisa have only been gone six days, but it feels more like a month. The house has grown about 500 sq. feet. The cats are relaxed. Patch hasn't been under the bed yet. She must have stayed there most of the time for the last year.
Wow. Being a parent is a lot of hard work. Being a single 74 year old parent of kids who aren't even related was quite a challenge. We all survived. There was a lot of activity. I learned a lot. What I learned most was how difficult it is to compete with all the media and activities that kids have these days. I thought it was a good idea not to watch T.V. or use the computer on Sundays. That was the most creative day of the week for them, but also the most wearing for me as there was a lot more quarreling on the day of rest.
The best part was having some loving kids around.

Julie's 8th Birthday Party

Most of the excitement here has been Julie's 8th birthday. We had a fun party at our house on Saturday, Jar. 24. Her birthday, the 26th, she had rainbow cupcakes at school and went to her first activity day with the 8 and 9 year olds. She is now preparing for her baptism. It will probably be Feb. 21.
I am enjoying my new calling as the Ward Music Chair(person) and Sacrament Meeting Chorister. I was ridiculously happy to be released from Primary although I did enjoy singing the primary songs.
Lisa plays basketball with a parks league, and Julie sings with the ward choir. They both take piano lessons.. I go to LAFitness and Institute, so we are a busy group.

Happy New Year's Day

It's almost the end of New Year's Day. Last night the kids and I stayed up late and blew our paper horns at midnight. They managed to sleep in today until 10. They spent Christmas down at Castle Rock with their paternal grandparents. Troy and I spent Christmas Eve with his cousin and a big bunch. Then for Christmas we each were invited out for dinner with friends. It's quite a relief to be out of the snow. It's amazing that something so beautiful can be such trouble. Happy New Year to all. I enjoy reading your blogs.