With Family

It's a rare treat for us to get to be with family during the COVID pandemic. But how could we miss out on seeing  Chris, Kelsey, Clara and Robert for a DUAL celebration - Robert's eleventh birthday and Thanksgiving Day.

We left Temple on Monday morning, and arrived in the early afternoon. It was November 23, which was Robert's birthday. He had been anxiously waiting for us to arrive so he could celebrate with us. He had already opened his gifts from the rest of the family. Ours were opened after we sang "Happy Birthday" and enjoyed some mini-cupcakes. The big dessert of the day would come later that evening. 

Make a wish, Robert!

Opening one of Grandma and Grandpa's gifts

This marble run, from his other grandparents, was a big hit!

Just for fun - Making Oreo turkey cookies

The big event of the day came that evening, when we went to Robert's choice of restaurant for dinner - The Melting Pot! Yum! It was a feast for all of us. 

Robert's special birthday-dessert-plate!

Thanksgiving Day was a beautiful family celebration! Kelsey put on a wonderful spread. Of course, you'll notice the missing turkey platter, but there was a delicious ham. That's how our family does Thanksgiving, because of a poultry allergy among us. 

The family (minus me - the photographer) about to enjoy the holiday meal

Both Robert and Clara entertained us for awhile with their musical talents.

Thor also kept us entertained. He only got a few nibbles of the Thanksgiving dinner, and wished for more. Maybe that's why he's looking so forlorn in this photo! But he did get MORE than his share of attention from everyone.

We stayed in Katy until Friday morning and got back home not long after lunch-time, thankful for the time we shared with our kids and grands.

Happy 90th Birthday, Uncle Bud

(Thanks to my cousin, Lisa, for this photo.)

I'd love to have been able to be in Juneau, last weekend, to help my Uncle Bud celebrate his 90th birthday! Look at him! He's still such a handsome fellow!

Uncle Bud is my mom's younger brother. My mom had lots of stories about his growing-up years, when he was sometimes known as "Squirt," because he was small for his age. According to Mom, he was somewhat of a "Dennis the Menace!" She told me about how he would catch flies and trap them inside the snapdragons in front of their house, so the flowers buzzed and jiggled whenever someone walked up to the door; how he poked the eyes out of her dolly (which I now have, stored in a cedar chest, and which is still "eyeless"), and how he, she and their dog, Muggs, played sun-up to sun-down on the beach, when they lived in Seaside, Oregon.

Circa 1936. My mom, Margaret, and her brother, Bud.

1938, Glenwood, Oregon. Bud and Margaret in their yard.

One of my earliest memories of Uncle Bud was when we lived in Ketchikan, Alaska. I was four years old, and Uncle Bud, who, I believe, was in the service at that time, was coming to visit us. Mom told me I could wait outside, on the sidewalk for him to show up. "How will I know him?" I asked my mom. "He'll be whistling," she answered. So right! Within a few minutes, up walked my handsome uncle, whistling a beautiful bird melody. 

Another early memory is of Uncle Bud coming to see us a couple years later, when we lived in Portland, Oregon. I'm not sure, but I think he may have been going to school, at that time, in Klamath Falls, where he trained to be a diesel mechanic. He pulled up to our house in a brand new car, which was a ghastly chartreuse green. When my mom teased him about it, and he asked, "Well ... what color is it?" Uncle Bud is color blind.

Uncle Bud was a genius at building and flying radio controlled model airplanes. He took me with him sometimes, and once I got to go with him to retrieve one of his planes that had flown beyond the range of his radio signal and crash landed in a tall tree, on someone's property.

Mostly I remember Uncle Bud as a kind, loving uncle, who doted on me as a child, always making feel special. For his 90th birthday I baked him some of our family's traditional "French Cookies," and sent them to him in Alaska. Many happy returns, Uncle Bud!

Circa 1944. Bud and Margaret

Grandma Rose and Grandpa Ivan (Bud's parents) with Bud as a young man.

Election Day 2020

We've had a lot of drama leading up to election day 2020, not even considering that we are still experiencing a pandemic.

On October 19 Dan had Mohs surgery to remove a fairly large skin cancer on his neck/shoulder area. They put internal stitches in, as well as dissolvable external stitches. 

A week later, on October 26, he went to the hospital for a hernia repair in the stomach area. Neither of us anticipated how difficult the recovery would be! The first three or four days, post surgery, he was in a LOT of pain, and was not eating anything but Jello. He gradually added canned peaches and applesauce. Now he's eating a more normal diet.

His pain level is low now, but motions, such as sitting down, lying down and standing up are still difficult; reaching and bending are pretty much out of the question; and coughing and laughing cause spasms of pain.  He won't be able to lift more than 10 pounds for six weeks. He's finally feeling pretty good during the daytime, but sleeping is still a big problem. 

A couple days ago we became concerned about the incision area of the skin surgery. It wasn't healing, and looked like it was possibly becoming infected. We could also see that the dissolvable stitches had not dissolved. Yesterday he sent a photo of the incision to the doctor, and the doctor asked him to come in. Sure enough, the stitches had not dissolved and were causing irritation, possibly an allergic reaction, and possibly an infection. The nurse removed those stitches and gave him a prescription for an antibiotic. Already today it is looking much better

And that brings us to today - election day 2020, maybe the most important presidential election in our lifetime. I drove us to the poling place after breakfast this morning. We were prepared to ask for curbside voting, which is provided in Texas. But when we got there, the line was not bad at all, so we donned our COVID face masks and stood in line. It didn't take long, and I was proud of Dan for enduring it. I cast my vote for President Donald J Trump, and will be staying up tonight, anxiously watching the election returns on TV.

Note Dan's COVID hair. He still hasn't been able to get a haircut.