Displaced

 My comfortable little world keeps shifting and I am doing my best to keep up. I am supposed to move to California. But my house hasn't sold so I am still in Connecticut. My last homeschooler started college classes this Fall and put me out of a job I have loved for the past decade or so. Shane growing up is also putting me out of the career that has required every last ounce of love, creativity, patience, energy, and gumption I could muster for the last 30 odd years: full-time mom.

So, what next?

A while back I went into New York City to attend a career workshop put on by the church. It was held in this LDS meetinghouse in the Chelsea area. A territory I was not familiar with. It is always an adventure finding my way around NYC and any new area tests my driving and navigating skills to the limits.

The workshop promised to "Make negatives into positives" among other things. I figured 30 years out of the regular work force might be a bit of a negative to overcome. And maybe my lack of a degree or any other serious training or skill. On my drive to the city I contemplated the irony that I had worked at Bradshaw Auto Parts and then  did house sitting/babysitting and then ran a daycare in our home while Andy earned his "Three Degrees of Glory" as I like to call them. Then I pushed and prodded and nagged and cheered and hammered out essays and faxed last minute transcripts and drove apathetic scholars to early morning ACT tests, not to mention the relentless determination required to get each child to early morning seminary with the required attendance for BYU--all in an effort to get our 8 children into college-- where so far they have earned or will earn their degrees of various sorts. You can add to that the recurring  panic I went through when I first started homeschooling as I contemplated how much responsibility I had taken on for the future success of our younger five children. At least once a month I felt overwhelmed by the dread that I might be ruining their lives. It was great motivation to keep The Gale Academy of Classical Education running at a pace to prepare our scholars for higher education. So somewhere in this I had a point...

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.

Or always a determined supporter, never a college graduate...

I have teased Shane for many years that I am going to follow him to college and finish my degree. He just rolls his eyes but I think it worries him a little that I might actually do that. 

I would like to, but I will have to find gainful employment before I can make that happen.

I did my best at the workshop to prepare my Power Statements and outline my skills and strengths. I was sitting amongst some pretty heavy hitters in the education and employment categories. A professional opera singer who had sung for operas in Sweden and Austria. She had since directed an award-winning choir and was looking for a position teaching voice and choir. An entrepreneur from India who had run a big successful business there. He had an engineering degree.  A woman from Spain who was struggling with English was a talented graphic designer. It was a supportive group and I learned a lot from them. The church has a great employment program and the people who were running the workshop had a very helpful understanding and perspective on the varied, unique circumstances of each participant. 

I was grateful to be among people who valued my chosen career up to that point. They guided me through the process of taking the skills and talents that had served me well as a mom and home educator and turning that experience into a resume. I was also grateful to see that my years of service  as Relief Society President, Stake Young Women Presidency and Girls Camp and Cub Scout volunteering were all considered proof that I was a productive and capable human being. 

It is a new phase of life for me and I am ready to jump in. 

As soon as the house sells. 

And we get moved to wherever we are going to live in California. 

And I get a job. 

Reflecting on a Jar of Costco Pickles

Gentle Reader,
To say that life has been hectic would be an understatement. So much to blog about, so little time. Add to that the complete meltdown of my old faithful laptop. The one I held onto even when I got a new one for Christmas. I liked blogging on it because I knew exactly how to do everything on it. I'm an old dog who is slow to learn new tricks. It had a major overheating problem but I had learned to work around it. Until one Sunday morning when I printed off something for church and left it open and running without propping it up for air to circulate under it. I came home from church to find it cold and unresponsive. Since my in-house IT Support is on a mission, I was left to stare at it in shock and disbelief. How could I have been so careless?

So I am forced to stop living in the past and get on board with the new technology--which of course will be obsolete in a few months. I may even update my iPhone. Sam will be so proud. It's just that I like things the way they are. I am resistant to change. Which is probably why I keep getting forced opportunities to experience change and deal with it.

Life goes on as they say and I am adjusting to relocating (again) at the same time I am adjusting to the shift in my family dynamics. For so long I have enjoyed the happy chaos of a full house. For years it has been my daily routine to do three loads of laundry (minimum) and cook large quantities of food. I did not know the meaning of peace and quiet and couldn't imagine "alone time". I rarely had the luxury of thinking an uninterrupted thought and anytime I needed to talk on the phone, it turned into a game of hide and seek while I tried to find a quiet place as my children followed me from room to room and closet to closet with their loud insistence that I was desperately needed. I was up early with seminary goers and up late for heart-to-heart discussions and then on call through the night for nursings, bad dreams, sniffles, tummy aches or sometimes just that unnerving stare from a child standing by my bed that would startle me out of slumber.

It was my life and I wholly embraced it. It was my work and my glory to bring to pass the mortality and daily sustenance of those souls I had been entrusted with and I  was determined to give it my all.  I knew that one day these amazing people would grow up and go out on their own. Some days it didn't seem to be happening fast enough...but then Scott went off to BYU and suddenly it was like someone hit the fast forward and  he was on a mission and Siara was at BYU then Shanna followed her. And on it went one after the other until we were down to Sam and Shane, collectively known as the "little boys". Not so little any more.

So that brings us to now.  Our refrigerator/freezer got zapped by a power surge during a lightening storm while we happened to be out of town. We came home to the stench of rotting food and had to throw it all out and start over. I headed to Costco to replenish our food supply and began the familiar trek up and down the aisles. I came to the pickles and  looked at the gigantic jar of delicious kosher dills. I started to reach for it and then stopped as I was flooded with the realization that since Andy is working in California and Sam would be leaving in a few days for his mission, it would just be me and Shane. My life flashed before my eyes as I thought of all the giant jars of pickles we had consumed. Including many jars of pickles we canned from the cucumbers we grew in our garden. I thought of our food storage in Camas with its shelves and shelves of food staples including a shelf of pickles. I was blinking back tears and trying to remain composed as I drew back my hand. I would need to buy a small jar of pickles at the Big Y on my way home. Although the shrinking of our household happened gradually, suddenly my realization of it came in a cosmic shift. Standing in front of the pickles in my local Costco.

 I pondered this as I drove home--I was alone in the car and free to think uninterrupted thoughts! The truth is although the household is shrinking, our family--like the universe,is expanding. It has grown with the addition of spouses and grandchildren. I can accept the changes that keep coming because I know one thing that does not change: our family is eternal. And some of them  don't even like pickles.

My Heart Will Go On

I'm sure you have all been waiting on the edge of your seats to get the heart diagnosis and since I am officially an old lady, my birthday is a perfect day to bore you with riveting stories of my health.

So, after an echo-cardiogram and stress test I sat down with my cardiologist to discuss some matters of the heart. Just a side note, watching the live video of my heart beating and the valves opening and closing was pretty fascinating. I wish I could get a copy of the video for my blog. It would make a great anniversary post "My heart beats for you dear..." 

 But I digress. 

Oh wait, one more thing. My cardiologist looks like this guy:

The actor William Daniels  who won two Emmy awards playing Dr. Craig on a series called St. Elsewhere which I used to watch on Tuesdays while I was waiting for the hubs to get home from his MBA night class back in our trailer house/early poverty days. (That show also starred Denzel Washington and Howie Mandel. Oh the early 80's....)

 And I did it again--off on another tangent! That's what happens when you get old. Bear with me here, I will get to the point eventually.

Where was I? Oh! The diagnosis. 

Left Ventricular Hypertrophy

Let's read what the Mayo Clinic has to say about it:

Left ventricular hypertrophy is enlargement (hypertrophy) of the muscle tissue that makes up the wall of your heart's main pumping chamber (left ventricle).

Left ventricular hypertrophy develops in response to some factor, such as high blood pressure, that requires the left ventricle to work harder. As the workload increases, the walls of the chamber grow thicker, lose elasticity and eventually may fail to pump with as much force as that of a healthy heart.

This explains a few things. Such as, why I feel like I am going to suffocate if I try to run uphill. The left ventricle takes the oxygenated blood from the lungs to send it off through the arteries to bring that life-giving oxygen to the rest of the body. So less oxygenated blood moving means less oxygen means suffocation.  I have trained my heart out (bad pun) and still could not build the stamina for a real long-distance or strenuous run. I can walk all day and hike 'til the cows come home. I just can't do that at a running pace. It turns out my body requires large amounts of oxygen to run like that and my poor heart was working hard but falling short in the oxygen delivery department. 

I come by my heart damage through high blood pressure and I come by my high blood pressure thanks to the genetic lottery of having both parents with it. As I have said before, when it comes to genetics, you win some, you lose some. At this point I suppose I would trade a few gray hairs for lower blood pressure. But I didn't get to choose, so with what I am saving on hair dye I can now spend on blood pressure medication.

The good news: it's reversible. I am on blood pressure medication and in a desperate effort to avoid a second medication, I am following this eating plan:

Dr. Gundry's Evolution Diet

 Not that I was a slothful glutton as it was, but there is definitely room for improvement. Here's a good place for a shout-out for the

Word of Wisdom

My cardiologist pointed out that the reason my heart is doing so well under such adverse conditions is because of my lifetime of no smoking, no drinking, no coffee, no caffeine (I KNOW THAT'S NOT IN THE WORD OF WISDOM AND THE BRETHREN OK'd ALL THAT DEVIL DRINK LIKE COKE AND WHAT NOT BUT IT'S IN MY OWN PERSONAL WORD OF WISDOM SO... CARRY ON).
 As for that promise of "Run and not be weary" my promise is really "Run and not drop dead" which, you know, works for me. Or maybe "Walk at a vigorous pace but slow down on the hills and not be weary."
 Hopefully my enlarged, overworked heart will shrink three sizes (a reverse Grinch--ha!) and maybe learn to work smarter not harder. 

In the meantime, I won't be running any marathons and that's fine by me. I think I was meant for walking and hiking at a pace that allows for taking in the vistas and the scenery. It seems my heart is telling me to stop and smell the roses. 

Mom's Magical, Mystical Tour: An even longer over-due update

I seem to be falling behind here in Blogland.  I looked through my archives and found some unfinished posts from the somewhat recent past. This is from last August and it is way too long--usually I edit and pare down before I post. I don't like to bore you with my EVERY thought--just a select few thoughts. I tried to tie this together with all of the happy little lucky things that happened on this trip but I think I got carried away...


Gentle Reader,
I just returned from Utah where I settled our seventh child into his new life as a college student. I know you get this a lot here, but WHERE DID THE TIME GO?! It doesn't help that Sam skipped his last year at home and jumped into college a year early. Good preparation for mission and life and all but not enough time for Mom to take in the reality of another fledgling leaving the nest. I have a firm grip on the reality that my job is to work myself out of a job. I want my kids to learn and grow into upstanding, independent, hard-working, mature, useful adults so I can't complain when that is what they actually do. But I can complain that it happens too fast.

I took Sam out to Utah a few days early so we could take in Education Week. It has been a dream of mine for lo these many years to go to Education Week but it never seemed to work out with the constant scheduling complications of a big family, not to mention the moves from one state to the next--and one coast to the other. So, this year all of the planets aligned and even my frequent flier miles added up to allow the luxury of some Mom-time basking in the hallowed halls of learning at BYU. 

You may have gathered from my blog that I am a bit of a Pollyanna--an annoying optimist--but even I was surprised at the many ways this trip seemed especially blessed. It started when I checked in for our flight. I saw that we were seated in first class. Of course this had to be a mistake! I had paid with frequent flier miles and I was lucky to get a flight that was coming and going at the time I needed to come and go.Usually there are so many restrictions I'm lucky to leave within a month of my hoped for travel. I worried that I had clicked on an upgrade and would be charged an arm and a leg for my mistake. I checked my account and saw that I had only been charged the $5.00 fee per flight as expected--I would get to keep my arms and my legs. I printed off the receipt just in case there was any doubt about Sam and I having a seat on the plane--let alone a seat in first class! I have flown first class before but that was back in the days of Andy's premiere, business, special super duper traveler status. 

So then, as I was packing. I pulled down a bin of summer clothes I hadn't looked at for a few years. I pulled out a pair of capris and tried them on and felt something in the pocket. I knew it was money and figured it was a couple of bucks. But when I pulled it out, I was pretty happy to see two twenties. I'm thrilled if I find a quarter so I was feeling a little giddy--although I had to wonder how I had managed to pocket 40 bucks and forget about it--that's a concern all of its own! 

We got up the morning of our trip well before the crack of dawn to  beat the morning commute traffic to JFK. Sam had packed everything he owns into our biggest suitcase and we didn't have time to weigh it. According to my serendipitous first class accommodations, we each got two free checked bags. But that would only be IF those cushy accommodations were ours for real. And there was still a weight limit of 70 pounds. Even if you are fancy enough to travel first class, they still have some limitations on the pounds of belongings you can haul on your trip with you.So, you know, maybe you can only take five gold bars instead of ten.  We got to the airport an hour early and got in the special line for awesome first class people. 

I was  holding my breath hoping that my first class tickets would be legit. As we stepped up to the counter, I handed our boarding passes to the airline employee. She glanced at them and told Sam to put his suitcase on the scale. 76.6. Oops....too heavy. She looked at the flashing number and said, "This is way over. I don't have time to deal with it. Just go." So we went. We got to the gate just as they were boarding first class so we found our comfy accommodations and settled in for the flight. Sam fell asleep immediately. It was nice that he had room to stretch out his long legs and get some real sleep. I could have used some shut-eye myself but I didn't want to miss a thing: Juice in real glasses. A delicious breakfast served on real dishes with real silverware--we were even entrusted with a butter knife! Seriously! The omelet and biscuit were tasty and the fruit was ripe and sweet. Then, the warm towel. Such a civilized way to travel. 

After landing in Salt Lake City, we were fortunate to have Spencer and Adrianna there to pick us up. We enjoyed the drive to Provo visiting with them. After a quick stop for lunch, we drove to Siara and Tyler's house--our hosts for the week. Just as we were turning onto Siara's street, the car began to sputter and gave out right in front their house. Don't worry-- they were able to get it going again later--but thankfully it didn't sputter out on the freeway. Imagine hauling Sam's 76.6 pound suitcase down the road, hitching a ride.

One of my all-time favorite authors is H.Wallace Goddard. He is an author of some very helpful books and he writes for Meridian Magazine. I was pretty thrilled to see that he was speaking at Education Week. One more unexpected blessing this week! After our long day of travel across the country and in spite of the time change and jet-lag, I marched up to campus that evening and attended his class. I have given his book "Drawing Heaven Into Your Marriage" to each of our children when they got married. They may not realize it is the best gift they got until that nice mixer wears out and the pretty towels are threadbare. About that time marriage begins to require some soul refining and humility and charity. And about that time, this book will be waiting.  But I digress, the man knows what he is talking about and he brought the Spirit and I was scribbling notes as quickly as possible to keep from missing any of his pearls of wisdom. 'Twas a beautiful beginning to a wonderful week of learning.

A few days before I left for Utah I got an email from my FAVORITE Institute teachers from our California days. Becky Davies and Lesley Meacham. They were a last minute addition to the Education Week schedule. So glad I am still on the mailing list for the Poway Institute! Another bonus: I got to bask in the glory of their amazing insight into the scriptures and enjoy a reunion with many dear friends from our old Poway Stake. It was heavenly. Sam even rolled out of bed and joined me for their classes. 

One of the many insights they taught on symbolism in the scriptures.

Then, I happened to find my favorite ice cream in the little kiosk at the Cougareat one day after lunch (Cherry Vanilla, thanks for asking). And as I was strolling through the Wilkinson Center enjoying that, I ran into these guys:

I just wanted a quick picture of them to prove that I actually saw them,

but they insisted that I get in the picture. So there I am awkwardly

trying to shrink down so as not to tower over Stacy and Mallory and also

keep a grip on my ice cream and my book bag. 

And the guy taking the picture insisted on his expertise at phone photography and

they all endorsed him--but the picture is blurry!

But, you know, it's still Studio C so hey!

And, as if that weren't enough, one day while I was on campus, I came across an exhibit in the Joseph Fielding Smith building. It was all about the history of BYU as well as education in the church.

I read every plaque and soaked up all of the pictures and artifacts. So much of what I was learning about the

importance of education and the importance of learning by study and also by faith, fit my personal philosophy as a mom teaching and guiding learners in our home for so many years. 

A much needed reminder of why I do what I do. 

And why it matters. 

This has turned into a novel--let me find a conclusion here somewhere...

Sunday Dinner at Siara and Tyler's

She is the hostess with the mostest!

The main serendipity was family time with Seth and Taylor, Spencer and Adrianna, Siara and Tyler.

 With Sam there now, half of our children are in Utah Valley!

Since they are all gainfully employed and/or going to school,

we were somewhat limited in times that we

could all be at the same place at the same time.

But we did our best.

It's always fun to catch up with all of them. 

Did I take pictures of all of us together? 

No...I tend to be in the moment when we are all together.

I did take this one of Siara cutting her little brother's hair:

And Sam and Wolfie cat-napping

Is this post ever going to end?

Yes.

Five-OH MY GOODNESS!

Gentle Reader,
Hello! How have you been? Just the usual around here...

I got old. 

Well, older.

This was a very thoughtful gift from my husband....

and all of you who contributed to make an old

woman cry at each turn of the page.

Truly, your kind thoughts touched my heart and made me laugh and cry and remember

so many good things about all of the people and places that have been a part of 

these past joyous 50 years of mortal existence.

It makes me truly happy that these associations can be eternal.

And a word to the wise: if the 90's craze of Glamour Shots makes a comeback...

Just say no.

This picture will haunt me unto the end of my days. 

But my sweet husband loves it, so there you have it.

Back to the City

Another meeting brought me back to the city. This time it was a morning appointment so I had some time during daylight hours to do a little wandering afterwards. This was one week after Superstorm Sandy. The trains and subways in midtown Manhattan were all up and running and things were pretty much back to normal.

Things are moving forward with this new opportunity. I am looking forward to this  adventure and will

fill you in when I can.

 But in the meantime enjoy some interesting sights I saw as I was looking for the Red Cross blood sucking site. Donations were way down after the storm and I wanted to do something to help.

Bright, eye-catching sculpture in the middle of 5th Avenue:

Quirky art:

Look at this little oasis in the middle of the hustle and bustle:

I stood and stared at each of these frescoes--so detailed

Oh, the MOMA. So modern. So artsy.

Beautiful:

This Art Deco subway post--sublime:

I made my way back to Grand Central Station for the train home.

I love the beautiful craftsmanship of that place. Something new

catches my eye each time I am there.

Serendipity

Gentle Reader,
 You may be as surprised as I was to find out I was invited to sit in on a board meeting. In the Chrysler Building. In New York City. Here's the story of how a crazy Mormon mother of many found herself with a security pass and a seat at the table in the company of investors and businessmen and computer geniuses.

You are all aware that my husband is a captain of industry and hob-nobs with other titans of that sort. And from time to time  my company is requested to accompany the hubs as his dutiful wife/arm candy (and by arm candy that would be me over most of those many years pregnant or sporting that very fashionable accessory: the nursing baby). I am a team player and am proud of my hard-working and successful husband so I do what I can to be supportive. I am also a people person and have loved getting to know people all over the world with a wide diversity of backgrounds and experiences. Ask me sometime about the long conversation I had with Giovanni Cavollini (don't you love that name?) a big player in Italian manufacturing. Married to a lovely French woman. Homes in downtown Milan and on the French Riviera. He wanted to know about breast feeding. True story.

Day by day I have been, lo these many years, a busy mom with spit-up on my shoulder, snot on my knees and piles of laundry awaiting my attention. I take my job seriously and have given my best to the eight amazing children we were blessed with. That led me to the decision to homeschool. Homeschooling led me to a lot of trial and error in my efforts to inspire and prod and guide those children to gain light and knowledge. To make the most of their gifts and talents and to become decent human beings.

All that time I was working myself out of a job. Of course that is how we know we've done our job right: the kids leave the nest and spread their wings and fly. So I am left with just two fledglings in our nest and something I have not experienced for a good 28 years: too much quiet. When things settled down after our insane move from one coast to the other, I was left wondering "What's next?" I probably should have thought of that sooner and had a plan in place--but I was REALLY busy. So I have lately been making that a matter of pondering and inquiring of the Lord.

In the meantime, Andy asked me to meet him for a business dinner in Old Greenwich. We met at the offices of a private equity group--the ones who bought his company and hired him. We went from there to a quiet French restaurant with two of the bigwigs. What I thought would be a boring business dinner where I would nod my head and try to look interested as they all talked shop turned into a very enjoyable evening of lively conversation and discussion. We covered a whole range of topics from sports to the upcoming election which led to religion--namely Romney's religion which they knew was ours as well (you know they say "Never talk politics or religion in a business setting" ha!).

 Eventually the conversation turned to the fact that I had homeschooled our youngest five children. They were both amazed that anyone would do that and were even more amazed that  any of those children had gone on to college and that we had a chemical engineer and a future mechanical engineer/computer scientist as well as one with a student pilot's license. The older gentleman sitting to my right was very interested in education and volunteers his time reading to underprivileged children in rough schools. The much younger gentleman  to my left told me about a business he was involved with--a platform for building learning apps. It is widely used in Japan for a program that teaches English to Japanese speakers. He asked me if he could send me information about it and then meet again to discuss possible application for home schoolers. "Sure." I said.

So, to make this long story longer, we exchanged emails and he sent me links to the company's website and I tried out all of the demos they have so far. (I shared one for geography on my facebook awhile back.) I was really impressed. Then one day last week he was talking to Andy and told him he would like me to sit in on their board meeting for the North American launch of this business. I got the invitation and information in an email and was pretty intimidated by the whole thing. The meeting was to be held on the 7th floor of the Chrysler building in midtown Manhattan. In New York City. My first instinct was to decline--I have no experience in matters of big business and I have no business walking into the Chrysler Building as if I have an important meeting to attend. But then I thought, "Why not?" I am always telling my children to try new things and enjoy the journey and seize the day and all that Mom Pep Talk stuff--why not practice what I preach?

 I accepted that invitation and I got my name put on the security list and I mapquested the train station and planned out my route and tried on a hundred different variations of business attire from the contents of my closet that date back to the heyday of my corporate wife days of travel and entertaining.

Then, I settled on my best home school mom uniform: the denim jumper and pink crocs.

 Just kidding.

Luckily Shanna is here hanging out while they close on their house in North Carolina (with the ever-adorable MASON!) So she held down the fort while I ran off to the big city. I set out for the Fairfield Metro train station and saw this just down the road:

And yes, I stopped on my route to adventure and took a picture.

 I love my New England neighbors.

I bought my ticket to Grand Central Station and I waited by the tracks like I had somewhere important to go. The train was on time and the sign's promise of Good Service came true. I happened to catch the Express and it whisked me into the city ahead of schedule. 

I have much better luck with trains than I do with planes.

I looked up while I was in Grand Central and guess what? The zodiac is painted on the ceiling!

Look at all those people coming and going--it's like--Grand Central Station there. 

I stepped through the doors of the train station and walked one block and there it was--

The majestic Chrysler Building.

I had some time to kill because in my concern for getting there on time, I had left three hours early and the express train shaved off a good 30 minutes of travel time. So I had a leisurely stroll along Lexington Avenue looking in all of the shops and doing a bit of people watching. I stepped into the DUANEreid pharmacy and picked up some cute pink nail polish. I'm wearing it even as I type. I also got a little treat at the Crumbs bakery. 

I walked through the doors of the Chrysler Building 20 minutes before the appointed hour. I tried to act nonchalant, yet businesslike as I looked around for the elevator. I was instructed by the very dignified guard that I needed to check in at security. I gave the security desk person my name and he gave me my official pass. Yes! My name was on the list.

This beautiful elevator whisked me up to law offices where we were meeting.

 James was there and he invited me into the board room. I'm pretty sure the table was the length of a football field. I assumed I would sit at the back somewhere and mind my own business and try not to wreck my husband's long and illustrious career with any embarrassing  faux pas; but no, James introduced me to those who were there early and led me around to the chair right next to him. There was small talk and some food in the cracker and cheese category and some bottled water. I nibbled and chatted and tried not to sweat too much. More people arrived and soon the table for 25 was almost full. They also dialed in several others on a conference call. I was the only woman at first and also the only mother of eight and the only person  with no real business experience--other than my almost 30 years washing the socks and making dinner for a pretty amazing businessman of course. 

So the meeting began. I loved every minute of it and enjoyed the interesting cast of characters around that table and my host filled me in as things went along by leaning over and whispering random comments. There was an online demo and many pointed questions and a lot of talk of money in the multiple millions. The room got warmer and jackets came off. Finally, two hours later, someone at the far end of the table leaned back in his chair and said "It's too da(mn)ng hot in here. I think we're done." It was. And we were. I shook hands all around and James walked me out as he told me we would meet soon with his North American operations guy and discuss things further. I thanked him and he returned to the board room and I walked down the wrong hall and then played it off like I was looking for the rest room so the receptionist wouldn't think I didn't belong there. 

I found the elevators and stepped in. I looked up and saw this:

They sure don't make 'em like they used to.

I walked back to Grand Central Station.

Aptly named--it does look rather grand:

I had just enough time to stop in at Magnolia Bakery and pick up a

little treat for my family.

 After which I fortuitously caught the "Off Peak" express

for the ride back.  

Where my supportive family greeted me with cheerful enthusiasm.

It might have been the cupcakes.

The next day I got up and did laundry.

The End

Maybe...or To Be Continued.

I will keep you posted.

Growing Old

So, where have I been you may be wondering? Well let me tell you! When last I wrote, it was the day before my FORTY-NINTH birthday. Can you believe I am just one year shy of HALF A CENTURY?!  Mercy me whoever thought I would live to be so old? On the bright side, now I get to use exclamations like "Mercy me!" and even "Heavens to Betsy" and the like. So there's that.

I enjoyed my birthday. I climbed a mountain:

With our trusty dog, Gunner.

And my trusty side-kick Shayla. 

We enjoyed the amazing view from the top of Iron Mountain

And then came home and found these on the front porch--

a beautiful surprise from my husband!

The youngsters feted 

(which is better than "fetid"--believe me I've had my share of that raising eight children and their menagerie of pets and varmints!) 

 me with cake and candle.

And here's a shout-out to my sweet Visiting Teachers;

they stopped by with this:

The honey is the sweetest  you will ever taste--I have been enjoying it on

peanut butter and honey sandwiches and on my daily oatmeal, and by the

spoonful just for the sheer joy of it. That smiley face on the label

is a fine example of TRUTH IN ADVERTISING. 

 I didn't know such a nectar existed.

And the Christmas ornament--it made me cry because I have to move away

and in years to come, when I pull out the Christmas decorations and put this one on the tree,

I will remember the little town in California where I met and had the privilege of knowing some

of the best people on earth.

Thank you Cathy and Tori!

Stuff We Did This Summer

Some quilting for sweet grandbabies:

Some precious time with this sweet grandbaby:

And his sweet Mama:

Some dog wrestling:

And dog snuggling...

Some changes are coming for the Gale Family:

Some changes that involve packing.

Lots of packing.

Again.

The hardest part of packing without a known move date?

Packing up the books.

I want to have them all at my disposal.

Ready and waiting should the need arise

to answer a question or satisfy a curiosity.

So I have done it slowly and reluctantly.

Keeping most of our favorite go-to books out

til the last minute.

Our destination?

Connecticut--you know--the other side of the country.

Then we watched this...

and it inspired this purchase:

Which inspired more of this

around the house (and in us):

Which led to busting out the wheat grinder:

And a real change for the better in healthy eating.

At least for me--the youngsters are reluctant converts.

But I'm getting better at sneaking the good stuff in. Shhhh.

As summer was winding down,

we set up the classroom for a new school year:

And then I decided it was time for Fall.

82 degrees? 

Whatever.

A change in seasons will be something to look forward to.