Blogging

I have had a respite from blogging since May (or longer). I did not even blog at all in the month of June. The main reason I am writing some now is that a friend I rarely see told me she missed my blog posts. At a good-by party for someone else, Nancy asked me if I was still blogging and that she missed seeing what I posted.

What a surprise! I did not think anyone noticed. Although I realize that blogging friends and other friends have treated me with patience and understanding, I am pleased that someone told me that my blogging posts were missed.

This is probably a poor time to start again, because tomorrow (Wednesday), Chuck and I are making our annual trip to WA State to visit our daughters in Seattle and Chuck's parents in Bellingham, plus friends that still live in the area. Going on a trip means busy-ness keeeps me away, but I will try to put some pictures and comments about what we are doing up.

The weather has been unseasonably warm/hot in WA State, so we hope that the 90 degrees weather is behind them. Chuck and I are too accustomed to being inside air-conditioned houses and find non-air-conditioned homes to be uncomfortable when it is so hot.

Luckily, where we will be staying in Seattle is at our long-time friends' home, and they have a basement that stays cool. In fact, that is where Chuck and I will be sleeping!

Facing One's Mortality

 Our last day in Bellingham, Washington, I wanted to look at the spots where my parents' ashes were placed after their deaths in 1992 and 2002. I also remembered that Green Acres is a place that has beautiful flowers, so I was hoping to see daffodils, which I did.

Last year Chuck and I decided to buy a plot near them.

We were surprised to see that our marker is already there! It made us pause in silence as we gazed at our names, indicating "the end."

 Since both my parents and maternal grandparents are here, this seemed like more of a central location than anywhere else that we know of.

My mother's parents, whom I knew as Grandpa and Nana. They were George and Anne.

My parents. Their families knew them as Rudy and Faith (their middle names), but friends called them Dave and Margaret.

Returning to Friday (Five) the 13th in MARCH!!

Almost three months since I last blogged, I am going to participate in today's RevGalBlogPals' Friday Five before going on a short (6 days) trip to Washington State. So here it is:

Woo hoo!  It’s not only Random Friday Five time, but it is also Friday the 13th.  And also Lent.  And, in my neighborhood, the snow is starting to melt and I can see a patch of grass in my front yard.  Oh my,  what could be more wonderful?  (Okay, a lot of things, I know.  At least little things make me happy.)
So, without further ado, I present you F13RFF!

1.  What have you got going on today?
In two hours, Chuck and I are driving to San Antonio to go on a direct flight on Alaska Airlines to Seattle. We'll get there tonight, thankfully met by our daughter AE. We planned this quick trip during Chuck's spring break from teaching chemistry at the local community college, so we could visit his younger brother Tom and wife Chris, who is under hospice care for rampant breast cancer.

2.  What about a prayer request, how can we pray for you today?
Please prayer for Chris and Tom, but now I also add Dennis and Terry. Terry texted me yesterday about her husband Dennis going back into the hospital with a severe infection, probably due to sores on his feet which brought sepsis to his artificial knee. This is what he went through last year, too. Today he will have surgery where they might even replace his knee replacement. I am glad we'll arrive tonight.
 
3.  What makes you curious?
Right now I am very curious about the changes in U.S. culture in all aspects as related by Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, which is a book I continue to cite in classes and to friends. His latest book was just published and addresses what is affecting our children in Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis and I am reading it now. It connects in places with the new book for the Wisdom Class: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, even though the authors are focusing on different viewpoints
of U.S. society.

4.  If you got stuck in an elevator for three hours, (if that is too scary, locked in a room or stuck in a traffic jam), and could magically have any book or activity appear in a pouf to you to while away the time, what would it be?
 I guess I would like my smart phone or Ipad to magically appear, because I could contact people, see the news, and access a book! Otherwise, I would probably pray--a "good" chance to do contemplative prayer.

5.  Use these words in a sentence.   Thirteen, lampshade, [a historical person, like Cotton Mather or Judy Garland} basket, hedgehog, and daffodils.
Saint Francis watched a hedgehog sniff the basket of thirteen daffodils, while the lampshade was non-existent.

 As always, have fun, be fabulous, and let us know you played in the comments, and take care!