Some of Our Family

Our Austin family came to visit us in Corpus Christi this past weekend.

Chuck, David, Emma, Annie, Avery, Jan at Cole Park

Friday Five: Random Thoughts

RevKarla brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals, which will be fun!

Playing Friday Five was my entree into the World of RevGals.  I remember the first time I played, I felt so welcomed by everyone’s comments.   That was in 2007.   And even though most of my blogging is through writing prayers for the RGBP blog, I can’t imagine my life or my ministry without this community.  I am so, so, so grateful.

So, since I am all weepy and happy thinking about this organization,  I offer you this Random Friday Five:

1.  What are you wearing right now?  (a question from my first FF play.)

TX is transitioning from a short spring to summer, so I am back to wearing sandals, along with light, striped pants from Chico's and a shirt with apples on the fabric, with rolled up sleeves, buttoned by a flap.

An advantage to living in hot and humid Texas is the fact that I can wear sandals almost year-round. My favorite and most comfortable kind are Wolky Jewel sandals, which I have in four different colors. This is the pair I have on today:

2.  What are you having for lunch (or dinner)?  (another question from my first FF play.)

Today is an eating-out day. For lunch, I am meeting my first friend (Lisa) in Corpus Christi from 1979 for lunch at a little restaurant that features salads and sandwiches. We grew up mothering our first three kids* together, but in recent years we only see each other once a month or so. I am looking forward to having a salmon salad with her.

Lisa and baby Avery, Dec. 2010

*Lisa had three children, and I had four. The first three are close in ages and grew up together, almost like cousins. We were initially connected through La Leche League when we were pregnant with our first children.

3.  Share an experience of community that was transformative or precious to you.

I am blessed with various small groups that give me experiences of community and continue to help me grow. One very small group that offers glimpses of the Holy One is the weekly Lectio Divina group that meets at First United Methodist Church.

One week ago three of us had a powerful experience of deep connection while in the Lectio Divina process pondering one long sentence of Paul's in Hebrews Hebrews 12: 1-2:

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,

12:2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

I continue to ponder "the sin that clings so closely" which was a totally new aspect of the scripture that I had never noticed (or had avoided) for years. I will not forget this time God blessed us with  felt presence of wordless, deep connection.



4.  Describe your favorite mug or glass.

My current favorite mug is one given by a friend named Pat for Saint Patrick's Day. It is a roundish, Polish-made mug with blue flowers and green shamrocks encircling it.

5.  Give a shout out to a friend or colleague!

 I immediately thought of Katherine of Meaning and Authenticity blog, who brought me into blogging with RevGalBlogPals in 2006 and whom I met at a 2 Year Spiritual Formation Academy in my covenant group. Love to you, Katherine!

For daughter AE's birthday last week, I posted this picture on Facebook. I haven't looked at it for a long time, and it amazed me to see how young and thin Chuck and I were 33 years ago!

DC, Chuck, AE, and Jan 1982

Visitors!

Daughters AE and KA came to see us on a brief trip from Seattle to Texas. They spent Friday night with us and Saturday night in Austin with their nieces Avery and Emma (and their parents).

Daughter-in-law KA and Emma in Austin

For Emma's first birthday, her parents gave her a matching chair (purple) to her older sister's Avery's pink chair. Even at 1 year old, Emma already prefers her older sister's chair--sibling rivalry!

Emma and Avery

Emma and Avery

My Sweet Granddaughters

Today AA, mother of my granddaughters, posted this cute picture of them on Facebook, so I am sharing it here.

Avery and Emma

Happy Birthday!

35 years ago, Chuck and I were overjoyed to have our first baby, DC and on a big learning curve to learn how to be the loving parents we wanted to be. Happy Birthday!

August 1981, DC in Bellingham, WA on Grandma and Grandpa's lounge chair.

We would go to Bellingham, WA every summer to visit our parents and experience the cool temperatures and beauty of the Pacific Northwest. It was also an opportunity for the children to play and explore in large parks with creeks and trees. Wonderful memories.

And how he looks today with Avery and Emma!

July 6, 2014: Avery, DC, and Emma

Grand Canyon: South Rim

When Chuck and I traveled to our new home in Virginia in 1972, we stopped to see the Grand Canyon. However, for the 20 hours that we were there, it was filled with fog, which is probably normal in late winter months. So 40+ years later, we decided to see it again (and really for the first time).

Driving from Albuquerque, we reached the South Rim of the Grand Canyon in the early afternoon and spent daylight hours there. It was beautiful, even though the view was hazy with smoke from major forest fires south of there.

Our first stop was the viewpoint where the 70-ft. high Watchtower is situated.

We ooh-ad and ahh-ed at the beautiful views and took some pictures. Then, I decided I wanted to climb the tower, while Chuck said he would wait for me below. That must have taken at least 30 minutes, because I had to look and take pictures at every window!

The first level of windows has a round room with paintings of Indians on the walls. These are in the Hopi Room which presents paintings by Hopi artist Fred Kabotie, who took the room's theme from the Hopi Snake Dance.

Viewpoint from the Watchtower

 The walkways up are narrow, with people trying to both ascend and descend. It got tight with me trying to make myself smaller than I am for people passing by! A few parts seemed very steep to me, so I was glad that Chuck had not attempted the climb.

The magnificence of the rock formations overwhelmed us, just as they have for centuries. It is hard to imagine early people seeing this, exploring and trying to find their ways with all these canyons and cliffs.  The tribes who have lived here are many, including the Haulapi, Navajo, Hopi, Zuni, Paiute, and Havasupai. Go here for information about them.

Due to the smoky conditions, we decided not to stay late or to come back early in the morning before we drove off to Las Vegas.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

On our trip, we followed Marfa and Fort Davis, TX with a stop in Las Cruces, NM to meet Sherry, a long time blogging friend.

Before meeting them at their new home, we walked around old Mesilla, NM, which began around 1848 and was the location for Billie the Kid's trial. It was fun to look in little shops and walk around the plaza. I took some pictures of doorways, reminding me of my friend Nancy doing this when we came to NM to celebrate our 55th birthdays.

It was fun to find a little bookstore packed with books, where I had to purchase a book, of course. I decided that I would purchase a book at every independent bookstore we visited. This time I found one that I probably would never have found anywhere else, entitled The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky by Ellen Maloy, who is an artist/naturalist. Her essays on nature, beauty and color from her travels around the southwest are lovely.

Mesilla Bookstore

I loved the store's decorations and its unique ceiling.

Further along our walk, I found a small church store, the Basilica of San Albino Gift Shop, where I found a unique nativity scene, which remains in the box they put it in when I purchased it. We took pictures of its entryway with the statue of Mary.

If you go to the link for the gift shop, you will see pictures of some of the items they sell, which range from the usual Roman Catholic gift shop products to works of local artists. Quite lovely.

Chuck took a picture of me there, which shows a nice smile but also the bulges that I have gained in the past months, especially on this most recent trip.








Then we had a nice visit with our new friends, followed by dinner they treated us with at a Mexican restaurant. They also took a really nice picture of Chuck and me.

Chuck and Jan

What a good beginning to our vacation!

Blogger Meet-Up

I finally had the opportunity to meet Sherry of many blogs! I am used to her Feather Adrift Blog, but am not sure if that is the correct title anymore.

Jan and Sherry in Las Cruces, NM on May 22, 2014

In fact, Chuck and I met Sherry and her husband and Diego, their dog. They generously took us out to dinner where we had some of the best cheese enchiladas we have ever had. This was a wonderful way to start our two-week trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There has been a long absence from blogging: first I got sick with a bad cold, which was further complicated by an infection and the brief cessation of my RA drugs. I was amazed at how quickly the antiobiotics helped improve my health once I got a Z-pack. My rheumatologist told me that often when we get a cold, start to get better and then get sick again, we have caught an infection. So I learned that this time.

Then Chuck and I went on a two-week trip to the west and north, with our final destination being Salt Lake City to visit our youngest daughter MJ. I downloaded 353 pictures from my camera to my computer and so will be posting pictures in the coming weeks about our trip. I would like to record it for myself some way.

I did manage to get a few pics on Facebook about our trip, but these were from my I-phone. Now that Chuck has learned how to download I-pictures to the computer, maybe I'll have some of these here, too.

WE had a wonderful trip, meeting wonderful people and seeing beautiful sites.

My Mother's Birthday

I always think of my mother on her birthday, April 24. She would have been 95 today if she had lived. It is funny to think that her birth certificate showed that she was born on April 23, 1919, but her birthday was always celebrated on April 24. My guess is that she was born around midnight, but at home, so there was no "official" time recorded.

She met my father while they were both stationed in Hawaii during WWII. They both served in the Marine Corps. Here is a picture of her taken in her uniform in December 1943. She was about the age of my youngest daughter (now), who is named after her.

Pictures from Austin

Annie and Emma

 This past weekend, Chuck and I drove two cars to Austin. My cousin Margaret came with me. We were meeting Margaret's daughter Kathy and her two children at the Austin Airport. Then, "the Canadians" would use one of our cars for their travels.


We spent two nights in Austin. One highlight was visiting the Thinkery Children's Museum on Sunday. It is a wonderful place to go to with any age of children. Kathy's 8-month-old son Ryan loved a low-walled area for infants where he crawled around, playing with beads and other items on the walls. Someone asked Chuck if he as Ryan's grandfather! (You can see why with the picture below.)

Chuck and Ryan

Zoe is the girl in the back.

Zoe loved playing with the water.

Kathy's 3 1/2 year old daughter Zoe was very active in the different areas, especially with the water activities. 




Avery liked the artsy areas better, plus the kitchen and store spaces upstairs were favorites of hers.

David and Avery

Margaret and Ryan

Kathy reading to Avery and Zoe at Avery's house.

My Cousin Margaret is Visiting!

My mother's cousin Margaret arrived in Houston two days ago, where I met her on a dark and rainy night. I was thankful that our car has GPS, because I am not familiar in driving around Houston. Got there, but I ended up being in the wrong terminal when she arrived! We only learned this when she called me after her luggage arrived.

When I finally made it to the airport, I followed the signs for the terminal where Air Canada landed. When Margaret called me, she said she was at baggage carrousel #4, which I circled, only to find she wasn't there! That's when I realized that I had gone to the "wrong" terminal, but Margaret didn't know which one she was at.

Going back to my parked car in Terminal A, I finally learned that she was at Terminal C (for United). After paying and driving around, I finally found her standing outside Terminal C. Yay! And with it still raining, the GPS directed us to the hotel.

Then on Sunday we visited both the Houston Holocaust Museum and the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, where we saw the traveling exhibit The Age of Impressionism: Great French Paintings from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. It was a very full day.


Today we drove back to Corpus Christi from Houston, which takes about four hours. Chuck, the three dogs and one cat eagerly met Margaret.

I took the picture to the right at The Rainbow Lodge, a Houston restaurant, where we went for brunch before visiting the museums.

It warms my heart to see Margaret, because she shows me glimpses of my mother (also named "Margaret") who died in 1992. This Margaret is 83, but my mother only lived to be 72. I especially see the resemblances between them around the eyes and smile.

Austin Visit

Avery

Chuck and I went to Austin at the beginning of the week. Avery had been too sick (with ear infections) to go to school, so we came to take care of her so her mom could go to work. I enjoyed reading books and telling her the stories of the three little pigs and the three bears. As she started to feel better, she got back to doing her drawing.

And it was fun to see 5-month-old Emma, who likes to smile alot, though not with a camera that has a flash which startles her!

AA and Emma

Emma and DC

DC holding Emma

32nd Birthday!

Chuck posted this picture of our oldest daughter AE on Facebook today to wish her a happy birthday. (He also said this is the first time he has ever posted on FB.) Today she is 32 and about half my age. (I was 31 in this picture.) It is nice to remember her birth today and appreciate her life as our daughter. Happy Birthday!

one-day-old daughter, born March 8, 1982 and her mom, Jan

Friday Five: Spring??

3DogMom brings today's Friday Five to RevGalBlogPals:

Here in Nashville the annual Antiques and Garden Show is getting underway.  The temperatures are more cold and windy than is typical, and the garden displays with colorful spring blooms are going to be tonic for many of the souls that visit the show this weekend. Punxsutawney Phil may have predicted another six weeks of winter when he saw his shadow, but spring is on the minds of many!

With that in mind,

1) What do you anticipate with the coming of spring?
This has been an unusual winter in south TX, with cold fronts actually bringing us COLD weather! We keep dipping into the 30's and 40's for high temperatures, which has not been the norm for years. Knowing that this will not last much longer, we know spring (and shortly after, SUMMER) will arrive soon.

I am hoping for some of our usual winter, but spring-like, weather to return. This is when it is reminiscent of Pacific Northwest summers. High and low temperatures of the 70's and 50-60's are so pleasant.  I am hoping some of those days will get here before the heat and humidity return.


2) Is there anything you will miss about winter?
I will miss drinking HOT tea. I never learned to like coffee and so have long been a hot tea aficionado.I especially like Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice Tea, which may also be bought through Amazon, as my daughter-in-law KA did for Christmas.

Cousin Margaret in Calgary

Somehow hot tea is not as inviting when it is extremely hot outside. And I don't really like iced tea.

3) Is there an occasion on the horizon to which you’re looking forward?
At the end of March my cousin Margaret from Calgary, her daughter Kathy and two grandchildren will be coming to visit. It is exciting to think that the children will meet my granddaughters, Emma and Avery, as they are about the same age!

4) Do you have a favorite spring memory?
Memories of Easter egg hunts with my children.
Births of AE in March 1982 and BJ in April 1985.

5) Do you have a favorite spring flower/bloom, and if so, what makes it special to you?
I love daffodils. When we lived in RI and NJ, it was wonderful to see crocus and daffodils coming up while it was still cold. Daffodils do not grow in TX, so I have enjoyed the springs when I have seen them elsewhere, especially in WA State.

My Seattle daughter AE sent me a picture of a daffodil in 2009, so I posted it with a poem here.

Jan and Baby Emma

Jan and Emma, Feb. 2, 2014

Emma's First Christmas

Sweet

Avery holding baby sister Emma, almost 3 days old

Blessing of a Second Granddaughter!

Today at 12:40 pm daughter-in-law AA had Emma Faith in Austin, TX. Emma was 6 lb. 5 oz. and 17 inches long. Chuck and I are rejoicing that she and her momma are doing well.

Son DC posted this picture of his two girls at birth. They look pretty similar though one picture is almost three years old.

Emma and Avery