January.

Six years is a long time, but memories linger forever.
First comes Tisha.   She was a part of our life every other Sunday and in between for many years

She sat by me on Sunday and worked along side Darrell at the food bank.  She copied out at least three cookbooks for us.   Several of her hand written notes are in my Bibles.   Tisha loved everyone and everyone loved Tisha 
Those are the memories that will not go away for me.
.................


For another friend,  it is the memory of her honeymoon.   A trip to the snow and a hard hit by a snowboarder....a snowboarder who did not stop and left her with many injuries and lingering pain 
She will always have scars
 Six years later she has a "new life"  added to her family, a precious little girl.  
A song also lingers with her
       "Here I raise my Ebeneezer "
A verse from Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

If the meaning is not familiar to you, it is worth looking it up, and the song is on U-Tube.


............


Me?   
I have much to be thankful for right now. 
We have 44 Radiation treatments completed and hubby is feeling great.   We have 4 healthy grandchildren. 
Could list many more...when you think about it, we have a home, clothes, running water, a car, food.....  yes, the list goes on. 
 No complaints !
Not allowed today !

Ready for story number two...

Well, I think I was wearing my sisters sign  again, this time at the library.   

It is not always easy for me to engage in conversation ( I do not know much about current writers and my team player was out of the room )

So, this gentleman asked if I had any gothic fiction ( yes that is a word, but I did not know it then ).   I confessed I did not know about those writers and he pulled one out
    Anne Rice....Her first book was the best...about a Zombie. I think that a lot of writers have one good book and then the rest are not that good. 
not to be confused with Anne Rule
We both knew about Anne Rule. 
She wrote true stories about mass murders
She died not too long ago.
     Oh I did not know that 
She wrote about Ted Bundy
     Yes, she even worked along side him on one of those support phone lines. 

Well, have you read your Bible? 
     Oh, I love my Bible, but I don't have one now
Well, you can read it right on your cell phone.
Do you know John 3:16   
   ah ..  The Lord is my Shepherd..
That is the 23 rd Psalm 
John 3:16  For God so loved 
   the world that he gave his only son and whoever believes on him will be saved...
and he smiles

Have you called your Mom?
    No, it has been, well, maybe, oh  I guess it has been two years.We are not that kind of a family.  We are not really close. you know, not that kind..

Well, I think your Mother would love to hear your voice.
There is a video of "Jeffrey" who has not seen his mother for ten years and he won't even look at her right away, he just cries when he sees her .     I think you would like to see your mother
 (  you can see this video on u-tube if you just write Jeffrey sees)

    Well, I don't have a cell phone right now. I am saving for one and the first thing I am going to do is call my Mom.
  

Well I hope that happens soon 

Well, I am kind of homeless right now, but I am saving up and I should have enough by the end of the month.
And I am going to call my Mom, and my uncle, and I am going to call my brother.



I hope George comes back  ...I think if it stays cold out, he might want to warm up in the library again.   If he does,  I am going to buy him  THE Book.  
Should have done that yesterday...

Fun things happen at the Library Book Shop

Well, today, we had to make our own fun because no one wanted to buy "our" books.

We are Friends of the Library !!   We are all volunteers who accept donations ( bring yours by anytime  10:15 - 4:00 daily )  then we mark them, and then we display them in our very nice shop, just outside the main doors to the Bellevue Library.  Then we sell them.

But not this morning.  
And that's ok.   My team player is one of my favorites and we can chat about almost anything.  One big difference is that she knows and reads many of the latest books.  She is in a book club.  She is very smart.  
I do not read novels.  I appreciate getting a recommendation like

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Rebecca Skloot

,  Very amazing story

Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century: Peter Graham    Hard to believe this very famous writer was convicted of murdering her friends mother when she was 15.  

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up:  Marie Kondo   This one I have read about 1/2 way.  But that is another part of the story. 

Though we are different we are a great team.   And today, we had plenty of time to catch up on what happened during the holidays.   

I told her about my girl Anita, who was in the middle of  "decluttering" her house . Did you guess ?   She had heard about Marie Kondo and her book because Marie now has a program on Net Flex on that very subject...decluttering... yes it's really a word.    Anita has the book on hold at the library, so I thought I would check the shop shelves to see if we had a copy I could buy for her.   Nothing in the shop. And my team player was not surprised.  She had seen the Net Flex show too and knew it is very popular.

Now it is my turn to go to the marking room and find a few more history and cookbooks ( a another one of my favorites, but that is another story  ) to restock the shop shelves .  A few ladies were busy with a great stack of donations  ( you are still welcome to bring in yours).

"There is just one more book I am looking for, The Magic of Tidying up "  I announced   ( ok, i did not know the real title then, so I am just  telling the truth ). 

Nancy shot her hand up in the air, with that very book in her hand !   " I was just making it for the shop".   

I was thrilled.    $1.50 for a $16.99 book that looked like it had not been "used"

The ladies began to "blame " the book for all the donations. 

  People are decluttering and that means they are parting with books.

( seems like every time I bring up her name, people have heard of her, seen her, read her book.  Now I see that if you google her on U-tube you can see it free...sounds like an ad for U-tube, but I refuse to pay to view....for now) 

End of story number one, almost

Sunday evening our neighbor, young mom, came to visit. She had also seen this popular program !
Before she left, she stood up in my living room and said.
 " This is what I would like my home to look like. There are memories here.    This "Program" is for young people like me who just go out and buy things that we really don't need.  You have a collection of things that have meaning. "

Speechless....so to speak..

My sister wears a sign on her back

  "tell me your life history"

That is what her friends say and it sort of fits, she has a real gift for conversation.

But I think she left the sign at my house , because we were at the mall, Saturday night, our usual free date night and while listening to the trio, 

Well, you can't see the drummer, but he is sitting down to the left of the bass
thus, a trio 

The trio is our favorite. Maybe because they were playing the first time we discovered the mall program.  Maybe it is because Andy is very friendly and remembers our names and chats with us.

There is another couple who usually snag two of the three comfy chairs by the piano, but tonight, all three are empty. 

We are sitting down for a few minutes before a gentleman comes.

Not sure of his name, but I am pretty sure he is lonely.

He was missing his little children. They now live in Oregon and he got to spend the holidays with them.   But they will be moving to California and he might have to find a job and move there too.  He tells me their ages and how much he loves them. 

But there are the children from his first marriage that moved back to Japan, they could not handle the English language. Yes, the English language is very hard...so is the Japanese language.  etc.


He plays with a jazz group along with "our" bass player a couple times a week... and pretty soon...

Yep, Andy gets up and Jazz man sits down.  And WOW, he can play.     

And then, also in casual attire,   Andy's nephew  Mike

We know Mike, because he often plays on Saturday evenings, but then, he wears a tuxedo

Tonight we get a little different style....and we like it..

oops it is 8:30  show is over.

Grammy time

Love it when we can spend time with the littles

Last week, little man came for  2 1/2 days.
For dinner on the first night, I asked his preference and he chose pasta.

on the second night I heated up that pasta and he said

" Did I say I wanted pasta for dinner tonight?"

I said " No, what would you like"

" Waffles"

Great



Grammy loves to please.  We keep Eggo waffles in the freezer since Damon won a years supply ( he was about 10 years old )
So, very easy to honor the request. ( holding back the chuckles )
Some times those little men can each two or three, with syrup in each whole and maybe some honey.  

Marti...I remember you would make whatever your family wanted, every morning.... no regrets ♥


Me?  I am enjoying Kale, eggs and bacon this morning

What about you? 

December

Highlights from a fun and busy Month 

Lucia Bride, Swedish Covenant Church Seattle 

Annual trim my tree event 
  Before  ↑   After   ↓   

The buddies  who did the decorating 
( Photo by hubby...in the mirror  ♥ )

First Visit to Snowflake Lane 

Baking night
This could be the funnest part 

Annual event, started 1978
A few new faces
Always a special night 

Westminster Christmas Program 

Little man came with us to Snowflake Lane
High fives, waves and lollipops 

Christmas Eve's Eve with Cousins  

Yes, some cousins had left,
but still a memory shot

Christmas Eve with Friends
This was the highlight
Hope the video works for you

and yes, I forgot to get a group picture 

Candles, Carols and Communion at Westminster 

 December 25 we celebrate Grampy's birthday first 

Then Christmas...and again no group photo, But this little man was the only one under 30 years old

Final celebration and

WOW 

It was a big party 

Taking a break from opening gifts  

Time to say goodbye to December.....



But happy to celebrate any day of the year.

Blessed beyond measure.

Such a day

Actually, it was 2 1/2 days, 
but today was the best

Cousin came and spent the day with his older cousin. 

So let's proceed with a few photos.

Still celebrating Christmas 

A little time on the iPad 

Game time 

Hoping for a little education on others who do not have as much as we do
not sure if they got the message
but I tried 

Lunch ...you know where

Always help at this store 

 And just around the corner...

Where Grampy came to watch the Husky game....
until the 3rd quarter 

Home and time to do some baking

" I have done this before,  Hold my hair back "

Nicely done 

And another egg for the mix  

p.s.   those bars were good.  Very good. I know because I ate "some".   Actually, it would be good if you could come over and eat some of them.  That would make me feel better. 
If not, I would not let them get old and stale and.....