I was 10 when my mom and dad divorced.  My brother was 7.  I remember that we were on our way to Vacation Bible school at a nearby church when dad called us to the lliving room where he was sitting on the couch and told us to sit down.  He told us with tears in his eyes that he was going to go live somewhere else for awhile.  We went on to VBS.  Afterwards I got my brother and we ran home.  Dad was gone.  Mother was vacuuming. I asked her "Are you going to get a divorce?"  She answered yes, and I went in the bedroom, shut the door and cried.

After that my father would come to get us every Saturday morning, and take us fun places like Griffith Park Zoo, the airport to watch the planes, Point Fermin in San Pedro to climb on the rocks and find sea anemones, or the docks to watch the ships.  If we went to an aquarium he read every word of every sign to us.  He would have been a great home-schooling dad.  Same thing at the zoo.  A couple of times he took us to Mount Palomar to the Observatory.  Once he took us to see the Ramona Play.  I think it was in Hemet in a natural ampitheatre, but I don't remember for sure.  Sometimes we stayed in town and went to Recreation Park.  Mostly though, we went to the beach.  All things that we probably would have hardly ever done if they had not separated.

The only problem we could see was that Daddy was always late.  We waited hours and hours for him to show up.  His friends used to tease him, saying he would be late to his own funeral.  (He wasn't, we saw to that.)   After a year or so. he started picking us up on Sundays too and taking us to Sunday School and church, and then to dinner at the house where he lived.  He lived with a family from church, and Mrs. Albright always cooked a big Sunday meal.  I remember fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and pie.  We must have had veggies too, but being a kid, I didn't like them, so I have no memory of what they were.

There were lots of sad things about the divorce, but weekends with Dad were good.

A friend and I were talking about bikes today.I was about 13 when I got my first bike.  It was a used bike that someone gave to us.  My brother might have had one before then, because he had a paper route.  I really don't remember.  I do remember about the paper route though.  After he got done with his route, he would go to what we called the little liquor store, and buy a pint of ice cream.  Yes, kids could go in liquor stores in those days, and this one had a cooler by the front door with ice cream and popsicles.  Anyway he had money and I didn't.  Babysitting didn't pay as well as paper routes (only 25 cents an hour.)

My brother would eat all that ice cream all by himself, and never even let me have a bite!  He was probably trying to pay me back for all the Chinese checker games I won.  After all, I was 3 years older than him.  He says he still doesn't like games and it's all my fault.  I remember once he tipped the board, and there were marbles all over the living room.  I don't think our mother was home.   A neighbor girl was babysitting us.  Mother had threatened to spank us both if she caught us fighting.  So we fought when she was gone.  He could hit harder than me, but I had longer fingernails.  He claims he still has scars on his arms, but I don't believe him.  I've never seen any.

Now we are best friends.  Funny how that works.

A year or so ago I rode my grand-daughter's bike down the driveway to the street.  That was enough.  I walked it back up to the house.  I never was the athletic type, though I loved to skate when I was a kid.   It seems like I always had skinned knees, and bandages on my legs.  And I was always losing my skate key.  I really preferred reading.  Still do.

Want to see what that looks like?  Here it is all wrapped and bagged.

We only have a small freezer, so a lot of it went in our son-in-law and daughter's freezer in their garage.
They live next door.
We had a visitor last week.

I must have deleted the wrong picture. I did have one that showed the heron more plainly. We didn't have as many herons this year as in past years. I don't know why. They like to sit on what's left of this pier. It stayed there a long time.
I know what I did. I zoomed in on it in Picasa, and then forgot to hit save changes. I'm too tired to fix it now.
Here is a beautiful sunset from last week.

Woke up to this scene this morning. No wonder I wanted to stay in my warm bed.

Most of that white stuff had melted by noon. South Bend was not so lucky. That's where hubby had to go to pick up the chicken. It took him about twice as long as it should have. I'm glad he made it home safely. Some of the family came to help do the chicken. I love my family.

Xanga is working tonight.   Please pray for my grand-daughter and great-grand-daughter.  They are both almost 15.  One has the stomach flu, and the other is battling depression.  Thanks so much!

This is/will be a busy week.  Mon. I shopped for groceries for my mother and for me.  Today I did a bit of Christmas shopping.  Tomorrow morning is our prayer group.

Thurs. I will get ready for Thurs. evening.  My husband will be bringing home 80 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I ordered them from a company called Zaycon.  We have had them before, and we've also ordered their ground beef.  It is very good meat, all natural, no growth hormones,  all that good stuff.  Last time we ordered chicken breasts we got 40 lbs, and it didn't last  long, so I ordered 80 lbs this time.  I have no idea how long it will take us to wrap and bag 80 lbs of chicken.  I've invited the family over to help.   The meat is fresh, not frozen.  I'll need to clean and re-arrange my freezer first.  We have a small chest-type freezer in the garage, and our frig has a  freezer on the bottom.  If I were Murisopsis I would write a poem about chickens now, but I'm not, so.................  My daughter next door has some freezer space, so that will help.

Sat. evening will be fun.  We're going to a dance, the first one we've been to in a year or more.  I hope we remember how to dance.

Last night Xanga would not let me comment or post, either one.  Now I forget what I was going to post.  Is anyone else having this problem?  (Not the forgetting part, most of us have that.)

I'm sorry I was kind of negative yesterday.  I have so many things to be thankful for.  I'm thankful for my family, even though we have many problems.   I'm thankful for God's grace in my life.  I'm thankful we have enough money to pay for the repairs to the broken water pipe (at least I think we will.)   I'm thankful for the blessings God gives each day.  I'm thankful for the hope of Heaven where everything will be beautiful and perfect.

Please pray for my oldest great-grand-daughter.  She is having major emotional problems.  It was a shock to learn this today.  I'm just praying that God will heal her, and help the rest of the family through this hard time, especially her mother and her 2 grandmothers.  She will be 15 in one week.  It's not easy being a teenager today.

The birthday party today was fun, except for missing the one girl.  We went to a pottery store where you pick out what you want, then paint it.  I painted an elephant for my husband for Christmas, and a shot glass for my mother, who doesn't drink but loves boxes and things to put things in.  She's very organized.  This is a useful pot to put things in.  Remember that line from Winnie the Pooh?  That was Eeyore's birthday.

As far as I know Ella's toothache has not returned.  Here's a picture of her, taken at her 7th birthday with my mother.

I didn't have much on my calendar for today, and it's a good thing, because I was busy all day.  First the phone rang before 8 this morning.  I hate it when that happens.  It's usually not good news.  Our 7 year old grand-daughter had a bad toothache, and her mom had to go to work and wondered if I could take her to the dentist.  Her mom has the papers to apply for medical help for the 2 girls.  It's called Hoosier Healthwise here.  However she hadn't completed filling them out yet.   We don't have any dentists in our town who will take those patients.  The closest one is about 30 miles away.  Hubby was willing to drive us there.  (I haven't driven out of town since I had my stroke.)   I could but I'd rather not.   Also I have a slight amount of glaucoma, so I prefer to drive in town.  I don't drive at night either.

Ella has been to the dentist several times before.  She was a good little patient.  The only time she complained was when she had to bite down on those little pieces of cardboard for some Xrays.  They seemed to think it was just some food stuck between her teeth, so all they did was floss there, and clean.  Afterwards we had to stop and get her a milkshake.  Hubby drove us home and I gave her some lunch, then I took her back to school.  I also dropped off some things at her house, including the rest of her milkshake.  It was a large one, and she wanted to finish it later.  Then I went to Aldi's to pick up a few groceries for tomorrow's birthday lunch for the 3 older  girls.  As soon as I got home my daughter who lives next door called to say the tree man was coming and she had to leave to go pick up her daughter at school.  So I put my jacket back on and went next door to see what the man had to say about the trees.  I think we are going to have 3 of them cut down in early Spring.  They are so tall and hang over the 2nd floor bedroom where our grand-daughter sleeps.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I had to make several phone calls.  Tried to reach our renters, did reach the plumber/handyman who is going to fix the leak under the house.  It's not only leaking, it's pouring!  The water bills should run around $20. or $30.   Last month's  bill was $124. and the one that came in the mail today is $178!  It will be an expensive fix, but it Has to be done.

So that was my day.  Also I fixed supper for my mom, husband and me and did the dishes, and baked a chocolate cake (box mix) for tomorrow's party.  And I swept leaves out of the garage.  Now I'm writing to all of you.  Next I'm going to read my book for a few minutes, then go to bed.  I think I'll read my Bible too.  I need it after today.  Hope tomorrow will be a bit easier and more fun.  Happy weekend to all.

As I have said before during previous election campaigns.  "I GO POGO."  I wish Pogo Possum really were running.  He had a lot more sense in his little toe than a lot of our politicians.   I guess possums have toes.  I've never looked at one that closely.  Pogo was an unusual possum.  Most of them in our neighborhood are pretty stupid.  We see them dead on the roads.  Anyway, this post is supposed to be about voting, not possums, real or imaginary.  So GO VOTE!

I think I spelled that right.  Piroque is the French word for a dugout canoe.  The Sango language may have a different word for it now.  They keep adding new words to the trade language.  (I guess we Americans do too, especially in regard to computers.)   Anyway, these canoes are incredibly sturdy.    I never rode a long distance in one, but our friends did.  They lived in the northern part of Congo, and would come up to the capital of the Central African Republic to shop.  We were going to go with them to visit in their home.  At that time we had 4 children, the youngest just a baby.  I look back now, and think we must have been crazy.  A day or days on a river with 4 young children!  I guess we were just young and foolish.  We never got to go because my husband got sick, and after that there was no time.  It probably was a blessing although we didn't think so at the time.

The girl in the blue dress on the right is our oldest girl. The little boy in the middle is our oldest boy.
The man with the white hair on the right was our mission Doctor. He and his wife, Ada, spent most of their lives in Africa. He studied medicine in Paris. His wife was a teacher. While he was studying she spent her time in the parks with her children, and learned the French language from the other moms there with their children.  She learned it so well that people referred to them as the American Dr. with the French wife. They lived in Africa during WW 11. They were not able to go to the states for furlough, so they went to So. Africa for awhile.  Ada made all her childrens' clothes during that time, including underwear and even shoes.
Here we are getting in the piroque to cross the river. I'm on the far left. The man standing up is Ed, a fellow missionary, and still a good friend of ours today. The others are the Dr. and our 2 older children. I'm not sure where our youngest was at the time.  She must have been with her daddy.  We were waiting for the rest to get in the boat.

We did sit down once everyone was in the canoe.
The next picture is one my husband took when he and a Swiss missionary went to the east of the country to sell Bibles and Scripture portions.  They didn't give them away, but sold them very cheaply. The idea was that the people would treasure them more if they paid something for them.  The man in the middle of the picture was the Swiss missionary.  The men beside him were soldiers.  Photographing soldiers was not allowed, but these men were happy to pose. Across the river is the country of Sudan. It is hard to believe the suffering that has gone on in those countries since that time, and still continues today.

First we had 2 trick or treaters come, both of them grand-children.  Then we had a mom and 2 children that we didn't know. The mom had a sack for candy too.  I asked who it was for, thinking she maybe had a sick child at home.  She said "for me."  I said "Oh, OK"  and gave her some.  We had plenty.  That was a first for me.  Last  we had 2 great grand-children.  The older one was a tooth fairy, the little one was a tooth.
So cute!  Their mom made the tooth costume out of an old sheet.  That's their daddy dressed as a hunter sitting in the chair.  That's not really much of a costume for him.

The little tooth was adorable. She walked around in that costume just like it wasn't there. Once she fell over backwards and didn't hurt herself at all because she was so well padded. She's only 15 months old. I tried to get a picture of the 2 of them together, but they wouldn't hold still long enough.  I'll show it to you anyway.

Someone said their mom should have dressed as a toothbrush, but she didn't think of that. This is what she looked like.

The next night was the annual fish fry that our son-in-law has.  He fishes all year long and freezes the fish.  Then he invites everyone he knows to a fish fry.  They live next door to us. It was a success. Lots of people came. The food was good. There was enough fish. No one fell into either of the ponds. No one got burnt by the campfire out front or the bonfire out back. No one got too drunk that I noticed.  (Of course, we left early.)  I was really tired so went to bed even though the band in the garage was still playing.  After I lay there awhile  listening to the boom of the drums and the bass, I remembered that I had ear plugs. So I put them in, lay down on my side, put a little pillow on the exposed ear, and went right to sleep.