July 25, 2017
1:12 p.m.

I skipped blogging last night in favor of going to a place where I could safely continue to breathe. Carpet cleaning chemicals clearly are not conducive to continued respiratory function in your scribe.

I spent yesterday getting the place ready for the carpet cleaning, and I moved a ton of stuff, which I have spent the morning returning to...let us say...maybe their proper places? I spend so much time here--you'd think I would be more cognizant of the arrangements of knick knacks, photos and etc.

Anyway, Mom's not too picky. Everything is clean and dust free, and I think it looks darned nice, so I'm sure she'll be happy when she gets home. Maybe it was time for a little rearranging.

Okay, "What I Did on my Summer Vacation", part two? Is it part two? Maybe it's part three, if I include Comic Con. But it is definitely part two of family reunions.

Yes, indeed, another reunion, this time with members of my mother's family and taking place in Caldwell, Idaho.

We arrived back home on July 10th and hit the road again on July 12th, less than 48 hours later.

This was a very different drive than the one from Colorado. Colorado's jaunt included mountain passes with twisty roads and switchbacks through the mountains. Beautiful, yes, but a bit tricky and tiring.

The trip into Idaho was less mountainous, with tons fewer curves. Still a lot of beautiful scenery, though.

Once upon a time, I was born in Idaho, and we made a stop in my original hometown, where I got a snap of the first house I remember living in. 

 We moved from this house to Wyoming in 1966. It hasn't changed too much, but it is a different color. I remember it grey. It looks so little to me now, though. I thought it was huge! I'm pretty excited that the picture turned out. I couldn't see a thing on my screen, it was such a sunny day!

My parents and I arrived on Wednesday, and for that evening had my aunt and uncle to ourselves. Starting on Thursday evening, other people began to arrive.

My aunt and uncle are fabulous cooks, and they had been hard at work preparing for the official family reunion day, which would be Saturday. Still, in the meantime, we didn't lack for good eats. I think I gained some weight during those few days.

 

 

 

I didn't really take many pictures until Friday. I was enamored of the house, so that's where I went nuts at first. My aunt and uncle have an open floor plan ranch style that is just fabulous and beautiful and so well designed--much of that design significantly influenced personally by them. I think I have been dreaming of this house for years!!

There is a lovely back patio area with plenty of room for socializing. It was really hot outdoors, but they had shade screens and spritzers that cooled things off. Their garden was lovely, as well:

Please take note and enjoy the building on the left; the one with the little moon.
Admit it--that's funny!

By Saturday, everyone had arrived and the fabulous spread was set out to be enjoyed by all. 

        Oh boy, oh boy! Food!

 Did we love it? Yes! Yes, we did! This family knows good eats when they see them!

It's always great to be in the company of family. Aunts, Uncles and cousins--not everyone could make it, but it was a great turnout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Yeah, then we all reach the point where you need a little snooze to aide in digestion.

Now, during the dinner portion of the day, we'd been blessed with the presence of all my mother's living siblings. (They lost a sister, the oldest of the family, a few years ago.)

We planned to get family pictures of all attendees after dinner. Sadly, before that could happen, my mother's brother and his wife got word that her brother had died suddenly. They took leave of us soon afterward to go home.

Family reunions are great. This sad interlude was a reminder of why it's so important to have those reunions as often as possible, because--dang it!--you never know.

To my uncle and aunt--my heartfelt sympathies. You are always in my thoughts and prayers.

Naturally, things were not as jolly after their departure, but I did manage to get a good shot of my mom and her other siblings:

There were other photos shot with the whole gang, but my cousin took those shots and I have been too busy to get them downloaded to the computer yet. We'll get to it soon, I'm sure. Look forward to a big group shot soon. 

On Sunday we had a relaxing time with the family members who hadn't headed home yet. Mom and her sisters had a good time coloring.

I was having a good time, too, but you can't see me! Ha ha!

We colored and chatted, sharing old stories and just having a quiet time. I tried to make sure I had managed to spend time with everyone. I'm always left wondering after a big gathering, but this one had been long enough to be sure I hadn't missed anyone.

It was around this time that Mom started feeling quite unwell. A little later in the evening we all said goodnight to her and she went to bed.

The next morning, Dad wanted for us to stay on in case she needed to see a doctor, but being the determined (aka stubborn) lady that she is, she insisted that we were going home.

And that is the beginning of a different story, so I am going to end this one for now.

Have a great rest of the day. My mother is coming home soon, and I have to figure out what to feed her.

Ta ta!

July 23, 2017
6:52 p.m.

Home a little earlier tonight. I'm glad, because as much as I want to spend time with my mother, it's really tiring doing nothing all day. I can't even imagine how tired she must be.

But things are looking up, and I'm very grateful.

At some point in this narrative I will get to the whole story, but you'll have to be patient. I'm just not quite up to it.

In the meantime, I did promise some July 4th storytelling.

For the most part, The 4th was an okay day. You all know how I feel about the fireworks situation, but the daytime leading up to that was a nice day.

We found ourselves at my daughter's house, where we were treated to barbecue--hamburgers and brats, chips and soda, yummy desserts.

Better still, it was good company. Lots of conversation and laughter. You know, the best sort of day.

In the course of our conversation, I did this little fake laugh--I don't remember why--and my little granddaughter imitated me. So I did it again, and she did, too. I just had to get it on video, and I hope my upload of it here works, because it's too darned cute!

Rats! It's not going to upload for me. How sad. You'll just have to believe me. Too cute.

 

No matter how you slice it, family life is worth more than gold. I love my babies.

We did leave before dark to make sure the fur baby was not alone when the fireworks commenced, and it was a good thing we did, because she was terror stricken. I feel so bad for pets on Independence Day. Can't we just barbecue and leave it at that?

Oh, yeah. I promised not to repeat the rant. Oops!

7:22 p.m.

In the time leading up to the first week of July, I was planning a trip to meet my parents in Trinidad, Colorado for a family reunion. The plan was to go Greyhound, so I knew I couldn't take my computer with me this time. So I ordered a new laptop, thinking I could easily carry it on the bus and once we made it back from vacation, I could finish editing my book and get it set for publication.

But...no. The laptop arrived, and lo and behold, it wouldn't even turn on! Aughhh! I called customer support, but they couldn't make it fly. So, I had to return it.

Dingity-dang, what a disappointment! I figured I could re-order, and have it shipped here to Wyoming, but we haven't stayed in this house much at all over the last few weeks, so... maybe tomorrow.

In the meantime, I'm blogging from Dad's PC, and for some reason picture downloads tonight are going super slow. Bear with me.

Family Reunion #1--Trinidad, CO

As planned, I boarded a big grey dog on July 7th and headed for Trinidad. Arrived about noon and my Dad picked me up at the bus stop.

We stayed at the La Quinta, and I have to say this: they are great! They have a large outdoor patio with a huge umbrella covering the table area, and the whole family was able to sit outside and talk. We could bring in outside foods, drink wine, beer or whatever we chose, and the staff made us entirely welcome. Free breakfast from 4:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. I have never seen that anywhere else.

My parents had been there for a few days already, because while I was walking my feet off at Denver Comic Con, they were attending the wedding of my cousin in Rye, and then doing some goofing off in the area. By the time I arrived they were on a first name basis with the hotel staff.

I don't know who took this picture, but admit it--my parents are cute as heck!

The reunion was for my Dad's side of the family, and all his siblings were there. Four of them live in Colorado, but his other brother came all the way from Minnesota. It's always a blessing when everyone can be together for a couple of days.

Aunts and Uncles! 

 

 

Also attending were some cousins!

 

 

 

And even some second cousins!

Good times were had by all. We talked, we laughed, we ate some great food. I even had a drink! (Not something I do very often--more like once every couple of years. And it wasn't even very good, dang it!)

We attended Mass in Trinidad Saturday night. the church is beautiful--and old! It is filled with many sculptures and stained glass depicting the Stations of the Cross. I was fascinated with the artwork.

 

I really love visiting older churches. They can be quite lovely, and the history can be really interesting. This church has suffered some damage from an earthquake, for instance.

My folks decided to start our return trip on Sunday instead of following the original plan to leave Monday, since we were scheduled to begin a new trip on Wednesday. We left Trinidad after having a nice breakfast--courtesy of La Quinta--with the family.

Colorado is a beautiful state, and the drive was really nice. However, there are a great many twisty roads, and by the time we reached Vernal, Utah, it was time to stop for the night.

Sometimes my camera does just what I want! Actually, it was my phone, and I couldn't even see what I was shooting at on my screen, so--lucky!!

We left Vernal early the next morning, and it was just a short jaunt to Green River from there. It was Monday, July 10th. We'd be leaving again on Wednesday. Unpacking! Laundry! Repacking! And--

Nope. For the continuing story of "What I did on My Vacation", come back tomorrow.

Good night!

July 22, 2017
8:50 p.m.

It is really amazing how tired you can get just sitting on your butt all day.

I've come to know the hospital a little better than I'd care to, since I don't work there.

But more about that later. We're still at the beginning of the month, now, with Denver Comic Con, day two on July 1st.

Here we are, with my Cosplaying granddaughter in makeup. We took the bus on day two, and my younger grandson got to take his first big city bus ride. It's very cool that the route we took landed us right where we needed to be to join the line into the building.

The Denver Convention Center is huge, and even in three days of convention time, there's really no way to manage to see everything you might want to see, so it's always a pick-and-choose situation. 

We started off in the celebrity area because I wanted to get a book autographed by the author, James Marsters. What a nice guy. We talked about writing, and he said it was fun to talk to a fellow writer about the process. (It was fun for me, too!) 

My granddaughter, in the meantime, was in another line, and met Jon Heder of Napoleon Dynamite.

She gets pretty geeky-giggly when she meets her favorite celebrities. It's cute.

The boys played a game while they waited, and then we were off to the vender area, where they got more cool stuff. They like plushy toys, and they found some really cute ones to buy.

We went to a panel and then had some lunch. Too much lunch. Who knew an order of nachos could be so BIG?

We spent a bit more time wandering the vendor areas and watching the Cosplayers.

 Oh, such fun it is! 

We didn't stay too late this time, and went back on the bus after taking a few detours around the convention center trying to figure out where we were.

Upon arriving at home, we had to say goodbye to the youngest of our crew, because he and his family were off to Oklahoma for a mini 4th of July vacation. They miss all their family and friends there.

Denver Comic Con, day three, July 2nd.

Sunday. Always a calmer Con day, with Saturday being the busiest and most crowded. My son and his good friend had gotten tickets for this day, and they didn't want to deal with bus rides so we took Lyft on down. That was nice!

My son is a veteran Con attendant, but our good friend was a first-timer. He had fun!

We started with a panel with Nathan Fillian (Castle). He was being interviewed by Clare Kramer, but at some point Garrett Wang snuck onstage and scared Nathan, then joked about how no matter how many Cons they end up doing at the same time, he never gets chosen to do the interview. What a hoot. 

Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of Nathan Fillian. We were in the nosebleed section where even the big screen looks tiny. But we still loved the interview.

Afterward, the men took the grandchildren and I went to attend a Buffy the Vampire Slayer Villains panel all by myself.

I have probably mentioned in the past that I came upon Buffy a bit late in the game, but it's campy good fun, and even years later it hasn't lost its appeal. 

After the panel I spent a good deal of time trying to track down my family. (Did I mention that the convention center is HUGE?) Thank goodness for cell phones! 

I decided I just had to meet Garrett Wang and get him to tell me the story of how and why he decided to sneak onstage and spook Nathan Fillian. This guy is friendly and talkative and I spent a good time talking with him. By the way, I'm covering part of his shirt; it says "Keep calm and Klingon". Haha!

My granddaughter and I had gotten separated from my son, grandson and friend when we noticed that the line to meet Felicia Day was not too long. My son is a huge long-time fan of hers so we got in line and started calling and texting that we were holding a place for him to come and meet her. We'd let several people go ahead of us before he finally showed up, huffing and puffing. (Big place.)

Does this guy look happy, or what? We started loving Felicia back in the day when she was doing a YouTube series called The Guild. Since then she's done quite a lot, but I'm particularly fond of the character "Charlie" on Supernatural. 

My daughter-in-law also attended the Con with her girlfriends, and we all met up and checked out the goodies they'd nabbed in their shopping spree.

We also ran into a few other characters:

 

Naturally, we all had to get separated again before leaving. My daughter-in-law and her friends took my granddaughter with them to hit the Asian market for drinks before heading home. My son, grandson and friend just had to hit the vendor area one more time and I went to see if I might get a last minute glimpse of any more celebrities after checking out the authors' aisles. 

No one can ever say I don't get any exercise.

I found them! We made it home. We collapsed in heaps and watched some television.

Thus endeth 2017 Comic Con, and tomorrow we'll march into July 4th madness--minus the fireworks rant. (You already got to deal with that. I cry your pardon!)

By the way, I just saw that Salt Lake City Comic Con includes guest Dick Van Dyke!!! 

(How can I manage this? How? I would love to go to that one! Dick Van Dyke!!!)

Anyway...good night to you all! 

July 21, 2017
7:37 p.m.

Oh my gosh, this has been the busiest month ever. I haven't posted much anywhere, I haven't blogged, and I've been going non-stop. I have so much to catch up on, and all I can do now is promise to try.

Many things have happened since the end of June, many of them cool and a couple so not cool that I can barely think about them, but I'm thinking the best way to play catch up is to start with June 30th through July 2nd.

(I know you may have seen my last post, AKA "The July 4th Rant". It was just one day of the month, and not indicative of the rest of the past few weeks.)

June 30th--Day one of Denver Comic Con!!

I've been doing the Con for several years now, and it is fun, fun, fun. It also wears me out. I can walk and walk forever, but standing in lines--ouch, my feet! Ouch, my knees! Ouch, my back! Still worth it.

This year I added one more grandchild to my entourage.

This was his first Con experience. The other two are old pros. We've trekked the halls and stood in lines and generally made our way hither and yon through the huge square footage of the Convention Center. 

Now, these poor kiddos had to wait in line for their old grandma to get her picture taken with "Spike"--James Marsters of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I saved up for the Con, and I saved some more for a photo op, which I have never done before. God only knows why I wanted to do this so much, but it was worth it. He's very nice. And good looking. I spent some time talking to him the next day about writing and his new venture, a series called "Vidiots". Take a look at it. So funny. http://www.vidiotsonline.com/

The kids were great, I got my precious photo. and we moved on to see a panel with James and Oliver Phelps, who played Fred and George Weasley in the Harry Potter series. Yep, another line. A LONG one. 

Now, here's how smart my grandson is--he brought games. The boys played while they waited, and the girls--my granddaughter and I--goofed around with our phones. We chowed down on snacks we'd brought, and then we waited some more.

Those lads grew up handsome and funny. They are now aged thirty-three years! Are you stunned?

Me, too! The place was packed and we were so far away. Thank goodness for the big screens! The kids enjoyed seeing people they grew up watching. Grandma was pretty happy to see them, too.

The boys had a blast checking out all the LEGO creations while we girls rested our feet and took pictures. 

Okay, side track a little bit. When I was a kid I loved LEGOS. I'd build things for hours. I thought I was quite the architect.

Then, when my kids were little I hated them--no matter how many times I nagged, one always got left on the floor to be discovered by my bare foot! Also, my youngest once flushed a bunch of them and the bill for the plumber made me wish I'd gone to plumbing school, because--DANG!!

Then those little monsters grew up and I love LEGOS all over again.

That said. the LEGO thing these days--WOW! How do they make all those fantastically cool creations? I made little houses with windows and doors, but this stuff? Amazing!

No Con would be complete without Cosplayers. Check out these fantastic costumes: 

 

I did a costume of sorts last year, but it gets hot. My granddaughter did a bit of cosplaying this year, and she looked great. I don't know how some of these people make it through the day. It takes a lot of dedication and talent.

 We were all so pooped by the time it was time to go home. But it's so much fun to spend a day with the kids and just have fun. Naturally, we all spent too much money and ate too much junk, but what can I say? It's three days once a year, man.

I'm pretty tired out, so I will share days 2 and 3 with you tomorrow. 

Have a great night! 

July 4, 2017
12:41 a.m.

Wow, I just realized that I haven't written a thing since Father's Day! Bad, Paula. Bad girl.

In my defense, not a lot has been going on. Or else too much has been going on. I've been trying to get through the last leg of editing my book before making a few trips, and not getting enough done.
I have had a little helper, you see.

My two-year-old granddaughter is a fan of sitting in my lap and drawing pictures with me. She draws for awhile and then demands that I do the work. Doggie, kittie, rabbit and the ghost family. Boo! Mama Ghost. Daddy Ghost. I don't know where she got the ghost thing....

We write her name a lot, and I always recite the spelling as we write the letters together, so she's now starting to tell me what letter comes next. She's so smart.

She left Saturday night with her mommy (my daughter) and daddy and brother for a visit to Oklahoma. suddenly I have my seat to myself. I miss her.

They took one of the dogs with them, and left his mother doggie here. She's not taking it well; she's a sad little old dog. My daughter, her husband and children and the younger dog, all away for awhile, and this poor little girl is stuck here. Poor thing.

Having said that much, I am not missing the boy doggie right now. He's very upset by fireworks, and this neighborhood has been noisy the last couple of weeks. I can't understand why the police haven't done a better job of enforcing the illegal fireworks ban here. The neighborhood dogs are probably a total wreck. Trixie doesn't care for firecrackers blasting, but unlike music, which often sets her to howling, she just sits on my feet when it gets noisy. Rex barks. And barks. Then he paces back and forth, growling, with all his fur standing on end. And then he barks some more. So, nice vacation from that for me.

I'm not entirely truthful, though--I do miss him. But Trixie, I think, misses him more.

And now, I am going to rant about the stupidity of fireworks in city limits.  I hate the 4th of July. Hate it. Not because I'm unpatriotic--go, freedom!--but because I think fireworks are stupid. Why on earth would anyone stand about in a neighborhood full of houses and set off fireworks on a hot summer night during peak fire season? That is not smart.

Why would people go out into the wilderness in the peak of fire season and light bottle rockets? It makes no sense to me!

And in my neighborhood--which is mobile homes, by the way, many of them older homes--the firecrackers start a couple of weeks in advance of the 4th. Why? I have no idea. Maybe they're determined to drive every neighborhood dog completely bonkers and burn down a few houses.

Stupid. Not to mention inconsiderate.

I'm not even a fan of professional fireworks, but at least they are done in a controlled area with supervision and fire safety professionals on hand. The potential catastrophe is at least semi under control.

In my neighborhood not even the cops are showing up to put a stop to the nonsense. That stray spark or poorly launched bottle rocket is just a disaster waiting to happen.

I find that I am very sympathetic toward those dogs and anyone with issues with noise and wish that people would just enjoy a good barbeque and the company of family and friends and leave the fireworks to the professionals.

This comes from a person who flinches during thunderstorms, so maybe I'm biased. but I stand by my assertion that people shooting off fireworks in residential areas should be fined a great deal of money and possibly kicked in the shins.

I spend the two weeks leading up to today in a state of irritation and semi-dread. Tonight it will be complete annoyance and semi-panic. I'm always more than half convinced that my house will be burnt to the ground. That may be because I have already lost a home to a fire (albeit not a fireworks-induced conflagration, but still).

We've been invited to my other daughter's home about an hour away for barbecue and fireworks, and while I am down for a nice dinner, I want to be back here before dark, because I don't think Trixie will do well all alone when the real noise and lightshow gets going. I'd like to just take her with, but she weighs about seven pounds and my daughter has two Staffordshire terriers. (aka pit bulls) They are big cuddly babies, but I don't know how they might behave with a little tiny dog.

Besides, that will get me home and hiding out--with the dog, you know (of course)--before the whole mess gets going.

Yeah, yeah, they are pretty. I get it. So very pretty.

But not in the street in front of my house.

Where's a cop when you need one?

There are signs posted all over this place that say "NO FIREWORKS!" So. where are the cops??

Ugh.

Happy Independence Day. Because...you know...Freedom. Yeah.

June 18, 2017
1:53 a.m.

Happy Father's Day to the world's best Dad!

There aren't many people who I can claim to have known my entire life; this wonderful guy is one of the two.

I was one of the most lucky and blessed daughters ever. I was raised by a man who never told me that the only thing I could do was grow up, get married and be a housewife. He told me that I was smart enough and strong enough to do anything I wanted to do as long as I worked my hardest and tried my best.

All young women deserve a father who supports them and encourages them, and I got all that from my Dad. In my family, we all did. and still do, because we are fortunate enough to still have him in out lives.

I thank God for the blessing of a great father every day.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I love you so much!!