HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIA

Today Mia turns twenty! I no longer have a teenager in the house!

Mia, named Mary Katherine Price (or Maria Katerina on her Indonesian birth certificate) was born on July 31, 1986, 9:58pm Papuan time, in Mulia, Irian Jaya, Indonesia. Mia has always thought it was cool that she has both an Indonesian and American birth certificate and she is officially "an American citizen born abroad". Her first passport photo was taken at age 2 weeks. She spent her first four years in Indonesia, then 12 1/2 years in Oregon and the past 3 1/2 years in Los Angeles. My Mia is a delight and has always added so much to our family. Her three older siblings alternately indulged her and tolerated her, but they could never ignore her. Her mommy and daddy adored her, even while they wondered if they would ever get her to obey without an argument. And now she is grown up, a friend to those siblings she tormented and looked up to, a college senior who loves to muck around in old bones and mud, a beauty who is beloved by her Marine, a daugher who continues to amaze her parents with her wisdom and delight them with her cheery disposition.

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIA, our anak bunksu, Mia Maria, Bud, fashion police, care taker. And in the next twenty years, may you continue to grow and mature into the woman God is making you, the wife Tim needs, maybe the mother to some of the world's most beautiful children, an archeologist of renown.

And may you someday actually get your driver's license!

Thinking about my neighborhood

I took a walk on the beach this evening. All the people I passed on the beach and the walk to and from greeted me with a smile and a hello. That is so different from my neighborhood in south central where people don't walk alone after dusk unless they have to.

Mia told me a story that our next door neighbor at home related to her. He has a dog. The other day two neighbor boys got a local gang member's dog and put it in the yard with his dog hoping to get the two dogs to fight. But the dogs were better behaved than the boys and refused to fight. The neighbor caught them in the act, made them go get the dog's owner to retrieve his dog. You can imagine how pleased this person was to find out what the boys tried to do and he took appropriate measures with voice and hand to insure that the boys don't do this again.

The buildings on either side of us have graffiti; the walls along the metro train line are also covered with graffiti and there is trash dumped all the way down the other side of our street along the metro wall. At various times there have been old shingles, old wood, garbage and numerous mattresses, chairs and sofas laying in the 3 foot strip along the wall. Not a pretty sight. What a contrast to the clean streets and flower beds here in MdR.

And yet, when we move to the little house on the 10 fwy in November, I suppose I'll miss the neighborhood and the place I've called home for over 3 1/2 years. I know I'll miss the little neighbor girls, the people at the local Starbuck's, and driving by the nature park. It is always bitter sweet for me to leave a place I've lived in, and God knows I've done it enough times.

Here I am

sitting in Marina del Rey, spending a full day in my own company. It doesn't happen very often and I am treasuring it. I haven't left the house b/c I'm waiting for the vet tech to arrive. I want to meet her and talk with her about the cats I'm catsitting.

I think I'd enjoy the house/cat sitting life. People who ask to have their cats cared for in their absence are always generally nice people. It's a joy to stay in their homes and play with their kitties.

This day is consisting of reading my Bible, doing my Bible study, blogging, writing thankyou notes, reading Down Range, a really good book about PTSD in military people returning from combat zones. Chaplain Dan gave it to me to read and pass on to Mia and to Tim.

Speaking of Chaplain Dan, he took his oath of office on Monday with John, me, Mia, Jennifer and Melissa as witnesses. Very moving and I'm so very proud. Then we spent 2 hours together discussing plans for Dan and Jennifer's future. Ahem--it's official. Dan and Jennifer are engaged and have set a wedding date, tentative and based on USArmy cooperation. May I say here that I am thrilled with Dan's choice, I already love Jennifer so much!

And speaking of Mia, she's off to SF tonight to enjoy a weekend with two anthro guild friends.

And speaking of Tim, the countdown to his departure from Iraq is under 20! We have prayed for his safety there for so long. And we'll continue until he touches down again on US soil.

Yesterday we spent four very hot hours sitting in the HOT socal sun on asphalt on Dodger Stadium hill to watch our nephew Bobby Price graduate from Los Angeles City Fire Department Academy! Congratulations to Fireman Bob! We wouldn't have missed it for anything, even the heat!

I was thinking yesterday about our nieces and nephews, 11 of them. Each one is talented and so special in his/her own individual way. We have IT techs beloved by customers, computer programmers, a fireman, a couple of college students, a mom, some office workers, a child care helper. All of them are in their twenties and thirties. (Mia is the last one to leave teenagehood and she will be 20 on Monday!) I love them all and love to hear of their accomplishments. I imagine that they don't much notice my enthusiasm, but that doesn't matter to me; I just enjoy celebrating their lives.

So to all the cousins, including my own children: JR, Dan, Thomas, Deb, Billy, Laura Jane, Matt, Steve, Mike, Bobby, Derin, Beth, Becky, Jesse and Mia--I love you all!

The rest of my day will consist of more reading, some swimming in the pool, a walk on the beach, a little knitting and maybe some movie watching...

burn, baby, burn

It's 104 degrees here in south central. The temperature INSIDE our house at 4:30pm is 94 degrees.

It's time to go and find air conditioning.

Escapism

It is already really warm here in south central Los Angeles at 9:30 am. My indoor thermometer reads 82 degrees. So in an effort to escape in mind at least from the heat, I looked through my photos from England--again. It is much cooler in England.


Bridge over the River Avon in Bath. We had just finished a walking tour of Bath in the early evening and were strolling back to our B&B along the river bank.



There is much more than stone circles in Avebury. Here is a lovely shot of a thatched roofed cottage. Now this is my dream home--well, one of them. I would name it--of course--Willow Cottage. Why Willow? When we lived in Oregon, I was involved in a camping ministry called Oregon Camp Cherith. All staff had bird names and I chose the willow finch--hence, Willow--and the name has stuck. I named my knitting business Willow's Cottage.

I love doors. This is actually an archway in a wall in the garden of the Wells Cathedral. The arch is framing the spring/well after which Wells is named.

I should comment on the company we had the past two days. The McCune family, currently from Odessa, Ukraine, visited Southern California and we provided housing for them. We are long time friends from early TEAM days when they were assigned to Irian Jaya but never received visas to get into the country. We had not met any of their children so it was very nice to get acquainted with them and renew our friendship with the parents.

OK, I feel a bit cooler now. Time to start the dish washer and do OK, I feel a bit cooler now. Time to start the dish washer and do more laundry.

Musing

Mia mentioned this morning as we were walking along the beach getting our feet wet in the surf that I haven't been blogging lately. That's true. Because I've been gone a lot and because I like to write about my knitting and I'm in a dry spell with the knitting.

I think it's normal to cycle in and out of crafts and art. You can obsess about fiber or whatever and then all of a sudden lose interest. I don't lose interest, it's just that something else comes along to asborb my time and energy--like wedding planning, traveling, reading. There's a season for everything and right now it's NOT the season for knitting.

I am still totally frustrated by the entralac and don't even want to pick up my size 6 needles and look at the swatch. The white sweater I'm knitting is BORING and I don't feel much like working on it.

My time is being focused this week on dentist appointments, company (a family of 5 overnight tonight and then one person from tomorrow until Aug 1), and wedding invitations which includes writing addresses and cutting and glueing 250 sets of ribbons. So one can understand why there's not much knitting going on right now.

A happy note: Mia and I had lunch at Islands with Mike. I love talking with my kids and listening to them converse with each other. We discussed the unofficial civil war in Iraq, the Israeli-Lebanon/Hezbollah conflict, the possibility of a larger style conflict in the Middle East, the reinstitution of the draft and several other topics, including playing Scrabble.

More Cat Watching

Have you ever had a cat sit IN FRONT of your computer screen and try to play with the cursor? Trooper is doing that. At least it incourages better, more accurate typing since I can't see what I'm typing.

All you knitters out there-- entralac is EVIL!

This evening I have been updating some of my files for the Level 3 Master Knitter submission. This is the part (other than entralac) that I dislike--documenting what I am knitting. I'd rather just knit. But since I've already spent the $$$ and done some of the work, I am stubborn enough to finish this. Now I remember why it took me over two years to finish Level 2. I don't like to type up the documentation.

Now the cat has moved to the empty screen next to mine and so I can see--now that I'm done typing.

Cat Sitting

Mia and I are cat sitting at a friend's. Now there is nothing unusual about helping a friend out, but this time, the friend is really blessing us too. This friend lives 1.5 miles from the beach and we are really enjoying the cooler and cleaner air and the quiet and peace of the neighborhood.

Today we spent most of the day in Bed, Bath and Beyond, registering for wedding gifts. I am really impressed with the quality of both the merchandise and the employees. Wish I could get married again and get some of the beautiful things Mia and Tim will have. She has good taste...in merchandise, in men and in parents!

We had lunch with Mike at Red Sesame, a Thai fast food place. Great food... and we got a detailed account of his visit to Hawaii's big island. I'm all for going to see Hilo myself now.

Knitting? It seems I've taken a hiatus. I have been very frustrated by the entralac and I have hit a wall. I decided that the best thing to do is just leave it for a bit and come back with a better attitude. I have correctly done four of the five 'rows' and am stuck on the fifth (final) row. I probably just need to reread the directions but it's hard to understand when I'm frustrated, not living in my own house, been busy with family,friends and dr appts.

More busyness on the horizon with Deb and Jeff coming down (!), alternate banquet on Sat night, Mike moving on Saturday, and our cat sitting.

Since I'm not home I can't even download photos.

BEWARE

Bird Flu Hits Florida Trailer Park!