Weather in Oregon

The 10 day forecast now shows NO RAIN on Saturday the 23rd, high temperature of 77! Perfect weather for an outdoor wedding!

On our Way

We leave early in the morning for Oregon! Tim and Mia are already there. She reported this afternoon that they have picked up their marriage license. It's really happening.

I am leaving feeling a bit unsettled for several reasons. The packing is "in process" (read: there are boxes and piles all over), we still have two rooms and a few touch ups to paint in the new place, and our neighbor's place here (the townhouse next door) was broken in to over the weekend. We didn't hear anything, didn't even know they were gone for the weekend. The evidence points to a homeless person being the perp, considering what was taken and "the smell". Please pray that our home will remain safe while we are away. And pray for Ron and Louise--it's so hard to feel violated by a break-in.

Time to pack-- wedding clothes for all three of us, knitting books and projects for the drive and the days after the wedding, lots of other wedding stuff...

Packing and Weather

Alas, no knitting news. I had intended to get to the lys this morning after J and I got our hairs cut, but we turned north instead of south on Sepulveda Blvd to go back to pick up Tim and Mia at Starbuck's, and I forgot. We went to the evil bridal shop that STILL doesn't have Mia's dress altered, and there it was, no knitting shop stop.

We are all packing. Today's list includes items from my grandmother's cedar hope chest-- a lovely embroidered dresser scarf, various knitted items from J's babyhood, and my children's babyhood. (Note to Deb: I thought that the animals on the pink vest I knitted you were kitties, no, they were owls. My wol is aptly named.) There were also my great, great grandma's white apron, her organza wedding dress and a blue taffeta jacket with round jet buttons. My great grandfather's seabag with his name, O. Gericke, stencilled on it. I really shouldn't mention these items if I don't post photos...sorry...camera back in Mia's purse.

I am now taking a break from packing dishes. I have many dishes. I don't buy dishes. I inherit dishes. Teacups. Heisy clear crystal bowls, plates, candle holders, serving bowls, candy dishes. Noritake china. Salt cellars. More teacups. Now they all have to be packed VERY CAREFULLY in lots and lots of bubble wrap to be transported BY ME in MY CAR the six miles to the 20th street little house on the freeway. I love the dishes and I love to use them. I don't keep them hidden away for "good", I use them and display them. As my sil says, "I never met a dish I didn't like."

Rea, I am having coffee with Cynthia tomorrow. I know we will fondly say, "We miss Rea!"

Oh yeah. Weather report: early morning coastal fog and low cloudiness, giving way to sunshine later in the day. This report could be mailed in every morning for the next month.

More Than Weather

After two more days of HOT and SUNNY, it looks like today's weather is going to be COOLER but still SUNNY.

Have you recently, or ever, moved? Remember the mess, the explosion of belongings everywhere, the point of maximum expansion? We're almost there. I can't pack the kitchen until after Mia and Tim's reception here at the house next month, but most everything else is going on schedule. Almost all the books are packed. In this house of bibliophiles, that's half the boxes. I packed up the Indonesian artifacts, shells I collected on Papuan beaches, pretty much everything except the carved cassowary eggs. Those will go separately in their own box in my car under my personal supervision. (NO, they are not on the endangered species list; we checked.)

I have packed my yarn. In a very big box. With great care and tenderness. I shut my lovelies in it and taped them in, and wrote J & L Yarn on three sides of the box. We really are moving, I've prepared my yarn. If I need yarn for a project, I'll have to go to my LYS (local yarn store) and get more. (YES! heheh)

Today I plan to pack my spinning supplies. dye pot, carder, spinning wheel. The wheel is a Lendrum folding travel wheel, so all I have to do is fold it up and put it in its traveling case. It, too, will be moved personally by me along with the cassowary eggs.

Lovely weekend ahead. Tim is coming from Camp Pendleton, we plan to get in a walk or bike ride, more packing. What's on your agenda?

Weather on September 5th

HOT, sunny, HOTTER

The thermometer in my car registered 103F at 1:15pm.

Weather on September 4th

Sunny, hot and windy.

On this date 34 years ago, John and I got engaged!

We went down to Hermosa Beach to The Strand and had breakfast at Martha's 22nd Street Grill. Good food, worth the 1/2 hour wait and the horrible parking.

Weather on September 3rd

Sunny and hot.

Are we bored yet?

Weather on September 2nd

Sunny, warm, windy

Breaking the Silence

It seems that I have taken an unintended hiatus from blogging the past two weeks. My life has been very busy and very stressful. What have I had/do I have on the current plate?

school year starting, but my program on hold for a few weeks, so I'm helping out wherever
Tim's safe return from Iraq
planning a wedding in Oregon across a state boundary, 900 miles away
planning three receptions, two in Oregon and one in California
getting shoes for Mia and Tim's wedding
packing to move on October 15th
house sitting for friends near the beach
John traveling to Wichita for five days
Dan moving to Phoenix last weekend
Mia and Tim packing her belongings to move to their apt, which they don't have rented yet
repairing, cleaning and painting new house which I can't begin until after Sept 10th
being gone out of state Sept 19th-Oct 4th
moving Tim and Mia's collective belongings from Oregon to California, via our house for a pick up of her things- we've reserved the truck already
buying a dress and maybe shoes for Dan and Jennifer's wedding
pulling together all the names and addresses to send to Jennifer for wedding invitations

I just don't have much time for blogging or posting pictures. And the digital camera has taken off again in Mia's purse.

Knitting update: I have been knitting dishclothes for Mia. I finished knitting Elizabeth's tam. I have started knitting a pair of socks for Laurie. The socks are being knitted on size 8 needles using worsted weight yarn, so I do not think the socks will take too much time to knit up.

Today I got up at 4am to drive John to LAX to meet the rest of the guys going to the TUMI conference and catch his 6am flight from LAX. Then I climbed back in bed and slept for a while and then got up and took Mia to the metro station so she could go to the LaBrea Tar Pits. The dig workers were being filmed by National Geographic and they wanted Mia to be there. She is in a lot of footage; maybe she'll get in the film! She is very photogenic and easy to film and photgraph, so I'm sure she was an asset to the filming. Then I ran errands, had lunch with a couple of friends and then went to the Cotton Shop and finally found brown material and pink ribbon to metamorphisize my shoes for the wedding.

I spent quite a while just sitting in the loft and reading this evening. It has been quite windy today so the palm trees were moving around and I could hear the sound of the fronds brushing against the building.

I got to thinking about how people will always post their mood or the music they are listening to. My moods are personal things and I don't listen to music, so I thought I could post weather. Here in Southern CA weather reporting is pretty boring. Here is the weather post for the past month:

Sunny and Hot

BUT today the report is:

Sunny, Warm and Windy

So there you have it, dear readers-an exciting and innovative change in our weather.

Tim Is In Kuwait

That statement says it all.

TAM

I knitted a brown tam for Elizabeth W. last weekend. After it was completely finished, I realized it was TOO SMALL. I had not checked my gauge and my needle size was too small. I knitted 5 stitches to the inch, instead of 4 inches. With 78 to 108 stitches on the needles at different times, I was several inches too small. (Do the math yourselves.)

So...I tinked it all and started over yesterday morning, using size 10 needles instead of size 9. I have a looser stitch, but the size will be correct. I like the color and texture of the yarn, so I think the end result will be good. Stay tuned for a photo of the finished tam.

Selamat Hari Tujuh Belas Augustus

or

Happy Birthday to the Republic of Indonesia.

Today, August 17th, is Indonesia's Independence Day. All the years we lived in Indonesia, either on the island of Java or in Papua province on the island of New Guinea, we celebrated this day with our Indonesian friends. So, in honor of those memories, I wish Indonesia many more years of independence.

WEDDINGS

We are planning two weddings are our house. Mia and Tim are getting married on September 23rd. Dan and Jennifer's wedding will be on November 11th. I want to celebrate another wedding--four years ago on August 10th, Deb and Jeff were married. I found these candids taken by a friend on their wedding day. Deb and Jeff may never have seen them.

HAPPY FOURTH ANNIVERSARY

Deb and Jeff

Family shot: Jeff, Deb, John, Linda, Mary, Dan, Mike

Happy Birthday Kiti

Yesterday, August 13th, was Deb's birthday. She arrived in the world at 6:10am Saturday morning, 29 years ago. 8 lbs, 3 oz. 4 hours of labor. Northridge Hospital, Reseda, CA.

As I wrote the above words, the first story about Deb that came into my mind was the first story about Deb. She was switched at birth. True story. Because I was on the phone chatting to my friend who is now my sister in law, the nurses took another new mom from the recovery room and moved her into the room that was assigned to me, BUT they neglected to change the paperwork. So when I was taken to my room, it was actually the room assigned to the other mom. But NO ONE remembered to change room designations on the papers. Soooo...when I asked for my newborn to be brought to me I was given A DIFFERENT BABY. No one checked our bracelet/ankle IDs. Yes, the baby had dark hair, really odd ears (I told Deborah it was ok that her ears looked like nobody else's in the family, we'd just grow her hair long to cover them), but I loved "her" immediately. It was only after I had cuddled her awhile that I unwrapped the blanket to check that she had all her fingers and toes and looked at her ankle ID. It read, MARTINEZ, BOY. Ahem, I knew I'd given birth to a girl, I checked, nope this baby was a boy. Hmmm, my last name isn't Martinez, it's Price... Panic set in. Where is MY BABY? When the nurse answered my call button summons, she said, "What's the matter, Mrs. Martinez?", I answered, "I'M NOT MRS. MARTINEZ, I'M MRS. PRICE! WHERE IS MY BABY?" As you can imagine, panic set in among the nursing staff. MY BABY was eventually found peacefully sleeping in the crib labeled MARTINEZ, BOY, but her ankle ID said PRICE, GIRL. When I was finally reunited with my own baby, I wasn't inclined to give her back to the nursery during the rest of my stay in the hospital. I checked, yup, looked like I remembered my baby looked like in the delivery room, actually looked like my grandma, right sex, right ankle ID. I know that I came home from the hospital with the right baby because Deb looks just like me. When she was 13, someone in a restroom looked at us and commented, "Well, you could never deny that she is yours." Little did she know how welcome those words always are... In fact, we look so much alike that Deb quickly got tired of people saying, "You look like your mom!" and we made the deal that I'd give her a dime every time someone said it. She got rich...

Deb and Mia

Deb looks like me, but she is her father's daughter. I am awed that I could have given birth to someone as smart as Deb. (I knew she'd be beautiful!) My chemist, theologian, rocket scientist daughter who also has incredible musical talent, writing ability and the good taste to love cats.

It was lovely to see you on your birthday yesterday, Deb. May you have many more years of living and loving.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHAPLAIN DAN

Today, August 3rd, is my first son's 31st birthday. Happy birthday, Dan!

I have seen so many changes in Dan's life and circumstances in the past year. He has graduated from seminary with a Master of Divinity degree, been ordained, graduated from Chaplain Officer's Basic Course, taken US Army oath of office. And if that's not enough, he's met and become engaged to the love of his life, Jennifer.

It's amazing to me that the little 7 lb 11 oz baby I held for the first time in the afternoon of August 3, 1975, (round red face, lots of dark hair, long, long eyelashes) has grown into the wonderful man he is--a military chaplain dedicated to bringing hope, help, comfort and understanding to American men and women around the world, a thoughtful son, a kind older brother who always takes time to listen to his siblings' conversations, a good friend to many people. I think he's going to be a great husband and (maybe) father.

Some of my favorite memories of Dan are from the early years in Indonesia--his leading Deb out in to the jungle to play and then "protecting" her when they got lost, his pulling Mike out of the stream behind the bush house in Meyerga, his shining face when he said, "Mom, today is Michael's first Christmas!", his thoughtful birthday gift to me--a rat trap (well, we really did need one!), his love of stories about him, Mouse and Joey that John made up every bedtime.

Dan has always loved to read. I taught him phonics at age 5, and he has never looked back (Christmas break his first grade year, he pulled Lord of the Rings off the shelf and "read" the whole first volume in one day). Now, when he moves from Whittier the end of this month, he'll pack How Many boxes of books?!

So, happy birthday, Dan, may God give you many more years to serve Him and make your parents even more proud of you than we are today!

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.