Today My Brother Died

Today my brother, Ted, died. He was only 62. He had battled heart disease for almost 20 years, having endured two heart attacks and by-pass surgeries when he was in his forties. Later came the pacemakers and internal defibrillators. In 2008 he was in the hospital most of the year. During that period he received an LVAD - left ventricular assist device - commonly known as a heart pump. He was not a good candidate for a heart transplant because he had also had cancer within the past few years. We almost lost him last year during the first heart pump surgery. During the course of things, they had to amputate one of his legs. This year, a second heart pump was installed (He had worn out the first one !).

He was doing well and really looking on the positive side of life. He learned to cope with his new disability and enjoyed using a very fine motorized chair. I recall him looking forward to getting out on the sidewalks in it when the weather cooled. He never got that chance.

Ted had to go back into the hospital this past month. While there, his kidneys failed, he had another heart attack, and his defibrillator fired several times. But we visited him Monday and he seemed tired but peaceful and we hoped for an improvement. Then, suddenly Tuesday, he had a brain bleed of devastating proportions and was put on a ventilator. This morning the medical personnel gradually turned off all the life support machines and he slipped away quickly into the arms of Jesus.

I have come to see his life as inspirational. He adored his loving wife, Carol, and his three children. One of his favorite things was to send Carol flowers. The two of us conspired to get her a big surprise for her birthday (but, she found out, so it was no surprise). Ted wanted to live long enough to see his son graduate from college this December. He had been at the Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center for so long that the staff could not help becoming attached to him. Nurses and therapists flocked to his little intensive care room to say goodbye to him with tears. Even some doctors were moved with emotion at his destruction. He had a great will to live and put up a valiant fight.

So, I say, "Goodbye," to Teddy and, "I loved you. Forty-two years ago today, you walked me down the aisle to be wed to Bill. I still remember you as a little boy with your Bobo, as a young man loving to sky dive, and as a mature man striving to stay alive for your family."

Silly Girl but Not a Silly Phone

I might have been a silly girl to stand in line for three hours last Friday to get the new iPhone 3G S, but this phone is definitely NOT a silly toy. It is fabulous...blazing fast, for one thing. And I love being able to take videos, edit them, and email them right from the phone. Here is an example of a video I took this morning and emailed to myself. (I still have to learn the editing part!) This was taken at The Neighbors (aka our daughter and her family who live right next door to us) around noon. Nozzle is their Jack Russell terrier, who apparently loves water sports.

BTW, the video image was much more crisp before I emailed it. Ie., it looked much better when view directly on the phone. Oh well, I guess I had better stop playing and do something constructive!

I Am a Silly Girl

Today I did a silly thing. After a restless night of semi-sleep, I got myself up and dressed and was at the Apple store by seven in the morning. Even so, I was near the end of the line. Then I stood there for over three hours waiting my turn to be allowed into the inner sanctum to purchase my very own iPhone 3G S. Perhaps I am not as young as I used to be; I am so tired now I can hardly see straight. And just yesterday I was fussing at my husband for going past his strength limit. Well, he is not gloating too much!!

The really stupid thing is that I could have crossed the street to the ATT store and walked right in...no line there. How do I know? Employees from the store came over to inform the dummies in the line that they had all the phones and no lines.

Well, I remember once wanting to experience the full birthing event (that was about 38 years ago). So today, I wanted to experience the full waiting in line forever event. I am trying to decide which was worse.

Oh well, I will be back to my normal cheerful self tomorrow. Maybe I will even post some video taken with the new toy!!!

Skittles Comes in from the Yard

Skittles is our sweet little Shih Tzu. He is just a doll; however, he does NOT like to be groomed, hence, the shabby look. I guess he is a shabby chic dog. We love him anyway. Here is a video of him coming in from our back yard. I had never made a movie (on purpose) on my camera and wanted to see how it works. So..."Starring Skittles the Wonder Dog..."

Day One - Halifax, Nova Scotia

Well, we are in Nova Scotia.

We enjoyed the Beautiful Botanical Gardens.

Day One - Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia

Our first stop was Halifax Nova Scotia.
From there we visited to Peggy's Cove to see their famous lighthouse.

A lovely scene in the tiny town.

Another beautiful view.

Their pretty little church.

Along the road back to Halifax.

Photo Journal of a Lovely Trip

We left NYC in the evening and were able to enjoy beautiful views of the Statue of Liberty ...

And Manhattan.

Since we left in the evening, we were also able to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the water.

Our Family Ski Trip - Trying to Get Home

Gunnison, CO at Christmastime

All too quickly, it was time to pack up our snow gear and head back to Texas. One would think that this would be a simple thing to do... but, that is not necessarily so. We, all eleven, headed back to the airport at Gunnison via return trip on the Alpine Express (Which, by the way, was very efficient and friendly!). The roughly thirty-mile trip to the airport was a delight. Not only was the snowy drive scenic; but, it was also a wildlife tour. Those of us with sharp eyes saw elk along the way and all of us saw American bald eagles. Lovely!

Myself on the Alpine Express

We arrived at the airport with no difficulty, were duly checked in, and then headed upstairs to the restaurant for lunch. After a hearty lunch, we went through security and then on to the departure area. We made ourselves comfortable and settled in to wait for our plane. I should mention that the snow continued to fall. And fall. And fall. The plane which was to take us to Texas circled the airport until it could circle no more. Then, it went off to land some where else where the skies were more friendly.

Auntie Ha with Hope and Hannah at the Gunnison airport.

Our flight was canceled and we were left stranded in the airport. So, what to do? We had to find a flight back to Houston for eleven people. Furthermore, Tim and Ha were supposed to leave early the next morning to fly from Houston to Hanoi. To reschedule their flights was no easy task!! But, at least we had our luggage this time!!

Kimberly and Brad (I abdicated my position as travel agent.) managed to book nine of us on a flight the next day and Tim was able to get all of his flight arrangements sorted out (No mean feat.) and we were able to book ourselves into a local motel for the night. It was a Quality Inn. Tim and Ha had a room with a king-sized bed as did Bill and I. We were delighted to find that our rooms were great with huge bathrooms that included jacuzzi tubs. The Hawthornes had two standard double rooms which were quite ordinary; however, they did not mind because the motel featured an indoor heated swimming pool. So, after days of fun in the snow, they enjoyed a nice warm dip in the pool!!! But, not before we all trouped across the highway to a local diner for another great family meal.

Kimberly thinks that this is much better than cooking and cleaning at home!

Hope and Hannah always love a dip in the pool.

Charlie, Brad, Tabitha, and Abby agree.

But then, Charlie decided to check out the snow one more time.
Are you cold, Boy?

The folloowing morning, after consuming a rather decent free breakfast, some of us decided to trek the three blocks into downtown Gunnison to check out the shopping. We found some delightful shops and made a few purchases. Our favorite stop was at a small antique shop called Creme of the Crop, or something like that. It was chock-a-block with pretty and pretty interesting things; but, what made the shop special was its owner. She was so friendly (but not overly so) and kind to us that we enjoyed vising her shop enormously. Tab bought some fabulous earrings (she takes after her grandmother!) and the owner packaged her purchase in a cute little box and tied it with real ribbon and a crystal drop... really special! While all of this was going on, Brad and Charlie had fun checking out the hunting shops; but, poor Bill had to escort me to all the girlie stops to make sure I did not take a fall on the icy sidewalks. What a nice man!

We finally got to the airport later that day to find another surprise. Somehow the reservations for Charlie, Hannah, and Hope (the youngest of the children) had gotten kicked out of the system. Well, we could not just leave them there to get home on their own . So, we had to redo our reservations. I am not sure how we did it; but we finally got back to Houston. But guess what... you got it... our luggage did not!! Eventually we got back to our homes... tired but happy to have had a wonderful time together in spite of all the boon-doggles that came our way. Our luggage arrived a few days later.

A charming little house near Gunnison.

Our Family Ski Trip - At Crested Butte

Finally we arrived at the Gunnison airport and caught the Alpine Express for the short trip to Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte where we had two ski-in ski-out condos reserved. The snow was beautiful and sparkly... and quite abundant!! In fact, there was a LOT of snow, wonderful snow. And, it kept coming down.

The Axtell Condominiums, Mt. Crested Butte

We got settled into our condos... the Hawthornes in one and the Mooses in another. As it turned out, since Tim and Ha arrived one day before the rest of us, they had their choice of condos. They very thoughtfully chose the one which did not have views of the ski slopes so that others could enjoy the view. As it turned out, the condo they choose (and which we shared with them) had just been completely remodeled. It was fabulous and perfect for us. The other one, with more sleeping spaces, was perfect for the Hawthornes . And, although we had to walk in the snow to do it, we frequented each others habitats.

The Hawthorne Family aka The Neighbors

Tim and Ha Moose

Although Bill and I did not ski as we would have in the past, we still had a wonderful time enjoying our family and watching them enjoy the snow. Poor little Hope suffered from altitude sickness the first two days and did not get to ski until the third day... but, she did well once she got on the slopes. Hannah skied like a little pro while Abby and Charlie opted to snowboard (natch!) and Tabitha opted to shop (She was afraid she would injure her basketball-playing self!). Ha was a first-time skier but you would never know that by watching her in action! The rest (Kimberly, Brad and Tim) were old hands at this and were glad to get back in the snow!! The weather turned out to be delightful and the surroundings could not have been better. There were ice sculptures everywhere at the ski base and we got to watch a show of world class ice sculpture champions at work. Fabulous!!

Tabitha the B'Ball Diva

Hope the Newbie

Hannah the Pro

Cool Charlie (Really Cool!)

Smooth Abigail

Kimberly and Brad

The Ice Sculpture Show - Rock on Ice

The town of Crested Butte is a National Historic Monument (a Victorian-era mining town) and exceedingly winsome and picturesque. We enjoyed family dinners at a different restaurant in the town each evening. Our favorite was at a place called Slogar Bar and Restaurant where we consumed a huge fried-chicken meal cooked and served family style with lots of wonderful trimmings. This is the only place in the world where I will eat cottage cheese. Theirs is so delicious served with homemade tomato relish! And, the dishes we dined off of were Blue Willow... an added special touch.

The Town of Crested Butte, CO

There was plenty of chicken to go around at Slogar's.

Our Family Ski Trip - Getting There

A few years back, my dear husband, Bill, decided that he wanted to take our family on a ski trip. I should say that our family consists of daughter Kimberly, her husband and their five children and our son Tim and his lovely wife Ha. So that makes eleven of us in all. In 2008 we finally got things sorted out as to dates,etc and I booked the trip. I might mention that I simply adore skiing but that we had not been in about five years, and I was pretty certain that I had passed my skiing sell-by date!

We settled on going to Crested Butte in Colorado. That is one of our favorite ski destinations. The slopes are wonderful and the town is charming. We decided to go the week before Christmas for two reasons: there are fewer people there which makes for shorter lift lines and it is slightly cheaper. So, I began making the arrangements. Tim and Ha wanted to make their own flight arrangements because they wanted to fly from Colorado to Vietnam. As it turned out, that was not working so they flew back and forth from Houston also, but their flights were different from the rest of the family.


We all set out for Colorado on December 18 which I should mention was Hannah's and Hope's eighth birthday. Tim and Ha flew on one airline from Houston to Denver to Gunnison. They had no problems. However, we ( the other nine of us) flew from Houston to Dallas... period. It seems that the plane that was to wing us away to ski paradise was stuck in Las Vegas because of ice and snow there. Can you imagine, a snow storm in Las Vegas!!! So, after spending many hours camping out in the DFW airport, we were told that our flight was rescheduled for the next morning. That, of course, meant that we were missing the first day of our meagre three day (pre-paid) ski vacation . It also meant that, unless we wanted to sleep in the airport, we would need to find our way to a hotel. It also meant that we would not have our luggage. After you would not believe what tribulations, we finally made it to our hotel which was giving us "desperation" rates. The plus side to this was that the hotel was very kind to us and went out of their way to meet our needs. Also, we had a nice family meal in the bar!!!

Waiting patiently for the plane that did not arrive.

A New Project

Hello world!! I have a new project for 2009... I, a grandma, am going to learn to blog. So, I am not the most creative person in the world and my interests may be a bit odd, but here we go.

What sorts of things do I like? I like things that are clean (as opposed to smutty). I like classical music, especially the Baroque, and I love roses. Actually, I like most flowers unless they are "pointy." I love china and I love to be with people... especially if they share some of my interests. I love my laptops and I love to be online prowling around. I have recently learned to do sudoku, so I do one of those online every day. Also, I enjoy crossword puzzles and subscribe to the NYT puzzle. However, I usually only do the Sunday one.

I have two grown children who are both married. My daughter and her husband have five children who are all (of course!) wonderful. They live next door to us which is fine. My other child is a son who is married-without children but with two large dogs.

Oh, and I also have a wonderful husband to whom I have been happily wed for 41 years. I think that is pretty good. Also, I should mention that I am a devoted Christian and that I have loved the Lord Jesus even longer and more dearly than I have loved my husband.

Well, I guess this is enough blogging for one day.... I am doing something different this evening.. I am cooking dinner. So, I had better get back to it.

Have wonderful and blessed life. and thanks for reading my blog.