Quite a week!

"Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me; I want people to know 'why' I look this way. I've traveled a long way, and some of the roads weren't paved."
This is a quote attributed to Will Rogers. Whether that's so or not, I like what it says and that's the way I'm feeling these days.

Monday began our new landscaping project. They finished up Thursday morning, "in time to go home and clean up for their ladies." After last winter's frost, we noticed the Queen palms got hit quite hard. We decided that they weren't a good choice for this climate zone and now here we are with four of them. Hey, they look nice! We are quite happy with the outcome and have been told we have the biggest rock in Miona Shores. I said that's OK since we're "big" people. Besides, the red rock reminds me of Arizona and my many hikes in the mountains near the Valley of the Sun.




Tuesday, I left Arne with the landscapers while I played 18 holes of golf. Shot 91 so was happy with that. Dermatologist in the afternoon and had two biopsies taken. I'm beginning to think they see a cash cow in me as last time I had four biopsies, one of which required further surgery. My dermatologist in Arizona never biopsied unless I brought something up to him first. Hmmmm...

Wednesday, our window treatments were installed, at least in the living and dining rooms. After hanging the family room, the decorator said they were too short and she took the panels home to lower the hem. I played golf, nine holes Executive, and did fairly well, for me. It was a beautiful afternoon, not quite as warm as Tuesday.


Thursday, while most people were feasting on turkey and all the trimmings, Arne and I went to "Secretariat." I thought it was a great movie and the owner of Secretariat was a remarkable lady. After the movie, we went to Palmer for some chipping and putting. We had lasagna for dinner. Nice, quiet day. :-)

Friday, Arne had his first golf outing with the guys. He had a good time. I spent the day decorating for Christmas.

Saturday morning I played pickleball but was a little rusty since I hadn't played in four weeks. Saturday evening we went to our neighbors', Brad and Roseann, for dinner. Very interesting couple. She made me a peppermint martini and then we shared a gingerbread martini, which was really good. She buys the gingerbread syrup from Starbuck's. Roseann was an event planner for Kentucky Fried Chicken for 20 years. During this time, KFC began franchising, were bought by Pepsico and now are owned by Yum! Foods, which also owns Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and others. She told an interesting story of an event she was planning in 1992 for 3,000 franchisers in Nashville at the Opry. George H.W. Bush came through on a campaign stop and his people wanted to "borrow" her 3,000 guests for a rally. She shared, with hilarity, running into secret service and others with machine guns as she tried to get back to her suite at 2 AM after finalizing plans for her meeting.

I'm happy Erik got to Phoenix so my kids were all together for Thanksgiving. Nick said Erik was sore from playing football with his nephews and they were heading out to play raquetball. Guess Erik needs to stay in shape now that he has a new son. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have much for which to be thankful.

Headed Home

I'm on the New Mexico Rail Runner, a train that runs between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. This is a great help when visiting Erik as then he doesn't have to drive to Allbuquerque or I don't have to rent a car. I just discovered the train has wireless.

I hate to leave Erik, Kadin, Gracie and Jeffrey but I'm anxious to get back to warm weather. It was sunny but cold, for me, while I was in Los Alamos. I think Arne is ready to have me back also.

Erik bought another duplex half in May. He has been busy decorating the children's rooms which have their own wing with a bathroom. Erik's room has separate bath and door to close the master suite off from living room as well as a door to front patio. He told me I could have this room when I'm ready. Yeah, right! I hope that isn't happening for another 20 years.

In Kadin's room, Erik painted her walls three colors to match the colors in the bedding she picked out. He then copied the lace designs from her comforter and framed them to hang as pictures. He has to put up her canopy but is waiting until she has definitely decided where she wants her bunk beds. She also has a trundle bed so can have sleepover with many girls friends.



Gracie's room is also painted in colors picked from her bedding, which she chose. She looks like a princess as she relaxes while working on her school work. Each of the girls have a colorful chair in the corner. As you can see, Gracie's is turquoise while Kadin's is lime green.


For Jeffrey's room, Erik chose Chicago Bears theme. On the closet doors, he painted the numbers 34 in honor of Walter Payton.

New Grandson

Erik has had Jeffrey for an hour each of the three days I've been here. "Little E", as Erik calls him, is a sweetie. From the front, he looks perfect, but his skull has closed already allowing no room for his brain to grow. Jeffrey will be having surgery Dec. 14 at San Diego Children's Hospital.


Another Chicago Bears' fan. Note the Bears' logo.

Erik with his children.

Arizona Visit

Wednesday, Nov. 3, I flew to Phoenix for a visit with family and friends. Nick was my chaufeur to Lisa's. On Thursday morning, sister Marla picked me up. We went to the Apple Store where I got a new battery for my MacBook. Since I had paid $300 for an extended warranty, I saved the $129 the battery would have cost. I stayed with Marla Thursday night and we went hiking on the 6 mile GoJohn trail in Cave Creek Park. Friday afternoon we met Lisa, Nick and Aaron2 at Dos Gringos in Old Town Scottsdale for Happy Hour. I went home from there with Lisa.

Saturday, Aaron2 took Nick, Lisa and I to his parents' house in Gold Canyon. Lisa and I spent the afternoon looking at scrapbooks of Aaron2's life. Saturday night Aaron1, Nick, Dan, Lisa and I joined a large group that went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner in celebration of Aaron2's birthday.


Sunday, Dan and I went to see "Hereafter." We thought it was good and had a happy ending. That evening, Lisa, Dan, Taylor and I went to Old Town Scottsdale for dinner at Oregano's pizzeria. Aaron1 and Marla joined us. After dinner, I said good-bye to my family members as I was going to be staying with Marla.

Monday morning, Marla and I went to 7th Street for a 5 mile hike. In the afternoon, we drove to Terravita for a visit with dear friend, Marilyn. We also spent an hour with friend Trudy in The Boulders.

Tuesday morning, Marla and I decided to hike Piestewa Peak. We had only gone about 3/8 of a mile when Marla said her foot was hurting. She has a broken toe and we decided it probably wasn't a good idea to continue the hike to the top. We found another trail that wasn't as steep or rugged and hiked another 3.5 miles. Later that afternoon we went to Terravita once again. We went to visit with good friend, Jane. She served us dry martinis, which we sipped slowly. At 6, the three of us went to the clubhouse where we met seven other friends for dinner. I was happy to see so many Terravita friends and acquaintances. As we were leaving, the former president of the golf club was heading straight for Marla, thinking he was saying hello to me. I intercepted him before he got to her and he did a double-take. Several people had commented it was easy to tell that we were sisters. I also got many compliments on my hair. I haven't colored it for eight months and think I'll not do it again. I still have a lot of my natural hair color with enough gray to look frosted.

This morning Marla took me to the airport. I had an 8 AM flight to Albuquerque. From there, I took the New Mexico Rail Runner to Santa Fe where Erik picked me up and brought me to Los Alamos. To be continued...