All Is Right With Our World

Katie is home AT LAST.  She has been back east for 10 days or some hideous amount of time.  Lulu has been an absolute wreck, missing her mama like sixty.  I am sure I saw a huge sigh of relief when Katie walked in the door last night.

PS I know you hate this pic, Katie.  Sorry it's the only one I had on my computer :-)

PSS.  She was an amazing knitter on her trip, even visiting yarn stores!  I'm so proud

Sisters

Thank god for sisters.  I've just spent a large part of the day emailing and talking to my sisters (the good ones, you know who you are) about managing our mom's daily care.

Our brothers?  Useless as tits on a boar.  I'm giving Jon a bit of a pass this time, as he does live out of town.  But then again, so do I.  And I'm heading over to Seattle to take care of mom for a week.  Then will go again in January for an undetermined length of time, till we get mom situated.

SO glad I have sisters!

And hey! did you notice that the Haynes Sisters are wearing the same shade of turquoise as my new sock pattern?  No wonder I loved that yarn!

One More From the Vaults

Seattle Times, January 31, 1936:

"At Our Lady of the Lake Church yesterday noon Miss Lois Irene Giusti, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond L. Giusti, became the bride of Walter Everett Sundstrom, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Herbert Sundstrom.

The bride's gown was of white satin with lace trim and her fingertip veil fell from a halo of lace.  She carried white orchids...the bridesmaids wore gowns of white net over taffeta and carried pink camellias.

Following the ceremony, a wedding breakfast for members of the family was given at the Washington Athletic Club.  Last evening a reception for friends as well as family was given at the WAC."

Love these two lovebirds!  I wonder if Mom's dress is still around?  I remember seeing it in the 70s (it was TINY, I never could have fit into it).  I seem to recall that the dress was one of the few available in postwar Seattle, and had to be altered to fit little Miss Lois.  Am I making that up?

I'll post Toddie & Baba's wedding pic later.  It's adorable.

It's Christmas on Tekoa St!

Our tree is up and there are presents under it.  Let the festivities commence.

Our tree has a good collection of new and old ornaments:

Old: "Baby's First Christmas", the sequined Mickey Mouse I made for Pia when she was a baby (it's fugly but traditional), the Santa Claus made in Occupied Japan from Rosaia Bros, two blown egg ornaments Lois made in her crafty years (60s-70s).

New: Lois & Walt's Pawprints, the FUCK ornament (Megan knows what Katie likes!), lots of cute snowmen.

As I was unwrapping ornaments, I discovered the ones Pia gave me a few years ago in THE CIRCUS GENRE.  And we know how I feel about that genre.  They're around the back of the tree
:-)


I may finish my Advent Tree ornaments (started 2 years ago, ran out of steam when I got to the not as cute ones), IF I can find the pattern book.  Which I've seen weekly for 2 years but of course cannot find now.

Another Good Movie

I just watched "Buck", and loved it!

Now, I don't ride horses (or even go near them) so I wasn't sure if I was going to like this movie.  But it's amazing.  Buck Brannaman worked with Robert Redford on "The Horse Whisperer" and he runs clinics around the country on handling horses.

One of the people in the film comments that the folks who are best at working with damaged horses are in a way damaged themselves.  And Buck endured horrific abuse by his father as a child.  He overcame that abuse, and his story is really inspiring.  To listen to this man's gentle voice and watch him work with horses (and people) is just fascinating.

Two thumbs up for this one!

Our Dad The Hero

Dad never talked about his service in World War II, which he entered in 1942, as a very young 18 year old Marine right out of high school.  But I've been able to find out a little info about his military service:

Dad had enrolled in the premed program at UW (the ONLY time I will ever mention the Huskies without adding an insult)  but enlisted with the Seattle Platoon of Marines in November 1942.  His unit was the 1060th Platoon, and served with the Fourth Marine Division in the South Pacific.  Here's a link to a history of the 4th Marine Division's role in World War II; they were quite a unit, participating in 4 major amphibious assaults and winning 2 presidential citations in just one year.  He served for 3 years in the Marine Corps.

Dad was awarded the Presidential Citation and the Purple Heart for wounds received in the Battle of Saipan: "For the Americans, the victory was the most costly to date in the Pacific War. 2,949 Americans were killed and 10,364 wounded, out of 71,000 who landed."   Dad also saw action earlier in the war, in the Marshall Islands.


Dad attended UC Berkeley as a "V-12 student" (a program designed to grant bachelor's degrees to future officers in the Navy and Marine Corps).


And further proof that our Dad was a solid citizen:

His Boy Scouts certification as a "Star Scout" (2 ranks below Eagle)


Yay, Our Dad!

Giving It Another Try

Y'all remember I signed up for a "Yoga in the Park" class last summer -- then couldn't find the class IN the park.

Well, I'm giving yoga another chance.  I REALLY need to do more regular exercise, and I figure a class will get me started.  So I signed up for a class at the yoga studio that's a few blocks away (so not only will I get exercise IN the class, I'll get more exercise walking to and from the studio!)

The class I signed up for is called "FOGIS", as in ... old fogies.  It's for old farts.  Which is just my speed.  As Katie will attest (we went to a yoga class together recently), I am completely without grace or any sense of balance.  While I'm hoping the class is perhaps a bit more than "Sit and Be Fit" on a yoga mat, I'm probably not ready for much more than that.

It's a start.  First class next Tuesday!  Make me go!