The past few months have been quite stressful, especially in regards to my mom. Moving her was far more upsetting than I ever could have anticipated, and our calls, instead of being a source of support, leave me feeling drained. Her continued unhappiness is so unlike her. At least I know that she is in a wonderful place. Considering her black ( Read more... )

Right before Thanksgiving I flew out to CA to help my sister move my mother into an assisted living facility. The good news is that my sister found a wonderful place for her just a few miles down the road from where she lives. The bad news is that Mom did not want to go, did not think she needed to move for at least a few more years, and accuses ( Read more... )

Sorry all. Or few. Or none? One would THINK I would have more free time once achieving empty nest. And indeed, I had more free time, which I spent playing Gaia instead of writing. Ah well. I am still not rich, but my closets are bulging and my avi is happy. And in real life, I spent much less real money on real clothes I didn't really need ( Read more... )

We have achieved Empty Nest! On Tuesday E and A drove two fully loaded cars to Rhode Island where A met his new roommate for the first time and settled who got which bedroom in the apartment A rented. The place is a real dive (though everyone assures me it's been cleaned up since I saw it), but the price was right and the location could not be ( Read more... )

Wow! We all went last night to see the Cirque de Soleil. What a wonderful show. A was eager to go, as he, like me, had heard good things about it, but E and K were less enthusiastic, especially as E does not much like circuses. This one is different. E was so enthralled he bought the CD at intermission, and today I've been enjoying the ( Read more... )

At last K's graduation pictures are here for you to enjoy:


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Yet another cold rainy day. Where is summer? In between horrible thunderstorms, we had one glorious sunshiny morning--for K's graduation. What luck! Pics to come. Have downloaded from the camera, but not gone over--too wrapped up in Gaia. K and I have been meeting online to adventure, and I have been having so much fun. Love my little avatar ( Read more... )

At least, belated in my opinion!  K has never won any sort of award for English, despite years of A+'s and gushing teachers, but finally, her senior year, she won the department award for Academic Excellence in English Grade 12, and received a nice plaque.  Very nice.  Graduation tomorrow, hope it does not rain!

E's father still improving, but slooowly.  Strength returning to left side, some movement of shoulder on right, plus when he attempts to lift his leg, staff can feel  muscles rippling under his skin--a good sign.  I am much encouraged.  His wife, L, is putting in place arrangements for him to come home.  She called and we got to talk a long time.

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This weekend E and I went to Across The Lake in Vermont, near the New York border.  What a fabulous event!  Imagine over a hundred experienced English country dancers (I counted 110) in a beautiful dance hall, with Bare Necessities playing and a good caller teaching us challenging, beautiful, and mostly-new-to-me, dances.  And that was just the ( Read more... )