The New Year

The tree is down, the gifts put away and the new resolutions have already gone by the wayside.  It is time to tackle the house again.

But first I have come down to SoCal to visit my mom, Super Granny.  With the price of gas being so high I decided to check out train travel.  What a delight!  Not only was it pleasant but it was also interesting.  I took the "San Joaquin" which travels from Sacramento to Bakersfield.  I boarded in Stockton, twelve miles north of our home.  By the next stop, Modesto, I was very glad I had not driven.  The Valley was rife with the notorious January tule fog.  Until Fresno, about an hour and a half south, I had a four person table to myself.  But at each stop the train loaded more passengers and I Fresno a young attorney sat down opposite me.  At the next stop, two released prisoners from the local state prison boarded (with many other people) and sat at the table on the other side of the aisle.  It was fascinating to talk to the successful young attorney and at the same time listen to the released prisoners.  The younger of the two discussed the crime he went to prison for (grand theft of a cell phone, his second strike) and how he didn't understand why they make him serve two years because his first strike was a juvenile offense.  He didn't seem to get it that theft was wrong.  He was mostly sorry that his mother was upset.  The older parolee had been "saved" and seemed to be mentoring the younger one.  Will keep both of them in my good thoughts with hope for their success in their lives.
What a contrast and how lucky we are who have taken the high road for whatever reason we have (good families, enough money, fear, religious training or luck or...?)

The train terminated in Bakersfield and I transffered to an Amtrak thruway bus which brought me the rest of the way, dropping me in Newhall.  I had asked Super Granny to wait at home for me to call as I got close to Newhall.  When I phoned, there was no answer.  I phoned several times more hoping she just missed the call but there was still no answer.  When I got to the station  I called Homer's dogmother and Super G's neighbor, Marge but her line was busy.  So I called another of Mom's friends and found that Mom had gone for lunch at the Senior Center, which is just up the street from the depot, and had been seen walking around the station.  So I went in search of Mom's car.   I hauled my b--- and all my luggage around two parking lots without luck.  Went back to the station and stood there in a quandary. What now?  Then I noticed a little old lady with a book in her hand.  Viola!  Super G!

I am ashamed to say I gave her a tongue lashing for not doing what I asked.  So she got mad and wouldn't talk to me!  That was old behavior from when I was a teen which I recognized right off! (Growth for me)  So I told her how worried I had been when she didn't answer the phone and then when her friend had seen her at the station but I couldn't find her and I apologized for yelling.  Worked out much better than pouting.

We had a nice evening and she beat me at Upwords.

After enjoying  the week with Mom I traveled home again on the train.  A little excitement in Madera when a car full of youngsters tried to (and actually did) beat the train across the tracks!  The train barely scrapped the car.  The engineer stopped to check for damage.  There was none, thankfully and so we kept going.

I arrived in Stockton right on time but no Big Guy and Pup to pick me up!  I had called from Modesto so I knew he knew I would be arriving.   There were three other passengers whose rides didn't show, too.  We all laughed about it.  After waiting about a half an hour Big Guy and Pup arrived and I got to drive my big truck home.

Train travel is my new mode of transportation!  I loved it. 

Moving and the Red Sketchbook

We are still in the process of moving and last week the boxes I brought out of storage were a lot of fun to go through. Some of the things we found were our high school year books and photos we hadn't seen in eight years! The drawing below in the red sketchbook and is of SB daughter and her old, now deceased dog, Willie. Willie was a real sweetie of a dog unless you threatened my daughter. He was also my nephew's babysitter! He was a BIG black lab mix and my daughter had him for about fifteen years. When her sister saw this drawing she said "Wow, you look like Dad!". I hadn't seen that at first but when artquiltmaker pointed it out, I did see it.



The Red Sketchbook is coming right along and I have hopes of it being ready in time to include it in the tour the books will be going on. I am enjoying doing the drawings, too. It is especially nice to draw in my new (but very crowded and unorganized) studio. My drafting table is in the studio but it is still in pieces. If the Big Guy doesn't get it put together soon I am going to do it! He has great plans for shelves and stuff for my studio which sound great but he has so many other things to do around the house still that I don't think those plans will come to fruition any time soon!


This kitty is one of the ones friends of artquitmaker sent me. I kept really bad records, though, and don't know whose it is. So if it is yours, let me know and I will e-mail you a copy of it so you can print it out. May do more work on it, haven't decided yet. Sometimes I have to look at a drawing for a while before I see what it needs to be truly finished.

I saw my nephew yesterday. He is taking a painting class at school and I was able to give him a couple of art tips. That was fun for me and I hope the tips help him. I would love to see him develop as an artist. I know his mom loved to have him draw and was proud of his art.

The kindness of strangers

O.K. I admit it. I am pretty grumpy and whiny lately. Also tired, short-tempered and probably some other negative trait I can't think of right now. So if you are looking for Little Mary Sunshine don't come to me!

That being said, I got a short break yesterday from Mom Care due to the good graces of a great neighbor, and I went (TAA DAA) grocery shopping. o_o

First to Whole Foods where I saw a woman from a caretakers group I went to Friday (didn't like the group but will go back) who, quite sweetly, listened to me rant for about twenty minutes. She was saved by my husband phoning.

I was standing in the gluten free aisle of WF and got about $50 worth of GF snacks (oh the belly and hips will suffer for this but the psyche will love it). Finally pulled myself away, finished shopping (got sushi and a fizzy mango drink for my lunch) and sat in the car, by myself, in almost total quiet, and ate. Then I drew an ATC! Second one in five weeks, I think. =(

Before going to Trader Joe's I went into Aaron Bros. - Santa Clarita's idea of a great art supply store - and looked at stuff. Gathered up about $100 of stuff which duplicated stuff I have at home as well as a book on ATCs. Then I went around and put everything back except the watercolor brush and the book and went on to TJs.

Picked up what I needed (they have great blueberries!) and when I got to the cashier (a young man about 18) he asked me how I was and I said "fine" (no one really wants to know how one is, it's a polite rhetorical question) and I asked him how he was and he said "great, I get off in half an hour. But I'm tired and I have to go to my second job so I guess I'm not so great." I said I would trade his day for mine and he asked me why so I told him about Mom falling and me taking care of her 24/7, being here for over 5 weeks, getting fired from our job, facing homelessness and being impatient and exhausted. He said "you win the bad day!" He finished checking me out and asked me what kind of flowers I like. I said sunflowers. He gave me a bouquet of sunflowers!

The kindness of strangers is a sweet thing. I'm still smiling. })

Super Granny

Well, I've had quite a different week. My mother fell (she hurried to answer the phone and sat down on the arm of her swivel-rocker!) and broke a bone in her neck - C-4 - and was taken to emergency. My SBdaughter called me and told me. I left the office and raced home, threw a few things in a suitcase and was driving out of the complex when my husband stopped me. My daughter made a plane reservation for me. So I went back to the house and found someone to take me to BART so I could get to the airport. I re-packed and raced off. Made it to the hospital while Mom was still in emergency. they kept her until Monday and then we brought her home. Check out her facebook page under "Super G".

Anyway, taking care of a disable adult is twice as hard as ataking care of a newborn! Good thing I love my mom. I can't see doing this for a stranger!

Where's Little Red?

Aren't Grandpas fun?

Gramma Too

Last week my cousin sent me a couple of family pictures she had gotten from her dad - the last of seven siblings in our parents generation. This is a picture of my paternal grandmother who my kids called Gramma Too. When my children met her someone said 'she is your gramma, too'. So that moniker stuck. She was an interesting woman. Those she loved she really loved. But get on her bad side and you didn't exist! I was one of those she loved fiercely and I loved her in return. As a teen I ran away from home and she sheltered me. My parents found me because an aunt called them (that was a good thing).
My sister and I spent the summer I was six at grammas farm. We lived there with my grandparents, three aunts, two uncles and several cousins. One thing I loved to do was sit atop the stump of a huge redwood tree and pick cherries from the tree in the backyard. The stump had big, shiny black ants crawling on it. My youngest aunt was 17 at the time. Once she was butchering chickens. It was fascinating to see headless chickens running around!
So the pictures my cousin sent cranked up lots of childhood memories. They made me want to go over to my storage and haul out my box of geneology.