Entertaining Children

Sunday we had a family picnic followed by the circus. A circus just seems like such a good family activity and we were all excited and eager to attend. It didn't take long for our eagerness to wear out. The show time was listed as 5 p.m. but when that time arrived there was no sign of an organized activity. The ringmaster did announce that the show would be starting in 30 minutes and meanwhile there were elephant and pony rides for $5 each. All around us were hawkers trying to sell us light toys, light swords, cotton candy and popcorn. When the show finally began, there was an announcement about how nice it was that the circus animals were rescued and allowed to live a wonderful life in the ring. It was so outrageous to hear them say things like that when the animals were so obviously not joyfully going through their stunts at the crack of a whip. Everyone was ready to go at intermission except my mom who was disappointed that we had to miss some of the great show.

So now any new grandchildren that may come my way will never have the joy of attending a circus with their grandma. I have sworn off those events forever. However I am into attending Wiggles concerts. Tonight was my second year and it is just a riot to watch children under the age of 6 just dancing and singing loudly. There is so much audience participation and almost no one remains in their seat. Lucas could not sit still and jumped and waved his hands and arms to the music. All I could think of was why didn't I think of a program like this? It is simple, silly and yet provides so much joy and laughter. A grandma in front of me caught my eye during one riotous song and we happily grinned at one another. It was well worth the price of a ticket.

Now I've ended my writing with another pleasant topic and my friend, Carol, can't figure out why I'm writing such nice things when she has always known me as being sarcastic and critical. I am still as crabby and critical as ever but when I write for everyone to read I can't really write all the things I'm thinking for fear of offending some good friend. I guess that's what makes this public writing difficult for me. I'm going to work on finding my voice.

Spokane Chapter of Johanson Clan Meets

Ron, Dorena, and her sister Margy came to Spokane Thursday to visit the Renoir collection at the Museum of Arts and Culture. They spent the night so it was fitting to gather together the rest of the Spokane Johansons. Those in attendance were Alberta, Brett, Lucas, Anna Marie, Katie, John, Missy, Charlie and Taylor. Margy's daughter and son-in-law also came for dinner with their son, Garrett. Lucky for me Costco makes the entire meal so all I had to do was heat it up and put out some paper plates.

We have a head start on Memorial Day with all the talking we did until 1:15 a.m. I can't remember staying up that late for a very long time. I'm sure we have lots left to talk about so it's a good thing we can get together next month. We have the menu pretty much ready to go out but we're checking the items just to be sure.

We did conclude that we need to be moving the planning and organizing to the younger members. We also hope that everyone will come to the reunion with ideas for the next place to meet. There is a slight possibility of a new State facility on Camano Island called Cama Bay. It is kind of iffy to be completed by May 2006. Maybe we can get someone to check out Tatoosh Lodge.

Taylor and Fans

Lind Ladies

Since 1976 Barb and Phyllis Bowling have been baking cookies one day a month at the Ronald McDonald House in Spokane. The project began as a tribute to the memory of Barb's son, John, who died of cancer. Last week I was invited to join this cookie baking experience. With all their practice they can turn out 15 dozen cookies in two hours with no sweat. Barb mans the mixer, two more make the dough into balls, two take cookies on and off the cookie sheets and finally one expert runs between four ovens moving cookie sheets from the lower to upper racks for perfect browning. When they leave there are trays of cookies for the visitors staying at the house and large cans of cookies for extra supply.

This is a very select, elite group and to join you have to be from Lind or be connected to the Bowling girls in some fashion. Luckily for me I started first grade with Barbara and she's only one day older than I. She let me come to visit for the baking session and gave me the job of measuring the dry ingredients for her and doing the dishes. This measuring was not an easy task as I would stop and ask myself if that was 6 cups of flour or 5? Sometimes I had to remeasure. I doubt if I'll get better with this.

The visitors in the house were also using the kitchen while we were there and one girl came in and said, "This is such a happy thing." There aren't too many places to volunteer where you can get immediate compliments like that. I have to say I loved it so I checked with Barb in case she wanted me to bow out early. She said they will be glad to have a dishwasher so I think I'm in!

Grandma's Car

The car that children can ride in is just for that purpose only. That way when Lucas is fussing in the back seat I can pass a lollipop back and get him to be quiet. I never have to worry about the condition of the car or the car seat. You can see that this car is very special to me so when I backed out of the garage Wednesday and caught the very tip of the side rear view mirror on the frame around the garage door it was not good. The entire mirror fell off in one second.

I hate to say this but I am familiar with a body shop so I went to the first place I thought of and the estimate was for over $400. I mean this car is a 1999 Honda and it has a few dings on it already. I mentioned this to Cyd as I knew she wouldn't tell Lucas's family that Mom can't drive very well and shouldn't be allowed to carpool grandchildren anymore. She thinks like her Dad so I was happy when she said I needed more estimates. I got one more from a shop near my house and it was also in the same $400 range as they use the same estimating software. Did I really want to spend that much money on a new mirror? I then went into my third body shop and there was the guy who thinks like Bill, in other words, he's cheap. He said he'd get me a used mirror part and I could get some touch up paint and then I'd have the mirror back on with the paint ding covered also. $150 for the repair!

When I do things like this I am so pleased as it seems like the easy way to go is just so much simpler but then if you pursue you can actually come out a little more even. It feels like getting brand name clothing on sale. Now the only problem is I agreed to quit giving Lucas sugar so I wonder if he'll stop fussing in the car when I hand him a penny or a piece of broccoli?

More Lewises!

Or maybe not as even though Lucas will be getting a sibling in December this new arrival may have the last name of Medina. Anna Marie is a modern woman who has kept her last name for the past 12 years and she thinks perhaps one of her children could have her last name.

We are all very pleased with this baby news though I worry a little about how capable Grandma will be with a new one. The morning of the day the news of this impending birth was announced I got an email from Brett. It was a forward from the New York Times suggesting I might be interested in internet dating for those over 55. I was aghast that Brett would think I'd like to read this site and then I decided that it was his way of telling me to get a life and quit interfering in his. So naturally when I heard this new babysitting opportunity I knew that I was still of some use to their family. Surely Brett had just been trying to be funny!??

Today Lucas and his family are off to Santa Barbara to visit for Grandpa Medina's 70th Birthday. Anna Marie's three sisters and her brother will be there so there will be lots of cousins playing together.

I am going to spend the weekend putting things back in their places and reading. Tonight a Memorial Day planning session is scheduled with Nancy. We're going over old menus to see what we can come up with in the way of different/traditional food. Dorena is coming to visit on Monday so I know we need to have something down for her approval. We are going to need to have some special events for the weekend to make Larry Steele's camp interesting.

Uncle Ron and his family in Cancun

Linda's Wedding

It really was Sara who got married and she did all the planning so that the entire affair had an African theme with Tanzanian singers, chanting, drumming and just plain cheerful shouting and yelling. That made the wedding really nice for her husband who was getting married on a different continent away from his family and his childhood friends. It was really nice for all of us there to experience the music and the festive spirit that goes with the wedding ceremony.

My favorite part was when the Bride and Groom entered the reception and they danced in together while the guests circled around them clapping and laughing. It was a happy affair. I'm waiting for the bride to get her website up with all the photos as all I have are a few I took of my friend, Aileen and Cyd. My mom had a great time as many people there knew her and she shared her table with the Tanzanian women singers. She was having a great time visiting with them and drinking wine.

Cyd couldn't imagine a wedding lasting 12 hours but it did of course. She offered me the option of bringing my own car or riding with her and agreeing to leave after 4 hours. I dragged myself out of there then as my mom was not going to be able to leave if she stayed at the table with the singers any longer. Cyd said she was playing her dad's role of always leaving functions early and slipping out with out anyone noticing. With 440 people there even Linda couldn't keep track of who was leaving.

Arla Loves Warden

Why else would I go to spend the day there under the pretense that my mom wanted to play cards with her old friends? Really she had only three friends there that she knew but since one of them, Aloha Cecil, recently moved to Spokane I thought it would be nice for the two of them to return and play cards.

When we drove into town we all three mentioned how beautiful the fields were and how nice the fresh air was. I knew then that we were all hooked on Warden. In reality it is a run down town but when I go I remember the buildings and people who used to be there not the dilapidated buildings that are left. I spent a few hours with my friend, Barb, and then drove to Moses Lake.

I was there to check with my mom's credit union as Mother lost her purse on the previous Thursday. She has lost it before at the Senior Center and since she had been playing bridge we assumed that's where it was this time. After searching everywhere it was no where to be found. She had quite a bit of cash in it but the important stuff was her social security card and her check book. The credit union recommended that we close the account which is pretty simple but then her retirement check and her social security check needed to be routed with a new account number.

The best part is that the credit union agreed to mail me the new checks and use my address for the banking. I also phoned all her accounts and changed those addresses to my house. We are almost all set now once we confirm that the deposits are going to her new account. The next day she did not remember that she had lost her purse. We set up an old one with some cash and her hearing aid batteries so she is happy. I keep thinking that I let this stuff go on so long because some days she remembers better than others but generally she remembers very little but her bridge, pinochle, word searches and bingo. She has a selection of cliches she uses to make me believe she is doing very well most of the time but she has a hard time remembering much.

On the way home my mom asked where we had been and was it Libby? She was tired but she did enjoy seeing Jackie Hardin. I don't think she recognized the back room of the Corral which wasn't a bad thing exactly as it looks worse than it has the past 50 years. She did know she didn't have high score.

Cyd and Aileen