Grandma's Home Away From Home

Monday September 16, 1991

Usual laundry and house cleaning day. I called Michele and Dieder inviting them and their parents to dinner this week. It's a maybe. They are doing a lot of traveling and sightseeing.

Frank poured cement at Gledhill and did yard work at Lemona and got home in time to relax and clean up for square dancing. We really enjoyed square dancing with Marty and Cathy and Robbie and Dolores. It was tiring for us but at least my little toe left foot didn't bother me. I whacked it on a brick while barefoot this morning. It may be broken. No big deal. After dancing we all went to Hudson's Grill. Robbie and Dolores enjoyed comparing notes with the Turners about their trips to Alaska.

Spoke to mother tonight. She's 83 and doing fine or so she says. She's coming up this weekend for the family reunion potluck in her truck and camper.

Frank must be in great shape and absolutely tireless. He comes after a full day of manual labor at the rental houses and almost every night either entertains or is off square dancing.

Grandma Helen outlived mom. She was 89 when she passed away of a stroke. The last couple of years she lived in an assisted living home and did not like it at all. Up until then she lived on her own in Desert Hot Springs in a mobile home park. She and her husband Al bought an Alaska camper similar to the one shown above way back in the 1950s. It was ancient and tiny but functional. She and Al travelled all over the United States and Canada in their camper and they belonged to the Alaska Camper Club. The Alaska campers were known for their pop-up pop-down roof that made them compact for driving. After Grandpa Al passed away in his sleep in 1976 Grandma continued to drive the camper and use it as her home away from home when traveling. She was a strong and independent woman, much like her daughter!