We Leave For Colorado Tomorrow

Thursday July 23, 1992

Awake at 7:45. Up and at 'em! Feeling good except alot of pain from arthritis in my wrist, right shoulder and right hip and back.

After breakfast I get cleaned up and pack my clothes to take to Colorado tomorrow. Frank brings me a Cupid's hot dog for lunch.

I call Chris. She is feeling much better from her C-section. Derek is nursing much better now. His diaper rash has cleared up.

I called Joan. She has good news: her tumor is shrinking. Thank you Lord!

Mom and Frank have only been home for two days and are already leaving on another trip. What happened to "Home At Last?" It seems like she is trying to cram a lifetime of adventures into a few years. My Aunt Cathy told me one time that Mom's side of the family has the wanderlust gene, having Scandinavian blood. She and her brother my Uncle Gene both love to travel, experience adventures, and live life with gusto. I just came across this photo of them together toay. It was taken in October 1990.

Rose Parade Floats

Thursday January 2, 1992

We have a lazy morning. It's not raining after all so we decide to go to Pasadena to see the floats from the Rose Parade. It works out well for us to pay to park in the church lot. Their van shuttle takes us up the hill to where the floats begin. It's great! Frank's first time to see a float in person.

Afterward we go a few blocks to Gene & Cathy's. They are not at home. We call Guy--Cathy is in Hemet. We leave a note and go to Gary's. After 15 minutes he, Maria and boys come home. They are glad to see us and are happy to go out for Mexican food with us. We enjoy! We're home at 8:30, relax and watch TV.

It may have been Frank's first time to see a float in person, but Mom had seen many over the years. My Uncle Gene (her brother) and Aunt Cathy lived on Sierra Madre Blvd in Pasadena for many years. They would invite their friends and relatives to join them every year to set up chairs on the front porch or sit on the roof of their storage shed to see the parade. It was fun, but I hated getting up at 4:30 in the morning to make the drive to Pasadena. Fortunately, one of their neighbors let us park in their front yard for free, as parking was at a premium. Some time during my teen years, the state bought their house to build the Pasadena Freeway and they moved up to the hills overlooking Pasadena. They are now 83 and 81 years old, enjoying life, travelling the world, and entertaining friends in that same home. They even drove up for my son's wedding this summer, a 400 mile drive from Pasadena. Young at heart, both of them. Here is a photo of them in their younger years:

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!

The Dodgers Win

Sunday July 7, 1991

We're up early to meet Gary and Maria at her mom's house at 11:30 where we leave from for the Dodgers baseball game. Gary treats us all. We pig out on pizza. Justin buys shirts and cards. Luckily the Dodgers win.

It's very hot sitting in the sun. I wear a big straw hat and keep a napkin over my bare legs. We are tired from vacation and ready to stay home. It's good to get home.

But first we must stop at Lemona and Gledhill (their rental houses) to check with tenants planning to move soon. So we visit with Joan and Hal (neighbors on Lemona Street) and Marty and Cathy and girls. Everyone is pleased to see Justin. We eat dinner at Millie's.

Oh my goodness, does mom ever slow down? They just got home from a week in the blistering heat, and here they are off again to a baseball game. Perhaps it's because her beloved grandson Justin (my son) was down for his annual visit and she wanted to keep him entertained. My sister-in-law Maria grew up in a small 2-bedroom 1 bath house in Los Angeles very close to Dodger Stadium with her parents and 8 brothers and sisters. Although Maria's mom passed away from cancer a year after mine, her dad still lives in the same house.

The rental house on Lemona is the house I grew up in. My parents bought that house for $12,000 in 1954 and I spent my entire life there until I moved to Santa Rosa in Northern California in 1974. When she and Frank married in 1982 they bought a house in Simi Valley and turned the Lemona house as well as another house she lived in after I moved out, which was the one on Gledhill, both of which were in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, into rental houses. When she passed away my brother Gary and I sold the rental houses. It was sad parting with not only my mom but the house that held so many great memories of my childhood.

Marty and Cathy Murphy are the friends who did not show up at Lake Don Pedro as expected. She writes about it on her entry for July 4. Interesting that she does not say here why they failed to show up?

Donna and Bob Visit

Saturday June 8, 1991

We arrive at 7:00 to prepare breakfast for Donna and Bob and Steve and Dee. After breakfast Steve and Dee leave. Bob and Frank install our new headlight. Big job. How nice of Bob. He's a good friend.

Later we take Bob and Donna to visit bob's son Mark, wife and granddaughter. Nice visit in Tujunga. Then we go to Gene and Cathy's in Pasadena for dinner. Wonderful visit! Gene and Bob enjoy each other. We stay from 5-11. Good time.

Bob drives us home. We are all pretty tired. Bob and Donna gave Frank a lovely money clip for retirement. Frank's folks gave him a check.

For mom it's always about family. She was the one who always held the family get-togethers. Here she joins Bob and Donna to visit Bob's son, and then visits her brother Gene and his wife Cathy in Pasadena. That's a long tiring day for someone battling cancer. Pictured above at Donna and Bob with Mom and Frank at Lake Almanor in 1989 and then Donna and Bob on their cruise to Alaska in 2009.