In N Out Burger

Wednesday December 16, 1992

Up at 7:00 to get ready to go to the doctor at 8:30. We just get new medication and come home. We stop at Costco and have lunch in Simi at In N Out Burger.

My bowels continue to act more normal today.

At home I put pictures in photo albums. Another lazy day.

It was years after In N Out Burger became very popular that I tried it for the first time. I expected it to be expensive, but as you can see by the menu on their drive-through sign, the prices are reasonable. They do a tremendous volume of business day and night, but they are fast because they only make burgers, cheeseburgers, fries and shakes. The menu is simple but the food is good.

I have not mentioned this for several years, but now that Mom is talking about putting photos in her photo albums, probably the ones from their trip to see us in Windsor at Thanksgiving, I feel another twinge of regret that Frank threw away all her meticulously kept albums after she passed away. She had taken thousands of photos over the years, many of which I would have used in this blog, and all of which I would have kept for sentimental reasons. So sad.

Bob and Anita Arrive in Miami

Saturday April 4, 1992

We are up early and ready to leave Bucky and Iny's in Key Summerland, Florida at 8 a.m. We take some pictures of their house and we're on our way to Miami via the coast route. It's a beautiful drive past lovely big estate homes and towns.

After we check into the Omni Hotel we head for the airport where we pick up Bobbie and Anita McKee arriving from Los Angeles. They are tired and excited. Frank drives us all to the hotel, then he and Bobbie take the car back to the airport and catch a NCL bus back.

We have a Chinese dinner in the mall below our hotel. It's really good and plenty. We turn in about 10:30. I'm tired but feeling good. My left heel, outside, has developed since we left home a sharp pain. Feels like it's in the bone.

It sounds like Bob and Anita were smart enough not to take the red eye flight from Los Angeles, so had a good night's sleep before boarding their plane in Los Angeles.

When I hear Mom talking about taking pictures, it breaks my heart. Frank threw away thousand of photos that Mom took during their 20 years together when he remarried and moved from Simi Valley. I would have loved to see the photos of her cousin Bucky and his wife and also of their trip to Florida and the Caribbean. Sigh....

Looking At Old Pictures

Wednesday February 26, 1992

We're up early and off to Mothers in Desert Hot Springs to do some repairs. We have a nice ride down except for wind. It's not windy at Mom's. She takes us out to lunch.

Frank is putting in a kitchen cabinet. I call the lady who has mother's chair for re-upholstering. She had promised 2 weeks and has had it more than 2 months. I tell the woman I work for LAPD in Bunko Department. She promises the chair for next Saturday and insists we come look at what she has done.

Mother and I spend time looking at old old pictures. It's good time together.

At Mom's place about 2 p.m. I have a serious lasting chest pain on the left side. It scares me.

On the way home we stop at Loma Linda Hospital to visit Frank's Uncle Ricky. We see all the aunts and uncles.

OK, I am laughing out loud right now! The Bunko Department??? You have got to be kidding! Do they even call it that? This just does not sound like my mother at all.

Hearing that Mom spent the day looking at old photos with Grandma Helen just touches my heart since I have been workingi on putting together photo albums all year. I have photos that date back to 1934 when Mom was born and even a few older ones from the 20s of her parents. Her Grandma Johnson came to the United States from Sweden around the turn of the 19th century as a teenager, and I even have one photo of her taken around that time. To be able to sit down with my children and share these photos and the memories that go along with them is my dream. The above photo was taken of Mom around 1942. She looks to be around 7 or 8 years old.

I hope Mom is going to make a doctor's appointment to check out her heart. That chest pain sounds pretty serious.