Written December 29th and 30th, 2015 

I'm enjoying these winter mornings, quiet except for the crackling of the fire. It's been cold enough that the fire  has not succeeded in heating up the room, at least,  not as far as the recliner where I sit to write my blog after Dale Jr. has left for work. Even under a fluffy comforter and wearing a sweatshirt over my flannel night gown, and a knitted cap, I'm still not quite warm enough. Gazing at the tree, so pretty. 

I had more photos to put on this blog, they seemed to have disappeared. The computer offered to scan my photo card and remove problems, all but one photo per day seems to have been removed and replaced by photos from the 25th! Very weird.

(Nancy, I have asked Sandy to save this week's New York Times for me, and to leave it on the bed in the office upstairs. So if you see it there, that's why. I like to go through it every year as there are sometimes articles I want to save, articles about the most important issues this year. If I ever write my life story, I would like to go back and refer to these articles.)

Monday I went with my friend Laure to buy her new tires for her truck. The 600 I had withdrawn from the bank covered their "good" tires, not their best. It felt good to do something to make a dear friend safer in her nightly, exhausted drive into Phoenix to do her four interning counseling hours a night (even though six months of her phone bill minus six months of my phone bill would have bought her the same tires).

I took a photo of Laure at Discount tire with a big smile on her face, but it was one of the photos which disappeared.

The day before yesterday, at Starbuck's, I had tried sending Christmas Day photos to the group Hodges-Mitchell-Gray Facebook page. When I left an hour later, they still hadn't finished sending. So I was very pleased, yesterday, to find that they had indeed gone through, and that there were lots of enthusiastic comments from the Grays, from Hamilton (who seems to be the only Mitchell who participates), and one from our Rebecca.

The afternoon I drove into Tempe for my Arabic lesson. I showed my tutor the Christmas photos on the slideshow and we wrote sentences based on the photos, such as "my mother is holding baby new (of) older son (of) oldest-her son". In Arabic there is a lot of use of "of" as a way of defining a noun, except they don't even use "of" rather if a noun is followed by another noun it means "of" that word. If a noun is followed by another noun you don't put the definite article before it, because the noun after it makes it definite. (I put that in for our linguist Kathy, who sometimes reads this blog.)

By the time I got home it was quite cold; I had stopped at Jo-Ann's to buy some indigo-blue cotton to make a jacket. (They have a nice selection of cottons there, my theory is that it's because the Mormon ladies make a lot of quilts.) I had planned to return to Starbuck's to finish checking my e-mail, but just felt like crawling into bed. 

Yesterday I went to see the film "The Big Short" with my friend Merrill. She drove us both to the movie, which was excellent, really powerful, originally filmed with edgy fast-paced interjections of humor, and excellent acting to boot. I'm so glad I saw it. It feels good that even if those crooks in the real estate bundled bubble didn't end up going to jail, they will now find themselves re-installed in the dungeons of public opinion.

 

I did ask someone to take a photo of the two of us in front of the theater. It came out nicely, but it was one one of the photos which seems to have disappeared.

When we came out of the theater it was really cold. We went to dinner at the nearby 'On the Border' a Mexican food chain. The only time I ever eat in chain restaurants is when I'm with Merrill, or with Dale Jr. and his family.

I had kept my food intake at 1400 calories Monday, and the day before.  Yesterday's dinner in the restaurant, even though I didn't eat the whole thing, was still much more food than I can continue to eat per meal if I wish to get rid of this larger stomach I've put on.

I've been keeping track for four days now.  I will have to diet for five weeks if I wish to lose these ten pounds I've put back on, by the Berkeley High School fiftieth reunion.

Here is my "reality check" chart. The zeros are for exercise, as I haven't done any yet, and the other checks for meds and for water pik use.

I need to go buy some vitamins at the health store for Dale Sr. and me. We haven't taken them for a long time. Before this year, we were taking a natural daily vitamin plus a 2000 vitamin D pill and a Omega-3 oil capsule.

You may remember that when I was in Brussels in September I walked to the EU headquarters (a mile from the old town area) and had my photo taken proudly in front of it. I just was reading an article in the New York Times Magazine of the week before last, and saw a recent photo of that EU building with waist-high barriers all around it, perhaps from fear of someone driving a car-bomb into it. Very sad.

The article also had a photo of soldiers with guns on the Grand Place, the town center (where I enjoyed coffee at the Starbuck's outside tables while I planned what I would see that day) and where I also enjoyed the lively Green Day festival. So it was sad to see that photograph too.

You might be thinking, "Well, if I was in Brussels I wouldn't have coffee at Starbuck's." Well, all of the other outside tables on the Grand Place seemed to all be attached to restaurants where people were eating a whole meal, and that meal much more expensive than the restaurants on the little side streets. So Starbuck's turned out to be a nice inexpensive place to sit down for a while, rest my tired sight-seeing legs, and survey what was, at that time, a cheerful scene. 




Love, Lennie

Christmas at Mom's

 What a nice couple of days! It gives me a glow inside to think of them.

On the 24th, Kathy, John and I went down the hill to do last minute Christmas gift shopping. We dreaded down-town Berkeley with the last-minute shoppers, but it didn't turn out to be that bad at all.

We bought almost all of the kids' gifts at the nice bookstore which has moved in where Black Oak books used to be. (Our family decided a few years ago to buy gifts for the children, and just stocking stuffers for the adults.) I found it very helpful to have Kathy's suggestions for some of the kids' book choices.

Christmas Eve was quiet and pleasant, just John, Kathy, Mom, Sandy and I at the house. Sandy brought up the boxes of Christmas stockings and hats Kathy added the name of Ben's new baby to one of the stockings, applique-ing a patch over the name of someone's ex-someone and embroidering on the patch. We wrapped the books we had bought.

Christmas morning, the rest of the family started to arrive around tennish.
Rebecca's husband Alex cooked omelets for everyone. There were sweet rolls and chocolate muffins on the table.

Rebecca and Alex also brought the ingredients for mimosas. There were many comments that this should be a new family tradition!

After that, present opening, food preparation, and dinner, which we set up buffet-style. Nancy had coordinated the food plan on-line, and everything was delicious.

Here is a photo of Mom holding Ben's new baby, with Melissa, Ben's wife, looking on. Following that, many more photos. Merry Christmas and/or Happy Holidays to all!

Heather and Annabelle looking at the new baby, and opening presents:

Patrick's son Dylan and Annabelle playing with a new toy:

Melissa,Sarah with the baby, and Ben looking at directions for the car seat in rocker frame from Nancy and Wendell:

John, Mom, and Madelyn:

Joseph and Greg:





Rebecca's boys and Ben putting together a toy:

Nancy helping me with a tech issue:

 Patrick holding his youngest, Connor:

Pat's wife, Katharine, also holding Connor:

Wendell, also holding Connor:

Sandy and Heather's son Jack:

 Kathy and Madelyn:

Well, I always seem to miss getting a photo of at least one person! this time I've missed Rebecca! Glad I got a good photo of her on the "Hello Dear Friends and Family" blog, about the tree-trimming party. The link for that is:

http://nonfbfamily.blogspot.com




I am so thankful for such a wonderful family!

Love, Lennie

Written December 20th, 2015

Hi Mom and family,

It's a little after 4:00 AM. It's nice to sit here snuggled in my fluffy throw, with the fire crackling in the Ben Franklin, and look at the Christmas tree which I put up last night, glowing in its dark corner. It's not as cold as it was for a while, but still chilly enough in the mornings and evenings that a fire is nice.

Yesterday was very productive, even though I fell back asleep for a while after my early start. My "beading, embroidery, and handwork" meetup was well-attended. After that, I went to the laundromat and did four loads. Then it was a half-hour drive to Barnes and Nobles to buy books for the grandkids' Christmas gifts. And in the evening I got the tree up.

I have really lucked out with the mix of women who have been attending the handwork meetup. They were all really pleased about it and were chatting away enthusiastically. We put three tables together at Starbuck's, in the corner near the entrance where the light is good.

My favorite thing that happened was that one of the women had a problem solved by one of the other women. (They are the two at the far left of the photo). The former brought a scarf which had started coming out differently than it had in the beginning. She didn't mind that the middle was different than the end, but she couldn't figure out how to do what she had done in the beginning! Another woman (the one in red) took a full half-hour figuring it out, and then knitted several rows herself to make sure it would come out the same. The first woman, who teaches math at Scottsdale Community College, was so pleased because she intended the scarf to be a Christmas present for her son.

It turned out that what she had done in the first part of the scarf was to off -set the ribbing, so that the knit and pearl stitches were opposite eachother each time. It made ribs that had less of a tendency to "bunch up".

There was a pretty amazing variety of projects there. The woman to my right (the one in light blue) a former art teacher, had an applique of different ethnic prints, of her own design,the form of a rabbit surrounded by a variety of foliage, the whole richly embellished with beads. Another project was minute, detailed bead-weaving, done using a purchased pattern (that woman was new, a hairdresser turned phlebotomist). Everyone was so pleased to have such a group to come to, which gave me a glow of satisfaction for starting it. Helps a bit to off-set my disappointment in the two meetups which I've started which have not, so far, been successful! 

The laundromat was easy-peasy because so few people were there. It only takes an hour because I bring the clothes home to hang up on the lines on the patio.

Someone had left some items in a washing machine, so I asked the other person in there, a stocky guy with a gray beard and a plaid shirt and jeans, if he had used that machine.

"No," he said, "I'm a guy, I use the big machines, the manly machines."

Barnes and Noble, the only bookstore at all near here, is in a shopping center which is unusually pretty. I always enjoy the tall date palms and fountains.

.

The eastern sky was dark-gray, making a wonderful contest with the golden light thrown on everything by the lowering sun in the west.

I lucked out because there was a really helpful employee in the childrens' book section. She had enthusiastic recommendations for girls of Shelby's age. For the little ones, I just went on my own instincts.

On the way home, I pulled over to take this photo of Superstition Mountain:

 
 
When I got home, I felt tired and sat there, upset that I couldn't find the energy to start putting up the tree. The sound of the TV felt jarring to me, especially the advertisements. It took about an hour to for me to convince myself to go out and start trimming the tree so that it would fit.

(I had had the guy cut about a foot off of the bottom, because they didn't have any trees small enough, but had asked him leave the branches on close to the base because I wanted to trim them off myself and use them for decorations.)

It was easy to find the Christmas-tree stand, because I'd left it sitting by the patio, all blankety-blank year!

I felt really cheered up once I had it in place and started putting on the lights and decorations. There are so many with sentimental associations. Dale Sr. went to bed, and I turned off the TV and sat in his recliner, just looking at the tree with a sense of satisfaction. I was almost tempted to just sleep in that chair so that I could open my eyes at any time and look at it. But the thought of the soft mattress, pillows, and comforter was too much pulled me also.  I unplugged it the tree,  got into my flannel nightgown, moved the dog over (with great effort), and crawled into bed.

Love,
Lennie

Written December 19th, 2015 4:30 AM

Hi Mom and family,

I set the alarm for 5:00 AM this morning but woke at 4:00. It's a lot less cold this morning, we've gone from five degrees "below normal for this time of year" to five degrees "above normal". But it's still chilly enough for a fire in the morning.

It's nice to look at the fire burning in the Ben Franklin, with the area around it swept and tidy (for the first time in many, many months). I have not yet put back any of the "collection" of dust-catching cast-iron items which we always have had sitting on either side of it. Four cast-iron pots are not any more striking to look at than one, and they are a lot more trouble to dust!

One of the cast-iron items which I will continue to display is the griddle which belonged Dale Sr.'s maternal grandfather. It is around a foot and a half long, oval on each in, with a raised, rounded edge all around it.

I worked all morning and part of the afternoon on the house.

Sylvia came over and we chatted over coffee for about an hour. We sat in the living room, which at that time was still the only clean room.

She had just returned from the funeral of Kinsharel, one of the students who had been in my drama club, years ago. The girl, only in her mid-twenties, died of a cerebral hemorrage (Sylvia thinks) a complete surprise. Kinsharel was obese, but not hugely so.  At that age, it is not even recommended that one go for regular physicals!

"I should have told you, and you could have come with me," Sylvia said. "In the whole church, I was the only person there not African-American."

Sylvia had kept contact with Kinsharel over the years on Facebook. Also, back when she was in middle school, of Kinsharel's close friends were in the group of kids who attended Sylvia's teen group at the Episcopalian church, though Kinsharel did not attend that church. While in middle school, she lived with her father, and neither attended church, to my knowledge.

I told Sylvia, with a sigh, that I don't think I could have found the energy to make all the way into central Phoenix for the funeral.  I have only a few days left before I have to go out of town again, and so much still to do at home.  And I only knew Kinsharel briefly, years ago, one of twenty kids at a once-a-week drama club meeting for half of a school year. But enough that I am saddened to hear about it. It's always especially sad when it's a young person.

I once went to a party, a children's birthday party at the home of a hispanic friend who was living with an African-American man, where I was the only caucasian. But it would have been common for Kinsharel to be the only African-American in the room, living in mostly-white Apache Junction, a working-class place, a place where many people do not have education and are often backward in their additudes about race, and she was quite dark.

After Sylvia left, I did some more on the house and then went to Starbucks to do check e-mail. I wanted to check if people had rsvp'd to my beading meetup, and to send an e-mail to the two girlfriends whom I haven't seen all fall, telling them that I would be home during the evenings this weekend, if they would like to drop by. One of them hasn't been to my house for a long time (we've tended to meet at coffee-houses or restaurants) so I included that scanned map that I displayed in yesterday's blog.

Then I went to Safeway and bought beer, wine, crackers, cheese, cookies, etc. just in case either of my friends do stop by. I also got ingredients to make spaghetti.

While I was out, Dale Sr. had gone to get the rest of the cord of wood which he had paid for, and stacked it.

A cord of wood is four feet by four feet by eight feet. The most we ever burn is one cord per year, or a little over. But Dale Sr.'s friend John Doucette, who lives in Pine Top in northern Arizona, burns around eight cords a year, even though they have a furnace also. (Right now, Pine Top has eighteen inches of snow.)

Sorry this is the only photo for today's blog!  And not focused either. 


Love,
Lennie

Written December 18th, 2015 3:30 AM

Hi Mom and Family,

Yesterday I made some progress on the cleaning of the front rooms of the house. I set my alarm for 4:30 AM this morning, so I could clean the area around the Ben Franklin before Dale Sr. would wake and want to build a fire in it. Also yesterday, I met with my computer tutor, went to the dump to get rid of a few month's worth of non-recyclable-non-perishables, and bought a Cristmas tree at Home Depot.

Each time I do some of the cleaning it's the same with me. I have to fight with my lazy self to get myself to start the cleaning, but once I get started it's not so bad. Among other things, I found five or six baking ingredients on the top shelf in the kitchen which were far, far past their sell-by date. I took ten or so of Dale Sr.'s caps outside and hit them against each other to get the accumulated dust off of them (he did not want to throw away any of them). I took about twenty books I didn't want to keep, and they are in the trunk of my car so that I can donate them to the library sale.

Every horizontal surface, such as the top edge of all of the picture frames, had (or still has) a layer of dust on it. And with the ones near the kitchen, it's greasy dust.

I took down all of the glasses from the top shelf in the kitchen, put new newspaper down on the shelf, and put them all back, washed. (It's been almost a year since that was done, before that party we had right after Christmas last year, during that terrible time right after you broke your hip.)

The house is still several hours away from being clean enough to want to put up the tree or any decorations, but at least I'm doing it. Like Daddy did, I love having the tree up, and I get sentimental just looking at it.

It was good to meet with my computer tutor, though I hadn't really prepared anything I wanted to work on. We mostly practiced transferring photos from e-mail. If I'd studied the notes I'd made from my last lesson, I wouldn't have needed the practice. I'd drawn a map of how to get to my house, and I gave it to him to scan for me.

There are two, one says "Grace's" and the other one says "our place".

I'd put off going to the dump for so long, but it was relatively quick and easy. People who bring household trash to the dump are allowed to put it into these huge containers near the entrance, so you don't have to drive way up on the mountain and back up between the arriving and leaving garbage trucks.  (Many people put large items in the containers, though it clearly says not to, so they won't have to take the trouble to drive up the mountain, which looks like dirt but I think is made of broken down trash and garbage of former years).  I also threw away three old roller-bags with broken zippers. I put them in the containers as they were smaller than the average garbage bag.

Then I drove to Home Depot, and got a tree for around $40, some kind of fir I'd never heard of. I thought that having the tree might make it easier to motivate myself to keep cleaning. (It's still on the patio.)

This pleasant guy (shown here tying a tree to a customer's roof rack) cut off about a foot of the base of the tree I bought, so it would fit in my trunk. He then put it in a machine which swiftly wrapped it up with orange plastic netting. He had the sort of expansive, amusing personality which made the transaction fun.

When I got home, Dale had some soup on the stove. The base of the soup was some of the rich broth he'd made after Thanksgiving (ten pints of it)from the carcasses of the smoked turkeys. The soup was thick with veggies, small chunks of turkey, and egg noodles, really nice on a chilly day.

Last night, the freeze warnings were off.  I'd left the sheet covers on the plants because the predicted low was only a few degrees above freezing, and here in the outlying areas it can sometimes go lower.

The main reason for the push to clean the house is that I don't feel I can put up the tree in a dirty house, and it would be depressing to me not to have a Christmas tree.

Love, 
Lennie

Written December 17th, 2015 6 AM

Dear Mom and family,

It feels good sitting in front of the fire to have my breakfast and coffee! 

 

Yesterday I still did not find the energy to work on my messy house. I did wash almost all of the accumulated dirty dishes, so it was an improvement  over the previous day.

When I got to the Tempe Library for my Arabic lesson, I parked under one of the new shade covers which have solar panels on them. I am quite excited by these structures, because shade is always something people want more of, in this area, and maybe the solar panels can pay for all the air-conditioning used in the Tempe Library throughout the warm and hot months!
 
Here's a photo of my car parked under one of the shade-with-solar-panels structures (mine is second from right):

I had a good lesson. I found the will-power to force myself to speak Arabic (many stops, questions about words, awkwardness) for many of the little side conversations we end up having during the lesson. As we are both fluent in English, and only she is fluent in Arabic, it is very tempting for her to slip into English, and for me as well.

It is the extra money I have at this time in life which allows me to have a more relaxed type of lesson. I pay her for two hours, and have for the past two years. When I just had one hour, I was constantly concerned with not "wasting" a single minute of the lesson. I have come to feel that these little side conversations are not a waste, because they teach me so much about her culture and way of life, and of course if I force myself to try to have them in Arabic, and keep reminding her, "bil 3arabii, lo samik", they are even more valuable!

Arabic pronunciation tangent: (The "3" is like the vowel sound in "guy", but with an extra opening of the mouth chamber by lowering the back of the tongue,
and "ii" is how I transliterate the long "ee" vowel sound. The end of the word "Shi'3a" heard so often in the news, is supposed to have this sound at the end, and a glottal stop in the middle, if pronounced correctly. The word "Sunni" should have a sort of stop in the middle, "Sun-ni". Okay, I'll get off my soap box.)

Hakima gave me some food she had cooked, chicken with peas and carrots and onions and a mild curry flavor, all chopped up and cooked together, and eaten with pita bread. I ate it in the car, it was quite good. Often she gives me food which I fear to eat because it's been sitting in room temperature too long, but in this case I knew she'd had no student before my lesson, so the food had only sat out a couple of hours. When the food she gives me has been sitting too long, I taste a teaspoon of it so I can tell her honestly that I liked it, and I toss the rest.

I stopped at Starbuck's to check on-line and see if anyone had rsvp'd to my dance meetup. As an activity, I'd suggested attending the dance recital of a very well-known local dancer. I'd enjoyed attending the recitals of her classes years ago. No one had rsvp'd, but I decided to go to the event on my own, as it was on my way home, at the wonderful multi-venue Mesa Arts Center.

Reading my e-mail, I was so relieved to find out that my computer tutor had been sick Tuesday, so he hadn't driven all the way to Apache Junction just to have me stand him up! He offered to meet the following day, as he is better now.

After parking at the garage next to the center, I encountered a good-looking young man who was looking at the sign with a map of the place. It turned out that he was bound for the same studio I was going to. What a big place! I was glad to be able to just follow him. We passed large windows through which one could see glassblowing classes, pottery classes, and art classes. To our right was the main auditorium, the one where I'd gone to hear Rick Steves a while back.

We ran up two long flights of steps, and barely made it on time.

There was a really nice variety of dance routines. Yasmina is a great teacher and choreographer, so all of the classes' routines were pleasing to watch:

I was very pleased when Yasmina herself (she's the one in the orange) came over and said hello, "I thought that was you!" I used to come to all of her events, years ago, and once I sang, on the stage, during the period before the show started, when the audience was arriving.

One of my photos came out very good, and in that photo (above), the dancer closest to the camera was sitting two rows in front of me. I showed her the photo and she was quite excited, especially when I offered to e-mail it to her.


A few weeks ago when I went to see Rick Steves' talk, (he's the low-cost travel guru) I forgot to take my camera, and a nice lady acquiesed to my request that she e-mail me one of the photos she was taking of him as he interacted with the fans in the lobby after the talk. (She did, and the photo is below) So I will be "passing along" that favor to this other person.

When I got home, there was a card on the dining room table, which Dale Jr. had brought over to his dad's "man-gathering" last night. Inside the card were professional photos of all three of his kids.

Here's the card and the photos: 

Love,
Lennie

Written Wednesday December 16th, 2015

Hi Mom and family, 

I didn't seem to have much energy for anything yesterday. I made myself get up early because I am so behind with the house and yard, but then couldn't seem to stay awake. I finally got out of the house in time for my computer tutor appointment, only to be reminded, when I got up there and checked my e-mail, that we had changed it to earlier in the morning.

 I felt so bad. I don't like to be the kind of person who misses appointments. Why couldn't I have taken the few minutes to write it in my planner also! And why do I always forget to check my planner when I go away for the weekend?

A "hard freeze" was predicted for last night, from 11 PM until 9 AM in the morning. After I got back from Starbuck's, I forced myself to get out in the cold and cover the plants that are most at risk. I started with the Myer lemon and the bougainvillea across the street; it gets a lot colder over there because the plants aren't surrounded by the tall oleander hedge and house. I had to prune the bougainvillea severely to be able to fit the cover over it.

Even in the bright sunlight, I could feel the cold through my jeans. I went back into the house, crawled under my fluffy winter comforter, and watched a movie!
 
This was why, by night fall, I still hadn't covered the bougainvilleas and the South African sweet sumac in the back yard. I put on several layers of warm clothing, and it wasn't so bad once I got out there.

Here are photos of me dressed warmly, and one of the covered plants: 

This the first year that the orange tree is too tall to cover, and of course the lemon and the grapefruit have been so for years. I hope all the fruit doesn't get freeze-damaged. You can see why I don't really mind that the "lime tree" I bought turned out to grow into an orange tree!
 

I also put a towel over the thyme. It is only a couple of years old and almost died when I was in British Columbia, from lack of being watered. I put upside down pot over the year-old marjoram plant. The oregano bush is so well-established that it should make it just fine.

What made the chore easier was that there was no wind. Often, here, our few freezing nights are coupled with a fierce wind, which can make it a lot more difficult to cover the plants and secure the covers so that they will not blow off.

Love,
Lennie

P.S. In the morning the lot across the street was covered with frost, there was a 1/4 inch layer of ice on the birdbath, and the grayish-blue towel which I had put over the thyme was all frosty:

Started writing this December 14, 2015, late afternoon

Dear Family,

I'm on the plane from Oakland to Phoenix, one of those lucky flights, with plenty of space to spread out. Nice!

I enjoyed my visit to Berkeley this weekend, though I would find it easier to visit if the sleep schedule was not so very different than mine.

As I usually do, I first took BART to El Cerrito and had a nice lunch with Oscar and Paulette. I made a several stops in downtown Berkeley before taking the bus up the hill to Campus Dr.: Stone Mountain and Daughter's fabric store, the bead store, and Andronico's.

Here's a photo of Stone Mountain & Daughter Fabrics. You may remember, Mom, that you were the first person to take me there, years ago.

I had a very nice time talking with Harriet on Saturday morning, and again with Harriet and Tamika together on Sunday morning. Harriet took her Biophysics final at our house on-line, and got a 97%. She eventually wants to go for medical law.

Both of them have the same favorite TV show, a cable show called "48 Hours" which depicts forensic cases and the effort made to solve them within 48 hours, as there is some legal benefit in not going beyond that much time.

Before the tea on Saturday, I took a photo of you, Mom, as you practiced walking around the kitchen and hall, with Sandy behind her "spotting" you. It seems to me that you are walking much more smoothly, with a continuous motion rather than the "baby step, stop and grimace, baby step, stop and grimace" that you used to do.

The tea went very well, always great to see and visit with that nice group of people. Below: neighbor and friend Peggy Tabraham, Chinese exchange student with her host, long time friend Danielle, and Marcia, a friend of Mom's since library school.

 Unfortunately I omitted getting photos of over half the people there. 

I talked with Benter's husband Kalouch (pronounced "Kal-oa-ich") and his brother-in-law, Alfred. Both of their wives were down with the flu, so didn't attend. I was glad to hear that Alfred and his wife, newly arrived this past May, no longer were working at Brennan's restaurant but had acquired better jobs.

Of course the two Africans had to ask me if I thought Trump could possibly win!

Oscar and I did some music toward the end; if we forget to, you always remind us, Mom! "Amazing Grace, Dink's Song, Careless Love, etc. We also always do the lively instrumental tunes "Soldier's Joy" and "Red-Haired Boy", or rather Oscar plays them and I play rhythm chords.

The next day went well. Tamika was at the house, it seems to be working out quite comfortably with her. It was fun to watch those s episodes of "Hamish Macbeth". (We skipped the reportedly grisly funeral parlor one, John). I get really tickled by the quirky side characters in that show. I like the actress who plays his intense dark-haired girlfriend, and the actor who plays the Hamish character is very appealing.

Mom, you are really reading a lot!  In fact, the whole first evening I was there, you read a book continuously. 
 

I usually bring flowers when I visit, and this time it was a bunch  some heather and some light-blue, ornamental eucalyptus pods. As I walk from Andronico's to the 65 bus stop on Hearst,  I always pass the florist on Shattuck, the one which is owned by the Japanese couple who are about my age. They always have unique and interesting stuff.

Surprise, on Sunday, one of the pods opened into a flower. Here's a photo of it: 

Saturday evening, Nancy called to set up a face-time call with herself and Annabelle "to show Gaga her Christmas tree". In the background Jack was playing Yatze with Wendell, and winning. The device used for the video-chat was not face-time, but something like it: very life-like and fun, more so than Skype in my opinion.

Finished writing this on Tuesday, December 15th

It's very cold and sunny here in Apache Junction. I overslept this morning and missed an appointment, which I feel badly about.

Sunday, Sandy and I had a pleasant lunch at a café near the north Berkeley BART station. I asked a German woman to take our photo:

Love, Lennie

P.S. There was a dusting of snow on the desert mountains which the plane flew over on the flight home, and the lights of Phoenix were very bright because the same strong winds which buffeted the plane also blew away the usual pollution: