There's a New Kid in Town

I am a Great Aunt for the 4th time. Well, I've been a great aunt for a long time but since my oldest niece, Kalin, had her first son Carter in 2000 I've had the official title. Today my niece Megan had her son, Henry. I'll get to visit tomorrow. Here is proud grandma holding Henry.

Ya Ya Weekend

My Ya Ya weekend was terrific! Glo, Dian, Paula, and Carol spent the entire weekend here and we were joined part of the time by Terri, Laurie, Lisa, and Sheila. Marcia got caught on the wrong side of the mountains Friday afternoon and never made it, industrious Deb was working in Tucson, and Kathy was on her annual luxury spa weekend so we missed having those 3 with us.

We started with dinner at my house on Friday and stayed up way past my bedtime drinking way too much wine. After throwing together a breakfast on Saturday we took a long walk followed by a tour of downtown Renton and a visit to the glass blowing place - a great place for another possible get-together. Back home we cleaned up then headed off for dinner at Armondo's and a play at a very good local venue - Carco Theater. We got back home about 11pm but found that wine supplies had been restocked which required a couple of hours to take care of. Sunday morning was mellow time with Carol whipping up eggs and Lisa bringing over pastries before the gang slowly started to disperse.

To my beautiful Ya Ya's - you are fabulous!

table set and ready for the Ya Ya's













Terri making smoothies


Short Ya Ya's in my kitchen





Dian, Glo, and Carol








me, Glo, Paula, Laurie, Dian, Carol, Lisa

The YaYa's are coming! The YaYa's are coming!

With Robin safely out of town I have organized a gathering of a group of friends called the YaYa's. Friday night will bring 10 crazy broads to my house for a weekend of eating, drinking, biking, skiing, catching a play, and whatever else we come up with and weather allows. Myself, Glo, Dian, Paula, Laurie, Terri, Sheila, Marcia, Jackie, Carol, and Lisa will be terrorizing the general Renton area all weekend so if you see us coming, run the other way! We will miss our pals Deb and Kathy who aren't able to join us.

Robin wanted to know why he needed to be gone for me to organize this. I told him it would warp his little male mind forever.

If there are any pictures that can be allowed to the general public I will post them next week.

Have a great weekend!

Winter Wonderland

I spent the last few weekends riding my bike and being cold. Inspiration struck when my brother Paul invited me to go cross country skiing. A remote corner of my brain sprang to life as if to say "Oh yes, now I remember! When it is cold outside and water is freezing in the air and on the ground the wise sportster will mount long slick boards to her feet with the purpose being to slip and slide rather than try to avoid it." I had hopes Sonia would join us but our departure time was a bit too early for her sleepy head. Paul, Anne, and I went south to the Mount Tahoma ski trails. What a fantastic alternative to the I-90 zoo! Robin and I have skiied there in years past and love it. Sadly they lost a bridge during the big rainstorm a couple of years ago so the south district is inaccessible and that is my favorite skiing. This was my first ski of the year (in fact, I hadn't skiied since New Year's Day 2007!) and it was great. We had entertainment in the form of a couple dozen jeepers trying to pull their jeeps on trailers behind trucks and getting stuck in the road. We imagined the conversation to go something like this:

Clem: Dang it Joe, I'm stuck.
Joe: Shucks Clem, whadarwegonnado?
Clem: Let's stand around outside the trucks a while and pick our teeth.
Joe: Good idear Clem!

Okay, so I have friends that are 4-wheelers - but admit it - it's not far off is it???

We crossed paths with Lou who is a volunteer there. Paul and I had met Lou during Tour BC last summer. His favorite jersey says "Cranky Old Bastard". Lou is a great crusty old guy. He road his bike from Yelm WA to the start of Tour BC in Penticton BC, Canada for the weeklong adventure and then road back home. Makes me feel pretty wimpy!

Great snow conditions, lunch with a view, redneck entertainment, super company - it was a grand day out. Thanks Paul and Anne!

Diminishing Mental Capacity

Driving down the road today I had an inspirational idea for a blog posting. Problem is I can't remember what it was. Last night before I fell asleep I remembered I needed to return a phone call so I threw my current book on the floor (my "string around the finger"). I woke up this morning, saw the book on the floor and knew it was a reminder but couldn't remember what I was to be reminded of. It took until nearly noon before it finally came to me. Last night my sister Mary and I took our brother Tom to dinner. We had a gift card from Mary's daughter Megan that we wanted to repay to her. It took us about 4 attempts to figure out who owed whom how much money after I paid the balance on the bill after the gift card, Mary and I were to split the total and get $25 back to Megan. When we returned from our last England trip just before Thanksgiving I went to my gym to workout. I could remember the combination for my locker but not the names of at least 2 women there that I've known for several years. I have seen these women naked for Pete's sake. I mean, unless you're a medical doctor or heavy into pornography shouldn't you remember the names of people you've seen naked??? Or is it enough that I remember that I've seen them naked???

My main form of daily exercise is going up and down the steps because I can't remember why I went there in the first place, got back down (or up), and repeat as necessary until I remember or I forget that I forgot and carry on to something else. If I'm going to go down this path I wish it would accelerate to the point that I don't know how feeble-minded I'm getting and just get to the part where I'm happy happy happy and each day is a new adventure! Gotta go, I may have left the bath running or a pot boiling on the stove...