The 4th of July

To celebrate I got up early to watch the men's tennis finals plus some other tennis stuff. Stumbled on a program re early alzheirmers - quite interesting - and I have a new motto - "Be kind to yourself." While I do not have alzheimers I do find words excape me more often - they sort of float around my head and I am quite aware that they are there - just playing hide and go seek. No big deal unless I allow it to be a big deal.
Anyhow, I decided to not join the parade today - or even go watch it. My "celebration" happened Friday when Gay stopped by for a nice long chat in the afternoon - it was so nice. And then Jen and the boys came for dinner and fun and games - such as "chase me" out in the cul de sac - which consisted of Gavin and me trying to catch Terry. I finally got worn out and brilliant at the same time, and dragged out Gavin's "car" and a scooter I had been given to give to Terry.
Then, of course, there was my day at my museum - a very successful day. We had quite alot of visitors and they were all in a generous mood. We took in over one hundred dollars in contributions and sold over one hundred dollars of merchandise. Both Bedford and I were very pleased with how the day went.
I am hoping to find a good movie on TCM to watch this P.M. And I do hope that all my family are having a wonderful 4th of July.

Home away from home

It continues to be exciting to me to spend Saturdays at my museum. Yesterday was extra special. "Why?" you are all asking and I can only say it was a combination of many things.
Perhaps the best is that I am researching the building itself. We have all sorts of nicely presented information booklets about everything but nothing about the building and its history. So far, I am finding the story fascinating and am hoping to put it all together in an unknown form.
Also, yesterday at least three men came in at different times that remembered using the 30ft. Pelton Wheel like a ferris wheel. Each one was so excited to share his rememberances.
At long last I have truly earned Bedford's approval. Now that I lead tours it does make things easier for him. I really enjoy the down times when we can sit and chat about this and that. By the way, I really have fun leading tours - hoping that my happiness will maybe cover my lack of depth of knowledge.

Don't do as I did!

While sort of rushing around this morning getting ready to head for "The Musuem" I was happily fixing a healthy lunch since I have been on a healthy lunch jag this week.So I ground up carrots and celery in my blender - added some juice and water and thoroughly blended that (hoping to avoid chunks of carrots) and then tossed in a nice serving of frozen blueberries for the finishing touch. That finishing touch nearly finished me - I turned on the blender and immediately discovered that I had neglected to put the cover on it - the most essential step in blending! I cannot do justice to the mess I had to tackle - the walls, the floors, the coffee maker and me were quite well decorated. My desire was to sit in the middle of the floor (out of the mess) and cry - I mean bellow! Anyhow, I didn't yield to my frustration other than to keep muttering "How could I be so stupid?" All is cleaned up - my lunch is ready to go and I am not but there is sufficient time to get ready. Thus my advice for the day - always put the top on your blender before you turn it on!

Ha!

A special message for Shellie, Janet and Greg. A few weeks back Shellie set up my hearts game so that I could be mentally destroyed by herself, Janet and Greg. Well, I just wanted to let you know that I just "took them all" four times in a row! Me - Zero. Shellie - 104! Janet - 104! Greg - 104! Are you not immensely proud of me?

Tis off to bed time for me - ah, what sweet dreams lie ahead.

Yet another lovely surprize

Late yesterday PM I received a call from Shellie. She was, at long last, departing her Beatty sojourn (with sadness)and heading for Williams, Ca. where they were starting another job. She said she wanted to stop by for five minutes - I begged for ten! Since I was in Rocklin when she called I decided that I was not too tired to drive home and headed up the hill. When I arrived at my abode I found Shellie having a brief nap on my couch. Her plan had changed - we would go out for a salad and then she would head West. Well, the salad was good and the chatting time was super. Best of all, she decided to spend the night. It was after one this afternoon before she did leave - how wonderful to have five minutes extend to seventeen hours. I am what is known as a very happy Mommy! Many thanks, Shellie.

Silly me!

My goodness, it does not take much to make me happily looking forward. Tomorrow I return to the Mining Museum and I find I can hardly wait. When you think about it, the six plus hours (we always have last minute tours, it seems) sometimes drag - but that does not matter. Obviously, I am at home amidst rusty mining stuff - and there is alot of rusty mining stuff there. The first time I saw Grass Valley (the summer of 1971) I said to myself "I have to live here!" - I still feel that way about it and that makes being at the Mining Museum sort of like a special dessert or something. If that makes sense to anyone - congrats! It is so wonderful, after thirty-nine years to feel the same way whenever I have been gone - as I approach Grass Valley and very often say out loud - "I am so glad that I live here!"

The call of the bridge table

Later today I am off for Sacramento to seek fame and fortune (Ha!) at the bridge table - just playing one day so I am limiting my chances. In years gone by I played six days of bridge at the Sac Regional Bridge Tournament and did likewise at many other bridge tournaments hither and yon. Russ fussed at me once about the money I was wasting. A few years later he informed me that he realized that "bridge is almost as complex as chess" - we followed that statement with a discussion of the differences, such as bridge requires awareness of what three others are doing which is frequently a great mystery. Anyhow, tomorrow I will play with Pete - a good partner from several years ago. He and his wife stayed with me during our little tournament several times and Pete, Chris(wife) and another couple and I went off to tournaments in Oregon etc. Always fun. Incidently, there is no fortune at bridge tournaments - just "master points" which are basically worthless. So you pay to play - plus meals, plus motel rooms and transportation - and, by the way, it was a great excuse to get up and go.