Let it close let it close let it close

Our purchase of the lot I bought for Vicky for her Valentine's Day gift got hung up. 

The title company needed a death certificate (not for us, we're still alive).  And the seller's realtor didn't take care of this before listing the house.

But it supposedly is on a FedEx jet at this moment heading for Payson, AZ, where the title company is located.  

We're anxious about it.  We want to get started cleaning up the property and being able to enjoy the added space that the property will afford us.  We didn't spend much on it because in Pine, AZ (where our cabin is), the city is issuing no more water meters.  This means no one can build on the lot.  

It's kind of weird to be hoping to get a death certificate.  It means sadness for two families.  Someday our home and cabin will be sold, and death certificates will be needed for that too.  That's life, I guess.

 IT CLOSED!!!!    Thank you, my dear Danny, for my Valentine lot 💘 at our cabin.  I love you.

The birds were not happy today

When it is cold, windy, and rainy in warm, sunny Arizona, we feel just like this bird that was hunkering down on our back patio this morning……

Guess we and the Leisure World birds are lucky, since there’s a cold spell and a giant snow storm north of us and across much of our country.

Nephew Paul's visit

My (and now our) nephew Paul visited us for a few days.  I had not seen him since 2006, and that was at Emily's wedding.....at which I was a little preoccupied.

Before that it had been hit or miss.  As a child, though, I spent a lot of time with him and knew him well.  So this visit was extra special for that reason.

Paul has just retired as a police lieutenant in San Jose.  So, of course, he and Vicky had hours of interesting discussions, with me learning an awful lot.  

I have been voraciously reading articles in the New York Times and Washington Post and Fox News about policing, but have found all of those articles to be political, but not insightful.  I have been wanting articles told from the point of view of the police.  And articles talking about what policing is really like and what it does to people (for example, Paul talked a lot this visit about the cumulative effect of seeing so many dead bodies in his career...that kind of thing).

In addition to visiting and catching up we did a lot together while he was here  We took long walks around Leisure World, a hike in the desert, and one morning he got up very early to take a 32-mile bike ride with us.

 

 

Talking cop stuff:

We took a walk to mom and dad's home:

Paul got a video of us while we were all cycling in the dark.  

After a terrific visit, he left to backpack on the Arizona Trail---a trail we are quite familiar with.  

It won't be another 17 years until we see him again.  None of us will let that happen.  That's the terrific thing about family, isn't it? 

My Danny gave me a gorgeous lot in Pine for a Valentine’s Day gift!

I can’t believe it. I’m still reeling.  The lot behind our cabin in Pine was listed for sale yesterday, and today, on Valentine’s Day, my dear Danny bought this property and gave it to me.  This will give us privacy and greatly enhance the pleasure of living in Pine at our lovely cabin.  Thank you, dear Danny!

On the other side of the pine fence, if you look carefully, you can see the roof of our cabin and the small log shed on the edge of our property.  I guess the fancy fence that we put up last summer will need to be moved so the two properties can be connected, and so we can sit on our back deck and see the view.

We even have a view of the Mogollon Rim from my new Valentine lot!

And that is not all…he danced with me all day long, one dance after another.  And he gave me vintage loving cards…..

….and just as we were headed to bed, there was a flower delivery—for me, from my love! 

Our Valentine’s Day….

Breakfast in bed for my Danny…with REAL bacon!

Dancing, holding each other close… (click the next photo to see the video of us dancing...it's beautiful)

Yummy fondue for dinner with a view of the golf course, framed with ancient eucalyptus trees.

Surprise gift for Danny, homemade chocolate pudding with whipping cream.

Our Valentine’s cards and my lovely flowers!

I’d be a fool if I didn’t know how much Danny loves me.  And I ain’t no fool.  I’m the luckiest girl in the world!

This was a Valentine’s Day I’ll remember all the days of my life.

Winter in the desert…

This is what we get to see 30 minutes from Nuestra Casa, our home in the middle of the Phoenix Metropolitan area.  This is our favorite go-to day hiking area.  There are hundreds of miles of trails and dirt roads— and, unbelievably, we see no one else here in this beautiful desert paradise.

This is the desert during the winter.  Just wait a few more weeks when the brittle bush is covered in bright yellow flowers, and the cacti starts blossoming!

Stay tuned…we’ll be back.

A glorious morning….a gift from God and from our dear family

This is what we saw as we rode our bikes very early in the morning—a full moon lighting up our home….

Every morning we cycle by the home where Mom and Dad lived for 20 years in Leisure World.  This is a special part of our bike ride.  We yell out, “Hello Mom, hi Dad, I love you.”  I often tell them how much I love their Danny, and, “I will always be good to him.”

This morning we told Mom and Dad, “There’s a beautiful full moon shining over your home!”

and then two hours later—the sun was rising over our home….

The grand finale was the sunrise at the ponds!

Surprise!  When we got home a package was waiting at our door.  Presents from Rachelle, Ryan, and our dear grandchildren, Ida, Alden, and Wilder—Body Butter, an all purpose skin cream, lip balm, and Heal-All Comfrey, for my spine, sprains, tendons, muscles, and broken bones….hopefully we won’t need it for that!

These gifts were lovingly handmade at their farm—with food grade oils, herbs, and beeswax.  Thank you! 

Tonight before we go to sleep, I will have Dan rub some of the Heal-All Comfrey on my back, and I will use it for the pain in his surgically repaired foot.  

My 75th birthday: honoring all of the people I love.....thanks to Vicky

I am old.  I am 75.  I am blessed.  A lifetime of people to love.  A life consisting of people to love.  There is nothing better. 

Yesterday I had a birthday party, and all of life's blessings flowed over me in waves.

Vicky planned a day for me to remember.  She did all of the planning for it in the weeks before she had her ablation on her back, meaning while getting lousy sleep and being in awful pain.  She got me a lot of really special gifts (more on that later), but the best gift for me was the success of her surgical procedure.  She no longer has that pain.  

Waking up I found a blog post she had created for me the night before:

http://livinginthebedofapickup.blogspot.com/2023/01/our-dear-family.html

Filled with love, showing me our refrigerator, covered with photos of our family.  What better way is there to start one's day?

Then we went for another of our 32-mile bike rides in Leisure World.  We started doing these when Candice began doing her 32-mile ultra runs.  We said we would cycle to support her.  The world record was 22 runs, so that looked like a doable number for us.

Well, nobody should underestimate Candice.  She's now up to 89 consecutive 32-mile daily runs, without missing a day.  

And we're huffing and puffing to keep up.  In the future, we'll be more careful about promises we make.  :)   

We are a few behind her because of Vicky's back procedures (3 of them) and a few days of hard rains that made it unsafe.  Here we are taking off yesterday at 5:00 a.m.:

Our rides have been a bit different the past week or so because it has been unusually cold here.  We used to spend about 1/3 of the miles on the paths for golf carts around the two golf courses.  We've dropped the golf course paths so we can stretch out and cycle fast on the roads to keep warm.  (however, we always make an exception to take at least one swing by the back of our home because we love this home so much).

Every time we ride we take two rest stops--mostly to stretch.  Vicky plans all of our rides, and leads the way.  So I get to watch her for 2 solid hours, pumping away.  Can you imagine how much joy that gives me every day?

Well, she plans our stops at interesting places in Leisure World--near a pond, on a golf course fairway, at a rec center, etc.  She doesn't plan stops outside people's homes because our lights are so bright and we don't want to shine our lights in their windows.  

Well, yesterday she made an exception.  She stopped outside my mom and dad's old home.  Nobody lives there, so we could do that.

It was very moving for me.  Because of their love for each other, I am here, Kathy is here, and all of our family is here.  Vicky only knew them for a short while, but they took to her immediately and she to them.  She loved them.

Then it was time for breakfast.  And here is where it really starts to get fun (as if it wasn't before!).

Every four days she makes a breakfast sandwich for me.  All of my breakfasts are great, but this one is my favorite.  Last night she set the sandwich maker out, like she always does.

Well, there's another dimension to this breakfast.  On special occasions she will make me my absolute favorite which is thick cut bacon, eggs, and potatoes.  Usually I would anticipate getting that breakfast, but today I knew I would get a breakfast sandwich.

So, lying in bed anticipating my sandwich, she walked in with......drum roll.....my bacon and egg favorite.  She had set out the sandwich maker as a feint, so she could surprise me with my favorite.  How fun is that?

Here is my reaction to being "tricked" like this:

Notice the little card?  Here it is.  What a card for a cyclist!

 

And look at the postmark:  1948, the year I was born.

 And my first gift, today's wine:

Notice where it's from:  Horse Heaven Hills.

Horse Heaven Hills has great fondness to us.  For several years we took an organized bike ride there, in Eastern Washington, called the Inland Empire.  We did it with Jules.

A part of this ride goes up a steep canyon, Weber canyon.  At the top of the canyon is Horse Heaven Hills.  One year the wind was against us all the way up the canyon, but we made it!

Here is Vicky riding up Weber Canyon:

 

Us at the top, in Horse Heaven Hills:

with Jules early that morning:

 

 

 (As it turned out, the wine was awfully good, too)

 

Throughout the day I received FaceTime calls, emails, texts, and telephone calls.

It was so powerful to receive all of these contacts from Jules and Emily, Diane, and Sean, from Candice, Owen, and Rachelle, Mila, Ryan, from our grandchildren (Ian,  Ida, Adam, Alden, Wilder, Soren, Sebastian, Stella and Marina), and from my sister Kathy and my brother Bill.

 

Ian even wished me happy birthday on the radio show he D.J.'s at his college:

 

 

 

Then we danced.  I had prepared a dance list that included our favorites.  I uploaded our dancing to YouTube:

 

https://youtu.be/G-yYPwf1W1U

For some reason, the video recording cut off during our final number.  I decided I wanted to keep what we had of it, though, because it was so wonderful.

 

Then it was time for dinner, my birthday dinner, my awesome dinner prepared with care and love.

 

What I wanted for my birthday dinner was not only one of my very favorites in life, but also has deep emotional meaning for me---my mother's home made noodles.  This meal has been prepared by my mother for our family meals since forever.  It was her signature dish, and everybody loved it.  She would make it whenever there was a family gathering.  Vicky is carrying on the family tradition--having made Mom’s noodles for our family many times.

 

Vicky making my noodles.  She's wearing my mother's apron, made of flour sacks by one of my grandmothers. 

 

My meal: London Broil (that was perfectly prepared and you could cut with a spoon), mashed potatoes, green beans, and, of course, the noodles.

Us eating.  It was scrumptious.  I had three helpings. 

See all of my gifts?  Here we go!

Vicky did something so....well, so Vicky.  The way she has done everything in her life for people she has loved.  

What she did was get me gifts from the year I was born--1948. And even the day!   It was mind blowing.

The number 1 on the Hit Parade on my birthday:   Vaughn Monroe's Ballerina:

Here is how the number 1 hit goes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcO8Hfmzt30

Vicky altered this card to show a woman patrol officer stopping me.  Isn't that clever?

My first photo, with my mother, right after I was born.  Look at the photo carefully--Vicky took it with the reflection of my face in it--looking at myself 75 years ago.

Then I had cake and ice cream, then some more cake and ice cream, and then some more cake and ice cream.

For the record, my weight was up 5 pounds the next morning.  For real, 5 pounds. 

It was totally worth it.

Then we got a FaceTime call from Stella and Marina.  They sang happy birthday:

Then I waddled off to bed, and got calls from Sebastian, Emily, Sean, and some man who sort of sounded like Soren.  Why do grandkids grow up?  Why do kids grow up?  Why do we grow up?

A quote from George Orwell played in my mind today:

"Maybe we mistakenly think we want “happiness,” which we tend to picture in very vague, soft-focus terms, when what we really crave is the harder-edged intensity of experience."

Yesterday I had that intensity of experience.  Having so many people to love deeply.  There is nothing better.

Thank you Vicky.  You arranged all of this from start to finish.  What a gift you are.  My treasure.