mom’s blog

Heres pix from the 50th anniversary we went to last week.  We were surprized to be invited but weren't the only ones there who were not family.  They have three children and twenty one grandchildren thanks to their two daughters who have nine and ten children.  Their son has only two.  The lady is in remission from a type of lymphoma and they really had a lot to celebrate, hopefully she'll continue to do well.

The one on the left is called Rio or Carnival  and I'm not sure what the right pic is called, but aren't they beauties?

Our Roses are outdoing themselves this year, for some reason flowers have been spectacular and veggies are poopy.  Go figure....This is the same rose in all three pics.  As a bud with a lady bug on it and today next to my hand so you can see how large it is.  I think it may be a heirloom variety, usually only one or two roses at a time versus the floribundas that produce multiples.

Our good friend Vi, left the gals group to go live near her daughter in Ca.  She was the oldest of our group which ranges from early 50's to mid seventies.  We are all going to miss her wit and humor, her love and devotion to the group.  It didn't matter how wacky the scheme, Vi was right in there doing her part.  We had a party for her at Pam's new house, western victorian wear as usual for a party. (because we formed our group to make money for our historic victorian/gold rush town).  Pam and Paul, great hosts had a beautiful setup for all of us and we sent Vi off in style.  She'll hopefully visit once in a while but I think it's more likely we will go there occasionally.

Yep, that's what it was, a two martini party night.  specifically two lavender citrus martinis, yum and then some.  The gals and I went out to celebrate Sues birthday tonight and we went to a newly opened place in J'ville.  The place is called the Nunan House and has stood there in that tiny town like a grande dame extroadinaire for a century or more.  She was a catalogue house, as they used to be called, part and parcel shipped by train to be built on your site.  Probably cost $200. at that time, who knows?  I guess I could have read the literature, but I was busy having my two martinis, heheh.

Anywho, here's the recent story.  A young couple down here from Washington on holiday fell in love with J'ville.  Who doesn't?  The Nunan House grand dame, was for sale at the time, a year or two ago.  They were looking for a house and went to see it, fell in love with it and couldn't afford it.  Of course not, it was in the millions.  It's been several different things over the years but fortunately no one had tried to update it in the seventies, no avocado green anything, in fact pretty well preserved.  Where was I?  Oh, yeah, the couple couldn't afford it and bought another charming small house in J'ville.  Meanwhile before they left for Washington, they also bought a lottery ticket.  Yep.  $240,000,000.00 .   After that, they bought the Nunan House and set about opening it for functions (they are booked all summer for weddings)  and opened a patio style casual restaurant as well on the grounds.  They have great plans and the moola to make it happen. 

A wonderful evening altogether for all of us and the next birthday party in two weeks is going to be celebrated at an Irish pub that opened a few months ago.  I told you we're going to have a birthday a month even if some of us have to have two birthdays a year.  BTW Pam invited us all down to her place in Mazatlan, hmm, see what a couple martinis will do to a gal?

Here's my two Chicago boys, I've been trying to upload these pictures for a while and finally am spending the time neccesary(for me) to get it done.  These two are all energy, all boy and all fun.  The one in red made me a gramma for the first time, a must for everyone!

This mornings news contains a piece about the supreme court lowering the fee Exxon has to pay for the Valdez spill in 1989 to 500 million instead of 2.5 billion.  Damn, I'm pissed.  The Valdez spill was the worst in history at the time (and may still be the worst for all I know) and all but wiped out Prince William sound in Alaska for over twenty years.  Native peoples lost their ability to earn a living through fishing and lives were ruined, people turned to alcoholism, drugs, suicide  and depression while f---ing Exxon did nothing but go from one court appeal to another and make tons of money all the while not paying any of the compensation to the people, the town or the sound. The company which has posted the previous two largest quarters in their history, has not paid a cent in 19 years.  Most of the people affected by the spill are too old to do much with the money now, their business and livlihoods are long gone and the sound is barely recouping the species native to it even now.  What about interest for the whole damn 19 years?  How can we as consumers make this change, how can we make sure justice is served rapidly instead of  letting a company having enough money to put it off indefinately? 

Here are the two brave felines that took on the ferocious dog.

I missed seeing this one in person and sure wish I had seen it or had pictures to show you, but visualizing will have to suffice.  The night before last we'd sat out for a while sipping wine on the deck over the pond, the cats meandering around and the dog sniffing here and there being sure to give us her nose whenever she thought the cats might be getting something that she was missing out on (they weren't).   I came back up to the house to start dinner and a little while later the dog came up and slunk into the doghouse even though it was a warm evening.  Soon hubby was at the door laughing to tell me what had happened.  He'd gotten up from the deck to wander and saw the cats sniffing around a couple of small trees with low branches like bushes, he wandered over and they were happy to see him, though they kept their attention on the tree bases as if something small was in there.  You have to know that every time they catch a mouse or a bird, the dog goes after them and takes it away from them.  They've been very intimidated by her and are sometimes hesitant to walk out the door past her.  This has been going on for years.  Well....hubby looked away for a moment and then heard a howling ruckus and turned back to see Bitty Buns on top of Cookie with her paws around her neck and refusing to let go, Cookie, 10 times the size, was whimpering and Pun'kin was under Cookie going for her neck!  Cookie shook off Bitty Buns and tried to run away but Bitty Buns gave chase and hubby had to show Cookie how to get away and get inside the gate.  Cookie spent the rest of the evening in the doghouse.  I think this might change things around here....