Thankful Me

  A river floods a dirt road While I was in Oregon, southern California got a lot of rain, and John sent me a video of a raging Santa Clara River, which is normally just a dry wash near us. I figured I had missed my opportunity to actually see it with water in it. Guess again! Earlier this week, we had more rain. I walked down the dirt lane and saw that the river again had water, though not as much as before. Later that same day, the river bed was empty once again. I'm glad I got to see it with water in it. It would be lovely if it always flowed, though that would require a bridge for safe egress! 1. I'm thankful for water. Although Monday was President's Day, John still had work, so the week was fairly routine. I enjoy routine, though. It might not be exciting, but there is something comfortable about life's normal ebb and flow. The hum of the washer and dryer, the gentle (or sometimes louder!) snoring of our dog, Drexel, the quiet click of the keyboard--these are calm

  A bouquet of red roses and white chrysanthemums  I left Oregon this past week. My sister stayed for a while longer with my parents. My dad is recovering well from his surgery and making great progress. Although I enjoyed spending time with my parents and siblings, and visiting with my cousin, it is nice to be home with John again.  As I walked into PDX, there was a notable lack of people in the airport. I walked right up to the counter to check my bag, then walked right up to the TSA agents to go through security. As I approached them, I started to say, "I've never seen such a big airport so empty," but just as soon as I said the word "never," they both started shushing me. They didn't want me to jinx it for them! They were enjoying a quiet day at work.  The flights (I had a plane change in San Jose) were uneventful.  When I arrived in Burbank, my suitcase was the second one to come down the luggage chute onto the carousel. As soon as I got my bag, John wa

  My granduncle, Theodore Kimes, dressed in a suit and cap, leans out the passenger window of a brand-new 1923 Ford Model T I'm still in Oregon. My dad is doing well in his recovery from knee surgery ( thankful #1 ). My brother drove home last Sunday (totally unrelated to the photo above!). He had an uneventful, safe drive ( thankful #2 ). As my dad's recovery progresses, my mom now has mental energy and time to think about other things ( thankful #3 ). Mom has had a desire to visit Arkansas on a family history vacation, to see the sites that were so familiar to her mother. We've talked about it for a while, but this past week we put in on the calendar for this fall ( thankful #4 ). We've started planning where exactly we will go and what sites we will visit. My grandma kept detailed journals and photo albums ( thankful #5 ), and my mom has them now (thankful #6 ), so we were able to take a vicarious trip down memory lane as we read about the old places we've never

a Scrabble tile of the letter A, with a 1 to the lower right, indicating point value I'm switching things up today and opting for an alphabetical order for my Ten Things of Thankful list, so without further ado: A: My dad had knee surgery this week, so I flew up to Oregon to see if I could help. (Not with the actual surgery, of course. I think I mainly provide comic relief, though I pitch in with chores and trips to Lowes as required.)  No matter what the occasion for gathering is, one constant is that the Scrabble board will come out. When I drew an A from the bag, I knew I would go first. Though that was nice, I'm thankful for the simple family tradition of Scrabble. B:  My brother arrived on Thursday night. Although his military and civilian work schedules demand a lot of his time, he was able to carve out a few days to come. We make a pretty good window-washing team. (I promise my brother did more than just take photos of me working!)   I'm thankful for my brother and h