We have a British phone booth named Fred in the middle of
our living room. He’s Alan’s every-occasion-until-2011 gift
to me. I love him so! [Alan’s not too bad either.] Fred’s
been there since June and will probably be there
for a year, or two, or three. For better and
worse, Fred is a microcosm of our life at 213
Woodlawn. If you have a photo of yourself
with/in a red telephone booth in Britain or
Epcot, etc., please send it to us for our booth via
e-mail or snail-mail. Feel free to Photoshop
yourself into one (with your favorite celebrity?).
From the past seven newsletters: “Alan toils at Seminars
Unlimited. They’re still building their
new campus.” He also toils at something
else he has finally let me in on:
TradingPinsAndPatches.com. He meets
and greets Pathfinder, Adventurer, and
Conference people during all the work
he does in youth ministries (duties have
taken him to Wisconsin and Missouri this year, and many, many,
many area meetings and campouts). They give him their
requests for pins and patches, and he now lets me do the design work.
In June, he again worked a week at camp where he is very popular. His
mentioned in the 2009 “Summer
Nikki and Kilory graduated from
Eighth Grade at the apex of their class.
They are in Ninth Grade at my alma
mater. I feel soooo much older than 42
(and I’m having more and more “bad
face days”). Kilory plays French horn
in the band, and Nikki clarinet. They’re
having a ball! They still belong to the Alvarado
Pathfinders Club. They participated in the International
Camporee along with
37,000 Pathfinders in
Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Kilory’s drill team placed
at the top level* there.
Their 2009 Bible Bowl
team again placed at the
very top level* at the (inter)Nationals in
Michigan. (*The SDA organization doesn’t
do 1st place.) They and their totally beloved coach, Sharon Turk, are
already working at 2010 success. This
summer after camp, Nikkory worked at
Seminars. I’m so proud of them I could
burst. They outperform some adults,
according to their supervisors. The one
time I called to talk to a child, Nikki had
to call me back because she was running
credit card numbers. They are my
Jiminy Crickets: they tell me not to
spend money (“Listen to your inner poor
person, Mom.”), hide the peanut butter
from me (“Listen to your inner skinny person, Mom.”), have been known to
wrestle snacks out of my hands, and refuse to bring me snacks, and diet
sodas. They are the best!
Mom and Dad’s year has been putzy. They’ve both had better-safe-
than-sorry wee-hours-of-the-morning ER visits. Furthermore, I have
threatened Mom with a suit of bubble-wrap. Mere hours after Mom was
cleared to stop using her cane (ala the October 2008 left tibia/fibula
break), she fell and (in twisting) broke her right hip before she hit the lawn.
I fussed at her to do her exercises, fussed at her to eat, fussed at certain
staff members at the hospital/rehab, and was generally unpopular. Meaner
than snot I was. Speaking of snot, Dad’s July surgery proved what we’ve
known all along – he not only had a hole in his head, his head was full of
rocks. A fungus in his sinuses ate a hole through his skull behind his eye.
The fungus also converted into green rock. The rocks were quarried and
the hole may have mended. Then he snapped the middle metatarsal in his
right foot. That’s Step One in a three-step process that leaves the average
diabetic five years to live. (Dad disagrees with this. Hope he’s right!) I’m
the kind of person who will behave enough to stop it at Step One by putting
NO WEIGHT on it. Dad: not so much. We’ll see.
(Having written that in October, I fractured the
middle metatarsal of my left foot in November –
by walking. I’m better behaved. But I have
osteoporosis, so I’m worse off.
We’ll see.
So far for 2009 –
broken rib:1
broken foot:1
Chrissie:0
The year isn’t over, though...)
Instead of Labor Day Week in the Denny’s New
Mexico mountain cabin, we did half-a-week in July with
the Dennys. Doug made it the best time I’ve ever had
up there. He’s so much fun! We spent one day at the
Ojo Caliente mineral hot springs. It fixed my
shoulder which had been
sulking ever since a 2x4 fell
on it.
Everybody but
Craig had a ball
wallowing in the
mud pool. He was having
none of that, and looked at
us like we were nuts.
The Wiists arrived as the
Dennys left and we
finished
out the
cabin
week
with
them.
The Addition walls are
covered and painted on
the outside. The
plumbing and electricity
are nearly done. But we
spent most of 2009 at the
“need to get ready for
the electrician so we can
do plumbing/insulating/drywall” point. I wanted
the girls to be able to
inhabit their private rooms
by March of their freshman
year. *sigh* I could beat my
head against my insulation/drywall-free walls.
Both of our cats are thrilled
with their new, personal, play
area which we call The Addition.
Wally can’t stop happy talking about
it and enjoys the bay window we
built especially for him. After three
years of living with us, Alan’s black
Munchkin cat, Jazzy Peeves, has
finally decided he likes me
(because) I now stop loving on him
before he’s had enough. Instead
of screaming at me “You are FINISHED!” he now
follows me just about everywhere yowling “You’re
NOT finished yet!” But he is still absolutely,
positively Alan’s short, sumptuous boy. He’s
psychotic, though: he’s suspicious of the black cat
in the dishwasher door; warns the black cat in the
oven door to back off; yells and beats at the black cat in the
curio cabinet; and launches himself at and screams “DIE, Scumcat! DIE!” at
the black cat in the window.
Family archives: Mom and Dad Denny
celebrated their 50th anniversary
in February. Alan and Nikkory
joined them in San Antonio for
the celebration. I stayed home
with a funky kidney, but wished
them well!
Alan’s adopted sister, Julie, and hubby David, and
daughter Dara, are
due to deliver boy &
girl twins on 12/2.
<smiles!>
Terry Brain passed into mercy
11/20. It isn’t a family event at The
Farm without the Andrus and Brain
families.
Uncle Herman Chastain
passed into mercy 6/28. He
was known in the WWII army
for bringing the men peanut
butter sandwiches at the
beginning of his watch. He
was great that way, always.
My butterfly gardening
purposely incorporates plants that
especially entice Black Swallowtails – I saw three all year. Our garden
burst with butterfly blooms as always --lantana, butterfly weed, basil,
fennel, parsley, coreopsis... But very few butterflies of any kind appeared.
That saddened me and concerns me. I pray it is a fluke*, but fear it is a
forecast, as four of the 23 endangered butterflies on the U.S. Fish &
Wildlife’s TES list are swallowtails.
May 2010 bring many, many, many butterflies to our
home and yours.
P.S. Remember that 5% of every Amazon purchase made through this disaster-area.org link -->
goes to the Wes Stoops Scholarship.
P.P.S. *From Siouxeseque: “This year was my best year yet” for Black Swallowtails.
 "Panda Dee, Darilyn Monroe, and Rita Hayfever on the way to a Sweet 16 \"Oscar\" Party 8-2-09")
 "Evan in London, May 1994 -- the first friend foreign fone foto we have so far...")
 "Drill Teammates: Kilory and Rental Daughter Catherine")
 "Rental Daughter Alexandra, Chrissie's long-lost son Mason, & Nikki @ Oshkosh")
 "May 21: Rental Daughter Eryn, Nikki, Mr. May & Kilory")
 "Kilory, Catherine, Nikki, Alexandra, Mason, Lilya & Christopher")
 "Alan at Oshkosh")
 "Alan being invested at Oshkosh as a Pathfinder Instructor")
 "Doug, Alan, Nikki, Kilory, & Craig the Clean in the nice, clean arsenic hot spring.")
 "Kilory and me in the mud pool.")
 "The view out \"my\" cabin bedroom window.")
 "Nikki and Kilory in Taos. Truck drivers honked at them as I shot this. They asked my why they were honking. I told them to \"never mind\" but to get used to it.")
 "Craig having none of that at Ojo Caliente")
 "Alan & Kilory wallowing in the mud at Ojo Caliente")
 "Jan. 18 -- Alan and Kilory")
 "Herman Chastain, June 14, 1919 - June 28, 2009")
You guys are nuts
and I’m having none of it!
 "Nikki inside Wally's bay window on 10-23-09.")
 "Putting together the 2x4 frame for the eventual Rose Window.")
 "Peeves with his chin on my broken foot during the daily 60min electrical stimulation treatment.")
 "Wally in the expanded borders of his kingdom.")
 "Jalie, Eloyce, Walt, Kilory & Nikki")
 "Nikki, Norbert, and the late Terry Brain.")
 "Sharon, fans, and the team's reaction to top placement at the first competition. They really HAD the highest score. (Sshhhh! It's a secret.).")
P.P.P.S.
Thanksgiving.
Alan and the girls putting our
dragon-decorated woodstove,
Smaug, into place in front of
the new mantel and on top of
the tile I installed, broken foot
and all.
Nikki and her delicious
pumpkin pie she decorated
with pastry leaves.
Dennis, JoAnn, Mom, and Ella.
Morris and David: A good time
was had by all.
