It is tomorrow, Bryan's birthday, not today.
I dislike getting things mixed up. And I know why I got this wrong, but nobody cares.
Happy 20th birthday, Bryan, tomorrow. I'll be gone. But I'll give the birthday card to Lola.
Thursday, January 30, 2014
It's a Good Day
And today Bryan is 20. If I say he's a good boy, a nice boy, you don't know much about him. But take my word, he is those things.
He is completing his first year in college, and he works at Fred Meyer. He has a car, but he doesn't cat around in it. A responsible guy.
We have 15 grandsons, and here they are in birth order.
Shane
Patrick
Jacob
Bryan
Davis
Aaron
Noah
Nick
Logan
Clayton
Peter
Charlie
Johnny
Axel
Edmund
And the granddaughters' count.
Sarah
Cory
Anna
Caroline
Penelope
Willamina
And soon Benjamin will make the boys' list. I figure he'll be as beautiful and smart as all the rest. And I do not say that about him or the rest idly or just because I'm their grandmother. Trust me.
He is completing his first year in college, and he works at Fred Meyer. He has a car, but he doesn't cat around in it. A responsible guy.
We have 15 grandsons, and here they are in birth order.
Shane
Patrick
Jacob
Bryan
Davis
Aaron
Noah
Nick
Logan
Clayton
Peter
Charlie
Johnny
Axel
Edmund
And the granddaughters' count.
Sarah
Cory
Anna
Caroline
Penelope
Willamina
And soon Benjamin will make the boys' list. I figure he'll be as beautiful and smart as all the rest. And I do not say that about him or the rest idly or just because I'm their grandmother. Trust me.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
This day in history
Today is Clayton Oliver Scaggs's birthday. He's eleven. And he's sick. Bummer. Clayton is a sweet, smart boy with a big heart, a good heart. Remember the yoyo story?
It is also the 81st wedding anniversary of my mother and father. We on earth mark it by word and heart-felt gratitude. They are celebrating in heaven, I do believe.
When they married, my mother was 33 and my dad 41, and when I was a child I thought these were very advanced ages. Now not so. My dad had been married before and had three children, Dorothy, Don, and Patsy. I know Don and Dorothy are gone. I do not know about Patsy.
My mother had not married until she and Wilford found each other. Lola and Wilford. Theirs is a wonderful story about things that were meant to be, but I have told it elsewhere.
Together they have five children, all still alive and kicking. Janeen, Bill (Anthony Wilford), Sterling, Carol, and Lucile. That is the Brimley family. They started out in Salt Lake City and shortly after discovered Santa Monica, California, and moved there.
Praise be.
It is also the 81st wedding anniversary of my mother and father. We on earth mark it by word and heart-felt gratitude. They are celebrating in heaven, I do believe.
When they married, my mother was 33 and my dad 41, and when I was a child I thought these were very advanced ages. Now not so. My dad had been married before and had three children, Dorothy, Don, and Patsy. I know Don and Dorothy are gone. I do not know about Patsy.
My mother had not married until she and Wilford found each other. Lola and Wilford. Theirs is a wonderful story about things that were meant to be, but I have told it elsewhere.
Together they have five children, all still alive and kicking. Janeen, Bill (Anthony Wilford), Sterling, Carol, and Lucile. That is the Brimley family. They started out in Salt Lake City and shortly after discovered Santa Monica, California, and moved there.
Praise be.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
The News of the Day
This widow is preparing to go across country to Pennsylvania, where, I just heard on the radio, they will get 10 to 12 inches of snow today. My travel plans have not included snow, but they had better. I could hope winter would go away, but why? I have no power over these things.
My travel purpose is to be there for the birth of my grandson, whose mother Alyce calls bbl (for baby boy Larsen) but whose name will be Benjamin Saxby Larsen. I'm excited and happy and hopeful and thankful for this boy, and so is every member of my family.
Back to the weather. I do hope it will not interfere with my plans. Today, so the news report said, thousands of flights have been canceled.
No value in worrying about that now.
My travel purpose is to be there for the birth of my grandson, whose mother Alyce calls bbl (for baby boy Larsen) but whose name will be Benjamin Saxby Larsen. I'm excited and happy and hopeful and thankful for this boy, and so is every member of my family.
Back to the weather. I do hope it will not interfere with my plans. Today, so the news report said, thousands of flights have been canceled.
No value in worrying about that now.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
My dad
I have finished reading my dad's life history.
Here's what I know.
He was a loving man. He loved people, and he loved his work. I'm pretty sure he love Lola. He loved his children, I think especially when they were babies. And he loved his grandbabies.
Lynne--my dad called her Lynnie--called him Grandpa Lovababy. It's a great name for him.
Here's what I know.
He was a loving man. He loved people, and he loved his work. I'm pretty sure he love Lola. He loved his children, I think especially when they were babies. And he loved his grandbabies.
Lynne--my dad called her Lynnie--called him Grandpa Lovababy. It's a great name for him.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
My Dad's Non-journal
I have finished
reading my dad's "Life History," which he said he wrote because of my urgings. That would have been in about 1961.
This history is brief and has many gaps, but I have learned some things about my dad and have come to know him better than I did. Of course, when I was young, he was just my dad, and I didn't always appreciate him. Now I can see him more clearly because I'm more out of the way.
He was a successful insurance salesman. Very successful and well respected by those he worked with and worked for. Often he mentions placing a policy with someone, and so on.
I have begun making my way through the photographs and the copies of letters and talks included in this history.
This history is brief and has many gaps, but I have learned some things about my dad and have come to know him better than I did. Of course, when I was young, he was just my dad, and I didn't always appreciate him. Now I can see him more clearly because I'm more out of the way.
He was a successful insurance salesman. Very successful and well respected by those he worked with and worked for. Often he mentions placing a policy with someone, and so on.
I have begun making my way through the photographs and the copies of letters and talks included in this history.
This is not his journal. Several times in this history he mentions his journal, as in he would go write in his journal. I suppose Sterling has that. Anyway, Janeen transcribed this history and gave it as a Christmas gift, and I'm glad to have it.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Winter's hazards
Yesterday morning
there was still snow and slush and ice on parts of the freeway--I-84. Around 9
a.m. a dense fog dropped down on this valley. I suppose some drivers proceed in
situations like that as if nothing could or ever should impede their progress.
And I know many drivers follow too close upon the car in front of them.
All
this is preliminary to my saying that yesterday's travel conditions led to a
46-car pile-up on I-84. Ten people had injuries requiring treatment at
hospitals, and one had serious injuries (he's the one whose Subaru was clipped
by the back of a big logging truck and dragged in under the truck. I have seen
pictures of his car, and the miracle is that he survived.
The freeway was
backed up and closed for many hours. Franklin road, used as an alternative by
many drivers, also became backed up and was not itself great for driving.
Today I drove to
Nampa and back, and I passed the Ten Mile exit and surroundings without trouble. You would never know any of this happened just yesterday. The
freeway is dry today, and driving was easy.
I had thought yesterday morning of calling Julie and asking if I could come over then instead of waiting until Friday (today). I had heard a weather forecast of snow and freezing rain for Thursday night and Friday morning. I did not make that call to Julie, something guiding me to say--and I said it out loud--"No. I'll just keep tomorrow's appointment."
This, of course, before I knew of the huge chaotic incident (a word that does not sound serious enough) on the freeway.
I had thought yesterday morning of calling Julie and asking if I could come over then instead of waiting until Friday (today). I had heard a weather forecast of snow and freezing rain for Thursday night and Friday morning. I did not make that call to Julie, something guiding me to say--and I said it out loud--"No. I'll just keep tomorrow's appointment."
This, of course, before I knew of the huge chaotic incident (a word that does not sound serious enough) on the freeway.
I prayed this
morning for the Lord's protection. I got it, and so did the rest of us who
drove that road today. I am safe, and I am grateful.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Richard's birthday yesterday
Here's what Axel
did yesterday for Richard's birthday. He's four and was excited about his dad's
birthday, so throughout the day he would look for--and find--little things of
his, wrap them in construction paper, and give them to Richard as birthday
presents. I love that. It's the perfect gift, you know.
As Richard was
telling me this story, Axel said, "And Mom," meaning he also gave
such little gifts to his mom throughout the day.
I see his
reasoning. 1. He loves his mom, too. 2. She was sick yesterday. 3. In Axel's
mind you can't separate the two. They--his dad and his mom--are one.
Axel is a smart
boy. And a sweet boy, too.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
I Remember
New Year's Day. We would run downstairs and plop ourselves in the den to watch the Rose Parade. The couch, the rocking chair, and my dad's contour chair (holding him, usually) were filled with us, and some of us sprawled on the floor.
Deep in memory I have recollections of being at the parade one year. I can see a very young me and my mother and father and siblings standing on the street, like, maybe Colorado Blvd, with hundreds of other people. It's the kind of thing my mom and dad would do.
One year we--my mother, Janeen, Lucile (I think), and I--went to the place where they parked the floats after the parade. That year featured a huge float of Babe Ruth's face. Perhaps these occasions were before we had television in our home. But I'm not sure.
I have tried to find what year featured the Babe Ruth float--some time in the late 1940s or early 1950s, I think--but can't find it on google.
Mostly we watched the Rose Parade on television, and it was great, a tradition we all supported until we got old and sophisticated or old enough to leave home. Even when my children were young we could gather on that special morning and enjoy the Rose Parade.
I guess I could call those the good old days. And it would be true in this case.
Then it became a joke to watch the Rose Parade on TV. Too many commercials. That was just the beginning. The networks that showed the parade began using the time to plug their own shows, which to me was an unholy intrusion. And then someone's (not mine) idea that we needed "real" entertainment, because the parade was not enough, and some singer with accompanying gyrations (I can hear my dad saying that: gyrations) would occupy the whole screen. Good time for a snack or bathroom break, I thought.
The truth? I haven't watched it for years. I only assume the Rose Parade is still carrying on in Pasadena. I hope so. Maybe today I'll turn it on and see what has become of the TV coverage. Maybe.
ADDENDA:
The Rose Parade is on tv at this moment. I have seen one float and Marine Corps band. The floats used to sit on top of an unseen truck and be driven by some guy inside. Now, at least the Honda five-car train float, had the insides of a computerized command center. That's what drives it.
Back upstairs to the parade. Just thought you'd like an update.
Okay, so I'm watching it and am well satisfied with ABC. Commercials, yes, but no plugging--so far--of ABC's stupid shows. Besides, I like Hannah Storm
Back again to report that the floats are still driven by some guy hidden inside who may or may not be able to see where he's going. If he can't, someone on or alongside the float tells him where to turn and so on.
No surprise here: I want to go there.
Deep in memory I have recollections of being at the parade one year. I can see a very young me and my mother and father and siblings standing on the street, like, maybe Colorado Blvd, with hundreds of other people. It's the kind of thing my mom and dad would do.
One year we--my mother, Janeen, Lucile (I think), and I--went to the place where they parked the floats after the parade. That year featured a huge float of Babe Ruth's face. Perhaps these occasions were before we had television in our home. But I'm not sure.
I have tried to find what year featured the Babe Ruth float--some time in the late 1940s or early 1950s, I think--but can't find it on google.
Mostly we watched the Rose Parade on television, and it was great, a tradition we all supported until we got old and sophisticated or old enough to leave home. Even when my children were young we could gather on that special morning and enjoy the Rose Parade.
I guess I could call those the good old days. And it would be true in this case.
Then it became a joke to watch the Rose Parade on TV. Too many commercials. That was just the beginning. The networks that showed the parade began using the time to plug their own shows, which to me was an unholy intrusion. And then someone's (not mine) idea that we needed "real" entertainment, because the parade was not enough, and some singer with accompanying gyrations (I can hear my dad saying that: gyrations) would occupy the whole screen. Good time for a snack or bathroom break, I thought.
The truth? I haven't watched it for years. I only assume the Rose Parade is still carrying on in Pasadena. I hope so. Maybe today I'll turn it on and see what has become of the TV coverage. Maybe.
ADDENDA:
The Rose Parade is on tv at this moment. I have seen one float and Marine Corps band. The floats used to sit on top of an unseen truck and be driven by some guy inside. Now, at least the Honda five-car train float, had the insides of a computerized command center. That's what drives it.
Back upstairs to the parade. Just thought you'd like an update.
Okay, so I'm watching it and am well satisfied with ABC. Commercials, yes, but no plugging--so far--of ABC's stupid shows. Besides, I like Hannah Storm
Back again to report that the floats are still driven by some guy hidden inside who may or may not be able to see where he's going. If he can't, someone on or alongside the float tells him where to turn and so on.
No surprise here: I want to go there.
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