And So It Ends...

Jeri has just left, on her way to the Bay Area with Ned to visit friends and do some recording over the next couple of days, before she flies back to Boston next week.  According  to weather reports, the snow from storms in Boston will have been washed away by rain by then.

It's been a good few days.  Jeri is a unique person and her infectious positivism floods everything she does and everybody she visits.  She was able to have two good visits with her grandmother while here and got her smiling and laughing both times, a talent I don't possess.

The first time they visited, Jeri said that the new "Mildred memories" book I had made was not there, which made me very upset.  But when we went yesterday, we found it buried in a drawer and she went through the book with my mother a couple of times and both seemed to enjoy it.

When we arrived at Atria, we found her in the dining room, and I wish I had taken a photo.  She and her "boyfriend" (must find out that guy's name!) were sitting at a table for two, both asleep, both "bookend" pictures leaning forward their heads down.

She was happy to see Jeri and thrilled to see me ("Where have you been," she always asks, no matter how brief a time I have been gone...that's when I think she thinks I'm one of her sisters.  She will act the same way if she goes to the bathroom and returns, and finds me sitting where she left me.)

Before we went to Atria, we went to Target to buy her a new lamp.  Jeri discovered that her bedside lamp looked like it had been knocked over and the bulb hung at a rakish angle, which looked dangerous.

We quickly returned from Atria and packed up to go to Ned & Marta's for dinner.  Ned needed Jeri to participate in a video that he is making for Brianna's upcoming 10th birthday.  He has made a video for her for the past 9 years and this is the last one he is going to make.

It took forever to get there because the night before there was a Sacramento shooting of an unarmed Black man in his mother's back yard, trying to enter by the back door.  There had been reports of someone breaking into cars and the police tried to stop him.  He was carrying a cell phone, which they mistook for a gun and shot him 20 times, killing this father of two young children.  (I already know they are going to get off because "experts" looking at videotape said that it was a "reasonable killing.")  There were protesters marching, stopping traffic on the freeway and blocking entrance to the Golden One stadium, delaying the start of a Kings basketball game.

It was gridlock all over downtown Sacramento, which we had to drive through, with police cars, sirens beeping (if not blaring) on every block.  I texted Ned to say that we had been delayed by the protest and he texted back "Watching it on tv.  See you when you figure it out."

He made a nice dinner for all of us and then the videotaping took place.  There was a lot of laughter but I am sworn to secrecy until the video is released, so I won't write about it until the end of the month, but it's a good, funny story, with lots of photos.

I can say that while the videotaping was going on, Marta amused herself with her iPod,

while the dog went to sleep and didn't pay any attention to the shenanigans.  But it was definitely fun.

Then home and I collapsed because I had missed my afternoon nap and was exhausted.

A Day with Grandma

I didn't go to Atria today, but Jeri and Alice Nan did.  Reports are that they had a great time and laughed a lot.  And, of course, they took the traditional "Grandma and Jeri" photo.

 

There was also a Grandma and Alice Nan photo.

 

And the best photo of all from their visit.  

I love that photo.  I haven't seen that grandma in months.  Jeri should be here all the time.

They were gone a long time and when they got back here. Polly got right up on Jeri's lap again.  She took some terrific photos.  This is my favorite:

 

(I'm going to get a 5x7 and then have it framed!)

Alice Nan left to return to Norm's house, Walt went off to visit with his friend, whom he and two others visit twice a month so the wife can go to a meeting with some other women, since she doesn't like to leave him home alone.  Jeri and I watched the Mister Rogers special that I recorded a bit ago.

After he returned, we had a quiet dinner and then Jeri worked on a project, Walt read the paper, and I sat in the family room in case anybody wanted to chat.  Just a nice homey family evening together.

Finally Walt and Jeri headed off to bed and I watched a little more TV, with closed captioning on, and now am headed to sleep myself.

Soporific

I'm always thrilled when I find a new way to get back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night.  I slept until 4:30, which is a long stretch of sleep for me, and then settled in to watch Morning Joe, as I do every morning, hoping it will put me to sleep.  Depending on how outrageous the president has been the day before is a measure of whether I will sleep or be kept awake by anger.

However, Jeri and Walt's sister Alice are here and I didn't want to wake them with the sound of the TV and since I have discovered closed captioning, I just turned that on and read the news.  However, found that reading the news, where you couldn't close your eyes and just listen and hope you'd fall asleep obviously didn't work and within half an hour i was genuinely sleepy, so decided to try going into the living room and lying down and I was asleep instantly!  Slept until 8:30, an amazingly full night of sleep.

Closed captioning may be my best discovery this year.  We've had it for years, but I didn't know how to turn it on and by accident managed to get it working.  What a difference in watching British drama!  But realizing that I could read dialog on TV programs, so as not to disturb sleeping people was wonderful.  I watched an entire episode of Call the Midwife after everyone went to bed....I got to see the episode and understand it and never turned the sound on.

BUT, yes Jeri is here.  Alice drove her up from Santa Barbara.  Whenever Alice and Walt travel, they send each other one word texts, letting the other know their location.  When we are going to Santa Barbara, Walt drives and I text.  So Walt sent a text around 1 p.m., asking where they were and Jeri texted back that they were in Salinas.  So when we got on the road at 3:40, I sent a text saying we were at Dixon and Jeri responded that they were in Sausalito.  Our ultimate destination was Norm's house in Petaluma and based on where they were and where we were it sounded like it was going to be a race to see who got to Norm's first.

As it turned out, we did, but they were right behind and about 5 minutes later, Norm's wife Olivia showed up.  We did what modern families do these days when they all get together.

 

In time we went to Lily Kai, a nice Chinese restaurant (where we had a Latina waitress) in Petaluma.  It was delicious and we sat at a nice round table which was just perfect for being able to talk to everyone.

 

Dinner was delicious and we talked about, among other things: plantar fasciitis, orthotics, mattresses, and teeth.....and I marveled at how old we had all (even Jeri) gotten!

Back to Norm's house for dessert and to watch the brief video of Jeri and Bri playing a duet and then we headed home, in 2 cars.  It was a harrowing drive since the road is narrow and winding and there was not heavy rain but heavy drizzle and too many cars.  I think we were all happy to finally get to the freeway.

Polly was on her best behavior and only barked a little and ended up in Jeri's lap.  Victory, after only 8 years.

This morning I made a big batch of waffles and sausage and then Jeri and Alice Nan headed off to Atria to visit my mother.

Alice will be leaving this afternoon and Jeri will be here another 2 days.  It's nice having her home -- well our home.  I realize her home is in Boston now.