REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Joe and Family Cleared to Go Home

There was good news when Joe saw the surgeon this a.m. in Los Angeles. The air bubble he inserted yesterday worked and the retina is fully reattached. It will be a while before Joe's vision returns, but he can now lay on his back and he even took a walk this afternoon. They had postponed their return flight to Washington, but it's back on for Tuesday morning. We have one more day together. 

When Laura and I were playing with the boys on the front lawn today, a woman volunteered to take some photos of us together. It was a gorgeous California day. Mollie has proved to be very kid-friendly, but sometimes jumps too roughly on little Arlo. I did manage, however, to vacuum two rooms today and even gardened some. Now that Joe is out of the woods, regular life kicks in. 

I live just a half block from Redondo Beach Fire Station #1 and when we took a walk today, we had hoped to see the Sunday vehicle washing extravaganza, but the trucks were back in the station. The chief, however, generously gave of his time letting Zach sit in several places on the truck. Even Arlo got a turn. 

My feelings are all over the map. I have adored having my family the 10 days they have been here, but Joe's detached retina gave us all a lot of food for thought. In just a heart beat, life can totally change. It appears that the ultimate outcome is going to be positive for Joe and his family, but only time will tell. 

As for me, the past four days have been in the routine I had as a young mom. You just power on, feed kids, keep them clean and safe, try to keep the house from turning into a dump, naps, play times, dog walking. You do what you can in the few minutes of alone time you have before it's time to sleep. I had forgotten how hard those days were. I greatly admire all you young families with kids. My life is an easy one in comparison. Thanks to all of you who have left comments and sent e-mails of encouragement. I greatly appreciate it! 

The Saga of Disneyland and the Torn Retina

My son Joe, his wife and two boys arrived on the 20th from Pt. Angeles for a week's vacation. We've had a ball together, all of us--until Thursday, Disneyland Day for the two Pullara brothers and their families. When Joe was going through It's a Small World his world became considerably smaller when he found he had lost partial vision in one eye which got worse as time progressed. His wife drove home and Joe called to say he needed to see an opthomologist or go in to emergency. I was able to contact my own specialist and he met Joe in his office Thursday night with the bad news of a partial torn retina. Oh, oh! He referred him to a retinal specialist who fit him into his office on Friday morning and Joe had surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital last night and came home largely immobilized, face down. 

So much for going home anytime soon. This morning he saw the surgeon in Beverly Hills and the retina still isn't totally adhered, so he injected some kind of bubble to keep it in place. He sees him again the next two mornings and maybe they can fly home Tuesday. The retinal specialist there is near Bremerton.

Now I know why God gives babies to young people. I don't even know how Joe and Laura are managing, although the whole family has come to the fore with drivers, dinner makers, and special play dates to keep the little ones as occupied as we can. I just so hope Joe continues to heal well. Just like that--life changes. 

This is a picture of the four grandsons at Disneyland when Joe was still seeing well enough to use the camera. Prayers for my son and family, please. 

 
 
 

Villa Redondo Rocks With the Activity of Wee Ones

For those of you who read here regularly, my son Joe, Laura and little guys Zach, nearly 4, and Arlo, 20 months are bunking at Grandma Fran's Villa Redondo townhouse.  

This morning as I was getting ready for work, Arlo was playing with trucks in my bedroom and Mollie came up to kiss him, although Mollie's kisses are more about cleaning up dripping noses and drools. 

Yesterday the gang, including Grandpa Ray, went to the L.A. Zoo and all of us went to dinner at Grandpa Ray and Grandma Diana's house for dinner. Ray is my former husband, 27 years of marriage and 25 years divorced, and we are on good terms. This sure makes family get-togethers a whole lot easier. 

The house is rocking. Every room is filled with trucks and toys as Grandma collects them and my other grandsons, Henry and Fritz, donated many to the cause. Used books are also everywhere thanks to Grandma's used book sale purchases and the resurrection of my own kids' books from somewhere deep in the garage. I re-recorded my phone message this morning as somehow or other the answering machine got detached and in the background are little chattering voices and Mollie barking. By the way, the television stopped playing, and even my computer got somehow detached. Little boys sure like anything mechanical--and big boys, too. 

Mollie is in seventh heaven. She bounds from room to room and DIL Laura and the boys take her for walks much oftener than I do. 

Life doesn't get much better than this. Today Joe took the family down to RAT Beach to watch him surf. Tomorrow we are going to the La Brea Tar Pits, which is manageable for me, although Thursday's Disneyland trip is not one I want to go on. Joe is meeting some school buddies today and Mom's favorite lasagne will be dinner tonight. Two nights the Grandparents are babysitting (together as a team) while Joe and Laura have some time together at night. Also, Joe is going to be my computer guru tonight and add some memory to my laptop. Yippee!

Family Week in Redondo Beach

Yesterday my son Joe, wife Laura, Zach almost 4, and Arlo 20 months came to visit for a week from Port Angeles, WA. To say I am excited would be the understatement of the year. 

Our group shot of Grandma and the six grandkids wasn't too successful, but here we are. 

From left, that's Fritz, 5, Whitney, 22, Henry, 6, moi, Anthony, 21, Laura holding Arlo, 20 months, and Zach, almost four.

  Here is Arlo in Henry and Fritz's playroom. 

 This is Zach at the beach playground by grandma's house.

And my grown-up grandkids, Whitney and Anthony. 

The week, weather cooperating, will be a series of visits to Disneyland, maybe the zoo, and who knows what else? And Joe always has lots of friends to see when he comes into town. Today he met with his middle and high school friends. It seems like only yesterday when Joe, Christy and Tony were little kids themselves. 

The Tulip Tree Signals Spring Near in Palos Verdes

When I came to the Malaga Cove Library in Palos Verdes to volunteer this afternoon, the tulip tree was covered with blooms. 

When this happens, I know spring is around the corner--or maybe already here. 

Wikipedia says that Liriodendron  is a genus of two species of tree in the Magnoliaceae family, known under the common name tulip tree (although it is unrelated to the tulip). Liriodendron tulipifera is native to eastern North America, whileLiriodendron chinense is native to China and Vietnam. Both species are large deciduous trees. Various extinct species have been described from the fossil record.

So, that's the technicalities of the gorgeous tulip tree, but you've got to come and see it for yourself. It's at the back entrance off Via Pinale and is worth a drive just to see. And look at the rest of this historic library while you are there. 

  

Mollie and I are Sponsoring Homer in Cookie's Memory

Guess what? Mollie and I are sponsoring a bassett hound, Homer, for Rover Rescue. Here he is:

Homer is about three years old, approximately 45 pounds, and Cathy Rubin’s write up says,  “Sweet, affectionate and loyal. Loves to strut his stuff on a walk and is quite the head turner. Good with other dogs. -- Sponsored by: Fran Pullara and Mollie, in memory of Cookie.” If you would like to sponsor a dog, just click on the Sponsored by link above.

Needless to say, my hands are full with Mollie or I’d adopt Homer as a companion myself. Mollie is a bundle of energy, sometimes mischievous, and I had to start over with house training during our recent rain storms. She hates rain and doesn’t want to go outdoors when it's wet. I keep forgetting that in many ways Mollie, who is about 20 months old now, is still a youngster. Does Homer look like a dog you would like to take home and love?  Contact Rover Rescue or any pet rescue place in your area. Fostering and sponsoring are other options in addition to actually owning a pet.  

Surfers Paradise Yesterday in Palos Verdes

To say there are a lot of surfers in the South Bay area of Los Angeles is an understatement. For that matter, surfing is big throughout California--and the surf has been especially big lately. Even my old dude sons (42 and 47) still surf when they can and sometimes when I drive to work next to the ocean, it looks like there is a traffic jam of little black dots—all waiting for the right wave. Sometimes I go to the cliffs in Palos Verdes to watch the surfers; it is very calming.

I could never get the kinds of shots my friend Allen Chernack, who posts his photos at Tour Retired at SmugMug, gets however. He and his wife Kathy were atop a Palos Verdes 200' cliff yesterday shooting down with his Christmas gift teleconverter lens. Check out these two photos.

Allen’s wife Kathy is also a good photographer. Take a look at this 200 cliff (off of Paseo del Mar, I think)—and that’s the coastline from Santa Monica all the way to Pt. Mugu in the background. The real estate developers call this view the Queen's Necklace.

Be sure to click on the photos to see them in better resolution. By the way, to see Allen and Kathy's travels across the U.S. and Canada the past few years via SMUG, go to his main Tour Retired home page. 

Again, all you people fighting bad weather, I don’t mean to make you feel bad. I'm trying to cheer you up. It was another gorgeous day, but rain is coming again next week we're told. 

A Gorgeous Redondo Beach Evening

All you experiencing bad weather where you are, it was in the mid-70s in Redondo Beach today. A truly gorgeous day. In the late afternoon I met several friends at Kincaids on the Redondo Beach Pier and was able to snap several photos. 

This is a shot of the Redondo Beach Pier from Kinkaid's deck. That's the Palos Verdes Peninsula you see in the background. My own favorite restaurant is a very old one in the middle called Old Tony's. The surf has been very large in Southern California, but this area is a small bay and quite sheltered. 

 
This is the first of a series of six photos where the sun is dropping into the sea. And to think I live only two blocks from here. Life doesn't get much better than this. By the way, to the far left you see the buoy bell where the sea lions congregate. They are out tonight as I type this--barking back and forth.  

Sophia, the Art Mannikin Says Outta Here to Valentines Day

Sophia has had a lonely six weeks since early January. She dressed conservatively in an old navy blue evening gown from when I was young and wore a fake grey fox coat.  

No one paid any attention to her because she was not flamboyant. Because her "dresser" was lazy for Valentines Day, she kept on that conservative dress and got some Valentine accessories. 

None of her beaus sent any valentines or even called. I have this fantasy, kind of like "Night at the Museum," or the "Velveteen Rabbit," that when I finally fall asleep, it's party time in her part of the world. She did remind me that she is disenchanted with Valentines Day when she heard on NPR that it is the most commercial holiday of the year after Christmas. 

She did tell me that tomorrow she wants to get ready for Mardi Gras. That's her favorite outfit of all. 

Poor Sophia. She needs a young, flamboyant artist to come over and dress her. And, Lorna of Lorna in Wonderland, she says her arms are really getting tired. 

It has always been my dream to use her for a mannikin collage, but knowing my penchant for procrastination, that's not going to happen anytime soon. 

Love Letter to a Book

A librarian friend of mine in New York e-mailed the following poem she found in a library newsletter, and I thought you might enjoy it, too. I have not been able to give it attribution, so if you know who wrote it, please let me know. Happy Valentines Day to all. 

You make me leave the house hungry and unshowered, clutching your covers, one foot barely before the other. The little voyage from my house to the office a thousand days long. When the life of your words is too much to bear I halt, breathe, and try to hush the background buzz of people and cars and feet all striding confidently somewhere. I abandon your words to my mind, I let them invade me. I devour them one by one, or in dozens, or in herds and flocks and floods. Suck on them like on roasted ribs, turning them this way and that in my mouth, and when nothing is left, lick my fingers with heavy joy. You make me stop on the street, on the corner, on the stairs – perhaps sit shielded from the wind in some building, on my way to somewhere, now I forget where… You make me almost perish under the wheels of a brand new pick-up truck (No need to yell, Mister, can’t you see I’m in love?). I admonish myself for wanting to flare ahead – wanting to have all of your words all at once; chide myself for losing the most delicious details in my great hunger. I cover the next paragraph, the following page with my palm and laugh at myself for with giddiness of a child knowing she will have her cake, and have it, and have it, and will have her cake and eat it too. I finish you (as if there is such a thing, an end of you) sitting in my office. And then close your covers and smile – all that, all that, before my morning coffee.