Barbara's Last Supper... sorta

A group of nine of us gathered at Maura and Jackie's place up in North Hills yesterday evening. We took Barb out to dinner. She's leaving soon for Virginia.

Here are Cathy, Robin, Jackie and Barb leaving Claim Jumper. We had a real nice meal. I took some great pictures of us all enjoying our meals, but was threatened with death if I published them. I'm not sure why lovely, intelligent women don't want their pictures taken, but, fearing for my life, I will restrain myself.

After dinner we headed off to the mall next door for some book shopping.


We are all book-aholics.

It was hard to tear us away again. But we eventually ended up back at the Crew's North Hills HQ.

One of the biggest attractions of the evening was Jackie's new dog - a sweet little shepherd mix puppy named Holly Berry. Holly had a delightful little doggie personality, was happy to interact with all the ladies who were gathered in the living room, and was a great source of amusement to everyone.

Maura and Jackie's cats are... adjusting... to the little interloper, who seems very happy to have a good home. And loves her new kitty siblings, despite their nonchalant attitudes towards her.

Maura and Jackie had a lovely refreshment table set up in their beautiful home, and had a delicious cake for dessert after we got back from the restaurant.

We are really going to miss Barbara. But I suppose now we will have an excuse to visit the lovely state of Virginia...






Here is Cathy playing with little Holly.


My guess is that Holly will not remain "little" very long!













She's a little cutie pie. Holly, not Cathy. Well, actually, Cathy can be a cutie pie under the right circumstances. But I was discussing the puppy. Now I want a puppy. A little sweet cuddly, squirmy worm puppy.

Okay, let me clarify that. I want a puppy without the piddling on the rug and the chewing of everything in site.

Yup. I think that's called a C-A-T.

No offense meant, little Holly.

Family History Fair 2010

Every year the Orange Stake hosts a Family History Fair. They bring in genealogists from all over and hold a day full of classes in all aspects of family history research.

It's been a few years since I've attended one of these, and it was a treat. I was able to attend several classes by Barbara Renick, secretary to the National Genealogical Society and the author of Genealogy 101: How to Trace Your Family's History and Heritage.




















I attended lectures in how to use the new Family Search.org and how to use the new Family Search Wiki and another taught by Caroline Rober, a professional genealogist and a past president of the So Cal chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists.

The credentials of all the lecturers were impressive. And the fair was well attended.

I checked the "Surname Exchange" board, but didn't find anyone who was searching for any of my family names, and no one doing Scandinavian searches. I suppose that was to be expected.

In spite of that, I got excited about picking up my family research again, especially with the explosion of information now on the internet.

Thursday Blues

I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME.

I ESPECIALLY HATE "SPRINGING FORWARD".

The concept of Daylight Savings is like that old superstition that if you cut a blanket in half, and sewed one end on to the other, you'd have a longer blanket. [insert eye roll here]

Thanks for letting me vent.
M

Mother Nature's Early Wake Up Call

We had a 4.4 rock 'n roller this morning at 4:04 a.m. This is what it did to my candelabra!




















The patio has been cracked for all the years I've lived here, but looks a bit more buckled after this morning's temblar.



















My hallway gallery pictures are all scaddi-wompass (how do you spell that?!) Other than that, and a few papers that ended up on the floor, we got off easy this time!


Yup, a subtle reminder that we live in earthquake country.

Just to recap, I was rudely awakened this morning at 4 a.m. by someone shaking the bedroom! Then I realized the whole house was shaking and we were having an earthquake. It's the kind of thing where you look at the alarm and groan because you have to get up in a couple of hours and know you won't get back to sleep.

The weird thing was, I have been watching the USGS website and guessed yesterday that we would have a quake within the next few days. However, I had guessed it was about a 5 in magnitude, but my earthquake sensors must be faulty (no pun intended) as the USGS listed it as a 4.4 at 4:04 a.m. (Lots of fours!)

Whittier is right on the fault line that slipped, but the epicenter was on the north end of the Whittier Narrows fault, under the city of Pico Rivera. They said it was a thrust quake. [3/18 They have just announced that it was on the La Puente fault, not the Whittier fault. The La Puente fault also goes under downtown LA and is capable of a 7.5 shaker. I do NOT want to experience that. Thank you, Mother Nature!]

So, was it a foreshock of something bigger to come? Hope not! Between the time change (I hate Daylight Savings Time!) and the early wake-up call, everyone was a little cranky today. Funny how that works! Let's hope we don't have another real soon.

Our Angel Lily

Lily Shimodoi was a lovely human being. She passed away this afternoon as I was on the way home from work.

She is pictured here (in blueon the left) with her friend Lynn Vargas (in yellow) at our recent Relief Society social. She had a brief period where she was in remission from cancer. It was so good to see her back at church. But just a few days after this picture was taken, she was put back into the hospital.

Sweet Lily! You were so quiet and gentle in your ways while here with us. We all love you and will miss you so much.

For some reason this blog has turned into a chronicle of life's passages. I'm sitting here thinking that I could use some happier news, and then it hit me that death isn't a sad thing for such a good soul as our sister Lily. So, Happy Day, Lily. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. See you soon.