Saturday, March 29, 2008


Every spring I watch for the crocus to come up. This year spring is very late. Patches of snow are still on the ground. On the east side of my house I could see crocus blooming this morning and it makes me very happy. We've had a very cold and snowy winter and finally maybe spring is on its way. This morning my friend Dee and I took a long walk in the country, walking fast for 70 minutes. It felt so good to be outdoors and enjoying the sunshine. We began our walk with caps and mittens but soon became warm.









Here is my student Mitsuko and her beautiful daughter Momoko who came to say goodbye because they were moving to Houston. We will miss them.





Here is my new little friend Sakiho enjoying her lunch. Isn't she cute?


I am very excited because tomorrow I'll be traveling. First I will see my old friend Karen, who was my roommate in college many years ago, now living in Connecticut but visiting in Michigan for a few days. Next I will go on to Steve and Marta's house. This is spring break week for many Michigan schools; I will enjoy time with Gabriel while his parents are at work. Then at the end of the week, we will go on to Chicago to see Scarlett and her parents. I'm hoping for mild weather so we can spend some time outdoors at the park with each grandchild.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Recently two of my students and their families returned to Japan after living in our community for several years. Before leaving they came to say goodbye to me. Above please see Yoshie who has many interests including golf and knitting. Below is Chika and her sweet daughter Ami, who also likes golf and has wonderful skills with crafts. We were sad to see them leave and we will miss them.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Cookie Helper
Children are very enthusiastic about helping with chocolate chip cookie making. Gabriel looks forward to "making cookies with Grandma", and grandma enjoys it too! Gabriel's father Steve always enjoyed baking. Steve could time the baking of the cookies in the oven so they were just the right blend of crispiness and softness. Now a new generation is making cookies!

Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter
We had a wonderful Easter with Steve, Marta, and Gabriel. I love to spend time with Gabriel. We play dinosaurs, build castles, race cars, and watch movies. In the picture on the left, we are enjoying breakfast together.

Easter dinner was so delicious. Here you can see Marta and Tony checking the ham.


















I like this picture of Grandfather and Grandson together.





Marta took this picture of Tony, Steve, our friend Gustavo, and me at the dinner table. Please notice the beautiful table arrangement created by Marta.






We enjoyed Gabriel's Easter egg hunt. Please check out Marta's blog to see a video of him in action!

Sunday, March 16, 2008


Cookie Helpers

Here are my little friends Ann Marie and Mary Jo having a lesson in cookie baking. They had washed their hands with soap and water just before this video was taken, and immediately after the video, hands were washed again. Children always enjoy the sweet taste of cookie dough!

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tony's older brother Mont passed away last week in California. Mont loved the outdoors and loved fishing. Many years ago we had a family vacation in California where Mont introduced us all to California fishing. Our children were young so this was a wonderful experience for everyone. After the fish were caught, Mont and Tony cooked them over a campfire. This is a very nice memory.

Saturday, March 08, 2008

Travels


Tom, Kelly, and Matthew just returned from visiting Kelly's sister Laurie and her family who are stationed with the U.S. Navy for the next few years in Italy. Matthew received a lot of kind attention from people who were surprised with his blond cuteness!













Matthew really enjoyed spending time with his three big boy cousins.









Thursday, March 06, 2008

Memories

Here I am as a newlywed in the summer of 1965 at a dinner with my new husband's family in Manila. (I can't believe I wore that short skirt!) Having never been on a plane before, I traveled with Tony to meet his family on the other side of the world in the Philippines. How risky to marry someone whose family you hadn't yet met, who was a different race, religion, nationality, and with 12 years difference in age. As I look back, I'm surprised that I was able to do this; and yet here we are, almost 43 years later, still doing well after all these years!

This week I've been thinking of those early days, meeting Tony's family, experiencing a new culture, figuring things out. Tony's parents are the older couple in the picture; and now we are the older couple! The others are Tony's brothers and their wives.

How quickly the years have passed! Tony's parents and his brother Mars have been gone for several years. Last week we learned that our sister-in-law Angeline fourth from the left in the above picture passed away in Los Angeles after many years of illness. She was a kind and gentle lady who will be missed. We're also very concerned about Tony's older brother Mont, near San Francisco who is dealing with a very critical health situation. We wish the best for him. And lastly, Tony himself was in the hospital two weeks ago with stomach issues, but thankfully is now fine again. In fact he is very fine, eating well, talking about the garden if spring ever comes, working on a lot of stuff around the house!

So we keep our memories of days gone by and look ahead to the wonderful futures of our children and grandchildren whom we love so much.