Why does grandma have flames coming out her ears?

That's kind of an unusual title I suppose. My granddaughter Pierre drew a picture of me and titled it 'angry grandma'. There appeared to be flames or smoke or steam coming out the ears. Personally, I think it was a bit of an exaggeration but that's just my opinion. Actually, I think I was pretty mellow for the entire visit. She and her two brothers and sister and mom visited with us last week. Steve wasn't able to come because of a new Apple project that was just unveiled and he was super-busy. We had a great visit and spent the last 2 days at the beach house. Wills and I flew kites - Pierre made an attempt but lost interest.

The best thing to happen though was the glass float Beth and Maddie "found". I should explain that the city of Lincoln City has a program where they put out numbered and signed glass floats throughout most of the year for visitors and beach combers to find. Beth said she had already decided if she found one that she would give it to me, since I've been searching for years now. As it happened, the fellow who was assigned to put the floats out on this particular day basically set it on the rocks right in front of Beth and said simply 'for you'. She called to me (I was about 20 feet ahead) and allowed me to be the one to pick it up. It's really beautiful and multi-colored. A real piece of art. I feel just the tiniest bit guilty since I didn't actually find it, but Beth says it would have been difficult to get it home in one piece, so I'll stick with that. We bought a little stand for it and it now sits proudly in our beach house with the signed certificate of authenticity.

Son Kevin is having a personal interview for a job in California. He's already had several phone interviews. I'm not going to say anything more about it until its certain, but I hope everyone will think good thoughts for him.

I'm looking forward to having Ben and Ryann next week. It'll be fun to have them around to play with Sophie and Juliet each morning. The week after that, nephew Rick and niece Tammy will be here for a few days.

I planted the hanging pots outside on my back patio today. I just hope we don't have another weird weather thing happen and the plants all die. I'm going to have to set up my automatic watering system for the summer since I won't be here all the time.

I guess that's about all I have for now. Hopefully I'll be more interesting next time.

Hugs, Debs

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all. May the blessings of the season be upon all of you that I love so dearly.

I haven't written much lately. I think the reason has been that I was feeling poorly and not sure why. I do suffer from allergies, so that's always a part of it, but I was also have a feeling of general malaise and a lack of energy. A week or so ago I started having trouble swallowing and when I was able to swallow, it hurt like the dickens. Because the pain was mostly in my chest, I was worried it may be a heart attack (because of family history) but it turns out that I have damaged my esophagus somehow - maybe a pill getting 'stuck' and burning it is one theory - but regardless of the 'how' it has really knocked me on my keister. I'm not able to eat much, but after a few days on medication I think I do feel better. The doctor feels pretty confident that is my problem, but will be doing some additional testing to make certain it isn't something more sinister.

The next few weeks promise to be exciting. I will have (in addition to Sophie and Juliet who I watch several days a week) my grandchildren Ben and Ryann will come visit for several days while their parents are on a short cruise to Mexico. After that my daughter-in-law Beth and my four grandchildren Madeline, Wills, Pierre and Cedric will visit for a week. Hopefully son Steve will be able to join us for a day or so during that time. After that, my niece Tammy and nephew Rick will visit for several days. I'm so excited to see them all and hope I can keep everyone happy and busy. I'm sure we will. The fact that Oregon has no sales tax is always fun for the California visitors, so shopping is always a part of the planned activities.

My art is coming along. I've been experimenting some with my techniques and trying not to be so literal in my painting. Being a little abstract is really rather fun. The two tree paintings are done and are just for fun, the third is of irises and not yet complete, but close.

For some reason the spacing here on my blog between paragraphs either doesn't show up at all (no space) or is a huge gaping hole. I'm not sure why that is happening, but I mention it because the overall look of the blog is distorted and that bugs me.

We had a nice dinner at daughter Amy's last night. She is a very good cook (she didn't get that from me) and the meal was lovely. Then Kerry had a few little projects to discuss. We'll get to those soon. Kerry is among the actively employed members of the family now. She actually has health insurance for the first time since college! We're proud of her and her commitment to this new job and lifestyle.

I've been working on our Stewart genealogy for several weeks and really getting frustrated with the inability to move forward. According to family history, brother Jim remembers our grandmother saying was that the Stewart's came by way of Oregon. In theory, since I live here I should be able to find something, but so far no luck. I'll keep digging away at it. We know our great grandfather was born in Pennsylvania, but the route that brought him to California by way of Oregon is still very unclear. It doesn't help that the name Stewart seems to be as prolific in Pennsylvania as Jones and Brown. Sheesh. I'll find something soon though. I just know it.

Time to start preparing Easter dinner. Kevin and Stephanie and the girls will be coming over. I'm excited to see them. When Kevin finishes school and gets a job, who knows where they'll end up. I hope you all have a wonderful day and a great week.

Love, Debs

Spring Break 2010

It's been a pretty quiet Spring Break so far. I've been at the beach for most of it. I went home for a day to watch my darling little granddaughters, but otherwise I've been here. It was wonderful and sunny for 2 days then mostly raining for the rest of it. My friend Debi came over yesterday with 2 other friends and we went to lunch. That was nice. We also did a little shopping. Otherwise I've been reading, painting and watching for whales.



Later today I'm going to replace some doorknobs upstairs. Maybe I'll do a little touch-up painting in the half-bath. This is truly a quiet time. Strangely, I'm not bored. I suppose I should be but the view out my window commands my interest any time I think I might feel bored.



In a little while I'm going to the Library to take some books back. That's the extent of my activities for today. The excitement I feel is almost overwhelming.

Works in Progress

I suppose it's not a good idea to post paintings you aren't done with yet, but today is my niece Jenny Stewart-Grimes's birthday and the middle painting is of her. Her mother took a black and white photo of her when she was about 8 years old and I always thought it was so cute. Anyway, this is my rendition of it. The top painting is nearly finished. It's from a photo I took in Chesapeake Bay when I was visiting with my niece Lori and her family. The bottom is from a photo my brother Jim took when he visited the Oregon Coast in January. I've taken 'artistic license' with all of them. but they are coming along.

One project

This is one of my latest projects. It was a white fiberboard cabinet over the toilet. It's still fiberboard underneath, but I painted it a base color then gel stained over it. I think it matches the vanity pretty good.

Ah the things I do to keep busy...sheesh.

Steve

First photo: Steve at graduation from Carnegie-Mellon. Second:Steve graduating Basic Army Training. Third: Steve and Stewart cousins (from left:Mike, Jeff,Joanne, Lori,Judy,Tammy, Rick,front:Greg, Joe and Steve)Notice Steve and Rick are looking elsewhere. Fourth: My mom (Inez) and Steve.

As always, my thoughts are a jumble when I speak of my first-born son. Circumstances dictated that his dad left us when Steve was 2 months old to go into the Air Force. He was gone for the next 2+ years. I believe there was one visit in the middle for a few weeks and a short stint in Georgia for a few months. Otherwise it was just Steve and me. I was 18 when Steve was born, but thought I knew everything about child rearing. After all, I'd been an aunt since I was 9....how hard could it be? Right?

Steve was the definition of "precocious" as a child - Bright, witty, stubborn. He knew from infancy on that he had all the people in his close family circle (grandparents,aunts, uncles and cousins) hornswoggled. He was always the center of attention at any family gathering simply because he was "Steve" and no one knew what to expect from him other than the unexpected. He entertained us all and tried my patience every hour of every day. Sometimes I lost it and would spank him, but I tried to be a good parent. We were together 24/7 and even though we lived with my parents, I was his primary care giver. My parents tried not to interfere too much with my parenting, but would (especially Dad) step in and remind me from time-to-time that he needed to be reigned in. His cousins were a big influence on him. I can still recall Cousin Rick's "evil laugh" as he taught Steve some new mischief and then would look on innocently as I yelled at Steve for it.

He was my light in those early days and kept me going. He wasn't too sure about his dad when Bruce finally came home to us. It took a good while for him to accept this interloper to his domain. When his sister Amy came along when he was 4 years old, he was a big help. He was OK with a girl being in the family, but when brother Kevin came along a few years later - he was right back in the "alpha-male" thing, and didn't accept him for a good while. By the time sister Kerry came along, he was pretty much doing his own thing and seemed to accept her without much problem. He was 10 by that time and he and his best friend Greg were always off doing boy things. We lived in Iowa and the time and you could still let kids play outside for hours and hours without worrying about their well-being.

We moved to Oregon when Steve was 15. He was in

high school by that time and enjoyed drama and acting as well as Scouts, Church, and girls. He graduated from Sunset High School in Beaverton, Oregon. After graduation went to the University of Oregon for a year. He majored in having fun. That wasn't working our so he joined the army with the idea it would help him pay for his schooling in later years. Steve and the army did NOT get along. After a relatively short time he left and came home. He worked and went to school sporadically, trying to find direction for his life. He met and married a local girl, Beth Beckstead. After a year or so they had their first child, Madeline. Wills came along a year or so later.

About this time Steve had been working for a building contractor and decided to build himself a home. He did build a beautiful home in West Salem, almost entirely on his own. He designed it and built it from the ground up. He also went into business for himself as a contractor. He did that for a few years, but wasn't happy in that business. They sold their home and after a few more starts at other businesses he decided he needed to go back to school. He and his family moved into our house and he started taking classes and working. 2 more children Pierre and Cedric joined the family while they lived with us. After Steve graduated with a BS in Computer Science, he decided he wanted to go for a higher degree.

He had always tested very high in all intelligence tests he took. That gave him the opportunity to go to Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh PA. So the family moved from our house to the great unknown of Pennsylvania. It was a good move for them and they all benefited from it. It was very difficult for us when they left. I can barely think about it without misting up.

After graduation from CM, he took a Job at Apple Computer where he still works today. His family is doing well and they seem to enjoy the Northern California lifestyle.

I'm very proud of Steve. It wasn't easy for him or for his family to take on the challenges they have, but they've all done it and done it well. He's just turned 40 today. My baby boy. When I think of him I still see a little blond boy with a huge grin on his face, and a tease in his eye.

I love you, Steve.

March? How'd that happen????

Wow...where do the days go? Here it is the first of March already. Wills, my #1 grandson turned 12 yesterday. He's growing so fast. It's hard to remember that 5 of his 12 years were spent in this house with his family and grandparents. He's barely the little blond towhead he was then, but he's still got a sweet and loving heart.

My son Steve will be 40 in a few days. Now THAT is startling since I'm only 39. Ok...so maybe I'm 39-ish now. Since its his birthday coming up I will take a day very soon and write just about Steve. In some ways we grew up together since I was only 18 when he was born. His first two years I was his only parent, as his dad was away in the military. But I'll get to that in a day or so.

A friend of mine (Debi Dana) and I were talking the other day and I mentioned that I'd been listening to country music for the past 10 months or so. To me it sounds more like the old fashioned rock and roll I grew up with than the stuff on the pop stations now. She immediately suggested that it was time for an intervention...that an old-time rocker like me simply can't be listening to country music. I assured her it was true. Now I'm just waiting for the intervention. I hope in involves a Bruce Springsteen concert or something.

For some reason I've been thinking about my Aunt Minnie for the last few days. When I was a kid she lived with our family on and off for most of my life. She was like a second mother to me. My mother passed away before she did, even though she was the older sister. We all missed my mom so much. Aunt Minnie moved around after that for a few years and finally settled with her own daughter in Seattle. She became ill with cancer that had metastasized into her brain. I went to stay and spend time with her in the hospital as it became clear she was dying. She would come in and out of consciousness and lucidity as the hours passed. When she was lucid it was almost like seeing a cloud clearing from her eyes. During one of these clear period she looked over and saw me and said "Oh hi Deb! You're mom says to tell you 'hi'!" Then she went back into one of her clouds.

I was dumbstruck. I choose to believe that she was moving back and forth between the world of the living and the world of the dead. This was a gift just for me. I cherish the memory. She died the next day.

My projects just keep moving along. My dollhouse is looking adorable. I'll get a picture of it soon. I had a great group of 10 year-olds for a museum tour at the museum I volunteer at. It's always fun to talk to groups of kids who have great questions. I had to have them hold their questions at one point because I couldn't get through the tour.

I took a cabinet out of my bathroom that was painted white. It always bothered me that it was white, yet my vanity sink is cherry wood. So I decided to faux-paint the white cabinet to look like cherry wood. I think its coming along nicely, too. I'll try to remember to get a picture of it, as well when I get it re-installed. I base painted the whole thing a terracotta color and then used cherry gel stain to make it look like wood. I need to reinstall the glass on the doors and then I'll be ready to show it off. Oh, I need to put a clear varnish over the whole thing also so it doesn't chip.

OK, so that's all that's happening in the life of Debby. Well, nearly all. I hope everyone is happy and well.