MY BLOG

Places I Have Lived

2010-07-18T15:50:00.000-07:00

I submitted this to The Columbian, our local newspaper. They print stories from people who want to share something about themselves. I knew I was passing this 'milestone', so thought it would be fun to write something up for the paper. I think this is the one I first submitted, but the editor wanted it much shorter, so I had to cut this down to 700 words or so. With some additional corrections and a few changes, this is the longer version. This was published in the fall of 2009.

Sometime in the next month or so I will have passed a milestone in my life. The longest I have ever lived in one spot has been 11 years and 5 months, give or take. That was in Portland when I was newly married. Then we moved. And moved a few more times, and then ended up in Vancouver where we rented a house for about 18 months. Then we moved to our current abode and we’ve been here 11 years last April. So I am creeping up to my all time staying put record, and I feel that is a pretty momentous occasion, because, believe me I’ve moved a lot.

In March of 1946 I was born in Eugene, Oregon. My parents had been in that area for most of their lives but after I came on the scene, that changed quickly. By December we were in North Bend, on the Oregon coast. Then my dad opened up the Western Auto store in Newport and from early 1948 to mid 1951 we lived in four different houses in Newport. My dad sold that business and we spent the summer in Canyonville before moving to Albany ( 2 houses), Corvallis, and then to Grants Pass, Ore. My mother and father bought a small diner on the highway south of Grants Pass, and I went to Redwood School. I remember that place because we lived in the back of the building and we also lived next door to my dad’s sister and her family. I was the hit of the party because we had a big freezer filled with ice cream goodies that my cousin’s were treated to on a regular basis. My dad was not happy, but he had a hard time saying no. I also remember that there was a terrible traffic accident one night right near the cafe, and my mom and dad got up and opened the doors for the police and whoever wanted or needed some coffee. I was pretty young but I remember the urgency and the hushed tones my parents used. We moved into town and had a home in Grants Pass and I remember walking to school. My dad got us a dog and the dog would follow me to school. Or maybe we lived there first and then had the cafe. Part of the problem with all of this moving around at such a young age, is that the exact time line is blurred, and when this became important for me to figure this all out, they were both gone. So, Dad stayed in Grants Pass for a little while longer and he was in a trailer park near the river and Mom was in an apartment in Salem and she worked for Blue Lake Cannery as a secretary. So technically I lived in both places at one time or another. I remember Grants Pass really well because that’s when I got sick and my dad took me to the doctor’s office after he got off of work. I lost my appendix in Grants Pass, Oregon. Not the same ring to it as leaving your heart in San Francisco, but what are you gonna do? I remember Salem (oh and 2 different apartments there, by the way) as we lived on Edgewater street and that’s when we had a TV and I thought Julius LaRosa and Liberace were the most fascinating of men. I was in second grade. And then we moved. Mom was lured to Henderson, Nevada by her brothers and so off we went. This was in 1953. I have absolutely no idea how we got there. I have no memory of driving or flying or anything. We were here and then in my memory we were there. I'm thinking we probably flew down there, but you'd think that would have made a bigger impression on me. I finished up second grade in Henderson in an area called Carver Park. The area was dusty and sandy and butted up against a wide swath of desert and we kids would go and hunt for lizards. Mom was so thrilled. It was a horrible old school and I had the dubious fortune to have our teacher also be the principal. It was a small school and I likened it later to a POW camp. There was a paddle hanging on the wall and quite often some offending child would be hauled in and smacked with the paddle. Most of the time at the school, I was terrified. We had timed math tests for the first time in my life, and I’m certain this is the reason my math skills are lacking. Thankfully my mother also thought our future did not lie in this part of the world,( I think it was the two-day dust storm that turned the tide there), so I was stashed in the backseat with my cousins as her brother and his wife were abandoning ship too. My mother decided to head for greener pastures in California and I went up to northern California to meet up with my dad. I remember that really well because of the old highway system and having to cross the mountains at night on the Oregon border and it was really, really foggy. It was so bad he had me get out of the car so I could tell him where the center line was. He took me back to Grants Pass, where he was living in a different mobil home park and I stayed with him until my mom got settled. My dad drove me down to Santa Paula, because I do remember a very hot car ride with him. No A/C of course, so the windows are rolled down in the car and the hot air pouring in, but not helping all that much. He got me down there in time to start third grade.

My mother had gotten a job with Union Oil Company and we lived in a small converted garage apartment in back of a house that had a huge avocado tree in their back yard. I still remember all the fallen avocados all over the ground. What a mess. Then, the next summer, my mother got a proper small apartment on Ojai Road and moved in. After my summer with Dad, she was already in the new place. For me,the selling point to that place was that there was a pretty good sized wooded hill behind us and I and my little friends would traipse all over that hill, which was pretty much covered in poison oak. I did pretty good dodging it, but usually had some itchy spot somewhere during the time we lived there. In the meantime Dad had moved to Idleyld Park, up the Umpqua River out of Roseburg, Ore. So I spent summers with him. And then he re-married and moved into Roseburg. My mother, after three years in Santa Paula moved to a nicer place in Ventura, some 10 miles away. During the 3 years we lived there my mom was in four different apartments. Two years were spent in one apartment complex that had a swimming pool. That was very nice. Are you keeping up! When I started fourth grade, my mother began the fight for her life, as she was diagnosed with breast cancer. For a few years I would suddenly find myself being shipped back to Oregon, where I would live with my dad and step-mom or sometimes with my mom’s sister. Fourth, fifth and sixth grades were pretty confusing, believe me. I can hardly put those years into any kind of order. A memory finally surfaced, which I will add some time after I first wrote this. I did go to another school in Santa Paula. I went to Isbell Middle School for the 6th grade. Or maybe for part of the 6th grade. I remember walking to my mom's work place after school, and I remember my class room and we felt a small earthquake when I was in that school room. Interesting that those memories finally surfaced.

My mother and I managed to get me all the way through seventh grade and eighth grade without changing schools. I usually spent the school years in Ventura and then summers in Roseburg. But that doesn’t mean I was in the same house. Oh no. My adult caretakers there also moved around. Flint Street, Lookingglass Road, Emerald Drive, and Stirling Drive, were some of the places I hung out during those years. The most memorable school years that meant the most to me were the almost three years at Anacapa Jr. High. It was a rich school district and I was going to one of the newest and best schools. It was the cadillac of junior high’s as we called them then. Now it’s middle school, I guess. Anyway, I got almost all the way through ninth grade, but my mother was very ill and I had to leave school a few weeks early. I ended up in Roseburg with but two weeks left in the school year. My aunt, being the rule follower that she is, enrolled me as a freshman at the high school. Now I ask you, who does that? My aunt, that’s who. So, circumstances as they were and, sadly, with the death of my mother, I finished up my high school years in Roseburg (and believe me after Anacapa, Roseburg High School left much to be desired, not that I didn’t love it later, mind you..but a big, big difference) and then went on to Ashland for one year of college, then moved to Portland to attend business school since my aunt and uncle had moved there for his job. I had my one year of schooling there to learn how to be a key punch operator, and then off to Honolulu, Hawaii where I spent 3 years of glorious Hawaiian bliss. I moved in with my dad and stepmom who had moved over for an Hawaiian adventure. We shared a small house on Pacific Heights for over a year before they moved back to Oregon. I found a little studio apartment across the street from where I worked and then ended up moving to another place because the rent went up a whopping $15 a month or some silly thing like that.

Then back to reality, back to Portland. I met my husband when I was living with my aunt, moved to his house and after two years moved to the house where we stayed for over eleven years and it was at that point that I thought...wow, I’ve never lived anywhere that long before. I had actually reached that years before, but was too busy to notice, I guess. We moved to Manzanita, Oregon and then a few years later back to Portland., We were in three different houses in Portland before we went over to Vancouver to a house we rented and then to our present home, eleven years ago last April. And THAT’s as close as I can come to all the places that I have lived. Whew.

Will we move again? Maybe. Who knows? I can honestly say that Vancouver, Washington has been one of the best places I have ever lived. Well, maybe not better than Honolulu, but I like Vancouver. It’s a nice town. And so far it holds the current record for me living in one spot. That’s pretty impressive. And you think you got confused reading this? Hey, I had to live it!! By now, I’m lucky to even know what town I live in. I’m pretty sure it’s Vancouver, Washington. Home for eleven years, and almost five months and going strong. Feels good to be home.

Portland

2010-02-26T15:11:00.001-08:00

Portland

Portland is the largest city in Oregon. Like most major cities, it is located on a river. The Willamette River runs right by the city and that flows to the Columbia River. Portland has a lot of nice things about it, for a larger city. It has a nice waterfront area and that is the staging area for many of the festivals and events that Portland has during the year. The biggest one of these is the Portland Rose Festival. And every weekend Portland has the Saturday Market, a popular place to shop and eat. I personally don't get to downtown Portland very often any more. There is a lot to see and do and great places to spend money. Sometimes I would like to go down and just browse around, and then I think of the time and energy to get there, although we have the Max line to get us down there now....it still seems like a lot of work! My age is showing maybe?

http://www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/

http://www.rosefestival.org/

Portland has some great places to visit such as the Oregon Zoo, the Japanese Gardens and the Classical Chinese Garden, the largest one outside of China. These are places that I want to visit again, since it's been far too long. Great photo op's at these places.

http://www.oregonzoo.org/

http://shop.japanesegarden.com/

http://www.portlandchinesegarden.org/

Portland has two Rose Gardens. The first one is for roses. It is a test garden and attracts visitors when the roses are in full bloom. It's a beautiful setting and the view of Portland and to the east is spectacular. The other is the name of the sporting arena where our basketball team, The Trailblazers, have their games. And, of course, all the other things that go on at these places like concerts and such.

http://www.nba.com/blazers/

My husband and son are, of course, huge Blazer fans. Especially now that the team has finally come out of the deep, dark place that they were in for several years, and are now a young, vital, energetic team which is once again a source of pride for our city. Go Blazers!

South Beach, Miami, Florida

2010-02-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

South Beach

South Beach gets it's own page. This was part of our trip to Key West, but it deserves a space of it's own. We got off of the ship very early and had most of the day to kill before the plane ride home. We hopped a cab to South Beach and got there about 10 in the morning. South Beach comes alive at night and in the morning, it's a sleepy place indeed. The humidity hit us like a ton of bricks, but we managed to walk for several blocks and see some things. The amazing Art Deco South Beach look is wonderful, of course.

http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/news/comments/southbeach-artdeco/

We went for some ice tea and bagels and took in the scenery. The wonderful street with the amazing buildings, the greenway across the street and the beach and Atlantic Ocean beyond. I wanted to say that I'd stuck my big toe in the Atlantic Ocean, so we braved the heat and humidity and began our seemingly long trudge to the sea. That humidity made it seem like a walk of a 100 miles instead of two blocks. The waves were flat, the seas calm, the air heavy with tropical moisture. I guess my arms were too tired to raise the camera because this was about the only photo I got of the ocean. I was thinking that I was looking north and the whole of the Atlantic Seaboard was before me, and for a West Coast gal, I found that rather interesting.

We walked from the beach down about 4 or 5 blocks to see the Leslie Hotel, which was the hotel that was used for the movie, The Birdcage. It was important for me to see that place in person. We snapped the photo and that was about all we could take, so we got a cab to take us back to The Hard Rock Cafe for a nice leisurely lunch in air conditioned comfort. Both of the buildings used in that movie are on the photo at the top of this page, and this is a closer photo of the Leslie.

After lunch we wandered around the shopping area and then it was time to head for the airport. Of course, then the fun began because there was something wrong with our plane and we had to change airlines and ended up going to Dallas/Ft.Worth instead of Kansas City to change planes and then got to Portland that way. And for some reason somebody didn't do my ticket right and there was some confusion in DFW if I was going to be able to board the second plane, but this nice lady worked it all out. The sky was beautiful after we left Miami and we followed the sunset. It was dark when we got to Texas and looking out at the lights sprinkled across the black landscape was absolutely stunning. It looked like stars against the night sky. I didn't have a window seat, but I managed to see it anyway. My apologies to who's ever lap I sat on, by the way!

Key West & Bahamas

2010-02-21T15:53:00.000-08:00

Cruising to Key West

Another trip my husband earned was a three day cruise from Miami to Key West and then a day visit to an island owned by Norwegian Cruise Line in the Bahamas. We flew to Miami and stayed one night, just staying around our hotel. It was a modest place, but there was a good restaurant and I tried conch bisque. I think that's when I tried the alligator, also. It was really good. And in the morning, we had huge glasses of fresh Florida orange juice. I may always remember the next morning and how we didn't need a wake up call from the desk. The airport was close by and during the night the flight pattern was in one direction and in the morning they changed it back to their day route I guess, because at 6 a.m. or thereabouts it sounded like a jet plane was about to land on the roof. You never saw two people get out of bed so fast! So, time to get up, I guess. Then off we went to our ship, the "Leeward". This ship was one of their smaller ones, and one of the things I enjoyed was their little casino they had on board. They also had really fun entertainment and we enjoyed the show that they presented in their theater. All these young entertainers looked like they were having a lot of fun.

We went to Key West and just had from about 10 in the morning to 4 in the afternoon to look around. Not a lot of time to see everything, but we tried. We took a little tour on one of these "trains" with several "cars" that get pulled around and this nice lady gave us the 25 cent tour of Key West. We walked down Duvall Street and passed all the bars and stopped in some of the gift shops. We had lunch at Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffet's restaurant. I'm sorry we didn't have more time there as there were more things to see and do than we had time for. Just walking up and down the residential streets in the older part of Key West would have been fun, because of their interesting architecture typical of Key West homes.

http://www.conchtourtrain.com/

http://www.hemingwayhome.com/HTML/main_menu.html

After our Key West visit, the ship headed out and the next morning we were off-shore a small island known as Stirrup Cay. I think it is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line, or leased or something. The ship anchors off shore and the passengers are taken to the island via the small boats and then they have this full-blown beach party. Since this was another company sponsored trip, I'm pretty sure that the company had taken over the whole ship. So the people were having a grand time. There was food and drinks and games and swimming and snorkeling and exploring the small island if you wanted to. There were some Bahamian people who worked the island selling clothes and trinkets. Nobody lived on the island, they just came over for the day. Interesting, I thought.

We had fairly decent weather, but it was cloudy and a bit overcast on the day of the island fun. This photo at the bottom was taken on the far side of the bay/cove/inlet and looking back to the beach party. So, that's all that we've seen of the Bahamas! Better than nothing, I guess.

San Juan Islands, Washington

2010-02-19T18:53:00.000-08:00

San Juan Islands, Washington

http://portfridayharbor.org/marina-webcam/

A jewel in Washington State are in the northern waters. The San Juan Islands are a vacationer's paradise. Friday Harbor, located on San Juan Island, is the largest town in the whole island chain. You get their via ferry boat or your own boat or maybe by air. Ferries are the most common mode of transportation for the casual visitor. You can either go with your car so you can explore an island, or you can travel "on foot". There is a lot of outdoor activities on the islands and they attract cyclists, campers, hikers, boaters, kyakers and whale watchers. Don't take my word for it. Go to this link and enjoy!

http://www.visitsanjuans.com/

Also, San Juan Island holds an interesting place in American history. Go to this link and read about The Pig War. Study up, as we may have a pop quiz!

http://www.nps.gov/sajh/historyculture/the-pig-war.htm

http://www.islandcam.com/roche.html

The above photo was taken at Roche Harbor, a small, but interesting place to visit. We've been there several times. We took my aunt to dinner at the restaurant in this resort for her birthday. There is a great little harbor there, and it's a couple of hours entertainment just to walk the docks and ooh and ahh over the many beautiful boats and yachts that tie up there for awhile. In fact, this huge yacht, which was docked at the end of the walkway, in deeper water, belongs to somebody in the upper echelon's of Microsoft. I couldn't get it all in the photo, it was so huge! After we left San Juan Island we went to Orcas Island, which is the biggest island in the chain. We had a great water view of Cascade Bay and across from us was the Rosario Resort. And there is this same ship, coming over for a Microsoft retreat of some sort. We were quite fascinated. It's the big ship in the middle.

http://www.islandcam.com/rosario3.html

http://www.rosarioresort.com/

We had our car, so we saw as much of the island as we could. There is a big camping place here and we saw many cars loaded with camping gear. Eastsound is the biggest town on Orcas Island. The islands attract artisans of all kinds. If you wonder what happened to all those hippies, they probably migrated here to open up their ceramic workshop. It's a fascinating place to visit.

http://www.sanjuanartistcommunity.com/

Bill and I need to go back there because I haven't visited Lopez Island yet. I need to have seen all the major islands there, and that's the last one on our list! Let me tell you, the San Juan's are beautiful.

Update: In September 2010, we did go to Lopez Island. Yay! It's a pretty and peaceful island and we enjoyed our few days there, even though the weather wasn't as lovely as we would have wanted. We stayed at the MacKaye Harbor Inn and it was very nice. It looks out over MacKaye Harbor and people come and go kayaking, which Bill and I were unprepared to do. We went on some hiking trails and snooped around the small Lopez Village. We also took the ferry over to Friday Harbor where we had lunch and walked around the town. The below photos are on Lopez Island.

Cancun, Mexico

2010-02-14T15:03:00.000-08:00

Cancun and Chitzen Itza, Mexico

Bill and I were able to go to Cancun in 1996. This was one of those trips that you "earn" by selling a product. In the floor covering business there are several companies that do this for their retailers and if you sell x amount of product then you get the trip. So, we have been on two of those. We went to Cancun with one stopover at the gigantic Dallas-Ft. Worth International airport. That place will probably stay in my memory forever, because it is so big and the land is so flat. There were many air traffic control towers as they have many terminals. I was amazed, never having seen that before. It's a good thing we were traveling with some seasoned travelers, because Bill and I might still be at that airport, wandering around. We got to Cancun and were shuttled by bus to our beautiful hotel, the Fiesta Americana Condesa. We went in June, the off season, since it was that kind of trip. It was hot and humid. Bill loved the buses that ran up and down the road from the hotels to the town. There was only a few mistakes that were made, and I wish I could go back and change that. Got hooked into a small tour of time share units, and went to some stupid club with some people and mostly it was sitting around and waiting for something to happen. It wasn't worth the wait. We should have just stayed and enjoyed our beautiful hotel. There were things there that would have been nice.

http://www.activehotels.com/hotel/brochure/en/41800

This photo is at our hotel. This was a bar and grill and there were lots of open windows to let the scent of the grilling lobster tails waft over the guests. And it was good, too! We had a grand adventure. By our standards anyway. We looked around Cancun, ate in interesting places, and extended our short trip by two days so that we could take in Chitzen Itza, the Aztec ruins. That was amazing. Below is a photo of the famous pyramid and also of the ball game area. The elite played the ball games, and as a player it would be very important to win the game, because the loser was often shamed or killed.

http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/mexico/chichen_itza.html

I have a love/hate relationship to the photo below. We're having fun. The colors are great. The parrots were amazing, even if they were tourist parrots. They like to nibble on buttons, earrings, etc. I'd never held one before! I wanted that photo so bad, I made Bill take me back to the place where this was taken. But, there we are...the chubby Americans. Urk.

Across the road from the hotel was a place where you could go and sign up for a trip out to the ocean on these sea-doos. Bill couldn't wait to do that! So we did. Did a little snorkeling for awhile and then came back through the mangroves. Fun! And where I missed with the high powered sun block, I turned a nice shade of red, sort of like these fish below! Good times!

Adios

Washington State

2010-02-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Washington State

We now live in Washington State. People around here don't refer to it as Washington State, because we know which state we are talking about. We know it's not Washington DC. And we know we are talking about Vancouver, which is a town in SW Washington, not the "other" Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. So it's Vancouver, not BC, and Washington, not DC, as I saw on one T-shirt.

Washington is a lot like Oregon, in that there is the coastal region, wet and lush, the valley regions for agriculture and major cities,the mountains and the high desert; the dry Central and Eastern parts of the state. The Cascade mountain range is bigger in Washington, with Mt. Rainier towering over the landscape. And as the birthplace of Boeing and Microsoft, Seattle is home to billionaires. Of course, Bill Gates probably has slipped down the list a bit, but still... I've been to Bellevue Square, an upscale shopping area in Bellevue, Washington, which is not too far from the wealthiest people in Washington and I swear, the smell of money came wafting in on the breeze. A heady experience, let me tell you. Old town Seattle is fun to explore and it's not a complete trip without seeing Pike Place Market.

http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/

We've explored a lot in Washington since we moved over to Vancouver. It's been a joy to explore new places. We had a beach house in Manzanita, Oregon for awhile and that's about the only place we went to for many years. Then we expanded our horizons and have been able to see other parts of this area and some of what it has to offer. The above photo was taken on a vacation several years ago. This is beautiful Stehekin, and if you want a great day trip, or a weekend or longer vacation, this is a wonderful place to visit. We went for the day. You travel by ferry up Lake Chelan in central Washington and it is just magnificent.

http://www.stehekinlanding.com/

Another wonderful little side trip is in the town of Wenatchee, Washington. Do yourself a favor and go to Ohme Gardens.

http://www.ohmegardens.com/

If somebody hadn't told us about his wonderful park, we would have never known it was there and missed out on a great spot. Check out these web sites as they have detailed information and better photos than I was able to take.

Washington has a great coast area also. It's more wild than the Oregon beaches are, but it has it's good points too. The photo below was taken on the Long Beach peninsula, in the southwest corner of the state, at the historic town of Oysterville.

www.funbeach.com

Oregon

2010-02-11T19:50:00.000-08:00

Oregon

I was born in Oregon and lived in many of it's towns. Oregon is a beautiful state and it has so many different types of climates and scenery, that it has something for everyone. We have some of the most beautiful beaches that you will see on the West Coast. The Willamette Valley is rich in agricultural heritage. We have the Coast Mountain Range and the beautiful Cascade Mountains that run up and down the state. There is every kind of outdoor activity that you can think of from hiking to skiing (snow and water), to mountain climbing to beach combing. There are plenty of people who enjoy hunting and fishing around here, too. We have vineyards up the ying-yang and like many states, we have the Indian casinos to take your money. The Central Oregon area is a great tourist attraction, with the geography that amazes people, to the dryer climate with more seasonal changes than the western part of the state affords. Eastern Oregon is a paradise for the hunters and fisher folk, and for camping and enjoying a completely different kind of scenery. The above photo was taken at Cannon Beach, Oregon. That is Haystack Rock. Oregon is a big state and I haven't even seen most of it. We tend to travel to the beach when we can. I have not even been to Eastern Oregon. Sad, but true.

There are so many places to enjoy in Oregon, and I'd love to tell you everything. But you can find all of that on Internet, so I'll just mention a few. The highlights to seeing Oregon include Ashland in the south, home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I went to Southern Oregon College in Ashland for a year and I took a Shakespeare class from Dr. Angus Bowmer, who was one of the founders of the theater. That was a fun class!

www.osfashland.org/

Of course we have our famous Crater Lake. It's been a very long time since I've been there. This is a picture of my mom, when she was a sweet young thing, visiting Crater Lake and the deep snow. It must have not been too cold for her to not have a coat on. Wasn't she a cutie?

On the other hand, when I was there on this trip with my family, (I'm the kid) I remember quite well that it was freezing and the wind was like ice. The snow was crunchy and not good for playing in. We posed, took the photo and headed for the car. Our "pedal pushers" were not enough for this kind of weather!

And of course, the beach.

Southern Oregon - http://www.bandon.com/

Central Oregon - http://coastvisitor.com/

Northern Oregon - http://www.nwcoast.com/oregon/northern/

Beautiful Central Oregon is a must see visit if you have the time to see it. Bend is the center of activities for this area and it's a lovely town. We don't get there much, but this is on my list of things to do if we do get over that way again.

http://www.highdesertmuseum.org/

And a visit to Sisters, Oregon is a must! A delightful western town nestled at the base of the Cascade Mountains, it's vibrant community and activities draws people from all over Oregon.

http://www.sisterscountry.com/

And no, I do not work for the tourist bureau, but maybe I should.

I mentioned the vineyards. Oh yes, we have grapes growing everywhere. Check this out!! More wineries than you can ever visit.

http://explorer.oregonwine.org/winery/search/?gclid=CO75wPv6958CFRwUawodehbGfQ

Genealogy

2010-02-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

My Family History - Condensed Version

These are my parents, Lloyd Ellison and Ida Hughes. My mother later went by the name of Lee. I got interested in genealogy after the Roots television series, like a lot of people did. This has been a most rewarding and fun hobby for me.

I started out searching for our Native American heritage that we were supposed to have on my mother's side. This was something our grandfather, Pop, always told the kids and grandkids. To this date, I have not found out where our Indian blood is, if there is any. And I've been working on this a long time.

One of the more interesting thing I've found is that my great grandmother did not have her son with the man we assumed to be the father. Well, if THAT didn't throw a monkey wrench into my family tree! As if struck by lightening, a huge branch was hit and fell to the ground. It was a stunning revelation. I may post that story for the world to read.

I am thrilled with my father's family tree. There are many interesting stories to come out of that, which includes Pietro Caesar Alberti, born in 1608 in Venice, Italy and was the first Italian immigrant to New York City. At that time it was New Amsterdam. Our line also extends to the Wilson family of North Carolina. Robert Wilson and his wife Eleanor Carothers Wilson had many sons, and the family is held in high esteem for their part in the Revolutionary War. It's a thrilling story to read and to think back to those times in our history and to have my own ancestors play such an important role in the fight for our freedom.

My father's family came from the Carolina's and the hills of Eastern Tennessee and moved into the heartland of America and finally to Oregon, where they farmed the land and worked in the woods. My mother's family came from the Mid-Atlantic states, to California and up to Oregon. My father's people were farmers and land owners and my mother's people had small farms like my great grandfather had, but they were also factory workers and carpenters.

Thailand

2010-02-10T20:32:00.000-08:00

Thailand

No, we have not been to Thailand. But our son has. Twice in less than a year. I'm proud of him for going off on a fabulous adventure and seeing a part of the world that most of us, at least most of the people I know, have little knowledge of. I am not going to invade his privacy but would like to post a few photos of the scenery.

This was taken in Pattaya City. He went there to enjoy the beach.

These last two photos are taken in northern Bangkok.

This one was taken on his first trip, closer to the inner city.

Beautiful Hawaii

2010-02-10T19:14:00.000-08:00

Beautiful Hawaii

I got to live in Honolulu, Hawaii from August 1966 to August 1969. Again, I sure wish I had gotten a decent camera and done more with photography. I think of the lost images I could have had. Sigh. Now you would have thought, having been in Hawaii before, that I wouldn't drag along that heavy coat. But I did. And I won't even comment on the hair style. I know, I know, it looks like something crawled up there and died.

I lived with my step-mom and dad, who had moved over for a little adventure. My step-mom made this long pink flowered dress for me. I loved the Hawaiian lifestyle. That's a pomelo tree behind me. They moved back, and I stayed on in my own studio apartment. The rent was pretty high, $125, as I recall. But when you only make about $350 a month, that was a lot of money.

It was pretty awesome to have lived in Hawaii during those years. A lot was going on. The Viet Nam war got into full swing. Lots of service guys were wandering around Hawaii. The space program was hitting it's stride and I was living on the island when the astronauts returned there for de-briefing. I like all that kind of stuff. When the volcano on the Big Island started doing it's thing, I bought a plane ticket and went from Oahu on an evening flight over the volcano. It was magnificent. I had friends there and we would go out to Waikiki and have some fun. I dated a few guys there and also met people from all over the world. It was a great adventure. I will always love Hawaii.

But I did get homesick after 3 years and returned to Oregon.

But I vowed to return to Hawaii. And I did. My husband and I went there in the summer of 1977. We went with another couple and had a great time. We were on Oahu and then went to Kauai. Did I mention that I love Hawaii! And so, I vowed to return.

And I did. In March of 2009 my husband and I went on a Hawaiian Cruise. We boarded the ship on Oahu, went to Maui, The Big Island and Kauai. We had a wonderful trip, even though we had cloudy, cooler and wetter weather than normal. This photo was taken from Kailua-Kona, where we finally had blue sky and warmth. And as we packed up and left for home, I, of course, vowed to return.

Travel - The Beginning

2010-02-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Islands

I am not going to pretend to be a world traveler. Not by any stretch of the imagination can that be true. But I have been to a few interesting places. I just wish I had better photographs of the early trips. When I lived in Ventura, California I was invited by a friend to tag along with her and her parents to Catalina Island. We got on a small ferry at Long Beach, Calif. and I remember that well because they played music over the loudspeaker. I Left My Heart In Avalon, and Twenty-six Miles Across The Sea played over and over and over. It was fun. I was excited. This was a camping weekend, so it wasn't very glamorous at all. We walked up to a camp ground and my friend and I staked out an area for us and the sleeping bags. Her parents set up a better camp. I was in the 8th or 9th grade, so you'd think I'd remember the details better, but I don't. I know we saw some kind of little zoo, and we went on a horse ride up the mountain trails. My horse started to kick my friend's horse, and I thought I might end up down the side of the hill, which scared me just a tad. But the guide separated us and peace was restored. I remember spending a miserable night on the rocky, hard ground in that sleeping bag. Just the sleeping bag between me and the dirt. No air mattresses then. I decided I wasn't too keen on camping. We also rented bikes and did a bit of bike riding. I remember that the little cove and beach weren't really all the pretty, I didn't think. I think it's a little spiffier now.

http://www.catalinachamber.com/

So that was the first island I'd ever visited. My second island was a bit more fulfilling. When I was a senior in high school, I went to Honolulu, Hawaii. Now we're talking.

You are probably laughing by now. This photo shows me, in February of 1964, right after I got to Hawaii. We had to travel from Roseburg, Oregon to Portland to get our flight. It was cold. Back in those days you dressed to the nines if you got on a plane. Being comfortable was not an option. You will note the wool suit and the large buffalo plaid wool coat with fur trim. And the little camera slung 'round my neck. Also the lei and the windblown look. In 1964 you got off the plane by walking down the stairs that they brought to the plane after it taxied up to the terminal. We got off the plane, and the trade winds quickly undid the hairdo, such as it was. The warm, moist tropical air was a heady experience for me. I could smell pineapples in the air too. And somebody put the flower lei over my head and directed us to the covered area where we could get free pineapple juice. It was love at first sight, smell, and feel. And below is a photo taken the afternoon before we had to leave Hawaii. I was most unhappy and pouting, I think. I vowed to return. In August 1966, I did.

My Acoustic Neuroma

2010-02-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

The Attack of the Killer AN

My Amazing True Story of Radiation

So there I was, living my “normal” life, minding my own business, not bothering anybody, when things started to change inside my head. Not the “I hear voices” kind of thing, but a true physical change with cells multiplying and dividing and who knows what other mathematical things cells do when they go rogue. I didn’t know things were changing, of course. Perhaps if I had known what an Acoustic Neuroma was or how it begins with Schwann cells running amuck on the auditory nerve (also called the eighth cranial nerve, it is responsible for sending information about hearing and balance to the brain) I might have had second thoughts on taking the retail sales job at a major national retailer that had me climbing a 12-foot ladder in our stock room. Yeah, I might have reconsidered that. But I’d never heard of an Acoustic Neuroma, much less the name of the cells that cover our nerves, or that once in a great while they can go crazy on us. I didn’t know it was growing because I hadn’t developed any symptoms and apparently as the one auditory nerve on my left side was being slowly assaulted, the nerve on the right side began to compensate and take over the entire job of keeping me upright and walking in a straight line. Along with the bad things, our bodies can also do amazingly wonderful stuff without us even knowing about it. I’m so glad, because a vertigo attack on a 12-foot ladder doesn’t sound like that would have ended well for me.

I did have something happen to me that I’m sure was AN related and it’s interesting that I even remember this, but I do. Sometime in the mid 1990’s I remember experiencing two separate instances of very short-term dizziness. I can’t remember what I had for lunch yesterday, but I remember lying in bed circa 1995 and having the room spin around me like perhaps I’d had one too many tequila shooters. Well, I’ve never even tried tequila shooters, so that wasn’t the reason. I thought maybe I had water in my ear and that had un-balanced me. It was a brief episode lasting only that night. I remember another time that happened also, but it too, was short lived. I doubt I even mentioned it to my husband. It passed, and life as I knew it went on. But the AN was still slowly growing, adding 1 to 2 mm a year, which to me sounds like something out of a 1950’s Sci-Fi thriller. The Thing Growing Inside My Skull!

Fast forward to the late fall of 2004. I was reading an article in the paper about a local news anchor that experienced a horrendously loud feedback from her earpiece and it left her disabled and unable to work in broadcasting. She was suffering from extremely loud tinnitus. It was one of the worst cases her doctors have ever seen. I was so saddened to read of her plight and felt very sorry for her. It was at that same time I also noticed that I had a little buzzing going on in my left ear. My husband has had this off and on for years and his is caused by wax build up in his ears. I figured that’s what I had too. So I made an appointment to get my ears cleaned out. Well, it was clean as a whistle. But it still buzzed and it was getting louder and by then I also had “fullness in the ear”. I didn’t know that term at that time. I just said, “Hey, feels like I went up the mountain and my ear didn’t pop when I came back down.” Or, “It needs to pop.” Or, “Jeez, my ear is driving me crazy!” I went to my family physician and for the next month or two we tried different things, and nothing made much difference. Bummer.

Finally my doctor referred me to the Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor. This was in April of 2005. I had my first hearing test and the left ear did have a significant hearing loss. That came on fairly quickly and I noticed it first on the telephone. People’s voices on the phone became garbled. At the doctor’s appointment, after my initial examination, I was given a prescription for a nose spray and advised to try a sinus rinse; a process of squirting a soothing ph balanced solution of water up your nose so that it comes out the other nostril. That’s a very Hindu kind of thing. Actually I do have allergy problems and that helped with some allergy issues, but I still had tinnitus and fullness of the ear and now the hearing loss. My doctor sent me to have a CT scan, and he told me that I “had no tumors.” I don’t think I’ll ever forget that he said that! He put tubes in my ears, like they do for children. There was no fluid behind the eardrum. I told him I had a funny taste in my mouth. He said, “Well, I don’t know what that is.” Another phrase to remember.

Now if I could go back in time and do that over again, I would. Because then I would say, “Okay, let’s review. I have hearing loss, fullness of the ear, a funny taste in my mouth and tinnitus. What do you think this could possibly be?” But I didn’t. And when I got home the only thing I “Googled” was tinnitus because that’s what I was trying to learn to live with. If I had Googled all of those symptoms I could have diagnosed myself. The key symptom my doctor was missing in my case was the dizziness. I would have had an MRI if I’d complained about being dizzy. I never had that symptom, except back in the mid-1990s and that never even entered my mind. A somewhat rare disease never entered my doctor’s mind either. Some ENTs are experienced with ANs; many are not. I must have gotten the one who wasn’t paying attention on the day they had the AN lecture. I know this now. At the time, I thought…well I don’t know what I thought. Maybe I didn’t want to think about it because then maybe it would just go away. Yeah, right.

So I didn’t go back. The little ear tube fell out of my ear, and for whatever reason, the fullness in my ear slowly went away, and for that I’m grateful. Then I got sidetracked from my own health problems when my husband told me that when he was walking from his office downtown to go to an appointment some blocks away, he experienced shortness of breath.. He quickly got to his doctor who sent him to a heart specialist who ran the tests on him. From there he had an angiogram and then angioplasty and three stents put in to repair his clogged artery. We discovered that he’d already had a “silent heart attack” at some point. This was a very stressful time for him and me. But he recovered from his procedure quickly and was back to work and he went from zero prescriptions to five just like that. This was in November.

Around that same time period I noticed that when I touched my face near my left ear, it felt numb. That scared me a bit. Okay, that scared me a lot. I called up and made an appointment for my annual physical. My appointment was for the first week in January. My doctor did the usual stuff and then I mentioned… “Oh and by the way, my face is numb.” Wow, did he move fast. He came right over to me and started asking questions and had a concerned look on his face. He said it was a nerve problem but he didn’t know why. (Well, he did know why, or at least guessed but he didn’t tell me that until later!) He referred me to a neurologist. But, in my clinic there was only one because the other one had just retired, so I couldn’t get in to see her until March 6th, five days after my 60th birthday. When I did see her, we went over my symptoms and by then my facial numbness had spread across my cheek to my nose and to my lips, up into my temple and part of my head and eye. It was hard for me to explain, because it’s just the skin. If I were poked with a needle, yeah, that would hurt. So that got me an MRI a few days later. Monday, March 13th, she called me.

My first thought, since she woke me up out of my morning slumber, was “ Oh my God, it’s the doctor!” The neurologist is personally calling me on Monday morning. This can’t be good. So she tells me they found a mass. I have a mass! So what exactly is a mass? It’s a benign (okay, that’s good) tumor (okay, that’s bad) called a Vestibular Schwannoma. Okay, never heard of it. And we’ve made you an appointment with the neurosurgeon. A NEUROSURGEON! After I hung up the phone, I sat on my bed in stunned disbelief. To this day I can return to stunned disbelief in a nanosecond, if I let myself. So here I am, 60 years old, and my first thought was, “I want my mommy.” Then, for a moment I felt her arms around me, telling me everything would be okay. My mother died when I was 15, but nearly 45 years later she came to give me a hug. Comforted, but still shaken, I went in and stood in the shower for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to tell my husband he has to come home from work and take me to the NEUROSURGEON. Well, that wasn’t an easy call to make. I didn’t want him to have another heart attack! I kept saying, benign, benign, benign. I also thought, “Well, so far my 60’s suck.” But, then, I was also happy to know that my symptoms were something. And it had a name.

That first appointment didn’t get us too much information. That doctor was handing me off to another doctor who would go over my treatment options. That would be Friday. So I had from Monday to Friday to look up everything on the Internet. And worry my family and me sick. I found the Acoustic Neuroma Association website and forum and decided to join. I was greeted with friendship and information, which I appreciated. Friday finally came and my husband and I saw Dr. M. We looked at my MRI and yes, indeed, there was this thing inside my head. Eeeeek! He explained about Schwann cells coating the nerves and sometimes a tumor arises from those cells in the auditory ear canal. And while this is a benign tumor, it probably would continue to grow, which is not a good thing, and he had plans to keep that from happening. He told us I was a good candidate for radiosurgery. Which meant that the dreaded brain surgery that I’d been afraid they would tell me to have had been replaced with radiation treatment instead. Sounded good to me! Well maybe not good, but better. This would be done at the Gamma Knife Center of Oregon at Providence Hospital in Portland, Oregon since that was the only game in town at that time. Since then a Cyberknife machine has been installed at another hospital and now there are more choices for radiation patients in our area.

It was still difficult for me to believe I was sitting in a neurosurgeon’s office discussing a brain tumor inside my head. This was just insane, bizarre and highly unlikely this was actually happening to me. So when Dr. M was about to leave I said, “I can’t believe I have something like this. I mean…I’m so average.” He turned to me and said with a smile, “Well, this is an average tumor.” So, okay, my AN wasn’t going to make the cover of Neurosurgeon Monthly, still, in my wildest nightmares, “brain tumor” wasn’t on my radar for me or anyone I know for that matter.

April 18, 2006, a year and a day after I first saw the ENT, I had my Gamma Knife treatment. My husband and I arrived at 6 a.m. One of the hardest things is to show up like they want you to show up. No metal of any kind. No makeup, no hair spray or mousse; no female beautifications. I don’t have a sports bra, so that meant no bra for me. All I could do was wear a baggy sweatshirt. Lovely. I know that should not be a matter of great concern at a time like this, but it was still uncomfortable for me to "au natural". Gamma Knife or no Gamma Knife, a woman's instinct is to try to look her best.

A week or so before the treatment I met the doctor who would be working with Dr. M at the GK Center and had the tour. I’d seen the CD they gave me to explain the procedure. I was about as ready as I’d ever be I guess. I thought that this was going to be an interesting experience and in a way, I was sort of looking forward to seeing what this was all about. I didn’t count on the strength of the Xanax that they gave me soon after arrival. I went to LaLa Land pretty fast. I really didn’t much care that they were going to put a head frame on me that had tiny pins that would stick into my head. And I didn’t much care that they would tighten it up with a screwdriver. I’d had the anesthetic cream put on to numb the area and then anesthetic injections in the four pin sites to further deaden the tissue, so all I felt was the pressure of the head frame being applied. And they had told my husband that I would probably not remember much of what was going to happen to me that day. Well, shoot. So, once I was framed up, they loaded me up and took me to another building to have another MRI done. This one was to fine tune the measurements needed for the GK. The doctors would look at this and determine the best course of action. I remember going over there, lying down on the table, and then being in the wheelchair van on the way back. I managed to have a bit of small talk with the driver and I said, “I wonder what this is going to cost?” He said, “Oh, about $10,000.” Yeah, right. Maybe he meant the ride in the wheel chair van.

I was taken back to my room and my husband was there waiting for me. He was watching television and I sat in the chair trying to be somewhat comfortable with a head frame on my head and trying not to drool. Then they were ready for me and we went into to the GK room. Now, all I remember is having something else attached to the head frame and lying on the bed. When I had the tour they showed me the helmet type things lined up on a table that they use. There were several of them and there were different sized holes all over the top of the helmet and in the course of the procedure different ones would be used. They attach somehow to the head frame I had on. It was just so “other worldly” to me, like I’d stumbled into the “Spock’s Brain” episode of Star Trek. They all left me and then they played my CD for me to listen to as I lay in the quiet room, getting bombarded with 201 highly focused beams of Cobalt 60 Radiation. I remember part of one song. I remember my doctors buzzing around me, sitting me up, laying me down. I remember being back in the room with my husband and talking about gardening with the nurse who, in my opinion, really runs the show. The doctors said I did great and that I was having a good time. So the Xanax made me compliant, relaxed, happy as a clam, and forgetful. My husband said he heard laughing in there, and Dr. M later said I did great and was having a good time. I suppose it’s nice to know I’m a happy drunk. I already had the funny hat, but I doubt there was any dancing on the table going on.

So at 11 a.m. we went home whereupon I got a massive headache. My husband shoved Tylenol at me. He went to the store to get my prescription and to get us lunch. I was hungry and I figured we needed fast food, even though we seldom indulge in that anymore. But I tell you, that Whopper and fries sure did taste good. He shoved more pills at me, this time Dexamethazone, a steroid given to reduce swelling. I started on a large dose and then tapered off of that for a week. Then, I toddled off to bed where I slept a dreamless drug induced sleep of a very tired woman. Later that evening family arrived with more food and I woke up to them bustling about in the kitchen. They were very concerned and caring. I’m sure I looked like I’d been drug through a knot hole backwards, but nobody gasped to much, so I guess I didn’t scare them that bad. My husband probably forewarned them. I had to take those steroid pills every 6 hours, so I had another dose at dinner and another dose at midnight.

I woke up the next morning feeling the effects of those pills. Zowie, wowie, I could have climbed Mt. Hood! I felt great. Beyond great. Nothing hurt. No aches, no pains, no headache, energy to burn. Wow! My auntie came over to be my caregiver and as she slept, I went for a walk. She had to practically superglue me to the chair to watch one of the movies we had lined up to see whilst I “recovered”. This is probably as close to realizing what a drug addict goes through that I’ll ever see. I was higher than a kite. My caregiver went home and then I began my downhill slide. Over the course of that week I turned into a shaky old woman. Insomnia is a side effect of that steroid. This was the worst part of my whole treatment. The weather was nice and I spent a lot of time sitting in our outdoor swing seat, just staring. I couldn’t concentrate enough to read. I’d watch some television. I couldn’t nap. I was cranky and impatient and short-tempered. I was so glad to get to the last of those steroids and to be able to sleep more than 2 hours. With great relief, my sleep returned to me.

I just had my birthday so it is almost a year since my diagnosis. My last MRI shows necrosis has begun which means that the tumor is dying and there should be no more growth. But nobody gets an Acoustic Neuroma without it affecting you in some permanent way. Those of us with ANs say that it may be “benign” but that doesn’t mean it’s friendly. I am left dealing with very little hearing in my left ear. There are only a few options for hearing aids for us and they are expensive and it may be that I might not like how it works and wouldn’t use it anyway. I have tinnitus, which I’m trying to learn how to manage. That is a very cruel irony that you can be deaf or nearly so and still feel like you are hearing noise from that ear. Actually it’s in your brain. It’s a phantom noise, and once your brain latches on to it, it is unlikely to let it go. Loud environments and things like too much salt, sugar, aspirin and caffeine can make it louder. I use a fan at night for “white noise” to help even out the tinnitus. Thankfully my husband is a sound sleeper and doesn’t object. Sometimes I think that I hear a radio turned low coming from another room. I’ve heard that the brain tries to make sense out of the tinnitus and that’s why people say that they hear people talking, or like me the sounds of a distant radio or television. So, I guess I did end up with “voices in my head” after all. As long as they don’t start telling me what to do, I guess I’m okay. Directional hearing is different. The sounds hit the bad ear and bounce to the good ear, so that I think that sounds are coming on my right side when in fact they are on the left side. It’s rather disorienting. I am unable to work in a retail store, where I’d worked before because the noise and stress can magnify the symptoms tremendously. I still have facial numbness on the AN side and a salty, sometimes metallic taste in my mouth. The left side of my tongue feels like it’s been mildly burned by something hot. That varies in intensity from day to day. So the symptoms that led me to find out what I have are all still there. I will probably have them the rest of my life. For some people balance isn’t a big issue and that’s been true for me. I do have some issues involving my balance, but it shows up in different ways. One is “car anxiety”. I can drive okay, but being a passenger can make me, for want of a better word - nervous, especially if there is a lot of extra movement going on such as passing big trucks, people pulling out in front of us, lots of vehicle commotion. I think we’re going to crash, or somebody is going to hit us. It’s very strange and hard to explain. It turns out I’ve had this problem for a few years. I used to go with a girlfriend on day trips for her sales job, just to keep her company. We had a great time, except that I started flinching and” braking” and carrying on in the car. She’d say, “Do you think I’m just going to hit the back of that car?” I say, “No, no, it’s okay. You’re fine.” Flinch, flinch.

I know I’m extremely lucky to come away from this with the problems that I have. Believe me, it could be a lot worse, and I know that. It could have been better, too, but that’s not what was given me. This is not life threatening. Not anymore. Dr. M and the wonderful team at the Gamma Knife Center killed it. Thank you very much. But, this is perhaps the most annoying, irritating, frustrating, and medically expensive thing I’ve ever had to deal with and coming to terms with this has been challenging.

So what I still have is a great family and my life. My husband has been wonderful. We decided that a brain thing and a heart thing six months of each other was enough medical stuff to last us for the rest of our lives. My people, those near and dear to me, have been supportive, kind, and curious about this crazy thing my body developed. And my AN family has been wonderful too. I love the fact that they can be serious and have so much information to offer and then we can be silly and use our cyber sense of humor. I am grateful to modern medicine and the miracles that are performed daily around the world in healing us in ways that were never even dreamed of not that many years ago. I repeat: 201 highly focused beams of Cobalt 60 Radiation being focused onto a tiny portion of a tumor inside my head! In keeping with my Sci-Fi analogy, I should have manifested some super powers after my treatment, but I’ll take cured. That’s amazing enough, don’t you think?

Photography

2010-02-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

Photography

I enjoy taking photographs, and I do wish I were better at it. Or maybe just better photographic opportunities. I am envious of people who travel to far-flung places and get fantastic images. This photo I took many years ago with my old Pentax K1000, a nice heavy duty workhorse of a camera that became quite a burden to lug around. Over the years I've played with photography, and I've renewed my interested lately, especially since the digital cameras came on the scene. It's a delight to be able to take as many photos as you like, and have instant gratification in seeing your shot and knowing if it is any good or not.

Since I don't have access to exotic places on a regular basis and I've discovered my little Canon Elph takes pretty good close up and macro shots, I have found the joys of looking for beauty in my own neighborhood. This is not my rose, but one is someone's yard. I softened the edges a bit, and I think this is a lovely photo, if I do say so myself.

This ladybug was on a rose and I chased him around for awhile before I got this photo. I like it. I have managed to get a few critters in focus and it's rewarding to catch them this way. I'm extremely jealous of all of the photos I've seen on different sites where people upload their fabulous shots of fabulous butterflies and other glorious winged insects. But you have to be in the right place at the right time. I'm just thrilled I got this little ladybug!

It's not going to be very practical for me to post ALL the photos I have taken. I have a lot of them on Flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/37501809@N08/ and some are on National Geographic site:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/myshot/gallery/33045#/gallery/914606/

And last but not least, I have submitted some to Google Earth and they are here:

http://www.panoramio.com/user/1269934

Hey, it's fun.

Early Years

2010-02-10T16:18:00.000-08:00

Early Years

I am on the leading edge of the Baby Boomers. I was born exactly three months after the first official Baby Boomer entered the world, March 1, 1946. I was either going to be Susan Lyn or Linda Sue. My mother chose Susan Lyn and decided on the one "n", as a bit of a rebellion to the usual spelling. That's my mom and me at the top. Well, actually, I was going to be named Michael, as they thought sure I was a boy. I would have been one of the gazillion Michael's to have come into the world post WWII. Instead, I was one of the gazillion Susans to appear. In the second grade, there were 5 of us. I remember that because each of us Susan's had a different variation. There was a Susan, a Susie (which is what I was called at that time), a Sue, a Susan Marie (or whatever her middle name was, I forget.) and me, Susan Lyn. I truly did not like to be called that, as it sounded like somebody was mad at me all the time. At the end of that school year, I became the Susan that was sick and threw up in the hallway on the way to lunch. That night I had my appendix taken out, and my classmates sent me get well letters written on huge pieces of brown paper that we used for practicing our handwriting. "Dear Susan Lyn," they wrote, "I hope you get well soon." That was nice, but I really hated the Susan Lyn.

I do remember this. I was in that big, fluffy all in one snow suit kind of thing, and I got in that plane, and then got stuck and couldn't get out. I panicked and was having a fit, and my mother took my photo! This was not my plane. But I wish that it had been and still had it. Probably fetch a great price.

Today I'll leave you with this photo of me and my proud mom and the hairdresser who gave me a permanent wave THE DAY AFTER MY THIRD BIRTHDAY! Now, I ask you, who does that? Well, my mom, obviously. My thin, straight hair must have really bothered her. So for awhile, I had thin curly hair.

Hello!

2010-02-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Not sure why I am doing this, except that this might be interesting and it might be a great way to have some kind of creative outlet.

I'll be chatting about my interests, which are photography, genealogy, travel and whatever else I can think of that might be fun.

Hey, it's something to try out. My first blog.