1987/88

I ended up putting two years together here, primarily because 1987 seems to have been a very uneventful year other than farming and my interest in genealogy growing stronger and stronger resulting in numerous trips each week into the Fresno LDS library.   We did take over Bill and Frances's chain of motels, Regal 8 Inns of California either towards the end of 87 or early 88, which gave me more work than before.     With the added number of people on the payroll, I broke down and entered the world of computers.     At least for the payroll program which was becoming a nightmare to do by hand.

Early 1988 the younger of my two brothers died.    I flew to England for his funeral in Portsmouth, and photographed here with (l to r) Martyn, Sarah and Gareth (three of his four children) and Kitty my sister in law.     Gerald was very special to me.    Seven years older than I my childhood memories are filled with the games he used to devise to keep me entertained - especially on Wednesday evenings when he used to babysit me while my parents went to the movies.   He was in the Royal Navy, Chief Petty Officer in submarines as his last post.     I used to love when he would visit London while I lived there.     He was handsome in his uniform and I used to pretend he was my boyfriend!

Debbie married Toby this year and Dick and I, with Midge and Bill (Debbie's real parents) are all dressed up for the occasion.

Apart from a trip to Catalina Island for a few days, we did little pleasure traveling these two years.     Cataline is a fun place to visit and we visited many parts of the island while we were there and enjoyed a round of golf.

We continued to enjoy our house and yard on Nebraska Avenue, and Dick planted a beautiful rose garden for me.     This almost became a tradition as he planted one in most of the places we have lived.

We had the grandkids here fairly often and really enjoyed them -  Suzanne and Becky are growing into two beautiful young ladies:



1986

We settled in very nicely at our new address on Nebraska Avenue, Caruthers.     This photo of the living/dining, kitchen area was actually taken during my cousin's visit.     Gwyn and her husband, stayed with us for a month and as usual I played hostess, showing off our great state of California.     This was their second visit so we spent more time in the San Francisco area and northern California, and took a great trip up to Vancouver Island in Canada to visit with Irene and Gordon.     If any of you every get a chance to visit this part of the world, I strongly recommend it.     Victoria is a beautiful city and nearby are the Buchard Gardens - the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen:

Mom Topper was 80 years old this year, and they had a party for her in Sacramento.    There was a really good turn out of her children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren.     The early stages of her Altzeimers were beginning to show, but I believe that she had a great time too:

From left to right, we have Hazel, Frances, Mom, Bill, Louise, myself and Dick, Bev and Jerry.

Katrina and family came up from Fresno and we were very proud of them.

Love that hat Mindy!

We were invited up to Yosemite Lakes Park for their Santa's Helpers dinner.    I'm including this photo mostly because it is one of my favorites of Frances and I.

Two more 'people' were added to our household this year.     Debbie moved here permanently from Illinois, and Taffy brought home a kitten!     Really, she did.     It was while my cousin and husband were here and we came into the driveway and saw Taffy and Buddy investigating this bush in the front.    It was a tiny white kitten, terribly scared, but hissing and clawing if we tried to get her out.     We left her and went into the house, Buddy followed us in.     Shortly after, here comes Taffy followed by the kitten and she led it right into the house and to the waterbowl.     We had our third cat!     She turned out to be one of those that had the extra thumbs on her front paws, so we named her Thumbelina (Lena for short).

She settled in well with all the animals, but Taffy was obviously "Mommy".     She mostly slept with her and Taffy was very protective when she was small.

We had one of the best Christmases yet.     Louise and I put on a spread, and it was one of those magical days when you truly felt the spirit of Christmas.     Not to say most of our Christmas get-togethers weren't good, but there was something magical about this one.     I hope all of you can remember it that way.

California trip

Before we get back to the regular blogging, I wanted to cover the 12 day trip we just took.     Many thanks to all that housed us, fed us, hugged us and loved us.     We love you all and enjoyed every minute, every word and every visit.

We left here and drove across the northern high desert of Arizona and through Las Vegas (no gambling) and on up to Tonopah the first day.     A word of warning on anyone visiting that fair city.     The town is on a slope so driving the main street you are either going slowly uphill or slowly downhill.     The speed limit through it all is 25 miles per hour, and enforcing this is the town's main industry (our take!).   So there we were looking for someplace to have dinner, going uphill and keeping to the 25, but we turned around and the car gained speed a little going downhill.     It didn't take long for the red light to shine behind us - we were caught going 37mph!!     Fortunately the Arizona license plate probably saved us and we were sent on our way with 'keep it slow folks'.

The next day, through Reno and on to Sacramento.

We stayed with Karen and Cody for two nights.     We always enjoy them so much and feel very much at home with them.     McScruffy loves their back yard, so many lovely nooks and cranny to explore.

Monday was our first full day of the visit, and visited with Elmer and Leslie in their new home.   From there to Keith's.     Hobbes was home (teacher's conference) and Nancy was at work but came before we had to leave, so we were fortunate there.     The next day, we drove to Roseville and met with cousins Norma and Lois for breakfast.     Again we lucked out as Norma was leaving the next day for a visit to San Diego so we would have missed her.     That evening Marie hosted a potluck get together at her home.   Mindy, James, Kody and Kayden were there, as well as Joseph, Debbie and their two little Joey and our newest great-grandchild, Katrina Jean, better known as Katy. Lynn Alread came too which we appreciated.    I wonder if Katy will take after her grandmother and live with Katy until she became an adult and then asked to be called by her full name Katrina?     Becky was there too, with KJ's girl friend.     Jessica was working and KJ is in San Diego at University, so we missed them this trip.   Mindy took some group pictures which she has promised to send me, so I will share those when I get them.

Wednesday we set off for Fresno, stopping at Manteca to visit with two cousins, Helen and Ethel and their husbands Shorty and Dave.     It was the first time we had met Dave - a really nice man.

We stayed with Debbie, Blake and Amber (photographed with Evan, Debbie's fiancee) for four nights.    Debbie and Blake were both working and Amber was in school, so our days were free, but we had great visits with them each evening.

On Thursday, we went down Dick's memory lane - Caruthers.     We had lunch with Marion Williams, Dick's long time golfing buddy, but spent time checking out the various farms and some of the places that Dick used to live.     The following picture is of a house that Dick's father, Dick and Bill built when Dick and Bill were still boys.     They built it from scratch doing all the plumbing and electric and the family lived there for a while.    When we saw it, Dick's first comment was that it looked like they were finally tearing it down (after all, we're talking about the early 1940's when it was built), but on second look we realized that someone was actually remodeling it, with new windows, new insulation, etc.     Dick, Bill and Dad also built a metal building close by with the idea of renting it out to a mechanic or such.     This too had been remodeled and actually made into a house.

Friday we headed north, first to Yosemite Lakes Park where we used to live, which is where Suzanne, James and Kady Jo live.     James was working and Kady was at school, but we had a nice visit and breakfast with Suzanne in the golf clubhouse, which Dick and I raised the money for to be expanded.

From there we went up to Oakhurst and visited with Frances and Patrick in their new home.    It is a really nice house.     Joe and Ronda came by and later Casey and Carol:

It was sad to see Patrick in pain and to hear how much he had suffered and when we talked then, the prognosis on his cancer didn't look good, but we were so excited when he call a couple of nights ago to say the PET scan had shown that the cancer had not spread as feared and the doctor's were very optimistic on a full recovery.   God does listen to prayers.

Saturday we devoted the whole day to Debbie and family and were sad to leave early Sunday morning when we headed over to the coast stopping in Lemoore on the way to visit with Harry and Lynda Garcia.     Harry and Dick graduated from Caruthers High School together 63 years ago.    

We arrived at Louise's about 7pm.    We stopped first in Paso Robles and spent a couple of hours with Donna and Charlie.     Louise, Cheyenne, Dick and I went out to dinner, and the next day, Louise, Dick and I drove around the area - another deja vu trip - for Dick when he was selling supplies to the local schools and motels and restaurants, and for both of us on our Motel 6 days and just general visits.

I do love the coast - would live there in a minute if the budget permitted!    Dick found it way too cold, but I was in my glory.

Tuesday found us on the road again (after a McDonald's breakfast with Donna and Charlie), this time stopping in Indio for the night and driving on home the next day.

A Good Trip, filled with Great Memories

Thank you all.....