Oct 3: Nutraceutical Training in Vancouver: My Badge

Here's the badge. Photos to follow when I get around to it. This was a lot of info to cram into one's head in a short period of time, and a lot of sitting on one's butt without much moving around. I found it not very relaxing, and it probably would have been better if I hadn't been sitting in front of the computer for so many hours week after week already. I did learn a lot, I got a few good reference books and a manual, and the best part was, I got to hang out with Gary for a few days, as he was also taking the class.

Kate goes home

I took Kate to the airport in Portland today, and she flew back to California on Alaska Airlines. I'd never seen this airline before - the one that has a picture of an Eskimo on the tail, but everyone thinks he looks like Bob Marley. I got to wait with her in the terminal. Remember when you could do that? I like terminals. It's deplorable that the actions of so few truly terrible people have affected so many. They probably didn't even have a security check at the airport today (I'm writing this from the future, and it's hard to remember that detail). You can see a slight reflection of the airport windows in the photo, and clearly the weather had changed quickly as it does here. The blue skies were gone again.

This was, of course, my first trip from Astoria to PDX - the first of many. Portland has a beautiful airport, and it's user-friendly, not too large, but big enough to eclipse the one in Grand Junction. I can't say enough about what Kate's help and presence had meant to me during the move. What an incredible friend. Now I was truly on my own to discover Oregon. I didn't know anyone in the state except my brother and his family, and they were several hours from Portland and further than that from Astoria. It had taken two hours to get from Astoria to PDX (1 hour east to Longview, and 1 hour south to Portland), and Gary, Beth and family were several hours further south of Portland on I-5.

April 4, Part 2: Playing pool in Dad's basement, Prescott

I have one sister and one brother. Here they are: Kathy and Gary playing pool in Dad's basement in Prescott, Arizona. It was a special weekend. We hadn't all been together in I-don't-know-how-many years. We all visited Dad this weekend and we had a great time being together. I'm only putting this one photo up tonight, but that weekend we also went to the zoo and just sat around their house with the beautiful panoramic view joking a lot and enjoying each other's company in a way that hadn't been possible for a long time. It was a bittersweet time - mellow and nice, but with a sense that it wasn't going to happen this way again, because Dad had Alzheimer's and was clearly getting worse. He was still well enough on this visit to play pool (without too much attention to the rules) and to laugh and have a good time with us. He always enjoyed good humor - gentle, funny, and not too much poking fun at anyone. Anyway, that weekend was special.

On the left is Dad in the foreground and Gary behind him. Kathy is on the right. This is their living room with the front door at ground level and the hillside sloping steeply away so the side of the room opposite the front door goes out onto a high deck overlooking the trees and the valley.

In the mirror you can see Lois's back in the pink robe and someone who had come in. I don't think that was Kathy. The yellow-trimmed quilt is one I bought for Dad in Palisade. It has trout on it, and he always enjoyed fishing. I thought it would be nice and cheerful during his illness.

I'll put up a few more pictures from this visit eventually, but I regret there aren't any really good ones of the PEOPLE. For some reason, it's so hard for me to take them. I'm going to work on that in the next phase of my life - more people pictures.

Sheryl
September 27, 2008

February 2009: I'm adding a couple more pix of the basement, where I felt comfortable. On some visits I slept on the floor on a mattress, and on other visits in the guest room down there. It was roomy and there was a small deck out back. I liked the pool table, which had come with the house because nobody could figure out how to remove it. Dad grew up with a pool table in Corona. They had a family of four kids, and there were usually cousins around.

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A visit to Prescott, April 4, 2001

See this post in Sheryl's personal blog.

Jan 1956: Ted with little Gary, printed January 1956

Gary was born November 1, 1954.