Indio, California: Overnight, we changed from popular people who have writers come to interview them, sip martinis and host dinner parties, to people who go to Bed Bath & Beyond to buy toilet brushes for their daughter.
I snapped this photo, sent it to Lisa and asked her to choose. Far left toilet brush was the winner.
Seriously. On our way to Los Angeles, we were sent to BB&Y to purchase a door mat, a garbage can, drawer dividers and three toilet brushes.
The things parents won't do for their children.
Precious cargo loaded, we headed over to The Big City, unloaded our luggage in a hotel and unloaded the purchases at the new house. Lisa and Leo were waiting for us and the Little Guy broke out into a huge grin when he saw me and then proceeded to squeal with delight when he saw DT.
Doesn't everybody?
Lenn & Lisa's "old" house is in a bit of a mess, due to the move this weekend. Boxes are stacked to the ceiling - but it is an organized chaos. I found something very interesting amongst the things to be moved:
This is a wall-hanging - tie-dyed and stretched over a simple wood frame - made by the sister (Courtney) of our friend, January. We met January (and her husband, Kevin) in Manila, The Philippines in 1980. We have remained friends to this day. My memory is a bit hazy, but we believe January & Kevin gave this wall hanging to Lisa on her first birthday. (Lisa is 30.) I had not seen the piece for many years and was so happy to learn Lisa still owned this one-of-a-kind tie-dye. I snapped this photo with my phone and immediately sent it off to January in Boston. She was also thrilled to learn it still had a place in Lisa's life. This piece of nostalgia will be moved to the new house tomorrow!
Here is a photo of January and myself on a girls weekend to the lovely little island of Mindoro in The Philippines. I remember it was a bit of a pain to get to the island, as we had to drive several hours south of Manila to catch a ferry. Probably Dave or Kevin had to drive us to the ferry terminal and return to fetch us? I don't remember.Once on the island (this was in the very early 80's) there were just a few places to stay - all extremely rustic - and the island only had electricity from dusk to about 10 o'clock at night. In this photo, I think we were taking a banca boat from the ferry terminal to our hotel (yeah, we wore dresses daily in The Philippines). We hired a similar boat to take us snorkeling one day. Our guide speared a fish while we were snorkeling and then cooked it up for us on the beach!
Back to reality...
Our Grand Dawg is away at his kennel for the weekend. Lisa (and I agree) thinks it is best Reese just come over to the new house when everything is in order and situated. She has brought Reese over to the new house several times and is hoping the transition will be easy for him. This is his 6th home!
These two guys don't care where they live, just so they are with Lisa.Tonight we all went to an Italian restaurant. Leo sat in a high chair and was SO GOOD! He chewed on a soup spoon for 45 minutes, ate a few pureed organic pears and smiled at the other patrons.
Until my next update, I remain, your Leo-loving correspondent.
SLOGGER REPORT: So happy to report I finished my 20-mile-week challenge. Boring to run the same 4-mile course five times in a row, but happy to have completed a very (for me) high mileage week. I am looking forward to two days of rest... though not so sure how much rest I will be getting while helping the kids move. 4 miles/20 for the week. Yeah, me!