Los Angeles, California: We have enjoyed beautiful warm weather since returning from Yuma. Dave is now able to ride his bike over ten miles. He still can't walk far, stand long, or jog (at all), but he can ride his bike! This exercise has done wonders for his mood and his continuing therapy is doing wonders for his pinched nerve. Thank you all so much for the positive thoughts. It's working!
We did a spin through the local Target (DT pushes the cart and uses it as his cane aid) and filled the cart with toys for a charity supported by the members of the Motorcoach Country Club. Every year the Christmas tree in the club restaurant is nearly buried in toys generously donated. The local charity arranges the unwrapped toys/gifts by age and allow parents to "shop" for their children and wrap the gifts. I love this plan!
Look at all the loot - and there are still five days before the deadline to donate! Our owners are SO generous. You won't be able to see the tree by Tuesday! Dave and I don't even celebrate Christmas, but who are we to deny a child a toy? Not this Bubbe and Bubba.And the gifts (we bought a lot of make-up sets for older girls) and toys are only a part of the giving. Our resort also holds a coat drive (though not sure how often a child really needs a coat in Palm Springs) and a pretty little Christmas tree decorated entirely with socks!
I swear, it is serious fun shopping for gifts for children you do not know.Don't know and can't explain the west coast weather situation. Our house sitter is snowed-in at our house, and the city of Portland is in a virtual shut-down with inches of ice coating every surface. Trees, laden with weight from the ice, are cracking in half. Power lines collapse. Cars are piled-up, abandoned, on roadsides.
You'd think we would be immune, snuggled down here under swaying palm trees... but we are not. The Los Angeles area is having another wind/rain storm. The much needed rain never seems to arrive as a shower. It pours sheets of rain and the wind howls and then the hills (denuded from wild fires) slide away in a muddy mess.
But we headed over to Los Angeles anyway, arriving just as the sky opened. Lucy will "sing" in her first Winter Concert at her preschool Friday morning and we can't miss the show!
Pretty sure this diva will steal the show... or she could just stand agape on the stage - in shock when confronted with all the people in the audience. She's two years + three months, so we are not expecting an aria. Lucy is changing/growing so fast. Her speech is improving at lightning speed and Lucy is famous already for her "catch phrases". A few weeks ago it was, that funny, then, I got this, and this week, I kidding. Always happy, always charming. Blonde curls, a sweet smile and a true love of food. Lucy Joy is now old enough to request lullabies by name. She has my number, but I pale in comparison to DT. Lucy is completely smitten... until she wants to be rocked to sleep. Then, only Bubbe will do.
Her brudder is mid-way through his first year of kindergarten and is 100% boy. Never-ending energy and imagination. Fart noises. Curiosity and a lot of questions. Superheroes. Leo wants to be a police officer. Or a zookeeper. This week, Leo is writing/inventing an adventure story with a zookeeper (himself) as the main character.Yes, they are adorable. Nearly as adorable as your grandchildren.
And because next week is Hanukkah, this granny did not arrive empty-handed to Los Angeles this afternoon.
Just a simple sugar cookie dough, with a Star of David cut-out of the center of the top layer, sprinkled with powdered sugar and stuffed with blueberry jam. A bit messy, but very pretty. All organic. I do what I can.Until my next update, I remain, your Los Angeles correspondent.