No Texting!

I think I'm so smart. My grandson started sending me text messages when he got a cell phone a few months ago. I've had a cell phone for quite a few years and my newest one, which my daughter-in-law made me get after seeing my old one that looked more like a GPS device, has the ability to text. I'd never used it for a number of reasons. How did it work?, who would I text? and the most important, cost. I had seen the commercials on TV where the parents found their children texting in closets, under beds, etc. and then the actor/parents would be seen fainting holding the dreaded phone bill. Obviously this was not an activity I was going to be doing anytime soon. One day in February my cell starting ringing in my purse, but it wasn't the same ring I was used to hearing. I rummaged around in my purse and sure enough the sound was coming from my phone. I flipped it open and there on my screen was a text message from my grandson Parker. It said Happy Valentine's Day. How sweet was that. Then it happened again a few weeks later. I didn't dare figure out how to reply because of the dreaded cost involved. Then soon after, I was paying my cellphone bill and in the left hand margin in little tiny type it said "100 text messages free". Free! One hundred! That's almost a novel. The next time Parker texted, I found the reply key and thumbed an answer. I pushed the send key and within a few minutes my phone tinkled again and Parker had responded. Fabulous! So Saturday we are at the races and to show off my new skill to my family, I announce I am going to text my grandsons. My sister-in-law, Carol, asks, "you know how to text message?" I proudly say, "Yes, I just learned." She wants to know how to do it, so we get out our cells and I send her a text message. Her phone rings and there is my message. My brother asks what we are doing and we say, we're texting! He says "No, no texting!" Of course I know he is being funny like the commercials on TV and Carol continues to thumb me a message. He says "no texting!" again. I say, "are you serious?" He says, "yes!" I say, "what? why not?" Because it's expensive he says. "but", I say, "you probably get a bunch of texting free on your phone plan." "No we don't!", he says. Hmmmmmmm. Carol had to snap close her phone to abort her message. Geez, I hope I read that small print correctly.

Family

What kind of grandma would go to the horse races and then text message her grandsons and say, "miss you guys, hope you can come next time." Well that would be me. The horse races are a family affair in my family. Yesterday was the first race day of the season for us. Jim and I pick up my 80 year old mother and her 82 year old boyfriend and drive the hour and a half to Emerald Downs in Auburn. We troop to the second deck in the grandstand, purchase our grandstand seats, handicaped seats for my mom and her boyfriend, and enough for the rest of the family near the isle so we can make our $2 bets without having to step over people. Yesterday my brother and his wife met us. We get out our racing forms and begin the process of guessing our winners for the day, but mostly we catch up on family. Weddings, births, vacation plans, jobs and all the usual gossip and drama that exsists in families. We eat bad food, lose money, win money and basically call it all good at the end of the day. We are now making plans for next month, probably on Mother's Day, and the big annual family event of the year, Father's Day. Father's Day is the one I have to reserve in advance for at least 25.

Afternoon Walk

I took an afternoon walk with my friend Denise yesterday. The sun was actually peeking out and it was warm. Passing house after house, we could smell spring with every step. All the gardens that people have nurtured through the winter are making their debuts. It's an easy 15 minute walk from Denise's office to the beach at Chetzamoka Park. We parked ourselves on a log and watched the waves rolling in and discussed the world, but most importantly, the world of theatre. How lucky we are I thought, to be able to take a break from the fast forward speed of life, even in a small town, in this serene little spot on earth. We saw these little tot eco cars parked at a house and I just couldn't resist taking a pic.

Theatre

There is nothing I enjoy more then a good evening of theatre. Last night I had the pleasure of attending our local theatre, KeyCity Players, in Port Townsend. Tartuffe. It was wonderful. The production qualities were A+. Costumes, set, lighting and music all worked together to create the world of Moliere's 400 year old classic. The acting was strong for the most part and for a person who can't sit still for longer then 30 minutes without getting bored, I was pleasantly surprised that 90 minutes had passed. No intermission. So for any of my local friends who read this, I highly recommend, but don't wait because they are selling out very fast.

Big News

Well we just got these pics from Cabo San Lucas where my son and his fiancee just got married. We are thrilled to have Shannon as our new daughter-in-law.

Visit

We had our three grandsons here for the last four days. It is always fun and fast forward from the moment we pick them up at the ferry. One of the things they like to do is go to the beach and hunt beach glass. It's kind of like an easter egg hunt. The most valuable being dark blue or red. We have our usual routes, but this time we turned right instead of left on one of our favorite beaches and whamo! we hit a gold mine. I was thrilled since I had used my supply for art projects and needed to refill my stash. A martini glass full was quite a day. As we walked the beach we saw a mature eagle fighting with a young eagle over territory and came upon a huge rock full of sea lions. The sun was out and it was warm...All in all, a very good beach day.

Project on the Front Burner

Am I crazy? This just arrived this morning from Amazon.com. The book I ordered to help me learn Dreamweaver, a software program to design websites. Oh my gosh. 936 pages. My hope is to manage the site at AOT and build my own site. It seems a bit overwhelming right now, but I am eager and I love a learning curve. So onward and upward.

Early Birthday present

Liza and Teresa gave me my birthday present early last night. It was wrapped in the most incredible little box with an Asian motif of gold flowers on the outside. Very retro and to be used for an art project in the future, or maybe not, since I love the little box so much. But the jewel inside was a huge surprise. It was part of a piece that I made and Teresa has hanging in her home (see pic) and they took the top piece off and made this incredible necklace. I love the deconstruction and reconstruction. It's what my art is all about.

Art-It artnight at my studio

Last night Teresa and Liza came to my studio and we worked on ideas for our upcoming class at Artisans On Taylor in May. I am so used to working in my tiny space alone that cramming three of us in was tight, but oh so much fun. Teresa is the only one who finished her piece, but you will have to sign up for the class to see all three finished products.

Dress Rehearsal

Final dress rehearsal last night. Here is my fabulous cast. Pics taken in the lighting design for the show. Most of the lighting instruments are gelled with red.

Lysistrata

Two grueling months of rehearsal is finally coming to an end tonight as I make my last drive to Bremerton for our final dress rehearsal. Lysistrata opens tomorrow night, Friday, April 13th (what are the odds) at 8pm at the Changing Scene Theatre North West. My cast has worked its asses off making this story come alive. We've taken the lid off this one and gone pretty much over the top. As much hard work as this has been, it has also been fun much of the time. I think it's worth a trip to Bremerton to see what we concocted. Will have a photos of cast tomorrow. The sun is shinning in our world this morning so Jim and I head for the Fort for our walk this morning.

Here they are. Jim's Nemesis. He has planned some sort of "scorched earth" event for tomorrow. The lawn with that yellow covering gives me hope that warm weather is right around the corner. It puts Jim into combat mode.

Easter

Hello to all.......this is my first attempt at creating a blog for family and friends....will be posting bits and pieces of our life as we navigate this little corner of the world.....these are pics of Easter Sunday at Jack and mom's.....we dodged a weather bullet and had sun for the grandkids to have an Easter egg hunt and a picnic dinner outside.....wind and clouds finally forced us inside, but we held out until the bitter end.....check back often to see what we are up to