Bellingham or Bust

Friday night we stayed with Bill and Judy S in Lake Stevens. It was a five hour drive, but the weather was perfect we enjoyed the trip. We went to high school with Bill and Judy. He was a year ahead of us, but Judy was in our class and she and Lois were "best buds" back in those days.

Some years ago Judy started painting "folk art" scenes of early America. Check out some of her art here: it's worth a look!! (She signs her work "Judy Wickersham-Schauermann"). She's also listed on eBay at this site.

They live in a lovely home just above the lake and have great views of both the lake and the Cascade mountains to the east. This picture could have been taken off their deck; it wasn't, but it "could" have been.

Saturday we drove on into Bellingham and attended Stacy's wedding. Stacy is the daughter of dear friends who lived next door to us in Sequim. The wedding was elegant and well attended. When we sat down I started scanning the announcement and recognized the name of the man playing the piano; and it turns out his younger brother was a classmate of ours in high school. In my travels through three high schools and literally, thousands of family names, I had never heard their name again; it's a fairly rare name. So another example of how small the world is: Paul graduated in '62, left Kennewick and had only been back a time or two for class reunions.

After the wedding we met up with friends from Centralia whose son lives in Bellingham. Lois met Joanne in '84 not long after we moved to Centralia. They've been practically bosom buddies ever since. We had a great time with them, and Shelly S (another acquaintaince of Lois' and good friend of Joanne's who came with them to Bellingham), and their son Chris and his girlfriend Andrea.

They took us to Fairview where a community of quaint shops, taverns, bistros, art galleries, coffee houses, and eclectic eateries have sprung up in recent years. Fairview used to be a separate village from Bellingham, but I believe it's been incorporated into Bellingham proper. This is George and Joanne.





We were hungry so we went to get some pizza. Here are Joanne, Lois, Shelly, Andrea, Chris and George sitting on a bench waiting for our name to be called.



Here is a picture of Joanne after the first pizza was delivered. It took us a few minutes to explain to her that she didn't have to eat the whole thing by herself. Well, that's not really true, but Joanne's such a trooper, I thought I would tease her a little. Actually I think what she was thinking was when's this jerk gonna take the picture?, because I waited for a quite a while with her in the view finder, hoping for her to give me a "good" expression.


We spent the night with former Sequim neighbors, Steve and Debbie, whose daughter was married earlier in the day. They were exhausted from weeks of wedding planning and we were exhausted too. Sunday morning Debbie fixed a breakfast of eggs and chantrelle mushrooms that was TO DIE FOR. We left shortly aftwards and drove on home to the tri-cities.

We had a wonderful time visiting with old friends and their kids! We miss them all and had a great time visiting with them. Sure wish I had gotten a few pics of Judy, Bill, Steve, Debbie and the bride and groom. Sorry guys, next time, ok?

Jim

A Pink Hat, an Angel, and Pair of Praying Hands

Sandra, one of Lois' many high school friends, lived every moment to the fullest. She had a promising life ahead of her; lots of friends, a career. Then sometime, not long after high school, she came down with diabetes; but she pushed it off - not diabetes, or anything else, was going to slow her down and for many years, it didn't. She worked hard, she loved hard, and she remained full of life and surprises for all who knew her. And all who knew her, loved her dearly.

After high school, Lois and Sandra communicated enough so their bond was never broken. And as the years progressed, her diabetes became more difficult to handle: she carried the classic symptoms, but her spirit always did its best to protect her heart. She was a fiercely spiritual person, so because of that, and some forty years ago, Lois bought her a pair of praying hands.

Ater we moved back to the tri-cities, in 2003, Sandy re-entered our lives. We would pick her up and bring her over for dinner. We learned she had a huge collection of angels. It was fun to visit with her again, and though it was obvious her body was weak, frail even; it was good to see that spirit still vibrant and kickin'.

Then about a year ago, God played his hand and released Sandra from her frail and weakened body.

When we got home from chemo today, a package addressed to Lois, from Patty, Sandra's sister, was waiting on the doorstep. Inside she found the pink hat with the golden angel pin, that once belonged to Sandra, attached. We thought it only fitting to take a picture of Lois wearing the hat alongside the praying hands on our mantel - the ones returned to Lois by Patty, after Sandra's passing.

We were both touched by the gift and the sentiment.

Sandra, you know "Loisann" and I think of you often - you will always rest comfortably within our hearts.

Thank you, Patty, for the lovely gift!

********************

Nine down; three to go!!

The picture above was taken only half an hour after getting home from her ninth chemotherapy session. Wish I looked that good, hat or not!

Chemo went well, her blood counts are good. White blood cells above the minimum, platelets way above the minimum, red blood cells slightly below, but up from last week due to the procrit injection. This is all good!

We're going to Bellingham this weekend for a wedding. If all of you show up there and we can celebrate together. The parents are dear friends of ours from Sequim (our next door neighbors) and I know they wouldn't mind at all. Right Debbie?

Jim

A Breath of Fresh Air

Ok, so, see, we didn't tell anyone; but last week we got a call from our primary physician. What he had to say was alarming because it involved some evidence that an image had been reviewed and there appeared something "suspicious" in the remaining breast.

We went to see him. He performed a manual exam, said there "might be something at 7 and 11 o'clock" (the "geopositioning scheme for locating lump position" which the medical profession uses - call it the "Geolumplocatorpositionator," or "GLLP,"). An MRI was ordered and administered on Thursday, last week.

We've been moping around ever since.

Just got the call reporting the results of the MRI - IT'S CLEAR!!!!!!!! There's NOTHING THERE!!!!!! Just like a breath of fresh air.

Here's a picture of Gramma Lois and Maia Rose. They're discussing the comics, as you can see.

7/12's there

The seventh appointment was this morning at 10am. We were sure her blood counts wold be down since she's been tired all week, but instead they were actually higher than they were last week. So were her white blood cells and platelets (blood clotting cells).

And of course that's all very good and we were really pleased with these numbers. Still, she's been tired this week. So what do you think? She went to her mother's cabin last Friday, slept well Friday night - due to her sleeping pills, her mother and sister had to "take" her to bed - but not Saturday night, so she comes home Sunday dragging her "you know what" across the floor. She went upstairs and rested for the rest of the day. That was Sunday and she slept pretty good that night because she took a pill; so on Monday, I asked her if she wanted to go the Prosser State's Day parade and take the kids to the carnival in the city park. She said, "sure," so we did.

When we got home, the kids hit the pool and Lois hit the bed upstairs for some rest. Later we had hamburgers with the Whole Gang (Derik, his roomie, James, Brooke, Kiauna, Izaiah, Aiden, and Maia Rose). Lois was doing ok, after everyone left we watched some tv. (We like to watch "Everybody Loves Ramond," and "Frasier" everynight at 10 on Fox.) Then she couldn't sleep last night again.

She was actually looking forward to the benadryl drip at chemo today so she could sleep for a while.

Right now she's on the couch in the tv room, snoozing. I'm telling her it's all over for the next five weeks: no more running around, shopping, taking trips to the cabin, organizing all our lives - it's time to start storing up some energy. But then I know - it's going to be like Raymond's poor attempts to gain control in his household.

Wish me luck, and if you have any ideas how to regain the control I had before I was married and living alone, drop them in the comment box below.