What I missed.

The Kohn Mansion is now the Mercy High School, built in 1912, sixty-three rooms and my granddaughter Erin teaches the ASL sign language there. There is a Koi pond, swimming pool and tennis courts; my, a far cry from the high school I attended. Our school had the red bricks but no marble floors. How lucky the young ladies are to have such surroundings to learn, especially from a smart young lady like my granddaughter Erin . . . brag, brag, brag . . . just what Grandmothers do and smile while they are at it.

When the invitation came to join my daughter Patricia and my granddaughter Erin on a little sabbatical to San Francisco and all its wonders, I knew I would not be able to keep up with all the walking, climbing and perusing that would take place. Just the thought of the hills alone was enough to scare me into staying home and enjoying my easy chair. I could live with that. Now I see the pictures of the mall, how big it is, layers of shops to visit, all decorated, all filled with beautiful and expensive 'things' to buy and I remember the fun of walking a mall. I used to . . . aah, that expression is so much a part of my present vocabulary, walk the mall in Reno before the stores opened and twice around was a mile of peeking into store windows as I checked off names on my Christmas list. The card store would always be a 'must' and my friend Tani and I would stand there passing Maxine cards back and forth making everyone around us laugh. The clerk was willing to hire us as we helped to get a lot of cards sold.

It was nice to see that they do have fresh vegetables stands for the 'city' folks. I bet the stalls are empty before the day is over.

On another vein, my daughter Christine is celebrating a birthday and we sent her flowers. She, in turn, sent us a picture of them and we are more than pleased with the results of our surprise. Of course we didn't mean for her to get them until her birthday but now she can enjoy them up to her special day.

She has been telling me about the heavy storms they have been having and about the treacherous roads on the highways. This picture is of the first snow storm and the tree limbs have bird houses attached. The birds live in the big bush and I am wondering if they winter there and if she keeps those little houses filled all year long. I put out some seed in the bird house in my yard yesterday as I saw a few of the little budgie birds sitting on the electric wires. My thought was that they were hungry and after filling the bird house with fresh seed, I waited patiently for them to come to the yard. It took some time as they flitted from tree to tree as if waiting for someone to say it was all right to have something to eat. And then the decent began, one after the other filled their tiny bellies and then flew off. My good deed for the day.

So today, I hope that your storms are few, but if you have to have them, I hope they blanket your area and are cold enough to kill all the germs that bring about the sniffles this time of year. Our rain continues and if all goes well I will get a chance to see the wave action today. Wind, rain and heavy seas, a surprising wonderful combination to clear the mind and let the imagination take over as you watch for the creatures of the sea. Make your today special, just like you. Hugs to all.