For Dieter and Rainer

Dear Dieter and Rainer,

I hope you are enjoying your advent calendar. I have one too.

Lawrence has lots of fun things to do at Christmas. This Saturday I am going to a Christmas parade. And EVERY YEAR Santa crashes on the roof of the Weaver's Department store here in Lawrence. He did it again last Friday! Can you believe it? The Fire Department had to come with their ladder truck and get him down. This year I took a picture with my camera phone so I could share it with you.





Hope you are having a fun Christmas season!

Kansas is very beautiful

I've been seeing lots of the Kansas countryside recently. And based on my previous experience, I would have told you that it was sort of dull. But I now know that it is in fact very beautiful and amazingly diverse.


This is a photo of Pomona Lake. It is a great photo except that it really was more sunny than the photo shows. I walked along the rocks from just beyond that point all the way to the ramp. I was very proud of myself when I actually saw what I had done.

Fall

These pictures were taken from a place called Four States Lookout in White Cloud, KS. It's one of my new favorite places.

Let's hear it for balloon rides

What a very fabulous thing, even if you skip the actual balloon ride.

Here's my kudos to romance and longevity - Happy 60th Anniversary to my Aunt Dot & Uncle Thad and to Mary & Jack Davidson.

Maybe, just maybe, there is hope for me.

The boy I love right now

I am in one of my very favorite places again. Last night Deiter told Mary Beth "I love you mommy and I love your friend too." There is nothing more pure than the love of a 4 year old boy.


Equally enjoyable is his toddler brother, the most articulate 2 year old I've ever met.

Waves of grief

I'm sort of moved into my new little house with the purple door and wood floors. I'm am still caught off guard by the grief that staggers me from time to time. It comes in the unpacking, the contemplation of buying a new sofa and with the understanding that Mark is very much moving on. He is in a place I've been before. I'm not there now. I can't even really begin to contemplate dating. I've signed up for one online dating site but I have no idea what I would say to anyone about anything. It isn't a surprise that Mark and I are not on the same page with moving on. We have never achieved any kind of synchronicity. I am sad. I don't have the insulation of having to rear children either. I don't even have a dog. And I'm a bit lost. I've always seen a clear path before me. Probably because there were fewer choices. I feel like the ability to go to graduate school has been stolen from me.

So, what now...

More tears, I'm sure. Also, a new shower curtain, a couple of new dishes, a new sofa soon and a trip to California.



In the meantime, the cat and I have a new view.

My new life

While I'm in California, I get to actually take time to think about what is to come.

Here is the front door of the new house I've rented. I move-in August 1st.






















When I moved I went through a mountain of paper, 26 years worth. I'm sending out the address of my new life on postcards made from the cards of my past.



Recycling at its best.