Wednesday, June 1, 2011 — One last visit to the party

It pleases me that I still have friends thanking me for the Taurus party. It's great to know that it was enjoyed. Just a few loose ends and we'll let it go. I'd like to give one last thank you to all the people who brought such delicious dishes to the potluck. We have several more large wooden utensils than we did before. Could one of them be yours? Also a black round plate. And last but not least, one Colombia rain jacket. It's yours, Robert. Right? We missed a few good friends who couldn't make it. Here's to next time.

This weekend Larkin is graduating from his super rated charter high school in Arcata. From a grandmother's point of view — what a fast four years that was! I still remember the day he was born. I was teaching at College of the Redwoods and thirteen of my students invited me to Viraporn's Thai Restaurant in the little white caboose to celebrate my birthday. When I walked in, they began singing "the happy song" to me and I sat down. Then I looked around and they all had the strangest smiles on their faces. After a long pause they began speaking, one person at a time. "You have a new baby grandson." I still wilt whenever I think of it. Kathy had been having a tough time and was ordered to bed in her last weeks. Skip was in Berkeley and when he received news of Larkin's birth from Arcata, he called Viraporn's restaurant because he knew all about the birthday dinner that my students had organized.

Fast forward to the weekend when Kathy and Danny brought their growing baby boy down for a visit to Fort Bragg and his grandparents. After lots of encouragement, they decided to leave him for the first time and go into town to see a movie. Everything seemed to be going swimmingly as we parked ourselves down on a quilt with him in front of the wood stove. Then all hell broke loose. His "binky" was lost and despite a frantic search, we simply could not find it anywhere. The howls began and didn't stop. It was then that we discovered that we had another tenacious Taurus in the family. It was a fun filled hour before his parents returned and miraculously produced a replacement for the treasured item. He's been a joy from that time on.

Now that baby who was born on my birthday eighteen years ago is almost 6' 4" and 200 lbs. He's going to San Jose State in the fall where he'll be studying aeronautics in their engineering department. This is something he's wanted to do forever. Two of his uncles are United pilots. His other grandfather was a lawyer, but a pilot also ....... Heavy duty influence at work. I've been meaning to get to the San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum more often. A friend of mine is a curator there. She mounts some memorable exhibits. I have a hunch I'll be seeing more of them over the next few years.