My mom had me over yesterday for a slightly belated birthday dinner, which was very nice. My brother, Steve, and his girlfriend, Karen. were also, and I brought my 2 dogs, so we had my 2 dogs and Mom's 2 dogs. They were actually fairly calm.

After dinner, my mom showed us the batch of chicks that were about 4-6 weeks old. Cute! Some of the chickens were a breed that tends to have feathers on their feet, so it looked like they were wearing glitzy pants from a Las Vegas lounge act or something.

I also helped Mom reset her voice mail box on her cell phone.

All in all, it was a very nice day! (Apologies for the poor photo quality. I was using the camera phone for basically the first time.)

Cool beans! My baby brother had lived with my mom and stepfather for years. He has never really lived on his own, apart from a brief stint when he was in the Army around 1990 or so.

He is now in his new apartment and sounds like he is doing well. I am so happy for him and proud of him for moving forward.

My sister Su and brother-in-law Tom were traveling through from Toledo OH to Jamestown NY to visit his sister. My brother-in-law does Santa Claus stuff as a sideline. (check out http://www.toledosanta.com) While we were at the restaurant, another Santa guy (who just happened to be in the area) stopped by the table to say howdy. My sister says that happens all the time. We had a very nice lunch and it was great seeing them!

I had a call from my mom that my brother's girlfriend, whom I hadn't met yet, was having problems getting online. We went over to her place, and it seems to be a bad LAN card. We tried swapping with another LAN card (which made the PC not boot) and were not able to get it to go. Her old PC might have been infected with spyware. I suggested maybe checking the old PC for spyware and getting a new LAN card for the alternate PC. My brother seemed like he was okay with continuing to check stuff out, so I went and walked the dogs.

After the 4th of July parade, I went over to my mom's for an informal family picnic. Her neighbor Laura joined us. Mom had gotten a new sewing machine (this would be her 12th) and she was trying to figure out how to utilize the USB port to get designs onto the machine. It was a rather high end PC. We did some fiddling around and got it to work. Amusingly enough, the design that we had picked at random from her laptop happened to read "Drama Queen." I am wondering if I could ask her about embroidering some shirts for next year's picnic. Hmm.

Mom also wasn't aware that she could hook up an external monitor to her laptop, or even expand her Windows desktop onto the second monitor.

My stepfather needed to enter volunteer hours for his master gardener certification, and neighbor Laura is working on that as well. So, we set up a shortcut to the web site that PSU maintains for entry and went over that.

Finally, I had talked previously with my mom about setting up a web site for the North Coast Sewing Guild, which she currently serves as the president of. (Had I mentioned that my mom is a sewing jock?) I had seen the wiki site that the Womynspace/LBT Women of Erie group had set up, so I figured it might work for what Mom was doing. So, we have a very rough draft up.

Grandma and her husband, Mac, made the move to assisted living. The new place is only a few blocks from my Mom, which is convenient. Mac has been having some health issues that are limiting him, and Grandma has been slowing down. (Fairly understandable for someone who is turning 91 this year.)

Grandma hadn't gotten much packing done, and the new place is smaller. There was some confusion about what to take, and Mom wasn't sure. I sort of put on my organizer hat and suggested that we try going room by room to take what seemed to the things most needed. (Lots easier to deal with a smaller area at a time.)

So, they are now settled in. There is probably still some small stuff that they need to go back and go over. Grandma is also going to sell some of the larger pieces that they can't use. (So, if anyone is looking for a sofa, let me know!)

I had a nice chat with my mom today. My grandmother's husband hasn't been doing so well, and he has been in the hospital. It is now looking like they will be moving into an assisted care facility within the next month or so. They are going to have to downsize quite a fair amount.

It also looks my uncle is not doing so well. He and my aunt live quite a ways away. Fortunately, their daughter isn't too far away.

Just hoping that everything hangs together.

I had a meeting earlier today (actually, some meeting every day from today through Wednesday,) but I was able to get over to Mom's for dinner. She was having some computer problems, so I took care of that.  We also talked about setting up a web site for the North Coast Sewing Guild that she is currently the president for, and I helped her set up a blog.

It was a very nice evening, and we talked a lot. It may not have been a conventional Mother's Day, but it worked for us.

Just a quickie to wish my Mom a happy birthday. I have a truly excellent and nifty mom, and I am very fortunate to have been raised with the values that were stressed.

I went to Mike Waltner's Day of Action rally today. I saw my friend Greg who used to be very involved with local GLBT stuff. It was nice seeing him again.

Another guy asked me for my name, and said that he knew me from way back. It turns out this his wife had been buddies with my mom when I was in elementary school. Kay had once sneaked us kids up some snacks from a party my parents had when we were small. Mom was VERY big on emphasizing that one always brushed one's teeth before going to bed. We ended up not doing that, and I went to sleep feeling like I had committed a mortal sin.

Some other friend mentioned that their son had been partners with a guy that I knew through political stuff. Small world!

When I went to get the mail, there was a handwritten post card from someone in Washington state asking for a vote for Barack Obama. The kicker is that I was already planning on doing that, and the post case was addressed to my ex. (We have very similar names, but he hasn't lived here in almost 5 1/2 years.)

I spent a fair portion of the day in bed, but I did manage to get a few things done. My mom stopped over to say howdy after I told her about how this weekend went. It was good to catch up.

Deb also stopped by to take care of some tasks and helped me with some domestic chores.

I am probably behind at work, but debating whether I am better enough to go in. Just going grocery shopping tonight was kind of tiring. Whiny little me!

Oy. About a month ago, a neighbor filed a complaint about the dogs barking. I felt mortified that I had not been more diligent, but I wish he had at least spoken to me first. So, I got the ticket, paid the fine and figured it was all over with. I have worked on not leaving the dogs out for too long.

Tuesday, I came hurriedly home from work to dash out off to newsletter folding and there was a bright orange postcard in the mail about a warrant being issued for my arrest. Of course, there is no contact info, and I had no idea what it was about. I am wracking my brain trying to think of anything I might have done that would have resulted in that.

I talked with some friends at folding, and they reassured me that it was something minor. Not that would have stopped me from freaking out of course.

The next morning, I called the District Justice. I explained about the post card, and the woman who answered the phone asked me for my name. She then said, "Son of Peter?" "Um, yes." It turns out that she knew my dad and had gone to his funeral mass back in 1995. She was very pleasant.

It turns out that it was over the barking dog thing. Although I had mailed the ticket with the check the day that the incident occurred, it wasn't received. I just wanted to get it resolved so I stopped in at the office before work and paid the fine. (Groan. Court costs and etc was a lot, given that the original fine was only a few dollars.)

All's well that ends. Apparently, I won't be on the next edition of "America's Most Wanted."

Ken and I went to my Mom's for Easter dinner, which was very nice. My grandma, her hubby, my stepfather, my brother and my mom's neighbor Laura were there was well. The dining area was slightly crowded, but not too bad. Everyone pitched in and we all had a great time. This was the first time for the family and Ken to meet..

Afterwards, we stopped off at Ken's work place to hang out for a bit. Then I had to come home to finish up the newsletter, which took a bit longer than I thought. However, it is now off at the print shop.

I just had a very nice chat with my brother-in-law about a mutual friend who is in the Society for Creative Anachronism. Otfrid got a Writ that he would be receiving a Pelican (Peerage award for service) at Ice Dragon (a very large event in Buffalo NY, also called Barony of the Rhydderich Hael.) This event will be 2 weeks after his 12th birthday, and is being given for 24 years of service.

How is that possible, you ask? Otfrid is a leap year baby, so he is actually going to be 48 years old. My brother and I joked about the character of Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, who was also born on February 29, which was a plot point. I mentioned about something that Isaac Azimov had written that the play would have been set in 1873 or 1877. Frederic sings about how he will celebrate his 21st birthday in 1940, which means that he would have been born 88 years before (if Gilbert and Sullivan correctly realized that 1900 would NOT be a leap year) or 84 years before (if they didn't.)

My mom was having some problems setting up shared printers/drives, so last night I connected to her PC and got them going. Now, my brother and stepfather can print. (Although neither needs to very often.) Mom has both a laptop and a desktop and wanted to be able to print to either computer.

I got a call from someone who wanted me to run as a delegate for Hillary Clinton. Although I think any of the Democratic candidates would be fine, I don't know as I have 100% made my mind up yet. However, the main deal-breaker for me would be the traveling to the national convention part. I know it sounds crazy, but I really hate traveling for anything much more than a 2 hour car drive/day trip.

Still working on tasks related to this month's Erie Gay News and also keying some stuff for Drenched Fur. Another project I should eventually move on is migrating the stuff currently in the EGN photo blog to Flickr. I might start on that after the this month's issue is over.

Feeling really tired, so I think I will turn in now. Gad, I am so dull!

It was a very nice day. I picked up my Grandma and her husband, Mac, and took them over to Mom's for Christmas dinner. Mom had made Cornish game hens, which were yummy. My stepfather Carl had just redone an upstairs bedroom to be a sewing room for my Mom, so she was showing it off to Grandma, who is also into sewing. Mom was jokingly lamenting that she had space for only 8 of her sewing machines. She had a few downstairs

Mom also had a smocking machine that had a line of 47 needles. Grandma seemed impressed. I am clueless.

Carl hung out with my step-grandfather, Mac.

It was a nice day, My brother and I geeked around briefly on the computer and helped get dinner out.

My brother-in-law, who runs the site for Toledo Santa (and who sometimes bears a curious resemblance to Santa ;) ) emailed me about a story that the local news did about Santa himself visiting the Maumee cub scouts.

Local sports radio interviewed Santa, and then his agent, my brother-in-law Tom.

Happy holidays!

Toledo's Santa Claus

By Arielle Berlin
Posted: Monday, December 17, 2007 at 10:33 p.m.

TOLEDO, OH -- Some Cub Scouts in Maumee got a visit from a very special guest on Monday night.  Santa Claus!

Santa came all the way from the North Pole to make sure the scouts got what they wanted for Christmas.  And if you wanted him to, Santa could make an appearance at your holiday gathering.

Santa has a website, where you can get in contact with him.  Santa says, "that way if people are looking for me, they can find me locally, they can go to a workshop and get information, that way they don't have to make a long distance call to the North Pole."

Check out the link below to contact Santa.

Related Links

• Contact Santa Claus

Toledo's Santa Claus : News : NBC24

Between the newsletter and all the folks that I know, I tend to send out a LOT of holiday cards. I probably don't get to everyone I should, and I am not sure how many folks notice them, but it is sort of an annual tradition.

This year, I thought I would throw together a holiday newsletter, since I don't correspond as much as I would like with some folks I send cards to. I also wanted to play around a bit with InDesign. My artistic/layout skills are fairly crappy, but fortunately there were some templates, so I tweaked it ever so slightly and threw some copy into there. Hopefully, the whole thing isn't too unbearably pretentious and self-involved.

Michael's DItherings - Holiday Newsletter 2007

I had a very nice time today over at Mom's for Thanksgiving. My stepfather (Carl), brother (Steve), Grandma, her husband (Mac) and Laura, a neighbor of my Mom's were also there. I started off with helping Mom with getting the dinner together, which was just fine.

My brother had been having some problems with a rebuilt PC. A friend at his work place had rebuiit it. I took a look, and it turned out that he didn't have the driver for his USB adaptor, and also didn't have the wireless network info, so we fixed that. He can now browse, which is cool.

Mom had moved some files around on a new external hard drive, so I helped her with some problems with that. I also showed her how to post some of her photos to Flickr. (I really should insert a Mother Flickr joke here...) I helped her post some photos of alpacas.

.

Carl and Laura were trying to work out some fertilizer problems for a course they are taking in gardening. Being somewhat comfortable with numbers, I was able to find what they were missing. Yay! Math geek fun.

All in all, it was a very relaxing day, and I felt good that I was able to be helpful.

I will have photos later, but today my mom and I went to the house we lived in when I was 8-10 or so that is not far from here. My friend Jeff came along since he had worked on the house when Gary and his partner lived there. It is really beautiful now! It had been built in 1887, and the wife had a history of owners and etc going back to then.

We went through the basement, which had rather a rather low ceiling. I didn't recall it feeling that low, but then I remembered I was maybe a tad shorter when we lived there. ;)

Since this is Erie, we never make it to 6 degrees of separation. The husband had played in the orchestra at the Erie Playhouse in the 70's or so, when Dad was doing theatre. The wife went to school at St. Andrew's, which is across the street from where I am now. We knew a fair number of folks in common.

Somehow we got onto the subject of kids who had been childhood friends. I mentioned Sam Cohen, who was a very good friend in elementary school. My sister and I also were in student summer theatre in 1980 with his sister Lynne. My friend Jeff's ears perked up. "Sam Cohen? I was in a production of Pippin with him at Gannon." I told Jeff that I recalled that my family had gone to see that production, so I actually sort of met Jeff about a decade before I really got to know him. I forgot to tell Jeff that I realized I sort of had a crush on Sam when we were kids. I didn't realize it at the time, of course.

I have been having some delightful emails with the woman who owns the house my family lived in when I was 8-10. She has some of the history going back to when it was built in 1886. Too cool!

I should preface this by saying that neither my family nor the current owners of the house had any particularly weird experiences. The couple that lived there after us claimed that the house was haunted, and that there was the shadow of a figure going up a wall with a knife. The gay couple that lived there before the current owners said something about a carpet by the front door being rolled up by a ghost. Actually, there was a girl who lived next door who I think was murdered many years later by her boyfriend.

The closest thing I had to a spiritual encounter (and we are REALLY stretching things here) was when I saw the Jack Palance TV movie version of Dracula when we were living there. I would not sleep with my neck uncovered for what seemed like years after that. Even if it was summer and I didn't have a blanket, I had to sleep with something covering my neck. Gad, what a pathetic wuss!

Mom recalled that Dad liked the wallpaper in the stairwell because it reminded him of marijuana plants. (This would be my dad that I had to pay back out of my paper route money for throwing out his pot stash in a fit on moral pique when I was 12/13.) I told the woman who owns the house now that Dad died in 1995. If the gay couple had removed the wallpaper then, maybe Dad was returning to haunt them over the marijuana wallpaper!

I still would like to visit the place with my Mom.

I had a call from my mom yesterday that my great aunt Ruth (Mom's maternal aunt) had died. Ruth had some strokes over the years, and had been pretty much out of it for a while. Her mom, my great grandmother (that would be the one who lived to be 100, and was married to my gay great grandfather) died on October 10. Ruth was never told that her baby brother, my great uncle Bernie, died last year on October 11 (which is also National Coming Out Day, as I told Mom - Bernie was gay as well as his dad) We were wondering whether Ruth would go on the 12th to make the deaths sequential, but she ended up passing on October 9, so they are still sequential. October 9 also happens to be the birthday of my dog, Hecate Sable, and mom's dog, Emily Elizabeth (they are litter mates.)

I didn't really know Ruth very well. I only met her a few times. She was up here with my great uncle Bernie in 1995. She was already fairly incapacitated, but she was pretty lively in some ways. Ruth never married. Since my maternal grandfather was an only child, and since my paternal grandfather has no full siblings, I have second cousins from only my paternal grandmother's side of the family. (She died before I was born, and I don't really know my dad's side of the family.)

I guess that Mark, my great uncle Bernie's surviving partner, called and was pretty much broken up about the whole thing. Bernie, Ruth and Mark lived together before Bernie and Ruth went into their respective nursing homes.

It's slightly odd, as Grandma is the oldest child, and is now the last surviving member of her generation. She will be turning 90 next week, and is still fairly spry.

Mom and I had a nice chat about all sorts of stuff. (And yes, Mom, I did sing Happy Birthday to Hecate when I walked her last night.)

I had a nice chat with my Mom today. She has been through a rough patch, but is still her usual chipper and upbeat self. I guess that Monday she took my Grandma to have the cast taken off her arm. My step-grandfather has been having some mobility problems. He went from not needing a cane to a cane, to 2 canes to the walker my Grandpa used to use, to Mom borrowing a wheelchair. Mom took him on Tuesday to the doctor. Wednesday, my mom went with my stepfather to see an eye specialist in Pittsburgh for some problems he is having.

One of my mother's cats, Trouble, had some rather severe problems with his back legs/area below his rib cage for the past week or two. My mom took him to the vet again on Thursday, and things were not good. They figured it was probably something like a tumor on his spinal column. So, my mom held the cat while the vet put him to sleep. It was very sad, but Mom knows that he is better off now.

Mom and I talked at one point about Teri Rhodes, the Mercyhurst student who killed her newborn baby. I think we both felt unsure about this: was the woman totally whacked and possibly not responsible for her actions? It was reminding me oddly of Ray Carinci, who effectively let his partner die in unimaginable squalor. (Daryl had multiple sclerocis and couldn't move well. He was seemingly gnawed by rats while he was still alive, and the corpse had to be fumigated. Horrible!)

I had also seen some photos of the guards and their families at Auschwitz enjoying everyday pleasures while genocide was going on that they were helping. It seems unfathomable; how can folks have such a stunning disconnect between the world and the way that they relate to it and their fellow human beings? Okay, I know that the Auschwitz guards are probably the most extreme example, but you wonder how people can be so callous. It frightens me because I wonder if people I know or even myself have the seeds of this kind of mindless disregard for others.

Mom also had mentioned that my aunt and uncle were going on a cruise up the Atlantic coastline. My uncle has a few health problems, and was due to come back after the cruise for a hernia operation. He also has some other health problems apart from that. Mom called me back later that my uncle had run into some rather serious health problems on the cruise. The director of the cruise line had called to see what they could do to help. They turned the boat around (he's now in a hospital in Nova Scotia) People at the boat were lining up to donate blood if my uncle needed it. My cousin was heading up to be with his dad.

it was a sort of odd reminder that as much as there are awful people and horrible behavior, there is also goodness, decency and kindness as well. I guess it all works out to what we want to focus on.

I am feeling pretty good right now. Because of the blog post about looking for a gay AA sponsor, a friend contacted her dad, who found a gay sponsor for the guy looking for help in staying sober. I talked with the sponsor today and explained the situation. "Oh," he said, "You're not the person looking for help." I explained I was just acting as a go-between, and that I was a lifelong teetotaler. I certainly have other vices, but substance issues aren't one of them. I then gave him my name, after giving the info for the person to contact. "You're famous!", he said. Hmm, I am not sure if I qualify for that, but it was amusing nonetheless.

I also emailed my Mom and my sister about Bob, who was a co-worker with my dad and who was at the Erie Blogger get together this past Tuesday. Mom sent him an email to say howdy. She thinks that when my dad was fired from the Record Bar (on my birthday, if I recall correctly - I might have been 16 or 17 or so), Bob got very upset, threw everyone out of the place and closed the doors. Not sure if that is what happened. It's been close to 30 years.

Just feeling good about helping people to connect. I am grateful to the people who help me do this. (Oh yeah, and have just had a bit of a frolic on the way back into work to check on a conversion also helps put a smile on my face.;) )

I was feeling under the weather and just could not get to sleep Thursday night. I did some stuff, and noticed that I still have 3 sick days this year, so I called in sick. (There were no major upcoming crises, and it was better than showing up as a zombie.)

I have everything pretty much all set to go for Pagan Pride Day on Saturday. I am hoping that it goes well. I really feel good about the people on the board for the United NeoPagan Council of Lake Erie. Working with the right folks is pure joy.

I also wrote a letter to the editor in reaction to someone who criticized the time for the article about Ray Buckland/Touch of Salem that ran in the Faith section on August 18. I did get a follow up call from them, so I guess that it will hopefully run.

I also had someone write to me about a common ancestor on the Tellier side who noticed that I referenced a work that someone else had written. I don't have the entire work, but I did scan all 14 pages that I had to a PDF and emailed it to him. It is in French and from something someone faxed to me on New Year's Eve, December 1998. Actually, it was probably good to get the stuff into a digital format regardless.

There turned out to be some minor glitches at work with the changeover to the fiber-optic line. Some things I took care of from home, and I stopped in now at work to enter time and send out some emails.

Oh well, I need to get going, walk the dogs and get some sleep for tomorrow. I am hoping that we get a good turn out!

Another nice vacation day. I woke up late today, and had a nice chat with my Mom, and I will be going over there for dinner, with the dogs. We were talking about all sorts of stuff, and she mentioned that she is considering getting a few alpacas (sort of a smaller version of a llama.) My mom lives on quite a good deal of land. She mentioned that she has birds, cats and dogs, but no pets beginning with A. Have I mentioned my family's rather pronounced tendency toward whimsy? Well, I suppose it is good that Mom probably would stop at dogs. I don't think Harborcreek is zoned for elephants.

When I first heard the name alpaca, I thought of Al Parker, an iconic gay male adult film star. Curiously enough, in a biography I read about him, he went to Woodstock as a high school student and the poster of the movie documentary includes him.)

So, a few tasks I should scurry off and do now, I guess.

This was sort of nifty. I opened today's paper to the Faith section to see an article about Erie native Michael Warner, who practices Transcendental Meditation. In the early 70s, my parents hung out with a lot of counterculture/hippie folks, which was kind of cool. Michael Warner was one of those folks. I remember him as being a very quiet and pleasant sort of guy.

When my parents got divorced the first time (I was about 10 or so), my mom and we kids stayed at a hotel for a night before moving up to Rochester, New York. I remember that my mom had three of her female friends come over to socialize, and Michael Warner came over as well. My mom is almost as verbal as I am, and there was one point that all four women were talking at once. I turned to my goal, and said, "Oh wow. Quadraphonic yakking!" He smiled back.

Michael's family owned Warner Amusements, which I think used to be over on E. 12th St by French. Relatively soon after I started working as a computer programmer, we had a few support calls there. It was interesting catching up with somebody that I hadn't seen in over a decade. I am trying to recall if it was then that was setting up a database in R:Base 5000. I used that package when I did my internship at Hamot Media Services.

I seem to recall that Steve, the brother-in-law of David who was at the Erie Blogger picnic, as well as being the namesake of my brother, was also into Transcendental Meditation.

The Erie Blogger picnic was fun on Tuesday! We had a nice turnout. I had packed the totes with the Pride Picnic stuff, so I looked unusually organized and prepared. Well, almost. I had brought the charcoal and lighter fluid, but I couldn't find the matches. We kept asking folks if they had a lighter, but apparently we were all non-smokers. (Hey, that's a good thing.) Ron, who was very kindly volunteering to do the grilling with Jon, suggested trying to ignite some paper toweling near the grill with the cigarette lighter from my car. There were several attempts, but this was not exactly crowned with success. ;) Finally, David got the bright idea to simply walk to the next occupied shelter and borrow their Aim 'N Flame. I mused that if most of us were left to survive in the wild, we would be gone in 3 hours, maximum. (I was trying to figure out if the grill had a USB interface. ;) )

There was quite a wonderful selection of food, and everyone seemed to have a great time visiting. Dan from the Community Blood Bank was there to push the Battle of the Bloggers, which happens July 23-27. You can read more about it here. It is a very worthy cause, as Erie is in desperate need of donated blood. They also have a cool prize for both the top blogger and randomly selected reader/donor.

I talked for a fair bit in the beginning with David. He was actually a friend of my parents in the early 70's or so when my Dad was hanging out with some hippies. As it so happens, David's sister, Chris, is married to Steve, who is my baby brother's namesake. David said that Steve and Chris are doing really well.

Later on, Jenson (who is going to be away for 6 months) asked me if I had a date at the picnic. I was puzzled. I then said that David was straight (and a grandparent - he had to leave early to spend time with the grandkids), but explained the familial connection. I was very young when Dad knew Steve and Chris and the rest, but I have fond memories. I remember hanging out at Steve and Chris' apartment, and there was some kind of light with a rotating plastic translucent cover. Again, it was the 70's, and a lot of the folks probably would be labelled as hippies. I seem to recall that Steve (who is/was vegetarian) came up with my dad and another friend, Frank (who is/was diabetic) to a Thanksgiving dinner that we had when Mom and us kids were living in my grandparents' house.

My dad was an odd duck, to put it mildly. My friend Deb knew my dad in that period (she was very young then) and recalled a story about when a bunch of folks were hanging out, listening to the newest album from the Rolling Stones. They might also have been tripping on LSD or something like that. Dad was really into Big Band jazz (hence my middle name, Kenton.) So, he ended up yanking the Rolling Stones record and put on something by Stan Kenton. I guess it was rather a jarring change for the people who had been listening.

The night before the picnic, I had a call via the Erie Hotline from a guy who was looking for counseling and resources because he had seen the GLBT contingent in the 4th of July parade. I gave him the info for some resources, and hoped that I was being helpful. It does tend to reinforce that in order to be effective, we need to not just remain cloistered in the ghetto of whatever community we are part of, but rather, to be fully part of the greater community.

First off, many thanks to ron and Laurie for sending in good wishes for my Grandma. I am happy to report that the hospital discharged her because whatever was going on, it didn't show up on any tests, and she is fine. Not bad for an 89 year old. Hmm, since toddlers sometimes announce their age by holding up the corresponding number of fingers and saying, "I am THIS many years old!", would seniors just keep flashing their fingers up and down? I guess when you get up there, you are more likely to have arthritis, so you couldn't easily flash your hands 9 times. Okay, that was a weird tangent. ;)

Mom's side of the family tends to be relatively long lived. My great grandmother lasted until she was 98. My family can have a rather macabre sense of humor. I have occasionally joked to Mom that the only way we will get rid of Grandma is if we hit her over the head with a shovel.

So, Mom and I had a brief chat. I am glad that things have settled down. When she didn't call yesterday, I figured that the crisis was over, as it had sounded like things were going fairly well.

I just had a call from my Mom. Apparently, my Grandma had turned rather gray and was having some language problems, so they called 911 and took her to the emergency room. She doesn't seem to be that bad off, and we don't have a diagnosis yet. However, when one is pushing 90, one want s to play it safe. Grandma's husband is also dealing with some cataract surgery recovery. Mom sounded failry calm, and I think we are all figuring it will be okay.

Grandma's a pretty tough old bird. When I went over to her house the day my Grandpa died, I recall telling her that I had told folks that "Grandma isn't a wimp." She has slowed down a tad in recent years, but she still is quite active. Heck, she got remarried less than 2 years ago to her second husband, who is about 6 years younger. We jokingly referred to him as "Grandma's Boy Toy." He is a very nice guy.

I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I have been rather busy of late. I had a nice chat with my brother-in-law in Toledo this past Friday. He and my sister sound like they are doing relatively well. The cat that swallowed a needle did indeed have to have surgery, but seems to be on the mend. They were worried that he wasn't eating, but my sister saw him eating just as my brother-in-law was calling, I think.

I had a very nice chat with my Mom on Monday, which was her birthday. Our running gag is that her birthday (April 30) is also the same day that Hitler committed suicide. My immediate family has a rather macabre sense of humor. It's also the birthday of the guy I was seeing a little over a year ago, and the anniversary of the day he met the guy he is currently with. Sigh, I really need to turn off the PDA implant in my brain sometimes. I actually tend to do "this happened on this date, which ties in with person X, who has been to location Z." Sometimes, it's useful. Sometimes, I worry about overwhelming folks.

Mom was doing fairly well. My stepfather had taken her out for dinner the past few nights, which was nice. We talked about all kinds of things. Even though we are from different faith traditions (she's Methodist, and I am ... well, look at the top of the page!), we still see fairly much eye to eye on most folks. She shared about a friend of hers who is rather anti-gay. The friend had a son who was gay and died of AIDS. The friend refused to accept him and it sounds like she might have been rather cold towards him when she found out he was gay. Mom and I both thought that if your religion doesn't make you a kinder person, there is probably something wrong.

I had a very nice dinner with my brother-in-law last night. He and my sister live in Toledo. He had been to an SCA event, the Coronation in the Incipient Shire of River's Edge (AKA Meadville.) He mentioned some folks who I had hung around with then, and who sent greetings. I felt VERY old when he mentioned that twins who were now in college and had just gotten their Award of Arms. I remember sitting next to their mother when she was pregnant with them. Crap, I am OLD! ;)

Oddly enough, I was talking with a friend today, who asked me if I knew a co-worker of his. The co-worker turned out to be someone else from the SCA who was the squire to the knight, who is the father of the afore-mentioned twins. A very small world indeed.

Apparently, one of my sister's cats had swallowed a sewing needle. All of the women in my family tend to be into sewing, embroidery and etc. (My grandmother not only quilts but tats!) Su had taken the cat to the vet's right away, and they were going to try something before surgery. The cat will apparently be at the vet's for a few days. My fingers are resolutely crossed that it will be okay.

My brother-in-law and my sister have been learning ASL. He has a part time business doing Santa Claus stuff. Cool for him for doing something that he enjoys!

This weekend got better. The open circle at Touch of Salem was very nice. Some of us went to Dairy Queen afterwards. It was good to do something that was in touch with my real spiritual home.

Sunday at Mom's for Easter was also very nice. The house has been torn up, so Mom wasn't sure if she was doing it or not. It ended up being mom, my stepfather Carl, my brother Steve, Grandma, her husband Mac (hmm, does that make him my step grandfather?), and my mother's neighbor, Laura. We talked about all kinds of things, and I liked hanging out and helping in the kitchen.

Mom has a habit of getting DVD's on sale and then not watching them, so I borrowed Murder on the Orient Express and the Devil Wears Prada. I watched Murder on the Orient Express tonight. It's a really well done film, and I remember that the opening sequence really frightened me as a kid back in 1974.

The repair/remodeling project is going well. Eventually, her downstairs sewing room is going into what was previously my brother's bedroom. Pretty much all the women in my family sew, embroider, quilt and all sorts of needlecraft stuff.

Rather tired now, so I guess that I will turn in.