Woo Hoo!

Remember learning how to ride a two wheeler? Well, we had an exciting day here yesterday
when we took the training wheels off of Lydia's bike. She is off and riding. She still needs a little help on starting. I forgot how hard it was to get the pedals just right in order to start. Turning also causes a problem...but we'll work on that another day.












I did have a sad Mom moment where I was videotaping her, and she got into trouble. Because I was taping, I couldn't help, so instead just taped the crash. She had skinned knees, but after a break, she is back riding. You can note that Ryan is a nice obstacle for her to try to avoid.

Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all women who are Moms and also to those who act in that loving, thoughtful way!

I woke up to the scurry of Lydia and Joel preparing a surprise. It was wonderful. They brought me coffee in bed and then I came out to a delightful breakfast, cards and basket of gifts. Marguerite had brought over beautiful roses from her yard the day before and a necklace. Lydia gave me the necklace to put on first thing. She was very excited about the day. We are now headed to the park.

Love to all.

In Memoriam

10 years ago today, my sister Gail died. She was a wonderful, witty, creative, beautiful, intelligent person. I still miss her very much, but love when I see bits of her in Marie, Madelaine, and Heather. They will have an expression just like hers, or sound like her and I think how proud she would be of them.


Gail loved to laugh loudly and to live boldly. She also liked to "walk to the beat of a different drummer." She didn't like to do the predictable. When I was 5, she told me I should write with my left hand, because it was different. So I do, and it is the only thing that I do with my left hand. She also pretended to be a Martian, not just pretended, but embodied what she imagined a Martian might be-funny voice and all. I think she called herself "Moondog" and our dog was "Chicken Dog" and she terrorized the kids in the neighborhood who really thought she was a Martian. It didn't help that she had the dog chase them. For 2 years, whenever a neighborhood child was around, she did the Martian act. My friends wouldn't spend the night at my house because of my Martian sister. When we were older, she was kind and generous, but still fun and quirky.


She is missed, but is still beautiful, loving, and laughing in our hearts and memories.

Joel and Michael

This is copied from Joel's post on a family website. Written by Joel...


Last week I worked on the film "King of California" starring Michael Douglas. Tuesday, May 2nd was the first day of filming and there were only seven actors working this particular day.

I was cast as a golfer in a scene with Douglas...he plays the father of Evan Rachel Wood and they are looking for gold (which ends up being buried beneath a neighborhood Costco) on a golf course...

During the first few hours of filming I saw this bearded man hitting golf balls on the course...using my clubs! At first I thought it was someone from the crew but quickly realized it was Douglas himself sporting the long, bushy attachment. His character required it for the film. He had just helped himself to my clubs and my golf balls!

Of course...I didn't mind and used the opportunity to hold some great conversations throughout the day of filming as we hit golf shots together. He and his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) were playing in a charity tournament that weekend, so he needed the extra practice.

Later in the day I saw my new bearded friend shanking a few shots into a nearby lake...still with my golf balls! He finished this particular bit of practice and approached me to apologize about the lost balls...and...told the first assistant director to make sure I received a $50 "bump" on my contract for the day!

I guess it was just my "Basic Instinct" to strike up the conversation...and though it was a "Fatal Attraction" for the golf balls...I ended up with 50 extra bucks to invest on "Wall Street".

Ben's Birthday

Well, Ben's birthday was in April, and celebrated in April, but somehow I haven't posted much! Lydia, Ryan and I seem to keep very busy, although we don't accomplish much. An example would be the hour it took us to make freshly squeezed orange juice yesterday. I was so tired afterward, I needed a break. There were oranges and juice everywhere. Lydia then wanted to make banana bread out of our rotten bananas, lemonade, and basically continue our kitchen escapades. Ryan wants to be in the middle of it all and threw a grapefruit into our juice creating quite the splash and mess. I try to remain calm, but sometimes I lose it, like I did with the grapefruit. You work so hard for every drop of juice, and then it is all over the counter, but we kept going.

Ben's birthday was a lot of fun. I still haven't bought candles so we used the all purpose Aunt Judy candle again. Thank goodness Marguerite made the delicious cake and also a fresh strawberry pie. Karen very kindly fought the traffic up on a weeknight to make the party. Ben is doing well at UCLA and working at the dealership Ron was previously managing. Note the adorable toddler(and Bryan, too!), and the good looking young man he has become. Ryan fall asleep in his spaghetti every time we have it, so he didn't make it to the cake. It is very funny to watch him eat and sway and finally collapse on the table.





On a side note, Joel had a day with Michael Douglas on the new movie King of California. They played golf and Michael tried out his clubs.