The quacker

Rick texted me at 4 am telling me he was at the airport in Austin and ready to fly away. Didn't bother to respond to it. The ggrrls and I went to the SLC airport and picked him up at 10:17. They were both so excited to see him; Macy was disappointed, tho, because she thought she was going to get to ride the airplane.

We went back and got Paige and all went to Walmart. The ggrrls both got these little pink bathtub duckies, which Macy called "Quackers." Stella is holding hers in the pic below.

Macy wanted to exchange headgear with Papaw. He is wearing her headband and she has on his hat.

Naughty Nano

This morning the ggrrls and I were playing before Paige got up. Macy wanted to get out the clay; it was in a tupperware container and was hard to pull a piece out of the container. So I dumped it upside down and was pulling off some chunks to give them.

Stella informed me that wasn't the way their mom did it and wanted to put it back into the container. Stella told me several times that wasn't the way her mom did it, then Macy chimed in, concluding with, "That's naughty."

Ggrrls and the watermelon

Goofiness doubled

My sister Kristi, who took Claire the cat, just sent this pic. She has double trouble, with Jasper the little Yorkie, and Claire the Fat Cat.

Settling in

We are settling in, and I'm starting to enjoy myself here more. It helps that this ward is a great ward. It helps that Rick really enjoys his job, and isn't traveling - much. This is a nice, safe place, and Texas certainly has its own culture.

Today I was thinking with nostalgia about Philly, and how much I liked it there, how much I liked our townhouse, Lansdale, different culture, the people in the ward, and was missing those parts of it that I liked. So when I said the first year after I move I talk about how much I really, really liked the old place and am still adjusting to the new, it is true about me. I really am a glass half full (half EMPTY, meant to say empty) type of person. A cheerful pessimist.

The places I miss, such as Reading Terminal Market, YumYum Donuts, Full Belly Deli, Geno's and Pat's Cheesesteaks, all the history in Center City (Philly) -  essentially it's just the energy that the big cities on the East Coast project. We can forget all the negatives now.

Acupuncture

I have gone to the acupuncturist 4 visits, today will make 5. She thought she would need to see me 6-8 times. The ringing and dizziness have maybe gone down a little. She also said it probably wouldn't be gone completely, but just be very low. I can live with that.

This woman is white and is about my age. When she was trying to decide what to school herself in she was leaning towards med school. Then some tennis player, a famous one, can't remember who, talked about acupuncture he had on his arm and elbow, and it completely helped. She was fascinated and decided to do that. Went to Japan to a school there, was going to go to Australia to practice and then something was going on political wise there at the time, so she changed her mind and came to Austin. She was some place on vacation, maybe Hawaii, and met a couple from Austin who were so completely nice she decided Austin must be a great place. As you can see I have a great memory and wrote all the exact details of what she told me and I read about her.

She does the Japanese style, which I had wanted but didn't know she did until the first treatment. She puts in about 12 needles (I haven't counted them), these needles are long, wobbly, about the size of a hair. They are discarded after each use. I lay there between 35-40 min. They don't hurt, just like a mosquito bite. I have them mostly around my ears, cheeks and forehead, a few on my wrists and hands, and a few on my ankles.

Each thing I do, except the chiro, didn't like that at all, has been comforting and helpful.

The body is an amazing machine. When it is is functioning fine, all is well - but when it's not, well, then it's not.

What is this?

This is on the underside of a cutout in some rocks, kinda like a cave. Some teenage kids were pointing it out when when went to Jacob's Well.

It is a bunch of Daddy Long Leg spiders. Really quite fascinating and gross looking at the same time.

Red Rocks of St George

Jason spent a few days with grandmother and me. We hiked the Temple Trail, and then the Red Rocks above St George. It was quite fun. I have always loved St George and have many good memories there with my mom.