Tales of the Ordinary Days

Day 27 | 30 Days of Writing A night well spent (left - Ken, Jody, Linda, Kenny, right - Larry, Sandy, Garrett) We spent our last day in Reno. Zeke had a first and so did I. Zeke swam for the first time. I met some of Garrett's family for the first time. For the rest of our crew, this was all old news. The morning started with a big breakfast at a neighborhood cafe. Aunt Linda's four dogs waited in her car while Zeke was a bark away in ours. They knew something big was to come. With a short, but scenic drive, we found ourselves in the beautiful Frenchman Lake area. Linda and her dogs (standard poodles - Finn & Pete, corgis -  Roe & Marsh) know this area well. Zeke was the virgin pup, following his canine cousins to seek out something he had never experienced before. I have to admit, I was a little nervous. Zeke's closest encounter with water was our neighbor's backyard waterfall. Now we found ourselves in a big recreation area with five dogs o...

Grandma Gib is the quilter to the right Grandma Gib would have been 96 years old yesterday. With our age spread of exactly fifty years, I have always remembered her age with ease. We lost Grandma three years ago. But her loved ones felt her loss long before her death. The horrible disease of Alzheimer's afflicted our Grandma. We slowly watched her lose her memory. By her death, Grandma had lost recognition of the family she loved so dearly. From a health standpoint, she was relatively comfortable in her final years. It was Grandma's family who were left to feel the pain. An strange twist happened as the illness overtook her mind. She became incredibly witty. Although Grandma had a sense of humor pre-Alzheimer's, she had become down right funny. As her mind forgot, her quick tongue picked up the slack. Her comic tone made us laugh out loud while we mourned inside. Grandma had us crying in laughter on many occasions with her funny comments an...