Groundwaters

What’s Been Happenin’?

October 2, 2008 on 4:03 pm | In This 'n That | No Comments

I apologize for the long delay in our blog. The past three weeks have proven to be busier than I anticipated and I just haven’t been able to get anything written. I guess that I should be much more organized and have several postings written ahead of time, but so far, that hasn’t happened… and I don’t know that it will for me, anyway. I don’t think that I’m alone in this type of procrastination. Each of us gets so caught up in our own lives and the lives of those around us, that sometimes we must just live one day at a time in order to get through it all. I’ve always been an advocate of planning ahead a bit, however.

If excuses are needed, I guess that two major ones pop into my mind. My mother, who just turned 93 years of age on September 28, came to visit for a week. If I have to live to such an advanced age, I hope that I am allowed to have the sharpness of mind and wit and the desire to live life to its fullest that define this beautiful lady who is my mother. She lives in Bend, Oregon with her husband of 19 years in a senior retirement complex where she leads an active life centered around crafts, games, reading, and wine and cheese parties among her friends. Each year she crafts wonderful things to give to her family and sell at holiday bazaars. In years past when her eyesight was a little clearer, she made delicate cross-stitch bookmarks. Last year, she made colorful tote bags. This year, her beautiful southwestern-look macrame beaded key chains are being taken in and sold in stores. She’s one of the main “home-run hitters” on her beanbag baseball team and she frequently comes up a winner in her pinochle and bingo games. She and a group of other ladies have once-a-month wine and cheese parties, rotating among their individual apartments. When her body, which needs to be supported by her bright purple walker if she is on her feet too long, gets tired, she loves to sit quietly and read and/or take a daily nap.

So, when she asked us if she could visit my sister and I for the week of her birthday, we laid aside any other plans we had so that we could enjoy and celebrate her presence in our lives. What an honor that is for us.

One of the things that I needed to do before her arrival was to complete the October issue of Groundwaters. The computer and printer that I use to print the issues lives in the bedroom in our home that is set aside for my mother’s visits. The printing process gives off an odor while the pages are being spewed out, so I knew that I needed to have them all printed before her arrival. By the time we went over to get her last Thursday, the issue had been printed and put aside until this week’s distribution.

We took Mama home yesterday and Pat, Jen and I will begin placing the issues in our distribution points today. You’ll find that this issue does not have quite the variety of authors that many do. Summer is a bad time to get people to send in their submissions – everyone is so busy – so we decided to feature those that were submitted along with our own writings that are sometimes put aside so that we can showcase others. My mother teasingly called it our “family issue.” I guess, in a way, it is. Besides my brother Jim’s and my contributions this time, the works of two of our granddaughters and our daughter, Kelly, appear. Of our Groundwaters’ family, Jen, Judy and Sonny have included a couple of wonderful pieces We were able to include three of Norm Maxwell’s stories. Norm is a prolific writer and sends us his writings almost weekly. We also were able to print more poems and song lyrics from Elizabeth Tyler Brown, Herbie and Spyder that we have in large numbers. The writings of other “Groundwaters family members” Nichole Bain, Riley Chambers, Tom Howell, Wanda Edwards, Avis Rust, Karen Vosika, Nick and Joe DeAngelo are also included. We take great pleasure in introducing Karen Wickham, Rebecca Bain, Don Baker, Bridgett Johnson-Elliott and Linsey Kau to our Groundwaters readers, as well.

I hope that you enjoy this issue. We take special delight in presenting it to you!