A mixed bag

Condolences to friends Nikki and Daniel. Dan's father passed away Saturday night. They will traveling back to CA... and Nikki is around 6 months pregnant. I told her how I survived going home for Grandpa Walter's funeral when I was 5 months pregnant with Maria. She will have it easier than I did, because: 1. Her husband is going with her... or more like, she's going with him, because it's for his father. And 2. She won't be chasing two rambunctious pre-kindergarten kids - smile, Tom!

Anne fixed little cans of Fancy Feast frosted with a thin veneer of mashed potatoes and decorated with food coloring for each of the cats, to celebrate their "birthday". Haruhi, the spotted girl cat, nipped into hers even as Anne held her and Maria took pictures. Gotta find the pix and post them. Anne wouldn't have spent the bucks on Fancy Feast for any other occasion.

My sister Grace got out to see the Star Trek movie on their birthday. She implied that Kirk was a young punk and was given the choice of jail or Starfleet. I've got to see THIS! Dad would have loved it. I had made the 3-way call to her and my mother, and Mom told us that our sister Deb, her kids, and grandkids came to visit after Mother's Day. It feels strange for Deb to have a 9-year old granddaughter when Grace and I are both older than she, and NOT grandmothers. Life deals interesting hands to all.

Tomorrow I go to make up that MS Excel class I'd missed for a 102° fever. Time to start job applications.

Also, I've been exchanging emails and pix with cousin Ray, the youngest of my cousins. Given that his dad was my dad's oldest brother, it's another "feels strange" hand dealt by life. He dug up a really good picture of Dad and my uncles that he labled "Lydens brothers jam session". That one's priceless. Judging from the two wedding pictures on the piano, the picture dates from 1946-1947 and my dad is the teen on guitar.

Dan's father is perfectly welcome to join their jam session in Heaven, especially if Dan inherited his musical talents from him.