June Recap

June has not been a very good month healthwise. M had a lot of bleeding and had to have  transfusions  June 7, June 14, June 23 and June 30. For a total of 7 pints of blood.

Today June 30 we had to go to the ER because of not being able to stop the bleeding, after being checked by a doctor, a surgeon and  a head nurse, we were told nothing could be done, and to just do the best we could and get transfusions as needed.

Both of us had podiatry appointments, there were no problems and our feet look great :)

On June 20 I had a dermatology appointment. I asked the doctor about my "spider bite" (my regular doctor gave me to different doses of antibiotics but they didn't work). This doctor told me that what I had was Lipodermatosclerosis., it refers to a skin change of the lower leg that often occurs in patients that have venous insufficiency. She recommended to wear compression sock/stocking during the day.

We had to take our pickup to the Dodge dealer because it had transmission problems. The problems came to $2700 :(

June was also a very hot month. We are getting tons of tomatoes in our garden!

On June 5, my oldest daughter turned 50!!! How time flies!! :)

Lizzie came to spend the weekend before Father's Day and brought the beautiful restored portrait of my mother, my sister and I. N came on Saturday to help us hang it in the living room. It looks amazing!

Here are the books I read in June:

And the movies I watched:

Here's hoping for a better July :)

T's Graduation

PICTURE INTENSIVE

I was going to write about T's graduation, but Sandy already wrote about it and explained everything.

It was a great day. Tristan made us all proud!

The graduation took place at the University of Utah

Going back to his seat after getting his diploma. He graduated with high honors.

With a friend. Next day they went with friends to Lake Powell

The diploma. With The Honor Society seal.

With all the family

With his parents Sandy and Marty

With maternal and paternal grandparents

Grandparents Marvin and Josefa (me)

With Lizzie, his aunt

With friends

Yummy cake

Sandy wrote a song (rap) for him

His mother Sandy, on her graduation day, 1984. With Lizzie

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 ...and now looking forward to college at the University of Utah

Family Heirloom

My mother and father had two daughters, Nuria born in 1941 and me, Maria Josefa, born in 1943. Our paternal grandmother, yaya, lived with us.

When I was born, my family lived in a beautiful house in one of the best areas of Barcelona. We had a car and a chauffeur, a live in maid and a nanny. We were wealthy and had a great life. My father decided to capture those good times with a portrait of my mother with my sister and I. The painter's name was Ribot.

That painting was hanging at the library of our first house. 5 years later  in a reversal of fortune, my father lost most of our money on an ill fated business with a "friend".  We were forced to give up our life style and moved to an apartment in an area called El Putxet. Even though almost all the furniture and art objects stayed in the house (which was rented out to friends) the painting came to the new apartment with us, it hung in the living room area.

The painting was part of my life when I was growing up. After I got married and moved to the States I often thought about it and rejoiced when we  went back for vacations and it was still there.

Time passed and I am not sure what happened with the painting. I remember one time when we went to Platja D'Aro where my sister and her daughters lived, we talked about the painting and Marv and I wanted to bring it to the States, but it was too heavy, too hard to transport and too expensive, so we sort of gave up on it.

Last September my daughters and I went to Spain, after several years, It was an emotional and great trip. The day I met my sister Nuria, she surprised me by giving me a rolled up package

It was the painting! She had kept it, minus the frame, and just rolled it up and kept it all this years.
I was surprised and thankful and mailed it to our home in California. When we got back we couldn't wait to open the package with the painting. When we saw it, we were sad :(

Being rolled up all this time, the painting was brittle and much of the paint had cracked. It was also badly damaged with humidity and had dust and dirt. It look dull and sad.

After talking things over, Marv and the girls and I decided to try to have it restored. Lizzie took it to San Diego and found an artist that did art restoring. It would take time and money, but we went ahead with it. That's a picture of the painting after the artist patched the spots that had lost paint and covered the scratches

She then cleaned the painting filled in the white spots, and did her magic. It was many hours of painstaking work, but now it was restored, vibrant and beautiful.

Today Lizzie brought it home, and here it is with the frame. It will hang in our living room.

WELCOME HOME

BENVINGUT A CASA NOSTRA

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Today my first born child turns 50 years old!

How time flies...

                                                           

                                                           The cute redheaded baby

Turned into a beautiful red haired woman

Love you very much,

Mama

May recap

I didn't realize it's been so long since I last wrote!

Here's May's recap:

May 8 - Mother's Day. Had a surprise visit from Lizzie!  :)

May 14 - To El Torito in Long Beach with Norbert. 

May 18 - To see my doctor about the bite? on my leg. He prescribed some more antibiotics. Met N for lunch at Slapfish in HB.

May 24 Lizzie came over and we're ready to leave tomorrow to Utah :)

May 25 - N came with us to the airport and he took the pickup back home and will come to pick us up June 1, We had a good flight and enjoyed the extra leg room in the first row seats. Upon arrival in SLC Lizzie went to rent a car, Sandy was waiting for us and we all went to our Hotel to rest. Dinner at Sandy's yummy Atlantis burger and fries.

May 26 - To South Jordan for M's dialysis, Very nice place. Lunch at Les Madeleines :)

May 27 - GRADUATION DAY.  Everything went smoothly. Great day! Celebrating at Sandy's with some of his friends. Toasts, food, gifts.  Sandy wrote all about it in her blog, I will write and put some pictures later. Tristan left the next day to Lake Powell with friends.

There was so much stuff happening the last few days in Utah that I sort of lost track of the days. Lizzie slipped on a piece of ice at Smiths market and fell and injured her hamstring and knee, Painful. M had to go to ER for a transfusion as he had lost a lot of blood. Lastly while going back to  Les Madeleines to get some more Kouing Aman I tripped getting out of the car and fell on my knees and hit my right arm with a metal sign, it is still very black and blue right now.
Sandy took us to the Red Butte Gardens and it was wonderful. Lizzie stayed at home recovering, but M came as he was feeling better after the transfusion.  Sandy cooked a very good chile verde pork. We gave Sandy her birthday gifts since we wouldn't be there on her BD June 5.

And then it was back to California.

Books I read in May:

Movies I've watched in May: