April recap

Still trying to get used to being on my own. Some days are hard.

April 1   - I had my gardener cut/prune the 2 big trees in the backyard.
          7   - Change furniture around. N came to help and I did all the finishing work. Now I have a                       nice "guest room"  and a dedicated office room.
          8   - Working on finishing the rooms, still moving things around, cleaning and organizing.
         10  - Fun day! Huntington Beach, lunch at Harbor House. Walked on the beach...fell on the                         beach... :)
         14  - Pick up Sandy at the Long Beach Airport. So nice to see her! Drive around the beach                           areas. Lunch at Harbor                   House. Go home  by Beach Blvd,with stopover at                             Porto's. Also at 38 degrees and visit the  Asian markets.
         15  - Lizzie drove up from SD. The 3 of us to El Cholo, a bit of a tradicional thing to do. Loved                   having my two girls here!
                  Lulu hurt her rear right paw and is limping. Lizzie back to SD
         16  - Drive Sandy to the airport. So nice she came here for a short visit.
                  Took Lulu to the vet. She got the Cone of Shame!
         19  - Back to the vet to get a bigger cone.
         21  - Today would have been Marvin's 78th birthday. Went to have dinner to one of his favorite                    Restaurants "The Alamitos Fish Company". N came along and we had  a nice monkfish                       dinner and creme brulee.
         25  - To Jersey School visiting. Was nice to see everybody. Was asked by one of my                                      kindergarten teacher friend if I wanted to go to Cuba on a cruise in November. It doesn't                      appeal me much. Nice talk with Jennifer.
         27  - Lizzie came in the evening. She's leaving to Scotland tomorrow.
         28  - N and I took Lizzie to LAX . Afterwards N and I drove around the beach cities then came                   home to check on Lulu and to Black Angus for dinner.
         30  - Took Lulu back to the vet. She seems to be OK. Tried to make a hair appt but couldn't get                   one till May 25 !

BOOKS I READ THIS MONTH

MOVIES I WATCHED THIS MONTH

Thinking of you on your birthday

Love,

Jo

A dog story

Lulu, my 6 year old maltipoo, has been a source of comfort and a good company to me. She's become very attached to me and follows me everywhere when is the two of us alone.

When company comes, she totally forgets that I am still around and lavishes her puppy love on them. This past weekend Sandy came to visit and Lulu smothered her with kisses, then on Sunday Lizzie came too and she was happy to see her but was acting a bit subdued.

We all went outside to admire the garden, and Lulu kept trying to "catch" a lizard. Then she started to slow down and when we went inside she got under the living room table and acted a little droopy, then we noticed that she was limping a little.

On Monday, she couldn't put her rear right foot down, it was red and sore and she kept licking it. I called the vet for an appointment for the next day. After I took Sandy to the airport and came home, she was just laying down and her paw was bleeding, so I took her to the vet  right away.

The vet said something must have  bit her or got into her paw (she said maybe foxtails) so they shaved her leg from the knee down and put some antibiotics and clean the area. She also got the Elizabethan crown or as is commonly known: The cone of shame.  She doesn't like it at all!

When we got home, she kept on hitting everything and tried hard to get it off. She couldn't get in her favorite spot under the coffee table but finally she did although I had to help her out. the next day I saw her paw was bleeding again. I don't know how but she  found a way to lick her paw again! I watched her over carefully for a while and noticed she lay down  and turned her head just so and carefully  placed her sore paw in the cone. I called her the contortionist because she really twisted her body around!

Today I went back to the vet with her, and she got a super sized cone! She looks really sad and there's not much she can do, I have to put the dog food on my hand and she will eat from my hand because she cannot reach her bowl. She can drink  if I fill her big bowl really full but she ends up with a wet head.

It's hard for her to find a comfortable spot to sleep and she keeps looking at me with her big brown eyes like saying help!!!

And she has to keep it on for two weeks! 

A day at the beach

A beautiful sunny warm day at the beach in Southern California, the ocean, the waves, the sounds…

I’ve been waiting to get my feet wet and enjoy the calming feeling of the ocean

The waves are getting stronger, I’m getting wet!

Uh Oh!!!! I’m losing my balance!!!!

And down I go!

Even though I’m right by the sea side, there’s some deep spots and is hard to get up J

HELP!!!

Stop laughing, stop taking pictures and help lol

I’m all wet, I’m laughing, this was fun!

Trees

I have two big trees in my backyard. Every 2-3 years Marvin hired a tree trimmer and he came with a couple other guys and trimmed the trees. I am not sure how much they charged for it, although I think it was $450-500, but not sure.

Last year the tree trimmer came to see if we wanted them trimmed, at the time Marvin was not feeling well, so I told them not yet. They kept on coming to ask about the trees, my answer was always the same. Marvin thought maybe they should go ahead and do it, but there were too many health problems going on and I said to wait till he felt better. The next time the tree trimmer came to ask, Marvin had just went to the hospital. I told them no again.

With the rain and the Spring weather, the trees grew a lot. they were touching the wires, and one of them was bending towards my neighbor's garage and I was afraid a branch may fall or hit something. I was enjoying the Jacuzzi when I took a good luck and decided something needed to be done. I knew Marvin would have agreed.

Since the tree trimmer had not been back for a few months, I was talking to our gardener about it on Friday March 30, and he said he did tree trimming too. We had the same gardener for about 7 years and I thought he could do it. I had him cut down some of the left tree and trim the right one, for $700.00

                                    Notice all the leaves and branches and the pile of wood

He and a friend came the morning of Easter Sunday at 6:30 AM  and left around 4:30 PM. After they were done, they stacked the wood by my driveway with a sign saying FREE and in a matter of two hours, somebody stopped and got them all. It sure save them money and a couple of trips to the dump, , I should have asked for a discount but I thought about it too late!

The backyard looks bigger and iIcan see the sky. But I feel sorry for the birds that lived there (some are now in my orange tree) and there's a lack of privacy from the neighbors. But it won't need trimming for a couple of years or more.

National Poetry Day

One in Catalan

LA SARDANA

La sardana es la dansa mes bella

de totes las danses que es fan i es desfan:

es la mobil magnifica anella

que amb pausa i amb mida va lenta oscil.lant.

Ja es decanta a la esquerra i vacil.la

ja volta otra volta a la dreta dubtant,

i s'en torna i retorna intranquil.la,

com, mal orientada, l'agulla d'imant.

Fixa's un punt i es detura com ella.

Del contrapunt arrencant-se novella,

de nou va voltant.

La sardana es la dansa mes bella

de totes las danses que es fan i es desfan,

Joan Maragall

Happy Easter

I don't remember very much about Easter in Spain when I was growing up.  I remember we had new dresses for Easter and a special cake called "Mona de Pascua" We also went to church on Easter Day.

Tia Loreto (tio Juan's wife), me, my grandmother (yaya) , Nuri and my mother

at the house I was born in Bonanova, on Palm Sunday , in 1946

When the girls were young, Easter was fun, dressing them up with cute outfits and bonnets

and looking for Easter eggs

Jerome, Idaho 1975

Then when my grandson was young we did the same, hiding Easter eggs, sometimes in Utah, sometimes in San Diego, sometimes here.

San Diego 2002?

When my sister Mia came to visit, it was usually during Easter, that was fun too.

2011

When I was working, the week before Easter we did a lot of  activities in Kindergarten, hiding eggs, 

having an Easter hat Parade etc.

This will be the first Easter I will be spending by myself  

Missing Marvin

March Recap

I didn't post too much in March. I hope I'll do better in April!

In March we had a lot of rain, very needed.

March 2 -3-   Lizzie came this weekend. We did some paperwork. Went to Zumaya's.
March 4 - Lizzie back to San Diego. Watched the Oscars, meh.
March 6 -  Jacuzzi with Amy and wine
March 8 - Sandy called :)
March 15- Elder Fraud meeting, pse.  I don't like meetings, didn't learn anything new.
March 16- To HB, dinner at Mama's with N.
March 19-  T turns 20!  San Jose
March 20-  To El Cholo with Amy
March 21-  To HB, dinner at Matsu's with N. Work on the Mustang. Total Wine.
March 23-24  Lizzie. Appt with taxes. Lunch at 12/60, and In'n'Out
March 25-   Lizzie organize things in office. Back to SD.
March 26-   Dinner with N to El Torito
March 28-   T home!   Paid off Honda.
March 29-    Donate 15 pairs of glasses to the Lions.

All month I worked getting tax papers and cleaning and organizing .  Doing good progress.
I have been gardening a little too. And walking with Lulu.  Missing Marvin.
Every Monday night  we have a 3 way talk with the girls :)

BOOKS I READ IN MARCH

MOVIES I WATCHED IN MARCH