A full day, here at home. Dick and Brenda were here so we had a lovely morning sharing breakfast and time. Dick hooked up the VCR on the tv in the living room after he set the new universal remote that he got his Dad for a Christmas present. What a good son, he knew that we had trouble working with three remotes.

After they left, Dick took a nap and I did a bit of quilting. I had to take a quick trip to the Sewing Basket to pick up a marker. I am using a stencil for my hand quilting of the kittie quilt and it is too hard to work THROUGH the stencil. Much easier and more practical.

Last night when I got home, I called Bret and Bart. Bret was fine and having a good day but when I called Bart's number, I got his daughter in law Lexi who informed me that Barb had taken Bart to the hospital with kidney stones. That left me kind of discombuberated again. I couldn't reach them until this morning. At that time Barb told me that he was feeling better and had been able to eat something when they got home last night. Then, he called me tonight to wish me a Merry Christmas himself and he sounded good. He said he was tired, but he sounded strong and in control. This took a big load off of my heart. My own stomach had not been doing well today.

I will close with a little story. When I still lived in California and the kids were still pretty young, the jeep club decided to do a "field trip" to the Griffith Park Observatory one day.

Several families piled in Jerry, the Ragman's big motor home for the trip. There must have been 20 of us in that rig. Jerry drove us from Orange County through Long Beach to the Observatory where we bought tickets and saw both the laser light show projected on the dome and the show about the heavens. It was a lovely and fun time, complete with our friend Orrin Nordin falling asleep in the quiet of the show and snoring for us. Then we headed home. It was by now dark.

Jerry drove down the hill and through a street in Long Beach that was quite a shock to everybody and apparently very exciting to Jerry and the guys. The storefronts were "stocked" with Ladies of the Night. Jerry got so "interested" that he decided to go around the block. Then he went around one more time. This time, the kids asked what we were all looking at. It was fun and goofy.

Jerry was called the Ragman because he was a supplier of work uniforms and shop rags. His wife's name was Butch.

Tomorrow Dick gets his legs wrapped again. It is time, we are seeing a bit of swelling. Then I will take Mother be sure that her infection is gone. So will be busy.

Take Care.

Love

Mary