Remember Teresa is now from Maple Ridge, not Port Quitlam, BC. We are going to help her celebrate her mother in law’s birthday.
Hi Mary,
I finally got organized to send you the information about my mother in law and got a recent picture.
My mother-in-law is turning 90 on September 28th. Gerry (short for Geraldine) is living in an assisted living care home. Bob, her husband passed away in 2021 and she misses him dearly. Gerry and Bob had 4 children, 1 girl and three boys. Each of them has married and all have children, there are 10 grandchildren, 4 of the grandchildren have married and two of them have children – there are 3 great grandchildren so far. All of us live fairly close except one of my brothers-in-law and his family, they are about 4.5 hrs away and our eldest son and his family is a 2-day drive away. She is very good at using her iPad, so the out of town people facetime her regularly.
Gerry is in very good health and uses a walker to get around – very quickly I might add. The care home has plenty of events she participates in, such as listening to musicians, singers, bible study, exercise classes and other special events. The care home has their own small bus and Gerry typically goes on a bus outing each week. Gerry walks to church every Sunday, luckily the church is on the same grounds as her care home, but it is still about 1 block away. Her most favourite thing to do is spend time with her adult children, grand children and great grandchildren. She loves listening to people sing and play musical instruments and really enjoys it when her grandson comes from out of town and plays the piano for her. A lot of the other residents enjoy that as well. We live about 1 hr away and visit weekly – she is a very happy person all of the time. Gerry loves it when we take her down to Blaine, WA for ice cream and then a visit to the cabin they purchased in 1988, in Birch Bay, which she recently sold to one of her sons in April. She was so happy to keep it in the family.
I am a very lucky person to have such a kind and generous mother-in-law. I couldn’t ask for any better. We will be hosting a birthday lunch at our new home for her and all of the family will be there (28 of us in total).
Cards can be mailed to:
Geraldine Farbridge
#210 – 1653 140th Street
Surrey, BC V4A 4H1
Canada
Thank you for sending cards – she will be thrilled.
Teresa – soon to be from Maple Ridge, BC
Here’s a photo from Teresa’s new place.
I’ll put my birthday card in the mail tomorrow to Gerry – will you? Remember the change in postage. $1.70 or check with your local post office.
Kathy brought me a platter of WARM chocolate chip cookies this afternoon and her sister Carol sent a gift and card – see any resemblance?
It has rained lightly all day long – about 67 degrees so just a pleasant day! I spent two hours this afternoon watering plants. This time I used a moisture meter
to test every single plant but I won’t have to do that every time because I’ll learn what each plant needs.
Deb sent these for my collection of little dogs- aren’t they cute? Thank you so much, Deb!!!
Here’s what Connie’s working on – Stacy Nash’s collection of Animal Crackers!
From Donna
Jo found these two gems at the farmers market today!
Misc:
Susan in VA – how did your hip surgery go?
Kay – I’m saving your quilt photo till I can write a background.
I will so miss Jimmy Kimmel!!!!!
Nothing on my calendar tomorrow – the epitome of retirement!
Lovely story about Gerry. It’s nice to hear about a nice place to live.
I love my Quilts from Aunt Amy, too. It’s a good read, too.
My daughter Kim did well with her surgery yesterday. Came home and took a nap. Some pain but she is good about taking pain meds and staying ahead of it. She will be home for 3 weeks but may do some work from home. That’s her plan anyway.
The last three days my husband and I took down 2 dead pine trees, picked up 5 wagon loads of black walnuts and today I picked up an additional 2 1/2 buckets. Cleaned up the tomatoes in pots, cut heads of zinnias flowers for seeds. Finished picking up brush under trees. It feels good to get some fall jobs done.
Teresa your new yard looks like a very quiet paradise. Glad your son will be close by. So glad you have an active MIL. I hope I can stay that active as I age. How are your knees doing?
Rita – oh my gosh! That’s what I want to be doing instead of just sitting!!!! So glad Kim is doing well – she’s lucky to have you around. I got behind on the black walnuts – how can there be so many? It’s a very drippy day here today – a good nap afternoon but tonight I’m going to tackle putting 36 blocks together – layout first. And don’t forget the ballgame!
Rita, my knee replacement knee is wonderful, it’s been
8-1/2 months since the surgery. I wish it would bend a little more but I haven’t had time to work on that. My other knee isn’t giving me as much grief other than it’s really swollen still which is weird. Next week at the retreat I am hoping it will get back to normal. We love our new place. It is peaceful and usually I wake up at 6am since we moved I’ve actually been sleeping till 7-7:30. So we must have made the right decision to move even though there is so much work.
Good for Gerry to keep active where she resides with all the activities! The card will go out today.
Linda, little Minnie sounds so cute. It triggered a memory. In high school an elementary school friend was my walking partner going home. No, not the trudging through the snow, but sweating through the heat experience part of the year. So, I’d stop at her house briefly for some water before heading home. A cat appeared in their backyard, soon giving birth to five kittens. Not a cat person, but I was enthralled with the little ones. Often the stop was not brief, thereby giving some concern to my Mom who knew when I should be home. After that, most of the time I’d remember to call and let her know I was okay. It was a huge learning experience watching the growth of a these young creatures over two months or so. All of the kittens found loving homes in the end. Mine was not one of them.
Rain to day here. 🙂
Jan
A card to celebrate Gerri is such a nice gesture for a go getter. She seems to be in a comfortable place to age in with her many activities. I will take my card to my PO to check postage as I tell our clerks that I wonder when this luxury of having clerks there to help will end. So many stores and utility companies want you to use their kiosks or self pay.
Oh Hazel! You are so funny!
We had a beautiful day yesterday until around 4 when we were hit with a storm. I turned off my music so I could hear then looked outside and listened for the tornado siren. I had a lot of sticks in my backyard. My neighbor in the next block lost a tree that hit her porch and did damage.
Thanks for letting us know about the postage for the birthday card.
Gerry’s card will go in the mail today, glad to send a card to such a happy sweet lady. And sending one to Canada will be fun, I hope it doesn’t take forever!
I see Hazel is looking for some of those warm cookies! I think you, my sister Nancy and I are the only people I know who don’t get upset with animals on tables and counters. It’s their house and I don’t care where they go! The little puppies are sweet, the one with the red scarf must have used Hazel as a model.
I want to catch you up on little Minnie. She is now 7 weeks old and is a spitfire. If she’s not eating or sleeping she is playing with anything and everything. Her big sister Olivia plays with her occasionally, Betty is still spitting and hissing but that’s Betty. Sammie the Aussie still thinks Minnie is her baby and wants to bathe her all the time. I am putting away the dog crate today that Minnie was using because she adopted my doll bed as her personal bed and I’m on the lookout for an old bigger doll bed that fits in my house of antiques hoping she will out-grow my doll’s bed. She is still small. She weighed 1 lb. 13 oz. this morning after she stuffed herself. I think she was starving when I found her, so she eats rapidly and until her little tummy feels like an over blown balloon before she is ready to stop. I also am putting her personal litter box in the laundry room. For the last four or five days her litter has been empty which made me nervous until I put her down after she ate and watched that little but run and go to the big girl litter box under the sink in the laundry room. If the big kitties go there, she wants to use it too! I couldn’t afford to pay for all the pleasure she has brought me. it’s been priceless. Yesterday I was frightened because I couldn’t find her and her tiny meow is so quiet you can’t hear her unless she is right by your ear. I’m calling and calling and wondering all over the house when for whatever reason I look over by the old cat tower and there she is in the top in the little cloth basket peeking over the side! Mary, I will send you some recent pictures and need to get a video of that little backside running to the big girl box because it’s so stinking cute!
Love and Blessings all!
Oh Linda I love reading about Minnie and her life with you. I hope you’ll get a picture of her in your doll bed. You gave her the best life and she is so lucky.
Linda – I am almost jealous! To have that little spitfire in your life is priceless. And why couldn’t Hazel be on the table? No food is being served. If we were sitting there eating a meal of course I wouldn’t let her but good grief, what is the problem here? I never understand why people are so paranoid about pets on their table or counters. No food is ever prepared in my kitchen area – I have a pantry with sink, frig, freezer, appliances and counter space. Life is too short to be worried about this. I’d say Minnie has changed your life and given you a new purpose – she’s a life altering presence! Ha!!
Ohh, she sounds like a real doll and now sleeps in a doll bed! Too cute!😻❤️❤️❤️❤️
Doesn’t Gerry sound marvelous? I’m so glad her family appreciate her. I’ll get her card in the mail this week.
A day with no commitments sounds wonderful. Enjoy it!
I’m finishing up a large scrap quilt – at least I know I’ll get there someday. Bullseye is next!
Erin – just the mention of bullseye makes me consider starting another one.
Thank you Mary, for sharing the story of my Mother in law. I am truly blessed to have her in my life. I know some can’t say that but I’m sure glad I can
Well, we have been in our new home for 5 days, our belongs have been here for four days we’ve got a living room, family room, our bedroom and 3/4 of the kitchen organized. I absolutely love it and so does my husband. Our son has been here every day working on getting the barn ready for his horses. Eddy, our dog loves it here too and especially likes going to the barn. We have introduced him to the two barn cats and he licks them so I think he will be good with them. When our son brings his dogs they have so much fun together. You may remember the story of Spice. She is so happy here, it is unbelievable. We can’t wait till our son and his family move in.
Next Monday I am going to a quilt retreat at a place called Loon Lake Retreat Centre. There is a locked gate so only those booked for a retreat can go. It is a beautiful venue and the food is really good. It will be the first time I have quilted since June. I’m so excited and need the break from unpacking
Teresa – did you know we have a pattern called Loon Lake? Just think how happy Eddy is – freedom with new digs to explore. We Can’t wait to see more.
Mary – I didn’t know you had that pattern. Maybe one day if you have that quilt you could share it with us all. Have a wonderful day.
I will get Gerry’s card in the mail tomorrow. Glad you reminded us that the postage will be more. I’ll check at the post office. My 21 year old twin grandsons were here today and did some yard work. AT&T couldn’t get to the telephone pole in my backyard because of my orange tree so my grandsons trimmed just enough branches so they can climb the pole to put in fiber optic cables. Then we had lunch at Chili’s. It was a good day but very warm, about 89. I love the plants that Jo found, especially the cactus.
Enjoy your “nothing on the calendar day” tomorrow. I love those days too.
I went to a second hand fabric store today and found a treasure! It’s your Quilts from Aunt Amy!,in perfect condition! I loved reading the stories ,and learning that she got the name Amy from a teacher. Also there are a few quilt I want to make!
Sharon – I’m so glad you got the book!!! It’s been out of print for years so hang on to it! Have you ever made a Bullseye Quilt like the one on the cover?