Dear Friends,

C'est moi! I am writing my own blog tonight. This is certainly progress. Current medical update: I will see my doctors next week and the following week and will keep you posted. So far, so good. In fact so far, so much better than I ever expected. I think that not having to go to a nursing center doubled my rate of recovery. It is so nice to be surrounded by my wonderful family. Both Kate and Meg are very helpful, Keela and Olive are non-stop entertainment and Murray fixes everything. Plus they are all nice. I am grateful. I am not moving around very much, but I am trying to do a little more each day. I am trying to stay on top of the pain with the prescribed medications and am trying to increase my knowledge through audible books. Honestly, I am increasing the number of hours that I sleep while audible books are playing.

I will tell you more about my pre-surgery trip to Taos later. Being with my forever friends was great. I have always loved Native American art and appreciated the beautiful pottery pieces from the Southwest. I found some paintings of pots done by an Anglo lover of same. I bought 3 of his works. One of my friends bought 2. The gallery owner invited the artist to come to the gallery so that we could meet him. Interesting background. He went to Texas Tech, majoring in civil engineering, was best friend with the brother of one of our gang and knew many people that we knew. He started collecting pots that he loved and painting them, eventually giving up his engineering career. Here is a photo with me and the artist, Kevin McDermott.







When I returned from Taos, I got together with friends. Here I am with Helen, Vicky and Nadine.





I am beginning to think of some fine food as abstract expressionism. The colors and arrangements are very nice, but you have no idea what you are about to eat.




We got together with Vicky and family. Vicky's mother, Ansie, has just published a fascinating book about her life from birth through WW2. She was in a Japanese internment camp in the Philippines during the war. She has always been an enterprising, plucky woman. Here is her photo with Kate and Keela. She is 94 years old!





Kate and family are leaving on August 15. I will certainly miss them. You are welcome to come visit before they leave. Just call. After they leave, I will need your help. I will not be able to drive for a while and would love to see you and enjoy a simple deli lunch together. Vicky is preparing a calendar for sign-ups. I will give you the link soon. You must know how appreciative I am for your help and your company.

Meg is very busy at school. As she teaches at a charter school she has only a short time off during the summer. She started teaching 6th grade last week. My bumper sticker is "The children in Meg's class were second in achievement in the whole school last year (her first)!" Way to go, Meg.

Here is Keela in a precious good bye shot. We enjoy all of your comments and e-mails.
Love to everybody,
Diane