Paul and I are excited about our son Adam and his wife Martha making us grandparents of a little girl this coming January!

We have known for a while about their wonderful news, but I hesitated to share it with you until I had asked them if it would be all right. I'm glad I waited, because just yesterday they called with the news that their latest test changed the boy they had been expecting...to a girl.

It's funny. They liked lots of girl names, but had only a couple boy names. And we had always felt that if they ever had a child, it would be a girl. So it had felt a little strange when we thought that it was a boy, the girl-thing felt so strong.

Throws me for a loop, though, since I bought yarn when I went to the US in July to make a blanket for him....in blue and white! Yarn is hard to find around here so I need to put my thinking cap to get something appropriate that isn't blue. (Does anyone know of a nice yarn store in Mexico???)

Since we're so far away from our grandkids up North right now, it will be great to have them just an hour away by air in Mexico City. I'll try hard not to be a nuisance, guys!

Adam and Martha are smart, hardworking, funny, love to read, love art, love to get dirty in the garden. They have a ton of varied interests and are always having people over, traveling somewhere, or have a new project going on. I believe that their child will be challenged daily with new ideas and that is what a child needs to develop to her full potential.

I think she already looks smart and beautiful.

Last night's sunset was so beautiful! The rainy season really brings out a whole different look to the sky at night, and I like it.

Life has been quiet lately, both of us have felt a bit out of sorts. We're just so used to bopping around town alot and it is just too hot and steamy to do much walking during the day. Paul has been working a fair bit, too.

On top of that, the dogs got a touch of something and Lucy's ears got goopy again. More medicine and worries. If her ears aren't better this afternoon I will call the vet and get the stronger medicine for her. Floppy ear dogs have problems in the humidity here!

We've also had to cancel our planned week driving trip to Guadalajara, Morelia, and Patzcuaro. Our dogsitter had to cancel at the last minute and we just weren't able to fix things up with a substitute...especially with Lucy not being 100% well. We hope to reschedule it soon.

But the good news is that Monday they are going to start on the remodeling of the back yard. We have gone back and forth on what we want to do to the back yard - for a while we were thinking about a pool - but then we got a bid and had to rethink the plan. We are going to have a long roof put over the house side wall - constructed with salvaged ebony posts and salvaged vigas. We're going to use cement tile on the floor. The balance of the backyard will be grass and plants - our seriously pruned hibiscus and bouganvillia are thriving, and they, along with the palm and bamboo should provide a nice foundation for the rest of the plants. I know the dogs will welcome the grass and the cover from the roof will keep the house cool and give us a nice place to sit and rock in the shade.

Another great bit of news is that it seems pretty likely that we'll see our son and his family from Washington in November. I miss them all a lot so hearing that they're coming really made my day! Here's a picture of them taken at their other grandma's house this summer.

It is quite a thrill to hear a whistle at the front door and find the postman waiting with an unexpected box! Some of our family members sent us the most wonderful package, full of dog toys and gourmet jams and preserves.

We were also amazed that it got here in one week, but they did send it priority mail.

This was a real treat, and made us very happy. Now we had better go tell them how thrilled we are! You can tell Henry and Lucy are happy, can't you?

I just got back last night from my week in Washington State. I had a wonderful time and am really glad I went....but also am glad to be back! Here's a little summary of the fun I had:

Sunday evening upon arrival in Seattle I picked up my rental car and headed to my sister's house. We drank wine and duty-free tequila and caught up on everything.

Monday we took a wonderful walk on Ruston Way in Tacoma - along the Commencement Bay waterfront and through Old Town and back home. After that, lunch with our aunt and uncle as they passed through town in their RV on their way to visit friends for a week. Here they are with my sister at the restaurant:

My aunt became our surrogate mom after our mother died when we were kids, and as she is now 86 I was so happy we were able to see each other on this trip.

My sister had to go in to the office Tuesday morning so I went to Target, PetSmart, and Rejuvenation Hardware on my way to Seattle to join up with her.

I'll leave out the part about going to her office but it was fun to be a fly on the wall as breaking news publication decisions were made.

We booked a room with a city view at the Sheraton and had a sister's night in Seattle. We shopped and roamed around - took care of banking, etc. For dinner we ate at Lola, Tom Douglas's newest Greek-inspired restaurant. We ordered based on the most interesting combinations: Appetizer of Pita with Kalamata and greek fig spread...Salad of watermelon, feta, arugula and basil...Smashed garlic fried potatoes...wild mushroom kabobs. It was wonderful.

The next day my sister had a presentation to give to the Board so she got dressed and practiced it on me. Excellent, of course.

After she went to work I drove to Bellingham to visit with our oldest son and his family. I miss my son and his wife but it's the grandkids that change so fast! I really miss them. As an aside I spent a ton of time trying to get their webcam to work but I believe it's not compatible with Vista. What a nightmare.

We went for a long walk in the sunshine along the water in Bellingham. People were crabbing from the piers and teenagers were jumping into the water and screaming because it was so cold! We hit the tail end of the farmer's market and strolled through an independent bookstore.

They took me out for a really special dinner at Anthony's Home Port, a Washington chain famous for its seafood and northwest flavor. Erica took the picture below after dinner.

Erica did her hair for dinner with the chopsticks I bought her. She had been doing her hair up with a pencil after learning how in her Daring Book for Girls.

We took their boat out one afternoon on Lake Whatcom. We cruised up and down, and stopped and let the kids swim here and there. They'd decided not to take the big inner tube thing because it was a little chilly. Here they are swimming off the boat:



Both kids are excellent students and also excellent athletes. Owen received the Defensive MVP award at his baseball camp this summer.

Erica has been taking swimming lessons and participated in a swim meet on Saturday. It was the first time I've seen her seriously swim, and she won two firsts and a fifth! The video below is the 50 meter backstroke, in which she won first place. There were three heats.



In between all this family time were various outings for shopping and eating that you are probably grateful I didn't photograph! Now, I had better go see what all my blogger friends have been up to!