Of shoes and ships and sealing wax
My grandfather's memorial service on Saturday was only the second time I've been to such an event (the other being the funeral of my sister's MIL about a decade ago). For such a thing, I thought it was lovely; four people spoke including my father (eldest son) and one of my cousins who was especially close to Grandpa. The church was totally full and overflowing with people. All six children were there with spouses (those that have them), and eight of ten grandchildren (only one spouse and one SO of those), and one of five great-grandchildren. And of course my grandmother, who is not in good shape mentally, and that was very sad to see. She has significant short-term memory issues (though it's not Alzheimer's) and much of the time wasn't clear on the fact that my grandfather was dead. I'm not sure what the children have decided to do with regard to her; one of my aunts is on family leave till the end of February and will continue to stay with Grandma, but after that I think (hope) that she will be moved to a care facility, because clearly she cannot live alone and would have to have someone there 24/7.
It was good to see nearly all the family, I have to say, even though it was under sad circumstances. I rather suspect that there will be a repeat within just a few months, for my grandmother. She really has no particular reason to live now... and she is 92, just as Grandpa was 93. It's not as if she would be dying before her time, and in a way I hope that she doesn't linger on, bewildered and unhappy, much though I will miss her. SO and I are thinking about driving out for a visit this summer, either in May or August depending on our schedules, because we would be able to visit with several of my aunts and uncles even if Grandma is gone by then.
The plane flight there was fine, but coming back was a royal pain as the flight out was delayed two hours for mechanical reasons, which meant I missed my connection in Denver. I got rebooked on an evening flight and then luckily managed to get onto an afternoon flight on standby, so I got home about five hours late and SO and I ended up going out for Chinese because there was no way I was up for cooking by then.
I took it fairly easy yesterday, not doing much except cooking for the week: lasagne, curry chicken, and aloo gobi matar. We had the curries for dinner last night, along with quick pickled cukes, and I'll bake the lasagne tonight - was going to have SO do it, but it turns out that my first LIS class was canceled for today as the prof is out of town, so I'll be home. We'll have salad and the leftover extra cauliflower along with it, I think.
I'm doing laundry today too (only two loads!) and still need to walk Juno, but first have to finish looking over tomorrow's lecture and upload the outline to the class website. Also need to do some more reading, and start on the online assignment for the LIS class that isn't meeting today, and look at the syllabus for the Thursday class. And optometrist just called so I can pick up my new glasses, yay!
I didn't think I'd get to hear the inauguration speech, but I did manage to catch it on NPR while en route to the doctor's this morning and sat in the parking lot listening to the last few minutes (and wasn't even late for my appointment). A good speech, a very good one, and I can't describe what a relief it is to be able to listen to a president speak and not want to throw things at the radio. To call a spade a spade, Bush was a liar and a law-breaker and my respect for the office of president was diminished because he was in it. While I supported Clinton, I am still immensely glad to have Obama in office, and I hope he is able to get this nation turned around so that we who travel or have friends overseas no longer need to feel ashamed before the rest of the world. Bush's presidency glorified rapaciousness, bullying, torture, and erosion of civil rights under the excuse of security - almost anything else is going to be better, but I am hopeful that as a nation we will be discussing and making some of the hard choices that Obama mentioned in his speech today.
It was good to see nearly all the family, I have to say, even though it was under sad circumstances. I rather suspect that there will be a repeat within just a few months, for my grandmother. She really has no particular reason to live now... and she is 92, just as Grandpa was 93. It's not as if she would be dying before her time, and in a way I hope that she doesn't linger on, bewildered and unhappy, much though I will miss her. SO and I are thinking about driving out for a visit this summer, either in May or August depending on our schedules, because we would be able to visit with several of my aunts and uncles even if Grandma is gone by then.
The plane flight there was fine, but coming back was a royal pain as the flight out was delayed two hours for mechanical reasons, which meant I missed my connection in Denver. I got rebooked on an evening flight and then luckily managed to get onto an afternoon flight on standby, so I got home about five hours late and SO and I ended up going out for Chinese because there was no way I was up for cooking by then.
I took it fairly easy yesterday, not doing much except cooking for the week: lasagne, curry chicken, and aloo gobi matar. We had the curries for dinner last night, along with quick pickled cukes, and I'll bake the lasagne tonight - was going to have SO do it, but it turns out that my first LIS class was canceled for today as the prof is out of town, so I'll be home. We'll have salad and the leftover extra cauliflower along with it, I think.
I'm doing laundry today too (only two loads!) and still need to walk Juno, but first have to finish looking over tomorrow's lecture and upload the outline to the class website. Also need to do some more reading, and start on the online assignment for the LIS class that isn't meeting today, and look at the syllabus for the Thursday class. And optometrist just called so I can pick up my new glasses, yay!
I didn't think I'd get to hear the inauguration speech, but I did manage to catch it on NPR while en route to the doctor's this morning and sat in the parking lot listening to the last few minutes (and wasn't even late for my appointment). A good speech, a very good one, and I can't describe what a relief it is to be able to listen to a president speak and not want to throw things at the radio. To call a spade a spade, Bush was a liar and a law-breaker and my respect for the office of president was diminished because he was in it. While I supported Clinton, I am still immensely glad to have Obama in office, and I hope he is able to get this nation turned around so that we who travel or have friends overseas no longer need to feel ashamed before the rest of the world. Bush's presidency glorified rapaciousness, bullying, torture, and erosion of civil rights under the excuse of security - almost anything else is going to be better, but I am hopeful that as a nation we will be discussing and making some of the hard choices that Obama mentioned in his speech today.