Good evening!

This weekend has been surprisingly lovely.

^{Life long friend and I enjoying some time by the water.}

I say surprising because given all the things happening with my mom, my aunt and recently my grandma… it can be easy to feel wrapped up in sad. However, this weekend over all, and today in particular, were lovely. I had fun and felt very productive. Two things that have been lacking a bit lately.

Yesterday’s big event was cleaning out my grandma’s condo. I have been working my way through this task a little bit at a time. Her place is immaculate and SUPER organized, which helps. However, grandma still has a lifetime of stuff to pack up. The packing is time consuming (especially since my parents can’t help). Lucky for me, one of my friends joined me for yesterday’s session.

^{Random treasures at grandma’s house. Perfume bottle collection, vintage Mt. St. Helens Jim Beam liquor decanter, porcelain Oregon souvenir plate, gold nugget on a necklace, Waterford crystal and a fancy old hat.}

Today started with yard work. We have a bed of roses that lines our driveway, but every spring the rose bed fills with weeds, wood hyacinths, and grape hyacinths. I love hyacinths but they get completely out of control if they are not potted. So this morning I pulled out all of the weeds and hyacinths from between the rose bushes.

^{OK, I actually only weeded about half of the rose bed. You can see the side on the right I did, and the side on the left still to go. It took forever and filled TWO garbage cans! The big patch of brown in the grass was moss, but we pulled it up and are reseeding the lawn.}

Today was so sunny and warm. After yard work, we popped the roof off our new car (for the first time), and drove down to the waterfront. It felt like being on vacation.

^{Hubs modeling the open roof. The crazy thing about this car is we can take off the whole roof, all the doors and the front window! Gonna save that for summer when the days are much warmer.}

^{Roof down action shot!}

My favorite thing about where we live is our proximity to the water. Our house is just about one mile from Puget Sound, so most sunny days we will take walks along our town’s waterfront. Today we ventured onto the beach and the fishing pier.

^{Low tide and a Washington State Ferry.}

^{The fishing pier with views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound in the background. In the foreground is a cage with baby salmon that will soon be released.}

After the waterfront, I visited a nearby open house. We are not really house hunting, but there has been the slightest bit of talk about getting a bigger house. Mostly so my dad could move in with us after mom passes away. He is in his 80’s and needs to live someplace with less stairs. I don’t know if moving in with us is the answer, but it is one possible option.

I wanted to see this house because all of the bedrooms and laundry are on the main floor. Plus, there are only two steps up to the front porch. Stairs are terrible for oldies, so a place like this could be good for us.

^{Super cute. Gorgeous landscaping. Vaulted ceilings. Good storage. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths and a 3 car garage.}

^{View from the laundry room.}

Last activity of note today was a visit to mom and dad’s place. Mom has been sleeping a lot lately, but today she was awake. Happily we had a good visit. Because mom is officially enrolled in at home hospice, she has been given a hospital bed. Which is set up in my parent’s living room. That part is kind of weird, but it is nice she can be out with the family even though she is bedridden.

^{Mom’s current set up.}

Life is a funny thing. Good times and tragedy all sprinkled together in one big delicious but messy stew. Today I am thankful the good of life outweighed the sad bits.

❤️

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