Monday, February 18, 2008

Visits from Candace, Clinton and Byron


The orchid above is the gift that Candace and Clinton brought to my bedroom the day they arrived on February the eighth while I was still mostly down in bed giving my back a chance to heal. Then Clinton (after working hours with Otto to clean the yard, walks and roof of fallen leaves) went out and bought me a WIFI for our house - one of my dreams. The next day Byron came up from Santa Cruz, and he and Candace installed it and made it secure. Now I can use my laptop anywhere in the house, not just where cable is available.

Clinton had to leave on Sunday to present a paper in Colorado, but Candy stayed on until Wednesday, shopping for groceries, cooking delicious meals, and being delightful company, and setting my computer to bypass some of things I hated about the Vista operating system. Apparently groceries were not the only things that she was shopping for; although I was unable to get down the stairs to see them yet, a new micro-wave oven and a new can-opener appeared in our kitchen. The old micro-wave had been a hand-me-down from son Sterling who had already considered it obsolete. Candy went home on Wednesday.

Now that I am able to go downstairs to prepare some of the meals, I have had a chance to use both microwave and very superior can-opener. I am dazzled by the new micro-wave's many features. I'm still using it with the manual in one hand. I also keep finding other goodies here and there - a new oven mitt, for instance.

Have I ever mentioned Otto's and my fascination with sudoku puzzles? It is shared by both daughter Candy and grandson Byron. We managed to get in a lot of competition while they were here by printing up four identical copies of hard puzzles from websudoku

I can't help but think how lucky Otto and I are to have such a close-knit though far-flung family!


Icing on the cake: we expect to see Byron and Myrtle this next Friday, Myrtle newly returned from four months in Brazil.

5 comments:

Honey And Papa said...

Keep getting better!

I'm thankful to Candace and Clinton for taking such good care of you. We all owe them a thanks.

The orchid is pretty.

daria said...

I am so happy that you are feeling better!! It's great news that you are now able to get downstairs. Yahoo!

xo daria

p.s. the day that you posted this I had an orchid theme going too. Isn't that a cool coincidence?

the mother of this lot said...

Glad you're feeling better!

nonizamboni said...

You do have a wonderfully close-knit family but I think you have a lot to do with it! I loved reading about all the little gifts they left you, most especially this gorgeous orchid and WiFi.
When you have a minute--looks like you have more wonderful reunions planned--you've been tagged by me. Stop by:
http://nonizamboniblue.blogspot.com/2008/02/me-me-me-me-me-me.html

Have a great weekend, Phyllis.

Jane said...

What a beautiful orchid and what a wonderful family you have.

I was just thinking last night, that my children sure are the jewels in my crown.

Get well soon!