Catching Up

It has been a very long time since I posted. A lot has happened, with me personally and to the world at large. Here are a few things that have happened in my life: 
   I lost about 70 pounds; got healthier--blood pressure went way down and my cholesterol is very much under control. 
   My friend Jan, who had dementia, passed away in

Jan, after not seeing a horse  in months.

early November of 2014. We will have some kind of memorial for her at the ranch within a couple of months. I miss the adventures we used to have.

Samantha at Old Sac Saloon

  My granddaughter came to live with me in August 2013, stayed a year, and moved back to live with her parents the following October. She now has a wonderful new job working with a legal processing firm. 
   My horse Beauty has progressed in her disease. She now has full blown Cushing's (where the endocrine system releases an abundance of cortisol in her blood). But in every other way she is a happy and healthy 16 year old--still beautiful--Morgan mare. 
   My younger son and his wife decided to move to Texas, then decided to stay, then decided to move

Russ & Jill on vacation

anywhere BUT stay in California, then bought a beautiful home here in Vacaville! Yay! They are staying--at least for now. 
   I've decided to change my hair color from light auburn to reddish brown (love it! Got lots of complements, too). I still don't know if I have any gray hair. I turned 65 last May and am now officially a member of the Medicare Club. 
   After a year's absence, I decided to rejoin the Writers Resource Center. I quit for a year because I was really run down and needed a break. But I found that I really missed seeing my friends. 
   I rescued a kitten in 2013, a tuxedo male who was abandoned in 100+ degrees. He was near death when my son Russ brought him to me.

Sir Raymond Winston

I nursed him back to health, found him a home, but he came back when the woman who adopted him decided she didn't want him any more. He is all grown up now and lives with his very large family...He's SO handsome! And so bodacious! His name is Sir Raymond Winston (it's a very long story). 
   Last summer I adopted a small family of feral cats of which there are about 6--3 females and 3 kittens (all male). I trapped them, had them all neutered, immunized, and de-fleaed. too. I feed them daily. 
   This year I rescued an adult male cat who joined my feral colony in the ravine where they all live. He was still an outcast--no one would let him get too close. For many reasons I suspected that he was not feral, but had been someone's pet. So I befriended him, rescued him, and took him straightaway to the vet. He was scanned for a chip, had tests taken, gave him all his shots, and had him otherwise thoroughly checked out. He is about 4 or 5 years old. Fortunately, a friend of a friend stepped up and said she would foster him. I'm hoping that the placement works out and that he has finally found his forever home. He's been on the run for a long time, I think, somewhere between 6 and 18 months because he seemed to be in pretty good shape at 13 pounds!

FLOWER

FLOWER

   I rescued another long hair (tuxedo) kitten in 2014. She was brought to me with a broken leg and a huge bite in her neck. She was only 8 weeks old. She stayed for 2 months--from October to December 2014. I took her to the vet, nursed her back to health, and found her a wonderful home with Ariel, a young lady who lives here in Vacaville. Little Flower is very, very loved.
   Hubby and I cruised one way to Alaska in 2013--took the land tour to Denali State Park and flew home. Had a blast! 

Shopping in Toulon France

   But hubby got bitten by the travel bug and the Mediterranean beckoned. He decided we should take the 2014 cruise that included Barcelona Spain, Tuolon France, then Naples, Florence, Rome, and Venice in Italy. We stopped in Athens and Santorini. We also went to Istanbul and Kusadasi in Turkey. We saw pretty much everything from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the David, and the Pieta to the Coliseum, Pompeii, and Ephesis. What an amazing trip! There is lots more, of course, but these come to mind first. 
   If you've been watching my Facebook page, well, most of it is there. Hopefully, I will try to keep up my blog. Why now, you ask? Well, it finally occurred to me that I might actually have something to share. At my age, I've experienced things that others have not, I have some special insights to a few things, learned some stuff along the way--you know. After all, I'm supposed to be a writer. It's time for me to write (again!).