HILLS IN SAN FRANCISCO

Oakland Bridge A street in San Francisco. I took a lot of pictures from the window of our car.

The pictures below are of Lombard Street in San Franciso. Lombard Street is an east-west street in San Francisco. It is famous for having a steep one-block section that consists of tight hairpin turns. It felt like a roller-coaster ride.

Today is a beautiful day in Sequim. I went downtown while Donna was at the school to get out in the sun.

SAN FRANCISCO

Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. We went early before it was too crowded. It is such an interesting place.

I never thought I would ever see San Francisco. We had great weather on our trip.

From the picture it looks like crabs and lobsters but the figures are Sourdough bread. Last picture shows where the Sourdough bread is made. People line up in front of the windows to watch the bread being made, including us.

I hardly ever eat any kind of fish and the Fisherman's Wharf has crabs and lobsters and all other kinds of stuff I don't eat. On one street we found a store that had icecream so Debbie and I had icecream cones for a second breakfast.

SUNNY CALIFORNIA

Picture of Palm trees from the patio in the hotel we stayed in Thursday night, Sept. 2nd. We sat out on the patio watching the Palm trees sway in the breeze. We got to our hotel about 6pm and it was 85 degrees. I just loved it.

Debbie took me on a mini vacation to California. We flew into the San Jose Airport. It is a relatively small airport. We left Sea-Tac Airport Thursday afternoon. We spent Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and we came back on Sunday,the fifth. Our main goal was to see the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. We got to see quite a few things starting out with San Francisco. We rented a car. That kind of travel is so much easier for me. Our rental car was a Kia Soul. As most of you know, I have a Kia Rio but this car had a lot more Chipmunks under the hood than mine does. I took a lot of pictures. I will pick out a few of the best or interesting over the next few days and tell you about them. It was so sweet of Debbie to take me because she is so busy at work or flying to some warehouse. We had a real nice time.

WEATHER CHANGE

My candles and my new tray. Sometimes you really find neat stuff at Thriftshops.

Another picture of my coffee table that Darrell made me. I am turning into such a shopping monster. The table is so beautiful but I just had to put something on it but did not want to cover up too much of the wood. I got three candle holders and three blue candles from Wal-Mart. I found a very nice gilded gold tray at the Goodwill that was just the right size. Then at Wal-Mart I spotted the two blue pillows I put on either end of the couch. Someday I may replace the couch. Clayton had the couch when we got married and we were married 13 years and I have no idea how long he had it before that. I am sure a long time. In the meantime, I am going to, hopefully, with some help, make a small quilt to go over the back to make it look a little better. Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day. Now today it has been raining off and on all day. It really feels cold today because the weather has been so good up to now.

Thursday Debbie and I are taking our trip. Maybe we will have some nice weather in California. I hope so. No matter what the weather, it will just be fun being with Debbie.

Last evening, my neighbor, Marge and I went to a Arbonne home party. Donna couldn't go because she had to be on the radio. It is a good thing we went because Marge and I were the only ones there.

The Arbonne company has Cosmetics, skin and body care and health products. I ordered some shower gel and some every day conditioner for my hair. The cosmetics are WAY to expensive. We had a nice time and the hostess was very nice.

VISITORS

Heather, my granddaughter, her husband, Kyle and my son, Darrell all came to visit yesterday.

This is the beautiful coffee table that Darrell made for me. He does beautiful work. The wood is so beautiful too.

The old TV has now become an end table. I have a blue tablecloth on it and my "Little House" collector books which I got last year when Donna and I were in the midwest.

We had a very nice visit and the weather was great. I took everyone to the 101 Cafe for lunch. Kyle has never been on the Penisula before and he could hardly stop watching the view from our deck. Heather and Kyle want to come again sometime and go to Victoria.

ANOTHER INTERESTING DAY

My Snake plant if really growing. My new Entertainment center. It is really part of the bedroom collection but I love it. My Tivo and my DVD player are right under the TV. Holes were already there for connections. I love drawers to keep things in.

Laif working on the plumbing problem.

The old TV set-up. When I moved here we didn't have to move anything away from the wall, we just put my TV right on top of the old one so no one knew about the leak. Laif is glad I bought it so the leak was discovered.Friday was another interesting day----I have been wanting a new cabinet for my TV for sometime now. I have been shopping off and on for one. Laif brought the truck home this weekend so Donna said it would be a good time to get one. I bought it from Costco and it is an Entertaiment Dresser. Costco was having a closeout on this particular style and there was only one left so I bought it Thursday night.

Friday morning Laif and Donna went to put the new entertaiment center in for me. They pulled out the old TV and low and behold a copper pipe was leaking behind the old TV and stand they had there. (Donna says I have to quit buying things because they always find something wrong with the house.) Last time it was the gas leak.

As it turns out, Laif was glad I bought it because apparently it has been leaking since last winter when they didn't take the hose off their sprinkler control and it froze. The only reason the basement didn't have any water in it except in the corner where the old TV was is because the basement slopes and the water was running into the gravel outside. Donna said she always wondered why that part of the gravel was wet.

Since the floor is cement and the carpet in that corner was just in sections, it was easy to remove that part of the carpet and padding and dry it out. It was good, however, that Laif had not put any sheetrock on that part of the wall because the wood behind it and the insulation were wet and there was already mold.

Now on to another problem---I am going to have to have Cataract Surgery for my right eye on Sept. 13th and my left eye on September 27th. Dr. Niemeyer here in Sequim at the Northwest Eye Surgery is doing it. Everyone I have spoken to about hilm says he is wonderful and real caring. I have even talked to patients of his.

So yesterday was my evaluation and I finally got to meet Dr. Niemeyer. I really liked him. He says I am an excellent candidate for the surgery. He said my eyes are really good. He said he hopes his eyes are as good as mine when he is my age. Dr. Niemeyer said he has already done 1,000 cataract surgeries so far this year. I'm thinking there must be a lot of old people here.

It is going to cost over $8,000 dollars to have both my eyes done but my insurance will pay for it. I have to put some antibiotic drops in my eyes for 3 days before my surgery. The drops cost $144.99 but I only had to pay one dollar.

Bless Clayton for the wonderful insurance I have. He worked so hard for at least 30 years as a Longshoreman, the last 25 years with the Union. He liked working hard and always talked so highly about his job. I am so blessed to have been a part of his life. He was a dear, kind man and he liked everyone.

WALK IN THE PARK

Yesterday and today both have been beautiful days. Yesterday Donna had a meeting for her Home Schooling that took most of the day. After she got back, we went to the Railroad Bridge Park. This is a beautiful park and is so easy to walk in. After we took our walk, we went to Applebee's for dinner.

Today I went to the doctor. I have to start with new doctors since I changed medical plans. I am still under the Longshoreman's, just their other plan. I went to get prescriptions for the two meds I take. Of course, once you go to the doctor you have to be checked out for everything. I had a very nice doctor and she took a lot of time with me. My records from Group Health had already been sent over. Except for my two bouts with Bronchitis and my pulled muscle, my chart is pretty blank. So I had to be checked over and I had to have a Tetanus shot. Anyway, the doctor said and I quote--"You are in amazingly good health."

I did have one little shock--I have shrunk. I used to be 5ft 3inches and now I am 5ft, 1 and a half inches. At least I am not bent over yet. I am going to get a bone scan, probably after my trip with Debbie. The doctor says the ones where you just have your foot tested are not very accurate.

So my next challenge is my eyes. I will be having the evaluation for my cataracts on Friday. I won't be having surgery until after my trip. I am trying not to stress about it. I am so fortunate to be in good health.