Patient's Progress: Family Fun: Across the Country in Edmonds, Washington and Sister Ruby's Retirement.

I'm going to share a couple of family biggies with you: A couple of weeks in Edmonds, Washington visiting family plus, back home, celebrating sister Ruby's retirement after more than 25 years as manager of a home for the elderly and needy.

Her daughter Linda pulled off the impossible by getting three of her four siblings there at Ruby's beautiful lakeside cottage -- and taking her mom completely by surprise!

Here she is with myself and younger brothers Victor and Reggie:

Ruby and I are in the middle with Reggie left in the photo. Vic is on the right resting his leg on mine. As usual, Vic was trying to annoy his older brother. As usual, I was ignoring him. This was our version of brotherly love. The truth is that we are family and, with all of us having been brought up in uncaring foster homes, today we feel so lucky to have each other.

In addition, the cottage was packed with many longterm friends. It was a great day of food, yakking away, and just enjoying friends and family. Because Ruby is not one for attention, I'll let it go at that and devote the rest of this blog to Barbara's and my time in Edmonds, Washington. We stayed with daughter Misha, her husband Ed and four grandkids. Oldest to youngest, the grandkids are Mia, Bella, Max, and Talula.

Here I am with Talula and the full head of hair the kids fixed me up with. They all said they were tired of looking at my bald head and that it made me look too old. You know, they were right. I do look younger! Thanks kids!

Now here is Talula with two rock sculptures she created for the front of the house. I collected the rocks for her and she built the sculptures herself. While Barbara did grown-up things with parents Misha and Ed and the older grandkids, Talula and I went on long walks and played together. She is feisty with a mind of her own. I never told her what to do. Didn't have to.

Here is Barbara and Talula in the beautiful background designed by Misha and Ed.

Below Ed gets a photo of wife Misha with Mia, left, and Bella at right. Bella had just performed in a school play.

Above is Max with sisters Bella and Talula on a walk to the local playground. The sculpture was actually made from a live tree! Whether the tree is still alive, I don't know. But the sculpture has been there for years with no change. Amazing. Check it out here:

Mornings I go to Starbucks for coffee, something I shouldn't eat with it, my beloved New York Times, and to check in with the regulars pictured below. Believe it or not, they actually seem happy to see me. I chat until they start rolling their eyes. Getting the point, I take my hurt feelings back to my VIP room (to my way of thinking) and work on my blog. Here is the Starbucks gang:

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I'm a walker. At home I walk everywhere. I get in the car and drive until I see an interesting neighborhood. I park the car, get out, and snoop around. Out in Edmonds, I was no different -- and no one called the cops. We'll end now with some pix that caught my eye. No words needed. The photos speak for themselves:

On Edmonds shore, I noticed a woman sitting on a boulder. I sat, watched, and took the above photo. She never moved. She just sat there looking out at the water. I wondered who she was, where she was from, what she was thinking, and wanted to talk to her. But I couldn't do it. After sitting and watching her for some twenty minutes, I left with just this photo.

I'm going to keep it. I will always remember and wonder about her.

So long and keep moving.

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