Grandma Ree's letters

 Dear Family and Friends,  I hope you all enjoyed a fine Mother's Day. I received beautiful cards from family members, and this year the church offered succulent plants to all mothers, which I thought was even better than the usual single rose of former years. Then a few days later, I got an unexpected surprise. The former owner of Riviera Mobile Park, Beverley Hilterbrand, appeared at my door bearing a vase of lovely flowers that she said was for me for no particular reason, other than that she thought I was an amazing lady. That sweet thought warmed my heart and ‘made my day’. Beverley is such a dear soul to have thought of me that way. When she saw all the many blooming orchids everywhere, she wondered where we could put the vase. We decided that even though the kitchen table already had a little vase of petite orchids, that her large one with its flowers of various sizes, shapes, and colors would be ideal there, so that I could enjoy more freely all of the different kinds ...

 Dear Family and Friends,  General Conference, with its five sessions on April 5th and 6th, was great, as usual. But seeing our 100-year-old President Russell M. Nelson there and looking so good was really a great sight to behold.  To hear his message, along with all the others, was very inspiring and uplifting. Knowing that this was the 195th anniversary of the founding of the Church by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830 made this meeting even more special, as did having singers from various countries join the tabernacle choir in presenting their beautiful music. I hope all of you were able to enjoy the sessions of both days. It just so happened that my daughter Linda’s birthday falls on April 5th, and it was a very special one this year - her 65th - but because of the conference, its observance was postponed to a couple of days later. When asked where she would like to go to eat, she didn’t say, but just got me and True into her car and started driving.  Bless her heart...

 Dear Family and friends, March has been very rainy, a deluge in fact, causing the river to race by high up over its banks. The small creek that runs alongside the homes that face the river was also spilling out its banks well over its normal size. It was interesting to watch but we were never in any danger. One day, we were even surprised to wake up to snowflakes drifting down onto the already lightly covered streets and trees. It was a beautiful but totally unexpected sight. It's hard to tell about the weather these days. However, we were dumbfounded when we began spotting places inside the house that were wet. It wasn’t coming from the rain outside and evidently had been getting things wet in the back room for quite some time. That room used to be True’s sewing room, but was later transformed into an office for me. It also contains a closet with the water heater - which proved to be the culprit. True turned off the main valve so no mo...

 Dear Family and Friends, With snow still on the ground in Grants Pass, True made it home from Sedona Arizona.  She plans to stay during the time Linda has her surgery (March 4th) and during the recovery time beyond. I was delighted to have her home again, and particularly glad for her to take over running things here again, to relieve Diane and especially Linda of their responsibilities. Linda was sure that she could work part-time and still manage both households when True left, but it was an extra strain on her though she didn’t want to admit it. And of course once True was home, everything in the house was back to the way it was before she left. Which is fine with me since I no longer have much use for more than the bare essentials anyway. True brought home for me a signed copy of her published book (now available on Amazon) called “Anasazi Vision”.  Slow reader that I am, I spent the next few days reading in book-form the same ...

  Dear Family and Friends, Jan/Feb 2025 `      Are you enjoying your cold weather?  Winter has sure been here, with a few days of figures below freezing, but no snow.  Maybe there is still time for some, yet.  Who knows? Perhaps you will remember in last month’s letter where I was so surprised to receive a call from Korey, my military grandson serving in Japan, who said he had just brought his whole family from Idaho to live with him there.  Well, I was super surprised to receive a letter from Japan early in January, addressed to Great Grandma Ree.  It was from his 3 year old daughter, Paige.  What she sent was so cute, I decided to share it with you.  The large, rather stiff paper had across the top  “Love you from my head to my MISTLETOE”  Then, under it was some brightly colored mistletoe and her two little feet with its 10 little toes, the image of which had been filled in wi...

  Dear Family and Friends, Dec/Jan 2025 I trust that everyone had a nice Christmas and you are anxious to begin this New Year to see what adventures and blessings might be in store for you.  In Grants Pass, we have had quite a bit of rain lately, but no snow as yet.  The Rogue River is very high and flowing fast, but so far there is no sign of flooding here at the Riviera, thank goodness, but there have been reports of flooding in some of the lower areas of town, and sites that are right along the river’s edge.  Too bad.  I was very surprised however by a thunderstorm that happened on Christmas night. I had been wishing for some thunder that I could actually hear. The few that we've had here have been far away with rumbling that was almost undetectable.  But that one during the wee hours of the night started soft and then continued to grow louder as the storm moved closer to us.  Then when it was right overhead it gave out with such a lou...