Grandma Ree's letters

 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...

  Dear Family and Friends, Nov/Dec 2024 November was already letting us know that fall was almost over with its colorful leaves falling to the ground and the weather changing to cold and Christmas decorations beginning to appear on homes.  Before long it may even begin to snow and change everything into a wonderland of beauty.  We learn to appreciate and enjoy all of the beautiful seasons of the year.   A few of True’s orchids are still blooming but most of them had been cut back for the winter before she left.  Linda is keeping them watered as part of her ‘take over’ job while True is gone.  Between her part-time job, caring for her own home, her animals and other commitments, Linda does well managing to come when she can to take care of my house and my needs.    Oh, and bless her big, loving heart, Linda added to her duties when she found two little newborn kittens at her workplace which had been abandoned by the mother cat....

Dear family and friends. The month of October brought delightfully mild weather to Grants Pass with no fires in our vicinity, so we were very lucky this year.  The trees surrounding Riviera Park where I live are mostly evergreens, with a few others here and there which are displaying their beautiful colors for us to enjoy. I hope you enjoy them too -- wherever you are. True says fall/autumn is her favorite time of year, and she was able to get in some good hiking time and be close to nature, which she thoroughly enjoys. However, she has been extra busy finishing the book she's been so involved with the past few months.  Yes, the book she has put her whole heart and soul into, using every possible waking moment and long hours into the night, is almost done. She was advised to redo her original true-life experience account by adding more characters and making it more "readable" by transforming it into a historical novel with more conversations and deep feelings between the ...

  Dear Family and Friends, Sept. / Oct. 2024 It’s Autumn - with a bit of a breeze and coolness in the air and even a little rain; but still lovely weather.  Leaves are beginning to turn beautiful colors and will soon be falling from the trees.  This is an energetic time of year. True loves being able to stroll, walk, or run about in this kind of weather. I wish I could too. Early in the month I had Norma give me a permanent because my big head of hair was getting too long and unwieldy even though she does do it up nicely for me each week. It is naturally straight as a board so usually has to have a permanent about every four months or so in order to keep it curly. It was also time for me to get a realignment of my sixty year old dentures. And in so doing, I was reminded of the cute poem my Aunt Lizzy, as we called my mother’s sister, had created about Grandma’s disobedient teeth. It has become a family ‘gem’ and is a bit lengthy, but I thought I’d like to share it with yo...