I got talented kids

The above photo is about the only one I have of them together. I went to Facebook to see that my son Raymond had posted a bunch of links, one to the Waifs he has been playing with in Salt Gulch. I will put one of their videos on the blog list. They are a band from Australia. He also posted news of a new entry on his blog called, "Lightning in my pocket, thunder in my soul" with the excitement building about his trip to SF to do his one man show.
My son Dan and my niece Cheryl are now showing a second website they worked on this summer for the Boulder, Utah heritage foundation. See link on my blog list Raymond just went to Salt Lake for a meeting in connection to bringing a demonstration of musical roots to the Festival, I believe. Details are pending. He also said he had to go to Richfield to appear in court today for hitting a deer! Which jumped out in front of his truck. Wonder how that is going to turn out.
Dan reports back to work on his job today. Since the hotel business is so slow he went to Utah for the summer with a leave of absence. He is lucky to have a job in hard Arizona times.

Son Gary called and said his daughter is worried about her new born who tested positive as a carrier for cystic fibrosis. They are bringing the baby down to be tested to see if she actually has it or is just a carrier. Always somepn' to worry about.
Well, Folks, I am on my way out the door to pay the rent and find something to eat!

Catching up with sisters

I found out today that my sister Linda has an appointment Friday, July 31, to hear the read on her MRI taken last Friday. So I will be eager to find out how that goes, as she continues to struggle with a hurting neck and numb hands. Her daughter Carissa, husband and family have returned from an extended vacation trip, including one to Sicily where ancestors on the dad's side came from. Carissa kept her maiden name Bongiorno, so she must have been greeted with great friendliness while there. That means good morning I was told. Linda's son is named Gaetano Bongiorno which I have always thought was a beautiful name. It was his grandfather's. The family always called him Tano, but he eventually became Tom to everyone else. I guess Tano was just too exotic for some!
Sister Ann has just posted a poem complete with pasture photos about cows getting into the mountain pasture in her blog Kanyonland King on my blog list. Quite a few of the King family descendents bought part of King's pasture, so when somebody says somebody's cows have crashed the pasture fence, quite a few respond with appropriate alarm. So far all her entries have been in poetry. Now that tops me and shows she is the greater poet of the two of us, but Linda probably tops us all as she has been steadily writing poems and putting out poem books for years. And always has a notable new poem for her blog Vooman's Voice.
Now to a surprise, sister Margie whose blog Marge I have just added to my blog list has posted her second entry. She has had a lot of medical problems delayng her blogging, but she has led a life of drama in her nurse's career, so once she gets going she should have a blog worth a look see.
I will ask my sister LaRae what she is doing, as I don't want to miss her, even though she has passed to another realm some 20 years ago.

LARAE: I was afraid you were going to leave me out. After all I went to the Boulder Heritage Music Festival, too, where my daughter Cheryl did me proud. I have never seen such a display of expertise with her workshops and work on the ranching book. I sat around with the sisters, too. Cousin RaVoe went with me as she wanted to see how her sister Roma did on her first trip back to Boulder for many many years.
GERRY: LaRae, I hope you are doing something about the women in the King families great reluctance to look at reality and what the men had to contend with from old to young in the homesteading and pioneering life in Boulder.
LARAE: Yes, we are holding workshops on the situation. First of all the ladies have to come over here and see for themselves that the Mormon heaven they visualized just does not exist. Someone is always asking for directions to Mormon Heaven, so many that there is a designated green pasture we send them to, but they come back wanting an explanation for a green pasture that is empty! Then I say that is Mormon Heaven! So then they settle down and try to figure out just what we are supposed to be learning here, which as far as I am concerned is what that life was all about, and what we missed, and what we messed up and what can we do about it?
GERRY: That sounds to me like you are headed in the right direction, sister LaRae.
LARAE: I assure you that when you arrive here and have recovered enough, you will be booked as a guest speaker to a Boulder Heritage Festival for the spirits, which is scheduled to follow the one on earth, so we can discuss what happened. We are looking forward to the play about dying the next festival will feature, Happy Hello, Sad Goodbye, both here and there.

MOTHER: Since I am in the photo, bigger than anybody, I wonder if I might be allowed to say a word? I get the feeling my daughters have all muzzled me. I don't know if I will ever be allowed to say anything again, even though I held my own, writing three books of family history.
GERRY: Oh, hi, Mother. I hope you are enjoying yourself. I am sure we will get around to you in time. Your books of history are still prominent on our shelves, so now we must get busy and get ours done. I am off to buy a cartridge for my printer. I remember you slaving away on your last book of history when you were 78. It was printed when you were 80.
MOTHER: Yes, I shocked everyone with the family secrets I told without realizing it. I have not caught up with them yet. I knew not what I was saying. I was far too ignorant for my own good. Or so daughter LaRae tells me.

Thank you, Connie, for the border you put around this notable photo. It was taken to my son Raymond's wedding in Phoenix, I believe.

"LOOK HOW COOL BLOG" AWARD given me by Lisa of Please Dont Take Life For Granted

You will see the award on my sidebar, which came to me via Lisa, which is why I treasure it and took it home and found out how to upload it to my sidebar. She got the award from Sugar, and you will note I have added Sugar to my blog list as she performs some very needed functions in blogland such as keeping track of those who need support along with Guido and Jeannette. So I have contacted her several times when I thught someone needed immediate attention and support because of some unexpected trauma in their lives or sudden illness.
I just read Lisa's blog which I have been reading since I started blogging on AOL back three years ago. I was shaken by one entry this morning which covered the loss of more functions we all take for granted, but I could not get over how she continues to record these events, as I think people can learn a lot about illness from her blog, the purpose that she has stated many times is her reason for writing it.
I am supposed to list 8 more Look How Cool Blogs, along with receiving this award, and I have to put Lisa's blog at the top of the list, urging everyone to visit her at least every few days to give her cheer and acknowledgement of her continuing bravery in surviving and blogging!
I love another Lisa's blog, too, which is Life on a Bison Farm. It always cheers me up and those bison activities delight me. Check out my blog list!
I would be amiss if I did not mention my son Raymond's blog Cowboys and Bohemians which has taken blogging in a unique direction. Raymond is blogging in Los Angeles about putting up a new play, which just recently got reviewed and was the pick of the week by the L.A. Weekly. (see my blog list) How can you get any more cool than that? The photo below I call Yellowed by Time, and is a picture of Raymond's dad and me. Raymond writes of his relationship with his dad and me in the play, and his dad's disappearance into the vast desert, never to return.

I am really enjoying reading Vagabond Journeys which is a new blog for me, which I found through my son's blog, because DB has been in theater, and his experience is pretty compelling as revealed in his blog. I enjoy his very literary writing a lot!
Kelli's blog, Thoughts of a Sober White Women is an old favorite I have been reading a long time as well as Pam's blog, Times of My Life which I can't list here since it is private. These two are great bloggers who really cheer me up, and I am even hoping to meet up with Pam in Los Angeles for the first time when I go to see my son's play, as she lives in Bellflower, not too far from the theater location.
Oh I got to read Missie's Upside Down World every day, as well as Joyce's who used to write Treasure Chest of Life, which name she has changed when she went private.
And Nelishia's Fire and Reign. Nelishia has been a very sensitive and caring commenter since the beginning of my blogging on AOL. Right now she is quiet, and I am concerned, but am giving her lots of time to recover, as I know she is one of the busiest people I know and has health problems.
I cannot stop without mentioning my dear Paula's Country Tales. I have a great fondness for this blog since it always takes me back to my country past and my life with the cows and the horses. And I love Paula's sense of humor. Oh, I can't stop. I think I am on 9 now and I know I am leaving out someone's blog I really enjoy. But these 9 come to mind so I have to put them down! Bloggers always need encouragement to keep on blogging. I know. Thank you, Lisa.

Doc's hats inspire Connie!

Doc and I have been making another video on his long pants and my unpopularity. You only get to see about a tenth of our videos, as we enjoy making a series every few days. I have to put the rehabilitation of Doc above your capacity for seeing him in videos. He doesn't care if anyone looks. He just needs to make funny videos just like he needs to breathe. I accept the fact that it might take a lot of videos to turn his life around, but I know laughter is the key, enjoyment, acting, and reaching an audience at last even it is only two or three.
If you blog there is always a chance of two or three more reading it than just your family. I am trying to get my three other sisters to blog because that would mean three more readers and commenters in exchange for me reading and commenting on their blogs. They are going to need somebody!
My son Raymond used to be a faithful reader of my blog, (still is, he says) but now he is blogging, I am repaying the favor by being his most faithful reader and commenter. Just as I used to sit on the front row of every play production he ever did. People wanted to pay me to come to their plays because I was such a good laugher. You could not miss me, and my laugh made them feel good, like their plays were really funny. A comic writer needs laughers in his life desperately.
Raymond told me yesterday when he called that his two plays are going to run together, each two performances a week for 4 weeks. So if I can get to Los Angeles I can see both of them! That is exciting. Now I have to save for the trip. I hope my son Dan will be able to take me at least one way. I don't want him to lose his job, so I might even come back on the bus if necessary. Jobs are too hard to come by now days. I have seen Blue Baby twice but I want to see the Los Angeles production, too. I think running them both at the same time is an inspired idea. He has invited everyone to come to Los Angeles. Raymond knows he has to go out and beat the bushes for audience members once he gets a play up.
I know that all the AOL journalists are reading as many blogs as they can possibly handle. Some with a hundred or so on their list have even fallen behind. I came lately to the journaling world, so I don't expect miracles. Plus some have stopped journaling and some are in such poor health they can't even write a blog, except with practically their last breath. I am not going to expect those guys to read my blog.
Some I have found don't have broadband that enables them to watch videos as easily as I do. Dial-up just does not do it. So they are excused from reading my blog unless I just write, as my blog has become a good part videos thanks to the rehab I run. However Doc is my constant companion (when I can stand him) so I have to put a top priority on what works for him. I also don't like to send out alerts except when I get really excited about something we have done or somebody else in the family is doing like Raymond. So people don't know whether I will send an alert or just skip it. Anyway, you can see more of my thoughts on this subject, as well as Doc's cutting responses on the new video I will soon be able to embed here. It is uploading now.