photo taken at 5 a.m. this morning- she's gone now

and i miss my dear sunshine sister. like... profoundly.

atleast i've still got this lady:

i want to be just like her.

(at Provo's Farmers Market)

energetic, fun, indomitable spirit. those traits plus the impulse to lift ones arms while having a photo taken must be dominant in her genes because all her grandkids inherited them.
Happy Birthday tomorrow Momma Mia!
We LOVE YOU like crazy.
xoxoxoxoxxooxxoxoxoxoxo!!

I love being with this guy and with his momma, my little sister Tammy. Because of TamTam's cheerful disposition from birth we have called her "Sunshine." Her son takes after her (well his Dad is very good natured as well). I've had Mr. T all day while Tam's been at school and seriously...nothing but giggles and jokes with this kid.

Even while i'm in Ludite mode, I LOVE airports. And just to continue mentioning art professor Peter Everett's name every post i write - he makes large paintings of airports. Did you know that?

A clue about my destination: While standing in line to board my flight I kept fantasizing that Billy Corgan was around and I could kiss his elbow. The Smashing Pumpkins are from...Chicago. And you neverknow...people do have layovers in SLC. Like the person sitting next to me in the plane. Who brought the same library book as me! What are the chances?

Halloween Abroad...
it ain't hallowed without a trip to the Hayes'.
Their art-filled house; homemade donuts, brewed rootbeer, and stew; the scores of walking dead...
oh! and the art projects! this year we carved plaster heads on a stick.
more to come...

Halloween on the Homefront...
Before heading over to the MonkeyGrinder's at Velour, a swashbucklin' Liz decked out the front porch and handed out loot to the trick-or-treaters. without her, the kids' would have gotten nada! Every year Halloween means a LOT of work. And this year was no different. I helped my former co-workers with the downtown events...and then when things were finally over and all 1100 trolls, princesses, and masked what-have-yous had made the rounds...and the carnival games and pop-up tents were down...we hit the road, carpooling to Salt Lake...for our annual fix of Halloween at the Hayes'.

Happy Birthday Pops!

instead of a cake we made 8 quarts of lacto-fermenting apple cider and then belted out our version of happy birthday. the farmer doggie joined in by whining and jumping on us. he looked pained.
so my Pops passed away unexpectedly four years ago. i was with him.

RRRRRRandom Dad Things

first off- he was great with languages -he spoke 7. word from our argentine familia was that he could speak better than natives.

I wish he'd gotten to meet the O'lover. He would be ecstatic to see how rrrrrrrare a trrrreasure the lover is and that Ollie and i are the perrrrfect match. Ok i'm rolling all the rrrrr's just to annoy the hell out of Ollie because he can't roll his rrrrrrrs and i'm a jerrrrk.
I think about how my sons are genetically destined to be bald. I liked my dad's head.

The O'lover is massaging my back right now trying to help my melancholia let up already. It's working...but keep massaging...
My Dad always used to say to me, "Raquel, you have the hands of a milkmaid, can you loosen up my shoulders?" as a dorky kid i was ridiculously proud of my strong peasant hands. ok still am.

mom and dad at their engagement party in Argentina.
We were raised on cross-country road trips. Once we took 18 months to drive around central and south america in a baby blue VW bus. Dad excelled at being instant best friends with people of any age or background. He was very approachable.
Me and Pops in Panama.

He was frequently picking up hitchhikers. The last time i was with him we picked up a family that had walked all the way from guatamala to tucson. we took them to the quaker church where they'd receive good care.

Dad could speed-read novels and drive cautiously at the same time and i swear you would never be scared to be in the car with him while he was doing this. he was a pro.

I'd call him and put him on speaker phone so my friends could hear him S I N G. He'd take requests. He knew some mean latin opera.

He'd always sign letters he wrote to me, "God speed beautiful lady." that made me feel good.

he was a hard core fan of his kids.

I love you my Numero Uno Dad in the whole world.

My first entry is about some of the people I love most: my siblings! This pic is of Smitty, me, Marcos, and TamTam sitting on the side steps of our trailer. We LOVED living in the trailer park (Provo Town Center Mall is there now). It's curious how all four of us kids came from the same mother and father and yet turned out very differently (that's another story). One thing that we all hold in common is our immense love for each other.

We had lots of friends. This is the era when the worst curse we new was "dummyhead". Tammy would eat pre-chewed gum from the sidewalks. Marcos would soon be the target of a dozen little girls chasing him for a kiss. I would invent tragic songs and make myself cry. Smitty was my big brother and hero. He would hide on the rear bumper of our dad's truck and holding on tight would go for rides.

We ran loose until the cow bell rang for meals (no kidding- who has the cow bell now? Marcos?). Mom would remind us to "Pretend you're a doctor and wash your hands up to your elbows." Tammy, the youngest has since "pretended to be a doctor" all the way to an MD/PhD program in Chicago. The rest of us have manifested this motherly advice in different ways. Both Smitty and Marcos are well groomed and have immaculate houses (that could actually be due in large part to their wives). =) I have a mostly healthy respect for germs and am in awe of all the little critters that can't be seen with the naked eye. I also maintain a tiny but sensible case of OCD. I keep it reigned in (while tempted to be more obsessive) but do wash my hands every time I've touched a public door knob and am letter of the law when it comes to food handling.

I can't help but notice when other people aren't washing their hands when maybe they should. Like at the deli when the gloved person making your sandwich is also taking your cash...while still wearing the same gloves!

Anyone else like that?