Baby SHower for Mistie and Tim!

 Mistie CHandler at the Baby shower along with "Auntie" Sherry Brett.

 Judy Kringler, Donna. Sherry Mistie

 Aunt Phyllis and Tim hanging the decorations

 Sherry, Penny Zettlemoyer, DOnna Rusty

 Sherry. donna, Rusty. Penny mistie

 Sherry penny, donna, rusty mistie

 Penny

 Mistie

 Bob. Judy, TIm

 Penny, Rusty, Mistie

 Tim

 Mistie, Rusty and Penny

 Aunt Phyylis, Aunt Sherry tim

 Donna Judy Kringler, Barb Luther

 Barb and Penny

 Penny

Penny and rusty

Everyone had a great time, and my two oldest friends came!  Barbara and Penny.  We have know each other since 4th grade, (Penny)  and high school (barb).Lots of gifts, lots of food, lots of cake and punch and lots of laughs and talking.  It was lots of fun and I need to give parties like this more!

A BAD YEAR FOR TOMATOES!! Is the latest offering at The Whidbey Playhouse. It is a funny story about Myra who is a soap star, and wants to be alone to write her memoirs. Unfortunately the ladies of Beaver Haven have other ideas, which prompts Myra to invent a crazy sister that will kill you on sight. When Piney the Backwoodsman meets Sophie, Instant LOVE! finally Myra has to get rid of Sophie in order to get rid of Piney, who is really really Smitten. When Sophie disappears, the ladies of Beaver Haven assume she Murdered her sister and get the Sheriff involved. This is hysterically funny, and you will laugh your socks off. Warning here....this is not a great story, but it is funny, funny funny and you will walk out happy! This is the final weekend of the show, so get your tickets soon! Thursday friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 and Sunday matinee at 2:30! Do NOT miss this one...Dick, you can come up the handicap ramp if Pat can not do stairs! Easy walk,

Piney is played by Kevin Wm. Meyer, Myra is played by Tamra Sipes, Cora Gump played by Allenda Jenkins, Reba Harper is played Shealyn Christie, Sheriff is played by Jeff Lindgren, Tom is played by Sean Hall, ANd the "witch" Willa Mae, is played by Mary K. Hallen

This Hoot is Directed by Linda Walbeck

It is Produced by Allenda Jenkins.

I am just amazed at how far imaging has come in the past forty years.  Tim was born 40 years ago today, and there was no way you could see the fetus in utero, except by x-ray, and then all you saw was the skeleton.

This is yesterday's ultrasound of Patrick, my grandson.  you can actually see his cute little face!  his face is right in the middle of the picture with him laying on his left side. You can see he has a cleft chin like his Daddy.  and his nose and his eyes, and forhead.  I could not tell you what the rest of this is, something inside Mistie.  But to actually SEE your baby and know what it is MONTHS before it was born is wonderous!  I am not sure I would want to know though.  I enjoyed the guessing game, and wondering  if it was twins or what.  They told Mistie that Patrick was over 5 lbs now, and he will be born on October 24, unless he decides to come early.  I waited and waited and waited for both of my children.  Donna was 6 weeks late and Tim was 7 weeks late.  I choose not to have any more for fear I would be pregnant a YEAR with it.

Mistie does not know anyone up here as she met Tim on line, and moved up here to be with him.  She left her friends in Oregon, so I am giving the Baby Shower.  Things have changed there too.  Mom's or family were NEVER sposed to give the shower, only the best friend.  and Men were forbidden to come.  Now husbands, boyfriends and male friends come and think nothing of it.  How things have changed.

I have no clue which games to play, what gifts to give, what kind of cake to serve, what kind of fingerfood you do.  we had mints and peanuts and cake and coffee and tea.  Now I guess it is almost like a luncheon, or so I have been told.  Where have I been hiding for forty years?

I can't wait to hold the little stinker!  I may have to move to Bellingham so I can go see him every day!  I know right now I will be putting a lot of miles on my car starting next month!  eeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Im so excited,  He will be my first very own grandchild.  He comes into this world already an Uncle!  Victoria Misties Daughter had our first GREAT grandson a year ago.  this is sure a backwards generation.

OOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!! LOOKIE at what I just found!!!!  I Love this!  I had often wondered how we could change our blogs, and now I KNOW!!!!  I feel so stupid! It has been right here all the time!  So now it is fall and I will leave it this way until Winter!

I drove up to Bellingham last Saturday to see Owen while he was here visiting Tim and Mistie. He will be 1 on October 2! I cant believe he is this big already! A happy, active energetic baby, ANd he stood up and WALKED for the very first time while I was there! Just stood right up from a sit, and walked across the room! Like he had been doing it forever! What a sweetie. He goes back to Portland with his Mommie this week. Wish he lived closer. AH well My Patrick will be here in 6 weeks (or less), and I can see him any time I need to! There will be lots of driving in my future! It is a 125 mile round trip, not far if you are a crow, but you have to drive forever to get around all the islands and water! Now if I could have just gotten him to say "Mimi" while I was there......

the kids

Mistie has had a rough time carrying this baby, She has been in to the ER several times with contractions, and everything seems to be fine with Patrick. It was so good to see these pictures of her looking so GOOD!



Tim and "the Boys"







Mistie and her girl...

Hang on Baby!

I just found out by reading facebook, that my daughter-in-law and Son rushed to the Labor/Delivery room because she was having problems. Patrick is not due for 10 more weeks! I woke up this morning and felt like there was something wrong. I checked every door, walked the dog outside to see if there was anyone in the yard, came in and fixed a cup of tea and checked my email and computer, and thought I was just being paranoid, so I went back to bed.

Woke up at 730 same thing. Knew there was something wrong, even said, Please Patrick, be ok for Grandma. and shrugged it off. All day I have felt OFF...no reason, but thought of the baby several times.

I finally got a short nap in, woke up feeling much better, came in here and read my face book, to find out that The baby's heart rate had dropped really low, and he was in distress. THey were in there all day, I am 1.5 hours away, and I did not get a call.

My first Grandchild, my only Son, and I did not get a call. I can kind of understand not calling during the crisis, but they are all home now, and she had time to get on the computer and post on facebook. Tim could have called me. I think I am going to cry! Hurts! a LOT!

Last Weekend was our Annual HISTORIC Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival and we were jammed from wall to wall.

Coupeville holds this festival on Front Street which is 2 small blocks long. It grew in the past 48 years from ten little tables into 220 tents! we have surpassed the capacity of Front street and have now taken over Alexander St also. We block off these roads for three days and become basically a huge store.

The proceeds from this festival ( we get 15% of the Artisans take) go right back into the community in the form of grants and scholarships.


This year just before the festival, the down town businesses, which are mostly art galleries and antiques stores were burgled. Over 25,000 was taken from one store alone, the work of one or two artists who were planning on using these pieces in their booths at the festival. THe word got out to the Seattle News stations that the Festival was robbed, and the artists were all damaged.

Needless to say my office phone started ringing, until I was able to staunch the rumor and explain that it was only a few artists that lost quite a bit. I had several artists from as far away as Olympia, calling and offering to bring their goods up to help us.




All of these artisans were set up in just a few hours by 200 very AWESOME volunteers, who directed traffic to the parking lots, Parked them, directed them to their spots at the proper times, helped them unload, and then get them back out of the way so the next vendor could get in and set up. A Major operation to say the least!

Saturday and Sunday these awesome volunteers were on hand to park and direct the THOUSANDS of cars that came to the Festival. THOUSANDS! the parking lots were full, the school lots were full, and there was a line for a mile down both sides of the highway. We estimate that at least 10,000 were here on Saturday and another good 8,000 on Sunday.

Now we relax for about 2 weeks and then start all over again, planning, executing and dividing up the profits among the many applications that we get every September. This is not an easy job, and our volunteers come back year after year, to do it all over again for absolutley no pay!

What a crew!

The Debt!

Right now I am so disgusted with our government. ALL Of them. I have been saying for over a year, that we need to pick a panel of disinterested (meaning non-partisan, non pac-paid non re-elect me)people to sit down with the budget and a deadline and come up with a balanced budget. Yes i know it will end up hurting the taxpayers some. But to be fair, it should hurt ALL of the tax payers to the same %! if what is agreed upon hits my gross at 10% then it should hit EVERYONE's Gross at 10%. If they are doing business outside of the US, then there should be a 25% penalty. What I mean by that is, if you are having your goods made by off shore bodies. Bring those jobs back to the US. Yes, the price of buying goods made in the USA will go up, but if we want it, we will pay for it. And If we have a job, then we can.

Diane Sawyer on WOrld News Tonight, showed a group of people from various walks of life sit down and agree to a plan that would allow the economy to grow, jobs to be created, items to be taxed, and everyone to have a share in the pain. I make 42,000 dollars a year, I am comfortable, but I do live on the edge. If I were to lose even a portion of that, ie: Social Security, I would have to give up a lot. No more volunteering, costs me gas money, no more trips in to the store for something I forgot.

Owen!

I finally got to see Owen. His Mom took him away when he was 3 months old and we really did not know where he was until just recently. His Mom brought her new Boy-friend up to meet her Mom and Tima nd spent the weekend ther. I skipped out of STRIKE and drove up and spent 2 hours just playing with the baby! He will be 10 months old in about a week, has two bottom teetch, and is ALMOST ready to let go and walk. He can crawl faster than I can move, and is really good at giving the raspberries! Such a little DOLL!



Mistie is really starting to show now, with only 15 weeks or so left until Patrick is born! I cant wait for him to get here! My very first Grandchild. He is gonna be one spolied baby! At least if I have any thing to say he wil be.

OK, Off the computer and into the kitchen to make a batch of raspberry jelly!

Talking With...

Miss Gracie is making her stage debut this weekend in the Play Talking With...by Jane Martin. Eleven different women doing eleven diffferent monolouges. The "Audition" which is what Gracie appears in, is about a young woman who brings her cat to the Audition she is doing. Gracie is perfect there, and is quite the Diva while the spot light is on her. The lights make her eyes look like Demon Eyes though. THe whole cast loves her.



I take her in to the theater in her kennel, and she mellows out with treats and catnip, until the Stage Manager calls "5 minutes" then she comes out of her kennel, does her part, then we go home.



This play runs for three days July 21,22,23, 2011 on stage at the Whidbey Playhouse, tickets are only 12.00. Be sure you get yours today, so you dont miss it!

Gracie comes home and is met at the door by the rest of the gang, who sniff her over and make sure she is ok. I am sure she tells them stories about how mis-treated she was as she waltz'z away with her feasthery tail swishing up over her back.

Sigh. Who knew that I would be a Stage Mother to a DIVA!

A foggy DAY in Whidbey Town....

As I was coming over the hill from Oak Harbor, I noticed a huge fog bank rolling over the tops of the trees from West Beach. Sunshine and wind in Oak Harbor, so I followed the highway up over the hill and down to the Prairie, where I turned up to the Cemetery and took these pictures. To the Right was the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Penninsula, and to the Left is beautiful Mt. Baker in all of her shing glory! You can tell just by looking how quickly our weather changes here. The water in the Strait is right off the North Pacific, and when the cool breezes from the ocean mix with the warm air from the Mainland, FOG!!!! I Love it.





I came home, watered the roses out front, and then went to bed. Nothing good on TV, so I just lay there with my head sticking out the window, listening to the fog horns as the fog overtakes the Ferries and the Cruise Ships coming up the Sound from Seattle. BOOP, BOOP, BOOP! and then the echos as it bounces back from the land. I love it.



I woke up at 5:00 this morning and the fog was in the back yard, So I let Sadie out and just listened to the trees as the heavy fog hit their leaves. They wer gulping in the moisture like it was raining. I stayed awake for about 3 hours until It started to clear up and sun peeked over the Alders. Ah, the Joys of living in the Pacific Northwest.

Annie!

We Put ANNIE! to bed yesterday. It was a LOOONG show, and tons of people, but it practically sold out the run, and it was a very successful ending to a great Season of shows. I just Produced this one, but I am tired. Now I am working on "Talking With..." Which is a son season, edgy play about 11 women doing 11 different monologues. Then A bit of a break until August when we start MEET ME IN ST.LOUIS! our holiday musical. Whew!

It's BLUE!

Mistie and My Son had their Ultrasound done yesterday so here is my GRANDSON: This new technology just amazes me, how they can see what the sex is, and just what he is going to look like, (In a few months) AWESOME!

They are going to name him Patrick Oscar Chandler. (?) THe only Oscar I have on my side is my Great Uncle Oscar, Maybe Mistie has an Oscar on her side? Or maybe they just like the name! So I can call him Patty-O my own little patio! They will KILL me for that!

I'm in PRINT!

I was just asked by the powers that be if I would be willing to allow my photo to be framed and hung in the new ferry SALISH which starts it's run in Late June! I know it is no big deal to most of the world, but everyone who takes the Ferry from the island to the Olympic Penninsula will see it when they walk the lobby! WOW!
(And I dont even think it is that good a picture!) The CofC thought it was a good indicator of the flavor of the town of Coupeville. I have much better ones, but they liked that one because it showed the two tall ships that came to visit last year.

No, no money, but I get bragging rights!

Annie!

THis group of young Ladies are putting on one very special musical for The Whidbey Playhouse. We open June 3rd, and it is well worth the trip from Mt. Vernon or The South End or even Seattle to see it.



This is the full cast, and as you can tell, the costume ladies over worked to get this all done! FANTASTIC job Julia and crew!




I got home from a looong day of setting lights ready to just crash into bed and rest and walked in on a regular orgy of sorts! Miss Gracie, the black kitten found the bag of cat nip in the bookcase, and the boys talked her into getting it down for them.


Needless to say, all I could do was snap pictures. I decided that I needed to post these for edt in NZ because he loves to hear about my crew!

Spring? HA!

Yes, I am better now...sort of. I still have a bit of vertigo, but it appears to be going away. I also am now officially OLD. I have a medicare card and two brand spanking new hearing aids! AMAZING what you can hear again. I have heard the birds in the morning but I had forgotten about the higher tones that some of the early morning birds produce. I have acute hearing loss in the higher ranges in both ears. When I put the hearing aids in it was like fine tuning a radio station that is just a TAD BIT off the station. The ess'es are clearer, the TEE's are more like tees than dees. and I am not yelling into the phone anymore. Did not know I did. Wonderful inventions these little bitty things. Spendy though. Shudder! I heard the Spring Robin singing his little heart out this morning from the top of the cedar tree in the neighbors yard. He was telling Mother Nature that HEY! It is mid-spring! Where the HELL are you! it froze last night, sleeted this afternoon, and My electric heaters are on still. I usually turn them off the first of April and then back on again the first of November. Not this year. I am afraid that we are in the grips of a cold wet spring and summer, and our gardens are all going to be moldy and full of SLUGS!



The photo above is the granddaughters of my blog buddy Robert Brady from PURELAND MOUNTAIN in Japan. He has been blogging extensively about the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit the Northern part of the country where his daughter and her family live. The family is fine, but they had quite abit of damage to their apartment, and it's contents. They live about 30 miles from the Fugusima nuclear reactor, so they all had to leave until they decide what they could do. The powers that be still are not quite certain what they need to do, but the girls all left Bob's place near Kyoto last weekend, to return home and start back to school. If you get a chance, go to his blog and read all about it, it will break your heart, but it will also tell you what a determined people they are, they are rebuilding their lives, and buildings, and starting to get back to normal again. The Heart of the devastation is still a ghost town, and probably will not be re-built, but it is not by lack of fortitude, but by risk of radioactive exposure. This is horrible! What are we to do with a source of energy that burns clean, is effective, and readily available but can cause horrible destruction if not monitored properly. Hard to say.

We are so lucky here in Washington state, as we have an abundant source of hydro electric power, which works great, as long as the reservoirs stay full, but if we go into a drought it is lights out! We also have a lot of wind, and that means a great amount of energy from windmills, which pollute the scenery with their towers. They are also a source of destruction to the migrating birds at night. I do not know what the answer is, but we have to come up with something that is renewable, clean, will not pollute, is cheap and does not create an eyesore. Any ideas?

Something makes the head go around….

I have what I think is Vertigo,  I wake up and try to sit up and my head starts spinning.  I also have bubbles popping like soap suds in my right ear.  I have been to the Dr. and he sees nothing, so now I have an appointment with an audiologist next Friday to see what is going on.  I was told I have rocks in my head.  I know, I know…and yes, you DO have tiny little rocks in your inner ear, that when they get moved around, need to be repositioned.  It is called an Epley maneuver.  But I don’t want to do it myself in case I get really off kilter and can not get up.  There does not appear to be an inner ear infection, HOWEVER when I take an anti histamine, the problem eases up.  So maybe there is an allergy connection, after all it is SPRING!  or so the calendar says…..

THE INTERMISSION!

Well the Show has ended! We struck the set last night and will unload the truck this evening. It is so SAD to see something that you have lived with for 3 months get torn down to the bare walls. Our set was SO PRETTY! now it is just bare black walls! SIGH!

The cast was amazing, and there was a reason that they got cast as they did, THEY JUST FIT! they still do, and they are so sad to see it end. It is for the good though, because now they can get back to their lives and move on to bigger and better things. I have a Drama that I want to Direct, but that may not happen for awhile, and unless there is something I am really passionate about, I will not direct again. I am TIRED! I am putting over 40 hours a week into volunteering, and not getting paid a cent. But that is what volunteering is all about. Giving back to the communitee. Thanking them with your talents for the things they gave to you. I get a lot of satisfaction out of it, but I am tired, so I am pulling back just a bit.

Our next big production is ANNIE, which I am producing, and MURDER IN THE MAGNOLIAS which I am doing nothing but the photography for. AHHHH!

I am producing (kinda) our Season Preview in March, but all of that is things I can do from home. With Gas expected to hit 5.00 a gallon by summer, I NEED to stay home! I cant afford that! JEEZ!!

My Kitten Gracie, is growing like a weed, but still a little sweetheart, and WIlls my 10 month old kitten thinks I brounght her in just for him. HE ADORES her! They play so cute together. Sadie just sighed and said oh crap another baby to raise. She is really good with them all. After all she was raised by cats, she does not know she is a dog!