Once in awhile-now and again-this is us

no, we are not wearing these out. just a little levity

hi everyone,

we ARE all in this together. it’s uncharted territory. who knows what’s right or wrong anymore? all i know is we have to stay positive and know there will be an end to it. eventually. as they say “this too shall pass”.

if you do have to go out, i hope all of you are staying safe. we have been lucky. we started before the panic buying started and have not been in any crowds or long lines. we are as good as we can be right now.

ray sent me this email this morning and i wanted to share it with all of you. it inspired me and i hope it does the same for you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lockdown

by Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM

Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation. Yes there is panic buying. Yes there is sickness. Yes there is even death.

But, They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise You can hear the birds again. They say that after just a few weeks of quiet The sky is no longer thick with fumes But blue and grey and clear. They say that in the streets of Assisi People are singing to each other across the empty squares, keeping their windows open so that those who are alone may hear the sounds of family around them. They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound. Today a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers with her number through the neighborhood So that the elders may have someone to call on

.Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

To how big we really are. To how little control we really have. To what really matters.

To Love. So we pray and we remember that Yes there is fear. But there does not have to be hate. Yes there is isolation. But there does not have to be loneliness. Yes there is panic buying. But there does not have to be meanness. Yes there is sickness. But there does not have to be disease of the soul Yes there is even death. But there can always be a rebirth of love. Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now. Today, breathe. Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic The birds are singing again The sky is clearing, Spring is here, And we are always encompassed by Love

Open the windows of your soul.

love to all of you,

and stay tuned for the cherry tree.

jilly

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Fill your hearts with love, joy and happiness for all your friends and family today.  That’s what I wish for all of you.

I walked around the house and took some pictures of some the hearts I’ve found and have been given to share with you.

Jerry made this in high school

Love you all lots and lots,

take care of your hearts.

❤️ Jilly ❤️

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frank and linda recently took us to the tippi hedren’s big cat reserve – shambala- in acton. it’s about 1 1/2 hour drive from here. the sanctuary was built in 1983 on a former movie set zoned for wild animals. tippi was shooting a movie there and decided it would be a good place for displaced animals. with a lot of work and money she got it done. it houses only big cats now. lions, tigers, cougars, bobcats, leopards, and so on. they have 27 cats living there now, coming from all kinds of situations. many are pets that people no longer wanted or could care for, abandoned cubs, hurt or sick cats with no place to go. micheal jacksons tigers ended up there. we had heard of it before but never made it out there. so we were excited to be invited.

the day was beautiful, not hot and not cold. somewhere in between with a little bit of a breeze. very comfortable.

they only give tours once a month. it’s pricey at $50 but well worth it. thank you frank and linda for such a special treat.

as you walk in you immediately see the cats. linda took some great pictures. volunteers keep an eye on you at all times so you don’t get too close. the cats are all still wild and no one goes in the cages. they are not trained or bred.

cats of all sizes are some of the most beautiful animals – other than horses of course.

there was an homage to tippi’s movie “the birds”. she lives in a small house on site and is 90 years old.

her house is just a small nondescript building, but look at her front yard.

afterwards we went out to eat at a very nice italian restaurant. had a great meal along with great talk about the reserve and the great things it is doing.

thanks again frank and linda for including us in your adventure. we had a swell time.

oh, i forgot a picture. we’re back to our old tricks sticking our fingers in any nose we see.

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Mission San Luis Rey de Francia was considered the “King” of California missions because of its large size. The first known pepper tree planted in California is found here. Mission San Luis Rey de Francis is a retreat center today.

after over 50 years of abandonment it has been fully restored.

the gardens, the roses had just been pruned and not blooming

the cemetery

the church

colorful painting done on the walls. it didn’t say if this copied the original colors.          this little book caught my eye. do you see the date.

a little history of the mission

as you know i love to visit the missions. we have only a few left we haven’t seen.  i remember my 4th grade teacher, mrs. simpson, taught us all about the missions. then gave us homework to build one. i loved it. of course my mother helped me. now i hear things are changing. i don’t necessary agree with the new views because i loved learning about the mission and as a fourth grader didn’t care about all the political stuff. they were a part of our history and using sugar cubes and popsicle sticks to me was a way for it to stick in my mind and create an interest.

SAN GABRIEL (CBSLA.com) – It’s lesson-over for a long-running education project in Southern California.The fourth grade requirement to build models of California missions is on its way to the history books.The California curriculum framework adopted last year states: “Building missions from sugar cubes or Popsicle sticks does not help students understand the period.”

so sad we have to be so politically correct nowadays.

stay tuned

we’re going to visit a cat lounge in downtown long beach soon

jilly

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thanks again kara for sharing your ‘lawrence welk resort’ timeshare in escondido with us.  in 2013, she also shared her timeshare in kauai  for our 51rst anniversary. we stayed a week that time.

Escondido (/ˌɛskənˈdiːdoʊ/ ES-kən-DEE-doh) is a city in San Diego County’s North County region, 30 miles (48 km) northeast of downtown San Diego, 11.5 miles from the ocean, and 35 miles from the Mexican border. … Incorporated in 1888, it is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County.

this is a big resort, with it’s own theater, shops, a very nice restaurant, golf courses, and swimming pools,

we had a very nice unit. it was as big as a small apt. with two fireplaces, a kitchen and a spa tub.

kara also treated us to a nice dinner and breakfast an the restaurant. the food and service were great. sundays breakfast came with a mimosa.

after breakfast we walked around and went in the shops. it was a beautiful morning. very relaxing.

we came upon this statue of lawrence welk.

what do you suppose we did?

you’re right we did.

we went back to our room, gathered up our stuff and i took one last picture of the view.

its amazing how just a couple of days getting away from home and all the everyday things, phone calls, opening mail, doing dishes, and so on, can bring such joy.

thank you kara for your thoughtfulness. we enjoyed sharing your timeshare.

on the way home we visited one of the last two missions we haven’t seen. mission san louis rey.

stay tuned, jilly

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this is kara, who signed up on her 80th birthday to the volunteer police department in long beach. she’s 83 now and still going strong. she enjoys it a lot and has an array of duties she performs. some of them listed here.  “way to go kara”.

the neighbors celebrated in her back yard the day she got her credentials. this was a big undertaking on her part. you are thorougthly checked out before you are excepted in.

sorry, this is very poor quality picture of a picture in the age well magazine. kara is at the top with the arrow. i wanted to show you there is a police force most people don’t even know about. they are keeping us safe in ways the police don’t always have the time or manpower to do.

in 2018 kara was presented a plaque for all the hours she put in that year.

your cities may have an edition of this magazine. it’s full of articles us seniors are interested in. check it out.

i don’t say it often enough, but thank you kara for taking on such an important area of  community volunteerism.  you are making a difference. more people should do the same. not me though. but hey ray didn’t you just turn 80?

i also want to thank you kara, for a relaxing two days at your timeshare in escondido last weekend. we had a great time and i’ll do a post on that next.

stay tuned,

love, jilly

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some of the things i’m grateful for – there are too many to list

i’m grateful and thankful for jerry for his support and love he’s provided for 57 years.

i’m grateful and thankful for our children and grand-children that have been a blessing, growing up with morals and convictions of good behavior.

i’m grateful and thankful for our extended family that keeps us in their thoughts and prayers.

i’m grateful and thankful for our friends that have given us many pleasant times and help with trying times.

i’m grateful and thankful for our pets that have given us so much unconditional love.

i’m grateful and thankful for the earth that takes care of us in ways we don’t always understand, and the beauty and joy it provides for our senses.

i’m grateful and thankful for times when we have good health and understand we have to experience pain to experience pleasure.

i’m grateful and thankful for all of you who bring me joy by leaving comments.

what are you grateful and thankful for?

“thank you – thank you – thank you”

“HAPPY NEW YEAR”

stay tuned for 2020 and some traveling

love, jilly

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iv’e read that home raised chickens are quite popular in california now. we actually have a neighbor, rosemary, a couple of doors down, that raises chickens. she’s brought us their beautiful, delicious pastel colored eggs before.

this time we joyfully gathered our own eggs. she would be gone a few days, so jerry got to take care of her chickens. she has provided a very nice home for them. they are happy and safe. they have a coop where they sleep and lay eggs.

they have room to run around in a pen and then can be let out to roam the yard. of course jerry did not let them out.

she has made it very easy to get to the fresh laid eggs. we used to hear one of her more vocal hens cackle as she would lay an egg. it was always a fun sound to hear. we’d say she’s laid another egg. i’ve forgotten her name now.

let’s see what’s in here.

our bounty for a few days of caring for her chickens. thanks rosemary,  we’ll watch your chickens anytime. and thank you again for yet another fun filled holiday dinner. i forgot my camera so i have no pictures. thanks for the long island iced tea dick. did you know the acronym for that is LIIT. get it? haha.

jerry is dr. doolittle of the neighborhood. he makes friends with every dog that walks by. they all know him and stop to look and see if he’s on the porch. they love it when he is in the yard. he has a lot of fun with it.  he’s taken care of several dogs and cats for years. another dog has been added to his dog sitting duties. our neighbor, elisabeth, adopted a dog recently. he was a little unruly at first but she has trained him so well he’s just a big ol’ couch potato now. he likes jerry to stay and keep him company when he feeds him.

this is elisabeth with ooffa, a breed of mastif.

and of course he’s been taking good care of midas for 11 years now.

that’s all for now. stay tuned for ????????

love, jilly

p.s.–we spent some time with martha yesterday and she’s doing much better.

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we had another nice christmas day dinner with kara.  she took us to the vue restaurant at the top of the holiday inn.

the vue is a very good name for this restaurant. i love this view of the long beach pyramid. a church steeple always makes a nice photo too. we had a very a quiet dinner with great conservation. we went back to  kara’s house and continued having a good time.

we also had a good time at our cousins lunch. we went to fuddruckers. the make your our hamburger place. you don’t cook it you just put it together after its cooked. it was also a continuation of rays 80th birthday. that was celebrated at the seal beach country club. woohoo.

jerry    ray   martha   kris    sharon   celia       be well martha

and then there is ray and jerry looking like brothers or partners in crime

it seems like i was just writing here comes 2019, and now here comes 2020.  at least i like saying “twenty twenty” better. hope we all have a happy new year. let’s all make at least one resolution and keep it. mine will be to not give ray any more mason jars!!! hahaha

i love sending christmas cards and getting christmas cards. it’s the one time of year we get personal hand written mail. and it’s still a very traditional part of christmas.

thank you all for the cards sent to us this year. i always like to display them. in times past, i used to fill up a door with all the beautiful cards.

don’t know what’s next, but stay tuned

love, jilly

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we had a nice time at tony’s house christmas eve. the freeway was empty going to his house in laguna hills at 3:00.

they were all busy in the kitchen when we got there.

tony made the apple pie in the window. that’s mashed potatoes he’s making in the bowl. everyone helped. even pete was helping by eating anything dropped.

the tree was beautiful. amy said she did most of the trimming.

there was a cozy fire. christmas music playing.

dinner was served. it was delicious thanks to all of you.

we gave emily and amy cash. yes cash. i didn’t get out to shop this year. i taped the card together to make it harder to open.

relaxing by the fire. (the blur is pete trying to get away).

and

toasting toes by the fire.

thank you for everything. it was a very nice christmas. love you guys.

too bad the rest of the family couldn’t  have been there. they were all at hannah’s in  washington.  merry christmas guys. love you and miss you.

tracy                         daryl                       jessica                javi                                   hannah

and merry christmas to all of you out there. hope you all hide a nice christmas dinner too.

stay tuned for one more christmas dinner.

love,jilly

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