home~

i absolutely loved portland. there was art everywhere. folks even dressed artfully.

even my food was beautiful. what a great place.

hello folks, i'm back from my big adventure. it was everything i hoped for and so much more. the best time i have had with my girl since...well since she still let me pick out her clothes for her. it's been a while.

and look what happened to my blog while i was gone! it got a wonderful spa treatment and face lift from the amazingly talented and very sweet karen valentine of valentine designs. i can't say enough about how swell karen is. a couple of emails, a phone conversation, and pow! she totally "got me."

if you are thinking about starting a blog or getting a new look, please go visit her & view her intro video. i know you'll love her too.

i have lots of stories about my trip, lots of photos i haven't yet downloaded (i haven't even unpacked yet) and great spots i found i want to share...

sadly, the day before i returned, my mom had a fall and broke her hip. luckily gerry & my youngest son were here to take care of her until i got back. it was a long plane ride. for her 83rd birthday she had surgery, got three nice new pins in her hip and a room full of nurses to bring her cake and sing her happy birthday (which is a good deal because when our family sings the neighborhood dogs howl for hours.)

i find myself now in the role of primary caregiver to my dear mom, who is healing well but is fighting the battle of tremendous memory loss and dementia. my days are full of repeating myself over and over and her days are full of wondering why her hip hurts... throw in the small white dog and my world is an episode from the 3 Stooges.

i'm not sure what will happen in the upcoming days. there probably won't be a lot of artsy posts for a bit. but i wanted to say hello, and take a minute to bask in my new bloggy look!