Painting in Waiting

Fiorella, who is skilled with the brush, is a dodo when it comes to pressing the right buttons on electronic devices.  She's spent a couple of hours trying to transfer another painting onto this page and has finally thrown in the towel and contacted genius friend T Carando for help. Stay tuned for more developments. One way or another, Fio will succeed.

AND SHE DID--ON HER OWN, NO LESS!


                                              Older Son when he was much younger.

Fiorella Thanks You!

This is amazing!  I'd noticed a while ago that I wasn't getting any comments about my blogs, which was sorta okay because I write for myself (I'm the Pepys of my time), but sorta not okay--had I driven away my faithful readers?  Then I noticed the word "comments" was in the list of options in the "new" (translation--at least a year old) set-up of Blogspot.  Opening it up, I was flooded by a cornucopia of clever comments, precious pearls of wisdom, and--well--a few sleazy ads.

So thank you to Janece and Gary and Pat and Jane and Suzy and Lynn and Janet and Kit F. and Older Son, and Anonymous (who invited me to coffee--who are you?) and everyone else who's commented.   I am not alone in the world after all!

Paean to Older Son

Older Son is a mechanical genius.  We first became aware of this, lo these many years ago, when  he succeeded in unfastening every child carseat we buckled him into.  I remember Son, as a three-year-old, getting down on the ground beside a slowly rotating merry-go-round to see what was making it work.  I remember him being able to unlock every door in the house.  When he was older, he repaired his own car--he told me he just looked at the engine and figured out how everything worked.   Later his understanding expanded to cover electronics.  But right now he's concentrating on the basic stuff.  Yes, while he's here for Christmas, Son has committed himself to fixing the automatic door closer, the bathroom dimmer, and the shower, as well as replacing my broken tail light.

Give him long enough, and he'll fix the world.

Hope Abounds

Pregnant women and birthdays are sacred to Fiorella. Come to think of it, they're both about the same thing--hope, which Fio values mightily. She's been through some pretty tough times, and there will probably be more to come, but it's that tiny glimmer in the distance that keeps her going.

Right now the flame is burning brightly. Older Son has had the knee replacement surgery he's needed for so long, and he has exciting career plans. Younger son has picked up a job he enjoys which has great potential. At the same time, he's launching an art line Fio thinks will take off big. Daughter, newly married, loves her new job. Husband's experimental lupus treatment seems to be working. And yours truly is revising Princess of Bosque Bend for an interested agent.

Nothing is guaranteed, but we all have hope.

Good News All the Way Around

It's been a semana buena en la casa de Fiorella. Su hijo menor has a job, a real live job, and his art is being showcased by un amigo of his. And the knee replacement surgery de su hijo mayor went very well--he's undergoing physical therapy as we speak. Meanwhile Fiorella is talking to a real live New York agent about Princess of Bosque Bend.

The nexus was the birthday del padre de la Fiorella en Lunes, and having Nephew Aaron's cumpleanos en Martes augmented it.

Gracias al buen Dios, muchas gracias. Merci, grazie, danke shoen, spaseeba, shyeh shyeh.

Okay, Fio took a flyer on this one so any corrections to her linguistic prowess are welcomed.

Candles on the Cake

Today is Older Son's birthday. He was born with blue eyes, straight black hair, and red cheeks. The eyes soon turned brown (making his brown-eyed grandmother comment that dark eyes always looked so intelligent) and the hair curled and lightened to brown, even going blond in the sun, but the cheeks stayed rosy.

Son is a strapping six-three now. The hair returned to dark and even has a few white strands in it, but the cheeks are still rosy. And so is his nature.

Happy Birthday, Son. And many more.

Fix-it Superman

Did Fio tell you that Older Son and his wife are visiting? That means that everything in the house that was broken is being fixed. Yes, Son is a mechanical/electronic genius, and he can't stand to see so much as a cabinet door hanging whacker-jawed.

He's also set up a new stereo receiver system for Husband, rewiring all the electronic components.

What else can you expect from someone who unlocked every carseat Fio tried to put him into when he was two years old?

Happy, Happy!

Today is Older Son's birthday so Fiorella is waxing nostalgic. She remembers the little baby with the pink cheeks and the big dark eyes. She remembers the boy who would climb everything and anything, fearlessly. She remembers the hulking teenager who taught swimming to children and, who so sweet and tender that all the mothers beamed at him and Fio forgave him for the extra trip out she'd had to make to bring him the lunch he'd forgotten on the kitchen counter at home.

There have been darker times too, but Fio is confident Older Son will overcome and triumph. He's that kind of person, always has been, and always will be. Go get'em, tiger!

What Fio Doesn't Know

Fio got a real thrill yesterday morning when a nice lady from Enterprise called to tell Husband that a rental car was ready and waiting for him to use while his Mercury Grand Prix was in the shop.

Since Husband does not drive a Mercury Grand Prix, Fio was quite perplexed.

Then the Enterprise lady mentioned Elk River and the light dawned. Elder Son's name is the same as Husband's, but he lives in Elk River, Minnesota, several states away from God's Country. His car is a Mercury Grand Prix.

Whew, for a moment there, Fio was wondering what else she didn't know.