Greetings from L.I.

Rich and I left way too early in the wee hours Friday and headed up from VA to NY. Lets just say we got to Islip airport on Long Island at 8:45 or so to pick up my Dad before heading to my sister and BIL's house. We'll be driving home Wednesday morning. Having a nice visit. Teasing Dad about his "golfing buddy" Peggy. Yes, Dad has a female friend. We think it's great actually. My sister is doing well. Two more chemos and she is done. After that she'll be on a drug called Femara long term. (That is the newer generation of Tamixofen, I believe.) She has a bit of "chemo brain" as she calls it...LOL! But then again, I have moments like that too and I have nothing to blame. Dad is doing well. Has quite a scar on his nose from having a cancer removed. Dad has had several basal cell carcinomas removed over the years. Two words... sun block, folks. BIL is good too. Happy he FINALLY got his boat back. Been gone all season with engine troubles. Yamaha ended up paying for the fix - they were corroding internally. Not good. We went out fishing Saturday. Caught a number of "shorts" - flukes that just didn't measure up. Have to be 18" to keep. Dad also caught a dogfish which look like a baby shark. He went back into the drink as well. No boating/fishing yesterday...heavy winds. We'll see what today brings. Dad, Rich and I went out to the cemetary and saw Mom. Left her some red, white and blue flowers. Nice to sort of know but wasn't pleasant...I definitely dump. We did shrimp/scallops grilled in a ginger teriyaki sauce last night. Too much sugar. My abdomen hurt pretty bad. That's how I dump. My lower abdomen gets sore and almost sore to the touch. Very weird. (I have discussed this way back when with surgeon and he was the one who told me it was dumping for me.) Got told "you look great" lots of times. Also got told that I don't need to lose more weight. Great, thanks! LOL! Been taking a walk every day. Still playing science project with my body. Been trying to see if ingredients in my vitamins are causing my chest pains. Replaced my Centrums with something without aspartame. Yesterday at the cemetary, I got an allergic reaction to something in the air and my eyes were burning, nose running, lungs heavy and sure enough chest pains. So in this case, it was something in the air triggering it. I'll keep searching... Hope everyone is doing well. Kathy

Sounds like a true joy to have a re-union with your close family. Glad all is going so well. Happy also to hear news about your sis. Send her our regards, a lot of us have been keeping her in our prayers. Hope the weather permits some boating/fishing today. The fam's compliments are sweet. ( something ya don't have to dump on ) Visiting the cemetary is never really pleasant but does bring us back to our inner compass. ( heart ) I need to make a trip there to see my parents too. As the years pass it becomes a place of reflection on the beauty and gifts they were to us...gifts that keep on giving. Have a happy 4th and travel safely. Mary

No boating yesterday...3-5 feet swells. Nope. We did a touch of outlet shopping. Gotta go back this morning to return two sports tops that are too tight. Luckily they are open today. Our visit to the cemetary wasn't as you might think. LOL! My mother wasn't a religious woman but grew up Protestant. She is buried at the military cemetary out here on LI. Dad was in the service so there is a double spot... one for him there too. Anyway, the cemetary provides a minister at the callumberium (spelling sucked on that one) which is basically where you say good. You don't see the actual interment into the ground. We all get there and they put my mother's casket on the stand under the arbor. There are enough chairs for family. They have everyone take a rose for putting on the casket on the way out. The minister is there and has a woman with him. She has a good size bible on her arm. It is well highlighted in pink, blue and green. She has a charm bracelet on. The minister starts to talk. Well, it was all we could do not to laugh. Apparently my Dad told them Lutheran but I suspect we got a Penecostal minister. He started talking about how "Sista Lang was walking the walking and talking the talk..." My sister and I thought he was talking about us? Nope, Mom. The gal with him was holding her one arm up and shaking the bracelet and chanting very low "Praise Jesus". It was the absolute best send off my mother could have gotten. I can only imagine how she would have loved...absolutely loved to tell that story to her friends and anyone else who would have listened. It was awesome. So...needless-to-say...a trip to the cemetary holds some fond memories in a way. The big cemetary thing was whether grass has rooted or not. The cemetary fills a section sequentially at a time. The soil is very sandy. The first Christmas after Mom passed away. It had snowed. The sandy mud was inches deep. You heard the sound of suction as you lifted your feet to try to walk over to the grave. Ucky. It is much better now. Think they are basically done with the section. The cemetary is just lovely. They have kept lots of trees. It is basically the same design as the one at Quantico where Rich's brother is buried. Military got a good design and sticks with it, I guess. That was nice since it is well greened. We even saw wild turkeys there. My Dad said he saw some here as well. Mom would have liked the wildlife too. Thanks for all the sweet thoughts, as always! Hugs, Kathy

Sounds like you had a lovely time, Kathy - except for the dumping! Your sister and your family are still in my prayers. I hope you find the source of your chest pains; although, I can't inagine why they wold be caused by taking vitamins. Hugs, Tracy P.S. You do look great! I love the new pic!