Elizabeth’s Journal

Off to Kansas

No time to write much—am busy getting everything together for Jonathan’s and my two-week trip to the farm. We go Saturday afternoon and will return to Austin on 5 July. We are both looking forward greatly to being there! It’s always a vacation for me too. Jonathan says the first thing he’s going to do is go in the Gator to check the mail, and he also mentioned some of the toys there. Amazing he remembers this stuff, since he hasn’t been there for a year.

On Monday Jonathan, Mom, and I will go visit Grama Sprong for her 96th birthday. I’ve made her a butterfly mobile (although it may not end up as a mobile as the assembly caused me much cursing this evening—I always forget what a pain in the a** the finishing touches can be on these crafty projects—kind of like forgetting childbirth, I guess) since I think she spends a lot of time in bed staring at the ceiling these days. Mom says every time she sees her lately, she’s more confused. I hope that she has a good time with our visit; I know she’s going to love seeing Jonathan, and I am looking forward to hugging her.

I have spent oodles and oodles of time over the last week scanning in stuff that Mom loaned me so that I can return it to her on this trip. It is wonderful what my grandpa kept! I never thought that someone’s resume (curriculum vitae) would be such a find, but it’s extremely useful for dating jobs, academic qualifications, etc. He also kept copies of forms filled out for the military, one of which includes where he spent time at posts by month and year. What a treasure trove! There were some great pics of him as a young man (he was extremely handsome) as well as some of Grama Sprong. There’s even one where she’s striking a silly pose with a college friend, and silly poses are not what one usually thinks of first when her name comes up. Last night I scanned in a picture of her on her 21st birthday—just think, that picture is 75 years old now.

Had a great lunch with Jennifer today. Jonathan couldn’t get close enough to her to cuddle. He kept scooting over, putting his hands all over her arms and down the back of her shirt so he could feel her skin . . . I think he’ll miss his Auntie Jenny while we’re on vacation. He is also going to miss his dad, as he’s been very much into him lately. But I think he’ll have a great time with lots of new things to do, so it should be all right.

I put a new type of birdfeeder out today, and it was most amusing watching the house finches trying to figure it out—they can’t tell where they’re supposed to land to get at the seed. Presumably they’ll have sussed it by the time I return.

I got to babysit a four-month-old baby last Wednesday while his parents attended a movie, and it was a blast! He is such a cute baby (Archie & Jessica are the parents) and he gives me the nicest smile when he sees me . . . and he goes to sleep all cuddled up against my neck, like a kitten or a little baby bird. Jonathan loves having him around too; they hadn’t gone more than five minutes before he wanted to know when Eamon was coming back again, and he’s asked me that every day since too.

Ok, so this was much longer than I expected, but it’s because I type so fast I can spew out all this stuff without it taking much effort on my part. If you’ve read this far, I am humbled.

Posted by elizabeth at June 21, 2003 01:15 AM