Victoria and Kate

I spent much of the afternoon with these two.
Victoria and I have been neighbors for over 26 years. Along with our husbands we were the first to move into our new condo townhouses. And we’re still here. the other 7 have turned over several times. Victoria is a remarkable person , a gifted teacher, traveler and very active walker for much of her almost 93 years. She grew up in Oregon but went to school in the East. She had lunch in the white house with President Roosevelt and Eleanor!! Now her eyesight and her memory aren’t what they once were and her husband (closer to my age) doesn’t like her to be alone for long stretches. He had work today so she and I had tea and cookies and talked about all sorts of things: Memory being one. She can remember our number to call. She also recited Keat’s Ode to a Nightengale almost perfectly (I had to look it up and read along!) - some of the poetry that her mother had her learn as a child. But she can’t remember what happened yesterday. She cannot imagine living without a dog so this is her 3rd golden retriever since I’ve known her, named after Kathryn Hepburn right after she died --I think Kate is 10 or 11. We also took Kate for a walk this afternoon --we are all afraid Kate will pull Victoria over some day - but so far so good. :-)
Victoria is an inspiration for me. Sorry this is not so sharp, taken with my iPad. She was totally blown away that I could do this at all. " so fast"! (we had been looking at elephants photos on it.) a 2010 blip of them

Tonight we are going to Niklas’ holiday concert at his school - his teacher is a drama guy so it will be a fun production.

And tomorrow our whole family is driving to a resort in the mountains about 2+ hours away from Seattle for 2 days to celebrate H and my 50th anniversary, which is Saturday, the solstice, the shortest day (and longest night......) of the year. (8 hrs and 25 minutes between sunrise and sunset). But alas, it’s supposed to snow here tonight!!!!! and turn to rain by afternoon, but I suspect it will be snowing in the mountains.. We’ll see if we wake up to 2-4 inches of snow and if we can get across the pass. If so, I’ll try to blip snow in the mountains!!! (and more about the anniversary.....)

And I think I get to add this to people and their dogs challenge , if I can figure it out :-)