Happy New Year!

Let's hope this year does, or maybe doesn't, live up to your expectations.

Eddie says "Whatever."

Esther Williams!

Susan speaks:  Isn't Esther the best Christmas present ever?!?!  Don made her for me because I taught him how to swim.  She's about 12 inches high and her arms move because he's fastened them on with buttons.

She's wearing my Lands' End Tugless Tank suit (plain black, plain lining) and my Speedo Hydrospex Classic swim goggles and my TYR swim cap (lots of brand names there and no, I don't get any money by mentioning them).  Only difference is that I go barefoot to the pool but he's on a kick of making different kinds of feet so Esther got flipflops.

Here at our retirement community ("Geezer Village") we have an indoor pool, 3 floors down, 2 hallways over.  We have learned that if we get to the pool by 5:00 a.m. or so we are the only ones there.  We turn off the overhead lights and swim in our private pool, dimly lit as though it's a moonlit pond. Getting up that early 3 times a week isn't great but having the pool all to ourselves is a treat.  

Don really knew how to swim, sort of, if you call thrashing around in the pool like a wounded whale "swimming". I would watch him do a lap and then tell him what he might try differently to be smoother and he'd do it and now he's really good. I'm not the best swimmer myself but I had lessons as a kid and got a few lessons when I started swimming again about 10 years ago.  That was at the local Y, and having to share lanes and circle-swim wasn't my favorite way of swimming but I did it.  Now the two of us have a whole pool to ourselves.  Bliss.

Hope you all are having a Happy Holiday season, whatever your chosen holiday is.

More Members of the Juice Box Family

The Juice Box Family is expanding.  This is Hector.

Say Hello to Ralph.  I'm trying different ways to attach moveable arms, these are attached with buttons.  Soon I'll make some clay buttons, right now I just raided Susan's button box.  For the record, spellcheck doesn't like the word "moveable" but there are times when I think things look rightable and they'll darn well stay that way.  Ignoring of course, the typos and missssspellings.

Leonardo is looking out for you.

And Lucy, who you've seen before, is always having to track after her brothers. Everyone is about 6" high.

Jill Gets Her Train Ride

Yes, Jill, you finally get your train ride!  Because of all the nearby road construction the trains haven't been stopping very much so it's taken a while to get you a ride. I have been given strict orders to only put my pals on standing trains and not on moving trains, no matter how slow they are. Also, I'm a little worried that when the enclosure walls we are having put around the highway are finished they will keep me from getting to the trains. But for now you get to travel the country.

Who is Jill?  Jill Berry. A terrific artist, an author, and a very smart, funny lady.  Both Susan and I have taken classes from her, learned a lot, and enjoyed the time in her classes. I told her about my Travelers and she thought that was a great idea so the next time I saw a garage sale I looked for a possible Jill.  No, Jill's name wasn't on it, I added that.  So whenever you see a train, look for Jill and wave.

You could also look for Brown Bear (he's on a different train).