We Would have been in Wrightwood!


 We had a recent tradition to be in Wrightwood for my birthday on the 22nd.  We would go up on the 18th and stay until the 25th, when we would join our family in Glendale.  


Over the past dozen years, we would invite our local friends, who would include the village, the near transition habitat of the upper Antalope Valley, and Dave Earl from the Palmdarte area.  We would have an open house and a festive, warm setting, often with snow!

Here is a funny selfie (I'm never good at this) showing the snow on my birthday in 2023, the last time we were in WW for the occasion.


Our main room in its welcome splendor 

The first week of December, Mike said that he would not be able to be in Wrightwood for my birthday.  I could understand that the Thanksgiving living trip was not so easy, though enjoyable. He was more exhausted than he had been and was not walking much.

Had we gone up to our cabin, it would have resulted in great difficulties.  The main Highway 2 into the village was closed AM yesterday for flooding and mudslides.  And then the electricity was cut, as you can see, not to be restored until practically the new year.  We would have been forced to shelter in place at first, yet now, on the 25th, they are encouraging evacuation.  

Lucky to be safe is wet Santa Barbara, yet without Mike.

When there is snow, there is a lot of prep when we go up!  Mike was always doing the shoveling!



Comments

  1. Cecilia FordDecember 26, 2025 at 1:08 PM

    Wonderful 4 Donna and Me and Lingbi to have shared thanksgiving with Mike and you in Wrightwood last month.

    I'm glad you are safe in the cabin is safe.

    Much love.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Last Day Together

Image
 This day began with suspense.  We did not knwo when the potion would be ready, as it is a mixture with many strictly controlled components.  The Palliative Care nurse, Rebecca, of the cancer center said she would call to get a more precise time.  Mike and I were having our last breakfast when she called to say it would be ready before 2pm.   I worked hard not to whimper, sollozar in Spanish.  Mike sees me as strong and capable and I should not cry.  It is so hard.   Between Mike's rests and my reading, we talked about our travels and experiences together that Maria could gather in some of our adventures in SE Alaska, Mexico, Ireland, Lebanon, Rome, and at home and on the islands.  He finally asked for silence, the very poem of Pablo Neruda that I feel is part of our lives. At 1:30, I got the pharmacy call.  From that point, the tension rose.  I drove to get the potion and back after 2.  At 2:15 he took his first pills to ...
Read more

At the Journeys End

Image
Mike has been calm and valiant over the past year and a half. He has followed the protocols, yet his cancer escaped its bounds. As we transitioned to Hospice, he was able to appreciate each day. He read the morning comics, took walks, collected the mail, read the Irish Times, and responded to email. He was also working on profiles for El Pilar, a great help. Mike and Anabel are Checking out Details This past week, he found it very difficult to get up; he was weak, his walking was unsteady, and his ability on the computer faltered. He could not walk down our long driveway to get the mail, and he found he could not work on my profiles.   I had imagined that we would go on in a simple mode, and his health would slowly change.  This past week showed that it was not in the cards. Even so, he was involved in the lovely dinner, wishing Ceci and Donna a fine return. Jonathan, his brother and Cathy his wife and son JD came up for the Saturday lunch, and he was outside on the pat...
Read more

The Background....

Image
The Background....   Mike was diagnosed with bladder cancer on his birthday, May 2nd of last year. We had been planning a camping trip in our wonderful VW Vanagon and had got it all ready to go when this news came. This certainly changed our plans.  There were 2 surgeries in anticipation of 8.5 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy that initiated in September and completed in mid-October. Overlapping the treatments were trips to ER and most initiated hospitalizations. On one occasion, he was in ICU for 4 days. This was rough.  There had been more ER and hospitalizations than months since his treatments. The infections and sepsis, bleeding bladder all have made us frequent visitors to ER, familiar with the team there and on the hospital floor. Both Mike and I are grateful to the staff and have been reassured that we are not abusing the system.  Most recently, Mike was in for a major infection for 5 days, and we got out for only a week and a half. Mike went back to ...
Read more