Hi, out there in Family Land. Wishing you all the best from the Mama San.

    A friend, Gerry Ahnstrom, brought me a copy of the Seattle Times of April 28, which includes a nice article about another of Suzie's good deeds. This time it tells of her contribution of many bucks toward the establishment of a device which will carry a wheelchair up two flights of stairs to the third floor of St. Benedict's school.... making it accessible to folks in need. The project was the dream of a Mom named "Tully" who, being confined to a wheelchair, wasn't able to visit her son's classroom on the third floor. Tully started a fund raising, which drew in some other folks (here is where Suzie came in) and now there is a contraption that glides along a sturdy bannister to the top floor. Way to go!!!

    John and I spent another Monday at the National Archives transferring information from the old census tapes (Tiger, Washington, 1920) to his computer for future publication on the Internet. His focus is to get this information into place where it will be available to folks like Lee Stark and Phyllis Beam over in the Pend Oreille area. Our Seattle archives are the only ones accessible for the whole northwest. He volunteered for the project and I am his willing assistant. As a bonus, every once in a while we come upon a name or family that we know meant something to Mom and Dad when they homesteaded there. For instance, we found John Gierhofer (Uncle John) listed as a boarder in an establishment run by a man named "Fry", so now we know he moved down off Tiger Hill soon after my parents left their homestead for Seattle.

    Last Saturday's Open House at History House was a rousing success. This one focused on Southwest Seattle, which includes a lot of neighborhoods whose names are not familiar to me. Funny, you can live in a city for most of your life and not be acquainted with areas on the "other side" of downtown. I do have recollections of going swimming at Luna Pool, which was at Alki, when I was a small child. Jack, Florence and I made the long streetcar ride from Green Lake to swim in the salt water pool that was all that remained of Luna Amusement Park in the 1920s. Someplace near Pioneer Square, the streetcar went over the water on a high (and shaky) trestle to West Seattle. I can still feel the thrill of that exciting ride. At the natatorium, besides having the choice of fresh or salt pools, there was a very long slide that started somewhere up by the roof and flung you about five feet out over the water before you splashed down. There were long ropes with knotted ends hanging from the rafters. You could carry the knotted end of one of these up the long stairway and jump out into thin air and swing back and forth over the pool until you got too tired to hang on, when you splashed down among the swimmers. I remember some near misses, but never hit anyone.
    I remember those jaunts very well. The long ride and the expense of streetcar and admission, made them a once-in-a-while, very special outing.

    MOTHER'S DAY, this year May 9, was wonderful, as usual. Dave and Anne brought breakfast fixin's and we feasted on a scramble with eggs, scallion, tiny broccoli flowerets, and snippets of salami. There was crisp bacon, French pressed coffee, a very yummy pull-apart with lots of nuts on top, and a fresh fruit plate with apples, bananas, oranges, blackberries and huge strawberries.
     Dave brought me some tapes so I could listen instead of read, thus giving my damaged eyes a break. Anne's gift was some rose petals that are actually dainty little soaps. They smell like old fashioned roses.
     Hildy made me a beautiful wall decoration to sit just above the picture over the "server" in the dining room. It is backed by a fancy form of dark, wicker-type material and she arranged six big bright yellow daisies with leaves on the face of it. It brings sunshine into the room whether there is any outside or not. Today, even the outside is glowing.
     Paul and Liz dropped by with a pretty basket planted with herbs and Gussied up with gauzy bows. They brought me some lavender and vanilla bath oil and lotion and a big, squashy, nylon puff to apply them with.
     My stuffed animal family grew with a bright green plush frog (Dave), a cute fuzzy bear wearing a purple hat with a pink bow and purple coveralls with pink posies for buttons (John and Nan) There must be something about me that brings thoughts of cuddly things. Oh, I hope so!
     Next day, Nan came and got us and we went out to their house where John had one of his gourmet lunches waiting.
     I got a chance to play with an IMac computer that they have just acquired. It seems very like my old Mac that I love. John offered to lend it to me. Just what I need.... a third computer.....(but I'm tempted).
     Nan showed us a movie she took some time ago with her digital camera, showing John teaching Pup-Pup (rest her soul) to speak Spanish. It is an adorable clip.
     Then, the four of us scoped out the Seattle northeast section for possibilities for the next History House neighborhood extravaganza. John has taken on the responsibility for this one. We were up and down streets I'm not sure we've been on before. It poured buckets, just the opposite of yesterday, but didn't dampen our fun at all.
     My goodness. I just realized I made out like a bandit again, this year.

    E-mail from Heather says she is through college for the year and earned A's in both classes she was taking. Hurrah for her, especially since she has been feeling punk most of the time. That must have been tough.

    Nancy has framed four of the lovely tulip pictures she took when we visited the fields last month. They will be shown at Issaquah Art Gallery. They should catch a few eyes. They are unusually beautiful and colorful.

    Ryan is home from Washington State and looking for a summer job. He has a couple of "possibles" lined up, he says. Good luck, Kiddo.

That's all for now.

Love to you all
Dixie/Dorothea, Senior Editor