Cousin Elizabeth and The Estate Sale, Again

Just came back from a farewell dinner with Cousin Elizabeth. What a lovely gal she is! We have really enjoyed the time we've spent with her these past weeks. Today it was Beverly, Julianne and Jennifer, my younger sister, plus Richard and Liz. We went to Big Apple and had supper and talked. Tomorrow she turns in the rental car and flies back to Portland, then drives to her home in Washington.

She's had a busy time here. The estate sale was highly successful, and they got rid of most of the stuff. She donated some art pieces to Mesa Community College today, and that clears off most everything of value, except for the two houses. Lots of people asked about those, and here's hoping they sell quickly. Liz has told Carmello and his family that they need to be out of the house by the end of September. They have already vacated the other house.

Ron McGale was a big help with all the selling. He knows the prices, and the background of so many of the things. He brought in people who appreciated Marlan's collection. He still has two pieces he will try to sell to antique dealers or art dealers. Thanks to Ron, the sale was a success!

Thanks to John Eddie, Jeannie Lambert got in touch with Liz and said she would be glad to have the big yellow painting back. Liz said she would un-frame it and roll it up to be shipped. In doing that, some of the leaves cracked and came off. It looked like Jean had maybe used real leaves, applied them to the painting and then painted over them. It made that part of the piece 3-dimensional. So that is some damage that can be easily repaired. The painting will now have a home where it is appreciated. Another problem solved.

Mother broke her foot! She was dancing on my bed the other day, trying to hang one of Marlan's paintings above the bed. Didn't tell me what she was doing until she was in trouble and needed the hammer. Probably broke a little bone in the top of her left foot. Won't hear of going to the emergency room to have it x-rayed, so we'll just wrap it and let her suffer through.

We watched Sarah Palin's talk last night, and we LOVE her! What a great choice she is! And the photos of that little girl holding the baby and licking her hand and then using it to fix his hair -- you can't buy that kind of publicity! Go Sarah! Hockey moms of the world, unite!

Uncle Richard has been haunting the D.I. and the Goodwill stores as usual, and he found a western painting done by one J. Crandall. Waiting for the "seniors half-price Saturday sale" to buy it. Does anyone know if it might be one of our cousins who did it? Who paints? If Marlan and Jeannie are artists, it wouldn't be a surprise if there are other artists out there dangling from our family tree!

Today at my Mesa Republican Woman luncheon our guest speaker was Greg Patterson, who writes "The Espresso Pundit" blog. It is a highly respected and heavily read political commentary blog. He gave us the background of blogs and blogging, then told how blogs have changed the world! One of the political blogs, "The Drudge Report", has a higher circulation than the New York Times! In fact, it's ten times higher! Greg believes that if it weren't for blogs, we would now be trying to defeat John Kerry in his bid for re-election. Check out http://espressopundit.com/ and see what he wrote about us! It's on his September 4 entry. Then go to http://www.drudgereport.com/ and remember that Matt Drudge now has more power than the editor of the New York Times!

If you find any typos, remember that I still have my hand bandaged from carpal tunnel surgery last week. The bandage is putting in lots of extra letters and spaces. Maybe it has a message it wants to get out ...spooky, huh?

Enough for now.