3. Lois and RIP-Java

[Barbara & Uncle (GA)]

Love that picture of Java. What a sweetie.

 

[Sharon14]

Love the pic of the wild flowers coming up after the devastation of fire. I know about church groups. After hurricane Katrina they were the first ones here- well before the government. They brought us food, water, other supplies and helped (& are still helping) with rebuilding. They never ask for anything in return.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

I'm so glad you're here to give an update, Lois! Love the photos and, yes, there are many very kind people/groups out there who do wonderful work and expect nothing in return. All the recipients of such kindness can do is pay it forward in whatever way they can. No need to connect it to any religious group, just do it because it's the right thing to do.

 

[Djamila]

Great to hear from you, and what a beautiful story!

 

[Rachel]

So glad to hear from you Lois! We think of you daily.

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

Cannot believe it has already been 1 month. On the other story, like Chris said, it is nice to know there are still good people in the world. Seems to be becoming a harder concept to remember lately.

Very nice to hear from you Lois and hope you and Lily are well

 

[Lois and Java]

Love the pic of the wild flowers coming up after the devastation of fire. I know about church groups. After hurricane Katrina they were the first ones here- well before the government. They brought us food, water, other supplies and helped (& are still helping) with rebuilding. They never ask for anything in return.

I honestly was amazed at the church groups and their volunteer work. My parents were churchgoers but their church just did things like Meals on Wheels and some other in-town charitable work. Hope Cares and Samaritan's Purse... it's amazing what they do. Hope Cares in particular was so much better, more helpful/generous than Habitat for Humanity. They partner with big construction places like Lowes and Home Depot for reduced pricing (because of bulk) on materials, and those places also donate equipment -- all the appliances were donated by Lowes. The recipient has to raise the $ to pay for the raw materials to build a house, Hope Cares provides the blueprints, the negotiated lower rates on materials, and labor.

It's getting typical for insurance companies to fail to renew homeowner's insurance in high risk places, and S&P had had their insurance failed, so they lost *everything*. My former roommate next door and her husband still had insurance, so they're still getting monthly payments for temporary housing from their insurance co., and they will eventually get a settlement on the loss. S&P had the clothes on their backs, the car they drove out in, and a few other things. Stefan spent his time going up and down the road making sure his neighbor knew to leave .... my friend and her husband and the neighbor in between them would have died in the fire if it wasn't for Stefan. S&P had to raise every penny to buy all their materials. (My donation paid for the phone/electric pole, which pleases me a ridic amount.)

Hey, in case anyone wants to donate, let me know and I'll give you Stefan's paypal info. They have/had a Go Fund Me, but all of those take a % of the donations -- PP takes the least of all of them, very little just as a transaction fee.

 

[Lois and Java]

Former roommate is driving me crazy by not getting back to me about her cat's needs. All I really want to know is whether she's using Prozinc or Lantus or something else. And I'm sorry that she apparently bought a new AlphaTrak2, when I have one right here that I would have made a good deal on. The insulated shipping box is huge but with a small hollow core, all than can fit/be shipped is the compounded Gabapentin and one or both of the insulins, if and when I ever get an answer. I'll give her the needles and lancets that I have left. ADW refunded everything unopened that I returned to them.

Can you tell I'm on the laptop for the first time in weeks, maybe a month? Nimble fingers talk too much.

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

Sorry to hear your former roommate is unresponsive when you are trying to help. Glad ADW refunded unopened items for you .

 

[Lois and Java]

I should set a deadline.

 

[Rachel]

Why not? If nothing else, set a deadline for you. Then if you don't hear from her by then, donate to DCIN.

 

[Lois and Java]

Hi! Oh my God I cannot believe how long it took my former roommate to get back to me. And it sounded like she's not doing anything except changing her cats diet. Well whatever!

So I woke up with a bee in my Bonnet this morning to get everything in the mail before I head into the art museums in San Francisco. I have rehearsed packaging everything into the cold box, the insulins and some other meds... This box is huge but it's mostly insulation. My friend who had her arm amputated had some meds shipped to her in it, so I feel lucky to have an official dedicated medication shipping box.... Even though she threw out the cardboard box the shipping box came in so it's going to end up shipped inside a wine box. How very California? It doesn't hold a lot but it holds just enough.

And I have another box ready to go with needles and lancets and stuff like that.

I debated starting a new thread, I'm sorry you have to come to the end of the third page here. But I'm not really around that much so seem like taking up space?

I miss the camaraderie here... And I really miss Java. I say his name softly to myself every time I think of him, and it's a lot. I feel weepy right now talking about him, but the truth is 95% of the time I'm just remembering him fondly. He really was such a special cat. I used to dream about him when I was on way on my month or two long vacations in the summer.

I am really grateful to have Lily in my life. She's a pretty ordinary cat, an affectionate lap cat, very talkative. I'm working with her to try to encourage one of the behaviors that I loved so much in Java, which is that he like to just hang out and follow me around the yard or wherever, and keep an eye on what I was doing. Lily's more fearful, but having all this one-on-one attention has been good for her.

Anyway, I will wait to hear from Chris & China, it occurred to me I'd better check that the dcin woman will be at home either tomorrow or the day after, so I'm not running to the post office this morning with the insulin after all. That would be awful to send it all that way and not have someone there to get it refrigerated right away when it arrives.

Hope everybody's well. Big hugs. I'm off to look at art. DeYoung Museum, and a lot of places in San Francisco, have big art and memorabilia displays about the Summer of Love. It's an anniversary!

How do you get the name to hot link an alert? Let me try this again. Chris & China. Crumb. It isn't doing it. Could someone help me out?

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Type the @ symbol right in front of the screen name. It should show up in blue after you send the message. If it doesn't, check the spelling.

I'm sure you miss Java terribly. Lily is her own cat but it sounds like she enjoys the extra attention. At least your time is more your own now - gallery exhibitions, etc. I'd love to see the Summer of Love retrospective - that's my demographic. Jefferson Airplane anyone?

 

[Lois and Java]

Ah! The @. Yes. I'd forgotten.
@Chris & China .... See here and in private conversation. Thanks, Kris.

 

[Lois and Java]

I thought I'd taken a couple of pictures of a small San Francisco History Museum that had a Summer of Love exhibition, that a friend and I popped into after a Smuin Ballet last week or the week before. But I didn't! Here are two photos of San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center Park, and something that was outside on the deck one morning!

The building with the round architectural feature is the newly remodeled San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It's a pretty amazing Museum now, if you visit SF, cough up the extra bucks to go to it, when you're not getting a tour from me of course.

 

[Rachel]

I know you miss Java, Lois. We do too! I am glad you have Lily though. She never will replace Java, but she is there to help heal your heart and that's a comfort, I know.

Please know that you are ALWAYS welcome here! You can use this thread or start a new one...you're part of our family and always will be. You're welcome to pop in to say hi when you feel like it, post on others threads to offer any advice or encouragement you have, or just read our threads. If you need time away, we totally get that too. Whatever you want to do is fine...just wanted to make sure you knew you can ALWAYS come here.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

I know you miss Java, Lois. We do too! I am glad you have Lily though. She never will replace Java, but she is there to help heal your heart and that's a comfort, I know.

Please know that you are ALWAYS welcome here! You can use this thread or start a new one...you're part of our family and always will be. You're welcome to pop in to say hi when you feel like it, post on others threads to offer any advice or encouragement you have, or just read our threads. If you need time away, we totally get that too. Whatever you want to do is fine...just wanted to make sure you knew you can ALWAYS come here.

Totally agree, Lois!

 

[Lois and Java]

Thanks you guys. I finally got the stuff mailed off to DCIN. I went out to my car and cried. Pretty soon there won't be anything left that directly dealt with Java alone. But traffic getting out of the post office was awful so I had to snap out of it pretty fast.

I think I'm going to try to sell the alphatrak 2 meter. I guess that would be in Supply Closet unless someone here wants it. I need to do my due diligence. I don't remember what ADW charged me but I've got the receipt somewhere. I'm not sure what to ask, do you guys have an opinion? 2/3 the cost?

 

[Lois and Java]

RE the DeYoung Museum Summer of Love experience exhibit

It was sooo crazy to see things in a museum that were common in my youth. Like, check out the whole earth catalog in a plexiglass box! And everybody had a skirt made out of dissembled jeans, but mini not maxi. The other things on the wall are LPs. I still have some of those!

 

[Kris & Teasel]

RE the DeYoung Museum Summer of Love experience exhibit

It was sooo crazy to see things in a museum that were common in my youth. Like, check out the whole earth catalog in a plexiglass box! And everybody had a skirt made out of dissembled jeans, but mini not maxi. The other things on the wall are LPs. I still have some of those!

I remember ALL of that!!

 

[Lois and Java]

I remember ALL of that!!

I know!
I was in San Francisco for the summer in both 1969 and 1970, still in high school, but staying with my sister. The Summer of Love was 1967. It was still very much like that.

There were other exhibits that showed people dressed up in Victorian clothing. What I remember is that you could get all kinds of awesome stuff at second hand stores at that time. Kind of like people had finally cleaned out their Grandma's closets.

In 69, my sister lived in a Victorian house with a bunch of other people, friends of hers, and we have a photo that looks almost just like this of all of us on the front steps. One of our friends who lived there... She and her husband now own/ live in a Victorian two blocks away from that one.

It's raining this morning, the first time in a really long time. Possibly the last time we'll have rain until the end of October. Java would've loved it.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

I know!
I was in San Francisco for the summer in both 1969 and 1970, still in high school, but staying with my sister. The Summer of Love was 1967. It was still very much like that.

There were other exhibits that showed people dressed up in Victorian clothing. What I remember is that you could get all kinds of awesome stuff at second hand stores at that time. Kind of like people had finally cleaned out their Grandma's closets.

In 69, my sister lived in a Victorian house with a bunch of other people, friends of hers, and we have a photo that looks almost just like this of all of us on the front steps. One of our friends who lived there... She and her husband now own/ live in a Victorian two blocks away from that one.

It's raining this morning, the first time in a really long time. Possibly the last time we'll have rain until the end of October. Java would've loved it.

Shades of Haight-Ashbury!