My sister Donna finds a new place to live - Visit to Mom's today - Donna's artwork

 Donna came over late on Thursday night after she and a team of movers cleared out her condo in Hatboro. She was so exhausted we barely had time to talk.

She's on her iPhone talking with daughter Nikki.

She slept in my bed, while I slept on the Red Couch - they're twins. Donna has fabulous taste and the dragon rug in front of her now belongs to me.

She and Mom went to settlement so she could move into her new house in Clarksboro, New Jersey. Yesterday I mailed huge "Sand Mandala" cards to her new house and also to her daughter Melissa and some other folks. 

After my writing group today, drove to the library and checked out

  Scott thinks we've already watched Season Three of Homeland.

 At the writer's group they liked my namaste blouse, which I bought at The Sweater Mill in Hatboro.

 Jolly Jump-Ups in front of mom's house.

 I was astonished at this Rainbow on her dining room etagere - where did that word come from? Mom was familiar with it. Very sharp mind.

Ellen wanted to discuss where mom would be buried when she passes away. She and dad bought cemetery plots in Cleveland.

I told her I'd never go to Cleveland again, so I voted to have her buried here.

We sat in the living room. Ellen had a stack of paintings Donna did when she was in Mercer Elementary School. Also some work by our next-door neighbor Libby Turnock.

What an unusual last name, I said to Mom. What dyou think the derivation is?

No idea. She and her sisters - Judy, Susie, and Tommy were debutantes.

Oldest sister Judy wrote some books. Here's Tommy's website. She's a therapist.

Below is a selection of Donna's paintings she did in 1955. She was born in 1949. Mrs. Viola Wike must have been her art teacher. Mrs. Wike was my teacher. She wore black ballet slippers. And taught us the word "technique." When I remembered the word and said it aloud, she came over and picked me up off the ground.

I was a cute little bugger.

 We had swings in our back yard. Look at the upside-down guy on the left. Is that Teddy Biskind on the swing?

What an attention to detail! Take a look at the sunglassses and the belt on the yellow dress.

How we loved birds as kids! Dad bought us a bird whistle to attract them. Never worked.

I'll tell you, when I saw this picture, I thought I had drawn it. In my green file cabinet I have lots of crayon pictures of birds.

 Let's go skating on the frozen pond. Oh dear, a couple of kids have fallen. And - there's a couple of twins.

Sans doute, Donna has enormous artistic talent.

Don't get wet... look at the stop sign on the right.

 Do you believe this? And, yes, it's signed by Donna. Look at the saddle shoes and 'crew socks.'

Mom, I said, you dressed us in the most beautiful clothes. She said it was her great pleasure to do so.

This is Donna's report of a vaca we went on. She mentions she got a polio vaccination. Click to enlarge.

 Mom has a patch of "weeds" - here's a "lesser celandine" from the buttercup family. When I brot it in the house, it had closed up due to the coming of darkness, but I set it down beneath the light and it opened up.

Ah nature! Then I ran into the kitchen to save it... plopped it into a tiny vase.

 This candelabra was Aunt Ethel's. It was just her yahrzeit.  Mom lit candles for our beloved Aunt Ethel.

Figures. The sparrow flew away as I aimed my camera.

Anything else, Dear Ruthie?

It's only 9:08. Go do something important with your life!!!