I was delighted to learn last winter that I would have my FIRST great grandchild in January!  My grandson Michael joyously told the world on Facebook that he would be a daddy, and my son Grey called me to crow about becoming a grandpa.  We are all delighted, and the baby mommy is a lovely young woman named Charlene.  They decided to name the baby Ava Rose, which is a beautiful name.  I decided to wait a few weeks to see the baby, in the hope that she would be looking around and maybe even smiling or laughing.  I hope to see her often enough to watch her grow, even though she will live far away.

So I made the long drive from almost 400 miles south of the border in Mexico up to Arizona and then over to California to meet her.  It was so worth it!  Mikey and Charlene were happy to have me visit and Ava is an angel.  She’s still tiny but is amazingly good, alert when she’s awake and hardly fussy at all.  Her personality is calm and curious and easy going, may she be blessed to stay that way for her lifetime.

After taking a short trip down to San Felipe on the Sea of Cortez in Baja to visit my friend Theresa, I returned to Temecula and it was fun to have Mikey and Charlie come out to visit Jojoba Hills RV Park, to see my motor home and to get a tour of the +55 facility.  They were impressed and all the residents were friendly and very happy to see a baby!

I am excited to share some photos –

And here are some earlier in her life before I got here –

… and proud Grandpa Grey who managed to get there when she was born!

I’m enjoying the solitude and peace and quiet of this empty house, after a busy summer with family and friends. I’m even doing some repairs and touchups to get it in better shape. My dear dog Cheyenne is getting older and obviously has arthritis – like me – and is getting reluctant to go upstairs at night to sleep. I don’t like it either, although I still love my beautiful bedroom.

I’ll be happy to get in my motor home again, and am thinking more often about taking to the road in Europe, to see my granddaughters and travel the continent.  I want to return to Romania, and see other countries in Eastern Europe.  I have friends who are camping part of every year abroad, down to Africa and across to the Middle East, also Scandinavia, and even Iceland!  I don’t want to delay until I’m too old to do it.

We are having one of the most beautiful autumns I can ever remember in Alaska!  Cheyenne and I often take a gorgeous two-mile walk through the woods, across Soldotna Creek and then down along the Kenai River.  I finally took my camera this week and got some terrific pictures.

In that last photo, it’s funny that Cheyenne is exactly the color of the fall leaves, so she’s almost invisible!

Also it is getting darker, so when the weather is clear we can see the northern lights again.  I’m usually asleep in the middle of the night, but other friends stay awake to take glorious photos.  These are taken about a mile from my house –

And I love this one from NASA, showing the aurora borealis from space –

Sadly, my elderly friend Irene is fading fast, and I’m afraid she might not make it through another winter.  She refuses medical treatment, although I did manage to get her to visit my doctor long enough to get some pills to relieve some discomfort. I know aging is a natural process and she accepts her death without a qualm, but it’s sure better if it hurts less.  I’m always surprised that I’m doing as well as I am, considering my heart attack two years ago and the nuisances of arthritis, asthma, and swallowing pills every day.