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| Pony in Tree |
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| Angel Dolls |
The story of 2005 which of course begins in January, really began in the fall of 2004 when Aunt Marenka
and Grandma Suzanne rented a great new two bedroom apartment in Tucson. There we had a new dresser and mirror for
Freya in Marenka's closet. Grizzly Bear also lived in the room and had his own entrance and
exit in the window. The first time Grizzly Bear went out of the window, he didn't return for 4 days. He learned his way around
Tucson and now he was content to just stay in. There were a lot of things he didn't like. He didn't like the sprinklers on
the grass that came on automatically when he walked by. And he wasn't used to the amount of people around the apartment sidewalks.
But things were better for Freya than in our Pima Street house.
The living room had wall to wall carpet and had a lot of sunlight for her to set up her playing.
Freya could actually learn to ride a two wheel bicycle on the sidewalks, play on the grass and visit the playground
on the premises. We had two swimming pools and a hot tub also.
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| Angel Drawing on paper using Felt tip pens |
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| Freya on Bicycle (we took this photo for Grandpa Glenn to see) |
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| Blowing yellow balloon |
| Dress painted by Freya |
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| in Photoshop, using the mouse and the color pink! |
Sometime during the spring Freya was invited to a birthday party to a new friend named Ariel. Ariel was the daughter of Tim, and Grandma met them when she was working at the Fourth Avenue
Good Natured Futon Shop, and was asked to do a drawing of Ariel in a Bee Costume. These are some photos from
that party. Ariel is a year younger than Freya. One of the things
they did at the party was pull a big stuffed animal apart and throw the cotton from inside all over the room. What fun that
was! They had a pinata, and Freya learned to blow up a balloon. I am not sure if this was the first time Freya
ever blew up a balloon. Later all the kids were given water guns for party prizes and they chased us adults
all over the yard, squirting us until darkness fell, lights came on, and they kept squirting us until the live music started.
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| Blowing red balloon |
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| Ariel and Freya blowing up balloons |
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| After Marenka left for California, she continued to read stories to Freya by telephone. |
In the spring of 2005, Marenka prepared to return to California with Grizzly Bear. Marenka wanted Grizzly to be in his
own private yard again and chase mice and butterflies. Grandma talked with Mommy about taking Freya to San Francisco again,
this time driving in the new van. So in June, Freya and Grandma Suzanne drove across Arizona and
stopped in Quartzite, a desert town that was very hot and very windy. We visited Joe, a computer artist. While
there we went into some stalls along the road in town and purchased a little turtle, and then into a book store where we found
some children's books to read. These were a new subject for Freya, something we had already started reading
from library books in Tucson, the story of the Bible. Many of the heroes of the bible were interesting to Freya, the Creation,
Adam and Eve, Jacob and the Coat of many colors, Samson, and Jonah and the Whale.
We said goodbye to the hot Arizona sun, dehydration and sweating, and drove into the balmy weather of California.
We stopped along the way, again in a dry but agriculturally rich valley, to visit Ray Strong, now 100
years old and still painting, and his daughter Barbara.
Barbara had built a beautiful studio for Ray, her dad, and was out painting with him often. We stayed in Barbara's part
of the studio. A stream ran by and there were also horses near by. Freya was nervous about the talk of rattle snakes so we
stayed close to the house. We were grateful for the rest, and the comfort in getting off the road and being in a real home
for a night. We drove through the agricultural fields heading north, naming the vegetables
and grapes that grew there, and stopped for fresh orange juice, and to take our pictures in a funny
screen where we were dressed as farmers.
Our destination was Oakland to visit Aunt Marenka, and then across the bay to Fairfax to visit daddy.
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