Lost nephews

Josh is the son of my late brother Michael. Josh, and his mom Ollie, had moved to New Hampshire years ago and we haven't been in close contact, although Ollie does read this blog on occasion (Hi Ollie!). I heard that, a couple of years ago, Josh had joined the military (Air Force, I think) and was studying Arabic. I hadn't heard more about him until yesterday when I received an email from "Joshua" with the subject matter "Afghanistan."

Hey Uncle Gordy, I am going to be working intel over in Afghanistan for a year starting in December. Since I have been following your website for the last several years I will try to relay any information (at least personal experiences) I come across. Expect my first update sometime in January. Cheers, Your nephew Josh.

It was great hearing from Josh. Maybe not so great finding out that I will now have two relatives in harms way — one son-in-law and a nephew. I will be posting communiqués from Josh, my man in Afghanistan. Take care Josh.

Gerry

Zoe hasn't been feeling well so we are behind in visiting her mom, Gerry, who has Alzheimer's. It's been very frustrating not having her close by where we could visit her as often as we want. She is 2 1/2 hours away in Tacoma. So Zoe starts writing 9 page letters to the staff trying to fill them in on her concerns and Gerry's history. I talked to Brian, the social worker, today and they are working on answering her letter. He said they have never had support from a famly like this. They will be doing several of the things we have been asking for such as getting her new dentures and talking to her regular doctors. Check out Zoe's post for more details. Hopefully we will make it down this weekend.

Scanner

My scanner, with the non-working lamp is on it's way back to New York and it's replacement is between here and Chicago and will arrive Tuesday. I can hardly wait. I have a pile of new negatives to scan and some old ones to rescan.