Yesterday morning stopped at Goodwill to pick up reading material for the flight home, then on to lunch with my sister and a cousin who, until Mom's funeral on Monday, I hadn't seen for going on 50 years.

Drove around a bit and discovered that neither my sister nor I had actually ever been to Greendale, one of the three Greenbelt communities (for middle income working families) that had been built during the Roosevelt administration (1938-ish). The town is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. We did a quick swing through before lunch, then came back afterwards to further check out the Vistor's Center which is also the test kitchen for Taste of Home magazine and others. Then we drove around a few other places closer to our youthful home in West Allis.

Back at home had enough time to set up a visit with a childhood neighbor family (house on the other side of next door) and 2 possibly 3 of the kids we grew up with. I also called my 93 year old great aunt -- the only one of my grandmother's siblings still alive -- and talked for quite awhile, though we won't visit. The funeral Monday sapped her energy and she's still recovering, so talking on the phone is better than sitting in her living room.

By that time it was quite dark so my sister and and I went out to check out the Christmas lights around Milwaukee. There were some pretty exuberant displays close by, but I was disappointed in the downtown displays. (And quickly realized I really don't know Milwaukee anymore...downtown has changed so dramatically since I worked downtown in the late '60s. So many of the buildings I knew along Wisconsin Avenue are gone or changed dramatically.) Shorewood had some good lights, but Whitefish Bay was better -- combinations of some pretty interesting architecture and lighting displays. Then down into the Valley to check out the very impressive lights around Miller Brewery and on to Washington Highlands, another interesting neighborhood.

Went to bed not long after we got back to my sister's apartment -- had to be up early this morning to check in with Southwest and print out my boarding passes...which I'm waiting to do right now (have about 15 minutes to wait until it's 24 hours before the flight). Alas, as you can tell, I woke up a bit early and couldn't fall back to sleep for another hour's rest. Sigh. Tomorrow will be an even earlier morning.

Linn