Great Father's Day

I had a most enjoyable Father's Day yesterday and enjoyed visiting with each of my children. Their love means so much to me.

It was fun to learn about Joan & Dean's vacation in an eco-cabin in St Thomas, Virgin Islands. They discovered a new beach everyday. We look forward to their Santa Maria visit next weekend.

Pam is now a grandmother! Caleb and Ali had an 8lb 3 oz baby girl, Faye Elizabeth, on June 20th. Pam says that mother and daughter are doing well. Pam will be a terrific grandmother. Of course, Carole is now a great-grandmother. We still hope to meet Pam and family in our motor homes in Pierpont or Carpinteria sometime.

Another treat yesterday was visiting with Ron, Amy, and their families in Lexington, SC over Skype video. Its free. We were almost done when I realized I was sitting at the computer in my underwear ( I don’t think it showed). Ron mentioned that Aaron (and I think Katy) will be in San Francisco in August. That is exciting too. Some of you may not have Amy's new address. It is 121 Northpoint Dr. Apt. 1111 Lexington, SC 29072. Their phone numbers are the same still: Amy: 434-806-3052 & Steve: 434-806-3428.

Above: 09.06 Abby, Ron,& Jenny on Mormon Pioneer Trek, SC

Last evening I enjoyed homemade pizza, mixed green salad, and deep dish apple pie at Barbara's home. They were delicious. Afterwards, we watched photos of me and Don growing up on my new laptop computer. I am loaning it to Barbara because her computer is sick these days. Unfortunately I missed a phone call to Katy. I was also at Barbara's Fri night for homemade stew.

Sat night I joined Jane and much of her family at Home Buffet to celebrate Eileen's birthday. David and his family were visiting from Tulare so five of her six grandchildren were there.

My left arm and shoulder continue to recovery from a separated tendon and internal bleeding. The bruising is mostly faded and I no longer use ice packs. Dr. Book said it will take four to six weeks to heal and my biceps muscle will be about 30% weaker.

09.06 Reuben at 7 months, Alexandria, VA >>

I am looking forward to Sunday, Jul 26th when Barbara and I meet Joan and Abby in Yosemite for a three day stay. Afterwards, Barbara, Abby, and I will return to the beach and Santa Maria.

I continue to enjoy photos, sketches, video and text on Abby, Amy, Katy, and Barbara's blogs.

At left is Eliza Mae & Abby, Jun-06, Lexington, SC. Above right is Reuben Alexandria, VA jun-06.

Happy Holidays to Family & Friends of Bob Meldau

This year I am posting a letter on my blog to tell you how things are going for me and my family. Then I will send out digital cards via email with my blog address. I am just learning how to post text and photos on a blog. I am also learning how to visit with my family on the East Coast using a web cam, Skype, and the internet. It is fun & free.

Life is good and I look forward to being 80 years old in February. I exercise regularly, eat fairly well, and take medicine to control depression, blood pressure, GERD, and cholesterol. My biggest problem is falls which injure my rotor cuffs. (My friend Frank used to say we should get the medical stuff out of the way so we can discuss more important things). December has been busy.

I finished an excellent 12 week NAMI (National Alliance Mentally Ill) class on mental illness for family members. We studied all aspects of brain disease including how to better understand our loved ones and how to cope better with the stresses we have. Depression and anxiety are fairly common in my family.

Next, I gave about ten talks at the Monarch Butterfly at the grove in Pismo Beach. Twice there were local reporters there to record part of my talks on video. The audience varied from two to over sixty people. One couple was there from South Africa. We get about 60 thousand visitors a years. My cousin Dick helped start docent activity at the grove in the early 1980’s. My friends Ernie and Hilda Glenesk are leaders in the current docent activities.

Finally, I started tutoring students learning English two mornings a week. My hearing and language skills are limited so I use The Rosetta Stone computer program.

Santa Maria, Nov-07, Bob, Jane, Joan, Dean, Barbara, Alicia. Jason is missing.

Jane and I continue to enjoy each other’s company often. Friday we usually go out to breakfast, have dinner at her home, and then get frozen yogurt for dessert. She still struggles with atrial fibrillation about twice a week. However, she is able to walk around the park and exercise at the gym regularly. She still cooks great dinners.

Barbara and I see each other for Chi Gong exercises and dinner once or twice a week. We also enjoy visiting the beach in my motor home about twice a month. Barbara likes her home and her job helping handicapped students at the local community college. Alicia just moved to Long Beach to continue studies to be a nurse. She is looking forward to living in a big city. Jason is doing better. He still lives with Barbara and works part time for a company that has some health care benefits for part time workers.

Joan and Dean enjoy working and living near San Francisco. Joan counsels diabetic patients in two hospitals, speaking Spanish much of the time. She has done a great job of collecting genealogy info on the Meldau and Hooper families. She recently found the Meldau connection from Germany to the United States. Dean is most happy since he went into business for himself as a bankruptcy lawyer about three years ago. His web address is http://www.sanfranbk.com/index.html

Ron and Jenny’s family continues to grow. My second great grand child, Reuben James Cummings arrived last month. My first great grand child, Eliza Mae Meldau-Morrison, is about a year and a half old. All of Ron’s family now lives in South Carolina or Virginia except Robby. He is now back at BYU after two years on a LDS mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

South Carolina, Jul-08, Abby, Amy, Eliza Mae, Robby, Ron, Katy, and Jenny. SC Missing: Steve & Aaron.

Jenny graduated this month with a Master’s Degree in nursing from the University of South Carolina. She is now a Nurse-Practitioner in a clinic at the Children’s Hospital in Columbia. We are proud of her. Abby is in high school and does well in soccer, cross country, and writing as did her siblings. Ron continues as a computer analyst for SCANA, a South Carolina gas and electric utility. Mostly, he solves computer network and security problems.

Katy and Aaron live in Alexandria, VA. Aaron finished law school earlier this year and now works on President Bush’s speech writing team at the White House. Katy and the rest of our family (or a least most of us) were glad to see Barack Obama elected president. Katy is a consultant now and works out of her home office illustrating children’s books. I find Katy’s blog at "http://meldau-cummings.blogspot.com/" most interesting. She writes and post videos on a number of subjects.

Amy’s blog at ttp://meldaumorrison.blogspot.com/ gives us many photos of Eliza Mae plus experiences of a first time mom. Amy works on weekend evenings for a mental illness clinic. Her husband Steve is a graphics illustrator like Katy. They live in Charlottesville, VA.

I still enjoy taking my motor home to the beach. Last June, Barbara and I visited Ron’s family while they were in Encinitas (near San Diego) We also enjoyed visits with Carole, and Pam. In August we enjoyed a wonderful visit in Santa Maria from Laurie and her family. They now live in Leander, TX near Dave, Laurie's brother.

Bob at Pismo Monarch B-Fly Grove

Here is a link to a video of me at the Pismo Monarch Butterfly Grove from the Santa Maria Times:

http://videos.santamariatimes.com/p/video?id=2492938

Welcome, memory book participants!

I finally made it into Dad's blog!

Joan, Ron and I are looking forward to receiving everyone's contributions to Dad's memory book. We also plan to include in the memory book some basic geneology of Dad's family, part of his biography that he wrote in college, some of Dad's stories about his life (Joan has been recording these) and several pictures. I am sure Dad will be pleased.

Dad's 80th birthday is a great opportunity to celebrate his life. Thank you for helping my family and I do that!