My grandmother passed away this week, following complications from surgery a week before. I'm at home with my family, and its been good to have everyone around. Inurnment and memorial services are this afternoon, and so this morning everyone is taking it easy. Below is a retyped version of the obituary that ran in Thursday's paper:

"Dottie" was born January 3, 1927, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Edgar and Mildred (Bliss) Ernst, and passed away on Sunday, August 24, 2008 in Dallas, Texas. She grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas, where she graduated from W. B. Ray High School. She attended Colorado College before transferring to the University of Texas at Austin and earning a degree in Psychology. Following several years in Chicago, Illinois, she returned with family to Corpus Christi, and was active in the PEO Sisterhood there. She lived for a time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she performed with the Bob Laughlin Singers, then later settled in Rancho Bernardo, California. She had a deep love of music, and became engaged in all forms of creative writing, from country music songs to humorous poetry, and taught classes in writing at the local community college. After retirement she moved to Dallas, making many more friends at Town Village Retirement Community, enjoying numerous activities and family events. Survivors include her daughter and son-in-law Jennifer and Roger Harris, grandchildren Katy and Jeffrey Harris, sister and brother-in-law Virginia and Mark Bigelow, and cousins Richard Nelson, Stuart and Bruce Brown and their families. She leaves behind many close friends and extended family who will miss her quick mind, cheerful nature and sense of humor. The family would like to extend their deepest gratitude to the doctors and staff at Medical City Dallas for their continuing kindness and care. A memorial service will be held at 3:30pm on Saturday, August 30, 2008 in the Chapel at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church of Dallas, 9800 Preston Road at Walnut Hill Lane. If desired, donations may be made to the American Cancer Society or to the charity of your choice.

(originally printed in the Dallas Morning News)

I had a quintessentially American experience this summer: spending the Fourth of July on the beach in Cape Cod. I went to spend a week with the Scoobs at Cris' family beach house, and it was a blast!

As usual, we spent most of our time in a circle of lawn chairs in the yard, catching up and being silly. The only difference this year was that Charlotte was with us, and so in the middle of our circle of chairs was a blanket strewn with toys, where Lottie held court while we all socialized.

The house was in Dennisport, MA, which is slightly east of Hyannis. If you think of the Cape as being the shape of your arm while flexing your bicep, Dennisport is sort of at the bottom of your elbow and Provincetown is somewhere near your knuckles. Its a sleepy little neighborhood of summer rentals, and we stayed just a few blocks from the local beach.

(this house belonged to a Harris family, and was a few houses down from the coast road)

Lottie enjoyed her first beach experience, especially that handful of sand she ate before any of us could grab her hand. That kid had more cool beach gear than I've had in my entire life thus far!

The weather was a little cool, sometimes rainy, and often overcast, so we only spent one afternoon actually on the beach. The rest of the time we were taking day trips or enjoying the cottage. It was the perfect spot to have a reunion of all the old DC gang, and there was plenty of time to talk without feeling rushed. The food, courtesy of Lizzi, was as usual, amazing, and there were still ample opportunities for trips to the Dog House for chili dogs and to Sundae School for Grape Nuts ice cream (its a New England thing, I'm told).

There was time for the ridiculous and the serious, for playing with babies and watching fireworks standing barefoot on the beach. And I was reminded, yet again, at how lucky I am to have this crazy group of people in my life:

Thanks, Scoobs! :)