Rough Patch

My mom caught Vertigo earlier in 2008. With Dad's immune system so poor, he has now caught it.

"Vertigo: Causes nausea and vomiting and, in severe cases, it may give
rise to difficulties with standing..."

Dad is extremely weak and not able to eat, contributing to even further weakness. Doctor gave them both some pills but without food I think that just causes more nausea. He even fell but there's nothing broken thank Goodness. His fever spiked to 104 two days ago and my mom was just about to take him in when it broke after an ice bath.

Tough time in their household.

Paris, Food and January

Recently returned from a business trip in Paris and thought I'd share a few pictures of my culinary adventures! My mom and dad watched the "girls" which allowed me time to work and eat in this magical city. I ate far more than the pics show -- TRUST ME! Buttery, flakey croissants were in abundance....mmmm! From a business standpoint it was very successful and from a personal standpoint...well....it's PARIS!! I've always loved the colors of this beautiful city.





A favorite restaurant in the 5th Arrondissmont, near the River Seine. Our owner/waiter was a hoot, but you gotta love the "level" kitchen and stove! These would never pass building code inspections in the States! But man did this small uneven kitchen produce some AMAZING bistro fare!


Their cellar, which housed all the potatoes, etc, is similar to Midwest basements, only accessing their area below is via a narrow area of stairs in the floor. Reminds me of the basement at the Arias home on Osborne. {REMEMBER THAT LAUNDRY SHOOT? what a blast it was to a child!}


For a non-meater, it's still appealing to me how artfully they hang their meat EVERYWHERE!



Of course, what good meal would be complete without French Wine! I wonder if the Custom's Officer would allow one of these large beauties....


BURP!

Happy 2009!

An abundance of God's blessings for a beautiful 2009 for all family and friends.....

From our homes to yours.......

Phil, Phyllis, and Kathleen
(along with Biscuit, Coco, Truffles and Agnes....and the many rescue "orphan" animals being feed by the backdoor of my parents and by my back gate!)

Heartfelt THANK YOU

A HEARTFELT THANKS....

A most heartfelt thank you to the most special family anyone could ever hope for. We are so thankful for your abundance of prayers, and I know this has had a hand in helping me to feel better. Yesterday I had my monthly doctor visit and bloodwork check. I continue to be blessed as I was told that instead of going in every month, the doctor will instead see me IN TWO MONTHS!!! We rejoiced! This is obviously great news on so many levels.

He did tell me I still can not fly so I regrettably will not be coming to Indiana this year.

I can not thank you enough ---ALL OF YOU ---for sharing, caring, and loving me and my family with with your stories, your visits and your continued prayers...

Over the holidays each of you sat with us at our dinner table and became part of the blessings that have surrounded our lives.

Reading all of your stories and comments is something I will never forget and it is hard for me to put into words how much it affected me.
We laughed, we cried and cried somemore, and then we laughed again. We all enjoyed reliving the times spent with each of you as the stories unfolded.

For all of this and more we are THANKFUL....

We love you with all our hearts--
Felipe (and Phelia)

Kris Kringle kidnapped my parents and all I got was this to greet me Christmas morning

Did they go all out, or what???

Aunt Sue went tree crazy (a post on that later this week), but the two Phyl Delgado's went loco and everyone who visited got to enjoy the immersion of Christmas! I LOVE IT!
Talents, Talents, Talents....

Enjoy the tour!

Walkway: Dad took tomato planters and tied them at the top to create whimsical trees, then lined them with lots of twinkle fairy lights and flanked the walkway. I wish my photography was better as this doesn't adequately capture his masterpiece:





The mantel and desk near the tree...




Mercury dressing....



I found this gorgeous Noel banner on a trip to France several years ago. Handcrafted by a husband/wife team of artists in Marseille, FRANCE. Mom really decorated it to make it truly shine!

Feliz Navidad!!

{Christmas Day, 2008!}

Christmas brought an abundance of blessings to our family, and we continue to pray for those suffering.
{Dear family friend, Art, lost his daughter to cancer. She was my age}
{Several uncles and Aunts are in our prayers: Uncle Louis, Uncle Popo, Aunt Esther}

Dad is feeling pretty good and we had a musical-infested holiday, sharing wonderful new music that he found (Chris Botti anyone?). On Christmas eve I cooked and Christmas Day mom took over....we had wonderful feasts and lots of laughs.....

Of the many special gifts (the phone calls from family were the most special of all), Dad and Mom received this treasure from Gregg Ott....It's so beautiful!

We love you all!

Thanksgiving Blessings

Thanksgiving was a very blessed day! We all sat at the table as my Mom gave a heartfelt prayer. The holiday was all the more joyful as Uncle Frank was able to join us.

We had a special treat of having at the dinner table: good friends Gregg and Chrissy Ott. The Otts flew out from Chicago to help us get some items chopped off our ever-growing TO DO list, and spend time with us. My dad is especially close with Gregg, thinking of him as more of a family member or son. Gregg always has the best stories and he had us rolling recalling memories of the time my parents joined them on a NYC trip several years ago!

Dad enjoyed many, many phone calls from family and friends over the weekend and it was a truly blessed Thanksgiving Season. In our blessings, we thanked God for ALL OF YOU in our lives....so freely sharing your generous spirits and prayers which no doubt contributed to us enjoying dad at the dinner table this holiday instead of us eating turkey in a hospital room. Thank you for this gift.

Uncle Vince called as we were sitting down and explained that while they wanted to, he had a prior engagement with a "friend" that kept them from joining us......


We especially missed Aunt Bex's helping hands with the dishes afterwards, but she was apparently busy getting her hair done.


We sat down with dad at the computer and read through all the beautiful, funny and poignant comments everyone has left on this blog. There are no words to properly express how fantastic, loved, appreciated, and humbled it made him feel!!!! It was a truly special moment. { A bounded book is being created as a keepsake.}

While dad has been going in and out of painful moments, he's been feeling relatively good and even had some energy to pull some Christmas ornaments down and later helped me put lights on a small tree I'll be using on my front porch (compliments of the Delgado shed, which means it had my favorite price tag on it: FREE).

We trust everyone had a joyful Thanksgiving weekend. Your are all part of our blessings for which we are continually thankful.