Return to Santa Clara

At Wolf House
Originally uploaded by suzipaw.

Here for a conference Had a nice visit Saturday with my aunt and uncle from Oregon last Saturday. We had lunch in Sonoma and stopped by Jack London State Park in Glen Ellen. Bonus visit from Mom, also in town for a friend's party.

My aunt and uncle arrived with gifts--a lovely wooden vase my uncle crafted in his shop and a notebook with the letters I mentioned earlier plus other gems from homesteader life. I'll post excerpts soon.

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M's done with school. He's looking quite human. I can't wait for our long weekend together after this event wraps up. We have a few home projects planned, but we also need some relaxation time ensemble.

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My company put on a Maker Faire last weekend, and I stopped by on the way down. Pretty cool stuff. Wish I could've seen more of the craft part. There was a whole sewing and screen printing hall, sigh.

The Campaign for "Foxy"

It's time to bring back the word "foxy." As in, "Jake Gyllenhaal is sooo foxy." Let's face it, beards are back. "Foxy" goes with the longer hair the teens are wearing these days. The new desk gal at the gym, all of 16, wears a nearly Farrah 'do and this morning sported blue eye shadow that I would have envied back in 1973 when I wasn't in my green eye shadow phase. It's obviously time to celebrate the fashion cycle properly. So who's with me? Start saying "foxy" today--with gusto!

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How to dance properly.

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The Wilbur trip photo I should have posted:

with Grandma and Felicia
Originally uploaded by suzipaw.

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M is taking final number two tonight. One more on Thursday and he'll be done with his second and toughest year. Barring any mishaps, of course. He did get a six-week gig teaching a couple of paralegal courses. That's a good thing.

Grandpa Don turns 65

Grandpa Don turns 65
Originally uploaded by brenfran14.

Happy (now belated) Birthday! And happy chocolate bunny ear eating day to all!

The Trip to WA, etc.

The trip was wonderful. It was great to visit with Grandma and equally great to have a little adventure with my favorite niece. We packed quite a bit into our three days. In no particular order:

with grandma
Originally uploaded by suzipaw.

We spent all day Sunday with Grandma, as well as Saturday evening and a bit of Monday morning. Sunday was Palm Sunday, and we watched the Lutheran congregation across the way ring their bell for service, then file out, led by Pastor Holly, all waving lengths of palm fronds. They paraded through Vista Manor where Grandma lives, some stopping to hug or say hello. We had a visit from other friends of Grandma, Ves and Isabelle. We discussed religion and family. Grandma's tales of my niece's father were tactful. As always, we dined at Doxie's Diner. For the first time I also had lunch at Billy Burger, a joint across the way from the Settle Inn where we stayed and a drive in with one of the most fascinating and disturbing signs I've ever seen (I don't have a photo to do it justice yet). Feesha and I went on a little photos safari around town. We were stared at regularly throughout the weekend. We visited the Grandpa's grave in the cemetery, home to some of the most beautiful trees and headstones I've ever seen; we listened to a bird call that was one of the sweetest and clearest I'd ever heard, piping like a classical musician. Came across a pair of turkeys scampering down the highway at the cemetery gate, a bouquet (or "nye" according to the San Diego Zoo web site) of pheasant near Haden Road, then a lone handsome cock, smashed in the highway, and a very interested shaggy canine that came to our door at the motel as we were checking out, as if supervising. In a friendly way. I ate my most favorite doughnut in the world, plain cake, two mornings in a row. I watched my first episode of "Gray's Anatomy." Grabbing coffee and shopping in the little coffee/gift shop on our last morning, we ran into my great uncle Chet. Did my part for the local economy by purchasing flipflops, a sweatshirt, and Wilbur tshirt at the local department store that opens at 7:00 a.m. since it's also the gym. Was awakened twice Sunday night by my niece's very loud sleep talking. Played cribbage with her while waiting to board our plane on the way up. Enjoyed the many photo albums that Grandma keeps. And her many stories of family and growing up rural.

And those letters I promised? My uncle has them, and will be bringing copies for me when he and my aunt visit later this month (yay!). To keep us company til then, he sent this photo of the author, Ina Diener: Elwin and Anna are my great grandparents; Charles is Elwin's uncle, they owned adjoining land. My uncle dates this photo at about 1904.

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Isn't this a nice message that I received on MySpace?

Hello dear,
How are you doing? I cant help but say you are beautiful, you are a pure dublicate of an angel. I am really amazed at your beauty. I am patrick, am 45yrs old,i work with a road construction company here in london I am currently a single. i really dont have much to say about my self, except I am being asked. Dearest, I will really love to know you better, maybe to get to reach GOD more easily. knowing an angel is like knowing the personal asistant of GOD. Please endeavour to send me a reply,you can add me to ur yahoo IM my id is (patricknoblack)while my email address is patricknoblack@yahoo.com i will love to chat with you on yahoo chat so we can get to know more about our self, I will be greatly honoured by it. I wait with curiousity to hear from you. Till then. Have a loving day. and may your best of yesterday,be your worst today.stay cool

Who falls for this crap?

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Tonight is M's first final. He was very worried about it, but it's done by now. I hope he'll be home soon to tell me how it went...

To Grandmother's House We Go

Niece Feesha and I are off to Wilbur tomorrow for our girls weekend with Grandma. I'm leaving my laptop at work--I'm getting Tiger installed, woo!--so no blogging til at least Tuesday (like I'd have time anyway). I'll post pix and notes as soon as I can. I also hope to come away with copies of some letters written by my great-grandpa's neighbor that I'd like to share with you--a fascinating slice of a woman's life, a homesteader's wife, from the 1890s--that my grandma has very thoughtfully preserved.

P.S. Like motorcycles? Check out my recent Flickr additions.

A Sad Tale

I heard a sad story today.

Two people I'm close to were enjoying a break in the rain and walking along the beach yesterday. It's a particularly beautiful spot--a long, trudging walk through sand dunes, rewarded by a view of miles coastline to the north and south. They're very conscious of maintaining its pristine appearance, and collect trash and occasional treasures on their walks at that beach. Seeing a pile of clothing among the dunes, they went to clear them away--and unfortunately found the body of a young man, hardly a man, still wearing the clothes. Judging from the circles and circles of footprints, he had paced some time before deciding to take his own life.

If I were to die, they are the people I'd want to find my remains--calm and respectful. And if I were to die, lying down in the cradle of dune, sheltered from the roaring waves and wind would be the place to do it. But I'm sad for the youth, driven to suicide by unknowable forces, his family and friends, and that my friends had to be the ones to find him.

Boo Hoo

Poor me. I'm feeling very sorry for myself these days. I didn't win anything in that essay contest I entered--not even an honorable mention. And couple of other things happened yesterday to make me feel blue. And will this rain ever stop?? I know, a terrible thing to say after the horrible storms in the south and midwest, and usually we're so worried about drought. Oh well. Sigh. Think I'll look at unicorn chasers for a while...