Tom's birthday

 The 5th is Tom's real birthday but we couldn't have a dinner for him because he and others were going to a Beach Boys concert that night, so Ned cooked his famous French toast for all of us.  He and Lacie then watched some of the videos they have made in the past.

Walt went off with the group that was gong to the Beach Boys concert and I stayed with Ned and Marta, babysitting.  The reports are that the concert was wonderful.

Tom and Laurel were able to go on stage and sing with the group.  If you have Facebook, you can see the performance here

The 4th

We weren't planning on doing much for the 4th of July.  Ned brought me to Tom's and I spent a wonderful hour+ sitting by their pond watching the koi fish.  It was absolutely beautiful

Ned spent the afternoon making a movie with the girls, which he usually does whenever he is down here.

We watched the fireworks from D.C. on CNN and then had hot dogs for dinner.  The perfect 4th.

Ice Cream

We have spent a lot of time talking about Wordle since everybody in the family except Walt plays it and we all post our scores to each other. 

Jeri was determined she could help Walt get into the New York Times page and play Wordle.

Tom also tried to help Walt figure out his phone.

They weren't able to help him get his password to do anything, so the plan was for Jeri to take Walt to the Apple store to see about getting his phone unlocked.  

The one thing I wanted to do on this trip was to visit McConnell's ice cream store.  I've been reading about it for a long time...they have lots of unusual flavors and it seems to be quite popular.  We discovered the Apple store was just a couple of blocks from McConnell's, so we all went together.  The store is on State street, which is blocked off to be a pedestrian street, so we had to park in a parking lot two blocks away.  It was the longest I've walked in a very long time, but we did make it to McConnell's and Jeri left Lacie and me there while she took Walt to see about his phone, then they came back to join us for ice cream.  The ice cream was very good, but very expensive.  Walt bought 2 cups of ice cream (for him and Jeri; she had paid for cups for Lacie and me earlier) and two pints to take home and he says he spent $50.

My legs were very sore walking back to the parking lot.  After we returned to Tom's, Ned and Lacie played pool and I joined them. 

 I used to be a fairly  good pool player in college, but I've lost my mojo!

Bri was with us,  but didn't play.

Jeri gave a demonstration to everyone about what she has been doing, writing arrangements for 33 different songs for a show that is going to be produced soon.  It was an interesting demonstration.

After dinner, Ned took a family portrait 

and then we had to say goodbye to Jeri, who was leaving the next morning to return to Boston.  I took one last picture of my three children (sorry it turned out blurry)

Indiana Jones!

 The plan for today was to go and see the new Indiana Jones movie.  But we had the day to fill first. Walt stayed at his sister's; Ned picked me up and I went to Tom's to spend the day.  Jeri and Lacie spent a lot of time together.

They played Harry Potter chess...I know how to play chess, sort of, but couldn't make any sense out of the figures!

We didn't see much of Brianna during the day.

In the evening, 14 of us went to the theater.

What a fun movie!

Back to Alice Nan's afterwards and again, I fell right asleep and slept most of the night again.

Off to Santa Barbara

 We are off to Santa Barbara.  Ned got us all in the car by 4 a.m. and by 4:30 we were on the road.  He wanted to skip the traffic and arrive while the party was in session (so we could skip having to do the set-up).  We drove for a long time with no traffic and stopped in Paso Robles for breakfast at Denny's.  I loved their coffee cups!

We got to the picnic ...and yes, had to set up.  Jeri and Lacie made clam dip (the torch having been passed).

It was, as always a great event.  Walt counted and guessed there were about 50 people.  Tom and Joe did all the cooking.

There were a lot of alpaca sliders!

I usually have a birthday cake made for Tom, but since we were leaving on the day of the picnic, I couldn't do it.  Lacie made cupcake cakes.

She also made a 49er cupcake cake as a surprise.

We had a wonderful time visiting with our old friends Dick and Gerry (who are Ned's godparents) and, of course, there was music.

The party ended around 5 and all was cleaned up as we returned home.  I fell asleep almost as soon as we got home...I hadn't done that much, but it was probably all that sun.  With a couple of trips to the bathroom, I pretty much slept all night.

Meeting the public

 Marta has made certain that Walt and I are ready to join the public in Santa Barbara.

We are so lucky to have her living here and so grateful for her ministrations!

Ned has spent the day getting everything organized, getting the car packed so that we can leave very early and drive straight to the beach in Santa Barbara, and writing detailed instructions for our house sitter.  

Bubba must know there is "something" going on.  He just won't leave my lap.  The only time he gets off of my lap, if I"m sitting down, is if Walt comes in and sits down and then he goes to Walt's lap. I sure hope he and the house sitter bond.  She will love having a lap dog and he will definitely be missing laps.

In the meantime, he is going crazy trying to catch the squirrels.  Ned caught a great video of him that I hope you can see on Instagram.  The link is below and it's weird that it takes you to another link and then to a page that wants to be SURE that you want that page.  But I'm thrilled with the video.  (If you are on Facebook, you can also see it here)

I'm hoping to continue to write entries while we are gone, but if there are no entries for a couple of days, I will make it up when we get home.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

I think the squirrel is taunting Bubba

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Sunday Stealing

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves.

Stolen from The Pen Company

1. If your house was on fire, which three items would you save?

* "Delicate Pooh" (a Pooh Bear that sits in a big mayonnaise jar on display in the living room)

* A figure of my friend Gilbert Russak as Jack Point in a production of Yeomen of the Guard.

* My hard drives

2. What is the strangest or most awkward date you’ve ever been on?

It was in college.  I had a date with someone...and early evening...and when I got home, I had another date with someone else.

3. What are your biggest fears?

Alzheimers, being helpless, not dying in my sleep

4. How do you spend your time when you are procrastinating?

Doing things like this ... and watching TV

5. What has been your most memorable birthday so far, and why?

Probably 70 when there was a huge party and one friend flew in from Colorado for the day and flew home that night.  It was a Wizard of Oz theme and the birthday was shared with 2 other February birthdays.

6. What is your favorite snack?

Peanuts or cashews

7. What was your first pet?

A cat named Socksie that the manager of our local grocery store gave me when he heard I was home in bed with the measles.  He ran away.

8. What’s your favorite city in your country?

San Francisco.  Isn't it nice that I was born in my favorite city?

9. Do you have a garden?

Me? no.  But son Ned has planted basil and tomato plants, which I photograph each week from my office window.

10. What is your favorite thing about your home town?

My "home town" San Francisco, the views.  My home town, Davis how quiet and peaceful it is (except when people are being stabbed to death)

11. What was the last book you read?

Harlan Coben's latest.

12. What is the best book you have ever read?

Oh how do you pick just one???  But I'll choose an odd one -- "The Mother Tongue" by Bill Bryson, the story of the English language.  I liked it so much I gave a copy of it to everyone in the family the Christmas after I read it.

13. Who is your favorite author?

John Steinbeck and Harlan Coben ... I've read all of the books of each of them.

14, Is there a food that you hate?

Liver and beets, together or separately.

15. Do you get along with your neighbors?

We've lived here 50 years and most of the neighbors we knew years ago have either died or moved and I don't know the new people.  There are only two that are still here and we are cordial, but not friends.  

16. Do you have any tattoos or piercings?

Just one piercing in each ear; no tattoos.

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PHOTO OF THE DAY

Ned's garden this week, before he harvested
basil to make pesto for dinner

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