So here I am again, still in Seattle but heading to Spokane and the lake later this morning.
Dinner last night was a success and Miguel's spaghetti sauce was really nice....but I think Mum and Noni are still not threatened too much.
Surprisingly it was quite late after dinner ....almost 11 pm...but then I realized that Miguel and Shannon always eat "spanish style" and don't start eating until about 9 pm.
Needless to say, I slept very well last night and it was well and truly after 6 15 this morning when I awoke.
regarding yesterday, we also did a lot of bush bashing with clippers, loppers and Buzzie's weed whacker....as opposed to our whipper snipper....same thing.
Buzzie is definitely one of of those people who LLIKE to do things around the house in case the job gets more complicated and they can find MORE to do the deeper they get into the job. Exactly why I can't stand doing fix up jobs. Nevertheless, we were pretty successful in most of our "jobs" except for the washer change on one of the outside taps which had a "frost free" connection which went back almost 30 cm before you got to the washer....which wasn't held on with a screw.
We ended up putting back the original after many trips to the hardware store.
So now it is about 6 30, the house is quiet and I expect that we'll be off for Spokane and other places by about 10....Buzzie says 9 ....so maybe 10 30 and we're also picking up another lounge to take to the lake.
It hasn't rained yet here in Seattle and we may just make it out before it does but the weather has been cool but sunny and Washington State still has it's charm as far as houses etc.
Liked Mum's pictures and look forward to see her and then Uncle Jim and of course, all of you.
Dad
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Mum in uk
Day 2 here and I have been for my morning walk here. Did Wallingford and then crossed the bridge and explored Crowmarsh Gifford on the other side.
The town is small and very historical, with lots of very quaint very English village structures around the town.
Petrol is 134.9/litre which sounds like home except that is pounds not AUD. Today we are at the centre for ecology and hydrology for the day which is where our meetings will be each day.the purpose of the meeting is to do the last planning in preparation for the Ramsar conference of parties in Romania next may. All documents and resolutions to be presented there for approval by member countries have to go through a lengthy process of review by the ramsar bodies and then by the member countries way before the conference actually happens. Nobody likes surprises. So this is the lst chance to make a call on what will actually be completed in time for that meeting.
The upside is that it is a great group of people. Max and I are here from AUS. Randy from Canada, Roy and Kevin from us, lots of brits, teresita from Cuba and Montse from a SA country, cannot recall which, and ritesh from India, also with a small international crew from Gland.
Jerry I am proud of you for doing two posts so far. Wish I was there to share miguel's food and you can let him know that one of my fav oils is a Spanish one that we can buy at woolies.
The town is small and very historical, with lots of very quaint very English village structures around the town.
Petrol is 134.9/litre which sounds like home except that is pounds not AUD. Today we are at the centre for ecology and hydrology for the day which is where our meetings will be each day.the purpose of the meeting is to do the last planning in preparation for the Ramsar conference of parties in Romania next may. All documents and resolutions to be presented there for approval by member countries have to go through a lengthy process of review by the ramsar bodies and then by the member countries way before the conference actually happens. Nobody likes surprises. So this is the lst chance to make a call on what will actually be completed in time for that meeting.
The upside is that it is a great group of people. Max and I are here from AUS. Randy from Canada, Roy and Kevin from us, lots of brits, teresita from Cuba and Montse from a SA country, cannot recall which, and ritesh from India, also with a small international crew from Gland.
Jerry I am proud of you for doing two posts so far. Wish I was there to share miguel's food and you can let him know that one of my fav oils is a Spanish one that we can buy at woolies.
dad in Seattle
Hola kids and Chrissie,
It took a little effort but I think I'm back on the blog.
Still in Seattle where today we did a heap of work. Fixed the hinges on a door. Took down three sets of countertops, patched some holes in a wall, trimmed the branches of a bunch of trees and bushes off the second floor verandah, cleaned out their shed, fixed a leaking tap, big time trouble...three trips to the hardware shop...and generally made ourselves handy. And yes, I'm tired.
However, I am now eating pan du maca of Miguel's ( like bruschetta, SPANISH style, after an oyster bay sav blanc, and our first red....koonunga hill compliments of me.
We are all pretty tired...lots of work today, but this is the best time. Miguel is making dinner ....pasta in his own spanish tomato sauce and he has assured us that Spanish olive oil is vastly superior to Italian olive oil bkut the Italians advertise better.
Tomorrow we head back to Spokane and the lake. First we'll stop at the dump to dump "stuff" , then the hardware store ....again...to bring a few things back. then Spokane, and the lake.
It has been really fun here but I'll sleep well tonight...especially if we get to the Jacob Creek Reserve shiraz after dinner with our Seattle Pie Company pies.
I hope Mum is doing well in the uk and I am looking forward to the lake but they all tell me that the snow melt is still making the lakepretty cool.
More soon
It took a little effort but I think I'm back on the blog.
Still in Seattle where today we did a heap of work. Fixed the hinges on a door. Took down three sets of countertops, patched some holes in a wall, trimmed the branches of a bunch of trees and bushes off the second floor verandah, cleaned out their shed, fixed a leaking tap, big time trouble...three trips to the hardware shop...and generally made ourselves handy. And yes, I'm tired.
However, I am now eating pan du maca of Miguel's ( like bruschetta, SPANISH style, after an oyster bay sav blanc, and our first red....koonunga hill compliments of me.
We are all pretty tired...lots of work today, but this is the best time. Miguel is making dinner ....pasta in his own spanish tomato sauce and he has assured us that Spanish olive oil is vastly superior to Italian olive oil bkut the Italians advertise better.
Tomorrow we head back to Spokane and the lake. First we'll stop at the dump to dump "stuff" , then the hardware store ....again...to bring a few things back. then Spokane, and the lake.
It has been really fun here but I'll sleep well tonight...especially if we get to the Jacob Creek Reserve shiraz after dinner with our Seattle Pie Company pies.
I hope Mum is doing well in the uk and I am looking forward to the lake but they all tell me that the snow melt is still making the lakepretty cool.
More soon
Mom in wallingford
Hey there..here I am at the George hotel in the charming village of wAllingford near Oxford. Its one of those small villages On the Thames that had a castle that is now only a ruin, but it is set in a lovely castle garden which I wAlked through today while witing for my room to be available. Yes indeed England IS green and very picturesque and with informal meadows and sunken paths around the village and a wonderful veriety of trees.
The flight from SFO to London was pretty painless and my travel buddy max finlayson was waiting at the coffee shop just outside the gates, so I had someone to travel with.
My meeting starts tommorrowand goes until Saturday afternoon. There is no doubt dad will be having more fun than me so I am pleased to see that he has managed to add to the blog. Did I read that they had to carry things up stairs? Oh boy, he would have loved that, but anything for good chorizo.
Anna will you please let uncle mike know via Facebook that I arrived safely. I do not have their email with me and I want noni to know that I got here ok so she stops worrying at least until Sunday when I am on my way back there.
That is all from the uk.
Jerry I think I finally figured out how to move around in the blog window, discovered it by accident.
The flight from SFO to London was pretty painless and my travel buddy max finlayson was waiting at the coffee shop just outside the gates, so I had someone to travel with.
My meeting starts tommorrowand goes until Saturday afternoon. There is no doubt dad will be having more fun than me so I am pleased to see that he has managed to add to the blog. Did I read that they had to carry things up stairs? Oh boy, he would have loved that, but anything for good chorizo.
Anna will you please let uncle mike know via Facebook that I arrived safely. I do not have their email with me and I want noni to know that I got here ok so she stops worrying at least until Sunday when I am on my way back there.
That is all from the uk.
Jerry I think I finally figured out how to move around in the blog window, discovered it by accident.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
dad not in Priest lake
okay, this is my second attempt to blog and Buzzie and I started a really good addition....unfortunately I lost it all without saving it. So here we go again.
If you look at the title, you will see that I am NOT at priest lake relaxing and water skiiing and drinking beer but instead, at Seattle with Buzzie and Shannon and Miguel at their new house.
When I got off the plane, Buzzie told me that we were going to take a load of furniture to Miguel and Shannon from Spokane to Seattle today and probably get to the lake by thursday. So here we are, after moving the lounge ( upstairs ) the china cabinet, various tools, chain saws, compressors, and chairs etc. into this house...which Mum would really like.
Tomorrow is gardening and house "fixing" and then thursday well head off to the lake.
Miguel is really cool...I like him a lot and he makes his own choriso...which is really good....I wanted to take some back for noni but this is his last one for a while.
all right, now it's my turn. jed arrived in spokane apunto which means on time. i emailed him our plan but he didn't get it so he was a little surprised to learn he was going to be a furniture mover. he's here a week, i've got to get everything i can out of him. and of course he talked the whole way to seattle - stories, jokes, the usual prietto bull shit. the only time he stopped was when he was eating that delicious rosauers sandwich we got for the trip. we did listen to the smooth jazz of stacy kent which i loved and crissie will love as well. so in a word the four hour drive seemed like an hour. and he didn't have to take a pee the whole way. he's proud of his operation. anyway we miss chrissy and wish she was here but 1/2 is better than no half. crissie and i are planning to go to spain for christmas but the next trip after that will definitely be the land of oz. we'll see you all next year after the end of the mayan calendar which supposedly marks the end of the world. how do the mayans get precedence over the second coming? anyway all our love from the spokane welches and sevillas and the seattle peñas.
buzzie
If you look at the title, you will see that I am NOT at priest lake relaxing and water skiiing and drinking beer but instead, at Seattle with Buzzie and Shannon and Miguel at their new house.
When I got off the plane, Buzzie told me that we were going to take a load of furniture to Miguel and Shannon from Spokane to Seattle today and probably get to the lake by thursday. So here we are, after moving the lounge ( upstairs ) the china cabinet, various tools, chain saws, compressors, and chairs etc. into this house...which Mum would really like.
Tomorrow is gardening and house "fixing" and then thursday well head off to the lake.
Miguel is really cool...I like him a lot and he makes his own choriso...which is really good....I wanted to take some back for noni but this is his last one for a while.
all right, now it's my turn. jed arrived in spokane apunto which means on time. i emailed him our plan but he didn't get it so he was a little surprised to learn he was going to be a furniture mover. he's here a week, i've got to get everything i can out of him. and of course he talked the whole way to seattle - stories, jokes, the usual prietto bull shit. the only time he stopped was when he was eating that delicious rosauers sandwich we got for the trip. we did listen to the smooth jazz of stacy kent which i loved and crissie will love as well. so in a word the four hour drive seemed like an hour. and he didn't have to take a pee the whole way. he's proud of his operation. anyway we miss chrissy and wish she was here but 1/2 is better than no half. crissie and i are planning to go to spain for christmas but the next trip after that will definitely be the land of oz. we'll see you all next year after the end of the mayan calendar which supposedly marks the end of the world. how do the mayans get precedence over the second coming? anyway all our love from the spokane welches and sevillas and the seattle peñas.
buzzie
27-28 june
Hi from SFO airport.I am taking advantage of the free 45 minutes of wifi to do a blog post. Dad was picked up by auntie lindy this morning at 6.30 for his trip to Spokane. He will be nearly there by now as it was a direct light. He is bringing along his new ukelele and his new Ike songbook which we purchased yesterday.
I got picked up by uncle spike at 9.30 and was able to check in and go through for my 12.50 flight. Non was busy this morning saying extra prayers for all the people flying today, us and Tony and his friend Rico.
yesterday we did a run down to see Tony's school. It is pretty amazing but also amazingly expensive, .33,000 per year per child. This is just tuition, not boarding, and there are no discount for more than one child. The school had 600 students and there is every facility that they cow
D want. Irony wanted us to see the new ag area which is very small and neat and houses rabbits, chickens and goats, so it is unusual to move between a small ag plot and beautiful state of the are sporting fields. My favorite thing is the whopping big vegetable garden which is right in the centre of the school supplying some very nice vegetables. Ad YES there is one teacher who is behind it all and who has driven the program and still works regularly in the garden. He was there yesterday and helped luca pull out - carrot which we later fed to the ravenous rabbits.
Lunch was at geoffreys hamburgers which you would all like. After that we swung by Gtyphone Music for dad so he could get his pic taken there and buy a few shirts. This is where he also bought the ukelele song book with encouragement from me.
We arrived back at N&G's to find that noni had made a beautiful Banana loaf cake. WE packed for the next day and hung out with non and gramps until the martinellis picked us up for a quick run up to SPORTS Authority to look at shoes and sweatshirts.
Dinner was the last of auntie Lindy's wonderful polenta shared with noni, very yummy.
This morning before I left I finally managed to sort through the box of stuff that has been floating around the kitchen since we arrived, all things gathered from off the dining room vanity before we arrived. Non cokes me a little brekkie and then it was off to the airport.
Dad has instructions for getting into the blog so I hope he manages to put up some posts of his own. Missing All of you, mom.
I got picked up by uncle spike at 9.30 and was able to check in and go through for my 12.50 flight. Non was busy this morning saying extra prayers for all the people flying today, us and Tony and his friend Rico.
yesterday we did a run down to see Tony's school. It is pretty amazing but also amazingly expensive, .33,000 per year per child. This is just tuition, not boarding, and there are no discount for more than one child. The school had 600 students and there is every facility that they cow
D want. Irony wanted us to see the new ag area which is very small and neat and houses rabbits, chickens and goats, so it is unusual to move between a small ag plot and beautiful state of the are sporting fields. My favorite thing is the whopping big vegetable garden which is right in the centre of the school supplying some very nice vegetables. Ad YES there is one teacher who is behind it all and who has driven the program and still works regularly in the garden. He was there yesterday and helped luca pull out - carrot which we later fed to the ravenous rabbits.
Lunch was at geoffreys hamburgers which you would all like. After that we swung by Gtyphone Music for dad so he could get his pic taken there and buy a few shirts. This is where he also bought the ukelele song book with encouragement from me.
We arrived back at N&G's to find that noni had made a beautiful Banana loaf cake. WE packed for the next day and hung out with non and gramps until the martinellis picked us up for a quick run up to SPORTS Authority to look at shoes and sweatshirts.
Dinner was the last of auntie Lindy's wonderful polenta shared with noni, very yummy.
This morning before I left I finally managed to sort through the box of stuff that has been floating around the kitchen since we arrived, all things gathered from off the dining room vanity before we arrived. Non cokes me a little brekkie and then it was off to the airport.
Dad has instructions for getting into the blog so I hope he manages to put up some posts of his own. Missing All of you, mom.
Monday, June 27, 2011
26 june
Good morning all, you will see thT I finally managed to get enough time and Internet connection to get a few photos up for your enjoyment. I have one mare day to catch up on and that is the song fest and dinner at kristas.
My turn now. Yesterday was the pressure packed " breakfast by Jerry" which was on request by gramps. Mum and I bought a few extra spuds on our walk as well as some extra snags since the pressure was on. Non was gone when we got home from the walk ....out buying more spuds after she went to church. Mum actually did most of the cooking but as far as gramps was concerned, "Jerry cooked breakfast"Non wasn't fooled, however, and she asked mum if I could "really" have cooked the eggs and snags etc, all by myself.
Mum here, brekkie was a greT success. The martinellis arrived on time and everything ws ready on schedule which was good because it WAS a sunday morning and gramps was going to 10.30 mass. Gramps said " you know how when you are looking forward to having something again but it turns out to be not as good as the last time. Well this is just as good!
After cleaning up our kitchen mess we walked up the street to drop in on Pia Sciandri who is recovering from a health scare. We ran into Krista and boys (they live on the same street) who were on their way to burlingame. So after 10 minutes of discussing options we ended up all going to Burlingame with her and the boys, minus non and gramps who do not like the walking and had a few things to do elsewhere.
The Burlingame experience included seeing a bicycle rce which was led by an Aussie girl, a baskin and Robbins extravaganza (dad ordered what uncle mike ordered, the banana royal Sunday, one step down from a banana split), a trip to baby gap to pick up a few Eleanor items and a short stint at a small children's prk.
Once back home Dad grabbed the opportunity to tAke. Sort nap. Then out to dinner to the American Bull, a sports bar restaurant with mike, lindy, Noah, n& g.
dinner was pretty ordinary but we did have a "Newcastle ale" which was a very nice "brown" beer. gramps shouted and the whole place was a "sports bar" with about 6 t v screens all showing games...mostly baseball, and since the giants were playing 5 of the screens showed the giants. Uncle Mike wore his NRL Kangaroos jumper which he really likes a lot...our b day pressie from oz to him.
Tomorrow dad and I tKe off for Spokane and the UK so not sure how we will go with the blog. I am sending dad to Spokane with all of the passwords to get into the blog and hopefully he will do a few posts from there. I will be trying to do the same from the uk so the blog will not be as regular over the next 5 days. I hope you do not suffer blog withdrawal. We love you. Mom and dad
My turn now. Yesterday was the pressure packed " breakfast by Jerry" which was on request by gramps. Mum and I bought a few extra spuds on our walk as well as some extra snags since the pressure was on. Non was gone when we got home from the walk ....out buying more spuds after she went to church. Mum actually did most of the cooking but as far as gramps was concerned, "Jerry cooked breakfast"Non wasn't fooled, however, and she asked mum if I could "really" have cooked the eggs and snags etc, all by myself.
Mum here, brekkie was a greT success. The martinellis arrived on time and everything ws ready on schedule which was good because it WAS a sunday morning and gramps was going to 10.30 mass. Gramps said " you know how when you are looking forward to having something again but it turns out to be not as good as the last time. Well this is just as good!
After cleaning up our kitchen mess we walked up the street to drop in on Pia Sciandri who is recovering from a health scare. We ran into Krista and boys (they live on the same street) who were on their way to burlingame. So after 10 minutes of discussing options we ended up all going to Burlingame with her and the boys, minus non and gramps who do not like the walking and had a few things to do elsewhere.
The Burlingame experience included seeing a bicycle rce which was led by an Aussie girl, a baskin and Robbins extravaganza (dad ordered what uncle mike ordered, the banana royal Sunday, one step down from a banana split), a trip to baby gap to pick up a few Eleanor items and a short stint at a small children's prk.
Once back home Dad grabbed the opportunity to tAke. Sort nap. Then out to dinner to the American Bull, a sports bar restaurant with mike, lindy, Noah, n& g.
dinner was pretty ordinary but we did have a "Newcastle ale" which was a very nice "brown" beer. gramps shouted and the whole place was a "sports bar" with about 6 t v screens all showing games...mostly baseball, and since the giants were playing 5 of the screens showed the giants. Uncle Mike wore his NRL Kangaroos jumper which he really likes a lot...our b day pressie from oz to him.
Tomorrow dad and I tKe off for Spokane and the UK so not sure how we will go with the blog. I am sending dad to Spokane with all of the passwords to get into the blog and hopefully he will do a few posts from there. I will be trying to do the same from the uk so the blog will not be as regular over the next 5 days. I hope you do not suffer blog withdrawal. We love you. Mom and dad
Sunday, June 26, 2011
26june more
Just a short additional message. I have not forgotten photos, just having a bit of a challenge as I cannot figure out how to add the photos on the iPad and so I am saving the photo loading for back at non and gramps with the plug in wireless. But this is not consistent, sometimes it works and other times the connection is very slow, and so this sometimes undermines my short windows to do computer stuff. So I do have some great photos to share and will try again this morning after our breakfast.
26 June
We had a bit of a slower day yesterday which was nice. We just hung at at non and gramps after our walk. I had to pay a few bills and dad did a short spin down to the farmers market for Linda and then cruised the garage sAles. Around 1 we went over to martinellis for a late lunch and then to watch the giants game and then dinner. Krista and non and I made one short trip out to noni,s hair supply place and by the time we came back uncle mike was home from working the game and ready to get stuck into cooking his ducks.
the giants pretty much dominate the timing factor of the whole family. With mike and Tony and Krista's husband, Greg all working the games, everything rotates around their schedules and, of course Krista's boys. So after the game yesterday, hanging out at Martinellis ,meant waiting for Uncle Mike and chilling....watching for him onq the field on t.v. the dinner was great...especially Auntie Lindy's polenta. The sauce was wonderful and the texture really nice. the duck was a "tear it apart with your hands" style which, of course, meant that gramps wouldn't have a bar of it. Mark Mike, mum and I got the ducks and did a credible job on them. Uncle Mike also took out the after dinner spirits which mum has a little but I ducked...pun intended. One of gramp's better moves involved saying while we were leaving, " Jerry, they've accepted your invitation to cook breakfast tomorrow morning" which of course, has me under the gun for cooking spuds today when we get home.
The other day all I did was cook some spuds while mum cooked the rest of the break but gramp's view was that I cooked it all. But the spuds were pretty close to my usual standard.
This morning's blog needs to be short and sweet because we are hosting breakfast for the martinellis this morning at noni and gramps's place. There was a tentative plan to go out to breakfast on Sunday morning, that is today. But gramps kept saying he would be just as happy with a recreation of "Jerrys breakfast" from fathers day as that was better than anything we could find elsewhere. Gramps suggested this last night and then said to dad,"they have accepted your invitation". So we are cooking this morning and dad will be under pressure to recreate the fried potatoes he did at day. I am sure he will rise to the challenge as you know he gives lots of attention to his potAtoes. I will be the "offsider" doing the rest of the breakfast.
That's all from us
the giants pretty much dominate the timing factor of the whole family. With mike and Tony and Krista's husband, Greg all working the games, everything rotates around their schedules and, of course Krista's boys. So after the game yesterday, hanging out at Martinellis ,meant waiting for Uncle Mike and chilling....watching for him onq the field on t.v. the dinner was great...especially Auntie Lindy's polenta. The sauce was wonderful and the texture really nice. the duck was a "tear it apart with your hands" style which, of course, meant that gramps wouldn't have a bar of it. Mark Mike, mum and I got the ducks and did a credible job on them. Uncle Mike also took out the after dinner spirits which mum has a little but I ducked...pun intended. One of gramp's better moves involved saying while we were leaving, " Jerry, they've accepted your invitation to cook breakfast tomorrow morning" which of course, has me under the gun for cooking spuds today when we get home.
The other day all I did was cook some spuds while mum cooked the rest of the break but gramp's view was that I cooked it all. But the spuds were pretty close to my usual standard.
This morning's blog needs to be short and sweet because we are hosting breakfast for the martinellis this morning at noni and gramps's place. There was a tentative plan to go out to breakfast on Sunday morning, that is today. But gramps kept saying he would be just as happy with a recreation of "Jerrys breakfast" from fathers day as that was better than anything we could find elsewhere. Gramps suggested this last night and then said to dad,"they have accepted your invitation". So we are cooking this morning and dad will be under pressure to recreate the fried potatoes he did at day. I am sure he will rise to the challenge as you know he gives lots of attention to his potAtoes. I will be the "offsider" doing the rest of the breakfast.
That's all from us
Saturday, June 25, 2011
June 25 more
....Sanger. we've just had to start a new blog because we still haven't figured out how to scroll down in the blog after we hit a mystery button which sends the cursor up ...
On our travels we ran into a very up market store on sitter just near union square called UGG Australia. This was definitely UGG American style. All were lined with fleece btu from that starting point the shoes went in all directions and all co ours. My favorite were the UGG thongs..yes, thongs with a fleece top. They cam in 3 co ours and I guess they could be good for the person who still loves their morning slippers in the summertime. Prices? $140 for a pair of traditional UGGs
also found some joggers for mum and a few bargains at old navy for me....sartorial splendor for sure.
we had left a note for non and gramps that we'd be back by 3 and via Bart and a walk from the ssf Bart station we walked through the door spot on....time master is back.
Our next item on the schedule was a visit to Lucas preschool for a Bollywood Party. His schools is pretty amazing the the Bollywood party was almost surreal. The school is developed Round 3 houses in a suburban neighborhood so from the front you really don't notice it. Once you come in the entry and go out the back all of the yards behind are connected and developed around many small gardens and play spaces and it is really lovely and inviting, almost like a small village, lots og trees, veggie gardens and just very special.
The bolleywood party was a pair of entertainers who led the children in a number of songs and dances ala the wiggled, but with a pop song semi Indian sort of theme with an ethics message women throughout about positive values, love in your heart, families. The school has a number of Indian families and they made lots of clothing available so many of the teachers and some children were in Indian dress.
Refreshments were manny many round table pizzas and watermelon juice.
After that it was straight to kristas for a tamale dinner with tamales from Viola, the tamale queen of so city. Krist has bought Greg a guitar as he wants to learn. He was not there last night as he and uncle mike were working the game. But dad tuned the guitar and we had a little sing along to the great delight of Noah who just loves music. After each sone he would rush up to dad and say what's the next one.
Songs we sng included all the classics, twinkle twinkle, row row row your boat, tie me out to the ball game, camp town ladies, 6 little ducks, and the peace de resistance, the star spangled banner. Dad surprised himself by figuring out some of the songs which he had never played on the guitar before. GreT tamales, great music, lots of fund and dad has definitely made a few points with Noah. He gave dad a hug before we left.also the giants won again last night so we are definitely off the hook there. ThT is all for today. Love us
On our travels we ran into a very up market store on sitter just near union square called UGG Australia. This was definitely UGG American style. All were lined with fleece btu from that starting point the shoes went in all directions and all co ours. My favorite were the UGG thongs..yes, thongs with a fleece top. They cam in 3 co ours and I guess they could be good for the person who still loves their morning slippers in the summertime. Prices? $140 for a pair of traditional UGGs
also found some joggers for mum and a few bargains at old navy for me....sartorial splendor for sure.
we had left a note for non and gramps that we'd be back by 3 and via Bart and a walk from the ssf Bart station we walked through the door spot on....time master is back.
Our next item on the schedule was a visit to Lucas preschool for a Bollywood Party. His schools is pretty amazing the the Bollywood party was almost surreal. The school is developed Round 3 houses in a suburban neighborhood so from the front you really don't notice it. Once you come in the entry and go out the back all of the yards behind are connected and developed around many small gardens and play spaces and it is really lovely and inviting, almost like a small village, lots og trees, veggie gardens and just very special.
The bolleywood party was a pair of entertainers who led the children in a number of songs and dances ala the wiggled, but with a pop song semi Indian sort of theme with an ethics message women throughout about positive values, love in your heart, families. The school has a number of Indian families and they made lots of clothing available so many of the teachers and some children were in Indian dress.
Refreshments were manny many round table pizzas and watermelon juice.
After that it was straight to kristas for a tamale dinner with tamales from Viola, the tamale queen of so city. Krist has bought Greg a guitar as he wants to learn. He was not there last night as he and uncle mike were working the game. But dad tuned the guitar and we had a little sing along to the great delight of Noah who just loves music. After each sone he would rush up to dad and say what's the next one.
Songs we sng included all the classics, twinkle twinkle, row row row your boat, tie me out to the ball game, camp town ladies, 6 little ducks, and the peace de resistance, the star spangled banner. Dad surprised himself by figuring out some of the songs which he had never played on the guitar before. GreT tamales, great music, lots of fund and dad has definitely made a few points with Noah. He gave dad a hug before we left.also the giants won again last night so we are definitely off the hook there. ThT is all for today. Love us
25 june
We started yesterday with our normal walk to Starbucks. Since it was Friday, auntie lindy,s day off but also the day the boys come together to them, we decided to walk up there with donuts. So we walked up el camino passed the Royal Pin donut shop, and arrived at their door Round 8.30 to a very dRk and quiet house. They were still in bed as the boys were not coming to them until later on the day. Oops. However, they had a stack of stuff to do before so they were said it was "good that we came by when we did".
We walked back to nonissue with a few more things than we arrived with, 24 frozen tamales and chili sauce from Viola for dinner at kristas that night.
We got back to nonissue and 9.30 and they were just on the way out the door for a doctors appointment. We did a few things and then took off on foot Gain for the Bart station to do a short run into San Francisco for a bit of shopping.
Passing over to dad now.
we started on foot for Bart but a bus came ALONG and for two bucks we "seniors" could hop on.
Bart is cool and fast. we were in the city in no time. then it was a nostalgia shop for mum and a good bargains shop for me. we did a pretty good walk around Union Square area including mum's favorite materials store where she bought apron material. also a clothing store which used to be a garment factory....with hundreds of old sewing machines in their windows...picture sataken.
we also started looking for lunch and ended up doing the ultimate tourist stop and had pastrami sandwich and beer at Lefty o'Doul's ...a famous baseball oriented place with hundreds of photos of players etc. for a first, I said "yes" to splitting a
We walked back to nonissue with a few more things than we arrived with, 24 frozen tamales and chili sauce from Viola for dinner at kristas that night.
We got back to nonissue and 9.30 and they were just on the way out the door for a doctors appointment. We did a few things and then took off on foot Gain for the Bart station to do a short run into San Francisco for a bit of shopping.
Passing over to dad now.
we started on foot for Bart but a bus came ALONG and for two bucks we "seniors" could hop on.
Bart is cool and fast. we were in the city in no time. then it was a nostalgia shop for mum and a good bargains shop for me. we did a pretty good walk around Union Square area including mum's favorite materials store where she bought apron material. also a clothing store which used to be a garment factory....with hundreds of old sewing machines in their windows...picture sataken.
we also started looking for lunch and ended up doing the ultimate tourist stop and had pastrami sandwich and beer at Lefty o'Doul's ...a famous baseball oriented place with hundreds of photos of players etc. for a first, I said "yes" to splitting a
Friday, June 24, 2011
24 june
Happy birthday Kate from a very chilly so city. E had old friend fest yesterday. Our lunch visit with Nancy was great but very short. We went down to La tapitia and bought green salsa, carnitas and small fresh tortillas. Noni made a very small plate of pasta with the last of her special sauce and also sliced some tomatoes with oil and vinegar. Noni and gramps were only going to stay long enough for noni to tase the cRnitas and then they were going down to wendys to meet up wi their lunch crowd. But they ended up staying home with us which was great. Nancy is as fun as ever and just love seeing noni and gramps also. You will see her in the photos I put up. She brought me a cookbook and it looks like fun. Auntie lindy loved it too so I have already ordered one fro her on amazon.
Between Nancy and dinner with the Santa Clara crowd we went over to the photo printing place and printed out two small booklets of the many family photos I brought along with me. Noni does not like looking at the photos on the screen. So I really needed to get some printed in the traditional format so she can pour over them. Of course it was a buzz for us too as it reminds us of how rich we are in our family.
Okay, it's dad now.
The Santa Clara crowd was great fun. We went to bertoluccis restaurant right here in so. City. Of course "stories" were told and it was amazing to find out that some memories had things a little differently. Nevertheless, there was a lot of laughing and a very good meal. Uncle John is still in fine form although very thin. I may have had a little bad mushroom this morning but not much. and we've already done half our walk being here at Starbucks, wireless centre of so city.
Mum here, everyone had a Jerry story and these were pretty funny, once the first one came out everyone had their own favorite Jerry story, and dad wore it all very well, although he did try to challenge a few stories but got howled down.
Mum will post a photo from the restaurant. We actualy closed the place down being the last party to leave.
Between Nancy and dinner with the Santa Clara crowd we went over to the photo printing place and printed out two small booklets of the many family photos I brought along with me. Noni does not like looking at the photos on the screen. So I really needed to get some printed in the traditional format so she can pour over them. Of course it was a buzz for us too as it reminds us of how rich we are in our family.
Okay, it's dad now.
The Santa Clara crowd was great fun. We went to bertoluccis restaurant right here in so. City. Of course "stories" were told and it was amazing to find out that some memories had things a little differently. Nevertheless, there was a lot of laughing and a very good meal. Uncle John is still in fine form although very thin. I may have had a little bad mushroom this morning but not much. and we've already done half our walk being here at Starbucks, wireless centre of so city.
Mum here, everyone had a Jerry story and these were pretty funny, once the first one came out everyone had their own favorite Jerry story, and dad wore it all very well, although he did try to challenge a few stories but got howled down.
Mum will post a photo from the restaurant. We actualy closed the place down being the last party to leave.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
23 june
A Starbucks morning here, almost 7am and we are in our regular window seat. Dad will go first telling you about his golf game yesterday. I have to let him go first as if not he will keep chatting to me while I am composing on the blog and although I CAN probably listen AND write it makes my brain too tired. So passing over to DAD.
Mario was the perfect host. I barter up to the city to meet him where he would be and walked out the Bart station to confront a burger king.....I hadn't eaten..... gave it a miss but did manage to find pancakes, sausage and hash browns at a place around the corner, the Munchhaven diner! On the way to the course we started a catch up that would last all day. It was a great reminiscence amidst the golf. when we get home remind me to tell you about Joe Dido, grandpa C's best mate.
The golf course was private, very exclusive and extremely manicured. Golf wise we both played fine..actually didn't compete...but Mario definitely played better than me...he's a 13 handicapper. Great fun, very hot compared to so city, and very swish. His membership is " honorary" a gift from the father of one of his former students. Cool deal. after golf we had lunch in the swish club house and then back to Bart and back to so city. The it was dinner at non's cooked by mum and lindy. Over to mum.
Yes dinner was COOKED by us but was ready to go stuff from Costco!
My morning was with N & G and my afternoon with Linda and Noah. Morning included a short trip down to nonissue sewing group, 6 or 7 ladies who all knit or crochet, all of them completely outside of her normal and long standing circle of friends, those who have grown up in So City and many of whom went to school with noni. So she has some circles of friends who are totally separate. GRamps is the same, he has his friends at the gym who he sees twice a week. One of the people at his gym went to school with our Michelle (her name is Michelle too) and she always has recent knowledge of things happening in the family because she is connected to our Michelle on Facebook. So gramps gets a kick out of this.
My conversations with Linda are great too. I cannot believe how similar our current eating patterns and cooking patterns are. It is spooky. She was telling me about her current fav breakfast, muesli (except hers is granola) Greek plain yogurt and fruit, also one of my favorite and very common breakfasts. As you all know some of the cooking we both do are very similar, and watching noni this is easy to understand.
last night everyone watched the ginats on tv and luckily they won, so we do not have to get out of dodge early. Whew.
Re recent. Birthdays, cameos and eleanors and kates today!!! Happy birthday to all of you, we have experienced some confusion getting the days right, between keeping on top of days here, remembering which day it is in ox and then doing the blog about the day just passed, our little brains are a bit muddled. But we are thinking of All of you every day.
I would like to say that we are rebelling in wonderful summer weather here the sou city weather patterns are getting back to normal and it was freezing here in so city yesterday.
That is about all for today. We are heDng back soon to get ready for a visit from Nancy and then dinner wi the Santa Clara crowd, uncle John and co, at bertoluccis in So city. Love us
Mario was the perfect host. I barter up to the city to meet him where he would be and walked out the Bart station to confront a burger king.....I hadn't eaten..... gave it a miss but did manage to find pancakes, sausage and hash browns at a place around the corner, the Munchhaven diner! On the way to the course we started a catch up that would last all day. It was a great reminiscence amidst the golf. when we get home remind me to tell you about Joe Dido, grandpa C's best mate.
The golf course was private, very exclusive and extremely manicured. Golf wise we both played fine..actually didn't compete...but Mario definitely played better than me...he's a 13 handicapper. Great fun, very hot compared to so city, and very swish. His membership is " honorary" a gift from the father of one of his former students. Cool deal. after golf we had lunch in the swish club house and then back to Bart and back to so city. The it was dinner at non's cooked by mum and lindy. Over to mum.
Yes dinner was COOKED by us but was ready to go stuff from Costco!
My morning was with N & G and my afternoon with Linda and Noah. Morning included a short trip down to nonissue sewing group, 6 or 7 ladies who all knit or crochet, all of them completely outside of her normal and long standing circle of friends, those who have grown up in So City and many of whom went to school with noni. So she has some circles of friends who are totally separate. GRamps is the same, he has his friends at the gym who he sees twice a week. One of the people at his gym went to school with our Michelle (her name is Michelle too) and she always has recent knowledge of things happening in the family because she is connected to our Michelle on Facebook. So gramps gets a kick out of this.
My conversations with Linda are great too. I cannot believe how similar our current eating patterns and cooking patterns are. It is spooky. She was telling me about her current fav breakfast, muesli (except hers is granola) Greek plain yogurt and fruit, also one of my favorite and very common breakfasts. As you all know some of the cooking we both do are very similar, and watching noni this is easy to understand.
last night everyone watched the ginats on tv and luckily they won, so we do not have to get out of dodge early. Whew.
Re recent. Birthdays, cameos and eleanors and kates today!!! Happy birthday to all of you, we have experienced some confusion getting the days right, between keeping on top of days here, remembering which day it is in ox and then doing the blog about the day just passed, our little brains are a bit muddled. But we are thinking of All of you every day.
I would like to say that we are rebelling in wonderful summer weather here the sou city weather patterns are getting back to normal and it was freezing here in so city yesterday.
That is about all for today. We are heDng back soon to get ready for a visit from Nancy and then dinner wi the Santa Clara crowd, uncle John and co, at bertoluccis in So city. Love us
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
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