I went north to see my friends Marykay and Mike this week. I was so excited to go. It had been a long time since I visited them at their home. When Janet came to pick me up to take me to the train station, she noted that we could see the mountains to the west of us which were about 50 miles away. What a sight! We don't see that often!
The trip up north went well. I read the whole time. Marykay and Mike picked me up in Stockton and we drove to Livermore.
Marykay is an excellent cook. Though we had nice meals out, what we at home was at least as good. I was well fed. And we went to several restaurants serving different nationalities of food, Chinese, Japanese and Jordanian and Thai and one that would be a California Cuisine. All excellent. We went to Campo di Bocci for Sunday brunch. They have a Bocce court inside the restaurant with tables around for meals. Cocktails and or wine and beer are unlimited for the first 1.5 hours. I have never seen this before. I had smoked salmon and shrimp. They had many other food items including roast beef, omelets, salads and fabulous desserts.
We talked about so much. I loved the leisurely pace which was much easier for me. I brought two movies up, The Martian and Interstellar which they had not seen. I loved both of these movies and thought with Mike being a physicist he really might enjoy them.
We went to an art store where I got a couple of things I haven't been able to get. It was fun just looking around. Wonderful ideas all over the place.
Another day Marykay and I went to a high end outlet mall. The clothing stores were beyond my means. We did go into a couple of stores that only sell socks. They had them for everyone and I could afford these. And, I didn't have to worry about size! They were very nice. We also went to a store which sells lotions and soaps called L'Occitane. They are wonderfully scented. The other store we went to was a children's clothing store from France. Marykay got a beautiful outfit for her granddaughter Eva. That was a fun day.
One day we took a hike on the Arroyo Mocho Trail, just a bit of it. It was gorgeous and the weather was very pleasant. We didn't expect so much water with the drought we are having.
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| Along the Arroyo Mocho Trail |
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| Along the Arroyo Mocho Trail |
We went to her daughter Libby's home. Her son Ari was so cute, but kept his distance from me until we were leaving and he gave a kiss. Very sweet! Libby looked good. Marykay, his grandmother played with him. He loved that. They see each other on line as she does with her daughter Rachel and her family in Washington. This is really a wonderful tool when you can't see each other as often as you would like.
We went out for dinner with her brother John and his wife Jennifer. It was good to see them. John is retiring and he plans to fix up a train set. It was something he did as a boy and now he will have the time to work on it and make it the way he wants.
Mike told me to bring my album, that he could transfer it to a CD. They had a phonograph, but they found it wasn't working, so they bought another one. I felt bad, but they said they have records they can play on it. Mike put quite a bit of time on it. It turned out there were two albums in the sleeve one of the high school concert band and the other the dance band, called the Naturals. Our dance band was pretty good. If you didn't see kids playing you would think we were adults. My friends could hear me playing the bass.
I went to the mall to get a USB Support Drive. It was raining heavily going there and I drove slowly. I started coming back the same way, but it was flooded badly. When I got to the H street underpass, it was very flooded. I thought if I drove in it my car might stall. Someone else's car did. There were several cars behind me and I decided I'd turn around. So I was driving into traffic and cars stopped moving when I did that. I was able to get out of there and avoid the really deep flooding.
When I got home, I hooked up the SuperDrive and it kept ejecting it. So I'm not sure what to do. I'll talk with Mike. I wanted to put a couple of our jazz band's pieces on my blog. Marykay, Mike and I really enjoyed The Naturals.
We went to Marykay's and Mike's church, St. Charles Borromeo in Livermore. Marykay and Claudia Willis made these pictures to look like stained glass. Marykay did the design. It was done on watercolor paper about 1/3 the size of the final picture. Mike, Marykay's husband has wonderful technological skills and made them high definition by making it with more pixels. They sent it as an attachment on an email to Wallpaper for Windows which printed it on a plastic. They in turn used a soapy water and and a plastic card like a credit card to work out the bubbles. See the pictures below for the outcome. Lovely! Marykay is a wonderful artist. I love what she does. I have a couple of her pictures so I gave her two of mine, the lion and the deer. Here are the paintings on the glass doors of the church.
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| St. Charles Borromeo Church in Livermore |
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| St. Charles Borromeo Church in Livermore |
Before I left we did a selfie of the three of us in their backyard.
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| Marykay, Mike and Me |
When I got home, Janet picked me up and we went to The Red Pepper for dinner and Margaritas on my side of town. They are very creative with how they put their food together.
Below are two written pieces. The first by Erma Bombeck and the second one, my friend Susan found and posted. She was once my boss when I worked in hospice. She was the best boss I ever had. What a sense of humor and very caring. I miss her. She moved to another state.
IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER
By Erma Bombeck
I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
I would have eaten the popcorn in the 'good' living room and worried much less about the dirt when someone wanted to light a fire in the fireplace.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains. I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn't show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more "I love yous"... more "I'm sorrys"...but mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it...live it...and never give it back.
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In Memory of Erma Bombeck
"Be courageous and bold. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did."
And the second writing which is excellent is::
How We Used to Die; How We Die Now
By Louis Profeta, M.D.
http://exopermaculture.com/2016/01/19/how-we-used-to-die-how-we-die-now/http://exopermaculture.com/2016/01/19/how-we-used-to-die-how-we-die-now/
No art this week. I have been busy visiting. I need to rest. I hope your week went well. See you next Sunday.
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