Precious Days

My mom and I had the pleasure and privilege of traveling once again to Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico for a week of wellness, spending lots of time together, as well as following our favorite individual pursuits. It was the perfect blend of time to reflect, exercise, learn new things, deepen practices, refresh our bodies from the inside (with organic foods and balanced nutrition) to the outside (with fresh air, walking, hiking, yoga and meditation, among other classes).

We serendipitously met (and reunited with) fabulous, fascinating people, finding our second time to be more sociable than our first - perhaps that was due to our greater familiarity with the place. We shared the same lovely casita as we did last year, lighting fires in the evenings and talking, resting and reading in our little "home away from home." I enjoyed self-treating with Reiki every day, before heading out to hike at 6:10 A.M. I could so easily imagine settling there...

We both thrived at the Rancho, and are already looking forward to returning next year (if possible, by the grace of God). Gregg spent the days golfing, playing tennis, watching polo and lounging with my father in California.

We flew down via San Diego so that we could meet KBL2ORD2SAN and her belovED. Mom and I met her at the airport last year, but this year, our husbands got to join us. What a thrill, after being blogging buddies for so many years, to finally be all together "in real life!" We had a long, leisurely lunch, and left still bursting with things to talk about. Until next time...

Driving from San Diego to the Coachella Valley was a beautiful experience to share with Gregg. As we crested the top of the last hill on Highway 74, the valley unfolded before us at sunset.

Unfortunately, while we were away, my dear mother-in-law, Elaine, suffered a stroke. Elaine is 93 years old - in fact, the stroke occurred at her birthday party - and has for several years suffered from memory loss. She has been telling us for the past couple of years that she doesn't know why she is still here - she says it matter-of-factly, without self-pity or complaint.

Elaine and Ed Gerstenberger, "back in the day"

When the stroke occurred, she became paralyzed on her left side and was unable to swallow. Hospice was called, and she was moved to a nursing home with a dismal prognosis. But her miraculous body has recovered enough for her to swallow soft foods. She is sleeping a lot, but can recognize us and speak a few words at a time. We are hoping that she will be able to move back to the assisted living facility where she and Grandpa Ed normally reside, into a nursing-care unit. As for now, it is day-by-day, with lots of family in attendance, sitting by her bedside and driving Grandpa back and forth to see her. Fortunately, they raised four wonderful kids (now adults, with families of their own) who love her deeply, and are all doing their best to care for her and Grandpa.

These are precious days, indeed.

Victoria

I love Canada. I feel so "at home" in British Columbia that, every time we visit, I have fantasies of living there.

Victoria is one of my favorite cities. It has an international feeling, a historic sense, and yet it has a manageable size - not too big and not too small. It is truly charming - not phony charm, but the real kind, based upon innate good qualities.

When we visit, we walk as much as possible, and do not rent a car. We average 8-12 miles walking each day, and we love seeing the neighborhoods and different areas from ground-level, at pedestrian speed. We love to be near the water, and Victoria has plenty of that. We love to eat and drink well, and restaurants, cafes and pubs abound. There are plenty of interesting shops for browsing, as well as farmer's markets, yard sales, antique stores and coffee shops. We love boats, so the Swiftsure sailboat race weekend is a natural attraction for us - plus, it coincides with our wedding anniversary (or should that be the other way around?).

On this trip, our 23rd anniversary, we arrived in a drizzling rain, so we checked our bags at the hotel and borrowed an umbrella. As Puget Sound natives, we view an umbrella as simply an insurance policy: if we carry one, the rain will stop. True to our expectation, after about an hour of carrying the umbrella as we walked up to the Cook Street Village for a cup of coffee and some people-watching, the sun came out.

We found a fabulous delicatessen that was new to us. Its cheese selection made our mouths water, but we were saving our appetites for dinner at Cafe Brio. We were not disappointed; we never have been, at Cafe Brio.

Part of the fun of our hotel's location is walking through Laurel Point Park, looking at the city from various angles, reading the dedications on the park benches, and people-watching. We walked to dinner as the light softened from day to dusk.

Gregg started his meal with a salad and a beer; I had a glass of wine. We chose to share a fish entree, and Gregg had a half-serving of pork shoulder to himself. Then we shared a dessert which is in a class of its own: the Sticky Date Toffee Pudding with vanilla bean ice cream, swimming in toffee-rum sauce. Oh.my.good.heavens. I don't have words to describe it.

With dessert, Gregg had coffee, but I indulged in something new: fortified blackberry dessert wine from the Venturi-Schulze Winery on Vancouver Island. We are planning a visit to that winery on our next trip to the island.

On Saturday morning, we awoke for an early breakfast so that we could watch the sailboats heading out to begin the race. One reason that I love this modest hotel is its location on the inner harbour. The parade of boats is an exciting spectacle, and we are able to enjoy it from our breakfast table.

The harbour looks quite different without the boat parade. It is always busy, with ferries, pleasure boats, float planes, passenger ferries and commercial shipping, but I caught it during a quiet moment here:

After breakfast, we walked up past Ogden Point, onto the breakwater, out to the lighthouse and back. Then we continued up Dallas Road to Beacon Hill Park, and joined the crowds watching the boats depart. The winds were brisk, and there were were para-sailors riding the updrafts.

It was exciting to watch them flying so close over head, floating on the wind. Gregg was totally captivated. I thought he was going to try it, but he didn't.

We went from the Swiftsure race to the Moss Street Farmer's Market, another favorite place. They have beautiful crafts, vegetables, baked goods, toys, face-painting for children and live music. Along the way, we admired the many charming cottages, some made into duplex and four-plexes, with glorious gardens. Victoria enjoys a drier climate than ours, and it shows in the cottage gardens.

After walking about 10 miles, it was time for a nap, and after our nap, time for happy hour: oysters on the half-shell, beer and cider, outdoors near the harbour.

From there, it was on to the Irish Times restaurant, where there are dozens of beers on tap, pub food and excellent live music. They featured Irish folk tunes on Saturday night (fiddle, guitar, bass and vocals) - really well done, and in such a fun atmosphere.

The Irish Times' menu contains this page:

This is not my view of alcohol, but I thought it was pretty funny. I like the very last sentence best.

 Walking back to the hotel, this was our view along the quai (the Empress Hotel, above)

and the government buildings. Do you see what I mean about the charm of the city? It has captured my heart

I'm thankful that Gregg and I agree on the gift of time spent together as an anniversary present. It's my favorite kind of gift.

Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving

We had a week filled with friends, food and fun. I hope you did, too. Preparing and cleaning up after a week of friends, food and fun takes work, but it is the kind of work that feels good to do.

Gregg was in Europe on a business trip for two weeks just prior to Thanksgiving. David was even able to meet him in Madrid for a long weekend of father & son time. I am so happy and thankful that this worked out! I wanted to accompany them, but to match Gregg's complicated ticket, involving stays in three cities in two different countries was out of our travel budget. Way, way out. So I enjoyed the visit vicariously and through the miracle of Face Time video chats. (Thank you, Apple!)

I have no photos of their time together. I know they exist - in a camera, somewhere in Florence, with David.

On the day before Thanksgiving (David's 20th birthday), he flew to Scotland with a group from G.U. It looks & sounds as if they had a wonderful time. If you can't be at home for your birthday, why not spend it with friends overseas - and maybe throw in a visit to a James Bond film location? They did just that, visiting the Scottish Highlands and taking a photo near the fictional property "Skyfall."

On that same day, Maribeth arrived to help me prepare for our joint family feast. Since my brother and his family needed to switch places with us this year and spend Thanksgiving in Palm Desert with our parents, Gregg and I stayed at home - without David. It was odd. I kept thinking, "I need to pack my suitcase!" because our tradition is to spend this holiday in California with my parents, celebrating David's and my mother's birthdays, along with Thanksgiving. It's a tradition we love, and we have only broken it once in the past decade (in 2006, the year that Katie was in the hospital). So it was extra special to have our beloved friends and their family as our guests on Thanksgiving, while we were missing my parents and David.

We set the table, made the side dishes and caught up on each other's news. The next day, her family and friends arrived, making up a party of 15 (including Gregg and me). We had a wonderful, potluck feast. I wish that more of my photos had turned out well (still hoping for others to share theirs):

Taylor, Jamie, Austin & Alan with MB's famous Strawberry Pretzel "Salad"

We're so thankful that, even though they moved to Kansas, our friends come back to visit as often as they are able!

Over the weekend, Gregg and I tidied up, relaxed, ate too much and finally took ourselves to Port Townsend to hike in the park and have a picnic.

Gregg made awesome turkey-cranberry sandwiches for our picnic

Stopping for a moment to snap a photo

View from the bluffs

View from the bunker at the beach

Barracks (recognize this from "An Officer & A Gentleman"?)

It was a glorious day to be outdoors.

Now, I'm going to make soup, work on blankets for the hospital, catch up on correspondence and start the preparations for Christmas...and send wishes that you will have a great week.

Christmas is Coming...

...and the preparations are beginning here. This week, after spending Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday proofreading my book and sending the corrections/changes back to the publisher, I was delighted to turn my thoughts to the joys of Christmas baking. Four friends gathered to bake a variety of cookies together, nibble on snacks, chat and drink a bit of bubbly (with festive hibiscus flowers in our glasses). Have you ever tried these? They are so pretty, and the syrup makes the wine taste like dessert!

Julie, Heidi, Denise, Kristin and me

Denise & Kristin, mixing it up, with Heidi's reflection

Some of the results, which we all shared with our families

Yesterday was our annual trip to the tree farm with the family of the Drs. B. We love sharing this tradition, which we started with our children, with the Bs (and now their exchange student, Gogo). I only wish that their daughter and David could have joined us, but they are both still away at college. David will be arriving later this week, and I can't wait to see him!

At the tree farm with Gogo and the B. family. I think "the dudes" were a bit chilled by this time!

After choosing and cutting our trees, we paid for them and tied them onto our cars. We drove back home to enjoy a pot of homemade chili, cornbread, fresh pineapple and some of those Christmas cookies. The boys played Monopoly and we visited; it's always great to be with the B family.

Now, it's time to decorate the tree and the house, and work on cards and gift-wrapping. The smell of fir needles is a pleasure that inspires the spirit of the season!

I love the Advent scriptures:

"The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me;
he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to heal the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to announce a year of favor from the LORD
and a day of vindication by our God.

I rejoice heartily in the LORD,
in my God is the joy of my soul;
for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation
and wrapped me in a mantle of justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a diadem,
like a bride bedecked with her jewels.
As the earth brings forth its plants,
and a garden makes its growth spring up,
so will the Lord GOD make justice and praise
spring up before all the nations."

- Is 61:1-2a, 10-11


"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked upon his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed:
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him
in every generation.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy."
- Luke 1

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We've been busy...and here is a look at what we've been up to.

Our friends (the Drs. B and their family) came over to cut their Christmas tree at the tree farm and have dinner with us. We made our first fondue, and it was fun AND delicious!

We hosted Christmas day for Gregg's side of the family - potluck appetizers and dessert in the afternoon, for as long as anyone wanted to stay. Kim & Alfonso (next-door neighbors) joined us later, bringing some of Kim's delicious specialties (they own Burrata Bistro & Paella Bar) and Alfonso's guitar. It was a great treat to listen to him playing and singing. Our last guests left around 1:30 A.M.

Last night, we went to the All-Academy Ball, an event hosted by the Washington State chapters of parents' clubs of the United States Military Academies (West Point, Annapolis, Air Force and Coast Guard). Our dear friend, Johanna, with whom David has attended school since the age of five, is a cadet at West Point (she was also accepted to Annapolis - she is a wonderful young lady!). Our families shared a table with a Coast Guard commander and his wife. We heard a deeply inspiring talk by a retired West Point instructor, heard from cadets and midshipmen of Washington State, honored the service of those presently in the military, heard beautiful singing of patriotic songs and danced.

Here we are before we caught the ferry to the city:

I'm hoping to get some photos of Cadet Johanna and her family, too. She looked so impressive in her dress grays, and beautiful in her ball gown.

Happy New Year to you!

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

You may recall this posting from a while back, when I wrote about our ornaments and tree.

Well, it's that time of year again, but as I write this, David is taking finals at university, and he asked Gregg and me to decorate the tree for him, so that it would be ready when he arrived home. David did help us choose our tree at the farm, when he was home last month for a weekend, so we had his input and approval on this particular tree. Gregg and I went to cut it ourselves, after Thanksgiving, and may I go on record here as having told them while we were in the field discussing our many choices that this was a pretty big tree. Pretty big = very, very wide, and tall, as well. The trunk was so thick that we had to call for help cutting it. Gregg did his best with the saw, sweated for a while, and then caved and asked a staff member with a CHAIN SAW to finish the job. The tree was then loaded into a trailer on a tractor and hauled back to the shed for us. When we asked them to bale it so that driving home would be easier, we found it was too broad to fit in the baler at the tree farm. We have a big, fat tree. And it's beautiful.

I give you the tree of 2010, unadorned:

...and in process of being "decked:"

...after Gregg put the lights on...

...and fully adorned, with skirt and a few gifts underneath.

You do see how wide the branches are, from tip to tip, don't you?

Those are full-sized chairs flanking it.

We'll all be working around the tree for the next month or so.

It's lovely, and I'm very happy to learn to live with it.

Christmas Tree, Oh, Christmas Tree! How lovely are thy (very wide) branches!

A Fieldtrip to the Suquamish Tribe and Dinner Company

Here is a link to an article in the local newspaper about our French Exchange students, and the fieldtrip that they took to the Suquamish Indian Reservation yesterday.

Yesterday after school, I picked up Zoe and her friend, Chloe, and we went to Dairy Queen so that they could have a sweet treat. They each chose a different Blizzard. They had never seen ice cream cakes like the ones that DQ makes, so it was fun to show them the catalog of photos and ideas. Then, I drove them to a nearby shopping mall. We shopped in Macy's, Zumiez, Bath and Body Works, Aeropostale, Forever 21, World Market and Old Navy, among other stores. The girls said that the cost of clothes here is much lower than in France, and they each bought some nice things.

When they saw the Sweet Factory, both of them stopped and took pictures of it - but they didn't go inside.

After we finished shopping in Old Navy, Chloe went home with her host-father, and Zoe and I went to Costco. She hadn't been inside of a Costco before, so that was fun to show her. I bought a few items, and then asked her what kind of food she would like to eat for dinner. Her answer: Italian - specifically, spaghetti. So we went to a local Italian restaurant - a very casual one, where we used to dine when our kids were small. I told her that it didn't have a lot of "ambience," but the food is good and there were many choices.

And the food was good...but, before we had finished eating our salad, the entrees were delivered to the table, and left to sit.

I don't recall that ever happening, before. I could see how strange and inappropriate it was, especially when trying to look at things from Zoe's perspective. I don't think this would happen in France, where food and the dining experience is very important. It felt as if we were being rushed, and it was not good for our food to sit and get cold. But otherwise, it was fine.

Today, the students "shadowed" a North Kitsap student in their classes. This afternoon, I picked Zoe up from school, and we went to our local grocery store to order handmade pizzas and buy a few items for the weekend (ingredients for pancakes, etc.). It was fun to tour the store that is so familiar to me with a guest. She took photos from the 2nd floor (it's a huge store), and bought some handmade soap. Zoe tried the fresh barbecue pork and beef brisket, and decided on the pork for lunch next week. We also found a nice gift for her parents in the gift department.

Tonight, we had our dear friends (the Dudleys - Paul & I met in 8th-grade French class) over for dinner. We ate pizza, green salad and angel food cake with fresh berries and whipped cream (chantilly, in French - thanks, Heidi!). We chatted, sang along while Paul played the piano, and the boys played video games. We had fun and lots of laughs. Good friends from "way back" are a priceless gift; we love them!

Christmas Tree Farm

It’s that time of year again…the time when we go to the tree farm and select our Christmas tree.

This has been difficult, since Katie passed away. It makes me miss her more, because we should all be having a good-natured argument about which tree we like best, the way we used to do! Four of us, four opinions, and the joy of tramping around in the fresh air, among hundreds of beautiful trees from which we are free to choose.

So this year, it occurred to me to invite some friends, who have young boys, to join us. Tom & Marisa drove over from the city, and brought their twins and their dog, Spooky, with them.

We started out with lunch, and a few turns on the rope swing in our yard. Then we drove to the tree farm, and began walking downhill towards the lower acreage of the farm. The boys, their dad and David began a rousing game of tag. This was a lot of fun, since there were trees of many different types, sizes and shapes behind which to hide; there is also a canal that runs through the bottom of the property. Time was spent jumping across this canal.

No one fell in.

It was chilly, so after a brief dog play-date with a pack of other people’s canines, we headed back up the hill to look at our favorites:  the Noble Firs. We selected our tree, and Gregg got underneath it in order to cut it down. David held the top steady.

Nice view, I know.

Meanwhile, our friends considered which tree would be the best for them. Then Tom lay down on the ground to cut the chosen one. David again steadied the tree. I love these photos.

Tom is a gifted physician; we met him when Katie was in the ICU, during our first week at Children’s Hospital - before we even knew what type of cancer she had.  He was a compassionate and wonderful support to us, all through her treatment and illness. His wife is also a physician, and a lovely lady. It’s so different – and it’s fun - to see Tom lying on the ground, cutting down a Christmas tree, with his family gathered around. Katie is the reason we have the gift of this friendship; I only wish she was here to enjoy it with us.

We carried the trees to the shed, where we paid for them, and bought hot cider to ward off the chill. Then we tied the trees to our respective cars, and headed home, to enjoy some French wine and Thai food. The boys continued playing games with David: Monopoly and something electronic (I don't recall what game).

For some reason, this reminds me of a Norman Rockwell scene.

I loved sharing this tradition with friends, especially for the benefit of their boys…although I think the adults had more fun with the tree-cutting part of the day; the boys enjoyed our rope swing and the game of tag.

I hope your Christmas traditions bring you joy.