Holly Park and Happy Wedding Bliss

Well, it's many months later, october 1st to be exact. We are out here for Jay and Lindsey's wedding. We are still on a high from a wonderful, magical time, but that is another story. The rehearsal dinner was sept. 25th, the wedding sept. 26th, and a typical Jason party on the 27th. Dan and I took the couple to the airport on the 29th, and today is the 30th, which i mention because it's Dan's birthday. So, we celebrated by finding a stairway walk!
i didn't have my trusted book with me, so i had to google a walk, and i chose Bernal Heights. It wasn't the area i thought it was, but that's all the more fun. It is near the Mission, a working class neighborhood that is clean, sunny, old and beautiful. We found Holly Park, where the walk goes in a large circle, and from every part of the walk you can see the whole city and beyond! It was wonderful. We then found some stairways, and even a slide! (which of course, i had to go down, though i got stuck near the bottom) The names of these streets are unique---Esmeralda and Lundys, just to name a few.
i walked up a few more stairways, Dan's foot is hurting him, but i was so happy to be back to the finding of the stairways. Again, it's the things like the neighborhoods, the names of the streets, the views, and all that goes along with the search.
Holly Park is a little gem, by the way.

Home again

i didn't have time to add any more until today. i got home late last night. It's good to be back with Dan and Gus and Willy, and my own bed. But as i was flying into Detroit, i looked out the window and gasped at the grey skies and melting rain. i forgot how grey it is! So yes, i do miss California, and Dan agrees that we will go back and spend substantial time out there.

i am including a few more shots of Isaac that i took.

i flew back to San Francisco on friday, and Lindsey, Jay and i made dinner for Xia and Sam, Jess and Chris, Lars and Kate, James and Stina, and then J.J. came later. it was really nice, both the cooking and the company. Jay made his wonderful lamb lollipops, they are wonderful! i made spaghetti and caesar salad, with Lindsey's help. Lindsey made roasted veggies for Kate. We bought a pie for dessert, because it was 3-14 and Jay pointed out that means it was "pi day'!

Jay and Lindsey are very happy, and loving. i am so sad to leave them, i have loved the nearness, though i was also on my own and they felt so good about it all. i also loved the nearness to Matt and Rachel and Isaac, a short plane ride away. i felt like crying as i said goodbye to them. i wish ALL the kids lived nearby, it's so fulfilling. But fulfillment has to come in many forms, and we have to seek it out sometimes. My adventure certainly fulfilled my goals. it opened up possibilities and growth for me. It's good to realize the choices we have in life, no matter what they are, and to fulfill what we can and accept what we can't.

The stairways taught me that life is a journey, it's the finding them in their surroundings and being observant of that. They taught me to seek out and climb to my goals, and...........that there are always more ahead!

Baby Food Bliss, or Yes, I am Capable of Babysitting!

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   This will be quick! and there may be no more posts til i return home on sunday.
   I flew to Salt Lake City, where Matt picked me up, and they had a delicious dinner awaiting me. It was so good to see all 3 of them, they were all eager to see me. I am so impressed with Rachel and Matt's parenting of Isaac, he is such a happy, relaxed guy, and they are so good with him! They also work so well together. It is hard for them, as for most young parents now, they have so many demands on them, yet they managed together so well.
   So today, i am the babysitter! Ashley, the nanny came over for about an hour this morning, showed me how to get him to nap, and what else to do. I was doing most of it naturally, which is a relief, ya never know that you really will remember!
   We went for a walk, i fed him, played with him, changed him, and yes, got him to nap, which is the hardest part. He smiles at me, a shy smile, then he'll lower his head and look up through his beautiful long eyelashes. What a flirt!
   He is napping and i am trying to catch up. i may get better pictures later, but will try and upload some now. Can't do it , will put in pictures later. drat! o.k., it is later. I had to wake Isaac up, he slept really well, and i think, rather i KNOW, needed it. So ever since i woke him, he has been a total doll! Laughing, smiling, playing, imitating me, i love him! he has this toy called an "Exersaucer", Cindy and Jane, get one. they sit in it and it moves around, with different things to occupy them. he will jump up and down and chortle in it. He then imitated me smaking my lips, it made him laugh.
   Well, i gotta go and play.

This is What I'm Missing

As soon as i can add the picture i want, you will see what i mean.

This is a slow day, i am packing to get ready to leave. i met my neighbor, Roberta, and we went to Sonoma together so i could get some wine for Matt and Rachel. we had a really nice time! i really like her, and we had a good time talking. We have similar personalities, of course, we ARE both therapists, so we have alot in common. i bought them some nice wines in Sonoma, then because we wanted some, we took the cheaper route and went to a store called "Bev Mo", which is a chain here. I didn't know that, decided i discovered it too late! It's the Binney's Beverage of Marin----aisles and aisles of wine, many of them good deals, as well as all kinds of liquor. Dan, you woulda loved it!

The wines i got for Matt and Rachel aren't distributed everyplace, so i think they are probably special.

anyway, Roberta sent me a picture her brother sent her of Mackinaw Island. It is amazing, i wish i could see it! Snow can be beautiful. In case you are wondering, these are "ice waves", that don't generally occur in Michigan. i have never seen one.

The rest of the day is going to be spent packing, though i'll run to jazzericize for the last time here.

Packing is not fun, there is alot to figure out!

We Don't See This in Michigan

So it is almost time to leave. I am getting in my task oriented mode of getting packed and organized, getting the house cleaned, etc. But still............a few more thoughts and quests.
At jazzercize today, our instructor was being monitored, something they do in Michigan too, it's a routine thing. But i was looking at who i thought the monitor was, and the gal next to me, Mary, who is really nice and funny and cynical, said, "oh yes, it's the girl in the orange shirt who had her boobs done." Well, they WERE big, but i realized this isn't something i'd normally be able to recognize, as not many people in Ann Arbor get boob jobs! So i started thinking about other things that are indigenous to Ca., or at least that I have found, that i don't find at home.
1. everyone's an actor
2. boob jobs
3. there is a California accent, they elongate their "o's". Ooptions, instead of options.
4. all the food is sustainable
5. all the food is organic and people ask all the time, even at a burger place.
6.people use their bicycles alot!
7.people do outdoor stuff alot!
8.the standard for fashion is warm up clothes.

so, i think i belong here! Although i don't elongate my o's.

i went to coffee with a gal i met at jazzercize, Marcia. She hugged me when we left, was sad i was leaving! i was too, i really liked her.
Later, i began to pack--yuck. Then, did some work for the bmt symposium, got bored, and drove to Napa to go shopping. i went back to the outlets and almost bought an oufit for Sally's daughter's wedding, but it just wasn't me, it was actually more Sally, so i came back home. As i was driving back, i talked to Matt, who wants me to bring some wine to them. So i now will go back to Sonoma tomorrow to get them some wine, and not have carry-on luggage. Another quest. Good enough!

It Happened on Mt. Tam

This is an extra blog for tonight. It speaks for itself, as a wonderful way to end the trip. I am so happy! Yes, Jay and LIndsey are engaged! They are so happy!

Cinema Club in the Morning and a Date with my Son in the Afternoon

Lindsey's mom invited me to go to their "Cinema Club", along with Jay and Lindsey. This is a club in San Francisco, and in some other cities, where you subscribe to a series, and you go to a theater to see a movie that hasn't been released yet. There are actually guards in the hallway checking you out to be sure you aren't going to "pirate" the movies. Paula said they sometimes go up and down the aisles in night vision glasses to be sure.

Anyway, it was 10:00, but really, 9:00 as the time changed last night. This movie was "Under the Same Moon". It was a low budget Mexican movie, and very good. It was a tearjerker, and a little too much by the end, but the acting was excellent. The first scene was so very touching, we all teared up. It was very enjoyable, and if anyone in MY movie group is reading this, i would suggest it.

We then went out for lunch at The Slanted Door, and met Ken, Lindsey's dad. It's a top notch Vietnamese Restaurant in the Ferry Building, and we had a delicious lunch, though my stomach wasn't hungry yet. They ended up treating me to lunch, it was so nice of them.

Then, jay and i went out alone. He was tired, and needed to get stuff done at home, so i really appreciated it. We went food shopping for the spaghetti night this coming friday. i then dragged him up to Twin Peaks, where we found a small stairway walk with a magnificant view. I didn't like this stairway, it was totally full of tourists. The ones i'm finding in the neighborhoods are so much more fun, but we were both headed home and i just wanted to get one more in. The views from here are heavenly, however, as you can see the whole city of San Francisco and beyond. i didn't even include the shot of the stairway, as it was nothing special, but the views are.

i then dropped him off, and hung out with them for a while, then came home. i stopped at Book Passages on the way home, a wonderful book store, what Borders used to be like before it became corporate. I bought i new Henning Mankell book, one i hadn't seen before, and therefore looked at some travel guides of Sweden, as i am looking forward to that. (Hi Per!)

i then came home, took a little walk, as it's 70 degrees outside, if you can believe that! Oh woe is me, returning to ice and snow and cold! i don't mind snow, i even miss it, a little bit, just a little. But i don't miss the ice and the cold.

i am getting sadder to leave, but a little anxious to get back. i am missing Dan, which has happened on sundays. Plus, our dear doggy, Gus, is hurt!



He sprained his knee while running around out in the back of our house, probably slipping on ice. I want to go home and help him and take care of him!

i was just looking over all the pictures i've taken, and only a representative sample are on this blog. i am remembering some of the adventures. What an experience this has been. i think some of the most fun times have been when Dan has been out here with me, and we found things together. Clearly, we "adventure" well together, and i look foward to our retirement together. It's also been wonderful to be on my own, to know that i could do it, and do it well. i know my way around the whole area, San Francisco and Berkeley, i wasn't really homesick, i slept like a log, no night fears, and i made friends and did stuff on my own. I feel good and i feel confident about that. i didn't obsess about the things and worries that i normally do, i felt free of that. i think it's wonderful to have a time to explore yourself, to have the freedom and time to do what you want to do on your own. It can be a challenge, but challenge is important and good. Ruth gave me the book called Tales of a Female Nomad. I haven't read it because i had another book to read, and i have barely read. But i will read it, probably now when i return. i know it will help me verbalize the wisdom i have found.

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