My Mountain Moments

wow, sometimes waiting is the worst. It seems like everyday I am waiting for something. Waiting for the end of the year, waiting for a client to go live, next paycheck, dinner, drink, rain storm, sunny day, drink, apology, full moon, spring, vacation, etc, etc.

Thinking about what I’m waiting for is depressing, writing it down is enlightening.  Who cares… I can’t make anything come any faster. I can stress about them more if I try to manipulate. Or, I can bury my head in the sand and not face any onslaught. That would be denial.

I am thankful for being able to wait, to want to be patient, not rush it, change it, move it or fix it. It is what it is, some things are in motion, best let them run their course. There are many times I wish I could write more, and more often. Blogging is still visible to everyone out there. Some stuff is personal, and I have to keep that in mind as I move forward.

I am thankful for the full house we will have tomorrow. At least 14. Not one actual “blood” relative, but family just the same. The table rotates, as it did last year. We will have new faces, miss the faces not that are not coming and comforted by the ones returning.

I sent an arrangement to my parent’s house for the occasion. Sometimes I miss being a kid and having somebody else do the work. I know I miss my grandma’s green jello. I keep meaning to ask for that recipe. I vow next year to make grandma’s green jello.

Happy thanksgiving everyone.

I’m writing a blog here.

Hopefully the pictures say it all. My commute takes me about an hour, unless I stop and take photos. Then it adds about 1/2 hour, usually because as I stand there with my camera as the color constantly changes. I don’t go into the office but once a week, but I actually look forward to it these days. The one photo actually has a rainbow over the ocean. The No Tresspassing sign is a reference point for me. In a year I can see me putting together a series of photos with the same sign during different times of the year.

There is not a day that goes by that I don’t count my blessings. The freedom my current job has given me is amazing. Not having to go into the office everyday saves me over 2 hours a day for other projects. (like blogging or photography) When I do need to go in, I work with some great people, our culture at work is cool and creative, plus this commute. “The world’s most beautiful commute.”

So every year there is a gem show in Tucson. Every year my husband goes because that’s part of what he does. I went with him a couple of years ago and loved it. The thing about the “Gem Show” is that there are bead shows, rock shows, and all kinds of different show around the city of Tucson. So, this year I was committed to tagging along. I can work remote, so I just took my work with me. There was one little catch. A couple of days before we left, I started to get sick. A nasty cough. So, I went to the doctor the day before we left. He said I had bronchitus, sent me home with an inhaler and codine prescription. Wow, what bad timing.

We got up and I drove out of the mountains, if I don’t drive out of the mountains, I get car sick. That would not have been good at the start of a 7 hour drive. The plan was to drive to Cherry Valley on Saturday, stay with my Aunt and Uncle,  visit with the cousins, leave in the morning and drive the rest of the way, about 6 hours to Tucson. Believe it or not, the plan worked. I was miserable on the drive, sick, sick, sick.

My cousin Jimmy drove an hour with his wife and two kids to have dinner and visit with us. My other cousin has a 1 year old that didn’t feel good, so, he had to skip coming over. The visit with Jimmy was great. It had been about 2 years since we’d seen each other. He is the spitting image of his father, and to see the two of them together is always a double take. He and his wife Tina have two beautiful kids, both with blonde hair and blue eyes.  Smart too!!

My Aunt Anna fixed us oatmeal at breakfast before we left in the morning. Poor Paul had to drive the entire way into Tucson. I was still way to sick. That was on Super Bowl Sunday. A good game, to bad the Cardinals lost.
Monday Rhoda, our wonderful hostess in Tucson, took Paul for a hike. I still couldn’t do much. What energy I had went towards work. The rest of the week was uneventful. I rested and worked. Paul went to the show and still found time to come home and cook us dinner a couple of nights. We went to Gavi one night, a really nice Italian place. Friday night we had the silent auction and food with the AGTA crowd. I was able to hit a couple of bead shows on Saturday before we left. What an addicting hobby.

The bonus of heading home, was that we were able to stay at my Aunts house again and visit with Ryan, my other cousin. He lives about 5 blocks from my Aunt, and they are early risers. So Ryan, his wife Sandy, and their two kids joined us for breakfast. We were able to visit for about an hour before we left. His youngest is just one. Wow, what cute kids.

It turned out to be a great trip overall. We got to visit with everyone, broke up the drive over two days, each way. Was able to work remote, go shopping, and spend the week with Rhoda and the boys: Sooty and Corky. The decision was made to make this a yearly trip. Hopefully next year I won’t be sick the entire time.

Hey, I had a date with my husband on Saturday. We went down to Santa Cruz. We both had a few errands to run, people to meet and places to go. After business was all taken care of, we had lunch on the west side. There is a fairly new brewery called, ironically, Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. They don’t have a kitchen, but they serve food from Kelly’s French Bakery that is in the same complex. We sat outside with a beer, watched the tourist and chatted. He had the pot pie and I had the fish tacos.

After lunch we went out to Natural Bridges.

Then after viewing the action at Natural Bridges. We parked behind Lighthouse Field and took a walk out to Steamers Lane to watch part of the knee board surf contest and take in the people and activities. One thing Paul and I enjoy is watching people. There were all types. You could tell the locals from the tourist, the throw back hippies, avid athletes, retired couples, dog owners. Oh, so many dogs. We love dogs. So, it’s days like this, when it’s 75 in January, that we really appreciate living in California.

December 30,2008. The day was perfect. Hardly any swell or wind. The day topped out at 68 with a low of 59. With days like this, I will be called a fair weather fisher woman. Not sure if I will go out again unless the conditions are that perfect. It was just too much fun.

Got to dad’s at 6:20 am. “No coffee, thanks mom.” If I have a cup of coffee, I will just have to go pee. With a boat of 4 men and prone to getting sea-sick, I passed on beverages and food until very late in the day. I had even done some shopping for food and snacks the day before.

Pushed off from the dock at 7:00 AM sharp. One thing about my dad and his fishing buddies, they are serious about fishing. The fact that I was the rookie, a woman, and had the potential for chumming, probably made them a little nervous. One thing I had going for me, was that we went on Gary’s boat. It is bigger than my dad’s, and probably has a smoother ride. I am proud to say, I did not chum, and even had a couple beers towards the end of the trip.

So, when we got to our destination, 1 1/2 hours at 30 knots or so, there is an urgency to get your line in the water. (I did not know this). Randy was the fastest and got his to the bottom before the engine stopped spinning. (I told you they were serious) I could not multitask on the boat, I had to wait for it to stop rocking before I could get my line in the water with bait on it. Dad only baited my hook for me a few times.  After I got over the goo, it was no problem. After that, each fish was a blur, except for the sheep’s head. I caught the first one, a nice size, 7lbs. Randy caught the second one, 9lbs. At one point, I exclaimed “Hey, this fishing is no fun, every time I put my line in the water, I get a fish!!!”

The rules: 10 rock fish per person, 5 non rock fish per person. So a total of 15 fish per person. We came back with 73 fish. 50 rock fish and 23 non rock fish. Brian, Gary and Randy did not want their “non rock fish.” So, after filleting, Brian and dad did all the work there, there was a gallon size zip lock of rock fish for everyone, and an extra 5 gallon bags of non rock fish for dad and I. Wow that’s a lot of fish.

We went home and vacuum sealed the fillet’s for freezing. Dad put some aside for ceviche, family and neighbors. What a catch, and what a day. Thanks to my dad and his buddies for putting up with the rookie. Hopefully I will be allowed to go fishing again. It was a blast. Oh, and the topper, we went to see Painted Cave at one of the islands. It was amazing. Grew up in Santa Barbara my whole life, and had not ever visited the islands.

Ok, so, I didn’t get the camera out at Thanksgiving, but, I did pull it out for Christmas. The day was great. Woke up, took a hot tub with a mimosa, started dinner. We had some of the Boulder Creek family over. There was a 15lbs roast beast, and everyone helped with the side dishes. Again, everyone got along, totally wonderful. A little music at the end of the night, plenty of wine too. A memorable Christmas. Thanks to everyone who shared their holiday with us.

OMG. This was such a fun year. We had 13 at the table and a couple more come by to say Hi. Three dogs too. Paul cooked a 20 pounder, souse chef’s Meghan and Judi made some amazing dishes. Everyboday pitched in. There was no wine left on the table when we were done. We went through just 2 pies, because there were so many additional sweets, we just couldn’t eat it all. And this year the whip cream was successful!!! I wish we had taken some photos, but we were just too into talking, eating and generally having a great time. I promise next year to take some photos at least. It’s nice to have a recorded version of the ‘family.’ The table would have held 14 or 15, but it was a single long table, beautifully decorated with with candles, thanks Jen. And a cute center piece, thanks Heather. Kenny brought a few bottles of his wine and the green beans. Yummy. Erik admitted actually getting a little drunk on the wine. He’s a big beer drinker, but partook in the wine and liked it. Not something he is going to do on a regular basis, but, we may have swayed him to appreciation. Derek brought Cherios. And he also helped save us by getting some last minute shopping in at Johnny’s. Dave got off at 3 and was here at 3:01. Chris was loads of entertainment. It took him a few drinks to get over the prior nights roucus, but he is was cheery. Oh, Lance and Benny came by to say Hi. They could hear us from the back yard of Melissa’s, so they came over to harass us. They got here right as we were sitting down to eat, so we didn’t get to visit as long as I would have liked.

So, another successful year. Not sure who will be at next year’s table. It changes some every year. We missed those folks that were at our table last year and not this year, and thankful for the new faces this year.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008.

So, it’s with sad news that the morning after Mike died, Jocelynn died. October has not been a fun month. Jocelynn was related to some friends of ours. Over the last 18 months or so, we have gotten to know Jocelynn individually. She came over for gatherings, we went to her 60th birthday party in the spring. She was a neat lady, we enjoyed her company. She was just a bit older than us, but that never stopped her from jamming and hanging out. I secretly think she liked to watch us get blitzed and make utter fools of ourselves. Never judgemental, always had sound advice. We are going to miss her presence, her good energy. The Memorial is on Nov.2 @ 1 Pm at the IOOF in Boulder Creek. Please come say goodbye.

Wow, today was not just another Monday. My heart is broken. We said good bye to a dear friend today. The announcement came early in the day. I had to keep myself together during meetings, lunch, and more meetings. Basically a 14 hour day. (big deal) It was nothing compared to how my friend was a nurse and best friend to her dying soul mate. A great guy passed today, we will miss him dearly. WTJ, we are thinking of you and sending  our energy and love your way.