Dale Chihuly Day at the museum and other events this week. And last.

Well, Dale's beautiful glass will be there several days, I only one. Today Annie drove she and I to San Francisco. She asked me to get a map from google, then drove out of Napa in the direction she felt was best, not the one Mr. google had in mind. So, we made it to Golden Gate Park to the DeYoung Museum after much driving around in the park which is quite large with a number of roads and few street signs. Very few. We couldn't find our way, and the directions worked from the other side of the world, not the one we drove in on. And I had to go. Annie finally found a Starbuck's and dropped me on the street to use their facility because she was getting tired of the whining and I was ready to get out at almost any spot that had a tree or shrub. She somehow maneuvered back to where she left me. She gave me the driving job while she used google maps on her Iphone until we honed in on the museum.

If you are not familiar with Chihuly's work, you can check it out on www.chihuly.com. It is beautifully colored, and huge proportions for glass art. The museum has a 360 degree look out from the 9th floor, so we took that in as well. By now, we were getting hungry. Missed the route back the way we came, which was across the Golden Gate Bridge, and left SF by the Bay Bridge. It works too. It gave us a chance to eat in a Chinese restaurant we've eaten at before. We had a nice lunch with enough left overs for us to each have another meal.

It was a foggy day which means it's not sunny (duh!) and it's not warm. The marine layer covered the city, but as we got closer to Napa, it was sunny. I'm guessing it was 65 in the city and 85 in Napa. On the way home through Oakland we saw a big kite flying event from a distance. It was along the water front, but we were on the freeway. It looked like hundreds of kites, some were just dots but one was clearly a very large dragon. I was sorry we didn't have time to see it, too.

Yesterday there was a fund raiser at Napa College in which volunteers teams walk from 9:00 AM Saturday til the same time on Sunday to raise money for the Cancer society. Annie had a group of friends who were committed to walk. They had gazillion kids and held a pot luck supper. So I made my special brownies, you know the ones that come in a box from Trader Joe's. Yum. And came for dinner. They had tents and stages set up around the athletic track around which everyone walked. It was such nice weather.

The kids sold lemonade which they planned for the whole year, I guess, the mom's freezing gallons of lemon juice. They had a little wooden booth. When I came there were a bunch of little girls who were all excited as they had been "interviewed" by a newswoman. The only one who made the paper was Tess. It's a front page story, but she is on the continuation on page 5. Sorry I can't see you to shove it under your nose. Thank goodness for the internet. You can see the article and the piture on the newspaper's web site. I'm becoming such a web address dropper!

Copy and paste this into your browser. When you see the story, click on next picture to see Tess.

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2008/07/27/news/local/doc488bf8ff80c11685769326.txt

By time here is getting shorter. I'm not sure when I'll go home to Phoenix, but it will be by the end of August. I miss Bill but I don't want to go there, I want us to be here. I am very thankful for this precious time I have had with Annie and the girls. Also, the weather! In Phoenix, for me, it's like being snowed in all winter. I don't go to events, or spend much time with friends. Just travel to work, the store, and home to crawl out of sweaty cloths and crash. Of course, in Napa, it is also nice to be working part time, no commuting, not much laundry, cooking, and evenings with no company.

I've also become more introspective. It's easier to think without my cluttered house and a bunch of unfinished chores and projects. I love the drive from here to Annie's and back. It's so leafy.

When Bill was here, we were driving from Mt. Veeder to Napa and smack across my lane of a two lane curvey road, at night, was a downed tree part; like a curtain. Thanks to good brakes, we were safe. Bill thought he would get out and pull it out of the way. Oops, it was lying on a power-line. So we drove around it and stopped at the first house to call 911 to report. The TV was on and the windows and doors open, but no people. I hollered and finally the guy came to the door and told me I could use his phone. Yes, I have a cell, but there is no reception on the Mountain. It was kinda a scary house, very unkempt and raggedy. The guy had to stand on a chair to turn on a light in the room were his phone was plugged into the wall. You still have one like that, don't you. The dispatcher wanted to know if there was sparking, no, but there could be quite a wreck if some hits it or swerves to avoid it. The guy and his friend came out to the road to God bless us as we drove away.

With their (Calif) wild fires, I thought we would pass an emergency or at least utility vehicle on the way to town. I called Annie when I got home and she said there were fire truck from the other way. Guess there's something over the mountain, but I haven't been.

The next time I drove home from her place, there was a skunk waddling across the road. Thank God again for good brakes. I would probably be better off hitting a power line than a skunk, but I missed him, too. The headlights really hit that white streak.

I think someone is looking out for me this summer and I would like to express that I am very grateful. It's been a summer full of new stuff and family warmth.

Glory, glory.

ps there is a story in the paper about a couple that is making rhinestone studded t-shirts with a wine theme. I think it's funny that one says Wine Rack.

Been busy vacationing

Hey CeCe, you're right, I haven't blogged in awhile. Bill and I had a really nice time. Besides being happy to see each other and appreciating each other more since we haven't been together in over a month; we played Napa tourist, too. Annie gave us tickets for dinner on the wine train which was quite pleasant. I took Bill around to the places that I enjoy, Farmer's Market, the library. We walked around Copia which is kind of a wine culture center. It sits on the Napa river, had a neat kitchen gift shop and is surrounded with flowing water and food gardens.

Bill flew home Wednesday. I traveled to Santa Rosa Wednesday to see the eye doctor. I worked Thursday and Friday, did laundry, cleaned up the house, as I had friends coming. I flew Saturday afternoon to Las Vegas to see Judy and Kathy who drove there from Phoenix. We gambled a bit, walked the strip sight seeing, and headed to Lake Tahoe the next day. Tahoe is beautiful. We stayed at Harvey's two nights. It is all in the pines and if you haven't seen Lake Tahoe, you should. It is beautiful. We took a paddle wheel boat trip across the lake, a 2.5 hour journey. We watched, visited, had a few margarita's. Talked about what the poor folks were doing, and the possibility that in a couple years one of us could be gone and the others would be remembering our trip to Tahoe.

Yesterday we drove to Napa which is only 200 miles. Judy and Kathy left this morning for another leg to their road trip on the way to Oregon. So life is slowing returning to normal. The girls came over today.

I went out to Annie's for supper. Helped her put together an IKEA bookshelf. Not easy. She had dim lights and I can't see that well anyway. Finally she lent me her head light which helped a lot. Tess wanted to help with the hammering as she has experience in kindergarten. Actually she might be as good as me, but her mother didn't put her to the test today. The girls will be having their first sleep over at my house tomorrow. Gotta get up early to catch up on my job.

Bill is here, Bill is here

Bill flew in today and I ventured to Oakland to pick him up. It is so nice to have him here. We ate at Olive Garden for lunch and saved half our meals which we had for dinner tonight. It is good to feel relaxed like there isn't a mountain of stuff we need to do. Annie gave us two tickets for the wine train and dinner which we plan to do tomorrow evening. I have never been on the Napa wine train. Jackets are suggested, but they will have to deal with us in clean jeans. I think when they say jacket, they probably don't mean a sweat jacket. My wardrobe is a little limited here, and I don't know if I've ever seen bill in a sports jacket. Your talking folks who got married in the back yard in clothes from our closets.

I told Bill being in Napa is sort of like being on a retreat.

I took out the owner's sewing machine which they told me I can use if it works. I wiped it down and got off quite a bit of grime, took it apart and de-linted, then oiled it. The cord is wiped out and I think that is keeping if from getting power. I did have it running a bit but before I could get the stitch adjusted, the power clunked out. I researched on the internet and believe it was made in 1951. I know I have used a similar machine somewhere in the past as the bobbin winder and some other parts look so familiar. Possible the machine my mom had. She got a new one when I was 13 or so, but I think I used the other.

One of those things you don't know you remember until you see it again. Strange.

I told Bill we go to Peet's for coffee and a sweet in the morning and get a Sunday paper. He is okay with my new habit. We do need to go to the store for Dr. Pepper.

Next week end I am flying to Las Vegas to meet two friends and will drive with them to Tahoe. Tahoe is only about 3 hours from here. So Monday, I think, we will be here. I think they are staying a few days then driving to Oregon. I think I will have had enough time away as for some reason I don't really feel the need for a vacation.

It's a little muggy tonight. There was a breeze today, but it seems to have died. It will be a good night for sleeping. The bed here is a double, so I think it is good we are glad to see each other. This could be way too small after awhile.

Independence Day and more

Friday Annie, the girls, Annie's friend, and I went to Yountville to watch the fireworks from the golf course. I was the only one with a beach chair. Annie reminded me it was okay not to share because I am an old lady, so I was the only one with a chair. Another family joined us. We ate some sticky brownies baked and decorated by two eleven year olds. They had gobs of white frosting, blue sugar and red and blue candy stars. Annie made some desert, too. She brought a can of wiped cream which her girls, at least Tess, has never seen. Tess managed to spray wiped cream on a few people and had a gob hanging from the end of her nose. It was quite a giggle for the kids. Us too.

The kids ran for about an hour, then we all bundled under coats and blankets to watch the fireworks over Napa Valley. We snuck out of town on the back road and missed all the traffic. That daughter of mine knows all the tricks.

I met Maryanne in Phoenix a few years ago. We have a mutual friend. Through Linda we e-mailed a bit since I've been in Napa as she is in Hercules, nearby closer to the bay. So she invited me to go to Alameda to an antique show today.

Might as well come Saturday afternoon so we can get an early start. So off I went yesterday. Didn't know her well, but she extended a lovely invitation. She has a beautifully decorated home, with a Chinese flavor. I had a room and my own bath with fluffy towels and my own new bar of soap on a bamboo dish. Sure hope she wanted me to enjoy it. It was stacked on my towels, so I did. You know, I'm always afraid to touch people's guest soaps because they really don't mean it, but this was so inviting.

Yesterday evening we had dinner at the Dead Fish which overlooks the straights (I can't remember the name) between San Pablo Bay and Suisan Bay. This is Northeast of SF bay. Once you come under the Golden Bridge, you can navigate a long way including to Napa on the Napa river. But anyway. The freeway crosses there on two bridges. One has a pedestrian walkway. We walked across and looked off from the other side. It is such a different experience from anything I do in Phoenix.

Early today we met some friends of Maryanne's; two guys, Kelly and Kelly, so we could have breakfast in China Town (didn't know there is one in Oakland as well as SF, that's where we went). We all had Jook which was the purpose of going there. It is rice porridge which was kinda like a thickened rice soup with chicken meat in in. I asked for a side of bacon which got quite a laugh. Maryanne is Japanese but she really likes Chinese food, not the Caucasian stuff, the stuff the Asians eat. The Jook wasn't bad, it had some green onion pieces in it, but the little bits of unidentified chicken started to bother me. Maybe its the roasted chicken hanging in the window with his head tucked under one wing, or maybe I just got full, but I left behind some chicken parts. It was another part of the big adventure.

Then we went to Alameda which has a huge military base which is no longer used. There were probably 30 rows of antiques and collectibles set up outside. We must have walked for three hours in which Maryanne bought some Japanese habachis (another thing I learned about), Kelly bought some metal bowls and I bought popcorn and a Pepsi case for Annie to make a wall hanging. By the time we left there I was tired, sweaty, and my hips and knees ache.

So I tell you this was a diverse, busy, and tiring week-end.

Tomorrow I am joining another friend of my daughter's and her mom and dad who like to go to casinos on a junket to Cache Creek. I will be worn out by Tuesday. Tess and Chloe have gone to Phoenix to visit the other grandparents so I will be able to devote next week to catching up on Amex business, but tomorrow I am "flexing" my schedule.