september
well it was supposed to be a sabbatical, but work got in the way...the admin who was supposed to provide major coverage for me while I took four whole weeks off (!!!) took a new position in another division and left me and the team high and dry. since I have plans in October that cannot be changed, I shortened my time away from the office to just 9 days :-( ... not quite a sabbatical, but I really do need the R&R.
I saw an opportunity to fulfill a bucket list event! the local ballet corp needed an actor to play Grandmother in this season's Nutcracker! the last time I danced to this ballet I was five! I'll also get to help out with costumes as part of my volunteer contribution! bonus!!
since two of my paint nights were cancelled in a row, they gave me a "freebie" and I used it to paint this lovely work of art.
finally got to attend another high school reunion. our school event coordinators combined the class before us with ours, and I went with two friends I've kept in touch with all these many years, Joe and Eileen.
shows I've seen: Janet and I caught an exceptional production of Peter & the Starcatcher starring a number of my theatre friends. I got to see my doll "perform" in Fiddler on the Roof. It was such a moving performance, and a sold out house on a Thursday night!
at Yom Kippur Yizkor service I got to share again about Mama. her birthday is coming up. there will be a lot of "new normals" coming ....
october
birthday time of year! but before that, Janet and I started band practices again, in preparation for the holiday concert. we have a fabulous bunch of music so far. no telling what the final music set will be, but it will be great!Janet and I got to attend a great jazz band concert at Joyce's alma mater; the USAF Airmen of Note played at Valley Christian. we even took the opportunity to greet the lead singer afterward; she was a delight and took great pleasure in seeing our appreciation of their performance. (she said I 'was glowing' throughout - but of course!)
birthday-day arrived
I had plans to attend the wedding of very dear theatre friends in wine country, which also caught fire the night before. thank goodness for instant messaging ... I was able to finally communicate with some of the wedding party, and so headed up the road for the 3 hour trip to the venue. funny back story ... since my little beetle is very old and I don't make her drive long distances any more, I arranged to rent a small compact car to make the trip. at the rental desk where I always go (they know me there :-) ) I mentioned it was my birthday, so as a "present" the let me rent a beemer for the price of a compact! needless to say I arrived at the wedding venue in style! and such a dream to drive ... I could get used to this!
back to the wedding ... the venue was without power due to the fires, but was able to adjust things and provide a lovely - and safe - place to hold the ceremony and reception. because these were theatre peeps, the "crew" bought a generator and lots of lighting materials, and made the patio a fairy-tale dreamscape.
(I can be seen crying with joy in the picture on the right, upper right corner)
I had made a reservation to stay the night in Calistoga, but that area was under evacuation, so had to make alternate plans over the river and hills in Fairfield. I had a last dance with the groom, and then the bride, and left the reception to drive down the deserted highway whose traffic lights were all dark - an eery drive to say the least - as ash continued to rain down, as it had all afternoon and evening.
(I can be seen in the bottom-left quadrant of this photo, under the groom's left elbow, as we boogie away)
The next morning: I had prepurchased a ticket to go a few miles away to do a photo safari - it was something Mama had wanted to do, and we didn't get to it before she passed. I was going to channel my "inner Nana" and take my camera and get a couple hundred pictures, as she would have done :-)
sadly they were also evacuating people from the fire, and had sent me an email saying they would refund my ticket price. guess I will have to do this at a later date (and hopefully it would be there for me to do that!) instead of a safari, I changed my plan to go to the Jelly Belly Factory. Joyce and I did this one of our birthdays, so I knew it would be fun. when I awoke and turned on the news, it was saying there may be evacuations in Fairfield, so again I changed my plans, drank weak hotel-room-coffeemaker coffee, and scrammed out of the hotel to get home as quickly as possible. after a 3-hour drive through rush hour traffic and a really nasty (possible fatality) accident, I got to San Jose, and stopped to get breakfast - actually brunch - at a relatively new breakfast-only spot I've been wanting to try. ahhh! now to decide what to do for the rest of the day that was supposed to be a safari. the Rosicrucian Museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays so that was out. ever widening the online map - aha! I want to do that too!!
I pointed the beemer south, and headed into the foothills (an hour-long drive over winding roads at 20-30 miles an hour the whole way). I had been driven up this road only one other time, by a classmate after our high school graduation ceremony. this place always held mystery to us. it was an air force base shrouded in cold war secrecy. there also lived a "mean old man" who would shoo people off the property. now I can access it as an open park preserve. so here I am at the 'blue cube' after hiking up a mountain of stairs to get here.from this vantage point you can see for miles. I could see the smoke from the fires I had just left. I could see lots of lovely hiking that I was not prepared to do (but I did bring water, so I wasn't completely daft!) after wandering around and reading some of the history and preservation information, I took "the long way back down" as recommended by Ranger Ted, and followed one of the hiking trails back to the parking lot. spectacular views everywhere! by this time it was time to return the rental car. to say the least these last two days would be an adventure I doubt I'll ever forget.
Simchat Torah - the Joy of having the Torah to guide, teach and uplift us. I wasn't planning on attending the service this year, knowing that I would be coming back from birthday activities (and I didn't want to over-commit and disappoint people). my plan however is nothing compared to His Plan. mid-afternoon of Simchat Torah I got a text asking me to read a verse - in Hebrew of course! so I looked up my Portion - thank goodness for the internet - and did my preparation with a joyful heart! I was needed! The service was lovely, the celebration was joyful, and I read from our older, smaller Torah (with extremely small print!) - this special Torah which was a Polish "refugee" from the Holocaust. a joy in itself.
Janet, Joyce and I made a quick trip up to the ancestral cemetery in Washington where we caught up with our cousins and aunt, as well as placed some of Mama's ashes with her parents.
