a u g u s t . 2 0 2 5

finally plans are set! 

     I know I said may-be back in May ... well, all things happen in good time.  Joyce's daycare situation changes in August, so I'm going to go be a grand-baby-sitter for part of my sabbatical from work!  that's right, two super things in one month!  my sabbatical starts mid-month, so I can rest and gather strength LOL, then the last week of the month we fly northeast to see our kid, kid-in-law, and GRAND kid  :-D  I haven't been able to stop smiling. 

     they took him on his first rally, and Nan'Ana decided he needed a helmet ... so she made him one! 

     I noticed a singing opportunity publicized on FB, a chance to sing barbershop with an all-female choir!  the ladies were all so welcoming from the beginning.  they tested me and decided I'd make a great bass ... our Bass Section color is purple!  meant to be!!

     The garden is being blitzed by heat but a few of the plants seem to love it.

  

  

  

  

     the second weekend of the month was another Support Group lunch at a local Mexican restaurant, where I enjoyed the company as well as the Mole Chicken Enchilada.   

     after a couple of rehearsals with the barbershop ladies I realized that the volume of fragrances in our group was going to be a problem.  they were "of a certain age" and there would be no getting them to stop using them, even though that was a group rule.  sigh!  

     I resumed getting my hair styling at the local styling school, now that my chemo curls had calmed.  my newest stylist is named Anabel and we hit it off like gangbusters!  

     went to see a couple shows the third weekend of the month.  first I went to see my P&P director in Tarzan Jr.  the next afternoon I went to see the hilarious Young Frankenstein.  both of these productions were at local theaters within a few miles of home.   not sure why, but that evening I broke out in hives, and had to convince my GP to prescribe over the phone a prednisone prescription ... she did.  that's the benefit of having the same medical corporation for decades. 

     before our trip, we had dinner with Stephany & Jim at a local seafood restaurant, and caught up on all our health issues.  of course I shared my Grandma's Brag Book with them so they could see the cuteness of Finn.

Sabbatical Trip

     Craig used the last of his miles to book us in first class.  we flew out early enough that we would land in SoDak just before dinner.  it was a gorgeous day as we flew over the American River and surrounding crops.  we had a delicious breakfast and splurged on Baileys & Coffee. 

     we had a little over an hour layover in Denver, then landed in RapCity and picked up the rental car.  Craig liked the sound of the restaurant I went to before, so we visited the DD&D ramen spot and got the appetizer of sweet chili peanut cucumbers and scallions; Craig had the bison ramen bowl and I had the Oku Bun.  just as delicious as last time. 

 

     we drove to the town of Keystone and checked in at the charming antique hotel Roosevelt Inn.  Mount Rushmore is only two miles away, so a perfect location! 

Day 1

       our hotel is named after the first Roosevelt.  they had a cardboard cutout for selfie poses.  besides the quote on the elevator doors, there were many more of his quotes scattered around the halls.  across from the front porch is an adventure park where you can ride a zip line. 

 

     we spent the day with Joyce, first having brunch with her, Finn and her in-laws Ryan and Londa. Finn fell asleep in my arms within the first hour of meeting him <3  then we went back to the house so Joyce could work and I got to babysit!  we took a bunch of pictures so Stephany had a "namesake" photo.  in reading up on activities, we saw that there was an illumination ceremony at Mount Rushmore, so we went to dinner at the park, then stayed for the evening event.   side note:  each trip we made to and from their house there was a road crew working on the roadway, and causing one-way road control.  

Craig and I each took a pick of this roadside side-view of George.

you could see the fools gold sparkling from the roadway!

first there was a presentation by a Ranger; then they showed a movie which ended with ...

... Illumination!

at the end of the evening they invited all serving, having served, and families of lost military service people to come on stage for the receiving of the flag.  there were over 30 people on stage that evening.  it was incredibly moving! 

day 2

     Joyce said she didn't need us Tuesday, so we spent the day sight-seeing.  

I loved that they had this movie reference outside the park.  I've seen both of these movies many times!

Craig had never been here, so he was seeing this for the first time!  he brought his DSLR and long lens to take some really close-up pictures. 

  

yup ... this close up! 

neither of us had the legs - or knees - to take the longer trail back to the beginning.

I had never seen an actor on my previous trip here, so it was cool to hear him talking about Lincoln's qualifications for being on the mountain face. 

then we were off to the Crazy Horse Memorial

they had recently installed a giant crane for moving heavy loads, including a new robotic drilling machine, which is making the carving go so much faster! 

the last three fingers have been finished on this hand since my last trip here!

the obligatory selfie taken by our fabulous bus driver

this is one of the original sculptor's grandsons zooming by our bus in his atv.  I think the bus driver said his name is Alex.

the famous work horse original drilling machine

we both took a pic of the fighting stallions

we had lunch at the Purple Pie Place where Craig tried their delicious chicken pot pie, and I tried their pulled port sandwich.  then we were off to the Wild Life Loop.  the ranger at the gate told us where the buffalo were supposed to be, between certain mile markers that day.

this trip I stopped at the local market and got TWO bags of apples to share with these greedy highway-beasts!  I threw mine out my window to get them to move away from the car, but on Craig's side, they were practically sticking their heads inside the car!  

this greedy guy dripped a bunch of apple juice down the side of the car door ... yuck! 

this was the lone bison we saw on the whole loop.

on our way once out of the Loop and near a hunting and fishing lodge we saw this herd

sorry, no more apples! 

then we went over to Hill City to the Railroad Museum there

  

  

they invite children from local schools to use the obsolete ledger paper to create artwork, and give them prizes! 

we spent several minutes watching the miniature train villages

     it was a really long day where we saw SO much.  we went back to Keystone and had pizza and beer at the Ranger Danger pizza joint.  then we rested up for our next day with Finn! 

Day 3

     we left early enough in the morning that a low-hanging cloud was covering Crazy Horse.  I stopped in Custer to pick up Joyce's favorite blueberry muffins to take to the kids.  we had lunch at the restaurant in town, and got Joyce her favorite meal to go.

but before we got there, we had to wait for this herd to meander across our path!  they managed to stop us on our way back home too, as they were headed back the other way!! 

a little further along, these guys were off road and on Craig's side of the car

     we spent the day babysitting again, and when Tim came home, he made us his famous Mississippi Elk Stew, with elk he had shot and butchered himself!  it was delicious, and I asked him for his recipe.  now if I can just get bison or elk at home ....    we drove home late in the evening, and even though it was nearly dark, the road crew still had the one way traffic control going on.  

Day 4

     Joyce's manager threw a couple meetings on her calendar for Thursday, so I happily volunteered to babysit again.  Craig stayed at the hotel to rest up, catch up on his work, and check out the local activities around our hotel.  I stopped to get the "welcome to" signs along the way. 

 

     in the afternoon, Joyce and Tim were taking the little guy to his "interview" for day care, so I fed and napped him, then I got to dress him up in his jeans, shirt and suspenders, socks and shoes, so he looked ready for his first meeting!  

     I went back to the hotel, took a quick shower, grabbed my rain poncho and umbrella, and we both headed back to Rushmore to have a leisurely dinner enjoying their bison burgers and local brews.  we staked out our spot in the amphitheater for the Illumination ceremony again.  we were rained on for about 5 minutes, but I was prepared, and we both were nicely covered under my poncho, including Craig's camera.  

  

K9 sweep of the area ... yup, we're good. 

a panorama of our surroundings

the Ranger speaks

I had to change these effects to black and white!

Day 5

     we had another day for sightseeing, and knew we wanted to go to Sturgis and Deadwood.  we strolled thru the motorcycle museum.  several of the bikes are new since my last trip.  I can only imagine what their inventory warehouse must look like if they rotate through different displays all the time! 

Craig's biker friends always told him about this place, though he never went to Sturgis with them.  finally he could at least see the exterior.  the week we were in town they were having a Mustangs rally, so every fourth car on the road seemed to be Ford's fabulous pony cars! 

then we were off to downtown Deadwood

     we had been told we needed to find the bar where Wild Bill Hickok was shot, as the chair he was sitting in was there as a memorial.  our first thought was Wild Bill's Bar, but we were wrong.  but that bartender was so delightful and informative after he told us where we really needed to see the chair, that probably wasn't even the real chair .... well that's a long story ...  we decided we had to come back and have his famous bloody mary after we had lunch.  then we went in search of the bar and chair.

 

this is the bar

and "the chair"

Mustang Sally's where we had lunch

I had to get pictures of the local modes of transportation!

Craig got this view ... 

... and I got this one

     as we were driving out of town, back to the hotel for a quick shower - the humidity was fierce - we saw this band of mountain sheep just grazing by the roadway!

     we drove from Keystone back into Custer, through what I had to call a monsoon!  that's why it was so humid.  the rain was coming down so hard I could barely see the roadway to drive.  but we were going to the Buglin' Bison to see the kids and Finn one last time before we fly home.  Craig's beer glass says "elkaholic" on it ... too funny!   I got to hold Finn for quite some time before we all had to head back to our homes.  I'm going to miss that little guy!!

heading home

      one last picture in the breakfast area - we had great breakfasts every day at our hotel!  then a photo at the RapCity airport, the Denver airport, and finally, the seat video and back on the ground.  I wish I could get used to only flying first class! 

     while it wasn't my birthday yet, this was the best birthday present of the year!

j u l y . 2 0 2 5

sizzling summer

     Our garden is growing some new produce this year. 

  

     plus we have some new floral beauties too!   two flamingo colored glads and several chocolate sunflowers intermixed with our new crop of yellows. 

     for the 3rd of July I made something I've never made before - Ceviche!  it was pretty good, and didn't need to make a trip to the store as we had most ingredients and acceptable substitutes already in the kitchen!  for 4th of July Craig cooked ribs and a spaghetti squash from the garden.  so yummy!  

     for the third show in a row I needed to drive to Davis.  Craig had nowhere to go so he let me borrow the truck.  the drive was horrible, both because gooiee maps kept sending me into the heart of traffic, and it was a triple wammie of weekend traffic, holiday traffic and construction traffic. OY!  it took 90 minutes to go a normally 30 minute distance.  one of the patrons in the parking lot saw the rideshare label in the window and asked how people got up into it!  so I let her see how it now has a step that pops out when you open the doors.  I went to see another one of my most favorite musicals, Hunchback of Notre Dame, this one was music directed by our theater friend Kyle!  in our follow up texts, he let me know he will be MD'ing another show soon, which I will go to see, Sunset Blvd!  he also thought I'd have made a great Norma "in my day."  <<sigh>>  the drive home was so much easier, as I was going against the holiday and weekend traffic, and the construction was less on this side of the highway. 

     for the third year in a row the company is having layoffs, and I know SO many people who are being impacted.  so many super talented people who do a LOT of work!  the people left behind cannot do this work, because they don't have the breadth of institutional knowledge.  it's almost like leadership is trying to set us up to fail  :'-(  it's been crushingly heartbreaking.  the day after our GC had an all department meeting, and we had a watch party in our office, and I brought bagels for the team.  it certainly was not a happy proximity event.  so many of us know so many others who are now gone.  I was actually in the office two days in the same week.  I guess I'm mentally preparing for the Return to Work of four days a week.  

     not the way I like to start the weekend, but Craig's truck battery died, so he woke me at 7:30 to drive him up to Lincoln for a golf game.  Luckily I got a 4-shot latte for the drive, and one of his buddies drove him home.  I had to make food for a breast cancer support group pool party in the afternoon, so I found a Mexican Street Corn Salad recipe that stands up to heat - no mayo - and made that.  it was really good, and didn't need mayo at all!   we gathered at the home of one of our pink sisters in the next town over, so literally 3 miles from home!  they had a great bar, and whipped up pina colada slushies - I only had one.  only one-third of my salad was left when I left after four hours, so I guess it was a hit!  and the party kept going after that!  they had a craft - I missed the craft! - and when the sun went down and the lights came up, they were programmed to turn the house pink!  what a lovely bunch of pink sisters I'm so blessed to have in my life! 

     I had two paint and sip opportunities back to back one weekend!  on Saturday I painted a flamingo beetle (the model painting was a yellow one) at a cute tavern in Roseville; and on Sunday I attended a virtual paint event hosted by an artist named Joyce (<3) where we painted several bees in a lavender field (I painted one bee - they are hard!) 

     literally in between those paintings I even squeezed in The Monet Experience! (on Sunday morning.) okay this one is definitely my favorite  <3  

  

     I just wanted to spend all day there, but I had to get home to paint!  Paint - paint - paint!! 

     I had been talking about it for some time but was finally motivated by a pink sister at the pool party who recommended her artist.  I think she did a beautiful job on my fierce, fabulous, flamazing flamingo!  representing the curved pink ribbon we use to symbolize our fight! 

     on the last evening of the month one of our neighbors made a presentation at a local museum about the work he is doing to revive Lincoln Highway markers and memorials, first in our area, and hopefully to Northern than all of California.  It was fascinating to hear the history of the road.  It may even be something I could get involved with when I get to retire. 

j u n e . 2 0 2 5

it's June ...

     ... and the garden is bustin' out all over!

     I don't like to plan it this way, but sometimes I schedule too many things in a day!  both of these were worthwhile though, so I chugged through and enjoyed it all.  first, I made a reservation midway through the run of this fun variety live show.  I knew the name of the theater troupe from my work with the Pride & Prejudice team (they loaned us costumes).   I thought I would get dinner between gigs, but this lovely charcuterie plate filled the bill, and a little sparkling cider is always welcome!   they performed show tunes from many generations, and all the performers were delightful - some were even phenomenal.  if I can, I would like to audition for something and work with these folks.  one character was the Cabaret MC, and he came out before the show and sat for a minute with me, making me feel welcome.  we greeted each other after the show and he hugged me, and said I was such a responsive audience member.  I chatted up a few of the performers, and they feel like a welcoming bunch.  they are a bit of a "gypsy" troupe, like my P&P team, as they don't have a permanent performance venue.  this show they were performing at the Elks Club, which was a perfect venue for this sort of a show, at least it seemed so to me!  

 

 

     the most delightful discovery at this show was seeing my tech director for P&P, Tom, at the light/sound board for this show.  he was working it with his son-in-law.  we chatted a bit and each mentioned our current and future grandparent statuses.  their daughter is having a girl in August!  I congratulated both of them.  at the end of the show Tom came up and greeted me again in the group of performers I was standing with, confirming that I had indeed done a show with them, as if validating that I would be an okay addition.  sometimes you need that in the insulated world of theater, where we have some absolute divas! 

     then I left Rancho Cordova and wended my way over to Carmichael.  the temperature was hovering around 90, but there was a nice breeze occasionally.  there were a number of folks enjoying the bands.  I got there midway through the third-from-last band, this was the band who were trying to recruit me at the spaghetti fund raiser a few months ago.  they sounded wonderful, and played several songs I liked.  I chatted up a vendor at a booth selling artwork - - she's also a writer, and was very engaging!  

     finally it was our turn.  the band shell was cool enough, but I almost needed my sunglasses.  since I need my reading glasses to see my music, that would have been bad.   our band director was doing his bit to recruit new members.  we played our music very well.  

     for one piece of music - Ride of the Valkyries - all five of us horn players put on horned Viking helmets.  As soon as our director saw us he cracked up, and had to take a moment to compose himself.   this is the first time I've been in a band where we take a group photo after the performance, but they were all set up to do this with all the bands, so I guess it's a thing here!  I happily posed for the serious version, then we horn players donned our horns once again for the silly version.   that's me, the horn player most left!

     the following week I caught up with my Pride & Prejudice director at a local Christian coffee bar.  I shared with her my Grandma's Brag Book, to give her an idea for her upcoming grand daughter.  

     Janet spent several weeks this month in Israel on one of her archeological digs.  sadly for me - since I'm so far away all I can do is worry and pray! - Israel was attacked by a neighboring country, and Janet was able to see, hear and feel the rockets as most were destroyed by the military defenses.  still, they're only 98% successful.  they eventually rebooked their return home taking a long bus ride to Egypt, flying from Cairo, to Dubai and home to Houston.  I had trouble sleeping most nights until I knew she was finally safe on US ground.   I crocheted this cute lavender and white Pegasus unicorn for her, from a kit she never got around to starting.  

     one of my favorite costumers passed away recently, and her family held a large and lovely memorial service for her, so I had to rent a car and drive down for that.  while there I also picked up more of Janet's mail, and went to the SJ Harley store and got Joyce some T-shirts from SJ, SF and Alcatraz!  this store got all their remaining inventory when those two stores closed.  Since I was staying overnight, I rented an EV and was able to fast charge it at the hotel where I stayed;  had our favorite Chi-town pizza for dinner, of course.  

     while we ate some of our artichokes, I wanted to grow one all the way to a flower.  I think it was just beautiful!

     it is one year since my last chemo treatment, so one of the women in my support group got me these lovely pink roses <3   and since it is on Juneteenth, as long as I'm working for Intel, I will have the day off as a company holiday! 

     three plays are happening over the next three weekends that are all "must-see!"   the first is an all female staged production of 1776 - and due to an illness, my P&P director had to step in as one of the founding mothers!   most of the performances were solid and well done, and I enjoyed it, of course. 

 

     as part of our return to office process at work, our small group of 16 people is going to move between buildings - again!  we're moving back to the building we left about 18 months ago, but this time we're tucked into a corner for more confidentiality.  I bought some snacks for the team so we had a little proximity party after we moved our equipment and boxes.  

     every year there is a picnic on the old property - now a county park - of our favorite SJ theme park!  I haven't been to one since before the pandemic I think so I made a plan to go again this year.  I had to rent another car - another EV - but this one caused me issues!  live and learn.  first, it only had about a 70% charge, so I needed to charge it again before I even got to the bay area!  It had depleted to under 20% when I was at the half-way point.  I hit two non-functioning charging stations before a nice man who also wanted to charge his EV said, "follow me, I'll take you to one I know is working."  so I followed a stranger in a strange town, he helped me get my EV all charged up again for the rest of my drive.  I met up with Janet in the parking lot of the old frontier village and gave her the mail and key and the unicorn.  we chatted a little but she had saved the parking space for me with her car, so she was semi-parked and blocking traffic so we kept it short.  then, happily, because a pokemon event was also happening at the same park, I got to run into our theater friends Dan and Lee, and talked to them for several minutes, catching up and showing off a picture of Finn <3  then I got to the picnic.  it was so good to see the familiar faces - Bart the caterer gave me a hug, as himself and as Yogi Bear - and his food was fabulous as usual!  someone had made new birdhouses - small representations of the original park buildings, but birdhouse-sized - so those were on display for all to see.  and one of the guys who had one of the original cars trailered it in for kids big and small to sit in and take a picture!   I stopped at the hotel where I normally stay, where they have a fast charger, and I charged it to 80%, the limit that most fast chargers have.  then it was a long drive home with lots of stop and go traffic, but since that was charging the EV, I didn't need to stop to charge until I was safely home. 

     the day after this adventure, I went into Folsom, to my favorite little theater there and saw the musical Little Women.  the women who sat next to me didn't realize it was a musical, and I promised them this is a good one!  I knew I would need my hankie, and I did!  it was warm in the theater, but this time I thought to bring my neck a/c device and kept cool throughout the production.  I bought several raffle tickets - the last time I won something so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try again - and got to have a theater T-shirt too!  not bad for a $20 donation :-) 

  

     I started with pics of the garden, so I'll wrap with some more pics - my gardenias, my QEII rose and my D'land rose are all bringing forth beautiful blooms! 

     ENJOY! 

m a y . 2 0 2 5

 may-be this month we get to visit the grand-baby? 

     that's my hope anyway.  but first, here are some May flowers to brighten the morning!

     and the first D'Land Rose of the season.

     the day before mothers day my crazy chia pet hair was making me crazier, so I got my aching bones into the car (Craig was golfing, again) and went down to the close and cheap clipping joint.  they thinned out the curls and made it more comfortable, less hot.  on mothers day I got to wish Joyce her very first Mothers Day!!  and her hubby wished me the same too, sending me a text.  Craig had forgotten as he was busy getting ready for his week of golf with the boys in Palm Springs.  yup, always perfectly timed with my treatment or recovery.  what are the odds!  I went to another of the crafts and therapy sessions, and it was good chatting with the ladies there.  commiserating.  we are so good for each other!  

     I finished the pineapple afghan, and it is beautiful!  around the sides and bottom I did the picot V-stitch to resemble the rough texture of a pineapple's skin, and across the top, over each pineapple motif, I crocheted a fan crown of pineapple leaves, six in all!

 

  

     on a biz trip to the bay I planned some personal stops too.  I reserved a compact car at my usual rental place - don't want more miles on my ten year old sedan - but they had only gas SUVs and EV compacts.  so I set myself the challenge of learning about EVs!  a real crash course ... with Joyce helping a lot through texts.  I ended up downloading two charger apps, and did most of my charging at the office parking garage charging station.  the biz purpose of the trip was to move our team fax machine back to the bay area, back to where it was before I moved it during the pandemic.  as for the social, Janet needed me to check her mailbox while she's traveling, so mailed me her key and permission slip.  her mailbox people were lovely and didn't even ask to see ID.  I guess we look like we're related.  next door was a dangerous place - a yarn store! - so I got a little something I can make for Finn.  of course!  I made these two short stops on Saturday before our meet-up.  

     after I saw Janet's post about her visit, I made a reservation at the new restaurant Lira where our very own Shuffle Chef Tucker is the Exec Chef!  I mentioned I was one of her "sous chefs" and a fan, and not only did she come out to meet me, she gave me a huge hug, conversed for a few minutes, hugged me again; then she brought me an autographed menu and hugged me once more!  the food was phenomenal  - I started with a Szechuan Old Fashioned while I was looking over the menu.  then I had a wonderful beet and carrot app, followed by the perfect duck, with Bourgogne Ambroise (red wine).  dessert was a spectacular olive oil cake with pear anglais, mascarpone and a lovely candied pansy and fresh pansies.  I dined at the bar so I wouldn't take up a two-top, which meant I could stay longer than the 90 minutes they plan for.  it also gave me direct access to the bartenders who were my wait staff.  they took excellent care of me, even letting me try two different wines to pair with the duck.  the rose was nice but the red was better.  I definitely want to return! 

  

     then, even though I woke at 3:10, hit the road at 4:30, worked an 8 hour day, drove in Sili-Valley traffic, had a 2 hour dinner, I was still not done.  my KJ friend had a show at the American Legion and I had to go see him and sing one song.  I had a lovely time talking to a woman and her family - they bought me a glass of wine! - and didn't leave until 9:30, making it a very long but still fulfilling day!  my steps tracker said I walked 3.5 miles!  

     the following day I had committed to joining a multi county meet-up of our California Breast Cancer Support Group.  the organizers were so pleased and kept mentioning that I planned my biz trip around this event - which I did.  trying to find an open charger for the rental EV at Santana Row was no easy feat!  I met up with one of my theater moms, Rosemary, whom I haven't seen in years.  Good Food.  Good Conversation!  it was close to 4pm before I drove out of the bay area for home, wiped out but so full of good vibes from these two days! 

     the 109th Indy - the 39th since they ran it on our wedding day - was not as memorable for the actual race, but for the day-before race of six giant hot dog cars!  the actual race had way too many wrecks and cautions.  in fact, the winner came in on a caution lap.  

     that evening I went to a fund raising dinner at a nearby synagogue, where their theme was the tropics.  the Rabbi invited me to sit at her table, and I have a lovely conversation with a young couple there.  it was a lovely evening with great food and company.  the chef even gave me his recipe for watermelon poke! 

     I gathered with my work colleagues for a proximity lunch event.  the first place I was going to reserve stopped serving lunch, so I recommended we go to the new crawdad place on the lake.  everyone seemed to like it, and we had a lovely time relaxing on the deck, conversing, and eating yummy food!