Learning Chinese

Before I prove myself an ugly American and make fun of someone from China attempting to communicate in English, let me say that I have the utmost admiration for anyone from any foreign country attempting to communicate in this crazy language.  I speak English just fine, and a smattering of French and Portuguese, but no more than a few words now.  Other than "thank you" I don't know a single word in Chinese.  Put me in a foreign environment and I would be totally lost.  However, it does not prevent me from having a little fun with instructions written in China for gadgets to be used by Americans.

Yesterday I came across reference to some sort of ultrasound gadget that would prevent your dog from barking.  I did a little research on Amazon and found there are lots of them.  I also found I had some cash in my Amazon account and I could use part of it to buy the cheapest of these gadgets, so if it didn't work, I wouldn't really be out any money.

Amazon calls this the "Anti Barking Stop Bark Handheld Pet Dog Training Device 3 in 1 LED Ultrasonic Dog Repeller and Trainer Device."  The company that produces it calls it "the cute dog."

The instructions are labeled "How to telecontrol ypur [sic] Lovely Dog" and begin:  Dog is a loyal friend of people.  It has a long history to feed, train and ues [sic] dog since original society.

There follows a lengthy list of accolades about how wonderful dogs are, then lets us know that "Dog's lofty abilities are relevant to scientific and patient training from people....On the basis of traditional training methods are some mysterious tips of advanced ultrasonic, which are executed by "cute dog."  Such a small machine can offer you twice the result with the half effort."

While this is supposed to be an anti-bark device, it doesn't mention barking, but does tell you about "Defecating at ordered places":  At the beginning of coming to your family it may defecate where it think convenient and ignore your frequent clear up.  Just because it is a dog, your lovely dog, you never would like to be anar [sic] with its acting up.  In generally dog always defecate after it eat enough or get up at early orning or long soeep.  at this time you can take some of the excretion to the place you order for it at washing room.  Take it there. Once it start to smell on ot then close the door.  make it smell where you set excretion until it finish here.  Then you can clap its head about its neck. Praise its clever but love sound."

And so it goes for four pages,  But nothing about barking.  I'll close by again saying kudos to whoever wrote these instructions, which have made me giggle throughout  I certainly could not give the same instructions them in Chinese!

HOWEVER, Caroline and her fiancé returned last night and as Polly set up her barking, I pushed the button on the "cute dog" and she stopped immediately, looking at me perplexed.  And I only had to push the button once more time during the evening.  She didn't even bark when very tall Tim, who is a stranger to her, stood up.  I am very encouraged.  It may be the best $0.00 I ever spent!

They seem to have had an enjoyable week, visiting the wine country (where Caroline went back to the Vincent Arroyo winery she liked so much last time...and bought me a bottle of balsamic vinegar, which I asked her to do, as I was almost out of the bottle I bought there before).

They spent several days at Tahoe but sadly it rained while they were there.  Still, Caroline was able to get in a couple of hiking days.  They also explored what they described as the grossest thrift store (where you could buy a spider-web covered half bowl of popcorn, with the butter dried on it!  But it was only $1.  Such a deal!)  She was pleased with her discovery of the dollar t-shirt bin where she picked up four shirts, one of which for a friend with whom she exchanges terrible t-shirts.  She was very tickled with this one.

 
We enjoyed visiting with them.  Today they are fixing brunch for us and then going on the grand tour of Davis before going back to San Francisco this afternoon.  They fly back to London tomorrow.  It certainly has been a delight having her back again, however briefly and very nice to meet Tim.

Shortbread

Ned was here in the morning to mow the grass and then to go to Home Depot to buy some stuff for the house.  Walt decided to go in a separate car so Ned could head home from Home Depot instead of driving all the way back to Davis.  Walt was very proud of himself that not only did he go to Home Depot but also made a quick stop at Costco too (he bought probably the LEAST amount of thing at Costco as anybody!)

Caroline seems to have had a better day today.  She texted in the afternoon that she would be late, which worked fine because I had planned a slow cooker meal which could stand for a long time and still be hot and fresh when she got home.

I made chili and discovered too late that we were out of onions (which is not a problem for Walt) so I just chopped a lot of garlic and then 3 hours into the cooking, I remembered that I usually add a can of green chilies, so I added that late, but it will had 3 hours to cook, so that worked all right.

We waited till 9 and then ate.  I had been a little too liberal with the chili so I baked biscuits to eat to tame the fire in the mouth, and that worked well.

Caroline got home some time after 9:30.  They had a emergency -- a Great Dane with heart problems -- that had kept her.  She also stopped at the store on the way home.  She had planned to make shortbread last night and asked if I had "corn flour."  I didn't know what that is (turns out it's cornstarch).

Then I couldn't find the sugar.  I haven't a clue where it is.  That's one of the problems with not being in charge of the kitchen any more.  I am not aware of what we are short of and have to try to figure out what needs to be purchased at the store.  One of these days I'm going to have to break down and actually go to the store instead of sending Walt or Ned.

But Caroline decided to go with brown sugar instead of white and got the dough all mixed.  As you can see, she really got into her work!  (She was making the recipe from Paul Hollywood, of the Great British Baking Show)

The nice thing about having her work in the kitchen is watching Polly, who stops barking and watches the activity on the kitchen counters very carefully, hoping for a handout (which Caroline is not liable to do, being a vet and considering Polly a "sausage" already")

Ever hopeful

She got the cookies all cut, baked and then the tips dipped in chocolate, all under Polly's watchful eye.

She finally had some chili for dinner and then, when the cookies were finished, headed off to bed.  I'm glad it was a better day for her -- and definitely glad she got shortbread made!

Pumpkins

There is no denying that fall is here.  Trader Joe's "Fearless Flyer" arrived and offers the following:

* Pumpkin bread mix
* Pumpkin spice almond beverage
* Pumpkin flavored dog treats
* Pumpkin ginger ice cream
* Pumpkin rolls with spice icing
* Pumpkin cheesecake
* Pumpkin Joe-Joe's (whatever that is!)
* Chocolate Mousse Pumpkins
* Pumpkin pancake & waffle mix
* Vanilla pumpkin candle
* Pumpkin cream cheese
* Petite pumpkin spice cookies
* Pumpkin spice coffee
* Pumpkin ale
* Pumpkin spiced pumpkin seeds
* Organic canned pumpkin
* Organic pumpkin spice granola bark
AND
* Pumpkins

I've been bombarded with other pumpkin recipes from various web site in e-mail and in magazines.  Truth to tell, pumpkin is not my favorite flavor, though I love pumpkin pies and, when I am in the right mood, pumpkin ice cream  I think pumpkin spice coffee would be ghastly!

Of course, when I think of pumpkins, I always think back on our pumpkin pie movies

for the Char and me movie go here:
http://basykes.blip.tv/file/5509/  

and for the movie of the kids go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuOcQfyxxcM

 

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Caroline survived her second day at the vet school.  These are long days, cooped in an air conditioned windowless room and no opportunity to get out and feel the warmth of the sun and enjoy the beautiful weather.

But she has friends in town this time around, so she has been going out every night.  Last night she was meeting them at a club but had some of our dinner first.  It was my last Home Chef meal for awhile and it not only fed the 3 of us, but there are leftovers.  Then she went off to deVere's and had chicken sliders.  Fortunately she likes to walk so the mile and a half walk home helped her settle all that food.

Having her here has proved one thing--I really can sleep through anything.  Both Tuesday and Wednesday, I slept through her fixing and eating her breakfast, fixing her lunch, and then leaving, all with the accompaniment of periodic barking of Polly.  I slept through it all, though only a few feet from where all the activity was going on.

---

Ned and I went to Kaiser yesterday for my next blood test.  Things really are getting easier.  I can 90% of the time get my left leg in the car and it is getting easier to get or almost get the right leg in too.  It gives me hope that I will one day be able to drive again.

I had the usual blood drawn for the Creatine Kinase test.  Remember that the target goal is less than 200 m/l. I started at 1600 m/l and have slowly gone down and down to 912 at the last test. I was thrilled that the results, which I picked up at 5 a.m. were 814. I had an email from my neurologist, who was very pleased.

In the midst of all this, Atria reminds me that my mother is due for her annual exam and sent me the paperwork that her doctor needs to fill out.  Just what I need -- another reason to go to Kaiser.

I have also developed this wart on my nose, right where my glasses hit the bridge of my nose.  Every time I feel it, I get the image of how kids may view me

Ned and Walt are encouraging me to get it removed, but to tell you the truth, the thought of yet another minor condition is just more than I can think of at the moment.  It will be there until I'm ready to deal with it.  Or it will go away, which will be even better, though highly unlikely.

Maybe I'll try a pumpkin facial.

Revisionist HIstory

Remember the "trail of tears," that series of forced relocations of some 100,000 Native American peoples from their ancestral homelands, to areas that had been designated as Indian Territory.  You might have heard about it (or not). They were not allowed time to gather their belongings, and as they left, whites looted their homes. Then began the march known as the Trail of Tears, in which 4,000 Cherokee people died of cold, hunger, and disease on their way to the western lands.

Wanna know how that is now "discussed" in new Canadian history textbooks?  This is from a 3rd grade history book.

The textbook, which was apparently supposed to teach third graders about Canadian history, presented a stunningly whitewashed interpretation of European colonialism. Following searing indignation across social media, a Canadian publisher will recall a textbook that rather obliquely claimed First Nations and Indigenous people happily “agreed to” move for European settlers.

While there is an understandable need to phrase potentially complex historical concepts, this revisionist history is simply inaccurate — and perpetuates a narrative of white charitable conquest. There are certainly other ways to explain how European settlers unjustly stole land from people who were there first at a third grade-level. If a third-grader can understand “moving out,” surely they can also understand “forced from their homes.”

Amid all the comedy going on in Washington these days, we sometimes forget there there are other serious concerns across this country, such as the attempt to erase the history of the Native Americans.  If you are the parent of a young child in grammar school, you might want to check your child's history text to see how the Native Americans are discussed in this country.

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Caroline went off to her first day at the vet school yesterday morning.  I made sure to put coffee on delayed start before I went to bed so she would wake up to hot coffee, whether I was awake or not.  I was sort of awake when she was making her lunch, but I never stirred when she was having breakfast and fixing her lunch today.  If Polly barked at her, as she usually does when she comes downstairs, I didn't hear her at all.  She was gone half an hour before I woke up.   I keep assuring people that they don't need to worry about being quiet if I am sleeping because they won't wake me up.

When I am sleeping on the living room couch at Alice Nan's when we are in Santa Barbara, everyone can carry on a conversation, including laughing a lot, and I never hear them.

I once went to Lake Tahoe as babysitter for neighbors for whom I regularly babysat.  The parents would go off to gamble after dinner and I would put the kids to bed and then stay up until the parents got home.  At least that's what I did the first night.

They felt sorry that I had stayed awake waiting for them to come home and assured me it would be OK if I went to sleep.

So I did.

It just happened that they forgot their keys that night and tried knocking, standing under  the bedroom window (on the 2nd floor) and calling me, tossing pebbles at the window, and finally getting a ladder to climb up, open the window, climb over my body asleep under the window, wake both kids, put them back to bed.  I never woke up.

In the morning we agreed that I should sit up an wait for them to come home after their visit to the clubs that!

I sleep so soundly it's amazing how often I have insomnia.  It's definitely not NOISE that keeps me awake!  In fact, I keep the TV on low all night and it wakes me up if Walt decides to turn it off.

But Caroline seems to have no problems with sleep.  Last night, after dinner she went out for a long walk because she spent the whole day in a windowless room and she needed to be out in the air.

We're trying to figure out a good place for her to go hiking with fiancé Tim after he arrives on Friday.  We're pushing for Mt. Tamalpais, because of the reward of the beautiful views of San Francisco from the top.  She's a great hiker and most of her Instagram photos are taken of views from the top of some mountain or other.

Today is Tuesday.  She just got here but it's almost time for her to go already!

She's baack

You may remember that a year or so ago, Caroline from Guernsey, daughter of Jane, who stayed with us about 30 years ago, came to spend a couple of weeks here while attending a course at the university.  She is a veterinarian in the UK and was taking a more in depth cardiac study here.

We so enjoyed her time with us and she became good friends of both dogs.

Peripatetic Caroline has been all over the world, it seems, since she left us.  I've been following her photos on Instagram and enjoyed hearing first hand of her experiences in Tanzania.

A few weeks ago, she wrote to say she was coming back for another week at UCD and to ask if she could stay with us again.  I knew we were facing Walt's surgery the same week, and there is my whatever-it-is, so we would not be able to do anything with her, but I also knew that she was a delightful, independent, undemanding guest who was already familiar with things here and told her about what she would encounter (including a non-usable shower, since "her" bathroom leaks), but she was not fazed.  I also told her we would not be able to go to SF to pick her up at the airport, but her fiance Tim is flying in in a week and the two of them are going to tour California before returning to the UK, so she rented a car when she arrived

It's so nice to see her again, jet lag and all.  Even Polly seems to remember her.  She barks, but like she barks at Ned and as soon as Caroline sits down she presents her self for petting.

She now has friends in Davis from when she was here before, so she went out the first night after dinner to get together with some friends, then collapsed into bed for a long recovery sleep.

In the morning we Skyped with her parents, and it was nice to chat with them again too.

In the afternoon she ran some errands, bought some groceries, and checked out where she could park her car at the university.

Then she spent some time reading scientific material she needed to catch up on before classes started this morning.

She went off in the afternoon to meet friends for drinks and then for dinner and home later than anticipated.  She texted me to ask if I would open the door -- I didn't realize she was standing outside the door (Walt had inadvertently locked it). 

The day ended well and now she is back at the University for her first day.  Her time here will be short, but it's so nice to have her here again, even briefly.

And so it ends

Caroline's last day started with a farewell love-in with the dogs who, I am certain, will miss her.

She went off for a walk in the university Arboretum, which I'm so glad she did.  It is just beautiful at this time of year and she had not had the opportunity to see it at all while she was here.

When she returned, we had our final Skype chat with her parents,

It was about noon when the car was packed and we were ready to hit the road.  It was only 10-15 minutes later, along the freeway, when Walt spied this in his rear view mirror.

He thought he was being pulled over for speeding, though he had only been keeping up with the speed of the cars around him, but no...

He had been going too slow.  Only 60 in the middle lane and you are supposed to go 65 in that lane or pull over to the right with all the "slow cars" so you don't impede traffic! He only got a warning, but he was very careful about his speed on the rest of the trip.

Too soon, we arrived at the SF International Airport and it was time for goodbyes,.

We told her, again, that she was welcome to return any time, and then she and that HUMONGOUS backpack were gone.

It was 2 when we left the airport and we stopped a couple of times (lunch at 5 Guys and a rest stop) and arrived at Alice Nan's at 9:59 (she was surprised we had made such good time and said she hadn't expected us until 10!)

We had some dinner and wine and then everyone went off to bed and I have been tearing my hair out trying to get this entry written.  I had forgotten that after not being used for a long time, this laptop needs about half an hour to wake up.

I also realized I am a very bad grandma.  I forgot to bring Bri's birthday gifts with us!!!!!  I will have to mail after all.

Changing of the Guard

Out with the old and in with the ... uhhh .... older?

It's Caroline's last night here and I've asked her to strip her bed in the morning so we can wash and dry the sheets and get them back on the bed in preparation for Ashley and family to move in while we are gone.  

Doesn't seem possible that Caroline's time here is already over.  She wrote us a beautiful goodbye letter that whe printed on  the back of a drawing she had done, which is just gorgeous (I'm going to frame it)

She says birds are the only things she draws, but she obviously has a talent for them!

I watched her sitting at the table holding Polly tonight and marveled at how far she has come.

Polly doesn't bark at her any more.  She's the very first person who has been able to tame her.  Oh, Polly barks but it's her welcoming bark and her "feed me" bark, not the "you're a scary stranger" bark.  Ashley said she'd be jealous if Polly jumped in her lap...and that's the one thing she doesn't do, but she will let Caroline pick her up and doesn't tremble any more when she is holding her.  Caroline has worked long and hard making friends and it has worked.  I don't know if Polly will miss her, but Caroline will probably miss Polly more.  And of course, Lizzie loves everybody and Caroline has had a special relationship with her ever since she bathed her.

Last night she made eccles cakes.  These are small round pouches of puff pastry filled with a mixture of currants and spices and then baked.  They are small, but surprisingly filling.

She left four for Walt and me (one each for last night and one each for this morning) and took the rest to share with her friends at the vet school. I found the recipe on line and am going to make a batch to take to the nice neighbor who loaned Caroline a bike for her time here.

We had a nice farewell dinner tonight and then she went out for a final night on the town with her friends.  It's difficult to say goodbye and she has already warned that there will be tears tomorrow.  She won't be the only one.

I've told her she is welcome to return whenever she wants.  It's been a good 3 weeks.

Kosher Hiking

Our decision for today was between going to San Francisco again, or going to see the redwoods, which Caroline had also expressed inerest in.  However, over dinner last night, she admitted that what she would really do was to go on a hike up a hill to see a view.  Since Davis is in the flatlands, the only "hill" we have here is the overpass with the only "view" of the traffic on I-80.

So I turned to Facebook for suggestions.  What I thought I wrote, from my phone in the restaurant was:  "Davis folk--our guest would like to do an hour hike to maybe somewhere with a view. Any suggestions? All I can think of is the overpass."

However, damn that auto correct that I didn't check.  What actually posted was "Davis folk--our guest would like to do an hour hike to maybe somewhere with a. Jew. Any suggestions? All I can think of is the overpass."  

By the time I got home, my original message had so many smartass comments that I just left them:

Rob Byrnes Well... where do the Jews like to hike these days? (to which John Lindner repied Anywhere but the desert.
Renee Anderson My favorite movie is "A Room with A Jew"!
Ari Laura Kreith The walk from your house to my (Jewish) parents' house would probably be about right.
Sue Abdi Lincoln I spit my water. I know lots of Jews if that truly is the requirement.
Jen Kiernan Can't stop laughing.
Steve Isaacson Oy!
Tina Whittenburg Thurman Lmao, thank you Bev for this lil typo in your status because I needed this crazy laugh so badly, that no one would ever understand
Denise Hoffner Thought you were considering an outdoor Seder!
Kymm Zuckert I'm so so glad you didn't correct this post when you saw the error, because it's my new favourite. I want to hike for an hour to see a Jew!
Jan Scal Newman Still snorting over the hike with a Jew, I'm just now amused at the thought of a view in Davis
Lynne Conrad-Forrest well mt sinai is somewhere nearby every city it seems...maybe qe could burn some bushes...I would suggest point reyes or muir woods
Sarah Kutter Great way to start my day. When I saw your post I knew you would get some hilarious responses! Thank you, Thank yew-My contribution to spellchecker hell
Pauline Brock Jews really aren't the best hikers, but whatever!
Gayna Lamb-Bang That made me laugh out loud! Best typo ever!
John Dennis Kiernan  Overpass?  Did you mean Passover?
Susie Weintrub I have a lot of matzah you can take for the discerning hikers!!!
Steven Chaba  Whatever route you choose, make sure there's a place to stop for a little nosh, otherwise it'll nothing but kvetching the whole time.

While we were deciding what to do today, first there was Caroline's morning chat with Polly.

Caroline just keeps talking to her, and Polly's tail wags a mile a minute, but she still has that "I don't really trust you" look on her face.  I think Polly will miss her when she's gone.

Then we Skyped with Caroline's family.

The suggestion of Table Rock, outside Chico, was looking good, but Walt says it was a 2 hour drive to get there and he just didn't want to drive 4 hours so Caroline could hike for an hour.  We took Sue Abdi Lincoln's suggestion of Lake Berryessa, which is nearby and it was perfect.

It took us a while to find a trailhead, but the drive through all this green was marvelous!  It made me wish I could teleport my mother to the car while we were there already because she is so enamored by green things that she would love it--but not the long drive to get there.

I remember many years ago, when she still had all her marbles, when she pointed to a scene like this and remarked how amazing it was that there were so many different shades of green  We certainly saw that today!

We finally found the trailhead and parked the car.  Walt decided to hike with Caroline for a bit but when it got very steep, he (wisely, I think) decided to come back to the car.  I spent the time sitting in the car, finally finishing my book.  Caroline did the whole 5 miles and at the summit, she texted me, but since we had no service down in the valley, I didn't get her message until after we were driving home.

She was a happy camper.  She found her mountain, her hike and her beautiful view.  The weather was gorgeous and it was the perfect way to end her last day of touristing while in California.

Compassion Changes

Well, we've known for several months that Compassion was going to have to close its centers in India and that I would lose my two kids there.  It was not a big loss of Venkanna, though he was an excellent letter writer.  But Anjali was the first of my sponsored kids and I have been writing to her for 9 years.  I have watched her grow from a little girl into a young woman and looked forward to watching her continue her schooling and graduate before her sponsorship ended.  Alas, the government of India has put an end to that dream.

So India was something I expected.  What I did not expect was that Brayan, the boy from Honduras we took on when I read a book about what kids go through trying to escape the terrible conditions in Honduras, would leave the program.  I would love to know what happened.  They say he just stopped coming.  He was one of my best letter writers and alluded several times to the dangerous atmosphere near his home (his grandmother, with whom he lived, would not let him o outside by himself, for example).  This was precisely why I wanted to sponsor a boy in Honduras, knowing we could not do anything to improve conditions in the country, but we could perhaps make a difference in the life of one child.

Well, Brayan is gone and I don't even have the opportunity to write him a farewell letter, since they don't know what happened to him.

But we have added two new children.

Jorleny is a 12 year old girl from Honduras.  I had hoped to sponsor another boy, but when I saw her pictures, and saw that she was close to Brianna's age, I decided to sponsor her. (She's in 4th grade; Brianna is in 3rd.)

Another deciding factor was that she is that rare Compassion child who is doing "above average" in school (Brayan was too). 
Plus she has a very long list of hobbies which include:

Dancing and/or Drama
Arts & Crafts
Going on Field Trips
Learning about God
Listening to Bible Stories
Playing Games
Bicycling, swimming and walking
Hide and Seek
Jacks
Music and singing
Reading

I have sent off a welcome letter, which includes the standard family photos, including the two dogs, and I have asked for a better quality photo than the one I downloaded from Compassion itself.

Dilan is exactly the kind of child that I do not choose to sponsor when I am looking through all the photos of available children.

For one thing, he's cute and only 4 years old.  Those are the kids who are snapped up by families who want to help little kids.

I tend to prefer older children who have a harder time finding sponsors, but despite my requet for an older boy from Honduras, they gave me Dilan from Colombia.  I can only assume it was meant to be so I won't send him back.

But I know that I am in for years of letters that say essentially "I am fine, how are you?" and thank me for being a sponsor.  He will be much older than this before, if ever, he actually writes something substantive.  But he is cute...  And Fred, from the Philippines, was about his age when I started writing to him and he has turned into a nice little letter writer, about five years later.

Dilan likes to play soccer, as well as roll a ball and roll a hoop.  Since he is Lacie's age, it will be easier, I guess, to decide how to write to him, since I write to her all the time.  He's in kindergarten, so no idea what his school performance is going to be.

The changes in Compassion over the years I have been a sponsor have taught me not to invest my heart so strongly in any of the kids, but to enjoy them a day at a time, as I have learned to do in my real life, and expect that at any moment it could all end.

As for our current in-house sponsored kid, the steak dinner for Caroline was a big hit last night and word from her mother is that she is enjoying her time here.  She is getting ready to attend a fancy dress ball when she returns to Edinburgh, so she shopped on line for a dress here.  She modeled two of the choices last night.  Both were lovely but we both preferred the red one.

(Polly seemed to agree)

Caroline's sad day

Caroline reported that it had been a sad day for everyone at the vet hospital yesterday, as there were so many deaths.  A cat she had treated several times for congestive heart failure finally died.  A "lovely German shepherd" had cancer and died.  And she wasn't alone.  She said everyone was having animals with problems that ultimately killed them.

This is one of the problems with a vet hospital that is often the last resort for many folks with sick pets.

 

But at home there was Polly, who has finally accepted Caroline as an OK person.  She still barks some, but it's more the same bark she has for us:  "You're standing up so certainly you are going to feed me."  She will let Caroline take her into her lap, but she isn't comfortable there, but then if I lifted her up and put her in my lap, she wouldn't be happy either.  Still, her love can be bought.

My day was quiet. After the busy weekend, it was nice to have nothing to do.  I had a dentist appointment in the late morning.  It was a nothing appointment, just having a final crown put on, so it was more a chance to visit with Cindy.

I was going to go to Atria for lunch but it was too late when I left Cindy's, so I went shopping first, dropped food off at home, and then went to see my mother.  She was sitting in the lobby outside the restaurant again and we had a quiet visit.  Her "I don't understand you so I'll pick a topic" thing this time was my hair.  Whenever she didn't understand or follow what I was saying, she told me how pretty my hair was.  The things she is most likely to focus on are hair (loves mine, hates hers, loves anybody at Atria with white hair), her skin (hates the brown spots because they make her look old), and shoes (she tells me how pretty my Birkenstocks are every time I visit her.)  It's nice that she uses how "pretty" things and people are.  So much nicer than if she gripes about everything.

She didn't want to go to her apartment with me, so I went by myself to pick up her laundry.  I have given up trying to explain to her the difference between clothes hamper, garbage, and Poise package.  She has dirty laundry in each, and used pee pads in each.  I have to go through all three receptacles carefully to be sure to get all the laundry and throw away the things that need to be thrown away.

But coming home was fun. I just love streaming video!

Berklee College of Music presents a musical theater writing concert each year.  It's a program Jeri helped create several years ago, teaching students how to write for musical theater, and actors learning how to write and perform for musical theater.  She said it was a natural for the school, since the musicians especially, are likely to go on to playing for musical theater productions, since it is a common way for musicians to make music (Jeri has been doing it for years).

So each year they have a contest and choose the best dozen or so songs that have been written and then perform them with full orchestral accompaniment and choreography.  It's a lot of fun and the show is streamed live, so we get to sit here in California and watch the show in Boston.

The first couple of years that we watched, Jeri conducted the orchestra, but she did not this year; however, she did come on to introduce the band at the end, so we got a glimpse of her too.

These are the times when I love modern technology!

Her World

I found my mother sitting in her favorite chair, just outside the dining room, a cup of coffee next to her.  Since I didn't have laundry to pick up or drop off, I just sat there and visited with her there, in the lobby.

Every time someone passed, she would comment that everyone was "going, going, going somewhere" and, since it was a beautiful day, I asked if she would like to go somewhere and said I would be happy to take her for a drive.

But she said that no, she would rather just sit there and watch people.  And that's what she does.  She either sits in her apartment and looks out on this garden from there, or she sits in the lobby and looks out on the garden from here.

Her brain processes more slowly now and you can't point to moving things for her.  There was a squirrel and by the time she had processed the world "squirrel" and that it was outside and that it was climbing up that tree, the squirrel was long gone and she missed it entirely.  Likewise a cute little bird hopping around the patio right outside her window.  

I told her about Caroline and whenever I mentioned something about her, I had to explain again who she was, and when she couldn't understand me at all, she would look past my head at the window in the dining room, on the opposite side of the building, interrupt me, and say "aren't those trees beautiful?"

Over and over again, she raved about how they were the most beautiful trees she had seen.  I'd like to live inside her head and see the beauty she sees here.

I did have to laugh, though.  She is forever complaining about "all that junk" in her apartment, giving it a disgusted wave of her hand, so upset that things aren't absolutely perfect.  But while she sat in the chair today, looking at the trees coming into leaf and the trees that still have bare branches and she gave the same disgusted wave of her hand and said something like "but look at all that....junk."  

She's also having more problems with word finding.  After telling me how beautiful the leaves on the trees were, the last time she pointed them out to me, she couldn't remember the word "leaf" or "tree" and just said "all that....stuff....is so beautiful."

But she's happy.  She's healthy.  And the only thing she complains about (other than the messes she sees) are the brown spots on her hands because people will think she's old.  I can't really be unhappy about that.  People marvel at how young she looks and she certainly looks younger than most 80 year olds in the building.

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Caroline seems to be settling into a routine.  She had come here to take a course in neurology, but that didn't work out, so she is in cardiology and came home the first day to announce she had listened to a hawk's heart that day.  She also fell in love with a puppy (who had to go home at the end of the day).

It rained yesterday morning, so Walt took her up to the hospital and brought her bike on our long-unused bike rack, since it was predicted to clear up by noon; she got home just fine.  It looked like it was going to rain this morning too, but it cleared up before she had to leave.

I've bought food she can eat and pack for lunches.

So it's all going well.  This weekend she is not on call, so we will go to Napa one day and somewhere else the other day.  We also have a show Saturday night and will probably go to our Mexican daughter's restaurant for dinner on Sunday night, if Ned is free.

Even Polly is coming around.  She still barks when Caroline stands up, but I think part of that is because she barks when anyone (even Walt and I) stand up because she logically assumes that the only reason any human being would get up from a sitting position is to get food for her.

The time already seems to be passing quickly.

How Does Rick Steves Do It?

We've only been touristing for two days and I'm already exhausted.  Heck, even Caroline is exhausted (but then she couldn't sleep last night and is still dealing with jet lag, so I don't think that counts for this girl whose Instagram pictures are all of various hikes she's taken and mountains she has climbed!)

We started yesterday with a visit to Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum.  I've lived here 43 years and had never visited it, but I will definitely go again.  Rooms like this are breathtaking

And how did I not know about this?  Know what it is....?

As you can clearly see, it's a horse.  You'd think this would be by some primitive artist, but no, it was...uh...constructed? in the 20th century.

The most impressive room did not allow photos, but it was an exhibit by photographers Ansel Adams and Canadian Leonard Frank, who went to the internment camps to take pictures of the Japanese there and record that whole black history of this country.  The photos were very moving, but even more moving were the comments in the guest books (2 of them), many from students who had never heard this story!  Even I learned something -- I did not know that there were internment camps for Japanese in Canada as well!

We were at the museum for about 3 hours and barely made a dent, but we left to go to dinner.  I had planned for dinner in Old Sacramento, forgetting it was Sunday and it was so compacted you could hardly move, so we got outta there real quick-like and went to dinner at P.F. Chang's (yesterday's Photo of the Day)

After that we went to Capital Stage, where we saw an excellent production of a play called Guards at the Taj by Rajif Joseph, which is not only very funny, but very dark and downright cruel.  It's two guys (I call them the Odd Couple of 1648) who are tasked to guard the Taj Mahal the night before it's unveiling.  It starts very funny, but then it turns very dark when they find out what order the Emperor has for them.  Following those orders ultimately destroys the two men. It's a disturbing story, but so well done by the 2 actors that I gave it 4 (out of 5) stars.

Then home to sleep.  In the morning we had a Skype call with Caroline's parents, Jane and Stephen in Guernsey.  Even brother Alexander, in London was brought in on the call.

Ya gotta love modern technology.  The last time we saw Jane she had no white hair--now she's gone all white (and it's quite becoming on her).  It was nice to chat with her again.  Makes Caroline seem almost like a grandchild!

We finally got on the road to San Francisco.  It was a beautiful sunny day and I was loving those green, green hills again.

I was convinced we were going to have a beautiful day in the city.  Pay no attention to those clouds.

Welllll......

By the time we got to the Golden Gate Bridge, the fog was so thick you couldn't even SEE the bridge.  I foolishly suggested we go up into the Marin headlands to see if you could see anything through the fog, but they have changed the road and NONE of the parking areas were available.  They had all been made into resting areas for hikers with the road blocked off to cars.

We did find a way to turn around after a couple of miles and headed back across the bridge  You could see the base of the towers, but nothing else.

When we got into the city, we went out to the beach and then through Golden Gate Park, where we stopped at Queen Wilhelmina's garden, underneath a big windmill.  The tulips were in bloom and they were breathtaking.

We took a few pictures and then wended our way through the Sunday traffic.  We were going to drive through the Haight-Ashbury district, but I noticed that the sky seemed to be clear.

I looked up into the hills and lo and behold, it looked like Twin Peaks was in the clear, so we started driving up and up and up until we got to the top. 

And yes, it was clear.  Caroline could see the Golden Gate Bridge from that height and of course I took the requisite "taking new person on a tour of San Francisco starting on Twin Peaks" photo.

Next down to find our goal before we ever left Davis:  Mitchell's Ice Cream parlor, where I took Kimberly Lazznik and her husband when they were in town. 

They were serving #52 when we arrived and our number was #74, so we had a bit to wait, but eventually we got our ice cream.

Caroline had Thai Iced Tea flavor and baby coconut;  I had ube again, made from purple sweet potatoes from the Philippines and avocado ice cream, which I'd never had.  Walt had coconut ginger and something called "tropical 4" with four different flavors  It was all wonderful.

But we had an abbreviated tour to continue so we went through the city center where the symphony and opera houses and City Hall are, and down to first Filbert St. (the steepest hill in San Francisco) and then Lombard St. (the crookedest) and, of course, past the house where I grew up.  Last gasp was down through the Marina district, forgetting to drive by the Palace of Fine Art (so we have to go back!) and to Fort Point, under the bridge, another spot where I always take pictures of people on "the tour."

So glad that she finally got the have her bridge experience!

We then drove through Sausalito and out the other end, where we stopped at Dario's Italian restaurant for dinner.  Caroline slept most of the way home, and we stopped at CVS in Davis so she could get a couple of things she needs for the class.  She has to be up at the crack of dawn to get to her orientation, so I hope she is able to sleep tonight

Now I'm going to go whip up some banana muffins (doesn't everyone bake at 2 a.m.?) so there is something fresh for her to grab for breakfast in case I don't wake up in time to do it in the morning.

(Benny went with us today and I got several pictures for upcoming letters to the girls, but I won't talk about them now.  Caroline was a great help in getting them set up.)

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And by the way, Happy Journalversary to me!  I started this journal 17 years ago today and this is entry number (roughly) 6,607.

Caro

Well...she's here. . She seems lovely.  And she hasn't run screaming from the house yet.  I take that as a positive sign.

I spent a bit of time finishing the closet cleaning and took about 9 or 10 boxes to the SPCA thrift store.  The problem was that in cleaning out the closet, I found a lot of clothes that fit me that I had forgotten about.  I now have a big mound on the dining room table in the living room that I have to find space for in the downstairs closet.

Walt moved a cupboard and a desk upstairs.  The cupboard turns out to be a perfect place to put all the 33-1/3 records we still have (remember records?) and the desk fit nicely in the Pepto Room, whether Caroline (who calls herself "Caro," I have learned) needs one or not.

But most important we now have a family room again.

This may not look like much but remember we have had our kitchen table sitting in the room for over a year and we haven't had a third chair in there for many years.  Now we no longer have a kitchen table in the family room and we have a third chair for guests to sit in.

That meant putting the kitchen table somewhere and it's back in its place...sorta.  It's 90 degrees from the way it always has been, but it does fit this way.

The big desk we still need to find a home for is still over on the right and it holds the stuff that used to be on the kitchen table, until I can find a place to put it all, but by golly, tomorrow night we can all sit down together at the same table and have dinner together!

In the middle of all this I had lunch with my friend Kathy and we both remained depressed over the Trump situation(s) but we have run out of ways to express that.

Around 4:30 we headed off to the San Francisco airport to pick Caro up after her 7:30 arrival.  It was the height of rush hour traffic, but Walt took the Golden Gate bridge, which had very little traffic going in our direction, and we got to the airport on time.  He decided to park at the airport rather than wait for Caro to call us on her phone.

You cn sit down in the waiting area outside of customs and watch on a monitor as each person gets out of customs and is free to escape into the city.

Caro was able to text me and I could text her back at her UK number so we knew where to find each other when the extensive customs check was finally over.

Caro's visit made me tackle projects that have been waiting for years to get done...and I did them.  Maybe it will also prod me into going to get hearing aids  I don't think I understood  1/4 of what she said on the ride home, what with the combination of her soft voice, her British accent, and my hearing problems.  Getting hearing aids would at least give me a fighting chance.

I was going to go to the supermarket tonight to get corned beef for dinner tomorrow, but then realized that if I do, I will have to go through the Polly Barking routine when I get home, so instead I have set my alarm for 6:30 and will go out then.

But at least I know that when Caro unpacked her suitcase, she had someplace to put everything!