A Week In The South

Last week we were in Santa Barbara, having a good visit with my siblings and getting some things taken care of that were necessary. I had my yearly physical and mammogram and passed both with flying colors – my doctor practically threw me out of the office, I'm so disgustingly healthy.

We had a couple of good visits with friends; took my brother out for a belated birthday dinner at the funky cook-your-own-steak restaurant in Carpinteria (The Palms); and saw the "Harry Potter VI" film at the beautiful Arlington Theatre. We got to Mass at Trinity, our dear old parish.

On the way down, we stopped overnight in Carmel Valley, and did some research on venues for the 2010 family reunion (the RU-10 Blog is almost up and ready, and everyone will be alerted when it is published).

Now we're happily back home in our dear cottage; and we are trying to finish up all the little odds and ends of chores that need to be done for this season – so that we can take the entire month of August "off" and just enjoy the beautiful summer weather on our deck overlooking the forest.

I have lots of good reading saved up for that time, including an anthology of James Baldwin's nonfiction and the newest McCall-Smith novel about Botswana's "No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency." We will do some local excursions to places we haven't checked out yet, and begin a regime of daily morning walks. I plan to get back to regular daily piano sessions – and writing exercises to prepare for the first book of my memoirs (which will grow, I hope, out of my September visit to my childhood's home in Ann Arbor).

As part of my writing work, I will try to keep this blog going with a sort of Summertime Pastorale, to record what we hope will be a much more peaceful August than our last year's moving-in process could allow. (If I get too flowery or effusive, please send me a nasty comment-note and I'll tone it down!)

Summertime, No Blues

We love summer in the mountains: clear blue skies, temperatures around 75 F. with light breeze – and very warm in the midday hours on our back deck. The Glorious Fourth passed almost unnoticed up here (by us, at least). There was a kids' parade on Route 9 last Saturday, but we abstained; stayed home and had a very restful day. On Sunday, Joe and family came up for an all-American Barbecue (hot dogs, cornbread and beans, salad stuff and watermelon); otherwise we did little celebrating on the outside. In our hearts, of course, we were quietly celebrating a great Democratic president and the newly seated senator from Minnesota!

We are getting ready for an excursion down to Santa Barbara next week; I have my annual physical checkup scheduled there, and it will be a chance to visit with siblings and friends. So even though we don't like to be away from our mountain greenery, we will enjoy a little Southern (CA) hospitality, I'm sure. We plan to stop overnight on the way, in Carmel Valley, and will research the venues available there for next July's family monster rally.

John still has too many chores on his List, so I've declared a Month Of Jubilee, for August. We have promised ourselves that during that time, we will do no chores beyond the absolute daily necessities; make no lists; tote no barges, lift no bales. We need to practice the ancient and honored art of Doing Nothing (Guilt-Free). I'll let you know how that goes! But if we can't make ourselves take a real "Stay-cation" this year, it's my opinion that we just need to get away, next summer, for a month. To this end, I'm wondering if anybody would like to trade homes with us for next August? As long as this trade was fairly equal (i.e., the trader lives in a nice place, is reasonably neat and fair with our property, and trusts us with theirs) I think it might be a great idea for all concerned.

Any interest? send me an email, or leave a comment below!

One Year Anniversary

We are celebrating! We felt that our first wonderful year in Boulder Creek deserved a special observation, so we have given ourselves a holiday – no work, no list-making, no administration; just fun.

We began with a little breakfast of fresh OJ and a short-stack of fine pancakes with warm fresh raspberry sauce. This repast was followed by the unexpected arrival of some big trucks with tree-men, and we watched them take down a couple of dead oaks in the neighbors' yard. As the noise became rather obnoxious, however, we decided to drive down to Santa Cruz and have a fancy lunch at an excellent Italian cafe in the center of town: we had a wild arugula and prosciutto salad, shared a small appetizer bowl of fresh clams in a wine/butter broth; and I had a half-order of cannelloni with a glass of Veneto pinot grigio (John had a mixed-seafood pasta). When we got home, neighbors came by with a dozen fresh eggs laid by their hens this morning -- another benefit of living in the country! Tonight we'll have a bit of bread and cheese and share a bottle of champagne, and we'll be off to sleep in the beautiful, cool evening that follows a delightfully sunny and mild day.

For all of you who have shepherded us to this peaceful valley, and for the Good Shepherd who watches over us all, we are eternally grateful, today and forever.