Summer

I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. It flies by with the speed of a nascar. (Go Danica! No, I don't follow car racing - it just fit here.)

This is turning out to be quite an eventful summer. Chelsea, my middle daughter, is leaving for a move to Vegas on the 29th of July.

:~ - (

(those are tears!)

We are trying to spend as much time together as possible; she is quite sad about leaving all of us. And then my youngest, Hannah, is away at camp for 12 days, this being the first time she has been away at camp. Chelsea leaves while Hannah is gone so it is hard for both of them.

Richard and I spent some time in Sunnyvale, CA, just outside San Francisco packing up our apartment out there. Since Richard is no longer working out that way we couldn't justify the outrageously expensive rent. That was a very bittersweet trip. We both love California and want to move there in 6 years when Hannah is done with high school. We probably had the best time out there, though, with our friend Donna. She came for the July 4th weekend and, I'll tell you, it was such a blast! Donna is my 'crazy' friend that can bring out the 'best' in me, as in 'best time.' I think Richard was quite happy to be a part of the 'Donna and Karen' party-time.

I will post more about each of these events soon. I have to transfer my pix from my sandisks and then I will post more with pictures. I just wish I had a picture of the rattlesnake that Richard, Donna, and I almost stepped on...

I love when this happens....

Date: Thursday, July 3 Flight: NW 339

Departs: Detroit-Wayne County Int'l, MI (DTW) at 5:18PM
Arrives: San Francisco-Int'l, CA (SFO) at 7:18PM
Class of Service: First Class (R).....Seat: 05-D
Flight Duration: 5 hours..... Approximate Miles: 2,083
Meal Service: Dinner.......Aircraft: Boeing 757-200

It is said that it's the little things in life that add the spice to the sauce. I consider this one a biggy! (The onions and the garlic.) I went online to check the time of my flight out to San Fran tomorrow so that I could set my alarm for exactly 24 hours ahead in order to go online and check in so that I would have a good standing for the possibility that my silver elite status would bump me up to first class and...voila! It happended automatically! :)

I better wear a bib; I've got big chunks in my sauce!

Healdsburg, California: Olive harvest 2006

This is a long overdue posting. Actually, this trip was taken well before the start of my blog so I do have an excuse. I hope when you read this blog you are left with a feeling of tranquility through viewing the pictures. Because that is what I feel whenever I visit our friends' estate in Healdsburg, California.

First, a little history. While Richard was an analyst at Gartner (which is where he was working when I met him) he met a guy by the name of Ridgely Evers. Ridgely was, at the time, CEO of a company that Richard covered as an analyst. (And also, you might have heard of QuickBooks. Ridgely was the 'father' of that brainstorm. Now he's taking it to the 'cloud.' He has a new product, NetBooks which is bookkeeping as a service.) Richard and Ridgely became friends along with developing a solid business relationship.

On the personal side, Ridgely owns an estate in Healdsburg, California, which is about an hour or more north of San Francisco off Hwy 101. It is a very scenic area, rich in organic beauty. He is married to a lovely chef, Colleen McGlynn. Together they host an annual olive harvest; they grow olive trees on their farm. They bottle their own olive oil; you can find their products here. I know Colleen was into making her own soap; I'm not sure if she's still doing that.

For the harvest, they invite friends and family to come pick olives in the morning and by early afternoon Colleen and her sou chefs have prepared a delicious meal with olives highlighted in many dishes.

We've attended the olive harvest 3 times, 2006 being the last. It's always held in November and the weather can be unpredictable. In 2006 we had sun but it had been raining earlier which made the hillside where the olive trees grow pretty muddy and slick. I think I slipped a couple of times!

This event is quite a production! You're instructed to arrive in the morning. Their driveway is shared a bit by the neighbor way at the top of the hill. Here is a video of the drive in to Ridgely's and Colleen's estate. Please keep in mind that even though I am calling it an estate, it does not present itself as a stuffy, uncomfortable place to be. As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite. The house is very homey and comfortable with hardwood floors and personal touches that add quite a lot of charm.

Ridgely is in the red shirt greeting guests and helping them get set up to pick olives.


When you get the car parked, your 'outdoor' shoes on, and your 'hellos' out of the way, you begin picking olives from the olive tree orchard which begins right across the driveway from the house.

Here's a bit of a silly video of Richard and me getting started. Notice the buckets worn around your neck. The technique that produces the best results, I found, was to position the bucket under the tree and with both hands begin plucking the olives free and letting them fall into the bucket. If you bother to pick them one at a time you would never get your bucket full. Sorry for the quality of this one video but it gives you a feel for what we're up to.



Here are a couple pictures of Richard and me amongst the olive trees.





































It sure is a beautiful sight to look down into your bucket!.

















Just a few olives on this tree.

After picking for a while the bucket gets pretty heavy. Ridgely sets up large bins that everyone dumps their olives into. The first year that we attended this event back in 2002, I believe, there were 3 of these big bins put out and filled up. In 2006 only one bin was filled. Not sure what happened to everyone's enthusiasm; Richard and I continued to enjoy the experience.

Watch these beauties as they're added.



And these, too!






Various olive-picking pails after their job was complete.









After picking olives there is a bit of time to relax before sitting down to the feast. This is the ultimate place to chill.



Ridgely and Colleen own about 22 acres that they farm. This is a picture of part of their yard surrounding the house.


Need they say more?





While everyone is picking olives or relaxing, Ridgely, Colleen, and all their help is busy setting the tables and cooking for about 100 people.





They serve their own DaVero wine and olive oil. Everything here looks ready to go!




















If I recall correctly, the bread that was served was cooked in the brick oven, behind these chefs. This was the outdoor cooking station.



Dishes for an army!







Just to give you a feel for how much is put into this event, here is a video of the porch as it awaits guests.





Introducing Chef Colleen!







Now we're all seated and enjoying the meal. What a perfect day with the sunshine and warm air. There was fresh chicken on the menu, freshly plucked the night before. They also served up some venison sausage along with various veggie dishes that made creative use of their olive oil. And don't forget the brick oven bread to dip in the oil! Yum!




Ridgely talking to the guests.







The two on the left are Lace and Sam, a couple we met at the first harvest we attended. They are an extremely friendly couple who also live in California, Sam retired from Visa. Sam's father actually lives in Detroit so we had something to chat about.


















I couldn't eat another bite!


If I could, I would live in California. This area north of San Francisco is beautiful. It is so hard to describe the difference between California and Michigan to people here in Michigan that have never been. It's more than just the scenery. It's a feeling of calm, peace, and time standing still that overcomes me when I'm out there. The ability to be near ocean or mountains or desert or rich earth whenever you fancy is the main pull for me, I think. Now if I only had enough money to buy something out there...

April, 2007: Hannah takes on San Fran!

I'm making an attempt this year to travel one-on-one with each of my daughters. This is the trip I did with Hannah over spring break of this year, in April. I took her to San Francisco, her first time there. There was so much to try to do; of course there is never enough time for everything.

The first weekend we went sailing with Richard. It was a bit choppy and just a wee too windy for a small boat so all we could do was sail out in the channel to the bay and then turn around. Sounds short but that took about an hour.

Also on that first weekend, we took a drive down the coast on the infamous Highway 1. We found this lovely beach with a couple of big caves carved into the rock. There was (unfortunate) evidence of people using the caves for various purposes but all-in-all it was pretty pristine. The carving you see Hannah doing was actually just writing with a stone.
We spent a while at that beach just enjoying the fact that there were no other people around. Richard, of course, had to get his feet wet and play in the water a bit.

Ahh...true love forever! Richard etched this heart in the sand with our initials in it!

These pictures of jellyfish were taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This aquarium is the best aquarium I have ever been to. It is well-known around the world and has an annual attendance of 1.8 million. It holds 35,000 plants and animals representing 623 species.

Richard had to work during the week but Hannah and I played. We took a ferry over to Alcatraz one day. Once you're over there, it's a pretty well put together tour. Everyone gets their own independent headset and you can walk through at your own pace. Parts of it were narrated by some of the actual prisoners.

Here is Hannah cruising around the prison, checking out the escape routes.

And here is what a typical cell looked like. Can you imagine living in such a cramped space??
I think I would rather die. I'd at least go insane. I start going crazy when I don't get out of the house by early afternoon.

This cell shot is showing how 'the great escape' was pulled off. That is a dummy head you see lying on the pillow made from a homemade cement powder mixture, soap, and toilet paper. The authorities never found the guys who escaped and assume that they never made it to land.

We spent one day exploring Muir Woods, a beautiful redwood state park. I just love the smell of the forest. And in California, with the extra flavor of eucalyptus in the air, noses get the best treat!

I'm not sure if you can read the
dates on this tree sample but the birth of the tree was the year 909 and the year it fell was 1930. I wish I could grow that old as gracefully!
We had a great time in the city by the bay and I hope it will be etched in Hannah's memory forever.

Here are a few more random pictures of our trip.

Barbie does the Titanic!

Here we are eating dinner 'down below' on a floating boat restaurant called Forbes Island restaurant.

Hannah enjoying downtown San Fran, taking in the sights.

Hannah being sassy. Pthhhhh!

Early training for the good life.

More jellyfish. This one was taken at the Pier 39 aquarium.

Just chillin' by the fire in the apartment.

Live from Birmingham!

Well, it's about time! After realizing that I have difficulty remembering what happened on which trip I've decided I can't put this off any longer. I've got to write it down. My mammory is reflecting my age...I mean MEMORY! Well, my mammories are showing my age, also, but that's a personal problem.

Richard and I spent the weekend of October 6, 2007, in San Francisco in order to attend our friend's wedding. That would be Barrett Lyon and his now betrothed Rachelle Sterling. Whereas the number of invitees were quaint and low, the event was quite a high.

They chose a Saturday that would provide their guests with quite a show in the sky. First, while mingling on the 6th floor roof of the Vitale hotel overlooking the bay, before the ceremony, we were all treated to the Blue Angels air show. I had never seen them flying before and it was fantastic. The precision with which they flew together was awesome. And when one plane flew straight up only to shut off his engines and fall straight down (of course he came out of it okay), it took my breath away. It made me realize how boring it must be for regular commercial pilots, always flying in the same path at the same speed...no adrenaline rush there. But that's okay. I fly a lot and don't need any extra adrenaline rushing.

After a very untraditional ceremony (Barrett's father is a lawyer and performed the nuptials) that brought tears to my eyes we all headed to Pier 40 to board the Merlot. While cruising around the bay we had a very tasty dinner. Music was being played on the top level and a few of us danced a bit.

Then at about 9pm we had another show in the sky - wonderful fireworks! It seemed as though they were performing just for Barrett and Rachelle. How romantic!

We did manage to see Richard's son, Nathan, this time. Nathan is attending Stanford for his doctorate. It's nice that Richard's job is so close; he works in Sunnyvale and Nathan is in Palo Alto only 10 minutes away on a good Hwy101 day.

The three of us had a very good meal at Il Fornaio in downtown Palo Alto and then we moved to a more 'campus' atmosphere, a bar called the Blue Chalk Cafe. They have a shuffle board table there and we managed to stick around long enough to secure the table. Nathan ended up the winner and it was his first time playing!

I'm headed to San Fran again in a week to meet my friend Lori out there. I'll post again and let you know about all the fun!