Let's Start With Disneyland

All the narrative for this post is at the end because it has been so long since I posted I forgot the story has to be written last in order to post first

Ever since my trip to North Carolina its seems I've been on the go. We had two weeks after Thanksgiving to prepare for Christmas before setting on the road to Disneyland. As you all know with Marianne's diagnosis of brain cancer this trip was a treat from Dean for her and her children. We arrived on Sunday, December 13th and departed the Park at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 17th. We didn't get home until 10:00 p.m. that night. I took about 300 pictures and have condensed it down to 30 for this post. Amongst the many rides we took we also had breakfast with some of the Disney characters, lunch with the princesses, had a photo session with Santa Claus and saw two parades. We saw a showboat celebration of Princess and the Frog in the New Orlean's section of Disneyland and a grand fireworks display our last night there. We ate a lot including lunch at the Rainforest Cafe and dinner at the Napa Rose, a five star restuarant right there at our hotel. I had a waffle cone dipped in chocolate and rolled in peanuts and filled with mint chip ice cream two days in a row! The weather was perfect and you can see from the pictures and the smiles a good time was had by all

Upon our return home we had one day to get our Christmas tree up, finish wrapping presents, finish decorating and prepare food for Ryan's welcome home from Iraq open house on Saturday. But that is the next story.

As promised, next picture Our Boy

Ryan has been back in the United States for almost a week now so I'm a little behind posting these pictures but one year later our soldier is home.

Can It Really Be True?

We heard today that Group 2 of the 82nd Airborne Division was in Germany and waiting to board a plan bound for Fort Bragg, North Carolina. ETA Green Ramp 3:40 a.m. "arrive early" we were told. After driving for 5 days from California, braving through truck trouble, no electricity in the new duplex and a few sundry other mishaps our soldier was scheduled home in 8 hours. He called, "Hi, I'm in Germany." Thank God!!! finally out of that "shit hole" as Ryan called it. The next picture I post will be of Ryan on US soil. Stay tuned.

On My Way

I started a trek across the US on Monday, November 2nd, to North Carolina to greet Ryan home from Iraq. I can guarantee you we drove long and hard and arrived on Friday, Nov. 6th to reach our destination before the 82nd Airborne arrived back to Fort Bragg after a 12 month deployment. Almost every picture I took was from the window of our truck as we sped along at 60 miles an hour. However, I did persuade the driver, my son's wife, to stop and let me snap this shot of the moon rising over the Arizona desert. It is the best shot of my trip so far. Ryan is due to land back in the US at 3:40 a.m. Nov. 10th. Dear Lord how wonderful it will be to have our boy back in our loving arms.

Sister Love

When I try to think about the best way to describe Sister's Week-End I can never come up with the right adjectives. To say it is perfect or wonderful or joyfully therapeutic is just not sufficient. If am inspired by my sisters, I am loved unconditionally by them and I'm uplifted by them. They think I am wonderful and I think they are wonderful. We laugh together, we cry together and we sometimes embarrass ourselves together. We eat a lot and we shop a lot, we sing and sometimes we even dance. My sisters are the bees knees, they are the wind beneath my wings, they are so beautiful to me and they are my heros. They tell me what colors to wear and which ones not to wear, they tell me when my ass looks too big and when I dress like an old lady. They tell me you are so beautiful in red and they tell me I'm funny and smart. They truly, truly sustain me. I lover babies you sisters.

Small Grandchildren Calling

This afternoon I was at work busy typing up notes from a meeting and my cell phone rang, it was my eight year old granddaughter calling to tell me she had just gotten a cell phone from Jason, her mother's boyfriend/notyetfiance. She chatted excitedly for a minute and then asked if I wanted to talk with her brother? More importantly, did he want to talk to me? You see Landon is all if 3 years old and is quite decisive about who he will talk to on the phone and who he will not talk to. I probably have not had the honor in about a year. But, today, he has consented. "Hi grandma! I'm playing with my hotwheels!" "Wow, I tell him, that sounds like a lot of fun." I'm suppose to be working and I'm discussing play activities with my grandchildren. Hope no one in the surrounding cubicles is listening, well fuck them if they are. Brooklyn gets back on the phone and tells me before calling me she had just had a nice conversation with her friend from soccer named Pickles. "Why do you call her Pickles I ask?" Brooklyn hmmms and haaahs and says, "well I don't really know but she is really nice." I caution her that she might be using up too many cell phone minutes and she suddenly agrees. "Yes, I need to go" she says.

On the drive home from work I tell Dean I had a call from Brooklyn and Landon on Brooklyn's new cell phone and he is instantly disturbed about the idea of an eight year old with a cell phone. In the back of my mind I completely agree but the whole experience was so darn cute and she was so excited. Was it Dylan, all those years ago, that said?, "...the times they are a'changin"

Sweet "B", she is like my own.

Emotional Day

Returning all the "stolen" stuff today. Dealing with Dean, could be that Rich and Rox will be there at the ranch. Daddy is stressed. Boy, life can be really, really strange. I love and hate the "stolen" stuff all at the same time. My heart breaks for my daddy because he is so conflicted about selling the ranch. He doesn't want to hurt his brother, but Richard leaves him no choice. God damn it!!!!

My Father, My Uncle

My family has had a long standing struggle with property we own in the Sierra Foothills. Recently I took some things out of the family homestead to preserve them because the home has been vandalized several times. I was accused of stealing those items by my uncle and my aunt. My heart has been broken ever since. I have been so profoundly sad about the whole situation I have been unable to look at the items sitting in my home waiting to be returned to the ranch. I didn't really think I could get any sadder about the situation until I opened the box of photos and found this one of my father and uncle when they were boys. It was taken 1944 when my dad was about 16 years old. Those were the days when they were best friends. My uncle has professed that my father, pictured in the front, was his hero. They camped together, hiked together and dug bottles together. When I was a child I remember my father talking on the phone with his brother for hours. Now, they barely speak at all. My dad is 80 years old now. He just wants some peace in his life. All the stuff I "stole" goes back on Friday. Instead of stuff I have the love of my father, I have the love of my siblings, I have the love of my family. Poor Richard doesn't understand once all the stuff goes back, I still have the treasure.

Number 6 of the Thunderbolts

Yes Brooklyn's team the Thunderbolts fell to defeat 6-2 on Saturday but not without a concerted amount of effort by the "Ts" as a whole. Brooklyn was off to a slow start in the first half but rallied after a very frustrating 20 minutes proclaiming, "I wish I could trip them all." I told her to channel that energy and go get "her ball" back from them. She played much more aggressively the 2nd half and got thumbs up from the whole family for a worthwhile effort. At first even Papa Vic wondered why she had gotten the nickname "fireball" from her coach but Brooklyn proved her metal and we were all glad we made the lengthy drive up to Grass Valley. In a show of solidarity Brooklyn and her team-mates sprayed their hair yellow, except the blondes of course. It really came out looking more like lime green or that they had spent too much time in an over chlorinated pool but oh well, at least it wasn't permenant.

Love that ponytail flying straight out the back.

The girl in blue sure looks strange here. Action shots can be pretty funny

While sister Brooklyn played a hearty game of soccer in 95 degree weather Little L as I call him, busied himself in the shade. He's a dirty face boy but so cute.

It was all about the air this week-end

This week-end I attended the Mather Field Air Show and the Reno Hot Air Balloon Races. All photos shown at slideshow to the right

OM F'ing God

I just wrote a huge long post that corresponded with all these pictures, complete with active links to all the places I mentioned and for some reason it didn't f'ing post. It took me over half an hour to write the chronicle of "What have you been up to?" That is what the posting was called but the system didn't save that either SO it has a new name. I simply can't re-write it. Therefore look at the pictures and come to your conclusions. Probably more exciting than what I wrote anyway.

Joined Windwalker Vineyards Wine Club

Dean doesn't really like joining wine clubs. In fact after over 30 years of wine tasting in Napa, Dean had never joined a wine club until he met me. We joined Chateau Souverain outside Napa in the Alexander Valley. I had a bit of a falling out with UPS because they would always try to deliver our wine shipment around 2:00 in the afternoon. Someone must be at home to sign for the wine and of course we never were. UPS refused to deliver after 5:00 when after we had come home from work, even though I saw them in the neighborhood as late as 6:30 p.m. So we dropped our membership. But I digress.
Now we have done it again. Our friends Brent and Carla Takemoto are members of
Windwalker Vineyards and they talked us into joining this fun group. Windwalker hosted their annual summer picnic last friday. We attended and were treated to a fabulous picnic complete with bottomless glasses of wine. All for $12.50 per person!!!
They served up generous portions of rib eye steaks, smoked turkey marinated in Windwalker Chardonnay, Caesar salad, black bean salad, focashia style french bread AND a chocolate brownie for dessert. Once the winery closed we weren't quite ready to stop the party. Luckily our new friends, the Campbells, live only 3 country miles from the winery. As you can see we were having a great time. Don't worry though, no one was drinking the windex pictured below on the counter next to the wine. Thats just what happens when you drop in on someone's house impromtu. If you look all the way to the dark window in the back of the picture you can see me. I'm behind that little flash of light.

Woodstock

Tonight I argued with my husband about Woodstock. Woodstock celebrates its 40 year anniversary this year. I was twelve and Dean was 23. What the hell does a 23 year old Davis University studying chemical engineering know about an anit-war concert? Nothing!!! He thinks all the musicans were there for money. Thats because if you were a student attending a college or university back then you were exempt from the draft. Thats because if you were attending a college like Davis, studying chemical engineering you weren't even thinking about Vietnam. Not everyone thinks on the left side of their brain. Not everyone thinks along this strategic, logical path. Some of us actually question business as usual. Some of us don't travel the designated path, some of us actually question, why are we doing this? And while Dean was drafted, to Korea and not to Vietnam, I don't think he has any idea why those musicans performed at Woodstock. This is completely amazing to me because his father was a POW in the 2nd World War. How could he not understand???? I just want to shake him.

Cabernet State of Mind

Its a Thursday night after work and you find yourself settling down at your favorite local English Pub, even though you don't live in England, the Fox & Goose for a nice glass of beautiful, red cabernet. Lively conversation with friends, a snack and another glass of cab, you look around and find you have a different perspective of your surroundings than when you walked in. You have a cabernet state of mind.