Did You Say Birthday???

After working over Christmas, it was was time to fly back to the States for New Years Day to visit family and friends and look after our affairs. This also ended our first year back in New Zealand, an opportunity to look back and assess how this trans-Pacific experiment is working. I would say "so far so good". This is our third trip back in 2014, and Skype and email are invaluable tools for staying in touch. It is not the same as being there in real life, but hopefully is a decent substitute.
New Years Eve, my sister Athena invited us over for a walk at Land's End, looking back at the Golden Gate Bridge from the west, always a stunning world-class view!

A feast followed featuring fresh Dungeness crab and delicious and nutritious veggie noodles made by niece Emily. Adieu 2014, Kia Ora 2015!

We headed up to the Mendocino Coast and Fort Bragg, and were again reminded that no matter how many beautiful sights we see, none are more stunning than those back home.

On the road to Point Arena

We traveled south to Point Arena to attend the funeral of Emily Stornetta, the elderly mother of my office manager Judy V. Emily lived a long and productive life, she was a devout Catholic, and nearly as faithful to the SF Giants. She will be missed, but she is sure she is in a better place.
On a lighter note, we were able to have our traditional holiday/birthday (mine) dinner with Judy V and Linnea M (and saw friend Brenda L, there also celebrating her birthday).

JV, FL, LM, JTW, & BL

Linnea gave me the coolest present:Luci. Luci is and ingenious solar powered portable emergency/camping lamp. Linnea was so excited to find these at The Outdoor Store in Fort Bragg, I think she gifted them to all family and friends.

Another piece of technology that was frequently gifted was the Misfit Flash® (pictured below).

Athena generously gave these to family members in hope we would all monitor our activities
and sleep, download the data to our smart phones, and share and compare results on-line. I never could get mine to fully work for me, but Athena is very bullish on the concept, and I am sure she will get them functioning and on-line.
Athena is also the one who tipped me off in September of an upcoming special exhibit on Alcatraz entitled @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz. Mr. Weiwei is a dissident Chinese artist who was jailed and now is not allowed to leave the country. On a clear and sunny day, we took the ferry to the island with our friend Karen K. 

The exhibit has seven segments, each tailored to a specific site in the prison, some in areas not usually opened to the public. You are first greeted by the fierce and brilliant dragon kite.

Another kite in this section With Wind

The next space is caller Trace. As is explained:
"The viewer is confronted with a field of colorful images laid out flat across the expanse of the floor: portraits of 176 people from around the world who have been imprisoned or exiled because of their beliefs or affiliations, most of whom were still incarcerated at the time the artwork was made." 

You can look up short bios of the men and women depicted in Legos® on site or on line. There are "some that you recognize, some that you've hardly even heard of", to quote Ray Davies. Later on in an abandoned cell block is Stay Tuned, where you can sit on a stool in a bare prison cell and listen to recordings of artists and prisoners of conscious read, sing, recite, or play their works in their native tongues.

Leaving "The Rock"

We all agreed it was a surprisingly moving and thought-provoking experience, and a very appropriate way to celebrate the recent birthday of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Did someone mention birthdays? Well, a lot of January was spent celebrating various birthdays. There was belated honoring of Kimarra's December BD,
 
Xania's BD, Jason K's BD in Fort Bragg (a traditional culinary homage to Elvis P, the King of Rock 'n Roll, and also a Capricorn), Isaiah's BD,

 and ,of course, mine.

Isaiah reading my card from Sofia

The most important aspect of these trips home is spending time with friends and family, especially the Heards, however inadequately brief it may seem.

Cory,Cheryl,Isaiah,Marquise (Back);Me,Kimarra,FL, Athena(Middle);SMWH,Xania,Margaret(Bottom)

Cake and presents at the Heards

BD Breakfast at Fred's in Sausalito

Another breakfast (we didn't go hungry)

A few other odds and ends:
We took an overnight excursion to Las Vegas, for some quick CME. Our room faced Planet Hollywood and a massive banner of Britney Spears.....

 and we had time to take in the Cirque du Soleil Beatle's-inspired show "Love", which I highly recommend.

A little note for my Kiwi friends; Starbucks has discovered the Flat White!

After a little less than four weeks, it was back to NZ, just in time for the upcoming Cricket World Cup! (I will try, but I am not sure I can really begin to understand the game.)

I

I must end on a sad and tragic note. While I was away, our beloved medical secretary Helen Lithgow passed away after a very brief illness. She was truly the rock of the Department, and a big reason I came back to Timaru. If something needed doing, she was the one who knew how to do it. She was sharp as a tack, wise, funny, and caring. Everyone blessed to know her and work with her understand my words cannot do her justice, and we all are still in shock. She was the definition of irreplaceable. May she rest in peace.

Helen L and her partner in crime Joan R