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| Christmas Cactus |
From the weekend before Thanksgiving through Grandson Isaiah’s
birthday (January 7) we had a prolonged stay back in the Homeland. It is my
intention to try to alternate Christmas time back in the States every other
year. This was a nice long break made even longer since I decided to take no Continuing
Medical Education courses, but we still had a lot of ground to cover.
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| Group Photo, Athena's backyard, November 27, 2015 |
Things started with Thanksgiving at sister Athena’s house as
she was recovering from back surgery. Local grocery Molly Stone’s did the
cooking with all the fixin’s. It was great! The weather was sunny and bright, perfect
for a walk around Ocean Beach with local sights, the
Camera Obscura and the
ghostly ruins of the
Sutro Baths.
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| Ocean Beach |
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| Sutro Baths |
Up in Fort Bragg we caught up with dear friends and enjoyed
the local holiday traditions, including the lighted truck parade and the
Festival of Lights at the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden.
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| A collage of the Festival of Lights |
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| The "Old" (as in former) Office Gang |
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| Me with the lovely Kristen |
Much of our time was taken with two trips to see daughter
Sofia and family in Phoenix. We were sure to celebrate Kimarra’s 6th
birthday.
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| At the playground |
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| Riding the mall train |
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| Kimarra with Ben, one of several Grandpas. |
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| Hooray!!!! It's my birthday too, Yeah! |
Christmas Day I flew to San Diego to spend with my father
and his wife Ruth. It was another beautiful SoCal day, nary a snowflake in
sight. Besides a delicious seaside dinner, we had a marathon set of gin
rummy games, of which my father won more than his share, much to his delight.
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| Dad on his trike with Ruth trailing, Balboa Island Christmas 2015 |
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| An undocumented immigrant |
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| San Diego Bay, Christmas 2015 |
Mid-December, 2015 was a difficult time in the US. The presidential
campaign is absurd and frightening. Two major mass shootings occurred, which
set a sad and despairing pre-Christmas tone. People eventually “got back to
normal”, with no discernible change in anything.
En route to Arizona, we stopped by and saw my brother and
sister-in-law in Rancho Mirage (no photos). I am glad to report his health and spirits
are much improved since I last saw him in June.
I was able to make two detours on my journeys to finally
visit two classics of Roadside America. First, a jog up from the Interstate on
the Colorado River takes you to
Lake Havasu City. If that name rings a bell, it
is probably because that is where you will find the London Bridge, built in
1830, and purchased and moved brick by brick to Arizona to draw people to a new
planned community. The brain child of
Robert P. McCulloch (of McCulloch Chainsaw
fame), it was opened in 1971 and has drawn visitors ever since.
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| The view of the bridge from our balcony |
Another side trip was on California State Route 46, a minor rural
road which crosses from the Central Valley to the coast. The junction with
Route 41 is where, on September 30, 1955, 24 year-old James Dean in his 1955
Porsche 550 Spyder (named the “Little bastard” by JD) met
his untimely death. You
can pay your respects at Blackwell’s Corner, the roadside stop and now a
tourist shrine where he had his last meal, a Coke and apple. (The actual site has a small sign and is still too busy and potentially dangerous to pull over.)
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| Courtesy of Wikipedia |
This route over to the coast led up to Watsonville and
dinner with the Nestlers, and a surprise early birthday party for me. I also
was given my first
Christmas Cracker, a British novelty new to me, but found in
the Commonwealth (i.e. New Zealand) and probably imported to the Nestlers by
their Aunt Stella, a long-time English resident. The Cracker is minimally
explosive, and traditionally contains a paper crown and a few “Cracker Jack-esque”
trinkets.
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| Cracking the Cracker |
New
Years 2015 was spent quietly, but afterwards we went over to Davis to see
friends there. Here are David N and Heather F enjoying some of Margaret’s
fruitcake, gifted to me by Athena.
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| DN&HF in yurt with fruitcake |
As a dedicated (if remote) Bay Area sports fan, I wanted to
be sure to experience in person the World Champion Golden State Warriors and
the magical season they are enjoying.
I
treated myself to tickets January 4
th to see them defeat the
Charlotte Hornets 111-101. Go Warriors!
As you might have noticed, these six weeks were dominated by
holidays and birthdays. Apologies to all dear friends or family we enjoyed
visiting but not mentioned. I mean no slight; it is that my blog has become
quite photo-oriented. If I have a good picture, you are in.
One Christmas I missed was the traditional Wallace Christmas
at the cabin in Camp Connell, CA. For the last several years the part of me has
been played by David N, and the part of Fayne by someone’s shoes (an inside
joke). Maybe 2018?
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| (Photo by DHN) |
The night before returning to NZ we had dinner and cake with
family for another early JTW BD celebration. My actual birthday was spent with
some of my Timaru “family”, for an end to the BD fetes for 2016. Thanks for the
cake, Camille!
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| MLW & me. She and Cory hosted after-dinner cake and presents. Thanks! |
