Life of Wry

Buh bye palm trees and sunshine…

Buh bye Klondyke and Joey..

Buh bye family and friends, beaches and restaurants, nostalgia tours and so many good times. See ya all next Spring.

Today was another lovely day at Matt’s place… a great workout, a nice walk, dog time, a fun lunch out with Matt and a business partner Joe…

But the highlight of the day was siting in the Long Beach Wilson High School gym watching the varsity girls’ volleyball team beat Lakewood High School in four very close sets (best of five). Courtney, a sophomore, in her second year as a varsity player, plays offense and seemed to be a part of most rallies (do they call them rallies?).

Here are some pics:

The first thing I saw when I entered the gym.. Courtney’s name.

Here is the Courtney fan club: Grandma Judy (Staci’s mom), Matt, moi and Staci. We sat together mostly, but couldn’t talk — way too loud!

Before the game started, when the team was introduced..

Ready position. Once the ball’s in play, Courtney takes her position up at the net. Mostly she blocks, but she also gets the ball a bunch for point winning kill shots. Super fun to watch.

Courtney had a great game. She said it was a great night to be in the audience. She also said she played as well as she did because we were there to watch!

I don’t get to spend a lot of time with the Johnson kids — I see them once or twice a year — so this was just wonderful. Courtney’s adorable — very sweet, incredibly effervescent. She has after school and weekend jobs (Legends host, babysitting). As soon as she turned 16, she bought a car with money she’d earned. And she’s got practice daily, as well. She industrious! Lots of time management for that girl. She looks (always) like she’s having a ball.

An easy, unscheduled day if there ever was one. Time for a long workout, a stop-go walk with the doggies, hours by the pool with lots of blog catch up and NYT puzzles, evening with Betsy (5th dinner of the trip!).

The view from my workout:

My charges this morning. Stop, sniff, mark territory, poop (Klondyke three times, Joey zero).

Michael’s been into Ken dolls since long before the Barbie craze. These reside in Michael’s garage sewing room, the site of his amazing sewing projects.

Ken dolls are pretty modern, I must say… black Kens, skin condition Kens, amputee Kens, trans Kens…

Cocktails by the pool..

Matt made a wonderful dinner!

Last Saturday, checked out of my beloved Ave C cottage (well… beloved, maybe not quite that, but I do love my days a block from the beach in the shadow of my homeland), joined the Magnolia fan club along the sidelines of her first soccer game, then, after the soccer match up in Torrance, it was time for a change of venue: headed down to Matt’s for some Matt/Michael-style R and R.

After settling in a bit and hanging for awhile by the pool, Matt and I took off for Huntington Beach. First stop, nachos & beer at a decent restaurant along PCH, then a long walk on a long pier — Huntington Beach’s — to check things out. Michael joined Staci and Courtney, Victor, Debbie and Maddie at the (not sure what it’s called) Country Music Festival at the LB convention center, so Matt and I had the evening to ourselves. Thai food it was, followed by a movie (Boy Erased), and a great night’s sleep. Woot. Saturday in the southland: check.

Sunday, Matt, Michael and I joined Staci, Eric and Courtney for breakfast (great catch up!) at the Harbor House in Seal Beach, then I spent the rest of the afternoon with River, Magnolia and Juniper… a first for me, alone for five hours. Fun, interesting, challenging, fun, funny, interesting, challenging, memorable. Then I returned to the M&M’s, changed into nice clothes (needed a shower, but forwent) and off to a fabulous Moroccan Dinner at Casablanca in Newport Beach to celebrate Matt’s birthday (belated).

Already posted Saturday soccer pics, so here’s the rest of Saturday..

Matt and Klondyke (look at Klondyke’s paw.. so cute):

Matt at the pier…

Here’s a project that Michael was working on (and finished): a baby quilt for a friend (who loves Barbie and pink):

~~~

And here are Sunday’s pics.

First: an afternoon of grand niece and nephew sitting!

Juni has a thing for Groot.. and wanted to model herself after various Groot poses (which we did about 20 times… ). These were my favorite:

Then.. after lunch (a joint effort with Leona, who, following lunch, uber’d home), there was a walking adventure to get ice cream, complete with harrowing boulevard crossings and challenging kid-wrangling.

River was in a grown up, older brother, I don’t smile mode:

Mags was all over the ice cream outing:

Juni wanted her picture taken at every turn… “take a picture of this!”

After returning (whew), we headed to the pool. This had its fun moments and its challenging moments (don’t run on the deck, don’t throw that dirt into the pool, don’t remove that filter lid, don’t whack your sister with that wet t-shirt…. jeez.. hard not to be a shrew). Still… I thoroughly enjoyed their antics and energy.

~~

It was a full 5 hours of mostly fun.. then I headed home and out we went for cocktail and adult time…

Ate here:

Ate, among other things, these…. a savory bastilla for an appetizer and stuffed dates for dessert. Between was an amazing chicken, beef filet and lamb sausage skewers-over-couscous dish with veggies, raisins, cinnamon, onions on top (no pic).

And aforementioned adult beverage: an apricot champagne cocktail that was fantastic.

This was Mags’ first outing on the soccer field. She started tentatively (and some of her moves were a cross between Irish dancing and soccer), but within minutes she was in the hunt, in the middle of every scrum, and got her foot on the ball more than a few times! She took the ball well down the field for one impressive play (and, classically, it was toward the wrong goal) and, most importantly, LOVED being on the field. John took her out after the game to buy a soccer ball and says she wanted to practice all afternoon. That’s a win.

Here are some pics…

Getting some halftime coaching from Everly, Magnolia’s first cousin (Megan’s daughter).

Mom and Juniper watching intently…

Looking dubious, but, in fact, she was ecstatic after the game. Maybe the post-game snacks were lacking?

A few shots taken today…

I like when the water’s two toned. Took this on my walk home (“home”) along the Esplanade after a couple cafe hours.

Was going to reheat some leftovers for lunch, from dinner at Turquoise last night.. but then saw a guy cutting fruit in a little pop up along the Esplanade and hadda.. it’s watermelon, cantaloupe, orange with some hot pepper sauce.. oh my.

Saw this painting hanging inside Starbucks… my fave restaurant Turquoise!

Betsy came by for a Gin Rummy rematch.. then we headed to dinner at Kincaide’s (great dinner). This was the sunset on the way.

An early morning walk on the Esplanade, some coffee and puzzle time, a coffee meet up with Alexis, some classic beach time with Betsy, gin rummy, and an exquisite Middle Eastern meal at Turquoise. My kinda day. Already in despair about my beach days coming to an end! Lol.

My fave pics from today…

It’s hard to tell, but the sand on the beach this morning was nearly powder sugar white.

I like this mural..

These tree with the paper-like, velvet-like bark… they line Ave C

What an awful deal!

A dramatic sunset on way to dinner..

My favorite restaurant down here..

Had a truly fun afternoon hanging around with these two… Alicia and Dave.

Dave also grew up on Via La Selva, which means we both went to Valmonte, Malaga Cove and PVHS. Which means we share dozens (and dozens and dozens) of the same friends and have incredibly similar childhood experiences. Dave and Alicia have been paired up since our sophomore year in high school and after a half century of life, jobs, family, and so many moves around the country (and world), they are returning to Dave’s family’s home to live (after about a year of remodeling, a project that just started this week).

The afternoon was extremely pleasant, and comfortable in that common roots, shared experiences kind of way. We didn’t move in the same circles, but there are still so many common threads… and just so much to relate to in each other’s stories.

I learned that the two slots that opened up on the Guatemala trip in February — the slots that Sally and I will be filling — became available when Dave and Alicia had to back out (due to that remodel project). Sorry they won’t be on this trip.

So excited. Four whole glorious days in my wee beach cottage on Ave C, just a block and a half from the beach. Four days of walks, nostalgia, bench time. More walks. And reading, writing, and puzzles. Cafe time and bunches of restaurants. More walks. Maybe a swim. There will be friends, and family. I will get lots of exercise and sleep (that’s the plan, anyway).

Just a few pics on the day…

The very pretty Pyramid Lake, the best bathroom stop in I-5 (only open on weekdays, though).

I got here at 4:00 (a seven hour drive with three stops and some stop and go through LA), unloaded my car and headed right down to the Esplanade. 70s (which feels so warm, due to ocean humidity). Some pics:

Then Betsy came over (she spent day at Disneyland.. people down here do that all the time!), and we went to a mediocre place for dinner, but it was still fun. Here’s Betsy Boo:

And just like that, the weekend’s over. I mobilized early, after a great night’s sleep (as, literally, I’d gotten zero sleep the previous night… I’m having an issue, it seems, with insomnia), and headed back to Davis. I leave bright and early tomorrow, bound for the southland…. whew!

I had to stop a couple of times because I just love the foothills of California and hadda get a few shots of the early morning…

These are in Sally’s neighborhood:

This is a bit down the road… quintessential golden rolling hills of California (thanks Kate Wolff).. golden light, oak trees, late summer grasses and meandering roads.

I had to make it back for a couple of pre-trip appointments… a massage and a pedicure. See?