Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
In our few days at home, we did laundry and straightened up generally. Despite the heat, I even found myself clearing out overgrowth around trees in the front yard. This is a task I take on once or twice a year, but this time was more work and sweat than I normally handle. Good exercise.
On Thursday, after one more Kaiser run, we headed over to the slightly-cooler Bay Area. The current heat wave really was remarkable, with triple digits even over Pacheco Pass, normally the border between San Joaquin Valley heat and coastal cooling. On the western side, we went to the beach for lunch: Rosy's at the Beach in Morgan Hill. Marianne enjoyed oysters for the first time in years. (Raw seafood is definitely off-limits for chemo patients. ) Another good sign.
Up in Monte Sereno, Charli and Zarbi loudly greeted us while their humans were all out doing young family things: tennis, golf, friends, and so forth. Over the weekend, that was the understandable pattern. Kids are so busy, but meals served for time together. Gigi did one Hungarian pancake breakfast and Mamal took us all out for a Saturday start at The Los Gatos Diner. Thanks.
Gigi also managed to work in an art school lesson: This is also a tradition and still goes over well, no matter how old the middle schoolers are getting. A fun evening.
Otherwise, weekend activity was our own normal too. Marianne did some shopping, enjoying the Bay Area's better pickings. Shopping therapy is fine. My normal was a walk. I tried to take the dogs with me, but they refused to leave Gabby. That's OK, since I ran across some little folks and I'm not sure Sarbi would have not been dangerously inquisitive. Fierce doggy.
Sam had some time at his desk, with a new office chair. This was Gigi and Opa's chance to contribute to the gradual transition from a little boy bedroom to a teenager's. I suppose we would prefer they stay small and cuddly, but bigger hugs are also OK.
Our last social event of the weekend was dinner with friends Scott and Malinda. I don't think we had seen them since before the pandemic, so we had catching up to do. Since we are all in our 70s, part of this catching up was medical history, but not too much. Travel was a more exciting topic. They are heading to Nuremberg in a few weeks and we can only hope to follow in some months, after we get in our next road trip in a couple weeks.
Sunday morning, after the palacsinta breakfast, the family headed off to baseball, golf, tennis, and friends, while Gigi and I packed up and drove over to the Central Valley. The drive was lengthened by the cleanup of a large truck fire on a narrow part of Pacheco Pass. This added a half-hour to a normally too-long drive.
Back home, the house was too hot for the air conditioner to cool things below the 80s, but this seems to be the end of our 2022 summer. I hope. We'll see.
John and Marianne