March 23-April 8, 2016
Written March 31+
Dear Diary, Friends, and Families,Written March 31+
Writing for us. What do we want to record? Hard to say, especially when we really are doing just "normal stuff". However, from past years, I recognize that "normal" can be what we want to later recall and hence, what we need to note in the first place. So, here goes normal, as we move from March into April, from Winter into Spring.
Easter is the quintessential celebration of the return of Spring. Marianne and her mom started Sunday properly with Easter Mass. Marianne struggles with the roll of formal religion in her life, but making Mamo happy is good in all cases. I joined them later for breakfast. I suppose I should struggle more with formal religion, but have not felt compelled to. I wonder how this will change as we age and approach "the end".
The
big event of the day was a BBQ at Katinka and Ruben's. We started
with an Easter gift for Mamo at her house. Marianne had chosen a
book of children's letters to Pope Francis and his responses. Of
course the book gift came with a promise to read it too. Probably
the better part of a thoughtful gift.The BBQ party itself made maximum use of Fresno Spring weather. This really is the best time of the year, weather wise, as the days are warm, not hot, and everything cools off over night. Henry and his family filled the back yard with kids' noise, another good part of BBQs. The back yard borders an active railroad track, so there are competing noises, but it is interesting how the rumble just disappears. If only they would turn down the horn.
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Ruben's deep fried chicken had been great, as usual, and we had eaten too much, as appropriate for a Spring festival. On Monday, Marianne and I needed to spend extra time at our gyms. We have been at this routine for nine months now and it is absolutely part of "normal" for us. The hope is that this will make us both feel better now and avoid problems of aging weight and weakness later on. So far, so good.
The
other health risk locally has to do with crime, not calories. We
live in a "Bohemian" part of Fresno, meaning an area where rents for
houses, galleries, and workshops are reasonable. But it is also
home to darker sorts and less than artistic activities. On Monday
evening, we joined a hundred or so of our neighbors to hear what the
local Assemblymen and the Fresno police chief had to say about a recent
increase in local crime. I have to say, I was neither encouraged
nor too discouraged. Crime in our Tower District rose in 2015 and
early 2016, but increased policing is bringing it back down. The
crime fighters have tough jobs, but I wonder if the bad
guys are just too numerous. We'll see, I suppose. 
Our
other "regular" activity for the week has been preparations for
Marianne's art show. She has been pointing toward the April 21
Thursday, but learned this week that the work will actually be hung
this weekend! We had to rush a bit for the publicity photos, and
of course Marianne wanted to do just one or two more pieces, but I
think new pieces, big and small, are in good shape.      |
Speaking of Saturday, April 2nd was the day for the Cambridge
Avenue Block Sale. This has been a rite of Spring in
our neighborhood for years, although our closest neighbors seem to have
tired of the process a bit, as have we. We did not offer
anything, but Katinka sold her famous salsa from our front yard, so we
seemed to be joining in. By the way, she sold out her
cooler full of salsa jars again this year. Congratulations.
Otherwise,
a few neighbors put out their junk (their words, not mine, but I would
not argue) and, reportedly, sold much of it. If the price is low
enough, everything goes. Our own purchases were limited to a
memento or two from an estate sale on our block. Neighbor Marie
had passed away recently, and we wanted something as a reminder of
someone whom we had met way too late in our lives. My purchase
was an antique (?) bowl from somewhere in Marie's family travels, maybe
Africa, maybe Mexico. (Picture pending.)
And, speaking of selling, Saturday was also the day to deliver Marianne's art work to Brush and Easel
in preparation for her Art Hop show later in the month. Valerie,
friend and gallery owner, took in the offerings with her normal
enthusiasm and encouragement and will display them for the whole month
of April.
Valerie's
own current passion uses a technique called "encaustic", a wax-based
process she normally turns into wonderful paintings. Marianne took
a course or two at Brush and Easel in the technique and that experience
morphed into her current colorful squares of plaster-formed surfaces. I
looked around Valerie's workshop and saw this hen sculpture, showing that Valerie has taken
the wax technique way beyond two-dimensional paintings.
I really can not imagine how she gave birth to this chicken!Our busy Saturday continued with an impromptu Cambridge Commons pot luck in the late afternoon. Apparently, this was a tradition on the days with the Cambridge Block Sale, but it was almost forgotten this year, before some of the old-timers noticed. No matter, neighbors can gather quickly and we even brought Marianne's mom, who always enjoys a party, despite her 96 years. Or, maybe because of it.
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On Sunday we had nothing planned and that's what we did, mostly. Marianne did work on the bug-infested rose garden. Ugh. I walked through our neighborhood and was reminded that we are surrounded by a number of great old homes, mixed in with some not-so-great. Cambridge Avenue may be the friendliest though.
On
Monday, it was back to the normal work week which, for us retirees,
usually means a limited amount of required stops: exercise sessions,
doctor sessions, shopping, gardening, and all the other things we
really do not
need to remember or record. Maybe one more rose picture, just
because we can't seem to pass by our back yard without enjoying the
display.
Tuesday
was much more exciting: a trip with Mamo up to Yosemite. She has
lived in Fresno for over 60 years, and has visited the park many, many
times, but never stayed over. We decided to add this experience
with a one-night stay at the old Victorian hotel, known for over one
hundred years as the Wawona Hotel. Since the first of March, it
has been called the Big Trees Lodge, due to an unfortunate copyright
squabble between the former concessionaire and the National Park
Service. Humbug. I will continue to call it the Wawona.Our first stop was for lunch. Our priorities would be meals for this quick tour. We chose the Tenaya Lodge for convenience mostly. It is just outside the Yosemite Park and has been a go-to place for us before. The facility is nice and modern and the sunny day had everyone in a good mood, despite the harsh and too-loud background music. (Why?) I even consented to having a picture.
Annex in early morning.
We
were up early, but for Mamo it was, unfortunately, due to leg pains - a
recent development that has robbed her of sleep. Marianne
consoled her and made plans for a doctor appointment later in the day.I tried my hand at pre-dawn shots of the hotel and Annex (above). This may not be the pictures that Ansel Adams made famous in Yosemite, but it was fun.
By breakfast time, Mamo was not going to let leg problems get in the way of another pleasant meal in the dining room. She had her normal: "pancakes, well done both sides", but Marianne and I experimented with biscuits and gravy. Definitely not our normal diet, but tasty and we were on vacation after all.
Twenty-four hours after we had left Fresno, we were back into the routines of gyms, shopping, chores, and doctor appointments. Now, a day after that, it seems like a long-past trip.
Thursday will have an Art Hop evening, but that will have to wait for another diary. This one is helter skelter enough already.
After that, we have little or nothing planned. So far.
John and Marianne