Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
A multi-parter, just because the bits don't seem to be connected.
Part 1, Regular Home Stuff
Fresno May started as it usually does: Spring arrives, with hints that summer will hit sooner than I want. Marianne would be OK with twelve months of summer heat, not for me. This year, we celebrated Cinco with a birthday dinner for Katinka and Ruben, both having birthdays the day before. Nice start.
Otherwise, all is regular. Marianne finished up her most recent painting, a large, colorful, piece that I really like. Her instructor also interviewed her for an analysis of three other just-finished paintings. The discussion is an interesting explanation which gives the backstory for pieces we will be bringing down to Gabby for Mother's Day.
I am dong my regular too. Gardening has been a big part, but mostly just cleaning winter growth and recovering the areas planted in bark chunks. This is a great idea for low maintenance, since bark needs no fertilizer or mowing or watering, just renewal every few years. Our only new flowers came from a back-porch cactus. These flowers are magical, going from tight buds to large blossoms in a matter of hours. Unfortunately, they last no more than a single day or so.
Family news has been pretty much regular too. Friday Zoom with the boys has been game-free, replaced by discussion of family health and travel plans. Their mom has received yet one more cancer development, so they have that stress. Of course, we empathize.
On a more positive note, we learned that Sam scored his first hole-in-one, earning him a picture in the club newsletter. The game remains his passion and he spends as much time as possible on the practice range and course. His father proudly notes that Sam regularly out-scores him.
For Mother's Day weekend, we left The Central Valley for The Coast, starting with a quick Santa Cruz visit with friend Rita. On the way to lunch, she showed off the giant plant behind her harbor-view home. This has to be the largest plant I have ever seen outside big-deal public gardens. But the best part of the visit was just having some time for getting up-to-date with a friend. We all seem to have complications that make this less frequent than it should be.
Part 2, Winchester (Mystery) House
On Saturday, Marianne and I planned to treat Ava and Sam with a visit to the Winchester (Mystery) House, a visit that used to be a requirement for growing up in the Bay Area. The plan was changed a bit when Ava developed an extremely sore throat and mild fever, making mystery-house visits unattractive to her. Decades ago, when Marianne and I each made childhood visits to the old house, the tour emphasized ghosts and mystery, but now it is all history. Better for adults, I assume, but not so special for youth. Nonetheless, Sam was good natured and assured us that he enjoyed the visit. Maybe.
We took tons of pictures of the 160-room home and listened to the stories of Sarah Winchester's decades-long remodeling project. However, we will let you make your own visit to get more details.
Part 3, Mother's Day
Sunday, Mother's Day, started quietly. Ava was still sick, with an occasional fever and a very sore throat. The Friday pediatrician diagnosis of "allergies" was looking shaky and Ava remained in bed mostly. Poor kid. Gabby and Mamal came back from their Pebble Beach excursion before noon and the first task was to take Ava to the Urgent Care facility for a better diagnosis. This time it was "strep throat", with real medication prescriptions. We all hoped this would work.
Then it was time to get on with the good parts of the day. Marianne and I joined Trotter cousins on our monthly Zoom and this is always a cheerful hour or so. No screenshot, but that's OK since none of us had changed much. Next month we hoped to add Cousin Kim since Maryetta will be visiting her sister and it really will be a unique opportunity. Here's hoping the three-continent connection will work.
The next event was the reveal of the three new paintings Marianne was giving Gabby. The abstract pieces definitely made a dramatic statement once we got them hung Monday morning on the blank living room wall.
Urgent Care, paintings, and Zoom completed, we could move on to the afternoon barbecue. First, however, Sam had to tell his dad about Saturday's golf round. Four-over-par on the first nine and even-par on the second. He is twelve, going on thirteen. Pretty amazing.
Mamal fired up the big grill and prepared tri-tip roast and vegetable sides. In the kitchen, the moms did their contribution, chatting all the time. That's was visits are for.
The rest of the day was even quieter. Mamal's mother headed back to her South-bay home. Ava remained in seclusion. Sam splashed around in the pool, until he left for his room and needed rest. The remaining adults sat around and talked. A good end to Mother's Day.
Part 4, Postscript
The Monday drive back was uneventful, as we always hope they will be. Then it was a return to normal: grocery shopping, cooking, garden trimming, and prepping for the week.
Tuesday's big activity was window cleaning. Of course, WE don't clean the 42 windows and two sets of French doors. That gets contracted out to Javier and his wife. This is a not-generally-annual event and is a full day for the two of them. Marianne was off on errands, so it was my job to supervise. The biggest supervision failure was when the entry wall-light got knocked off the wall, shattering the old Hungarian ceramic shades into a zillion pieces. It took awhile before we accepted this accident as "it's just a thing".
The other complication of our window cleaning is always the repairs needed by our ancient wooden screens. This year, three of them needed repainting and this was my job. These pieces are almost 90 years old and we hope to keep them in service at least as long as we are around. We'll see.
Finally, the day ended with a nice sunset. We are starting the summer for sure.
Stay tuned,
John and Marianne