This is just to say we've come out of a crazy heat wave which to my mind gave new meaning to clichés such as "suffocating" or "opressive" heat.
On Tuesday of last week the car thermometer read 35ºC (95ºF) on my 8:30am morning commute (!). We had daily highs of 113º+ throughout the week, and even by 10:30 pm the temperatures only dropped to around 100ºF. Saying simply that it was hot is a terrible understatment; being outside was like sitting in an oven with a heavy blanket wrapped around you.
Heat and sun are violent phenomena in Spanish, and with good reason. They say the heat aprieta (squeezes) and the sun's rays pegan fuertes--hit hard. After a week like this last one, I'd say the lexicon is quite appropriate. The brutally sunny, sweltering heat of Spain is anything but hospitable and usually far from plesant.
Thankfully, the worst has passed.
...Now the highs of between 100º-105º feel refreshingly, cool by comparison. ;)
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Back to the Grind
Although I never blogged about it (we are wary of announcing online long absences from home), we spent the last two weeks of June in California with my family. It was great. :)
I will spare you the details of our preparation and travel; but suffice it to say that neither was uneventful (unfortunately). The Friday before our Sunday (eeeearly) morning departure, I nearly burnt down the house and had to spend all afternoon "mopping up" with the help of several bottles of cleaning fluid. Then our layover at Gatwick airport turned into a nightmare when some poorly informed Norwegian Airlines employee insisted that we needed to show our return tickets in order to pass through to international connections...
...But despite a soot-covered home and British customs, we made it all in one piece and forgot every bit of the trouble we had getting there the minute we stepped through the doors at Oakland International Airport and were received by Maggie's smiling face (due to traffic, my parents got there shortly after our arrival).
We spent our first week camping at a plush KOA in Petaluma, where my Aunt Jeanne and Uncle John joined us with their grandkids, whom I had never met (they are nine and six!). Emily was especially thrilled by the whole experience because we slept in my mom's fire tent pitched outside my parents' big fifth-wheel trailer. :) We roasted sausages over the campfire and marshmallows, too. We swam in the pool, visited the children's museum in Petaluma (twice), had a luau (!) and generally enjoyed each other's company.
During our stay in the Bay Area we also made a visit to the San Francisco Zoo and met up with friends who live in San José with a daughter just 10 months older than Emily. It was such fun watching them play together. They seemed to genuinely enjoy each other. My best friend, Miriam, who lives in Philadelphia (!), was also able to visit us that first week and even spent the night with us after our day at the zoo.
We also squeezed in a visit to my Aunt Kitt and her husband Peter, who live in Sonoma. Coincidentally, my cousin and his family were visiting at the same time so we got even more family time out of the deal. We had a delicious barbeque feast and enjoyed their crystal clear pool to beat the 100+ temperatures.
The second week of our stay was all at my parents' home in Sierra Valley. We had intended this to be a week of relaxation...and in the end it was, I suppose; but there are just so many people to see and things to do that inevitably we did end up feeling rushed on more than one occasion. Still, on a whole we kept a great balance and didn't over-book ourselves.
Sunday the 25th we had a family reunion with the Barkley's (my mom's family) at a Reno Ace's baseball game. My dad's Aunt and Uncle from South Shore came along, too. It was a really fun event despite the high temperatures. My mom had reserved seating adjacent to the airconditioned bar (good thinking) and the seats themselves, were also shaded during the game, so it was all good. We got some good visiting in, but didn't see a whole lot of the game, honestly. ;)
My aunt from Portland made a trip down to Reno just to see us (!). I was so excited that she was able to make it work with her schedule. Of course, attending the family reunion was an added attraction. She stayed through Tuesday with us up at Rainbow Ranch and subsequently got her fill of my little Emily (oh, us too!).
My second parents (Miriam's family), threw a potluck party for us--or as Miriam put it, a "Viola Viewing Party"--on Monday night and we spent another great evening eating delicious food to our hearts' content and laughing and chatting with friends. Later in the week we got together with the Stantons again because there is never enough time with good friends. We took a lovely walk out to Fraizer Falls in Lakes Baisin followed by lunch at the restaurant where Lucy is waiting tables for the summer.
The rest of the week we did actually relax around home. We made a few trips to Reno for some shopping, had a quick coffee with my Aunt Su, and spent an afternoon with Auntie Maggie, who showed us her apartment, introduced us to her handsome kitty, Finn and took us to her favorite haunts around downtown Reno. Sundance bookstore and ice cream on the shore of the Truckee river were highlights.
Lucy was working a lot of the time we were there, sadly; but we did get time with her and her silly, ball-obsessed dog, Diesel, too. Tita Lucy spent a night out at the ranch and we made cookies together--a big hit with Emily! But perhaps the most special thing we did with tita Lucy, was going for a ride on my mom's old grey mare, Hobo. Emily seems to be shaping up to be quite the cowgirl, something her Ga and tita Lucy were happy to indulge. Towards the end of the week we were even able go play with Lu's new baby filly, Scarlet. Emily was pleased to see that Scarlet nurses just like she does (ha!).
Unfortunately the saying is true: Time flys when you're having fun. Our time in Poonahphoonah (as Emily says, California...) was too short. Two weeks flew by and before we knew it we were back on the plane and headed East. Now it's been nearly two weeks since we've been home and the transition hasn't been easy, espeicially not for little Emily, who got very used to being with both of us 24/7. I am working four mornings a week during the summer and since we've been back, she has spent the majority of my time away from home crying and making life pretty miserable for her poor mamá.
Getting back to work hasn't been easy for me or Angelines either. It's always rough getting back into the groove after a good vacation. I think this third week will see things smooth out a bit more since our jet-lag is fully gone at this point. We've got our refrigerator restocked now and menus made up for the coming week, too...so that is very helpful where I'm concerned!
I'll leave you with some pics from our visit. :)
I will spare you the details of our preparation and travel; but suffice it to say that neither was uneventful (unfortunately). The Friday before our Sunday (eeeearly) morning departure, I nearly burnt down the house and had to spend all afternoon "mopping up" with the help of several bottles of cleaning fluid. Then our layover at Gatwick airport turned into a nightmare when some poorly informed Norwegian Airlines employee insisted that we needed to show our return tickets in order to pass through to international connections...
...But despite a soot-covered home and British customs, we made it all in one piece and forgot every bit of the trouble we had getting there the minute we stepped through the doors at Oakland International Airport and were received by Maggie's smiling face (due to traffic, my parents got there shortly after our arrival).
We spent our first week camping at a plush KOA in Petaluma, where my Aunt Jeanne and Uncle John joined us with their grandkids, whom I had never met (they are nine and six!). Emily was especially thrilled by the whole experience because we slept in my mom's fire tent pitched outside my parents' big fifth-wheel trailer. :) We roasted sausages over the campfire and marshmallows, too. We swam in the pool, visited the children's museum in Petaluma (twice), had a luau (!) and generally enjoyed each other's company.
During our stay in the Bay Area we also made a visit to the San Francisco Zoo and met up with friends who live in San José with a daughter just 10 months older than Emily. It was such fun watching them play together. They seemed to genuinely enjoy each other. My best friend, Miriam, who lives in Philadelphia (!), was also able to visit us that first week and even spent the night with us after our day at the zoo.
We also squeezed in a visit to my Aunt Kitt and her husband Peter, who live in Sonoma. Coincidentally, my cousin and his family were visiting at the same time so we got even more family time out of the deal. We had a delicious barbeque feast and enjoyed their crystal clear pool to beat the 100+ temperatures.
The second week of our stay was all at my parents' home in Sierra Valley. We had intended this to be a week of relaxation...and in the end it was, I suppose; but there are just so many people to see and things to do that inevitably we did end up feeling rushed on more than one occasion. Still, on a whole we kept a great balance and didn't over-book ourselves.
Sunday the 25th we had a family reunion with the Barkley's (my mom's family) at a Reno Ace's baseball game. My dad's Aunt and Uncle from South Shore came along, too. It was a really fun event despite the high temperatures. My mom had reserved seating adjacent to the airconditioned bar (good thinking) and the seats themselves, were also shaded during the game, so it was all good. We got some good visiting in, but didn't see a whole lot of the game, honestly. ;)
My aunt from Portland made a trip down to Reno just to see us (!). I was so excited that she was able to make it work with her schedule. Of course, attending the family reunion was an added attraction. She stayed through Tuesday with us up at Rainbow Ranch and subsequently got her fill of my little Emily (oh, us too!).
My second parents (Miriam's family), threw a potluck party for us--or as Miriam put it, a "Viola Viewing Party"--on Monday night and we spent another great evening eating delicious food to our hearts' content and laughing and chatting with friends. Later in the week we got together with the Stantons again because there is never enough time with good friends. We took a lovely walk out to Fraizer Falls in Lakes Baisin followed by lunch at the restaurant where Lucy is waiting tables for the summer.
The rest of the week we did actually relax around home. We made a few trips to Reno for some shopping, had a quick coffee with my Aunt Su, and spent an afternoon with Auntie Maggie, who showed us her apartment, introduced us to her handsome kitty, Finn and took us to her favorite haunts around downtown Reno. Sundance bookstore and ice cream on the shore of the Truckee river were highlights.
Lucy was working a lot of the time we were there, sadly; but we did get time with her and her silly, ball-obsessed dog, Diesel, too. Tita Lucy spent a night out at the ranch and we made cookies together--a big hit with Emily! But perhaps the most special thing we did with tita Lucy, was going for a ride on my mom's old grey mare, Hobo. Emily seems to be shaping up to be quite the cowgirl, something her Ga and tita Lucy were happy to indulge. Towards the end of the week we were even able go play with Lu's new baby filly, Scarlet. Emily was pleased to see that Scarlet nurses just like she does (ha!).
Unfortunately the saying is true: Time flys when you're having fun. Our time in Poonahphoonah (as Emily says, California...) was too short. Two weeks flew by and before we knew it we were back on the plane and headed East. Now it's been nearly two weeks since we've been home and the transition hasn't been easy, espeicially not for little Emily, who got very used to being with both of us 24/7. I am working four mornings a week during the summer and since we've been back, she has spent the majority of my time away from home crying and making life pretty miserable for her poor mamá.
Getting back to work hasn't been easy for me or Angelines either. It's always rough getting back into the groove after a good vacation. I think this third week will see things smooth out a bit more since our jet-lag is fully gone at this point. We've got our refrigerator restocked now and menus made up for the coming week, too...so that is very helpful where I'm concerned!
I'll leave you with some pics from our visit. :)
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| Barkley family reunion at the Ace's game in Reno :) |
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| Luau at the Petaluma KOA. |
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| Lucy let me play with Scarlet, too! |
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| Three of my favorite cowgirls. |
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| Fraizer Falls with friends--a beautiful day for a hike! |
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| You may be seeing this one on a Christmas card... :) |
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| Dinner after a day at the zoo. |
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| Don't these faces say it all?? At OAK International Airport. |
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| Airplane selfie. Emily was the best little traveller EVER. |
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| Brushing Mr. Finn with tita Maggie. |
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