Memorial Day fun

We had a great Memorial Day family get together with Richard and Natalie bringing their family to Sacramento and Steve and Lisa making the trip from Santa Cruz.  We were tied up much of the time with the Sacramento Jazz Festival but we did get the chance to try out the athletic club that Edward and Tiffany's family have been using for some months.

We especially enjoyed watching Camdan as he "took lessons" from his dad.

Note the concentration on Camdan's face.

How he carefully gets into position to return the ball.

Assumes a solid stance.

And begins to swing....

....swing....

...with the follow through.  Notice the look on his face.

At age 2 Camdan already has the makings of a great sportsman -- at least in facial expressions!

Let's have a Jazz Jubilee....er.. Festival!

It's that time of year when jazz bands from all over the country and even from some foreign countries come to Sacramento to showcase their talent, sell a few CDs and maybe even have some fun.  Although the event seems to have gotten smaller every year since we've been participating they still expect some 60,000 attendees over the next three days.  I think there's some custom that says we're now in the "festival" classification whereas with 100,000 attendance we were in the "jubilee" class.  As you can see from my badge above, they're trying to soften the blow by calling it both a jubilee and festival this year.

As you can also see by the badge above, they're trying to save money by making paper badges for plastic "hang around your neck" badge holders rather than the metal pin-on type.  Other cost saving measures include not providing a theme t-shirt for all the volunteers.  The silly thing about that is that most if not all volunteers would be glad to pay for their own shirts if the jubilee organizers would just arrange for them.

We worked our first shift this afternoon.  I sort of supervised our shift crew in setting up the venue with appropriate signage then handed it over to Carolyn to supervise the crew in their usual duties during the first two bands.  Usual duties include entrance control at the doors, ushering, counting attendance, evaluating the bands, and cleaning up after the crowds between bands.  Today our shift ran from 3:30 to 8:00.  Tomorrow we work from  7:30 to 11:00 and Sunday from 2:00 to 6:30.  This year we don't work on Monday, Memorial Day.

There's a limit, you know.

In preparing for our trip to Hawaii next month, I wondered whether either of our GPS units would be of any use over there.  They have certainly come in handy even here in Sacramento where we fee pretty comfortable knowing where things are.  But I didn't even know whether the Hawaiian maps were loaded into our GPSs.

I couldn't get our Magellan unit to show a map of Hawaii.  It would accept an address in Hawaii and start to show a map then blank out the screen and show the message that "this was a restricted area".

TomTom, on the other hand was more than happy to take our addresses and show the local road and points of interest in the neighborhood of our time share.  But even TomTom has its limits.  When I asked it to compute a route from home to our time share it worked for 10 minutes and still said it couldn't figure out the last 2,500 miles!

Choices, choices

Resomation

I thought I had my mind made up that I want to be cremated after I die.   (I want my ashes scattered over a lush vegetable garden and lovingly plowed in.  That way some of my molecules may contribute to ongoing life.)  Just when I had decided that cremation was the "greenest" way to go, I read about a process called "resomation".  In this process water and a relative of lye (KOH) are used to reduce the dead body into basic minerals.  Quoting from The Funeral Site: "The end result is a small quantity of green-brown tinted liquid (containing amino acids, peptides, sugars and salts) and calcium phosphates. " The only drawback is that at this time only some funeral homes in Florida are authorized to perform this procedure.  That may soon change as the California Assembly has approved its use in California and the state Senate is likely to agree.  


Promession


Another method of body disposal also interests me.  It is called: Promession.  Quoting from The Funeral Site.com:

Within a week and a half after death, the body is submerged in liquid nitrogen which removes the water (70% of the body) and causes the body to become brittle. It is then exposed to vibrations that reduce the remains into a fine, organic powder weighing about 30% of the original mass. The powder is dried and any metals present can be removed for recycling. Remains can be stored indefinitely if contained in a vacuum-sealed container (exposure to moisture will allow for natural decomposition), or one can opt for a “green” eco-friendly burial. 

Currently promession is not available in the United States. 

Newest Member of the Church

This was a busy weekend for the Edward Loveridge family.  As we noted yesterday, Tiffany received her Master's Degree.  Today it was Jacob's turn to be spotlighted as he was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons).  As you can see from the program above, it was a very family-centered program.  The Interlude consisted of a vocal duet by Tim and Tiffany as well as a couple of "rest hymns".

This is the baptismal font used for the baptism and a picture that Tiffany received on her mission representing John the Baptist baptizing Jesus.

Here, Jacob and his father Edward are dressed ready for the baptismal ceremony.  Jacob is still working on his smile.

Following the program there were treats out on the patio so that family and friends could spend some time congratulating Jake as well as socializing a bit.  The mysterious hand reaching into the veggie tray belongs to Jakes younger brother Camdan.

Congratulations, Jake.  Hope it will be a well-remembered day for you.

Congratulations, Tiffany!!

And the newest Master's Degree in the Loveridge family is (drum roll, please) the Master's Degree in Speech and Language Pathology awarded to Tiffany Loveridge (aka Tiffany Miles-Loveridge) just this morning in ceremonies conducted by the California State University at Sacramento (CSUS) in the ARCO Arena.

Tiffany would like to thank her family for all the support given her during this rewarding life experience. She especially promises her four "boys" that it will all be worth it.

Snip, snip, snip........

For some people retirement is like a door slamming as they walk through it.  Suddenly they have a new life and don't really have anything to do with the previous life.  Mine has been more like a open house party where people are coming and going.  You might not really notice the small changes but when you take a step back you notice the world really has changed.

This week I returned the last of the regional center equipment that had been checked out to me - a rather dated laptop and an even more dated PDA.  Both had come in handy during their lifetime but less and less so the past few months.  So it was with only slight regret that I turned them in.

Probably something with more impact is the retiring of several regional center administrators with whom I've worked.  Kevin Herink, Controller at Harbor Regional Center has also announced his leaving the system.  The strings to my past are being cut - snip, snip,...... snip.

Family history begins at home

I was delighted the other day when Tim chose to share with me some of his school homework.  This, in particular, was a short booklet containing an interview with Carolyn that Tim had had.  He was obvioiusly working from an outline because the interview appeared to be well organized.  However, I didn't ask him whether this was a standard outline they used in his class or whether he had made more to go with it.

It's hard to accept that we're now the generation that gets written up for school projects and personal histories.  Although I've got quite a bit written about my early life, there's always more one could write.

Nailed!

The morning after the Smothers Brothers concert we had a late breakfast at the Star restaurant in Santa Rosa.  We planned to take some of the back roads and scenic routes back to Sacramento.  However, as we began to pull out of the restaurant parking lot another customer came over to tell us our rear tire was almost flat.  Bummer.  Carolyn drove slowly to a service station about 2 blocks away where we pumped the tire up. Trying to decide whether to just drive home or replace  or fix the tire Carolyn asked a guy how far away Costco was.  Turns out to be really close.  Also turns out the Costco doesn't repair tires it hasn't installed.  But the Costco tire technician also said there was too much tread on the tire to justify replacing it with a new one.

Still puzzled, we left the Costco parking lot and saw a prominent Firestone sign not more than 3 blocks away.  Taking that as a sign, we drove to the shop.

These people were more than delighted to fix a flat tire and with extra employees hanging around there was no line or wait list.

We were interested in seeing what had caused our delay so the office assistant fished out the offending nail:

We were so glad we had been told about the flat and so glad we hadn't tried to head straight back to Sacramento after filling the tire with air.  I suspect we would have had another flat within 10 miles.

Cricklewood Inn

We recently attended a Smothers Brothers concert held in the community event center in Santa Rosa.  One of the things that made our trip to Santa Rosa so pleasant was our decision shortly after getting the tickets to drive up early, book a hotel room, and eat out before going to the show.  The restaurant was sort of a "fill in" placeholder allowing us to even skip it if we didn't have enough time.

We decided to select a restaurant close to the theater and let our GPS make the recommendation.  It was a great recommendation:  the Cricklewood Inn.  The parking lot was completely full which certainly seemed a positive sign.  Carolyn let me out by the front door then followed a couple leaving the restaurant to get their parking spot.

There was a 20 minute wait, a delay that we hadn't planned on.  When we pleaded that we had an 8:00 curtain time, the hostess just smiled really pleasantly and said, "You and 200 others eating here tonight."  About 18 minutes later the hostess escorted Carolyn and me to our table.  The menu was varied and reasonable with meals in the range of $18 to $30. I chose salmon, Carolyn chose prime rib.  Both were large portions and both were cooked to perfection.  The service was prompt and efficient without appearing to be hurried.

We paid the check and drove the short distance to the auditorium.  Not only were we in time for the show  but we even had time to make a pre-show bathroom stop.  I highly recommend the Cricklewood. Inn

Cherry season time

Our trip to Santa Rosa for the Smothers Brothers concert was planned as a leisurely drive along Interstate 80 then up U.S. 101.  We had no idea just how leisurely it would be.  About halfway between Sacramento and Davis (and about 1:00 pm) the oncoming traffic began to get thicker and thicker until around Dixon it was bumper to bumper.  It was hard to tell how fast the cars were going but I would certainly be it wasn't 60 or 70.  

Shortly after turning onto Highway 101 we ran into that "leaving San Francisco" traffic and our drive suddenly became much more "leisurely".  Fortunately, it was still beautiful country.  Right by this lovely mansion pictured above, was a sign advertising "sweet cherries". Since this was just the beginning of the season, it was difficult to resist.

We pulled over and Carolyn ran to the hastily built roadside stand.  They were more expensive than we expected but they were sweet and they were available.

We did notice that every single cherry was a cull, a "belly flop" in Jelly Belly nomenclature.  Talk about making lemonade out of the lemons you get in life!

Smothered with nostalgia

A group like The Beatles, a singer like Bing Crosby, or a comedy duo like Abbot and Costello come just once in a lifetime.  Sure, there are others with similar talents and others that can be just as entertaining in different ways but these are genuine classics. That's the way I feel about the Smothers Brothers.  Riding the crest of the folk song popularity in the middle 1950's they could easily have become just another Kingston Trio or Limelighters but they chose to put a little edge into their act that made lots of people laugh and lots of people fume.

An example:
Tommy: "You know you can tell who's in charge by how many clothes they wear.
Dicky: "Really, how?"
Tommy: "Well, if you're not in charge you wear less so you're called 'less-ons'.
Dicky: "So the people in charge wear more and are called ..."
Together :  "More-ons!!"

I liked their music.  I liked their humor.  So when Carolyn gave me 2 tickets to the next to next to last concert of the Smothers Brothers I was ecstatic.  The fact that the tickets were $50 a piece and the concert was 110 miles away were minor matters.

Friday, Carolyn and I drove over to Santa Rosa in Sonoma county to join 1,800 other baby boomers in a nostalgia fest presided over by Tom and Dick Smothers. It was everything it had promised to be.  I can't imagine anyone in the audience who knew and liked the Smothers Brothers 50 years ago who could have been disappointed.

Example of humor on Friday:
Foyers have been cleared and everyone asked to take their seats.  House lights are still up as the stage announcer booms: "Welcome, everyone.  The show will begin in one minute"
About a half minute later: "The show will begin in approximately two minutes.
About a half minute later: "Ladies and gentlemen, we are sorry to announce that for this performance only, the part of Dick Smothers will be played by ... Sarah Palin"

They sang, they played, they bickered, they brought back every good memory of their past television performances and many albums.  They lasted only about 10 years on TV but as one of their numbers made clear Friday evening, "They're still here!!"

Feed the Birds

Camdan may be too small to push our lawnmower or use the weed eater, but with a little help from his dad he can certainly refill the bird feeder.  He isn't against taking a sample of these delicious seeds, either.

Putting stuff together with Grandpa

Although our grandsons who live in the area know that we have a couple of Erector Sets and a fairly complex Lego Set, it has become obvious that there are too many other toys and distractions for them to take the initiative in asking to play with the sets. So Carolyn decided to set up some "Grandpa time" during a couple of their visits. I would help them get started on a project and then oversee and serve as advisor.

Arnold helping Jake start building a model with the Erector Set.

Carolyn helping Tim sort the Erector Set components

After an hour or so with the Erector Sets it became obvious that this toy requires a lot of small motor coordination and unless one of us hovered around each boy, the tasks were just too detailed for these two to stay interested.  I couldn't handle it alone because I could only help one and the boy not being helped would begin to lose interest, and either start building something different or leave for another toy altogether.  And if Tim or Jake lost interest it was really difficult to get them back again.

I help Tim work on a component

Even the boys' father Ed got involved with the Lego set.

Gypsy

We celebrated Mothers Day by seeing the Davis Musical Theater Center's production of "Gypsy" the true story of the famous stripper Gypsy Rose Lee and her "stage-mother from hell".  The actress who  played the mother Rose was extremely talented at showing exactly how a mother can look and say that all she is doing is for the kid when,  in fact, it's her own needs which she is trying to fill.  I think most mother's do have their children's needs uppermost in their minds but there are just enough of the other situation to make "Gypsy" a believable story.

I think such domineering parents are guilty of child abuse but who would ever prosecute such a thing?  And we've all had situations such as swimming lessons, piano lessons, etc. where our mothers have nagged and nagged until we've caved in.  And, unfortunately for the argument of child abuse, it frequently turned out that Mom was right and it was for our best interest.

Anyway, the play was great!  Those who have seen the play may be interested to know that "Baby June," Gypsy's younger sister died just this year at the age of 97.

Happy Mother's Day

I really pity Mother's Day speakers.  No matter what they say, they will offend a significant portion of their listeners.  If they praise motherhood too much, single women and those who have never been able to bear children will feel miserable (at least those who haven't self-selected themselves not to attend the meeting).  If you say too much about those mothers who denied their own needs and wants to make sure their children had all they needed and wanted, you will offend those who felt it more necessary to have a balance, that the woman who isn't self-fulfilled can't meet her children's needs.  Likewise, hauling out the pedestal to facilitate worship of saintly mothers will elicit cries of patronizing while describing mothers are the humans that they are will disappoint those who really do feel their mothers were saints.

We had three speakers in church today - two who spoke quite personally about their mothers.  And when you come right down to it, that is probably the best tack to take.  You can hardly be faulted for describing your own feelings and memories of your mother. And they didn't generalize.  If the listeners wanted to do that, fine.  If the listeners wanted to compare and contrast their own feelings and memories, that was up to them.  Good job, Scott and Doug.

Good vs Better

The French philosopher Voltaire said that "Good is the enemy of Better."  This has been translated in several different ways and interpreted in even more.  I would like to use it today to describe a situation which is probably not that uncommon.  In fact, I wonder how many times I have limited myself because of this.

Pat, the bookbinder who has taught me the basics of book binding as well as many tricks of the trade is now placing some of his valuable books for sale on Biblio.com.  Biblio allows him to describe in great detail each of the books he wants to sell.  He also has the ability to include pictures of each book.  Pat has worked with computers before and is a quick learner But as I watch him I notice little things that he does which could be eliminated or done in a more efficient manner.

For example, to scan the cover of a book, he has been placing the book on the scanner, then masked the rest of the glass scanning plate with  paper.  If he's lucky the scanner will detect blank paper and actually crop the scan to show only the book's cover.  But that doesn't happen all the time so he is often left with a small picture of the book and lots of surrounding white space.

When I first suggested a better way of using his scanner by Previewing first then scanning only the book image, he resisted saying, "I know what I'm doing now and that is Good Enough."  I persisted - gently and he finally agreed to try a new way.  A couple of mouse clicks replaced all that paper masking and hoping .  After trying the new way a few more times and even writing it down, he asked me why I hadn't told him how to do that sooner.  I don't think he yet believes that I tried because he can't remember rejecting my proffered help because his way was Good Enough.

How many times have I rejected Better because what I had was Good Enough?  Would I welcome someone sitting at my shoulder watching how I work and offering me Better ways to do things?  How often when I find a way to do something that works Good Enough do I continue to look for even Better ways to accomplish the task?  How about you?  I'm just asking.

Front entrance rose garden

A lot of people who come to our house admire the flowers out front and wonder who is the talented gardener who keeps it all looking so great.  Well, truth be told, it is none other that Carolyn who just can't wait to get out and play in the dirt when work and weather permits.

Another weekend, another sink

Two of the last three or four weekends that Steve and Lisa have visited us have been punctuated with their putting in a sink fixture.  The first time was to repair a constantly oozing faucet in our kitchen and the second time was to fix a drip in Tiffany's kitchen sink.  So I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when the sink in our laundry room started acting up when the kids arrived this past weekend.

A little bit of investigation, a try at replacing the sprinkler, and two trips to Home Depot finally yielded the result we were all expecting -- a new faucet in the laundry room.  Doesn't it look nice?  Thanks again, Steven and Lisa.

Repainting the Arbor

Now that Carolyn, Lisa, and Steven had pulled off the rotten and insect infested wood and replaced it with pressure treated wood, the arbor looked kind of funny.

So this weekend when Steve and Lisa dropped in, they used a wire brush to clean off any remaining paint that was flaking off, put on a primer coat, and then finished with the purple paint.

Farmer's Market

One of the delights of Sacramento is the many Farmer's Markets we have in the area.  Certified Farmers' Markets at http://www.california-grown.com/Market-times.html lists 10 dates/locations in the Sacramento area. Many of these are open year round and the rest will all be opening sometime this month.

This Saturday we visited the one at the Country Club Shopping Plaza.  Even before we entered the market we were welcomed by a guitar duo.

Quite often we'll buy fresh bread there.  One of our favorites is squaw bread, now politically renamed "Native Grains" bread.

A man at one of the booths was explaining how to peel, cook, and eat fava beans so Carolyn bought a pound and tried it out.  The flavor and texture aren't bad but it sure seems like a lot of work to get the inside beans.

Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

Talk about a great way to start the new month!  Waking up to sunshine and temperatures in the high 40's (it would later hit a high of 79 degrees), and breakfast being made by someone else at the church building.  Being on the Activities Committee, I think the only thing better than an activity successfully completed is an activity that someone else sponsors.

Today's breakfast was a fundraiser for the Young Women's summer camp.  It was nicely done and well attended.