Two Fantastic Wednesdays, and the Stuff in Between

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol 1 p. 599

66.6 miles

HOT 

On Wednesday the 11th I drove Debby to Vina, the Cistercian Monastery.  They were dedicating the church, which has been added on to the former chapter house made from the medieval stones of Oliva Monastery in France. Rich and I had watched while they started this chapter house and visited when they'd finished, and I've been back a couple of times, with WPAC, then Laurie and then Brenda.  I was talking and overshot the turn-off, so we were about 15 minutes behind when I thought we would be and ended up sitting behind a pillar, but it was still a special Mass with chanting and Latin (fun for the convert!!) and incense and all. Then we had wine and a nice lunch buffet in a tent before we stopped at the winery and came home. (This time I missed the turn to Yuba City so ended up in Oroville, so it took a little longer to get home, but as a compensation Debby taught me a better way to get through Marysville.

 

The 12th I only dug one tulip bulb out. I went to Bernadette's in the morning and picked up some of the mess while she had a dentist appointment. Back at home I changed the kitty litter out, did laundry, and fixed stuffed peppers with a southwestern rice hamburger mix topped with mozzarella.

 

On Friday the 13th I finished season 4 of Chicaco P.D. and discovered one of the season 2 NCIS episodes has gone missing. Maybe I accidentally let it get erased. 

 

It turns out I waited too long to sign up for the Mississippi River cruise next April. Darn it, it looked like fun. 

 

I went out to thrift shops and a bookstore and found 4 Boxcar children books for Joanna.

 

Carol and Frank were leaving just as I was so she didn't get a chance to tell me they had some food for me in their fridge. She called. And so I looked for their key in the plastic bag I keep it in, and it wasn't there! Maybe the cleaners saw it and hung it up, so I took a fistful of keys over, and sure enough, the second one I tried opened the door!  The food was two huge artichokes and a big pack of potato salad.

 

That night I went to see 1776 at the Chatauqua. Bev didn't arrive in time for the first act, and when I saw it was an all female cast I was annoyed, but it was great. Bev was there after intermission so I could stop worrying about her. Meanwhile, my friend Bill with the Pancreatic Cancer, looks great! He's recovered so well they gave him a new knee and they geocached through a lot of states.

 

I liked the first act better, but then I believe that's true every time I've seen it.

 

Saturday I had gotten tickets for us to ride the Sacramento River Train.  Bernadette came by for me and we got down to Old Sacramento early. We stopped at the History Museum to spend some time. I am guessing it's been over 10 years since I've been there and they've surely changed a lot. They had a stretched penny machine so Joanna and Padreic each got one. Then we started walking toward the depot and when Padreic said he would like to get on the train, is when I let them know that's what I planned. We rode in the back coach and got our tickets punched, rode the 3 miles south and then got to watch the engine go down a spur then couple onto our coach. 

 

I was wearing my Wyoming shirt and a guy asked me was I from the state. Turns out he is from Rock Springs and did indeed know the Zs, Joe's family.  

 

I learned two short toots mean "we're starting" and two longs and a short mean "we're coming in." 

It was a fun ride and the kids seemed to like it.  When we got off Gareth asked "have you noticed we haven't had lunch?" so he got a bit of a talk from Mommy about how to tell people you're hungry a bit more politely.  We went to a restaurant and Joanna turned into a whiny thorny monster because nobody else had finished their lunch. She was hanging her head with her shoulders hunched and near tears, so I tried to comfort her. A porcupine would have been easier. Turns out she wanted to "do something exciting."  

 

Then we went over to the Railroad Museum, and she got into her "cling-to-mommy-because-there-are-scary-adults" phase. Mighod. She's got to be the saddest little girl in the world.  It was NOT a good day for her. (Oh, yeah, she'd already informed me she doesn't like ballet and didn't want to see "Cinderella" and I'm pretty sure it's just that she didn't want to go anywhere with me. This despite a good camp. I've made myself feel better because I'll take Bernadette, and she can just stay home and maybe rethink her life.) It was the kind of day that makes me say that while I love her very much, sometimes I don't really like her. (I said that to B., and she agrees.)

 

At that gift shop we got more stretched pennies and I got Padreic his book. He was thrilled. 

 

At home I noticed that after maybe a year, my fridge water filter needed changing. (I've been looking at the light for months, but never saw it go yellow. It was red this time.) I pulled it out to see what it was (but didn't write it down) and went to put it back and jammed it in, couldn't close the filter door. I tried to get the filter out but couldn't, asked for help from my friends, but no, and finally freed it on Sunday by attacking on a different angle. 

 

\I dozed off and woke at 7:47. As it was light outside, I thought I'd overslept through the night, had missed my chance to dig, and would have to hurry for church. It finally dawned on me that it wasn't actually Sunday, but was still Saturday!

 

 

Sunday the 15th, I was distracted in church because of Joanna. Grrr.

 

I ordered tickets for the Kingston Trio (just me), Pinocchio with the kids and Bernadette, and the ballet with Bernadette. These are at Folsom. Last week I got the Mondavi (Davis) catalog for next year and they don't really have anything I want this time.

 

I was making chicken a la king and dropped it as I was putting it back into the microwave for the second part. And it smelled so good, all over the floor. I was amazed at the dog, who just sat looking at it until I told him it was OK for him to eat it. Such a clean floor!! Sigh.

 

 

Monday, I'd thought I'd be done digging by the weekend, but I was overoptimistic. I waited all day for the cleaners. Once they came I called Helena, who is also having a colonoscopy, hers this coming Friday.

 

I went to the Newcomer's dinner, and took my iPad (in its new cover) so I could show  Bill my wounded picture. He wasn't there, but I did talk to Tom.

 

I am in 37 different places in Albion because I accidentally opened the perfumer's workshop instead of keeping it for the artist's studio. 

 

 

July 17 I dug up 14 bulbs, then went to the WPAC breakfast. There were 6 of us. After a nice meal and chat I went to the commissary for a few things. I got home before it got too hot. It's been over 100 the last two weeks.

 

 

And at home, Benson asked me to come on safari next year. I really want to! It would be all over Zimbabwe. I asked if I could come early and go geocaching with him around Victoria Falls. It actually sounds like maybe we could do that! So I went to the Road Scholar page and checked it out, and then looked at the Iceland tour.  I called Jean and we firmed up the date. I will sign up at the end of July. 

 

I had found out at the Newcomer's dinner that Gary T. was home again so I called him. He's doing well.

 

And, of course, I forgot it was Tuesday until Vince called.

 

July 18 was the day I gave Gareth his promised trip toThe Tech Museum  in San Jose. I got there by 7:30 so as to get to San Jose by 10, but I didn't account for dire traffic especially on 580. There were times I would have to come to a complete stop, then go a few car lengths and stop again.  It was frustrating, but we finally arrived at the parking garage and got to the Tech a little before 11.  The bathroom was the first stop. Gareth was so excited. I got our tickets (free, with a membership at the Powerhouse) and the guy asked if I'd like to donate. I said "yes, but later" and actually did drop $10 into the box as we left.  

 

We stopped at the exhibit entrance and asked how the TechTags (which were the tickets) work. You scan it at each exhibit and at the end of the day you can put the number in at home and see a summary of your day. This sounds good, but Gareth lost his at the first exhibit. Used mine for awhile, but then when we left for lunch he got a different one, which he mostly used but at the end of the day he was back to using mine, and lost it. At the same exhibit. I'd picked up another one so at home I tried to see what that ticket user had done, and this spoiled the chance for Gareth to use the blue, substitute one, since apparently they only register one each day. Oh, well. If we do this next year we'll do better.

 

I had brought a book and sat nearby while he played. I did, at one point, show him there was another area, since he had pretty well done the whole coding area.  At one point he was encrypting a password and the numbers were flying past and he was covering his ears to help him to focus.  When we went to the different area he was entranced with the earthquake exhibit and with Google Earth.  At 1 I finally suggested we go to lunch, where we spent a whopping 20 minutes.  Back to the area. He discovered the biometrics area, and signed up for a monitor which he wore for about 40 minutes.  (Again, this would be one of the first things if we come back.) Then we went upstairs, where there was my favorite thing of the day, the biochemistry. I helped him put on plastic gloves and a pair of goggles, and then he got a tube of bacteria and a tube of dna, combined them, warmed it, cooled it, spread it in a petri dish, put in the warmer to cook, (after scanning it) picked a cooked one and looked at it for various colors. The whole thing was fascinating.  Another one that he liked was "building bacteria". We turned in his monitor and discovered he's a "confident builder." This is something I really would have liked to have on his tech tag at home. Oh, well. 

 

He stood in line to ride the jet chair in space. Definitely he'd be Major Tom.  There were lots of camp groups, but eventually he got to do everything he wanted to do. He finished on the same exhibit he'd started on, a game of building a network. I was interested to see how he interacted with other kids. 

 

We went to dinner across the street, but didn't stay long enough to avoid major traffic jams on the way home. Gareth said he'd like to go with Joanna and Padreic and I pointed out that they would want to go to some other exhibits when he didn't. Padreic in particular would be bored with a lot of it, though there are areas he would enjoy. I think we would need three adults for the three kids.  I was not the only adult who had brought a book (though I used my iPad more, to report on Facebook) and let the kids do their thing. I had a good time and I know he did, and I may do this again for his birthday next year. However, I believe then I would get a motel room on 1st street by the metro line and ride the train in, and avoid traffic. Rich and I did that when we went to ConJose in 2002. If we did that we might visit, uh, someone who lives here (to quote Gareth, who doesn't remember Aunt Monica's name.)  

 

Anyway, I didn't get home till past 9, but the dog had behaved himself. A nice day!