December/January: Back to California

 

Once I recovered from Covid I was able to get back to the gym where I play pickleball. There is a great group of regulars, a variety of ages and skill levels. We rotate so eventually you play with everyone in any given week.

Just in case you think it is always sunny here, I included this picture taken about noon. It stayed foggy for a couple days. But then we were back to sunny, highs in the 60s. No snow for Christmas but that was okay!

The Christmas plans were a little different this year. Rebecca was staying at her house in Studio City to get ready for a vacation December 26th. We did a Christmas Facetime which is always entertaining. I spent Christmas eve and day with Matt and Wendy. They made a great ham dinner which we decided to have Christmas eve and then continue Christmas day with the leftovers. It worked out great.

Wendy provided some fun necklaces for herself and me. I didn't get a picture of her but I did get a picture of me. Notice the sweatshirt I'm wearing that I made on Wendy's Cricut machine.

I'm not sure why, but I neglected to take any other pictures. Guess we were having too much fun. So I included this picture from 2020. We always had fun! The tree in the picture is still the same.

Then December 26th I headed to Studio City to see Rebecca, London and Trevi. 

Prime rib

We decided on the traditional prime rib dinner with asparagus and a baked potato. It was an excellent dinner!

Rebecca's plan was to make my Aunt Josie's secret recipe butter creams. They are pretty tricky to make and labor intensive. I hadn't made any in well over 5 years. Rebecca had made some the year before and gave some to her special friends. She had chocolate and glycerine left over so we started a batch before she left.  I was happy to finally make them again. When Wendy heard we were going to make them she said she'd like to make some also when I returned.

Rebecca was only there for the first step. The process requires a lot of mixing and then rolling the insides of the candy into little balls. Then they need to sit over night before they could be covered in chocolate. I took Rebecca to the airport the next morning so I was on my own for the chocolate.

When I returned to Rebecca's from the airport, I started on the chocolate. First you melt it in a double boiler. Trouble right away. Turns out chocolate doesn't last a year. It wouldn't melt all the way. So I searched and found a place where I could buy some. Its a special dipping chocolate and not easy to find, but I got lucky. I proceeded to chocolatize the first batch.

I was there for 6 days so I made a couple more batches so Rebecca could give some to friends. Also I wanted to take some to the Rahns because I was stopping on my way back.

I enjoyed watching the dogs. They are extremely friendly and fun. I took them for a walk every morning and every afternoon. There are many interesting trees in the neighborhood but this might be the best.

  

London

London often looked out the window waiting for Rebecca's return. She can open the louvered blinds with her nose. 

Trevi with her ball

Trevi absolutely loves to play fetch with her rubber ball. I decided to see if I could wear her out. After many, many throws I gave up! I wish I had half of her energy.

London and Trevi
 with me on the couch

Both dogs just make me feel good. They are fun to lay on the couch with. They definitely know how to relax. London in particular wants to be close. 

Both dogs slept in my room. Rebecca has an inflatable bed that is very comfortable. London slept in bed with me and Trevi is more independent and slept in her little bed on the floor. London always wanted to be leaning on me which was fine. Once we got to sleep she rarely moved. The third night I woke up and felt like I was in a cavern. London was almost on top of me and I was on the floor!  The sides of the bed were still inflated so I felt like I was at the bottom of a taco shell. I was able to reach the switch to reinflate the bed hoping it would last till morning which it mostly did. London hardly moved!

The next morning I found a little pin hole and was able to patch it. Problem solved!

 It's difficult to get a good picture of Trevi because she is so dark. Both dogs sure know how to relax! This is my best attempt.

Rebecca's tree was beautiful. It was a live tree.

The Rahns invited me for New Year's Eve. I again neglected to take pictures of the people but here are some of the decorations.

In particular I loved this little mouse manger set which Karen tells me is quite old. 

The table was set for a feast and the view of the lights in the back yard added wonderful atmosphere.

I included both pictures so you could appreciate Karen's artistic talents on the table.

And speaking of Karen's artistic talents, I included this large picture so you could appreciate her aquatic theme Christmas tree. One of three trees in the house! Of course Craig gets a lot of credit for the construction and electrical maneuvering to make it all work.

Some would say, the highlight of the decorations was the Leg Lamp. It is an exact replica from the Christmas story movie. I will admit, the Rahns are the only ones I know who have one, and I grew up in Cleveland where the movie was filmed!

Six of us enjoyed fabulous appetizers, dinner including three main dishes, chicken, lobster tails and pork tenderloins. (The reason for the numerous dishes was that one couple doesn't do lobster or pork.) For dessert there was an absolutely decadent cheese cake. One of the best I have ever had. 

I drove back to Encinitas on New Year's Day for dinner with Matt and Wendy. We had prime rib! It was great.

Wendy and I made some more butter creams. We wanted to share some with friends and relatives so we made a lot. Hand rolling the chocolate is an art that requires warm hands. If your hands aren't warm enough the chocolate cools too quickly and sticks to your hands instead of the chocolate. Turned out Wendy's hands were too cool and she wasn't able to help. Matt to the rescue. He gave it a very valiant effort but no luck. I think its his basic total lack of body fat! Too darn physically fit! So I continued on to get them all covered.

We put them in to the back bedroom until I eventually got them all chocolatized. 

Butter Creams in progress

December: Back to California, Ohio and Back Again

 When I returned from Arizona, Matt, Wendy, Rebecca and I talked about Thanksgiving. Rather than try to travel on a busy weekend, we decided to meet the weekend before at Laguna Beach for lunch and some sightseeing. It is about half way in between Encinitas and Studio City.  Rahns and Fran joined us. Fran lives in Laguna and Rahns are close by.  We had a great lunch and then did a walking tour of the very artistic downtown. We in particular wanted to see the Sawdust Winter Fantasy, but discovered dogs were not allowed. (Rebecca had brought Trevi and London, it was after all our Thanksgiving gathering.) 

Fran, Matt & Wendy outside the
 Laguna Beer Company's by a great mural

Craig wonderfully volunteered to watch London and Trevi while the rest of us toured the Sawdust Winter Fantasy Festival. He hung out at Fran's son's brewery, The Laguna Beer Company. Fortunately he was able to sit outside and watch a football game.

Pictures were prohibited for many of the artists' displays but I was allowed to get this picture of a lot of fun mushrooms for sale. Karen agreed with me that they were fun!

Karen admiring the mushrooms

Inside the Sawdust Winter Fantasy Festival area I spotted this building with a beautiful Eucalyptus tree growing through it. The bark of the Eucalyptus trees is very unique and colorful.

Fortunately I found a link with pictures. Sawdust Winter Fantasy Festival

The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the visit.

Matt, Wendy and I planned a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. We planned to eat closer to lunch time and continue with leftovers later. The dinner was great but Matt received a call that his mother, Linda Limbert, was having some serious health issues, and it was suggested they return to Cleveland as soon as practical. I dropped Matt and Wendy at the airport at 5am Friday and they were able to spend some time with Linda before she passed away several days later. I flew to Ohio Wednesday for the memorial service scheduled for Friday. I knew Linda Limbert for many years, but learned even more by reading her obituary.  Here is a link. Linda Limbert Obituary  Matt's mom and his dad (Dale) were always a lot of fun. Dale in particular had a special relationship with my Linda. Dale loved my Linda's oven baked chicken and they both shared many right brained beliefs about how the rest of us should be. Linda Limbert was generous to a fault, always finding fun little gifts for us. And the Drouhard family still talks about her 7 layer jello salad, "How does she do that?" (I keep putting in Linda "Limbert" given we have two Lindas.) Here's a good picture of one of our gatherings.

From left, Steve, Dale, Linda, Matt, Wendy, Rebecca

Knowing I would be in Ohio for a while I made plans to spend time with my sister Julie and her husband Jim. I would be there from Wednesday night through Sunday night. I was looking forward to a relaxed visit with them. Julie and Jim know how to have fun. I love this little frog hanging on their plant.

I got to see some snow. It didn't last long but fun to see anyway. One day was enough!

Julie made some great mushroom, onion cheeseburgers.

I wanted this to be a relaxed visit with Julie and Jim which worked out great. I was able to schedule a dinner with the Drouhard family in Loudonville the day before I left to fly home. It had been a long time since we were together over the holidays and this was a perfect opportunity.

My sister-in-law, Becky's mom, hosted our gathering. Here are a couple pictures of her farm house and property.

View looking north from the house

Donna and Elin, my sister-in-law

Donna had a beautiful tree and as always was a wonderful hostess! Pat and Becky organized a great dinner with wonderful contributions from Elin. And of course Dick provided his typical humor! The dinner and pies were great. It was wonderful to see everyone.

But! As I was getting ready to drive back to my sister's in Cleveland, she called me and said Jim had tested positive for Covid. I was scheduled to fly home the next morning and we decided it best for me to stay in a motel instead of back at the "COVID HOUSE! I had no symptoms, decided to test myself in the morning just in case, and all looked good for me going home.

I made it home Monday and started getting symptoms Tuesday. I tested positive for COVID. I didn't feel terrible, mostly just kind of weak. So I set about putting up my Christmas decorations. I decided to put my Christmas tree up a little early. Actually, 2 Christmas trees. Becky gave me one and instead of choosing I just used both. 

I was going to Rebecca's to watch the dogs the week after Christmas so I figured I could enjoy the Christmas decorations early. I enjoy my nice little trees. I also had found a great Frosty wreath at a thrift shop I liked. It looked great on my balcony.

Despite Covid, I could still enjoy seeing the sunrise around the huge Norfolk pine across from my balcony.

Red Tailed Hawks

I particularly enjoyed watching the pair of red tailed hawks that sit in the very top of that Norfolk pine.

And when I regained some energy I was able to walk the beach.

And almost every evening, I get to see an incredible sunset out my window.

I had no serious symptoms from COVID, but it did last longer than I had hoped. I was grateful for the timing. I made it home from Ohio and was cured well before Christmas.