Well, as the Easter blog said, Meredith would have a baby join the twin girls in August -- she did, and Molly (short for Margaret) has joined her sisters Lizzie and Katie. Lizzie (Elizabeth) is pretty sure that this is not really a good idea; Katie (Katherine, I think) is much more receptive at this point. We have several Margarets -- Peggy Finn Semling is a Margaret, Meg Dowley is a Margaret -- but none called Molly. WELCOME, MOLLY! Molly is an August 25 b'day, following Grandma Martha's on the 19th, along with my Sharon and Shannon. Hard to imagine that Grandma Martha has now joined the SEPTUAGENARIAN club (sounds almost phallic, doesn't it); my mother was a Grandma at forty since I was so precocious (or was it just lusty???). Not sure whether it's better at one age or another, but it is great regardless.
We have been trolling for NEW NEWS of oven baking, but at the moment we have no info around the loop. We can definitely say that we're not expecting anything but a new puppy.
The other NEW NEWS though is also terrific -- CINDY and the BOYS (as in our twins, Jack and Sam, and their dad Charlie and stepson Chris) have all moved to Piedmont, next to Berkeley. They are getting settled -- the boys start school next week, and the home is a wonderful old Tudor on a quiet street. We are SO THRILLED to have them closer, lots closer. We went over for a weekend, had a great walk around the neighborhood and down for dinner in the quaint little town area. She's already involved at Berkeley, taking the boys to the Lawrence Hall of Science; Jenny thinks that is spectacular.
Love, Chuck
Saturday, August 28, 2010
transition
The day before my birthday, we had a very hard loss. Our two dogs, Zoe and Sadie, were romping and running all over our newly planted back garden, chasing squirrels and each other. And then, they weren't. This was sometime around 4pm, Jenny was home, but didn't think much about it for a while, and then she missed Zoe.
Thinking she'd gotten out, Jenny searched all over for her, but the sad discovery was that she had dropped in a corner of the yard, looking almost like she'd been running at full speed (legs akimbo) and just collapsed. Whatever, she was gone, and Sadie was distraught... in fact, we all were, as it sunk in. Heart attack? Don't know. She was but six, and it was indeed a tough six years -- she'd had surgery on both front elbows at six months, major cancer surgery and radiation two years ago, and routinely got sick from dissecting miscreant squirrels she managed to catch in the pasture. But she loved life, and she gave it everything she had in terms of enthusiasm and passion. Not unlike Jenny and me???
I couldn't write about it for awhile, and someone asked from the last posting, "one dog?", so I thought I should explain. Anyway, she was the greatest sister and littermate for Sadie. Sadie just moped around for two weeks, maybe three, and now she's got a little more spring in her walk, thankfully. But GUESS WHAT -- we all do, although Sadie doesn't know quite how good it will be, and she might not even recognize it when it happens, at first. WHAT? you might ask. Well, of course! The puppy was born last Sunday, and we pick her (or maybe him) out of the litter in early October, and she comes home later that month. This will be our seventh purebred Black Lab -- are we traditional or what? Works better to have two at a time (three is one too many, we also know)
Charger was my first Lab; he welcomed Jenny as a nearly blind, deaf but very lovable old dog of twelve who lived two more years, about as long as Labs go. We then got two seven week old puppies, Blarney and Murphy. Murphy died of a heart attack or seizure at 18 months, and Kringle replaced him (Blarney thought a little puppy was the dumbest thing we could do). When Blarney died at thirteen, we brought a rescue dog, Molly, home. Molly was a wonderfully smart dog, half yellow Lab and half Chow; unfortunately her Chow tendencies were hard to train out of her, so eventually this was a painful situation for all of us.
When Kringle died at thirteen of cancer, we brought two new pups -- Zoe and Sadie -- home at a time my parents were living with us in a three bedroom rancher in Summerland near Las Vegas (and they were not exactly dog people, whew, INDEED). Molly helped raise them, and they turned into the most wonderful Labs, affectionate and loving but also with a good bark for strangers that doesn't bother Jenny late at night at all.
Sorry for the reminisces; our dogs are really our children at this phase of our lives. Wonderful companions, loyal beyond belief, and loving always. Love to you all, Chuck
Thinking she'd gotten out, Jenny searched all over for her, but the sad discovery was that she had dropped in a corner of the yard, looking almost like she'd been running at full speed (legs akimbo) and just collapsed. Whatever, she was gone, and Sadie was distraught... in fact, we all were, as it sunk in. Heart attack? Don't know. She was but six, and it was indeed a tough six years -- she'd had surgery on both front elbows at six months, major cancer surgery and radiation two years ago, and routinely got sick from dissecting miscreant squirrels she managed to catch in the pasture. But she loved life, and she gave it everything she had in terms of enthusiasm and passion. Not unlike Jenny and me???
I couldn't write about it for awhile, and someone asked from the last posting, "one dog?", so I thought I should explain. Anyway, she was the greatest sister and littermate for Sadie. Sadie just moped around for two weeks, maybe three, and now she's got a little more spring in her walk, thankfully. But GUESS WHAT -- we all do, although Sadie doesn't know quite how good it will be, and she might not even recognize it when it happens, at first. WHAT? you might ask. Well, of course! The puppy was born last Sunday, and we pick her (or maybe him) out of the litter in early October, and she comes home later that month. This will be our seventh purebred Black Lab -- are we traditional or what? Works better to have two at a time (three is one too many, we also know)
Charger was my first Lab; he welcomed Jenny as a nearly blind, deaf but very lovable old dog of twelve who lived two more years, about as long as Labs go. We then got two seven week old puppies, Blarney and Murphy. Murphy died of a heart attack or seizure at 18 months, and Kringle replaced him (Blarney thought a little puppy was the dumbest thing we could do). When Blarney died at thirteen, we brought a rescue dog, Molly, home. Molly was a wonderfully smart dog, half yellow Lab and half Chow; unfortunately her Chow tendencies were hard to train out of her, so eventually this was a painful situation for all of us.
When Kringle died at thirteen of cancer, we brought two new pups -- Zoe and Sadie -- home at a time my parents were living with us in a three bedroom rancher in Summerland near Las Vegas (and they were not exactly dog people, whew, INDEED). Molly helped raise them, and they turned into the most wonderful Labs, affectionate and loving but also with a good bark for strangers that doesn't bother Jenny late at night at all.
Sorry for the reminisces; our dogs are really our children at this phase of our lives. Wonderful companions, loyal beyond belief, and loving always. Love to you all, Chuck
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Garden up closer
Couldn't resist one more picture, this one of the steps to the 'back forty' for which the path is barely visible at the top of the pix. This path and the retaining wall, and the plantings were all a few days in place before the party. Jenny plans things this way -- to get me to 'perform'.
Garden Party pix
Michael Roberts shared some pix of the garden. This one shows the patio in part, plus tables on the lawn. There were also four tables up on "tee boxes" behind where he is standing -- new squared off lawn areas to level out the sloping 'back forty'.
The rock work and the new plantings all held up fine; I was pleased to say the least with how well it all worked. Imagine that we ordered heaters (and used them) for the August 7 soiree! As Jim Didion said, "what is this about global warming?"
The caterers weren't too happy about running up and down all of the waterwashed bluestone steps, but our remaining Black Lab, Sadie, thought it was a nifty idea.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
the birthday party
well, as Ricky Nelson's song said, "people came from miles around, everyone was there"
It was an incredible assemblage of family and friends, seventy plus to celebrate seventy years. Held in our back garden, the evening was cool and clear and the flowers obliged by blooming profusely.
Unbelievably, the CEO of HP, the "squeaky clean" Mark Hurd so revered on Wall Street, resigned the day before in an inexplicable 'non-sexual encounter' with an associate, and the party was abuzz with conjecture and invective. This guy was probably the sleaziest duplicitous CEO of a large corporation in America -- almost the same as the crafted Tiger Woods persona.
We used nametags, since a lot of the friends came from disparate backgrounds -- folk I've met over a long time, interwoven on occasion but not that many people knew each other 'ahead of time'. The name tags had logos on them as an icebreaker -- Yenta, an airplane to signify traveling together, companies we worked at, hobbies or civic groups, family... And then Jenny told a story about each and every one of the attendees to everyone. Mesmerizing, enchanting, as was the evening
I came away feeling so blessed, so lucky in my life, with such good friends and family to nurture me. Truly magic
It was an incredible assemblage of family and friends, seventy plus to celebrate seventy years. Held in our back garden, the evening was cool and clear and the flowers obliged by blooming profusely.
Unbelievably, the CEO of HP, the "squeaky clean" Mark Hurd so revered on Wall Street, resigned the day before in an inexplicable 'non-sexual encounter' with an associate, and the party was abuzz with conjecture and invective. This guy was probably the sleaziest duplicitous CEO of a large corporation in America -- almost the same as the crafted Tiger Woods persona.
We used nametags, since a lot of the friends came from disparate backgrounds -- folk I've met over a long time, interwoven on occasion but not that many people knew each other 'ahead of time'. The name tags had logos on them as an icebreaker -- Yenta, an airplane to signify traveling together, companies we worked at, hobbies or civic groups, family... And then Jenny told a story about each and every one of the attendees to everyone. Mesmerizing, enchanting, as was the evening
I came away feeling so blessed, so lucky in my life, with such good friends and family to nurture me. Truly magic
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