Pot stickers

On Sunday cousin Su gave me a large bunch of garlic chives that she grows in her garden. I had bought some ground pork earlier to make potstickers so it was perfect timing. Made 2 batches last night. It is time consuming but so "nummer" to eat fresh home made potstickers.

Zumba

Last week I went in search of a dance studio that gives salsa and ballroom dance lessons. I came upon Dellos in town. They just opened a studio in a long vacant building. They didn't have what I wanted but they do offer other exercise programs. One of the programs is called Zumba. A number of friends on the east coast have been raving about Zumba and one of them has become an instructor. Caution - since she started teaching she has had many physical problems and a number of surgeries!

I made a false start as I misread the day the classes are offered. A friend of mine and I were all set to go last Wednesday. Fortunately just before I left, I re-read the flyer and noticed the class is Monday morning and Wednesday evening. Saved us a trip downtown. So we met again on Monday with three of us this time and took the class. It was a fun experience exerdancing latin style for an hour. I think once one gets the steps it's probably more fun. Have to loosen hips and torso to do all that latin swing and hip-hop moves! It's a nice alternative exercise class and I will probably go again. The price is right.

Father's day

For years now T and I have not "celebrated" what I call Hallmark card days. On occasion we will look at cards in a store together and point to cards we might get if we were so inclined. This year cousins P and S invited us to their place for Father's day brunch. Both their children were home. It was wonderful of them to share their kids. It was a great brunch with delicious food of strata of eggs, bacon, spinach, mushrooms and bread; sausage, sticky rice with Chinese sausage, fruit bowl and apple galette. The "kids" are doing well and we enjoyed hearing about their lives.

The Bob Jones Trail

T and I headed out of the marine layer here at our house just up the road a few miles to the Bob Jones Trail. It's anywhere from 3 miles to 5.5 miles depending on what website you go to. My guess is it's about 4.5 if you start at the trail head on Ontario Road and go to San Luis Bay Drive and turn around and go back. The trail is full of wildlife and beautiful terrain. There are very old California oak trees. We saw two sets of nesting great herons in a beautiful eucalyptus tree. There were families of ducks, great white egrets, bikers, hikers, and families enjoying the warm afternoon. It was quite a tribute to our micro-climates that it was bright and sunny just a few miles from our house.

Anniversary

Today T and I celebrate our 38th wedding anniversary! Long ago we stopped gifting each other and even longer ago we stopped "carding" each other. On occasion if we are in the same store that carries cards we will search for cards that we "would" give to each other if we were into "carding". This year T decided that he would replace our New Guinea Impatiens as a something to do for our anniversary. He drove to many, many nurseries and other plant selling places in search for replacement hanging plants for our back yard. He came home empty handed as things were either overly large for the small backyard space the plants were going to occupy or just not the right plant. He did spot some small pots of New Guinea Impatiens. He came home after his long hunt with this tale of his hunt. Together we decided - why not just buy a half dozen of those cute multi-colored impatiens and just repot the planters we already had. Problem solved. We purchased, replanted, fertilized and re-hung and they make a fitting reminder of our anniversary! Well done, Tom.

Ushering

I've been home since Friday night. Saturday night T and I ushered for a show put on by a group called "Everbody Can Dance". They ambitiously put ballets for "Snow White" parts of "Giselle" and finished with a "Pas de Quatre" and something called "La Bayadere". I now say that not Everybody can dance or should dance. To add insult to injury we were told it would be about 1 hour and 45 minutes which turned into 3 hours! Plus I was suffering from jet lag so by 10:40PM I was wiped out.

Then on Tuesday we ushered for our local elementary school's 6th grade graduation. The place was packed and as you can imagine although everyone was supposed to have a ticket, some turned up without one. Naturally family members were irate. We soon figured out that a number of people had extra tickets and we started gathering those and redistributed them. Since all the tickets had been distributed we had a capacity problem, ergo the need to insist that everyone have a ticket. This was event ended up shorter than advertised however I personally don't think that balanced out the other show.

Another trip to the East Coast

I returned on Friday from my fifth trip back to the east coast. This time I stopped for a couple of days in Chicago to visit our daughter and attend the wedding of my niece. My visit with K was wonderful. I took the easiest route into Chicago using the blue line train to Jefferson Park - only 5 stops! She and I got to Jefferson Park at the same time. She took the time off and we were able to visit, talk and eat together. We covered a lot of ground in 24 hours. She drove me out to the church for the wedding and picked me up after her afternoon and evening of showings.

The wedding was a terrific event - a combination Chinese Cuban event. The bride and groom did an awesome job of planning every facet of the wedding and paying for it all. They and all their guests had a wonderful time.

Then it was off to Hartford for A Hand Up board meeting. I also hosted an Open House for A Hand Up at St. James's Church in West Hartford for about 30 people. I was glad to see so many people and meet a number of them for the first time!

The rest of the time I met with friends, Elaine, Jane, Diane and Robin. We walked many many miles often dodging thunderstorms. I must admit the temperatures were pretty hot for this California girl and the humidity was a little tough to get through.

It was nice to go away but I was really happy to get home.