7 September, 2007 – Friday

It’s been several days since the last issue, but we’ve been busy. The good news is the heat wave has abated. It’s no longer 105+ degrees in the afternoon. The last really hot day was Tuesday – and we again lost power and needed to run our generator to operate the air conditioners. This time the outage was apparently due to some maintenance upgrade in the RV park. Since then we haven’t lost power – of course it is 20 – 25 degrees cooler.

Yesterday, Thursday, Margaret headed into the city to visit old friends. Unfortunately, the schedule forced her to drive both directions at pretty much rush hour. The trip from Westlake Village back to our daughter’s house took almost 3 hours – and it’s only 90 miles. But when you’re inching along at 10-15 mph, it’s going to take a while. She is in her LA driving mode, pedal to the metal.

While she was seeing her friends, Rich, a friend from the old Hughes / Raytheon days, drove out to Anaheim Hills to play golf. We had breakfast, drove a bucket, and finally got out at 10:40 a.m. We couldn’t have done that 5 days ago due to the heat, but yesterday was very pleasant – a nice breeze and about 85 degrees. I’d like to report how well I played (after a four month hiatus), but in fact I played pretty much like I always do – sporadically! Rich played well however, and we enjoyed ourselves tremendously.

Tonight (Friday), Ryan is spending the night with us in the motor-home while his mom and dad have a date. Ryan loves sushi, so it’s Japanese nite, go to a movie, and then here for a walk in the RV park – in the dark with only a flashlight - and maybe some card games. Your usual grandparents / grandchild get-together!

M. input: many of the cell towers here are disguised. Imagine a palm tree, only metal, with the relays studded on the round fat crown with green “fronds” sprouting from the top. Actually, the pretend palms don’t look at all that ridiculous. At least it’s green. Also, we saw a Mexican restaurant advertising all-you-can-eat for $22.00. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can eat $22 worth of Mexican food (and live to tell about it!).

Today’s photo is from our hike to the top of Mt. Revelstoke in British Columbia. I’d like to tell you what kind of flowers these are, but my botany is very rusty. Also the memory is going down-hill because I think I knew what they were at the time. But they’re still pretty.

I haven’t taken many photos since arriving here. Not there aren’t photo-ops, but we have been keeping busy with family and friends. That and the heat pretty much preclude walking around taking pix. Maybe, in the coming week.

For the curious, I will be heading east, probably leaving here on September 15, Saturday. Carol and Margaret want me to stick around for my birthday (bash?) on the 14th. Unless something changes, I will be driving solo back to Amelia Island. Margaret has a “project” in works here and needs several more days in the LA area. Plus more time with daughter / grandson. She will probably fly back at the end of the month. I’ll let you know more as time passes.