2018 was a crazy year.

Easing myself back into blogging.

This is a very long and undoubtedly boring post to anyone except me.  But my blog has always been my journal, and this is the first update since Google trapped me out of my original blog.  I wanted to get caught up, at least up to my surgery in March of 2018, to start off this new blog.


High (and low) lights:

June 2017

2016-2017 was my last of 25 years of teaching middle school.  I retired in June 2017.

The timing was perfect.  As usual, I had wonderful young people to teach with a smattering of challenges to survive.  More challenges than usual, which helped me leave with no regrets.  I knew the young man who would move into my classroom and teach exactly the same curriculum.  Although I spent a lot of time cleaning and purging, I was able to leave my "legacy" behind (four binders - one per quarter - of materials that covered a year's curriculum) in case he needed something to get him through those first nutso months.  He even was fine with me leaving the posters up near the ceiling.  I walked away with no desire to ever return.

Three weeks later my younger son got married.

July 2017



He asked me to make him a vest for the wedding.  He chose the fabric, which turned out to be very difficult to use.  The project should have taken me a couple of days, but the pattern was oddly written and I had to backtrack so often that it ended up taking a stressful nine days.  Still, it ended up fine, looked smashing on him and he was thrilled to get to honor his late father by wearing his dad's favorite color in his wedding attire.

It was the most perfect wedding ever.  And he married into a musical family, so landed just where he needed to be.

August 2017

Three weeks after the wedding, I turned in my Medicare forms at the Social Security office and hit the road for three weeks in Utah.  I spent most of the time with a friend who needed a little support during a dark time, but did honor my promise to myself to take a hot air balloon ride to celebrate retirement.





The highlight of the flight was the touchdown on the reservoir.  The pilot was amazing.  He got us just far enough into the water to get our shoes wet, then lifted us up to drain the basket before repeating the process.  Super fun.



The drive back from Utah always seems longer that the ride there (something about the 14 through Santa Clarita onto the 5), but I got home safely.  Three weeks later I was packed and heading for a week with dear friends in Massachusetts.

September 2017

My flight there was uneventful, but interesting.  Left very early to leave my car at the flyaway, checked in early and made it to our "halfway" layover in Austin.  Didn't even leave the plane, but we were allowed to change seats if we wished.  I had a fine window seat already so stayed where I was.

The real fun started after leaving Austin.   We were flying the edge of Hurricane Irma.  I am always fascinated by clouds, and Irma kept me entertained for most of the rest of the flight.

I believe that I was the only weirdo glued to the cloud show outside.  (So what else is new?)  So, I was probably the only passenger to notice the high-flying bird way up in the clouds.  I snapped a couple of pictures of it before it disappeared from view, and went on enjoying the formations until we got to the other side of Irma.  It wasn't until later that I realized, no bird could be flying that high up and it must have been a plane. 

 After I got home, I did a little cropping to see what I had actually caught a picture of.



I told a friend about it and she confirmed that they often use this craft for weather work.

I can't describe the feels when I looked out my window on our approach into Boston.  There it was.  Massachusetts Bay.





It is a strange airport.  Elevators to underground walkways to elevators back up to baggage.  Quite a long walk, actually, and I did stop briefly to pick up a "You are here" mug for Boston.  When I got to baggage the man of the house was waiting with a big smile and a big hug.  Cannot tell you how I adore these people, or how lovely it felt to be so welcomed.

Such a lovely time.  They had been determined to spoil me with fun and spent considerable time creating their list of things to do.  Then they asked me what I wanted to do and they combined the lists to give me a week I never imagined. These people simply do not know the meaning of the words "good enough."


First on my list.

I  wanted to visit a quilt fabric shop and had found one in "Salem."  Turned out, it wasn't in Salem, Massachusetts but in Salem, New Hampshire.  Which turned out to be much closer to their house than the other Salem.  So, we took a field trip to the Salem, NH, quilt shop where I found Halloween and fall leaves fabric for future projects.  We also stopped at the local Michael's where I noticed that Massachusetts takes Halloween much more seriously than does Southern California.




Next on my list was to eat lobster.  I figured a local restaurant, but in their "good enough is not good enough style," my friend had arranged a very special day around that lobster treat.

To Ogunquit, Maine.  Where I fell in love.  With Ogunquit, Maine.

I was to have my lobster there, but first my friend had arranged one of my favorite things.  A boat tour of the coast.  Up to the lighthouse. On the Atlantic.

The pedestrian bridge.  If you need to walk across the harbor entrance from the hotel to the shops on the pier, you are on your honor to raise the bridge again so that the sailboats can get out of the harbor.

After we returned from a delightful couple of hours on the Atlantic, we chose the simple (but highly recommended)  Lobster Shack for lunch.  I was not expecting to be introduced to my lunch,  who was very actively trying to charm me before his sacrifice but I got past it.  But I thoroughly enjoyed the most delicious piece of seafood ever to cross my lips.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I have sworn never to eat lobster anywhere but Ogunquit, Maine, ever again in my life.

I thought we were done when we left the Lobster Shack (we had to be home for when her girls got home from school) but my ever observant friend had noticed a Christmas shop on the way in that she thought we should check on the way out.

I collect Santas, and had been looking for one to commemorate my retirement without luck.  While in that shop, though, not only did we buy matching tree ornaments, but I found the perfect Mark Roberts merman Santa to mark my retirement and this wonderful trip.

On the way home we stopped and shopped at the main Stonewall Kitchen shop in York, Maine, and another fantastic quilt shop.

Also on my list was going apple picking, something my friends often posted about on facebook.  And so we picked apples.

We were at the most delightful farm with multiple varieties of apples, a petting zoo and autumn harvest.  They even had freshly picked and grilled sweet corn with butter and freshly made miniature apple donuts.

Further down on my list was to see a big old (or reproduction) ship.  I didn't care what kind of old ship.  Fishing.  Whaling. Pirate.

They chose the USS Constitution.

Old Ironsides had been in dry dock for two years and had come out just three weeks before we got there.  What a thrill!  We walked the decks and learned about all the different barrels (my favorite factoids).  Then we visited the museum and attached gift shop (such a merch whore) where I bought a tiny charm replica of the Constitution made from copper sheathing taken off the hull during one of its refurbishments..

That night my friends asked if I'd seen the movie, Master and Commander, and when they learned I hadn't, suggested we watch it that night.  We spread it over two nights and it was a great experience after having explored a similar ship and getting a great idea of what the environment for those 18th century sailors would have been like.

The last thing on my list was visiting Salem Village, which we did one drizzly day.  We took a trolley tour with an amazing docent to get our bearings.  When we got to town, I was most interested in witch history.  I'd taught about the witch trials for years, but during this tour I learned a lot that I wish I could go back and teach again. I have to admit, though, that I was far more interested in the not-witch stuff I learned.



Revolutionary War troops were stationed in Salem Village and played an important role in the ultimate establishment of the United States.  But even more interesting to my historical preservation heart was learning about the architecture.  I learned that Salem was kind of a get-away location for the powerful of Boston and they had their homes designed by the leaders of the Federalist Architecture movement.  My favorite was the home with the bamboo ballroom floor.  The owner had the second-story ballroom floor built of bamboo because it was a soft floor to dance on, but after a year it started to sag.  So, he had these iron bars run under the floor for support.

After our tour I chose to visit a dungeon museum, which was fascinating because they had a nearly black dark lighting presentation.  This almost duplicated the complete darkness prisoners were kept in as they awaited trial.  We walked through a series of dioramas depicting the treatment of accused witches.  The most poignant story was of a four-year-old child who was imprisoned with her mother, kept in the dark for weeks until her mother was released and the little girl left behind.  In the dark.

A sweet little harbor and lighthouse there, too.

The town is a little bitter about Nathaniel Hawthorne (my favorite American writer).  Yes, he spent his childhood in Salem and used the town as the setting for some of his best writing.  But he did that writing somewhere else.  As an adult, he left Salem and never returned, and the town never benefited from their native son's success.  So, their tribute to Hawthorne is a statue of him leaving.  All you see of it from the tour is his back.

My friend is a fabulous cook and my week was a sequence of fabulous, healthy meals.  But she also works at a delightful bakery/eatery  in one of several old textile mills that have been restored and gentrified into business centers.  The one she works in has restored and created a miniature museum of its antique equipment that I really enjoyed.  I also taught about the Lowell Mills and Lowell girls, so it gave me goosebumps to walk this area.

It was hard to leave.  I loved Massachusetts and Maine and my dear friends.  But I had something to look forward to when I got home.

Three weeks after I got home from the East Coast, I got on a plane for a two-week visit with my family in Japan.

October 2017

It was a sweet time.  My older grandson, age 6, was recovering from an illness and since we had big plans late in my visit, we opted to take it easy for most of the time.  Gentle walks, home meals (often ordered in or picked up), brief visits to the nearby parks.  It was the perfect opportunity to get to know my grandsons, age 6 and 2.

I landed at the airport in Narita and took the limo bus for the two-hour trip to the Air Terminal center in Tokyo.  My son and older grandson were waiting for me when I arrived.  My son's head was down looking at his phone when I got to the bus door, but my grandson saw me right away.  There just aren't words for the feeling when I saw that beautiful face light up.

It was a short cab ride to their apartment.  On the way, my grandson came to understand that his grandma didn't really know much about Japan (especially the language), so when we got to their apartment he decided to help out.

Illustration, Japanese/English labels.  He was in kindergarten.

Reunion is sweet.  I suggested they order dinner in, and they were happy to agree.  Delivery meals are somewhat different in Tokyo.  This is a BBQ dinner on the first night.  I had the pork.  YUM.

On my second day my son invited me to take a walk around the neighborhood.  One of the things I had hoped to do on this trip was visit Nippori, the textile district, for some quilt fabric.  We didn't get there, but he took me into one of the famous alley shopping areas where there was a tiny fabric/yarn store that had everything I had hoped to find in Nippori.  On the way home we passed a corner sushi shop (two refrigerated cases on the sidewalk) and picked up dinner.

One day my daughter-in-law and I took the grandsons on a neighborhood walk.  They live just a block or so from the Sumida River.  There had been a typhoon the night before so the water was muddy and didn't smell too good, but it was beautiful.

We passed this little bridge and my grandson said, "Grandma, I want to show you something."  He took me into and around a beautiful little shrine.

This is one of my favorite things about Japan.  You can be just walking along a super modern city street and come across a beautiful old shrine.  Or a set of beautiful blue doors.

My son teaches at an international school about fifteen minutes from home, and while I was there, they held their big fundraising festival of the year.  It was Halloween season and the festival was full of costumes, great food (Black Beef on a Stick.  Oh my gawd)  and fun.

Early in my planning for this trip, my daughter-in-law warned me that I would have to get used to seeing men's butts.  When I asked why, she explained that they lived very close to the international sumo stadium, that there were eleven major sumo academies in their neighborhood, and that the students didn't bother to put on robes before stepping outside during their breaks.  (I never saw any men's butts).

On another rainy day, my daughter-in-law's mother treated us all to lunch at a Chanko restaurant. Chanko is a high-fat stew eaten by Sumo wrestlers to get and keep their weight up.  As always, the meal was beautifully presented and delicious.

I was pretty happy with quiet walks and grandson babble, but there was one shopping expedition I had looked forward to.  I wanted to visit a Daiso store.  There are a number of 100-yen shop chains in Japan. A 100-yen store is similar to an American dollar store, but the merchandise is higher quality and more culturally entertaining.  Daiso is one of the largest chains.

There was a Daiso in a neighboring town.  A walk to the train station next to the stadium, and then a short ride to the shopping mall.  I found another fabric/craft store, a Muji (with great lip balm) and the Daiso.  I shopped away and checked out with American about $75 worth of swag, then had a bit of a panic when I realized I had to get all that stuff home.  I made it, but found myself humming "I am woman, hear me roar" for about half the walk from the station.

My two-week visit went way too quickly, but we had something more to look for to than just putting Grandma on a plane.

Three days and two nights at the Disney Resort.

Wow!  What an experience.

I had asked my son and DIL to set up the trip, but they waited until the last moment to tell me they had reserved rooms at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel.

Mahaima Station.  Every station in Japan has theme music.  The music at Mahaima this day was "Zippity Doo Dah."

Mahaima welcome center.  Since we had reservations we could drop our luggage here.  Later we went to the hotel to check in and found our luggage in our rooms.

Walking across the pedestrian bridge from Mahaima Station to Disneyland Park.

A happy little greeter.

We arrived on Halloween.  Japan isn't into Halloween as much as we're into it in the United States, but there were decorations.

The Grand Bazaar (their "Main Street") is covered in Tokyo.  They get so much rain that they protect the main retail area.

Balloons were a little different.

A familiar sight, but inside were unfamiliar games and penny press machines.

Their Cinderella Castle from the Grand Bazaar.



Their hub is bigger than ours.  The only time costumes are allowed in Tokyo Disney Resort is the month before Halloween, with Halloween being the last day.  The costumes were over the top fun.

The way I describe the Tokyo Disneyland:  it's as if the investors came to California Disneyland and said, "Wow, this is amazing!  Let's take it up a notch."

Their Tea Party, also covered.

Familiar friends.

Some things are different...

Some are the same.  These were my favorite friends in ToonTown.

The Tokyo Disney Resort food is VERY different.  And very much better.

The view from my room.  The hotel was Victorian themed, and this entry court looks like a typical Victorian street.  Taken up a notch.  Or two.

The Monorail in my front yard.  The Monorail is a different  system in Japan.  There is a 300 yen (about $3) fare at each station.  But when you buy a vacation package, part of the package is the Monorail pass.

 Delights everywhere.

My elevator foyer.

My room.

My bed.

Look closely for familiar friends in the spread.

Concept art Cogsworth.  Beauty and the Beast room.

Japanese bathrooms are different from American.  Typically they have a shower room (the entire room is waterproof and if there is a tub, it is also in that room.  The toilet room (with advanced toilet) is in a separate room.  And separate from the two is the sink area.  My family's home bathroom facilities were set up this way.  At the hotel, the sink area was between the bathing and the toilet rooms.  It was gorgeous and included generous amenities.

Door to the toilet room.  I thought this was a cute joke.

Cleo on the door to the bathing room.

The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is the most beautiful hotel I've ever stayed at.  And I've stayed at the Hotel del Coronado in California, the Waldorf Astoria in New York and the Grand Californian Hotel at the California Disneyland Resort.



Monorail station at the Disneyland Hotel.

The walk from the Monorail toward the entrance.

The lobby.  Breathtaking.

Early morning at the Registration Desk.

 The Porte Cochere entrance.

 






 

 

We spent the afternoon of the first day at Disneyland.  My older grandson asked to go to ToonTown first because his friends had told him about it.  The two boys explored some houses and then we all had our pictures taken with Mickey Mouse.  The baby was thrilled and gave the cutest little sigh when we had to leave Mickey.

We took a walk over to Critter Country to check it out, but didn't ride anything.  Sure would like to check out their Splash Mountain.

Splash Mountain.

Then we went back to Fantasyland to ride Pooh's Hunny Hunt, which turned out to be a terrific ride.  Lots of surprises and lots of fun!

Pooh came out to say hello to my grandsons.

When we got back I treated us all to a delicious dinner at the Sherwood Restaurant.

Before I left the US for this trip, I had done my homework about these parks and learned that Disney Sea was selling a villains pin for Halloween that I really wanted.  After my family was tucked in for the night, I went down to the Monorail and took a trip to Disney Sea where I was able to get my pin and a few other goodies.  I slept well and woke early, then slipped out to visit the gift shop.  And was surprised to see that overnight there had been a transformation.  Our first night  when I fell asleep it was Halloween; when I woke up, it was Christmas.



I took a walk around the hotel in the early morning, then returned when the gift shop opened to load up on Christmas merchandise before rejoining my finally for a delicious room service breakfast.  Once we were finished, we headed out to Disney Sea for the day.

Disney Sea is astounding, often breathtaking.  It doesn't have lands, it has ports based on the ports of the world.

To start our day, we had reservations for the Big Band Beat Show.  Holy Swing!  It was fabulous, and when Mickey Mouse came up from understage, my little grandson lit up and said "Mickey Mouse, Nama, Mickey Mouse!"  I melted.

Originally this park was designed to be in Long Beach, California, and the ship was to be the Queen Mary.  (I may never forgive Long Beach for saying no.)  This ship rather looks like the Queen Mary, but is named the Columbia.  I giggled at the Easter Egg.

The port I wanted to see the most - and ended up liking the most - was the Mermaid Lagoon with King Triton's Castle.

Life-sized bronze.  Stunning.

Down the ramps three stories under the sea.

The incredible mosaics of King Triton's Castle.

After Mermaid Lagoon,  the family wanted a second ride on the elevated train in the New York port but I needed a restroom, so we split up.  I took what I hoped was a  short cut through the volcano at the center of the park.

And got goosebumps to emerge from a tunnel into the world of Jules Verne.

We left Disney Sea shortly after that and had a delicious Mexican dinner that my son went to buy at Ikspiari, the Tokyo Disney Resort version of Anaheim's Downtown Disney.

The next morning we had our breakfast at the Sherwood buffet again before heading back to Disneyland to ride the train.

The view from our table at the breakfast buffet, Sherwood Restaurant.

After breakfast we checked out and had our bags sent to the welcome center for storage, then headed over to Disneyland to take a train ride and check out Tomorrowland.

Once we had enjoyed our ride and walk through Tomorrowland (and enjoyed a shopping spree with the little boys at the really good gift shop there), we headed back to Disney Sea where we took a ride on Grandma's pick. It was amazing.

Christmas arrived at Disney Sea, too.

Scrooge McDuck at just one of a couple of large, Duffy themed gift shops.  This one in the New York area of the Ports of America area.

Duffy and his friends are bigger than Mickey and his friends here.

The entrance to Disney Sea is through the Hotel Mira Costa, the only hotel that is technically in a Disney-connected resort.  We decided to try the hotel's restaurant for lunch.  It was splendid.

It was hard to leave my family - again - as always. But I was cheered by the fun swag I collected

January 2018 - March 20 2018

I was scheduled for surgery in March, and kept busy during the winter with favorite outings and prepping to be out of commission for a few weeks.

Gorgeous full moon nights...

Stunning sunsets...

A trip to a quilt show with my Mom and her quilt club friends.  There wasn't a lot there to inspire me, but I did get a kick out of this one.

We tried three different times to see my younger son's firstborn before the big day, but he was stubborn about showing his face.

I wanted to come home to a clean and organized craft space after surgery.

One of my favorite day trips.  Out on the channel to enjoy the sea...

...and maybe even a gray whale or two.  Or three.

Two adults - one with a calf - and another adult.  This was unusual.  Grays are not as social as humpbacks and travel solo.

The Santa Barbara Harbor is magical.

As always, I took my Mom to Disneyland about once a month.  We got lucky one day during the Holidays.  Our old friend, Ragtime Michael, with the Dapper Dans (delightful set) and later joined by our friend The Mad Hatter.  Hatter now welcomes my mom by name.

We hadn't enjoyed the Holiday Parade for a few years so took the time to tuck in to our favorite viewing area.  My favorite act in this parade is the Herald Trumpets and I was thrilled when the parade paused right in front of us so that I could enjoy their entire sequence.

January is baby and mating season for the Elephant Seals up the coast and, since my first visit, I've tried not to miss a visit to welcome the little wrinkled ones, and to enjoy the community.

It's so beautiful up there.

Stopped in Cayucos for delicious clam chowder and Brown Butter Company cookies.

 A friend clued me in that the Titanic Exhibit at the Reagan Library was about to end, so we went together.  So glad I did!  It was a presentation of the history of the discovery of the ship and of James Cameron's research into the wreck that informed his movie.  At the end of the exhibit were cases with artifacts from the passengers.  The most poignant story - They displayed one of the first thermos bottles.  A father had realized his baby would need milk while they were in the lifeboat, so he got his family into the boat and ran back for the bottle.  And didn't make it back in time.

The model of what was photographed at the bottom of the sea.

 

The view from the patio of the Reagan.

Between my retirement preparations and my travels I got WAY behind on my gardening, but rose Over the Moon continued to pump out gorgeous, fragrant flower.

SAD STORY.

For years my late husband ignored the wildlife in our attic and their friends, the termites.  After he died I sold a building lot we had been holding onto (at a significant loss) in Utah and turned some of the money to repair of the house.  The first exterminator I hired took my money and didn't finish the job.  (Lesson learned).  The one thing he DID do, however, was cover all the critter entrances into my attic.

I thought he had really done a good job, but a few weeks after he disappeared I started hearing something moving around in the kitchen attic again.  I decided to wait until after the holidays to hire a new exterminator.

Meanwhile, because there wasn't enough chaos in my life, I put in a load of laundry one day and when it hit the rinse cycle, water started pouring from the bottom of the machine.  My dryer was over 35 years old and and the washer not new, so I decided to buy a new set.  Lucked into a huge sale at Lowe's, and they were delivered in time for Christmas preparation.



Once they were installed, the installer turned on the washer and made sure it was all working properly, then said,  "If water comes out during the rinse cycle now, it's not the machine, it's your drain line."

As soon as he said that, I knew that was the problem.  Sure enough the water started to flood out during the rinse cycle.  I called my plumber, and he came as soon as he could.  He was not concerned.  He said we would watch where the water came out the pipe into the drain and this would tell us where the drain pipe was clogged.  He would snake it clear.

We both had our eyes on that drain pipe as water poured out below the washing machine and around my shoes.

"Oh, this isn't good."

He explained that when this happened, it meant there was a leak down in the drain pipe somewhere.  He would have to remove the wallboard and find the leak, then replace the pipe.  He cut away the wallboard, then fell back with a "Whoa!"

The hole in the drain pipe?  Rats had chewed it through.  From their nest in the wall next to the pipe.

I cleaned up the nest while he went for the parts.

I set traps for a few days and caught a few. But I don't think any returned to where the nest had been.

 After Christmas, the friends I had visited in Massachusetts were due out for their annual stay at the Grand Californian and playing in the parks.  It was our tradition that I would drive down for a day with them, but I had had so much fun staying close to the parks in Japan, in a lovely hotel, that I decided to get a reservation for one night.

While, for me, it doesn't quite measure up to the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, the Grand Californian is magnificent and this has become a yearly tradition for me.

The view from my door.

The view from the floor.

My elevator bay.

My view from the balcony.  How cool is that!

We had a delightful time, but the highlight was getting to visit Bugs Land one last time before it was confiscated by Stark Enterprises.

 And then it was time for knee replacement surgery  My sister-in-law sent me some beautiful flowers.  I'm writing a full report of the process and the surgery and recovery that I will post here eventually.I will just say that it was a brutal experience from which I'm still not completely recovered.