Breaking Ties and Succulents

It's interesting to watch and hear from parents whose kids have graduated from high school and are getting ready for or heading off to college! There's still a lot involved in choosing a school and classes, finding the right place to live and breaking or bending the ties that have held the family close together for so long.

As sad or poignant as this time of life can be, there are more and brighter things in the future! Now days, kids don't cause empty nestedness! They call, write, text, facebook, or twitter and can stay in almost constant communication. Many children choose places to live that are geographically distant from parents, but we can always make sure that they are still close at heart no matter where they live!

Today's picture is from one of our succulent garden cactuses in full bloom. Seems California is caught in the middle of a long drought and no end is in sight. While ours is nothing compared to the one ravaging the midwest, we still want to do our part to reduce water use. Landscaping and plantings are one way to do that. We took out our grass and put in succulent gardens. Succulents are perennials and hardy enough to live (and thrive) through the winter here and there's a remarkable diversity in the different plants.

HI!

We continue to experiment with foods ....... Here's an heirloom tomato with creamy goat cheese topped with toasted, chopped walnuts. And (!) a tossed green salad with the Ultimate Reset Vinagarette.

So good!

The heirloom tomatoes are interesting. They are grown from seeds that haven't been modified over the years; they aren't the prettiest, but are the most solid. Today's tomatoes, even the organic ones, are bred for certain characteristics like resistance to disease and hardiness during transport. Did you know that you could drop one off a moving truck going 60 miles per hour down the freeway and it wouldn't be damaged enough to throw it away?! Makes me wonder how bad the tomatoes that are fit only for marinara sauce really are.

Love the Farmer's Markets around here; love being a  localvore ..... from sources within 100 miles .... and will be sad to see the fall and winter limit the supply of berries, fruits, and vegetables.

Credit Card Fraud Alert

For the second time I can remember, our credit card was hacked and charged fraudulently. Last time it was for rental of self-storage units in the Oakland hills. Turns out, the renter used his own name on the rental agreement, and a search of the units he rented turned up several thousands of dollars in stolen property. Hmmmmm ..... probably could have been smarter than using his own name!

This time the charge was from England, in pounds Sterling converted to US dollars. In addition to the actual charge, the credit card company charged us a "foreign transaction fee." Talking with the credit card representatives, I found out that they also refused a second transaction for the same company for over $800 US. It's common for thieves to run a small transaction to test the card number and make sure it's valid, and to follow that transaction with one that's 20 to 30 times larger ..... real money!!

Needless to say, the card is no longer active, and the fraudulent charge will be reversed next invoice.

The website of the company making the fraudulent charges is

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/destinations/locations/birmingham.aspx

Check your card statements! Call your credit card company!

Cheers!

Labor Day at the Water Park

HI!

Enjoyed the Labor Day weekend, especially the trip to the waterpark in Fremont with James, Natalia, Deb, Milana and Simon. I didn't even know that there was a waterpark in Fremont! This one has a water slide, a kiddy area with water features, lots of water spouts and buckets that fill and dump. Picture shows the toddlers area with in-ground fountains, whirling water buckets, a water spout that's mushroom shaped, and lots of spouts coming out of the ground.





Simon and Milana loved splashing around in the toddler area, floating around the "river," and eating french fries and ketchup from the food vendor stand. Amazingly good deal for the City of Fremont. They have a lake ringed by lawn areas with trees and picnic tables, pedal boats, and sailing; a new skate park under construction (probably for skaters rather than bikers); the waterpark; and an extensive bike / walking path along Alameda Creek. Nice are, nice day, warm sunshine, kids laughing and playing ........ how does it get better?

Cheers!

South Yuba River Mini-Vacation

HI!

Deb and I just returned from a nice mini-vacation on the South Yuba River in Northern California. It's a beautiful, crystal clear river that runs gently in the Summer time but gets really violent in the winter as rain hits the Sierra mountains. In the Spring time, this river is a favorite of white-water rafters, especially kayakers who seek thrills from the danger of rapids, falls, and boulders the size of a house!






Even though I didn't catch any trout, I did get a chance to limber up my rod and do a little late afternoon fly fishing. As Dad used to say, "I rolled a couple," meaning that a couple of trout took the fly but didn't get hooked and I enjoyed a quiet couple of hours walking the boulders under the bridge.

These mini-vacations afford us the opportunity to reconnect after living a busy life during the week, and we can play Rummikub, read, hike, walk, or just lay in the lawn chair as we choose. 

Pleasant days!

First Post!

HI!

Just getting started with my Blog ..... first one, although I did do a web posting a while back. I stopped because I didn't think anyone was listening, and because life got in the way. Now maybe I have a little slack in life, so I thought I'd try it again.

Cheers!