December 2009

• This month has started out slow. I completed some chapter summaries for my book club, which pretty much drained me.
• The first Saturday of the month was very busy. Tory and I did some much needed shopping (including stopping by Laurie's costume sale) and then headed to Marine World (Discovery Kingdom...blech) with a carload that afternoon. We picked up Orion and Gavin and then Tory's boyfriend, Justin to join us. It was very cold there. According to the car it was 55 when we got there, and 42 when we left. Marine World doesn't open in December until 3pm, closing at 10pm. We got there at 3 and left at 9. Justin didn't bring more than a hooded sweatshirt, and froze to death. Thank goodness my car has a terrific heater.
• The following Saturday was our renaissance groups 'Yule Ball'. For more information, including photos, please see: http://danceanddestruction.blogspot.com/
• Following the Yule Ball, Detta and I shared a room, with Tory and her friends in another at Hotel Metropolis in downtown SF. The rooms were small but decadantly furnished (the beds had multiple pillows with down comforters that rustled as you moved). Very posh!
• I had my traditional Ladies Christmas Lunch. Our numbers were down from years past, but quality rather than quantity I always say!
• Eric is continuing to work at the cement factory in Moss Landing. He's working lots of over time (including double time) and seven days a week! He was made a foreman, which was really nice! Of course we don't see a lot of him, but the money makes up for it. It'll help out when he's not working after the first of the year.
• This year we moved the caroling back a day to accommodate some of our friends, and we ended up with a very poor turn out. Next year we're back to Friday before Christmas. :) Hopefully more of our friends will be able to join us that way.
• Christmas was spent at home with some of our closest friends (Patty, Orion, His Grace, Kieran, Robin, Anthony, Anne & Detta) stopping by. We had a huge dinner (Ham, Pork Florentine, Roast Beast, Lamb, Baked Potatoes, Rolls, Salad & Corn), with pies (pumpkin & cherry) for dessert. We spent a terrific afternoon and evening with everyone. The best part was that Eric had the day off (as well as Christmas Eve).
• The following week was a blur. Tory and I spent a lot of time doing things, but I can't remember everything we did! Eric developed laryngitis and came home from work on Sunday, and spent Monday at home as well. Wednesday Gwen & Laurie came to stay with us. We took them with us to Marine World for the last time of the season. Laurie is still one inch too short! She was pretty bummed and wouldn't be consoled with the 'baby' rides (her word). We spent a few hours there...until they kicked us out. :)
• New Years Eve was also a blur. Laurie & Gwen joined us for breakfast before heading home. Then Tory and I tore around doing errands before heading to Detta's for New Years. Eric had to work a 14 hour shift, so he got to stay home. We had a great time and headed back on New Years morning, to prep for our tickets to see Riverdance in San Jose. Patty and Eric joined us for the performance...with Patty picking up dinner at Paolo's before the performance. It was absolutely terrific...the food, the company, and especially the show!

November 2009

• This month started out with Tory's appearance in her schools first two plays of the year. Woody Allen's Death and God. In Death Tory played a boy. And unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to turn off the flash, so I don't have any photos. In God, Tory was part of the chorus and was on stage for about half of the play, so I have lots of photos...added here for that!
  
  Thanks to stupid Blogger, all of the photos are in reverse order.
  

This is Tory with her good friend, Marissa.

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• Then we did an event for our renaissance group, where we attended the IFMA Renaissance Faire (yearly party for their members) at a local hotel. We performed a series of dances for the crowd and had plenty of time for meet and greet.
• The following weekend we attended Kearney Park with our renaissance group. More information on this (including photos) can be found at http://danceanddestruction.blogspot.com.
• We were then lucky enough to attend San Jose Ballet performance of the Pirates of Penzance. What a terrific show. I imagine the play would be better, as then there would be speaking parts, but the show itself was wonderful! It was my first Ballet.
• Then we had our traditional pre-Thanksgiving potluck. This year we had twenty-two people in attendance.
• Eric went back to work the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, so it ended up being a good thing that we didn't plan on going to Pismo this year.

October 2009

More to come

September 2009

• September started with Tory in a water polo tournament in Los Altos. The team won 50% of the games they played. Not bad for a team that has done poorly in the past. Fortunately the tournaments don’t count towards their final scoring rubrics.
  
• September 10th – 12th we attended Pirates at the Library. A school event hosted by the library in El Dorado Hills. More information on the event can be found at http://danceanddestruction.blogspot.com.
  
• Tory’s water polo team played two games the following week (9/15 & 9/17) and won both. Tuesday's high school scores
  Mercury News
  Posted: 09/16/2009 10:34:04 AM PDT
  Updated: 09/16/2009 10:53:44 AM PDT
  Fremont 8, Harker 5
  Harker 0"‚3"‚2"‚0—5
  Fremont 2"‚1"‚2"‚3—8
  H — scoring not available.
  F — Mahoney 4, Nakagawa 2, Swan-Smith 2.
  Records — Harker 0-1; Fremont 1-0.
• 
  Thursday's high school scores
  Mercury News
  Posted: 09/17/2009 10:11:51 PM PDT
  Updated: 09/17/2009 10:48:54 PM PDT
  Fremont 8, Cupertino 4
  Fremont 1"‚4"‚2"‚1—8
  Cupertino 2"‚1"‚1"‚0—4
  F — Nakagawa 6, Damestani, Mahoney.
  C — Renfrow 3, Drake.
  Records — Fremont 2-0; Cupertino 0-2.
  
• On September 18th our good friends from Reno came into town. Desi and her husband Chris and youngest daughter Tia (15) came for a visit…the first visit in 7 years. I was really excited! Friday night we had a barbeque in the back yard…around having to take Tory to yet another Water Polo tournament, this one at Wilcox High school in Santa Clara. Saturday we all got up and headed to San Francisco. Another friend of mine (and past co-worker/boss), Bruce, had managed to score us tickets to attend the Presidio Employee pre-screening of the Walt Disney Family Museum (opens to public 10/1/09) [ http://Disney.go.com/disneyatoz/familymuseum/index.html ]. We went to his new apartment in the city and received the tickets from his wife, Rosemary, and received a tour of the apartment and the community room. Very nice! Then we headed to the wharf, as we had some time before our tour. We walked a bit and had lunch at the Rainforest Café [ www.rainforestcafe.com ], and then headed to the Presidio [ www.presidio.gov ] for our tour. We arrived a bit early, but took a look around the exterior of the building and then the gift shop. They had some really nice things, but the prices were kind of high. We knew going in that this would be dedicated to Walt and that it would contain art work that he was directly related to, but it was nothing like what we expected. It was fabulous. I think the only one of us who didn’t thoroughly appreciate it was Tia, who at 15 wasn’t very pleased with all of the reading required . Tory was completely enchanted, as were the adults. Desi, not even as big a Disney fan as I am was equally absorbed. We were in the ninth gallery (there are ten, plus the theater, which we never even got to) when the docents came around to tell us that they were closing! We couldn’t believe how the time flew, we were in there for three hours and had to leave before we had spent all of the time that we wanted! Being smart, the museum extended their gift shop hours, so we were able to go in there and Desi & Tia were both able to make one final purchase before we left. Our intent had been to return to the wharf after the museum, but there was a lot of standing in the museum and quite a bit of walking, so we opted to head back towards home, picking up dinner (and Wolverine…Eric made me stop at Target so he could run in on the last day of the first week it was on sale to purchase it) on the way. Sunday morning they headed back home. Making me quite sad, but very happy that they had come and that we’d gotten to share a first with them (Disney Family Museum…yay!). We’ll be seeing them again next year for Tory’s graduation (6/10/10) and possibly before then. We may head their way for Tory’s birthday week, who knows.
  
• Unfortunately Eric’s younger sister, Sheryl, passed away on the 21st. Our thoughts and prayers are with Steve, Randall & Mom during this difficult time. Sheryl was a very sweet soul.
  
• Tory played two water polo games the week of the 21st. Winning the first…
  Tuesday's high school scores
  Mercury News
  Posted: 09/22/2009 10:23:15 PM PDT
  Updated: 09/23/2009 06:54:12 AM PDT
  Fremont 9, Lynbrook 6
  Fremont 3"‚3"‚2"‚1—9
  Lynbrook 1"‚2"‚1"‚2—6
  F — Nakagawa 2, Rodriguez 2, Dugan 2, Paul, Swan-Smith, Owyeung.
  L — Fong 3, Diehl 2, Tsen.
  
• September 23rd we discovered that our very dear friends, Wil & Deb are having a boy. We’re so excited! Little whathisname is due in February.
  
• Tory, Anthony, Gio and I went to Marine World on the 27th. It was so hot! The crowds, while not Disney in nature, were much larger than anything we’ve seen there so far. If you have a season pass, there is a free pass for any Sunday in September. I think most people (like me) waited until the last weekend to take advantage of it.
  
• Tory reinjured her finger at water polo practice. That’s four for four. Four years of playing water polo, with injuries during practice all four years. *sigh*

August 2009

• Tory and I headed to Roaring Camp & Big Trees with Orion and Gavin on the first. There was a special Thomas the Tank Engine ‘thing’ going on (Spend a day with Thomas) there. We collected stamps from all of the stations and Gavin was able to pick up a book of some sort at the end. He took photos with Thomas and with some weird Thomas-y sort of guy … of course I didn’t bring my camera, but Orion got them on this cell. Both Tory and Gavin got to paint and the best part was the time Gavin got to play with the Legos. They had bouncy houses which looked really cool, but you had to have paid to go on a train ride to use them, so that left us out. That night Tory stayed over at her friends house (Megan & Kaitlin) for the night.
  
• At the beginning of the month Tory began swim/water polo practice daily for two hours per day. It continued on through the beginning of school.
  
• Over the course of the month Tory spent quite a bit of time babysitting Gavin, which was probably good for both of them. Tory got more experience babysitting one on one and Gavin got more familiarity being watched by someone other than his parents. An excellent social encounter for both of them.
  
• The following weekend we were supposed to go camping with Grace & Brian, alas Brian was unable to find us a camp site, so the trip was cancelled. *bummer*
  
• We had our annual pirate picnic for our non-profit group (more details here: http://danceanddestruction.blogspot.com). During the festivities we were told by Erin (Gisch) that Jenn had delivered a healthy baby girl. Dane Isabella Wood joined the world.
  
• We had our third quarter Board of Directors meeting on the 16th. We were lucky enough to see Deb, Wil & Bruce, and speak with Donna (Brony) on the phone. Tory’s friend Laura stopped in too.
  
• Unfortunately Eric was laid off from the Presidio in Monterey on the 19th.
  
• August 20th…Lina’s birthday! Happy Birthday, Lina!
  
• Tory started her senior year of high school. She has some hard classes this year, and a few fun ones: British Literature; Math Analysis; Physiology; Government & Economics; French 4 Honors; Advanced Drama; Stagecraft ROP. She’s also joined the Water Polo team (for the fourth year). I anticipate she’ll also join the Swim and Diving team in the spring.
  
• Tory took her senior portraits on August 24th. Here’s a link to the proofs… https://shop.prestigeportraits.com If you don’t have an existing account, click the Create Account button. Once your account is created, add the images using the following information: Session ID: 55194310 Access Code: K939B
  
• I began some sewing projects this month…and am proud to say I actually finished a few of them, too…here are the finished products. The blue over dress is Tory’s pirate garb for the Pirates in the Library School event we’re going to in September. The dress itself wasn’t too hard…I did it all by myself…until the gathering in the skirt started giving me problems. I ran gathering stitches four times (and broke the string every time). Finally Eric took pity on me and did it for me. Then the sewing machine started giving me problems attaching the skirt to the bodice. Ugh! The yellow skirt was *very* easy, which was nice. The blue skirt was fairly easy as well. The green pirates dress was a bit trickier. I meant for the lining on that skirt to be the pants for underneath, but I totally screwed up when cutting…first time I’ve ever made that mistake. Eric took pity on me and bought me some new fabric. Then because I was gun-shy I made Tory’s blue dress first. That fabric was much cheaper, so I wasn’t as nervous about cutting it.
  
• On the 29th we had some folks over for a barbeque. It was a nice break from the stress of every day life. I didn’t get around to taking more than a few photos of the dogs.
  
• August 31st….Dad’s 70th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad!

Baby leaves the nest...

*sigh*...today is my baby's first day as a senior in high school. I didn't know I'd feel so desolate to be so close to the end of her 'school career'. Now is the time to start bucking up...I only hope I don't embarass her too much this year. This is really hard for me. I didn't have a mom around my senior year. So much happens and it all happens so fast.

Not only is today her first day, but she also gets her professional senior portraits done this evening. Oh the start of marathon spending. So much fun.

*sigh*

June 2009

June started out great! Eric got a job working in Monterey at the Presidio after being off forever. Good thing, too, because unemployment was long gone.

• Tory starred as Cherry in her school play, the Outsiders. She was fabulous and got an “A” in Drama for her effort. In attendance were Patty, Anne, her boyfriend James & his mom, Janet. I don't have photos, but do have video, just trying to get Youtube to accept it. :)
• While Tory, Doxie & Stellie stayed with Patty, Eric and I went to Truckee for a school event at Alder Creek Middle School (hosted by the hostess with the mostest, Sandy Horn).

• We then headed to South Lake Tahoe, where we stayed at the Camp Richardson Resort in the camper, for the Valhalla Renaissance Faire [www.valhallafaire.com]. Joining us were: Cullen & Gwen; Grace & Brian; Philip & Katie, and briefly Teague, Cailin, Katherine & Franz. While we were there we participated with the Valhalla Fellowship, as we have for the last three years. They’re like our other family. Cousins maybe, you know, the ones you really like, but never get to see. J
  
  Eric and Cullen headed back Sunday night as they both needed to work on Monday. Brian, Grace, Philip & Katie all headed home on Monday, leaving Gwen and I alone to fend for ourselves, with the camper.
  
  Gwen and I walked into ‘town’ on Monday, a nice hike (I don’t even recall how far it was now, I just know it wore both of us out), had lunch at McDonald’s, shopped a bit and then headed back to camp. We passed un uneventful night, with Gwen showing her prowess to the fire gods, and left the next morning. Good thing we got an early start, as we ended up blowing a tire on the trailer just north of Placerville on 50. The tire proved difficult to change, as we were parking at an incline on the side of the road (making it difficult to get a jack under the trailer properly) and the tires were probably original to the trailer (circa 1977) as the bolts were not moving easily. After an hour and a half, help from a Cal Works guy, a good Samaritan and finally AAA, we were back on the road. Everyone made it home safe and sound.
  
• On June 10th, our good friend Deb found out that she is expecting, the first child for both her and her husband! The baby is due late February! We’re all so excited!


• Tory finished off her Junior year of high school...fairly uneventfully.


• And lastly, we attended Scottish Renaissance Festival [www.scottishrenaissancefestival.org] in Santa Cruz with our Renaissance group.

May 2009

In no particular order (the order the photos uploaded, actually...one of these days I'll get the hang of this thing) are highlights from May:

• May started off with Eric's birthday weekend. He spent his weekend watching Wolverine on the big screen. I took him to see it (alone) on Saturday for his birthday, but he liked it so much, he conned me into going again on Sunday so that we could take Tory.
• I travelled for work quite a bit starting in May. Mother's Day found me in the air headed to Washington DC to set up an office in Alexandria, VA.

These are photos taken while I was in Washington DC from the Smithsonian Museum

I want this Emerald!




Here is the building known as the 'Castle'

I really thought these trees were neat. I've never seen anything like them and was hoping I could get our friend Orion to tell me what they are. I wouldn't mind having one in our yard.









Photos of the Washington Monument & WWII Veterans Monument

• The weekend after my birthday (Memorial Weekend) we headed to Porterville to visit with June. We stayed in a Motel 6 that allows dogs, so that we could bring Doxie and Stellie with us. It was pretty nice for a Motel 6.

Stellie sneaking a snooze at Ma's.

Lei'i, happy puppy

• Tory had dive finals. Here's one photo from those. I did make quite a few videos, which have been uploaded to Youtube and are here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPYclUqtw30&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEGxsIkmYv4&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SPAJTrniD0&feature=channel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV0JBamDDH4&feature=channel

After DC, I came home to another Renaissance event. Livermore Scottish Games & Celtic Celebration [http://www.livermoregames.com/].







Eric, Orion & Morrigan
















Myself & Robin

Here's a photo of the Alexandria office I was working on

• For my birthday Eric and Tory suprised me with an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. It was the first birthday cake I've had since the mud pie my dad bought me for my 18th birthday. I was very surprised & very touched.
• My office at work was moved at the end of the month, which just added to the general upheaval in my life in May.

April 2009

Some highlights from April:

We attended a Renaissance Faire in Visalia (Tulare County Renaissance Faire), here are two photos, one of the event and one of the beautiful sunset on the way home. For more information, check the blog at http://danceanddestruction.blogspot.com

We had a training for our Renaissance thing [see http://www.danceanddestruction.org/] if interested in more information. Here are some photos from that:

:

• Eric installed irrigation & grass in the backyard at the house. It's gorgeous!
• Tory received her first 'First Place' in a dive meet on April 8th!
  
• We had an Easter barbeque for our friends on April 12th. The following folk were in attendance: Patty; Kieran, Robin, Kieran's Mom & Anthony; Elspeth, Dirk, Evie & Barda; Killian; Orion; Fyonna; Tory's friend Laura; Tory's boyfriend James & his family, Derek, Janet & Jeff. We had an Easter Egg hunt in the back yard, which the teenagers thought was pretty fun (it was Anthony's first time & he said it was cool).
  Here are some photos from Easter!
  

Doxie, 8 years old!

The infamous 'lamb cake' ;)

Robin wearing Anthony's 'prize'

Barda & Daddy

Tory & her prize