Back in Time...

Time travel with me.  There was a brief little mention of Christmas once on December 23rd.... then when last I wrote, we were in more current time. Happy thoughts I intentionally put to paper, as I recall I mentioned. Instead of heading straight to some sad times. I'll head back to winter, now that I feel I can relive the harsh realities of life. It will take a couple of storylines to get to where I stand today, but progress is being made...


Quirky Thanksgiving plans, beach, crab and dinner (not made at home) was shared with my parents in their mountain home.

crab to bring to my parents for Thanksgiving



just the 4 of us - Hubby, me & my parents

 December jumped on the coat tail of fall, and the Christmas celebrating extravaganza was begun.  Joy is counted in pleasurable moments. A favorite tradition of mine is a Christmas party with girlfriends of some 35 years. That amazingly beautiful group of women from San Francisco whom I speak of now and again.Time with these gals is intentionally carved out and anticipated. It is a great jump-start to holiday events for reminiscing and ending another year.


For the second time, we chose the glorious, stately, historic Fairmont Hotel to stay for the night and stage an ornament exchange party. {25 years of ornaments makes quite a collection}...

Of all times to be ill!  While it doesn't seem so in the photo above ^ . I was coughing half my lung at this point. I even took the precaution of seeing my doctor prior to heading to San Francisco. Alas, ill I was, and even though prescription drugs were packed inside my satchel, the flu bug-du jour of the season, had struck. I had a great time though! Just on the return to regular life did I have a problem.

This winter, many folks seemed to have a harder than normal time with coughs, cold and the flu. I won't go all Center of Disease Control on you, but statistics were high! I ended up in the Emergency Room in order to breathe. Never before had I needed an asthma inhaler. An asthma patient to whom I'm closely related was to have an exceptionally hard time during December.... my Mom.

If I may, the time-travel-train is going to stop here. I've broached the subject that is coming...
With more days spread between me and the winter, spring is fluttering it's beauty in my face, and I look forward to the cathartic release of taking thoughts, spreading them on these pages, and releasing them to the breeze. More tales, trips, trial and tribulations soon....

Treasure Trove of Memories

Say it isn't so! I went and mentioned that you'd seen the last of Anniversary posts.... oops! - I had left out a special day Hubby & I set aside to roam our local haunts of years past (and present too). This was a surprise that I did for him.


A journey up & down our beautiful peninsula, taking in sights and places that had special meaning to us.

First stop (no, it didn't surprise Hubby) was at the church in the woods where we married.

 Recreated the bride roll here in this photo... haaaaa    ->

 

 

 

Moved our way north to San Francisco. That one-of-a-kind city, not too far from our home, holds many memories. I spent a lot of time in SF and was happy to share it with Hubby.                            

 

 

Golden Gate Park is where we landed.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have paddled, walked and photographed most sections of Stow Lake. It is one of our fave places.

 

 

 

We attempted to lunch at Swan's Oyster Bar. The dang place was packed. A line outside it's door that people said they'd waited in for an hour and some change. Love the place - but, we had places to go!

 

 

 

China Beach. A Golden Gate Bridge view - so spectacular, so up-close and personal! Never tire of this sight! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A champagne toast at The Cliff House

 

 

 

 

 

Most of the itinerary packed day was all an attempt to surprise Hubby and make the final destination a dinner spot that we've loved for decades, and is one that he never tires of speaking about.              

 

 

 

Here's the welcoming door knocker ~

 

 

 

 

 

A tented ceiling and fabric-lined walls... welcome to the casbah....

 

sorry for the blurry photo... so dark inside..

 

 

 

 

 

El Mansour - a fine Moroccan dining event....

 

 

 

A six course meal, taken leisurely, as entertainment swirls around you

 

 

 

 

 

Hubby was surely pleased ~

 

 

 

 

 

A San Francisco treat!! 

March Madness... of the Non-Basketball Sort....

Hubby and I, also MIL and numerous friends share the month of March for our Birthdays. We always end up with quite the fiesta extravaganza for  the start of spring. This past week being no exception.


Let's open up the photo files and look at what we did ~

We sipped wine on more than one occasion

 

Shared time with family and friends...

Meals, noshes and sweets galore!

San Francisco and my Girls were in the mix (sorta early in the Bday schedule) ~

Yes, of course - we walked the beach a time or two ~

I gardened some ~

with chickens by my side.. they gave their interpretation of Birthday salutations!!

Madness of the sane crazily busy sort! All for fun. All to celebrate that which we are truly blessed and happy to have - another YEAR. (or any portion there of - we'll take!)


March! Spring has begun!

                                                                      JOY!!

Beauty, Eggs And Fun On The Other Side Of SF

That's one helluva strange title... (you'll get it by the end of this read)

Leading family along on sightseeing tours from beach to city and home again. Amidst those very days, I skedaddled away with friends.  A day spent on our most favorite of adventures ~ hunting for junque ~ also warehouse antique admiration time! (does that make sense??!)

Again - SAN FRANCISCO! yet new sites this day ~



An object of beauty is a joy for always!



In another neighborhood - beauty of another kind ~

                                                                     GRAFFITI ART

What's this one?

Fried eggs just wanna have fun? ...huh??... well, so do girls! And we did!!

What Have We Here?

San Francisco

Crooked streets ~

Drips of rain ~

Crabby legs ~

Fishmongers and their seafood delicacies ~

Silly tourist stops~

Sourdough bread to go ~



What we have is family time that is priceless....

Never Enough

There are never enough hours in a day! The time spent with my girlfriends is never long enough! One can never eat, drink or laugh enough while on a get-away!  I can never get enough of San Francisco! Enough is NOT enough.. because in my book - More is More!.....  all of this and MORE can be said for my mini holiday over the weekend. The sights one experiences in San Francisco are quite possibly different from most places in the U.S., and I don't just mean tourist sites. At any given time, on any given day you will find the strange and quirky, the odd and eye opening out just waiting to be embraced by someone. The novelty never wears off for me. Magic of a special kind takes place here.

 There must have been some mass media mailing that my friends and I missed...  ohhh, that's quite a few "m" words in a sentence chain...  Anyhow the Santas of the world united on Saturday in SF. Groups, and pods, and posses were out merry-making in full red suit, white beard attire! Hundreds of them! Some pulled chariots of She-Santas, some caroling, some drinking (in public), some in camouflage, others in tutus. What an interesting way to bring in the Christmas season!

My pod delightfully Christmas-ed by getting not-enough-hours-in-a-day visiting time in with one another. We camped out in a high rise hotel with enough rations to keep us sustained for a portion of the evening. The dancing you heard tell about only occurred in our room. The bluster of the early hours waned by night so we ventured out to climb some famous hills. Caught a glimpse of cable cars, ate candy from gingerbread houses and listened to a tad of lounge music. When the sugar plum visions could no longer be brushed aside we stopped talking long enough to let them dance in our heads! Dreams of San Francisco magic are the ones that I'll hold always close to my heart.



Tiffany's magical display



The City By The Bay....

I Left My Heart in San Francisco -
  and a case of champagne too....











Spending time with girlfriends in one of my favorite cities in the world! As a young adult I was fortunate to find a group of women girls (at that time) who I have claimed as MY OWN for somewhere near 30 years! Boy do we know how to have fun; man can we laugh! Sometimes I feel we are still that young group of girls 'cause we can sure rock a dance floor -
Periodically.    Lately though, I believe, we're just glad to be in the same hotel room sipping champagne, talking over each other reveling in the unique bond that we have. Together this sisterhood has celebrated and endured many triumphs and tragedies. They are the sisters my mother did not birth. Without them ... well I can find no metaphor... I don't want to know a without them! So, rain or shine I will be somewhere near that Golden Gate, in the city by the bay, Christmas shopping in Union Square and thanking my lucky stars that I am theirs and they are mine!