Saturday, December 31, 2016

2016 RECAP

         

JANUARY

Had a cold all month. Lots of rain.

          Lizzie was here the 2^nd weekend

          Sandy & Marty Caribbean Cruise

          Tristan accepted at the University of Utah

FEBRUARY

          Still not feeling too well

51^st Wedding Anniversary. To Black Angus with Marv and Norbert to celebrate ours and N’s 60^th birthday.

Lizzie came over the weekend with my favorite chocolate cake.

MARCH

Nice weather. Gardening

Lizzie over the weekend of the 11

M blood transfusions

San Diego to see Lizzie’s new place

Tristan turns 18 years old!

San Jose. Acapulco with N

N over for dinner for Easter

APRIL

Regent Theater in LA with Lizzie

Sandy to San Diego & to visit us

Lizzie over the weekend

Marv’s birthday 76. To Fuddruckers –his choice-

MAY

Mother’s Day. Surprise visit from Lizzie.

To doctor about my leg

Leaving to Utah the 25^th

Tristan’s graduation from HS the 27^th J

Red Butte gardens. Celebrate Sandy’s Birthdays.

Marv to ER in Utah

JUNE

Not a great month health wise

M had to have lots of transfusions

I was diagnosed with venous insufficiency (lipodermatosclerosis)

$2700 transmission problems

Tons of tomatoes in the garden

Sandy’s Birthday 50!

Lizzie over with the portrait of my mother and sister and me.

JULY

M feeling better. Wound nurses around.

Tried some new restaurants

Tristan came to visit us for a week. Very nice.

AUGUST

Watching the Olympics

Lots of reading

          Lizzie and Jeff split. Not unhappy about it.

SEPTEMBER

To San Diego to see Lizzie’s new home. Great condo in downtown SD

Thinking of last year in Spain at this time

OCTOBER

Pacific City

Fix the AC

Pay off house mortgage

New dishwasher

#$%@ Frontier

T's problems

NOVEMBER

N clean up Jacuzzi and patio

Happy Birthday Lizzie 45!

Lizzie and Sandy to New Orleans. Lizzie to Utah.

Thanksgiving meal from Mimi’s

Election Day. Trump was elected President.

Nuri broke her leg

DECEMBER

My 73 birthday

Busy month

Sonia and Nicole over for the holidays.

The Thompson’s and Lizzie too!

Wonderful to have everybody here.

Rain

Sonia and Nicole to San Diego for New Year’s Eve.

Read 100 books this year.

Wishing my readers, friends and family all the very best for a very happy year 2017

DNA

I find genealogy  interesting. 

My brother in law is very interested, he has compiled a family history of the Wann's and Moore's.

He researched and worked on it for a long time, he found pictures and asked family for pictures. He went to the Genealogical Library in Salt Lake City (The Mecca for geneologists the world over) and also searched in San Francisco. He wrote to members of the family and asked for pictures, and looked for birth and death certificates. And all without even once checking things online since he doesn't have Internet.

A few years ago, looking for things to do, I started putting family names in Google. I started with my father. Out of it, I connected with my half sister Mia. She had posted about looking for her half siblings and mentioned my father's name as hers as well. Thus I found a side of my father that I didn't know about and it was so nice meeting her (she's traveled to California from Sweden a few times).

When I put my mother's name, among other things I found a picture of hers that I had not seen before. I kept on clicking links and I found out somebody that had a family tree with her on it. A niece of my cousin Ferran, Gloria,  who was a nun at the time, had started the tree for the families Garcia del Arbol (her mother's side) and Herrera  (her father's side) and my mother was a part of it because she was the sister of her grandmother Herrera (nee Garcia). She invited me to her family tree site and it was fun looking at pictures and dates of my grandparents and great grandparents in my mother's side. Sadly she didn't renew her subscription.

My sister Mia also has a site with her  Almstrom family tree, my father is in it, she also invited me to be in it.

Lately I've been watching in Facebook and also on TV, ads about finding out where you come from and who your family is going back several generations thru DNA. So I send for 2 kits, one for Marv and one for myself ( they were on sale because of Black Friday)

We are going to do it tomorrow and send it in the mail, it takes about 6 to 8 weeks to get the results.

It was funny because the package  comes from West Valley City :)

I am excited to see the results. It will complement (on Marvin's side) Dewey's research and hopefully will find out more about his ancestors in US and Europe.  I am very excited about mine too, even though my mom and dad were born in Barcelona, a branch in my maternal grandmother's side are not Catalan, so it'll be interesting to find out more about it.

After I get the results, I'll let you know , of course, and then I will subscribe to Ancestry.com and start our very own Family Tree :)

November Recap

There were lots of things happening this month...

Nov. 4  Lulu had a haircut, looking perky

Nov. 5  N came over to clean the Jacuzzi and patio. I planted flowers.

Nov. 8  Election Day. Donald Trump won. Bye bye Hillary . 

Nov.11 Ultra sound procedure at Kaiser Downey  (for me)

Nov. 12  Lizzie visited this weekend. 

Nov. 13  Super moon.

Nov 16  Lizzie to Utah

Nov. 17 Sandy and Lizzie to New Orleans

Nov 19  Lizzie's Birthday in NOLA

Sandy and Lizzie back to Utah

Nov. 24  Thanksgiving. Dinner from Mimi's

Nov  25  Nuri fell down some steps and broke her tibia and fibula.

Nov  27 Lizzie back to San Diego

Marv felt pretty good all month and we went out to eat several times. Baja Cabo, Sizzler, El Cholo, Zumaya, Off the Hook... 

BOOKS I READ

.

MOVIES I WATCHED

~Looking forward to the Holidays with the family~

Odds and Ends

I have not been writing too much lately, so I will write about some of the things that have happened since I last wrote.

The girls had a great time in New Orleans, and later at Sandy's in Utah. They were celebrating their 50th and 45th birthday, and then in Utah, Thanksgiving. It makes me happy that they get along so well and have fun together :)

On Thanksgiving Day, Marv had to go to dialysis early. We took a big tray of cookies from Sam's to the staff at Fresenius, because we are thankful for all the care they give their patients. They are a good crew.

I didn't feel like cooking and for some reason I felt like having a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. I called Mimi's Restaurant and ordered a Thanksgiving feast for 2 and went to pick it up after Marvin got home. It was very good: tender sliced turkey over dressing, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, green bean casserole with onion rings on top, and bourbon sweet potatoes with toasted pecans. For dessert we chose bourbon pecan pie. And of course, Cava. The whole meal was really tasty.

Our dishwasher broke down, well actually the handle to open it broke and the whole front needed to be replaced. so we decided to buy a new one instead. Now we're waiting for it to be installed.

In other news, I'm getting  ready to welcome Sonia and Nicole. They will spend Christmas here along with Lizzie, Sandy, Marty and Tristan. I'm a little anxious.  I have talked to Sonia and reminded her that it's not going to be the same as when she was here last time. She says the most important thing is to be here with all of us, but naturally they want to  do a lot of sightseeing, too. They will take the touristic bus to see Los Angeles, Hollywood, Santa Monica etc.  Also want to go to Disneyland, and Nicole's main request is to go to the Millenium dance studio in Studio City (by Hollywood) and take a hip hop class.  They will go to San Diego to spend New Year's Eve with Lizzie. They will be here December 21st to January 3rd. Not a long time to do everything she wants to do. We'll see.

And last but not least, my sister Nuri, all of 75 years old, fell off the steps after leaving Monica's house, and she broke her tibia and fibula, and had to be rushed to the hospital where she had surgery (her bones were sticking out of her leg) and now she has a cast in her left leg and needs to be in repose for about 3 months. She's staying with Monica because she cannot take care of herself. I wonder is she's going to be a good patient  ;)

 Need to start Thinking Christmas now!

Happy Birthday Lizzie!

The elusive moon

Tonight the moon is closer to the earth than it has been in the last 68 years, it won't be as close again until 2034. This is a SUPER MOON.

I have been excited to see it. I wish I was in the desert or someplace where it was dark and clear. I thought of going to the beach and see the sunset and then the moon rise.

I remember one evening  we were driving from Twin Falls to Burley, and all of a sudden I look just ahead of me and a HUGE orange yellow ball was straddling the freeway. My heart stopped for a minute, it was such an awesome sight.  I saw my best moons when I lived in Idaho, probably because of the altitude and the clear skies.

Today I started wondering where would be the best place to see the moon in all its glory. Marv suggested Hillsborough drive, but there's no parking places there,  also at the end of Alicante there's a park and maybe that would be a good place, overlooking the West Coyote Hills, but there were having  sports nights at the park and the field lights were very bright so it was no good. I kept driving around (Lulu was with me) and ended up  by LMHS. We got out and walked around little. It was dark but no moon anywhere. We drove around some more, and still no Moon. Finally I gave up and went to Pizza Hut and ordered a pizza to go for dinner as per Marv's request.

As I was driving up my driveway, I look ahead, and there it was, the elusive super moon shining brightly!  

Not exactly how I wanted to see it, but it was very nice anyway.

That's probably how I'd like to have seen the super moon, lucky Australians!

Patio clean up

I had not heard from my friend N for a while, so I called him to meet me Saturday for lunch at Long Beach. Instead, we decided he would come to my home and take care of the Jacuzzi.

He came around 1PM and we had lunch at home (leftover roast for him, a roast beef taco for me) then he just went outside and started to go crazy with the hose, washing the patio area inside and out much to the displeasure of Lulu, she kept her distance from the water.

While he was doing that, I started taking care of my plants, transplanting some  etc. Then it was time to go pick up Marv.

When we got back, I saw he had started emptying the Jacuzzi. That took quite a while, then scrubbing the inside and filling it again. It is now ready to use in time for the guests ;)

I asked N to stay for dinner, and after much discussion, Marv suggested pizza, so out we went to pizza Hut to get a meat lovers pizza and brought it home.  While we ate, they watched  a Western and I went to my room. Later they both were talking about politics so I just said it was time to call it a day.

Pretty boring post, but this way I have a record of when the Jacuzzi has been taken care of  :)

Dia de Todos los Santos

All Saint's Day is celebrated in Spain on November 1.

This is the day that many families go to the cemetery and bring flowers to their dear departed.

In our family, my grandmother (yaya) was about the only one that followed the tradition, every year she'd go to the cemetery with her niece (Matildeta) and basically spent the whole day there. Some years my mother would go along with some of her sisters. I remember  going a few times, and running around with my cousins..

The cemetery in Barcelona is pretty awesome. When I was a teenager as part of my school requirements, we had to do some volunteer work. My friend Titina and I chose to work at an orphanage which was very close to the cemetery in Montjuich. Some days we took a few kids to have lunch at the cemetery, it had nice areas with flowers and grass and it was quiet and peaceful. I vividly remember one time when a grave digger started digging on a spot next to where we were having a picnic. We gave him a sandwich and a drink, he was thankful, it's hard work to dig a grave.

The best thing about all Saint's Day was all the sweets typical of the holiday. At home my father would buy panellets of different kinds, my favorites where the pine nut ones.

Another one was buñuelos de viento, thanks Sandy for reminding me of those sweets. My grandmother  made them not only this day but for other holidays. They are very similar to cream puffs, only they are fried instead of baked, they could also be filled with cream or chocolate.

The other thing I remember doing on this day, is going to see the play "Don Juan Tenorio"by Jose Zorrilla, which was performed only on this day. Usually  I went with my mother and her sisters to see it. All the theaters in the city performed the play that night. It's the legend of Don Juan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_Tenorio

Even now I can recite this part where Don Juan talks about himself and his adventures

Yo a las cabañas bajé,

yo a los palacios subí,

yo los claustros escalé

y en todas partes dejé

memoria amarga de mí.

October Recap

Some highlights and lowlights:

October 3    To Pacific City. Nice setting.
October 5     Fix the A/C  $280
                     Banc of California  
October 7     Pay off house mortgage - Black Angus  
October 8     Carpet cleaner, the whole house $180 
October 9     Need a new dishwasher
October 15   Off the Hook Restaurant with Lizzie
October 17   Kaiser Vision, 2 pairs of glasses for Marvin
October 20   Total meltdown with the Frontier $#@%^#
October 21   Mimi's
October 25   Frontier again, we'll see, grrrrrrrrrrrr
October 26   Fix the telephone line
October 30   Sonia and Nicole will be here for Christmas
October 31   Halloween. Take pickup to Dodge Cerritos, didn't have the part! 
                     To Kaiser Vision to get the glasses
                      Frontier screwed up again, new order

Movies I watched in October

Books I've read in October

Things that make me happy

1. Texting with my girls and grandson

2. Having a good month healthwise

3. Lizzie coming to visit 

4. Trying new Restaurants

5. Seeing my garden growing and thriving

6. Watching my hummingbirds taking baths in the fountain. Also the finches.

7. Reading

8. My shopping cart to bring groceries home

9. Playing in PSP


Things that make me upset.

1. Trump and Clinton. All the lies.

2. Frontier, my internet, telephone, TV server.

3. Well, you know...

And here's some of  the tags I made lately :)

Have a nice day!

Pacific City

Pacific City is an open area mall in Pacific Coast Highway that offers ocean front dining, shopping and entertainment, only a couple of blocks south of the Huntington Beach Pier.

http://www.gopacificcity.com/

The original name of Huntington Beach, when it was just an ocean front village, was Pacific City. So they used the name for this Mall.

It opened last November with very few stores, but it had the grand opening this September.

I've been wanting to go just to see what it was about, so this Monday  I had a couple of errands to do in HB and asked Norbert if he wanted to go, of course he said yes. We drove the short distance from his house and parked in the only parking place available which is underground , @ $2.00 for 20 minutes.

It has 3 floors, lots of upscale stores, and restaurants, there's still some stores that are not open. The location is the best part of it,

After walking around we started looking for a place to have lunch, there were quite a few choices, but it was such a lovely day, I decided I'd like to have a Margarita while enjoying the view, so we went to Ola Mexican Restaurant. https://olamexicankitchen.com/

 It's a very nice restaurant inside and outside. I of course had a Margarita which was quite strong, and the Chef's guacamole, delicious with pomegranate seeds and orange zest, and a carnitas plate to share. Very good.

They also validated the parking :)

After we ate we walked around some more and took some pictures by the surfers wall.

I enjoyed Pacific City!  (Just don't go on a weekend or a holiday, way too many people and hell to park) but on a Monday off season, it was perfect.

September recap

In general, September has been a good and very hot month

I went to my hair salon and I was very satisfied with the results (that doesn't happen often)

We went to San Diego to see Lizzie's place. She lives in a really nice condo in a great area of San Diego, we took

a long walk with Lulu too.

Both Marvin and I felt pretty good all month, we both went to our respective podiatrists, and we also got our flu shots.

We ate out a few times and it was nice.

Here's the movies I watched this month:

And here's the books I read:

                       

                   

Sept. 27- A year ago-Last day

Sonia and Eric took us to the airport. I couldn't even get an ensaimada because it was too early in the morning and the panaderia was closed. Lots of hugs, and some tears at the airport. The ending of a wonderful trip.

Volvere

If you drink water from the Canaletas fountain,

forever you will be in love with Barcelona.

No matter how far away you go,

you will always return.

Sept 26 - Last day in Barcelona (a year ago)

I should say last full day in Barcelona. A wonderful trip was coming to an end, but I can honestly say we did a lot in those 12 days and everything went smoothly and we enjoyed every minute.

The girls had tickets to go inside the Sagrada Familia, they loved it. I stayed in the apartment and packed and had some quiet moments thinking of everything we did, and people we saw, and food we ate. I think I might have shed a tear or two.

When they got back to the apartment, we went for a  walk  all the way down Passeig San Joan to El Born, passing by Plaza Tetuan, Arc of Triumph, Ciudadela Park, to El Born. a distance of only 1.5 miles  ( I would have thought it was a much longer distance)

I wanted to have something to eat in El Born area but the outside cafes were full or closed., so we headed back to the apartment but we stopped at a bar  called Snack 55 and had some tapas and of course Sangria Cava,

Back to the apartment to finish packing and wait for Sonia and Eric. They would stay and sleep in the apartment and take us to the airport in the morning.

It was raining a little and a couple of places we wanted to go were already closed, so we stopped in a little bar and had drinks and some food. Nobody enjoyed the food but I liked

 my ensalada catalana.

I don't know if Sandy's sad face was because we were leaving the next day or because she didn't like her food. Or a bit of both.

Sept. 25 - a year ago

The doctors in Catalunya have been great. I went for a final check up this morning and my blister is all healed, but still sore.

 Doctor's Offices

Oh how I miss ensaimadas con cabello de angel!~

Getting ready to go to Sitges

 The church in Sitges

Here's me chatting with some painters :)

Lunch in Sitges, gazpacho , calamares and Cava sangria

Back in Barcelona, we stopped to look  at some amazing buildings in Passeig de Gracia

Casa Lleo Morera, Casa Amatller, Gaudi's Casa Batllo

We ended the day with a tapas dinner at Restaurant Rene

It was another lovely day :)

A little bit of Catalan history..

 In September 1973 the 25 year old anarchist militant, Salvador Puig Antich was wounded during a shootout with Guardia Civil on the pavement just outside the bar.

In March 1974, despite pleas for clemency by the Vatican and other international entities, Salvador Puig Antich became the last person to be executed by the garotte. (garrote vil) under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.

Sept 24 - a year ago

September 24th is a big holiday in Barcelona. Check it out:

https://www.fest300.com/festivals/les-festes-de-la-merce

Downtown Barcelona had a lot of festivities going on., I'd have liked to go to some of them but everything was so crowded, we decided to follow our plan and go to Sagrada Familia, the iconic temple in Barcelona created by Gaudi.

I knew there was a churreria close to Sagrada Familia, it's a small one but the churros were delicious!

We went down to the crypt, I had never been there and I thoroughly enjoyed it. 

This is San Jose my namesake.

and Gaudi's tomb

We spend a long time viewing the church and the gift shop, walked ack home to get ready to go to my cousin's Ferran's house for lunch.

It was nice seeing Merce again and her daughter and grandaughter. The paella was amazing.

Later on the girls went to Parque Guell. I stayed at the apartment and watchedhe Merce festivities in TV. When they came home, they were tired from the long walk, so they went to get ham and bread and we had sandwiches for dinner and watched TV

 PS I knew there was going to be a lot of walking at Parque Guell so I chose not to go. I was going out for a walk around the neighborhood but I was afraid I couldn't get the door open to get back in, as we had a little problem earlier on.

Here's a picture of the reflection of the Sagrada Familia spires in rain puddles.

 I didn't take it but it's great picture.