To California and Back

For several weeks I kept telling Layne that I was going to visit the kids in California.  Each time  I invited him to come with me.  "Think I'll stay home," he kept telling me.  But my nudging and the encouragement of Audrey and Rayne eventually paid off,  for, as my departure time approached, he decided to come along.  It is a 10+ hour drive to our part of California.  There's no way around it; its a fairly long drive.  But this time I asked Layne to tell me about some of his flying experiences.  Bingo.  He talked on and on and the hours passed quickly.  Plus I typed all he said into my laptop!

As we left Idaho and entered Oregon on highway 95, the view was pretty much black.  Forest fires have plagued many acres in Idaho this summer.  We drove mile after mile through parched hills.  It was pretty dramatic.  But on the way back home, there were signs of new growth sprouting among the black earth.  It was lovely to see the earth renew itself.

The charred hills of Idaho and Oregon took up the first hours of our drive to CA.

We stayed with Audrey and Cliff.  They always welcome us and provide such comfortable accommodations.  Talking with Audrey is sweet to me, as she is so good at expressing what is on her mind.  Her thoughts and feelings come out in conversation easily.  She is "out" in that way, while most of the rest of us are "in."  I often have trouble finding the words to express what I am thinking and sometimes I don't even think to bring them outside of myself at all.  Yet I admire the ability to do so and think more of us should, more of the time.

It seemed like Layne and I spent almost all of our five days in California in the car.  We drove somewhere every day and got lots of visiting in.  Once I get Layne going with visits, he likes it.  He resists, then enjoys.  We visited our Sunol neighbors, Bev and Ernie Trutner in Sonora.  Ernie is struggling with health issues.  I suppose that will happen to us and our friends more and more often.  After all, we are getting to be at that time of life.  We also visited our friends Marsha and Byron Dansie, also in Sonora.  We met them years ago, when we lived in Millbrae.  They are solidly good people.  We spent some time with Reed and Dorothy and kids.  They have two foster kids now that they may decide to adopt.  They are Jamaican.  They are darling children but I wonder if they would do well growing up in a white family.  It would be one obstacle to overcome for sure.  But who knows, it may not be an obstacle at all.  

Marcia and Byron Dansie, long time friends and amazing people.

My Uncle Mike lives in Healdsburg, a three hour drive from Mountain House, where Audrey and Cliff live.  We didn't have time to make that drive but did go to San Francisco to see his daughter, my cousin Judy and her hub Stan.  They live in a little tiny house sandwiched between much bigger ones in the City.  We enjoyed our visit with them so much! I really want to spend more time with Uncle Mike and my cousins.  So often I don't think of them when we visit the Bay Area and I should.  So I'm going to change that.

Here are Stan and Judy, in their front room.

Our granddaughter Rayne invited us to visit her at her place in Dublin.  We spent a pleasant afternoon and evening with her.  I believe she is still sad from her apartment burglary.  She is such a lovely girl; I don't like seeing her sad.  In spite of that, we had a good bond, I think.  It seems to me that she likes family stuff so I designed a special picture for her for her birthday, featuring photos of all the grandmothers in our family that I could find, along with her picture.  My idea was to bind her to our family women and to show her some of the women she came from.  I feel an absolute passion to connect my grandchildren to their family, living and dead.

Here are our family women.

 We spent Friday with Ben and Jes, then left for the drive home late in the afternoon. We spent the night along the way.  What a good decision that was; it made the drive easier.  And I got some more of Layne's history written.  Daughter Jessica suggested that I write family stories and put them into books to give the grandchildren for Christmas.  Every year I can add a story or two and over the years the kids will have a collection of family stories.  I found her suggestion inspiring!  I'm starting with Layne's stories.  After all, thanks to our trip, they are already written! Two of them anyhow.

Ben and his girls, Olivia and Victoria, sit in their living room, with Alexis and Abigail below.

It is good to be home!  I feel embraced by this house and the people here.  We've had fun catching up on things and socializing with friends.  But I wish we had some family here too.