forty years ago

 editor of school newspaper 'The Bowsprit' for two years

 second row far left foreign exchange students club

 second from left first row (wearing costume for one act play) jazz band three years tenor sax

seniors basketball team

 starting forward for basketball team

 13 years in Cambridge school system

 national honor society in 10th 11th 12th grades 

band officers

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trailer is the new lobster

Still not packing. I have until Saturday, so all the time in the world. Cat just stares at me. He knows boxes are BAD.

https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2019-Crossroads-Hampton-370FDL-Two-Story---Front-Living---Two-Bedroom--5002757147

This is one of my dream trailers. One I could truly imagine living in as my forever home. And we are so close. After selling our house to move west in the housing crash of the early 2010s, we barely broke even, leaving us in the joyful world of apartment hopping. Not fun after 20 years of home ownership.

Adding the entire co-signing on college student loans for THREE children, who have struggled under the weight of them, weighing us down, as well, we have been in no position to purchase anything before now. 

We are finally beginning to see daylight. 

The cost to live in a hotel month after month is 300% more than an apartment would be in Minnesota. Now they want to increase it by another $1000 a month.

Who knew by moving up to the Bay Area, we would find a place more expensive than Los Angeles?

If only I were truly brave enough to live in our little red Reba truck. Then, we would be able to save so much money. 

Even knowing that doing that truck style living, for a few months could help us, I am not that brave. I just keep hoping prayers are enough to figure out how move from hotel nomads to RV ownership. .

 

Meanwhile, I keep looking a pictures of this trailer, a travel trailer to park in a campground, with a fireplace. It has loads of storage, an upstairs sleeping loft, for daughter who moved up north with us. And, truly, best of all, removable furniture, that we would not have to purchase, so we can use our own.

Just yesterday, the bank said that we should qualify for a loan 90% of the MSRP for a trailer. It would be a mortgage because, yes, we would be living in it. It seems like things just might be working out this time.

Is this really the trailer I want...we need? How do I even know?

I need a magic genie to come in and be me, just for a few days. Cuz nobody wants to do this brain for too long.

 https://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2019-Jayco-Jay-Flight-Bungalow-40LOFT-5004522692

And then, there is this trailer. It is so far above any thing we could come up with that it is truly a dream. I just love the cabinet coloring. And the storage, again! Maybe it is the hotel living, but storage! ❤️️

I mean, there a drawers in the stairs. 

Plus, of course, a fireplace to fill my heart with peace.

Mostly though, it is the hookup, in the master bedroom closet, for a washer and dryer unit. That would be the ultimate utopia!

 

For now, though, we pack.  We hope. We wish. We dream.. And, we accept that maybe the only real trailers we can afford are these. 

link

*"We can't even afford to dream about lobster." Husband circa 2012.

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from hotel to who knows where

I am surrounded by boxes. Should be packing up the random 'stuff' we have managed to accumulate in the past few months. But, instead, I am just sitting, wrapped up in blankets, with a package of cookies and box of diet coke, ignoring the fact I need to be need to move out in a couple of days.

We are going from hotel to who knows where.

They raised the 'rent' on our hotel home by over 30% just as husband's contract expires. For some reason the company's policy is to end contract one week short of a year!?! So that's cool.

Son stopped by on layover from NYC to Vancouver, for his fiance's twin brother's wedding celebration. Spent a couple days touring the Bay area.

 

We started talking about the volatility of the Stock market recently, and he mentioned that he had just a small amount in stock. And I mean small amount. I literally gave him the money that I had in my pocket, the money that I carry to give to homeless people on the streets of San Francisco(who for some reason were strangely missing during this trip), and told him to invest it for me. 

So, for the first time in my life, I own stocks.

Don't know what penny stocks are, but feels like this it what they would be.

So now, I will just tell my family to send Thomas money for stocks for my birthday, holidays, random wan me to have a good day.

Alas, time to return to packing. Looks like no matter how things work out this time, we will be spending at least three weeks living in a cheaper motel while we look into options..

After that, we are hoping to finally getting all our ducks in a line to get a trailer to live in for the next year of our #bayarealife.

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Thomas is in the City!

Thomas stopped by to visit us on his way to Seattle. It was a short two day layover on his way to a family reunion for Zach's family. Being his first time in the Bay Area and San Francisco, especially, we did a 'Hot Spot' tour of the area.

Our day began, as all good days should in the Bay Area, on the B.A.R.T. Bay Area Rapid Transit. The Train! I LOVE it. Natalie not so much. She has no problem with most of the trip, but the idea of 'subwaying' under the San Francisco Bay freaks her out. Something about earthquakes and water. 😨 We got n the B.A.R.T. at the Dublin/Pleasanton Station (after Ubering there) to the Powell Street Street in San Francisco. 

The Powell Street Station exit out directly under the Westfield Mall. Natalie and I have ridden the train in there many time just to go to the Mall. We stopped for fish tacos before heading up to the cable car turnaround at Powell and Market Streets. We watched the cable cars for awhile It is interesting to see how they are turned around by hand. 

Then, we walled up to Union Square and got onto one of the cable cars up there to ride out to Ghirardelli Square. It is a much shorter wait to walk up the road and catch a ride, than to wait through the throngs of tourists at Powell Street. 

A belly full of chocolate later, we went out to just take sometime and enjoy the bright California sunshine. Nothing like 60 degrees and sunny at the end of January. I miss the 80 degree January days of SoCal, but this sure beats the forty below winters of Minnesota.

Next, we strolled down to Aquatic Cove where we could see the ships from the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Museum off in the distance. A few photos and we headed up Jefferson Street. 

With Natalie and I as the seasoned experts, this being our fourth time at the Wharf, we gave Thomas our rather random tour of what we knew. "We've been here." "We've done that." It was a quick tri[, as we didn't go into any of the shops along the way. 

It wasn't long before we ended up at the iconic Fisherman's Wharf sign. I love this whole area. The energy and activity that just buzzes around constantly. I don't understand the idea that locals say, "Stay away. You can find quieter places." My home is quieter. I want to be out and about. Just like Ariel, from The Little Mermaid, "I want to be where the people are."

And, speaking of Disneyish topics, we had to being Thomas to Boudin's Bakery at the Wharf. Having worked at the Wharf for a couple of years at Disney California Adventure, Thomas needed to see 'his' home base. Though he hadn't worked there in years, it is still full of memories. Perhaps a little tug on the heartstrings to head back home from New York City.

It's the original Rock...Alcatraz Island. 

America's premier maximum-security prison, the final stop for the nation's most incorrigible prisoners. Today, Alcatraz is a place of contradictions, with a grim past and an enduring future as one of San Francisco's most prominent landmarks and tourist attractions. link

Though a couple of weeks late, we celebrated Natalie's birthday at Bubba Gumps on Pier 39. We had a booth right at the end of the pier over looking the Bay. The view was fantabuluos. Wow! The food how ever, not so much. This was the second time Natalie and I have eaten at this particular Bubba Gump restaurant, as we came here for her actual birthday, as well. Both times the food was sub par. 

I have been to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurants in Time Square, New York City, The mall of America, Minnesota, Santa Monica Pier, Southern California, and others, this is the only one where the food has been bad like this. They don't seem concerned about return business...tourist only. But, the places I listed above would haven the same tourist business. Hummm. 

Anyway, with prices already high, there is a cute little fish and chips shop, halfway down Pier 39 called T's Fish and Chips. Definitely worth the stop and overly expensive. Relatively speaking.

Our next stop was the Candy Baron for salt water taffy. They have buckets of flavors from caramel apple to frosted cupcake to cinnamon. My favorite will always be vanilla. I know, simple but tasty. Beware of how quickly you can fill up their super large buckets. The price adds up fast. 

Price check: (revised March, 2021)

Candy Baron -- Fisherman's Wharf      $4.50 for 1/2 pound

Balboa Candy --Newport Beach, CA   $7.00 for 1/2 pound

Sweet Candy Company -- online         $11.70 for 3 pound bag

Have fun and enjoy the atmosphere. We always buy candy from the Candy Baron when we are at Pier 39. We also order online. 😉 

Finally, my very favorite part of the Wharf. The sea lions!!! Livecam I could sit and watch these guys all day long. 

They looks so peaceful as the sun sinks lower in the sky. I can hear their honk, honk, honking as I look at these photos. Occasionally you will see them fight each other for the prime spot, but mostly they just lounge around in the warm California sunshine. 

This pair of sea lions wandered down into the Marina to claim a more solitary spot among the yachts in the harbor.

Greg arrives after a long day at work.  We stop for a few scenic photographs looking back over the stretch of Fisherman's Wharf towards the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula. With a car now at our disposal, we head off to the one main landmark that no seeing San Francisco for the first time should ever miss.

Yep, there she is, the Golden Gate Bridge. Only three miles from Fisherman's Wharf, we managed to drive around in circles for way longer than we should have driven. Thomas saw side streets and neighborhoods that were not planned in our quest to find the Golden Gate Welcome Center. By the time we arrived, darkness had truly fallen. The view, however, was still stunning.

Again, pictures were taken and memories were captured. Then, after long day of touristing, we headed out of the City. Without even planning it, we passed one more beautiful landmark. Chinatown's Gateway Arch or Dragon Gate. 

We drove home via the Bay Bridge into Oakland, past Alameda Island, the Oakland International Airport, Coliseum and Zoo. All the way back to Dublin where we had sushi at our favorite restaurant, Little Madfish.

Thomas' super trip came to an end too soon as stopped for pizza at the Village Host in Burlingame on our way to drop him off at the San Francisco International airport the very next day. Then we stopped at a cute little shop called Nuts for Candy, just because we could.

But, alas, our time was running out and it was time to say goodbye. One last photograph, and we headed to the airport. Come back to visit us again soon, Thomas!!!

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Shine Little Star

This song is absolutely my favorite Christmas song, "Shine Little Star". My children sang it in church choir when they were small, some before they were even able to read the words. I picked this for Molly's funeral, and all of the nieces and nephews sang it there. So beautifully. And, I always said, if we ever made a family Christmas album, this song had to be on it. 
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, God bless us, everyone! ❤️️ 

Watching the photos pass through on this video, I can remember the day they were all taken and the events around them. Each picture brings back memories like getting ready to go to the Noah's Ark Christmas program or looking for fabric to recreate the 'first Christmas' for Christmas cards. Events that when I look at the photos don't seem so very long ago. 

The fact that I can so easily recall standing inside the bathroom taking the photo of 'Cindy Lou Who' Natalie with her hair done up in multiple ponytails may explain why it is so hard to move on from so many things. They are always right there on the edge of my memory, waiting for some little something to bring them back into sharp focus, like it just happened.

Memoies,
Like the corners of my mind
Misty water-colored memories
Of the way we were...
link

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