Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
Saturday, November 27, 2010
apartment parking
Daughter Lia lives in a very nice apartment building.
She lives on the 5th floor (there are 6) with a very fine north view. The place would not be referred to as luxurious, I suppose, but it is very nice. And, there are a lot of goodies that go with the building.
There is covered parking in the garage under the building. In order to use the space to maximum benefit (there are LOT of apartments) the parking spaces are made for pretty compact cars. Lots of Honda and Toyotas with a sprinkling of BMW’s. Daughter has a Jeep Liberty, which is a smallish rig.
They even provide guest parking. The problem is that the rig I am driving is a full sized Dodge pickup. It is a single cab with a full sized bed, so there are larger ones, but this one is huge enough.
A parking spot was assigned. But there is no way to get that Dodge into that Honda sized spot. There is a concrete wall on one side of this fairly narrow spot, a BMW on the other, and not too much space back to another concrete wall. So we parked in another space and left a note.
Later, the office called to give her a new parking spot. It was at the other end of the space. I got the pickup in without too much trouble, thanks to a walking space instead of the BMW.
But today I need to get it out so we can drive to visit friends. I’ll spend several minutes (at least) jockeying the rig around to get it out successfully. When I come back I’ll back it into the space.
Next time I’ll bring the small car!
She lives on the 5th floor (there are 6) with a very fine north view. The place would not be referred to as luxurious, I suppose, but it is very nice. And, there are a lot of goodies that go with the building.
There is covered parking in the garage under the building. In order to use the space to maximum benefit (there are LOT of apartments) the parking spaces are made for pretty compact cars. Lots of Honda and Toyotas with a sprinkling of BMW’s. Daughter has a Jeep Liberty, which is a smallish rig.
They even provide guest parking. The problem is that the rig I am driving is a full sized Dodge pickup. It is a single cab with a full sized bed, so there are larger ones, but this one is huge enough.
A parking spot was assigned. But there is no way to get that Dodge into that Honda sized spot. There is a concrete wall on one side of this fairly narrow spot, a BMW on the other, and not too much space back to another concrete wall. So we parked in another space and left a note.
Later, the office called to give her a new parking spot. It was at the other end of the space. I got the pickup in without too much trouble, thanks to a walking space instead of the BMW.
But today I need to get it out so we can drive to visit friends. I’ll spend several minutes (at least) jockeying the rig around to get it out successfully. When I come back I’ll back it into the space.
Next time I’ll bring the small car!
Friday, November 26, 2010
black friday
We went shopping this morning, Lia and I.
I am not a world traveler, by any means, though I travel around my little corner a fair amount.
Portland and SanFrancisco are my two favorite small cities, and right now we are in Portland.
And, this being Black Friday (what a name) we went early shopping, daughter 4 and I.
GAP. Everything in the store half price, what was on sale was half of the sale price!
She found some nice clothes and I found a $170 coat. I really needed a good warm coat, so we made a quick deal!
The weather here, during our stay, will be what we think of as "typical" for this time of year: grey, grey grey, and cool to cold.
But where we are going next is Cold and Grey.
I will be glad for that new coat.
I am not a world traveler, by any means, though I travel around my little corner a fair amount.
Portland and SanFrancisco are my two favorite small cities, and right now we are in Portland.
And, this being Black Friday (what a name) we went early shopping, daughter 4 and I.
GAP. Everything in the store half price, what was on sale was half of the sale price!
She found some nice clothes and I found a $170 coat. I really needed a good warm coat, so we made a quick deal!
The weather here, during our stay, will be what we think of as "typical" for this time of year: grey, grey grey, and cool to cold.
But where we are going next is Cold and Grey.
I will be glad for that new coat.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
more thanksgiving
Lest it sound like I am only thankful for my portland daughter, there are few daughters and grandkids more loved than mine!
We spent a delightful week with daughter 3. She and her well mannered family are always a delight to be with. The time went very quickly.
In the middle of that time we spent a day and a half with our oldest grandson and his wife. They have a new house and two new kittens. It was good to visit them.
Before we get home we intend to go visit Miriam's Sister up in Olympia, then both of the other daughters.
This old grandpa/father/husband/friend is extremely proud of them all.
We spent a delightful week with daughter 3. She and her well mannered family are always a delight to be with. The time went very quickly.
In the middle of that time we spent a day and a half with our oldest grandson and his wife. They have a new house and two new kittens. It was good to visit them.
Before we get home we intend to go visit Miriam's Sister up in Olympia, then both of the other daughters.
This old grandpa/father/husband/friend is extremely proud of them all.
special day of giving thanks
Today is Thanksgiving day
It is a day set aside by the government to pull us out of our narcissism and self absorption for a day of thanks.
Before that last line sets in too much, let me remind us that a good bunch of narcissism is good. The big book talks about loving others as we love ourselves, which seems to give us a bit of permission.
So, love yourself and be thankful for all of the blessings.
We arrived in Portland last evening and found our daughter's new apartment fairly easily. I have been thankful for her and her sweet daughter for many many years.
We are going to dinner today with family and friends, and we/I will be extremely thankful.
It is good.
It is a day set aside by the government to pull us out of our narcissism and self absorption for a day of thanks.
Before that last line sets in too much, let me remind us that a good bunch of narcissism is good. The big book talks about loving others as we love ourselves, which seems to give us a bit of permission.
So, love yourself and be thankful for all of the blessings.
We arrived in Portland last evening and found our daughter's new apartment fairly easily. I have been thankful for her and her sweet daughter for many many years.
We are going to dinner today with family and friends, and we/I will be extremely thankful.
It is good.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
travel again
Tomorrow we leave SF and head north to Portland.
We are to have thanksgiving dinner with daughter 4, her daughter Emily at the home of old friends Dale and Kathy. We will be in Portland for a few days, or longer!
It wil be good, but I will miss these big grandsons.
They are growing up well and grandpa is very proud of them!
We are to have thanksgiving dinner with daughter 4, her daughter Emily at the home of old friends Dale and Kathy. We will be in Portland for a few days, or longer!
It wil be good, but I will miss these big grandsons.
They are growing up well and grandpa is very proud of them!
Monday we went to the Winchester Mystery house in San Jose.
The winter I was 12 we lived in Santa Cruz and on the way to see Dad's Brother in SF we would go by the Winchester estate.
Mrs. Wincheter was the widow of the president of the Winchester Repeating Rife company and had way more money than was good for her.
This endless castle shows both her nuttiness and her good sense of design.
http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/
I'll run more pictures from time to time.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
griffith griffith
Yesterday we went to the Griffith Quarry.
I have seen the sign every time I come to SF but never checked it out.
Seems that John Griffith lived in Wales, no suprise since that is where the name comes from, and he had a son he named David who died as an infant, so John and wife had another child they named David who also died in infantcy. Their next son (the museum volunteer suggested they were not taking any chances) they named Griffith Griffith.
There is another famous or infamous Griffith Griffith, who donated the land that became Griffith Park in Los Angeles, but he had a middle name of J and was somewhat of a scoundrel (google him).
This GG seems to have been just a hard worker, a stone cutter.
He came to the are during the gold rush, but when that did not work out, he found a run of good granite and set up a quarry. His crew would cut and shape the blocks of granite to very precise dimension needed for the building industry. This was not too long after the SanFrancisco fire and fireproof materials were in demand.
GG granite was hard and solid and found use in many buildings around the area.
WIth us were three of our grandsons. Our oldest who has my first name, the 6th who has my middle name and our youngest grandson who has my last name. WOW.
We are visiting our oldest grandson --David and his lovely wife Mandy -- at their "new" house in the Sacramento area.
I don't remember my grandparents driving over to visit with us when we were just married. We drove to see them fairly often though.
Still, it is good to spend time with those fabulous grandsons (and granddaughters in law!).
I have seen the sign every time I come to SF but never checked it out.
Seems that John Griffith lived in Wales, no suprise since that is where the name comes from, and he had a son he named David who died as an infant, so John and wife had another child they named David who also died in infantcy. Their next son (the museum volunteer suggested they were not taking any chances) they named Griffith Griffith.
There is another famous or infamous Griffith Griffith, who donated the land that became Griffith Park in Los Angeles, but he had a middle name of J and was somewhat of a scoundrel (google him).
This GG seems to have been just a hard worker, a stone cutter.
He came to the are during the gold rush, but when that did not work out, he found a run of good granite and set up a quarry. His crew would cut and shape the blocks of granite to very precise dimension needed for the building industry. This was not too long after the SanFrancisco fire and fireproof materials were in demand.
GG granite was hard and solid and found use in many buildings around the area.
WIth us were three of our grandsons. Our oldest who has my first name, the 6th who has my middle name and our youngest grandson who has my last name. WOW.
We are visiting our oldest grandson --David and his lovely wife Mandy -- at their "new" house in the Sacramento area.
I don't remember my grandparents driving over to visit with us when we were just married. We drove to see them fairly often though.
Still, it is good to spend time with those fabulous grandsons (and granddaughters in law!).
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