What a Weekend!!

    Last week, I reminded my daughter that we had tickets for the San Jose Earthquakes’ annual California Clasico soccer match with Los Angeles Galaxy team on Saturday. L.A. is our arch rival so it’s always an emotional match. I look forward to it every year.
    Soccer. My friend John Burns, was the one that first got me interested in “The Beautiful Game.” Then my grandson played goalkeeper for Leland High School all four years. By my second year of watching soccer I was hooked for life. For several years John and I  bought season tickets and when he passed away last year, he willed his to me. Since then Brenda has been going to the matches with me.   
     “Uh oh,” Brenda replied. “I think Nancy is coming up this weekend.” Nancy is Brenda’s sister-in-law and lives in Valencia, California. She hops a plane every so often to come and reconnect with Brenda and get a large loving dose of her beloved nephew, Tony. (My grandson.)
    “No worries,” she said. “I’ll get two extra tickets then Nancy and Tony can join us.”
Saturday was also the day of the Pride Parade and the Grateful Dead were playing in Santa Clara!
     “Let’s take Caltrain  up to Stanford instead of driving,” I suggested. Once we figured out the timetable and train number we were all set.
     Saturday arrived and I went to breakfast with my friend, Angie while Brenda and Nancy hiked in the morning. Then, Brenda, Tony, Nancy and I met for pedis before we headed to the Diridon Station to board the train for Stanford. Once we got off the train it was about a 3/4 mile walk to the stadium. We just followed the other people wearing Earthquakes gear. My friend John and I had done this for several years and it was always a blast.
     The California Clasico is always held on or near the 4th of July so there is a spectacular start to the game with sky divers landing on the field, carrying huge American flags and a sizzling fireworks display after the game.

Here he comes

Almost there

Happy landing

 The whistle blew and San Jose came out gunning for L.A. with determination. L.A. scored first but then my favorite player, Chris Wondowloski slammed in a goal and the Quakes never looked back. Final score, Quakes 3, Galaxy 1. Yay! Sitting right in front of me was a guy wearing a Wondo shirt. I want  one!

  

A sky on fire

During the game the sky became dark and leaden right before a mind-blowing sunset. It looked like the sky was on fire! After the game we stayed to watch the fireworks and we all agreed. It was almost as dazzling as the sunset!! Kidding. it was actually one of the best displays I had ever seen; well worth hanging around for. We caught the train back to San Jose and I fell into bed exhausted.
    Sunday morning dawned bright and clear. It was the day my sister was going to be Baptised at our church, Good Samaritan Episcopal church.

Good Samaritan Episcopal Church

 Sue's whole family was here from Encinitas, California to share the day; her son, his wife and their two darling boys. My daughter, Brenda and grandson, Tony attended as well. As Susan’s sponser, I had a couple of duties and both of us were a little nervous. We needn’t have worried, Father Mike went over the whole ceremony with us before the service started and everything went off without a hitch. Everyone in the congregation congratulated Sue with much hugging and tears. After church we all had coffee in the Heritage Room before we headed out to California Cafe in Los Gatos for lunch. What a blessed day! By that afternoon I was done in.

      Oh, but wait, there's more! Usually I have Sunday dinner with Brenda and Tony but I was so knackered I decided to stay home and get some rest. About 6:00 p.m. I opened my front door to let in the cool evening air and to my delight, the Jewish Community Center in front of my townhouse was having a festival and their headliner for the evening was none other than the famous Hebrew Reggae singer, Matisyahu!

Matisyahu

I sat on my front steps and listened for an hour. What a treat! What a weekend! What a wonderful weekend!

Catching Up

It’s been a while since I last posted. In fact, my last blog was back in April! A lot has happened since then. For one thing, my granddaughter, Lexi, and her boyfriend Spencer, finally set off with high hopes at the California/Mexico border to begin their hike-thru on the Pacific Crest trail to the Canadian border, 2600 miles and 5 months away.     Unfortunately, they had only hiked about 30 miles through the Mojave desert when Lexi stepped on a round rock and turned her ankle. Badly. Since she had broken her foot only last year, she was afraid she had broken it again. So, off the trail they came, back to San Jose. Fortunately, Lexi’s ankle was only strained and bruised but it meant a 4 week recovery time and delay in their plans.
    Now they are happily back on the trail and continuing nicely. They wanted to keep to their timeline so they returned to the PCT at the point they would have been if the accident had not happened. I think they are hiking through Yosemite now, as I type. Whenever we get to talk to Lexi she is euphoric! She and Spencer are in “hiking heaven.”
    They post photos on Facebook whenever they can get a cell phone signal and by the looks of those gorgeous pictures, it is indeed, a hiker’s dream.

A well earned rest after hiking through the Goodale Pass

Crystal clear stream in the Inyo National Forest. No water problems yet.

Into the woods

    Soon it will be my turn to mail a resupply box for her to pick up in Castella, California. She had already packed her boxes before she left but I’m going to add a couple of surprises to them. Something they can enjoy that doesn’t weigh very much as she has to carry everything on her back.
    In the meantime, my best friend Angie’s daily helper, Norma, gave me two large grocery bags full of luscious ripe plums from her tree so I just had to make some jelly and jam. It has been at least 30 years since I last made jam when we lived in Eugene, Oregon. Those were the days! We only had to drive 2-5 miles in any direction to be able to pick our own fresh strawberries, green beans, cherries, and tomatoes, right off the vines and trees. We would drive our cars right into the “Pick-it-Yourself” cherry orchard and stand on the roof or the hood of the car to reach up and pick the bright red pie cherries.Then we took them to the sales shack to be pitted and weighed. At the apple orchard, for a quarter a bag, we could buy grocery bags full of “windfall” apples that had fallen to the ground and, although ripe, weren’t perfect. They were good enough for applesauce though. Oh, how I loved seeing those ruby-red jars of cherries I canned, sitting on the shelf next to the jars of cinnamon-laced applesauce and the jewel-like jars of tomatoes. I still remember the great sense of satisfaction it gave me. It’s no different today. Making jelly or jam is a lot of work but I still feel satisfied, seeing my little jars of plum jam and jelly sitting there on my kitchen counter to be shared with friends and family or stored in my pantry. Both my daughters, Brenda and Robin, carry on the tradition, making spicey red pepper jelly every Christmas for their friends, co-workers, and family.

    I made a scrumptious sausage, spinach, and cheese strata for our church coffee hour a couple of weeks ago but forgot to take pictures! Take my word for it, it was delicious and beautiful! My family and I have rented a house in the mountains for a week in July and I plan to make it again for them. I will take pictures and include the recipe then. I promise.
    Stay cool, and if you plan to go to the beach in Santa Cruz, allow yourself at least an hour or more for the crawl over the hill; but it will be so worth it!