Hurrah! They're Here!

10:00AM, EEEEKKK! Get up! They're here - almost!

You never saw people move so quickly; Uncle Matt was up, dressed and out the door, headed for the Phoenix airport to pick up the newly arrived. Arna toured her HUMONGOUS home, tidying here, touching up a detail there, lighting candles, etc. Of course, the house was already perfect already before she started, but then, what do I know? At my house tidying up consists of throwing dirty clothing into the closet and tossing the dirty dishes & clutter into the dishwasher.

Before we knew it, just as Arna's beautiful home hit guest ready perfection, Matt was back with my sister and niece; Dolores and Bea. It is always precious time that I get to see my East coast relatives. Bea, who so radiates peace & calm she makes the Dali Lama look like Robin Williams on speed. She and her mom Dolores, my incredible 'Sis' are on trip that on Wednesday take them to Maui, HA, and back eastward to San Francisco before returning them to Baltimore.

The travel weary guests got the grand tour after which we collapsed into chairs on the back porch to soak up some sun - Doris (my niece, HI DORIS!) forwarded via cellphone, a photo of a snow strewn panorama in New York - 19 degrees and snowing. Big treat was my cousin Dovin dropped by with the masculine portion of his entourage - Matt (named after his Granddad) and Timmy (not named after the kid with Lassie - or maybe yes, what do I know?) The other half of Dovin's ensemble consists of his wife and daughter. The boys are adorable, I know at 10 and 11 they wouldn't appreciate my adjectives, but damn it, they are. They have big eyes with Bambi lashes just their Dovin did when he was a kid.


(left to right)DOLORES, Daddy Dovin with sons Matt & Timmy, & Bea

Timmy and his Uncle Eddie

It was a great day for chatting and swapping family stories. Towards evening Matt, Arna, Dolores, Bea and I went to the new Gila River Casino for dinner and some big time gambling - Dolores won $8, which is way better than me; I lost $5.


My Aunt Arna, Sister Dolores, Niece Bea and Uncle Matt at the Gila River Casino

For a bit of idle fun, here is some video i took at the casino: the water fall and then the colorful dancing waters. Hopefully the casino won't hunt me down for posting these.

Whistle Stop Tours - in WA and AZ

After a some grade-A Kerfluffle, I'm here in Phoenix Arizona for the weekend. Flew in last night, then thought I ought to call up my Uncle & Aunt; let them know their niece was in town (yes, I'm that bad about warning them). They were home - YAH! Matt fetched me home. It's great seeing them and my firecracker cousin Eddie - they're hale and hardy to the last. Loads to catch up on. Found out Matt is from a back operation some weeks ago. The only way you can tell anyone was cutting on him is a back brace and Arna gently reminding him the doctor said not to pick up more then 10 lbs; Matt, of course, smiles - and ignores the advice.

This morning I woke to astoundingly beautiful weather, sunny, & in the low 70s. Ah! Matt went to fly his remote control helicopter and Arna and I lazed around and watched the Obama/Bidden whistle stop tour on its historic route from Pennsylvania to Washington DC. I haven't seen Matt's Mom Hilda (unofficially my very own 'Nana'). So in the afternoon, we buzzed over to Hilda's house, in style, in Arna's convertible.

I was blown away by how great Hilda is doing. I haven't seen her since her 90th birthday party 5 years ago. She too moved here from California and now she has a cute little senior apartment with her own kitchen and a HUMONGOUS walk in closet (I want one!). I am annoyed I didn't take video instead of stills, because, so help me, you would ne-vah believe Hilda. I mean, they just don't normally make 95 year olds as sharp, spry, fun or cool as Hilda. While Arna and I watched and expressed our amazement over the day's historical events, Hilda made a banana cream pie for Eddie (my cousin) and fed us home made peanut butter cookies - yummm...


Arna and Hilda - my own role models, who make
 me think perhaps I'm not going to mind getting older at all
All in all it was a great day. The only bummer was it dawned on me that I didn't bring any of the genealogy stuff - such as the paperwork of my Grandmother's passage to the U.S. from Barbados in 1916. UGH! How did I forget that? I promised to mail all such papers to Arna - and the rest of the family.

Tonight Matt, Arna and I shared a nice port wine and ate Arna's good home cooking and took command of Uncle Matt's laptop - he will now have to wrestle me for it. And it will only get better - tomorrow my sister and niece fly in from Baltimore.

Birding for the Bored

Bored with painting my kitchen, last weekend I escaped to the Bay Area for some feather chasing with my birding buddy Don.

Our first stop was to stare at a lovely, lone Long-tailed Duck at Redwood Shores in Redwood City.

Chocolate-Cheeked Long-tailed Duck

This photo is crumby, but that's because it was taken with my eensie Canon Powershot held up to Don's spotting scope. Hum... don't think it's so bad now, do you?

So, thrilled that we got that first birdie, we headed over to a water treatment plant where zillions of waterfowl - ducks, including Blue-winged Teal, geese, shore birds - lazed about.

The next stop was in downtown San Francisco where, a week ago Don saw, a now regionally famous Worm-eating Warbler. Here is a photo of what we DID NOT SEE because the bird was too stuck up and smug after having been admired by people from all over the the west coast. *sigh* For the record, I saw one one of these racing striped jobbers in Florida some years ago.

The Lovely Little 'no show'; a Worm-eating Warbler.Photo © 2008 Gil Ewing
Skunked by the ensie birdie, we headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge to San Rafael's Las Gallinas Water Treatment Plant (birders spend loads of time at such dubioius places, mostly because the birds do, in the doo-doo).

Not to complain, but Don held up the prospect of a young Northern Shrike over my head, which caused me to walk a mile to see the damned thing. Must admit the walk was worth it.

These photos were also taken through Don's spotting scope
Cute little Sweeny Todd, isn't he?
Bonus birds were there too, like these Widgeons.

Two Eurasian Widgeons (way cool vagrant birds) On the far right is an American Widgeon - he's not too shabby in the looks department either
Close up of butter-browed Eurasian Widgey
Ok, as if the above weren't enough, there were also a pair of River Otters gallavanting about. By the time we hiked back to the car my feet were rather raw - I really must invest in some good hiking shoes.

Our last stop of the day was Oakland's Lake Merritt

Feeding the duckies, swan, gulls at Lake Merritt
Time and time again over the years I've looked for Tufted Ducks at Lake Merritt. Tufted Ducks wander there every fall, even though they belong in Europe. Apparently, the 300th time is the charm.

This Tufted Duck's pony tail is bobbed - is he trying to match the local styles?
Ooooo and here's a beautiful (but a bit 'common', in a nice way) Ring_necked Duck.

Ring-necked Duck; that cinnamon smudge on his neck is the 'ring' of his name. The ring is not often visible.
Full the to topknot with birds, we had dinner at a nice restaurant, and then I headed home. The end. Go away now. Please. I've got a ton of stuff to do.