Happy Weekend!!

It has been once again an interesting few days. As I noted in the last blog entry, some of those lessons learned might have some long term consequences, and that seems to be the case. It was a busy week with the aftermath of the storm and cleaning up and working on the various other projects both at school and at home. A lengthy conversation with Criss, the manager of Starbucks in Placerville, was very helpful. It is amazing how people can connnect and see bigger picture and support each other!

In the storm this week, the property suffered some significant tree loss. It is amazing how a tree that has been around for decades and survived so much can suddenly in a few moments come crashing to the ground. There were branches of substantial size hanging from about 35 feet in the air. I told the tree service if anything looked precarious that they should simply take it now.

Last night I went to one of my favorite restaurants with the 2005 Sirah Methode Ancienne. I think it has recovered from its bottle-shock. It had great fruit and some excellent clove and nutmeg complexity. While there, I had the good fortune of sitting next to two very personable ladies, whom I would eventually learn were sisters. They did move to a booth and soon after the third sister arrived. While they did have something to eat, they were much more enamoured with the coconut cream pie martinis.

They were kind enough to invite me over sometime later to join them at their booth. Suzanne, the youngest had her 14 year old son, who, btw, sacked opposing quarterbacks five times in his game that evening; she was perhaps the quietest of the three, but I have a feeling, she is certainly not shy and while she might be the youngest, she will hold her own. Patty, a professor at a school close to where I did my undergrad, was both brilliant and amusing. If her students could have seen her last night. She is certainly human. Diane was the most outspoken and extremely talented (she also has teaching skills; just ask about cherry stems!!). She seems to be the instigator. What was most fun about the experience was to observe the interaction of the three and see the synergy that occurred between them. Oh my . . . together they are both dynamic and hilarious. Under all of that was a deep abiding care and appreciation for each other.

Families are interesting phenomena; as some of you know I am an adopted person and my adopted parents are both gone. One of my biological parents is also passed away. While I have half brothers and sisters, I am very much an anomaly in my biological family, and not as much in the adopted family, but that uniqueness is still there. Most of my biological family quit high school. I am the only person in any of my families to get a college degree. Certainly, that does not make me better than any other, but it does make me different. But all that schooling and all the travel has made me a sort of solitary person. Maybe that is why I like having people around, I need to have interaction, but, on the other hand, I go home and I close the door and I am alone. It has been that way for a number of years now. I wonder if that will change; do I really want it to?? I am not sure I can answer that question as I write this.

What was so enjoyable last evening was the both the levity that encompassed that table and their ability to make those around them feel that joy. Long before I was invited to sit down, their laughter and joy was apparent throughout the restaurant. Listening to, and watching them interact was a particularly nice way to end the week. Denice . . .  the fourth sister, missed out and that is too bad. However, I am not sure the restaurant could have withstood the onslaught of all four of them. The picture is of the three infamouss sisters (l to r), Diane, Suzanne and Patty. Thanks for reading and to the three stoogettes: you rock!

Michael