Category Archives: Friends

Is it a date?

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Saguaro in bloom.

The other weekend, we had a couple over for the “Rib King’s” Baby Back Ribs. In case you missed the post, I wrote about my husband’s cooking technique for BBQ ribs HERE.

We had a fun night, they loved the ribs and my old-fashioned potato salad.

They mentioned inviting us over to their home for open houses. Their community has open houses each Saturday. You can tour homes ranging in price from $1.5 million to $12 million. Two homes were listed recently at the high end. I thought it would be fun to take a look at the sky high homes.

Saturday came and we hadn’t heard from our friends all week. I wondered what to do. My husband and I had gone for a huge hike, I was tired and wanted to stay home and read.

Here’s the dilemma. Should I call or text and ask if we were still on?

Or, should I wait for them to call?

When I want good advice I call my daughter.

“What would make you feel worse? Standing them up if they’re expecting you, or calling to see if you’re still on?” she said.

I decided standing them up would be the worse option. Maybe what I took for a set-in-stone invitation, may have been “we should do this some Saturday” — and not “next Saturday” as I heard it. They are close enough friends I that I could be straight forward and ask. But it still felt awkward.

I typed a text message and thought, “That’s not it.” I deleted it and tried again.

Finally, I picked up the phone. We had a nice, long conversation and never once did open houses come up. I heard about their DYI project they were working on and a game they were watching later.

Today, I’m going to lunch with my “lunch bunch,” two graphic designers I worked with in Palm Springs who live a few miles from me in Arizona. Each month, we meet for lunch. Before we leave, we pick a date for the following month. We rotate who chooses the restaurant and we always try something different. We’ve been to Indian, Sushi, BBQ, Mexican, etc. I kind of like how we plan ahead because then the lunch date happens. I know what to expect.

What would you have done in my situation? Wait for a call or make it yourself?

Do you like spontaneous get togethers or planned dates?

I’m sharing a video of “Desert Nights” from my son’s high school band, The Saucy Stenographers. He wrote their songs and played keyboard. The singer Marilyn Wexler’s grandfather was a well known mid-century architect in Palm Springs. This video is from a downtown Palm Springs club. I’m recording from my flip video camera (remember those?) so it’s not perfect audio! This was my favorite song my son wrote and his band performed.

FYI, the name Saucy Stenographers came from a YA book they loved (me too) called Ella Minnow Pea.

Three Things to Think About

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Jolyn swimsuit for athletes

This is a photo of a diver from Jolyn’s website. Jolyn creates swimsuits designed for athletes.

FIRST THING:

Three coincidences happened over the weekend within one hour.

I was talking to our guests about Jolyn swimsuits after my friend asked about the Jolyn stickers on my Hydroflask.

I explained that when my daughter was in high school, Jolyn hit the scene in Southern California. Jolyn was immediately popular because the suits don’t come off in the ocean or swimming in the pool — yet they added some fashion flair. My daughter said their stickers were popular with her age group. Swimmers put the stickers on their water bottles, placed at the end of their lanes during swim practice. That was great advertising for Jolyn.

The minute that conversation was over, I was pinged a Jolyn ad on my iphone.

(My stickers on my Hydroflask came from birthday swimsuits from daughter. I asked her to order suits with their biggest behind coverage possible. I love my Jolyns.)

Next, my friend was baking my husband a belated birthday cake. We were all four talking about his age (which I won’t disclose.) Ping. My iphone sent me an article on how to celebrate a birthday of that particular age.

The final iphone thing was after I pointed out these two coincidences. The friend’s hubby said, “They are listening to your conversations. You need to turn off certain things on you iphone.”

Ping. Article popped up, “What Apple doesn’t want you to turn off.”

Those three things happened within one hour.

Coincidence? Or Not? What are your thoughts?

SECOND THING:

A text I received from my son. He introduced me to Wordle over a year ago and taught me his formula.

I texted this back at him:

Notice they are identical except my squares are black. It’s not a coincidence. If you want to know the formula, I’ll let you know.

THIRD THING:

Heart-shaped potato

This is a potato I discovered this weekend. I wanted to share it with Mama Lava from Mama Lava’s Back Porch.

This month she is posting 28 days of love that include uplifting messages, scripture and hearts she has found in nature. I wanted to post this potato on her blog, but WP wouldn’t let me place an image in her comments.

Do you know how to place images in comments? If so, please share.

What are your thoughts about my things posted above?

Saturday Lake Views

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A lake 15 miles from our house. Our guest took this photo on her bike ride.

When we have guests, we like to take them to the lake. It’s a beautiful drive through Tonto National Forest and so surprising to see water in the middle of the desert. The lake was created by a dam and thankfully the lake was as full as I’ve seen it thanks to a ton of rain. Also I heard that Arizona is building up the dam to hold more water.

My friend who is visiting is an avid cyclist and Saturdays are her days for a major ride. I told her about the lake and that I’ve seen lots of cyclists make the trek with huge hills. It was a 40-mile bike ride. We followed by car with her husband and puppy, to make sure she was safe.

Here are more photos:

This is where we like to go in the summer to cool off with a dip in the lake.

There were people camping and fishing.

A photo taken by my cycling guest during her ride to the lake.

Our friend’s four-month old puppy Karenina.

We also managed to get in a hike.

How do you like to entertain your guests? Where do you take them in your area?

Time for friends

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Sailing in Santa Barbara on our friends’ boat.

We’re having house guests for the weekend. I’ve been running around, cleaning, planning menus and buying food. Our good friends from Santa Barbara that we met as newlyweds are driving out to see us in Arizona.

Our husbands met each other during training in Princeton at the beginning of their careers with Merrill Lynch. They hit it off and since we all lived in California, they invited us to their apartment in Santa Barbara. We made the four-hour trek from Palm Springs one weekend.

I’ll never forget pulling up to the curb at the place of people I’d never met and my husband’s friend said “Right mates, let go!” (He’s from Australia.) We jumped in his car and headed to the marina where his wife was waiting for us on their boat.

Soon, I learned how to skirt the jib and follow other commands. We were in the midst of a race with the Santa Barbara Yacht Club. They asked if I needed a jumper which I had no idea meant a sweater. Other Aussie phrases I learned that weekend were “G’day mate” and “for sh*ts and giggles.”

That was the beginning of a friendship I treasure. I overheard the friend tell my husband, “The wives are getting along. It doesn’t always work out that way.”

We don’t have anything nearly as exciting planned for their visit as being in a yacht race. But we’ll enjoy each other’s company, hike some trails and check out the water level at our nearby lake.

What are your favorite things to do with friends?

How did you meet your best friends?

Do you have couple friends that both you and your spouse enjoy?

You can barely see my friend’s head over her husband’s back on one of our sailing trips.

The party’s over

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I woke up to a foggy morning in Maricopa County. We’ve been here three years, two weeks and it’s my first time to see fog.

My husband caught the nasty bug I had from before Christmas until New Year’s. Now it’s his turn. The problem? Today we’re supposed to have surprise guests from Santa Barbara, friends of more than 30 years, arriving for the weekend to celebrate his birthday.

Then, because our friends are coming, I planned a small birthday party to share cake that our friend is baking. She’s owned several bakeries in the past and her cakes are amazing. I thought it was a perfect time to invite some neighbors and friends over.

But yesterday, although my husband was out of bed for awhile, I thought about how I’d feel. Would I like guests for an entire weekend while I was getting better? Would I want a houseful of people over to celebrate, when I didn’t feel 100%?

Enough with the surprise. I asked him. He was relieved I let him know and said to cancel everything. He was in no mood to be around people and wanted to rest through the weekend. I’m pretty sure he was touched with the surprises I had planned, but no thank you!

Not only will we rest up and feel better, we won’t be spreading our nasty germs.

NCAA Football Champs:

If you didn’t know, I’m a college football fan. I don’t watch NFL (except for the Eagles because of Britain Covey. He played for the Utah Utes. He’s 26 years old, only 5’8″ tall, but quick. He’s a punt returner and had a record 54-yard return against the Giants on Christmas. His grandfather is Stephen Covey of “7 Habits of Highly Effective People” fame and Franklin Day Timers.

Anyway, through my daughter’s college years as a student athlete at Utah, I became a huge fan of their football and gymnastics teams (and swim team, of course.) I have a ton of red and black gear that my daughter gave me, because every meet for four years they loaded her down with sweats, jackets, t-shirts, etc. I also bought my fair share. I wear my Utah gear on football game days.

I think what I enjoy most about football is the people. It’s not the game, because I honestly don’t know that much about it. It’s knowing people who play the game. Or liking their life stories.

Now, we’re down to the season’s final game. My alma mater University of Washington Huskies is in the national championships against Michigan. I’ve returned to my roots and ordered a t-shirt several weeks ago. GO DAWGS!

I’m also a fan of Husky QB Michael Penix, Jr. He should have won the Heisman because he’s the best quarterback people have seen in years. Plus, the lining of his suit coat for the Heisman awards night had every teammate and coaches name on it. The guy who won the Heisman over Penix had a suit coat lining of photos of himself in the Heisman pose.

Are you a college or NFL fan? What other sports do you enjoy — or any?

What teams do you cheer for?

How would you feel about having guests when you didn’t feel 100%?

Test Time

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Mom and me in the 1990s.
My mom and me in the 1990s.

I’ve been sick for a week now. Some days I feel like it’s behind me, then today I woke up feeling worse. I’m not sure if it’s a cold, flu (I did get a flu shot) or Covid.

Then I had a scary feeling today thinking about last year.

A year ago, I got a call from my brother that mom had tested positive for Covid. She was in an assisted living facility near Seattle, close to where my brother lives. But she was asymptomatic.

By New Year’s Day we lost her. Without symptoms, she died in her sleep. I wrote about that and a shared a children’s story I wrote about her HERE.

I decided I needed to test for Covid, although I’m not sure what I’d do differently if I have it — or if it’s the common cold. At least I’d know. And thinking back to a year ago, I felt scared. And sad.

I tested negative. Next weekend, we have guests coming from Santa Barbara to surprise my husband for his birthday. I’m throwing a small birthday party for him with three couples from our neighborhood, our friends we were supposed to spend Christmas with — and our surprise guests.

I have to be well. So, I’ll continue with rest, fluids, vitamins and other remedies that are suggested.

When I have a day like today, where I feel like I’m relapsing, my body must be telling me that I tried to do too much.

This is my last post of 2023. Last year was very stressful with losing my mom and my daughter-in-law’s diagnosis with Stage 3C colon cancer. I’m praying for a better 2024 and good health for everyone.

What were you doing one year ago before New Year’s?

What’s your favorite cold remedy?

My New Buddy

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Rescue dog named Buddy

This is Buddy, a rescue dog.

Last week I wrote about our pets we adopted on Thanksgiving in years past. This year, we visited friends and met Buddy. I would have taken him home — if our friends allowed it. Buddy was a rescue dog who is seven years old. According to our friends, he was being abused by his owner. The owner’s daughter already had several dogs and cats and couldn’t keep him. I’m not sure how our friends found him, but they are fortunate they did.

He was the most delightful, happiest little creature I’ve ever met. He was so happy to greet us. Happy to sit by us. Thrilled to go for a walk. His entire little body vibrated with his happiness that he shared with us.

We’ve spent many Christmas and Thanksgivings with our friends of 30 plus years. They moved to Arizona before us and have a new home two hours south of us. It’s the first time we’ve visited them in their new home by Tucson and we laughed and shared stories the entire weekend — with Buddy enjoying every moment.

Here’s a view of the dramatic mountains near Tucson while out walking with Buddy.

Did you enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends? Who was “Buddy” during your weekend?