This is my family with our daughter-in-law’s family during a Christmas week vacation together in Santa Barbara during a prior year. We were only missing one sister, Maggie, who was at grad school at Cambridge.
I’m sharing wonderful news. My son and daughter-in-law called on their way home from the oncologist. Buff had her first scan since her six-months of chemo ended without major problems and side effects.
Buff has a clean bill of health and feels terrific!
She will receive scans every three months for the next two years, then every six months for the following three years.
It’s been a worrisome, stressful time since Buff’s initial diagnosis of Stage 3C colon cancer, surgery and chemo. I feel relief like our entire family has turned the corner — because our daughter-in-law Buff is doing so well. Hopefully, the newlyweds will have clear sailing from now on throughout their future. I wrote about the day of her surgery HERE.
I’d like to hear more good news! What good news do you have to share?
Ave Maria was played Christmas night by two of Buff’s sisters, Allie and Christy, during the vacation in the photo above. They’re both professional musicians. I’m so grateful to have enjoyed their private concerts and I hope there are many more to come!
We spent the weekend in the Bay Area and stayed in this hotel built in 1915. It’s only a few miles from where our children live and our first time venturing inside. The beauty and grandeur made me feel I had stepped back in time.
During our weekend, we spent time with our kids, our daughter-in-law and her brother. We shared meals outside along with walks. It meant so much to me to see them in person. Although we couldn’t hug due to our DIL’s chemo treatments, we gave fake hugs several feet away and shared our love.
We also joined a friend’s celebration for his 75th birthday. It was an event with people from his childhood, high school, college, business and retirement days. His adult children and friends gave moving tributes along with laughter from their memories. I’m so pleased we were included in the celebration.
I think it’s more important to spend time with those you love than where you stay, but I’m sharing photos from our historic accommodations because it stirred memories. One of my favorite places as a family growing up were weekends at the historic Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C.
Christmas displays in the lobby of the Claremont Club and Spa.
View of the San Francisco Bay from the hotel grounds. This was taken when we arrived our first night.
I loved the festive Christmas lobby decorations.
View from the coffee shop that looks out over the bay to San Francisco. We had breakfast there on our first morning and cookies in the afternoon.
The view of the tower at night.
From the hotel’s website:
Situated on 22 acres in the East Bay with breathtaking views of San Francisco, Claremont Club & Spa, A Fairmont Hotel seamlessly blends its rich history with modern resort amenities for an unforgettable retreat. The imposing Tudor Revival-style palace nestled in the hills is a magnificent landmark that dates from 1915, but it’s the extensive wellness facilities that secure its top spot among the best hotels in Berkeley.
A photo of my daughter’s pug who was used in social media marketing for her college swim team. The swimmers on the sports marketing team posed Waffles around the pool wearing goggles, on the blocks and lifeguard stand.
As I think about Thanksgiving, it dawned on me that our last two pets, Olive and Waffles, were adopted Thanksgiving weekend. What a joy they’ve brought to our family.
My son left for college in 2011 and my daughter and I visited the animal shelter in Palm Springs looking at kittens. It was right before Thanksgiving that Olive came home with us. Because my son is allergic to cats we waited until he moved away to college to adopt Olive. We kept Olive hidden in our daughter’s bedroom for the four-day weekend and didn’t think my son would have any reaction from his room down the hall.
Olive’s baby picture taken around Thanksgiving.
Everything went smoothly. I cooked dinner for my kids, husband and dad. I remember a wonderful weekend spending time with family walking downtown and playing in the park.
Then my son called to let me know he was back at school safely. While we talked on the phone, the kitty snuck out the door into the backyard.
“Quick, get the kitty!” I yelled to my daughter.
“WHAT?!” my son said. “I knew it! I knew there was a cat in the house. I had allergies all weekend.”
Today, he can visit our home in Arizona with Olive inside, and doesn’t seem to suffer. I’ve installed an air filter in the casita and the new house doesn’t have the same issues as our 1930s Palm Springs house did for allergies like mold and a grassy back yard.
Then came Waffles. It was my husband’s idea to adopt Waffles as a companion dog for our daughter. She came home from college for Thanksgiving weekend, along with our son, and met Waffles for the first time.
My kids and Waffles
I cooked for our family, my college roommate, who was visiting from Seattle with her mom and brother. Plus a former coworker of mine — and dad of course. Waffles was a hit with everyone — except Olive. I remember my college roommate’s brother thanking me over and over for a home-cooked Thanksgiving. They had planned to eat in their hotel restaurant.
Waffles was beyond cute and so tiny!
Pretty kitty Olive as a grown up.
Waffles as a middle-aged man, snaggle teeth and gray hairs.
Have a happy Thanksgiving with family, friends and your furry friends.
What is it about Thanksgiving and adopting our pets? I’m thinking our prior two, Sherman and Angus joined us in the fall as well.
Two pages about Mom from my aunt’s scrapbook. My mom is on the right with her little sister, my aunt.
Today we pick up my aunt from the airport. She’s coming to visit us for the first time in Arizona. I have all sorts of fun things planned including visiting the MIM, the Musical Instrument Museum, where they have an Elvis exhibit (My aunt is a big Elvis fan.) We’ll have time to sit and talk. Also, go out to lunch, drive to the nearby lake and explore the tiny towns close to where I live. I’m also hoping it will be cool enough at night to light the outdoor fireplace and make s’mores. I’ve been all set since my kids visited a few weeks ago, but we had a heat wave!
Here they are years later in 2015 at our family reunion at our riverfront property in Robe, Washington. The fireplace in the background is what remains of our cabin that my parents built more than 65 years ago.
Mom, her older brother and my aunt who my mom practically raised.
I am so looking forward to spending a few days with my aunt. It certainly helps that she’s my closest connection to Mom, who passed away from COVID this year. Also, that she is the kindest, sweetest person I know.
I woke up so happy the other morning. I was dreaming about making clam chowder with my mom.
My mom, who passed away from Covid on January first this year, believed strongly in two main foods to make anyone feel better. Clam chowder and wild blackberry pie. I could count on both each time I’d visit her in Olympia, Washington after moving to California.
I have collected a series of cookbooks (photo above) that my great-grandmother published in the 1890s and early 1900s. My great-grandfather was a newspaper man and owned a printing press. To earn extra money, great-grandmother Nellie published and sold her cookbooks across the country as a fundraiser for church auxiliary groups.
Just think, she had to typeset these beauties by hand!
I decided to check out my great grandmother’s cookbook to see if my mom followed the recipe for clam chowder. There are a few differences. For example, we use bacon today instead of pork. We don’t use fresh clams. And what the heck are common crackers?
I love this quote from the Soup cookbook:
“Soup preceding sumptuous meal,
Preparing well the way
For happiness and joyous weal,
To brighten every day.”
This is how I make clam chowder — the way Mom taught me:
Dice potatoes and boil in water. Chop onions and bacon into small pieces.
Brown onions and bacon, drain the grease.
Add flour to onions and bacon and brown. Add milk or heavy cream and allow to thicken. Add potatoes with boiled water. Add a can of clams with liquid.
Sometimes she would throw in a can of creamed corn.
I’ve written about comfort foods HERE and what my daughter finds as her comfort food. It surprised me.
What’s your favorite comfort food? Is it from a family recipe?
Sunday, I was getting the house ready for guests. As I was cleaning out my paperwork and assorted crap I squirreled away in drawers and cupboards in the Casita, I thought about what fun things we could do with our guests without leaving home.
Our guests asked us to quarantine starting today before their arrival. Would you quarantine for upcoming guests?
You would if it was our guests — my son and his bride. Also, our daughter and Buff’s brother, to help with the drive (who are in the quarantine pod.) They will be here between chemo infusions, if they get the okay from her doctor after a blood test to determine her immunity level.
In case you missed the story of their wedding and cancer diagnosis, you can read it HERE.
I looked outside and glanced at the fireplace. Now that the weather is a bit cooler at night, I envisioned us sitting around the fireplace. Then my mind raced to marshmallows and s’mores!
Whatever happened to the telescopic marshmallow roasting sticks we bought 20 years ago? Did they make the move from California to Arizona?
The last time I remembered seeing them was in photos camping at Carpinteria State Beach when the kids were young. AND on our RV.
I had a light-blue, rectangular plastic storage box with camping kitchen necessities, including matches, that I pictured in my mind. That’s where they were. I’d bet on it. That box made it from tent days to RV days, to somewhere in our garage, unless it got thrown out when we moved.
If you want to read about our lack of RV skills, please read my story about our mishaps HERE. We were NOT happy campers.
In the garage I found a cardboard bankers box that said RV on the side. I unpacked it and found plastic plates, bowls and glasses that will be perfect poolside in our backyard. Next, I found the plastic storage box with more goodies like the matches, spices, knives, a can and wine opener and our red-and-white checked tablecloth.
No marshmallow roasters.
Before I turned to Amazon for help, I got the brilliant idea to look in my kitchen drawers. Voila! I have two out of the four. I must have given my kids the other two because they both loved camping during college and the shut down.
I found two out of four marshmallow roasters I bought 20 years ago. We will be s’more ready and can enjoy evenings in the backyard, without leaving the house.
What are your thoughts about camping? Are you a tent person or an RVer and why?
Do you think my quest for 20-year-marshmallow roasters is quest for memories past and easier times?
A painting of our son’s girlfriend Catherine (Buff) by Jamie Stoneman, her friend and art major.
Our future daughter-in-law Buff is having surgery today. I’m asking for prayers for a successful surgery for stage three colon cancer, without complications.
Buff is an amazing person and a beautiful poet who has been published in numerous literary and poetry publications. We love her like our own daughter.
Here’s one of her poems:
Coal Oil Point Tonight the sky with its plummy texture Is especially dear to me, and the small purple Flowers shuddering in the sand. Tonight the wind curls soft and salty against My bare arms with that strange lively mourning. You let me look at you and understand that Nobody has ever had eyes like yours, fringed with Red-gold lashes, and nobody will again. I look up at the stars and pity them: The more they burn the faster they die. How I burn makes me live beyond myself.
Catherine Simpson is a cellist who lives in Berkeley. She has been previously published in Big River Poetry Review, Right Hand Pointing, Spectrum, Step Away Magazine, Into the Teeth of the Wind, Poydras Review, and Splash of Red.
