Thank you for all the lovely anniversary wishes yesterday!
Don was taking pictures for much of the day, but he had a special dinner up his sleeve which he proceeded to concoct as soon as he got home. It was lovely. We also opened a bottle of sparkling cider and toasted each other and our marriage. Lovely.
Today, we meet Rick and Doug late in the afternoon to celebrate Rick’s birthday, which is today.
But before that, Don is working at the Farmer’s Market.
I’m about 3/4 of the way through A Bitter Feast by Deborah Crombie. Excellent. But then, every book she has written in her Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James series is excellent.
Today, some chores, some celebration, and some rest – eventually.
Thank you again.
Happy Sunday.
Oh I missed it. Congratulations! :-)
Thank you, Regula!
I asked for “A Bitter Feast” for birthday or Christmas — so glad it is living up to expectations!
I’m delighted your anniversary was so nice. Isn’t it wonderful to have a man who cooks well treat you?
It sure is! Thanks, Jeanie!
I have my name on the waiting list for her book. I can;t wait to read it. xo Laura
It’s wonderful, Laura.
Hi, Claudia. Belated best wishes and congrats on yours and Don’s anniversary; it’s so nice that you celebrated it enthusiastically and happily.
We survived the first Santa Ana of the season. Our border neighbors weren’t so lucky in the San Fernando Valley and it’s always so heartbreaking to watch the homes burning on the TV coverage. One longtime, esteemed meteorologist on TV out of L.A. reminded viewers that wildfires start in the canyons, and some of these homes are built up the canyons. I blame the land developers who seem to have no conscience; it’s just all money, money, money. My husband says, because of the continuing influx of people STILL coming into California, “People have to have somewhere to live; there’s scarcity of housing.” But this ain’t the answer.
Today, we have considerable yard cleanup. I’m not happy with my neighbor who planted a tree right up against our shared yard divider (concrete block wall). I have to pay a yard crew to trim it at least twice a year because it grows over onto our side and crowds my roof; and, in this wind, it dropped about 10 billion leaves all over our roof and yard. He’s so passive and does nothing to help. He also planted palm trees in his front yard and backyard. They now tower over another part of our roof and my husband has to climb up there and cut back the fronds. They are SO dangerous in Santa Ana winds and wildfire. Just these days ago, I watched on the all-night local news coverage on TV as said, and watched a street in the affected areas NOT on fire, yet sparks had caught the tops of its tall palms, so there went the neighborhood when it otherwise might have been okay. They burn a long time, look like lit candlesticks, and their fronds twirl in the wind like a cheerleader’s pompoms, shaking and spreading embers in a wide swath. I have to make sure when we replace our old roof this year, that we buy a fire-retardant roof and I have no idea how much it’s gonna cost (roofer’s coming out to give us the lowdown next week).
Palm trees are lovely and, yes, they go with our Mediterranean architecture here in SoCalif, but they’re not indigenous and they are a menace in wildfire. If I ever lose my house due to my stupid neighbor, there’s gonna be hell to pay. (He’s the one who also gave up the dog just because he wouldn’t fix a gate, so this guy is someone of whom I am NOT a fan. I miss that dog every single time I go in the rear yard. The animal rescue center told me the dog was adopted out to a good home, no easy feat as he was, I learned, well over a hundred pounds and an older Mastiff mix; still, I’ll always worry about him.)
We’ve been darn hot, flirting around 90 degrees each day so I’m hoping it stays cooler today. So far, we’re hovering at 80 degrees; yay. It was even hot at the beach yesterday; I was uncomfortable in the sun. I think I sound grumpy. Maybe we’ll get some marine layer back in here today, cool off; just so glad the wind is dying down. And it’s a new week! I get my armchair back soon from the reupholsterer; it matches the sofa; makes me feel like a new person. That furniture was crap and now IT is like-new! As you’d had to I’m sure gently coax Don (you’d mentioned this!), I had to steer my husband away from eating on this newly-reupholstered sofa. No way, boys!
Hope you’re having a nice Sunday afternoon with your friends.
A pox on irresponsible neighbors! Hang in there, Vicki.
Enjoy your Sunday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO RICK.
Marilyn
Thank you, Marilyn!
Actually, I just read up on that as I wrote it. There is one palm native to Calif, called a fan palm, but it usually grows in the desert and, there ya go, in canyons above 500 ft; but they started cultivating it as an ornamental, and then I guess these other types of palms were brought in for same. They’re part of my skin; I can’t imagine a landscape without them and, again, they’re beautiful in the right places (nothing so lovely as a long row of palms), but I don’t need these super-tall things mere feet from my roof! My neighbor should have given it some forethought before he planted them. They just dwarf his property now. And intrude on mine. We’re an old ‘affordable’ neighborhood from the 50s where the homes were built too close to each other. But my former custom-built cottage here in town (from the 1920s) was on a half acre, bordered by houses who had an acre or more, and we still had a neighbor there who would do nothing to maintain his property and his gigantic evergreen (shallow root ball!) towered over our detached garage. We knew if a Santa Ana took down the tree, that we’d lose our garage.
Neighbors; what can you do. I have a book on neighbor law somewhere, and I think it’s entitled “Neighbors From Hell.” And this guy next to me also has these tenants who live there (he rents out rooms of his house!), working at odd hours; they go out there and start a noisy car at like 4:45am and let it run 15 minutes (why?) before they leave, of course clicking off the alarm (beep beep) which wakes us up. Can’t escape these sorts of things unless you live out on a ranch property somewhere on ten acres! Before it was houses, there was always the inconsiderable neighbor in apartments or condos, too. Density living. (I don’t do well with it.) Just wish people could be more respectful. My husband is tolerant and says, “It’s just people living their lives, Vicki.”
Hmmm. I’d meant this to be a continuation of my other comment, not a whole new ‘paragraph’; sorry.
I just don’t understand ‘auto correct’ on these computers. My husband can’t find a way to turn it off. The auto correct feature is usually WRONG. Like, in my long thing above, I’m talking about INCONSIDERATE neighbors, and the auto correct turns it into inconsiderable. I’d thought for awhile there, that this was all my eyes/typos on my part. Nope. Grumble, grumble. I know other readers here have complained about it, too. (We don’t like anything, including a ‘machine’, changing our words/text!) I feel like I have to double-proof anything I ever send.
You have to reply to your comment, Vicki.
I thought I did. Maybe I’m sleep deprived because of the wind!
xo
I’ve been thinking of you, Vicki, since I heard about the Saddleridge fire starting. We had power outages and a few smallish (TG) fires that were put out relatively quickly. Those Santa Ana winds are horrible.
Re: neighbors – I have a lengthy non-fiction complaint piece that seems to have no end on neighborly behavior – how many times have we gotten a new neighbor next door who (he and she) decides it’s not necessary to inform us that they are going to tear down the joint border fence and replace it with their idea of a “good neighbor” fence? Our town has a task force to help with neighbor disputes, but what’s the point. The damage has been done and no choice but to accept what has occurred. I’ve certainly given them a piece of my mind, but their creation has been completed. We do have some really good reliable neighbors, but the ones next door always seem to find a way to annoy. Sometimes it’s their dogs who are very nervous and bark for an hour after being let out into the backyard.
I guess I made my complaints enough already.
Martha in SF: So nice of you to think of any of us in the path of wildfire; you’ve surely had too much of it in the northern part of the state. We may get a lot of wind yet. It’s one of the prices of living here. I was thinking of it today, how people will be putting up those decorative blow-ups in their yards for Halloween, then Christmas – – inflatables I guess you call them; very popular these days – – and of course the wind knocks them down in nothing flat, not to make a pun! We’re always going to have wind whooshing down these California valleys to the sea.
Neighbors, yep, I could write a book on it, too. I seem to always wind up with a neighbor who doesn’t properly and humanely take care of a pet. When I was newly married, I once had a neighbor who was mentally ill (a young mother; it was so sad) but naive-me didn’t quite realize what was going on with her and how she’d interact with me (I was quite glad when they moved; she should have been hospitalized, the poor dear; I couldn’t be in my yard without her trotting after me like a lost little puppy). I once lived in a condo and the guy downstairs would play an electric guitar at midnight. I could never prove it but a former neighbor a couple of years ago killed two of my feral cats, I’m sure of it; he was the kind of person who hated cats and, well, most everything in life (glad he moved, too!).
I haven’t heard a peep out of the new people above us on the hill who took out that gorgeous natural green fence of an old vine that probably dated to 1940 (a very-unwanted surprise of a chainsaw massacre on Father’s Day morning last June); when we subsequently approached them about building a joint fence as replacement (to have some kind of barrier between us; some kind of border/demarkation for the two properties), they were lukewarm so we’re now saving money toward building our own (wood) fence although I wish it was up and already installed this very minute rather than having to wait. It’s an expense we needn’t have had, if they’d just left the vine alone, which wasn’t intrusive or any kind of big problem; they just left the debris, never went back to clean up on this edge of their one-acre property, ugly/withering/dead sawed-off vine/tree trunks, etc. (roots sticking up out of the hard dirt). My husband tried to clean up ‘our side’ (after 70 years, whose side was it now anyway!) but it remains 600 sqft that only our twice-annual yard crew can make a dent in, so they’re coming before Nov 1 to level off all that mess, once and for all. Again, so much unnecessary expense we’d have liked to have avoided.
You’re lucky to have a task force in your town; but, you’re right, if it’s after the fact, damage is already done. Thinking of you; I can relate!!! It can get dicey; nobody wants a ‘neighbor war’. It goes back to the Golden Rule if you ask me, “Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you.” It’s in the Bible, for Pete’s sake; treating others as you want to be treated. But I guess some people are only thinking of themselves in all things.
That’s exactly what Don would say. I would respond like you do!
My yard-crew guy actually came this morning. He climbed up the outdoor staircase to the top of the hillside, looked (horrified) at that 600 sqft debris field left by those chainsaw people and said indignantly, “What was the point of this? What were they going for? I’ve been trimming that vine for you for five years; it wasn’t hurting anything; made for a great green fence. It takes years and years and years for something like that to grow. This just isn’t right; it doesn’t add up!” I said, “Exactly. All we can figure is that they wanted to see where their property line was; all four corners of their acre.”
He said, “Well, they coulda done that without taking the whole thing down; it was really more of a wide-spreading tree than a vine at this stage; all they’ve left you with is a mess; this is complicated; it’s an expensive job, very time-consuming. That vine was massive and there’s nothing you can build that would be as tall. The way the hill slopes and if you want to get a fence up, you’ll have to bring in ‘fill’ to level it off and there’s no way to bring heavy equipment up here. The City limits you on how tall of a fence you can have, so that no matter where you build a fence here, you’re still not going to have privacy because that other property owner sits higher than you.”
There’s goes the opportunity to reupholster my last/final piece of furniture that hasn’t had new fabric and foam since 1982; it’s the armless ‘boudoir’ chair, so heavy I can’t lift or pull on it, very-pretty golden-colored woods; I’d already picked out the new fabric; thankfully I hadn’t had the reupholsterer order it yet. After two fixer-upper houses, one right after the other, I said I wasn’t going to let a house/yard keep ruling my life. But I’ve done it again. Between the semi-annual yard trimming/weeding and now this clean-up caused by the other neighbor, I’m looking at a minimum of $2,000. It’s not a good way for people on fixed-income to live. My hillside is a liability!
If worse comes to worse, I’m about to say to my husband and yard man, leave the debris field as it is, just put a net over it to prevent slide for any rain we get. Just forget about it, like I now have to forget about ever having privacy again in my once-was private backyard.
I’m going to take a break from blogging, Claudia. I hear myself complaining and getting off-topic. My comments are too long and your blog isn’t a dumping ground for my grumbling and personal details about my life. You provide generous space here to ‘talk’ but enough’s enough, from me, for now. I’m on the computer less and less; I have too much going on at home!
I hope this is the start of a really nice ‘autumn’ week for you, more wonderful Fall days like you had today! I’ll still be reading you and commenting occasionally but will just find another outlet for my ‘rants’. I know you’re not looking forward to it, but I always get awestruck by your first snowflakes and your picture-perfect ‘postcards’ from the NY winter (which could make super-nice Christmas cards, your photos of the winter scenes around you – – I always liked the photo you had of the deer in the snow, with the red ‘shed’ in the background; stunningly-beautiful!).
I’m so sorry that you had to deal with all of that.
Your comments are ALWAYS welcome here, Vicki. Truly. xo
See, I’m still reading you; I can never not, as long as you have the blog! And I am crazy-curious about where you and Don are headed; I wish it could be Paris but I’m thinking Florida.
To finish off my diatribe, the yard crew have been here for the past six hours (team of four men) and it’s nice to be hillside-groomed now, til May (with trees anchored for more wind and possible mud [if we’re lucky enough to get some rain this year again]); the quote on the wood fencing job across the top of the hill and down the side between my anti-dog neighbor and us is $6,000. Like that’s gonna happen in a million years with everything else we need to do for our property (and at our age, on fixed income). I fear I will remain ‘forever fenceless’; sigh.
But onward. I have Deborah Crombie to look forward to but, man, it’s hard getting into a new series when there are SEVENTEEN books preceding the current bestseller!
Safe trip; have a ball at the beach!
XOXO back atcha…
You should read the books in order, Vicki. There’s a definite progression in the story of the two protagonists.
No to Floria. Yes to Paris.
What a total shocker! Gotcha; you got us!
Amazing that you can do this considering the worry over the recent tax obligation. (NO WONDER you were so upset with that unsettling reveal when you had this trip in the works!) I’m very interested to see how you’ll apply any ‘research’ (I know there are good tips out there) about doing Paris on a budget, which could be challenging, but I know you two have done your homework so that you could pull this off. And of course you’ve been there, you know the ropes. It’ll all be fine! (A loaf of bread, cheese & fruit, chocolate; some sparkling water; what more do you need when you have that, Paris, and each other?!!!)
I’m jealous! Can I stow away?!!!
You’re the smartest two people I know, to let nothing get in your way of making new memories.
Have a wonderful, wonderful, WONDERFUL time. Just disappear into each other and that beautiful city.
I just had a thought: I wonder what you’re going to see with the burned-up Notre Dame? Gosh, to think of it just now as I write this, the fire was, what, only five or six months ago or so? (Time flies.) I’ve forgotten to follow up on the progress of rebuild. When you see her, look at it as a positive, that the cathedral will ultimately, in these next years, be better/stronger/ever-majestic once again.
It’s going to be so fun to re-visit your favorite, special places that are tranquil, scenic, romantic; soul-filling. And who knows what you’ll still discover? When you get back, you both can settle in for a cozy, quiet winter at the cottage, just like last year. (This should become your October tradition! It’s so dreamy. You know how to make the dreams come true!)
Au revoir; bon voyage! (It’s not the walk on the beach I’d thought, but it’s a walk along the Seine; wow!! I can’t stop with the exclamation points, but this is pretty-darn exciting news for your readers. We know we’ll get some awesome photos and commentary; an armchair travelog with a great guide!)
Thank you, Vicki! The plane and the hotel are the big expenses. We’ll eat lightly. We’ll walk. We’ll be. That’s the budget.
Paris is highly walkable! I couldn’t settle down last night thinking about all of this. Your readers are all so happy for you. I started going for the ‘tips’ for travelers, especially senior travelers. I made my own notes (a girl can dream), cobbled down from several sites I neglected to make note of for future ref, but one said:
“Ever notice that the price of a two-sip espresso in Paris is often less than half of a coffee with milk? If you want an efficient caffeine hit but need a drop of milk to take the edge off of that bitter espresso, here’s a clever way to get a mini latte for the price of a naked espresso: ask for une noisette. This is simply an espresso with a little added bonus nut of milk, and may be delivered to you already in the coffee, or with a separate pot of milk. Remember that many Paris cafés serve a little cookie or a caramel or a square of dark chocolate with your coffee, and a glass of water is always free; if they don’t automatically bring it, which they often do, then just ask for un verre d’eau.”
“Now that the busy summer season has come and gone, the city is starting to settle back into its everyday rhythm. This means you’ll find the people of Paris scattered across lovely terraces around lunch time, stopping by for déjeuner à prix fixe. These meals, often a daily special or a traditional French dish, will be at a fixed price and are served up rapidly around lunchtime. Depending on where you are in Paris and how nice the restaurant is, you can find prix fixe lunch menus ranging from around €14 all the way up to €40. You can also encounter a range of quality—it’s possible to find a great meal for under €20, as well as a lackluster one for much more.”
“Eat out at lunch instead of dinner! You can eat at some of the best restaurants for a fraction of the cost of their dinner service, not to mention it can be easier to get a reservation at lunch.”
“INSIDER TIP: the water in Paris has lots of minerals in it, so your carafe is likely to have white residue on it. It’s not dirty! Beware of sodas and sparkling waters – – when dining out try to avoid drinks like Coca Cola or Perrier as they often cost more than a glass of wine. Or go for ‘une carafe d’eau’. I prefer to order Coke or Perrier when I’m just sitting outside ‘en terrasse’ (as opposed to dining) if I don’t want an alcoholic drink. You can sit at a table for hours and order just one drink the whole time — there is absolutely no pressure to give up your table.”
“INSIDER TIP: While enjoying that table on terrasse, NEVER leave your cell phone sitting on the table, regardless of the neighborhood or the type of phone.”
“Eat simple, filling foods like crepes. Don’t eat on touristy streets like the Champs-Elysées unless you have a specific recommendation — head off onto side streets.”
“Watch the artists at work in Montmartre’s Place du Tertre, browse the book stalls along the banks of the Seine and take a look around Notre Dame Cathedral for free. If the weather’s good, then there are lots of parks and gardens around the city – including the Jardin des Tuileries, the botanical gardens at the Jardin des Plantes, the Promenade Plantée on an old elevated railway line, and even the atmospheric cemeteries like Père-Lachaise.
If you time your visit to coincidex with the first Sunday of each month, many museums are free to visit. They include big names like the Musée d’Orsay (absolutely stunning, set in what was once one of Paris’s main train stations, and the grand central atrium is gorgeous – almost worth visiting in of itself); also, Musée du Quai Branly, Pompidou Centre and Picasso Museum. Others are only free off-season (which is generally from 1 October or 1 November until 31 March), like the Louvre, Arc de Triomphe and Sainte-Chapelle. It took me multiple visits to Paris before I finally made it to Saint Chapelle. Now I urge everyone to make it a priority on their trip to Paris! This is a relatively small chapel that is not too far from Notre Dame, but the interior, which consists of almost floor to ceiling stained glass, is absolutely outstanding.”
“Some of my fave free views across the city are the steps outside Sacre Cœur, the top of the Pompidou Centre, the rooftop café at the Galleries Lafayette department store, the roof garden of the Institut du Monde Arabe and the Parc de Belleville in the 20th arrondissement.
One of the best views of Paris when it gets dark is from the top of the Montparnasse Tower. It has a prime view of the Eiffel Tower when it’s lit up and sparkles on the hour. The lift up to the viewing platform on the rooftop costs €18. But for the price of a drink, you can take a separate lift up to the 56th floor where you can watch the lights from the comfort of the bar which is attached to the Ceil de Paris restaurant.”
“My suggestion for finishing off your last day in Paris is to head to the Montmartre region. This is home to a large hill, atop which sits the glorious Sacre Coeur de Montmartre, another of Paris’s iconic buildings. This area of Paris was particularly famous as being home to artists, and folks like Dali, Picasso and Hemingway all either lived or frequented this area. It’s still popular with artists, and the Place du Teatre is the place in Montmartre is the place to go to get your portrait or caricature painted. Montmartre is a maze of cute little streets, cafes and shops. The Basilica is free to visit, if you get here in time, although there is a small fee if you want to climb the tower. Montmartre is also a popular place to watch the sunset across the city.”
“The cheapest way to get around Paris is to walk of course, followed by the excellent public transport system. We usually walk as much as we can, and then take the metro for the longer trips. Taxis can be convenient, but they will eat into your budget very quickly.”
(I also didn’t write down the dates from when some of this was published but I didn’t go into stuff that was TOO old. Got a little carried away with my notes!)
Much of this I am familiar with from our first trip to Paris. Thank you for sharing it, my friend. I’m sure it will be valuable for all my readers who might be thinking of going to Paris!
The photos yesterday were lovely. I’m so happy you two found each other. I’ve been doing some crafting all day and it’s been good for me. Life is still difficult but at least some of the issues are out in the open. Mom will be 89 on Friday and she is having a hard time with it. Anyway, I’m doing OK and hope you have a good week.
I’m glad to hear you were crafting, Linda. Have you talked to your mom yet about assisted living? Much love.
Maybe I was assuming SF was San Francisco; I realize now you could mean San Fernando!
Claudia, I don’t know what’s happening as to why my comments are going to a ‘new paragraph’. This was supposed to be a tag-on to your reader Martha above. I was at a store and the clerk was having trouble with the cash register, saying maybe it was ‘the wind’. I don’t mean to be messing up your comments section. Sorry for all my nervous chatter; maybe it’s a sign I should shut up and let somebody else talk. Or stay on topic: I’d meant to say too, from many sentences back, that the photos you posted of you and Don were really special; I’m very happy for you both. You just can’t put a price on a good marriage at our age. Or any age.
If you hit reply and then start another comment, you have to reply to the original commenter – Martha. Or it will be a tag on to your own comment.
I missed the anniversary post! So sorry it’s late, but Happy Anniversary to a wonderful couple. You both look so perfect together still after two decades. It’s inspiring to know of two people in demanding careers with up and down income cycles and a tiny home and sometimes extended time away who keep the home fires burning in their hearts, minds, and spirits. Thanks for letting us in and taking us along for the ride. Much love!
Thank you for your kind words, Nora!