We got to do such a cool thing on Tuesday evening!
At about the same time as I joined the choral group, Tom signed up for a Thursday-evening class about studying the night sky, which was held over at Sierra Community College, nearby. It was taught by a local amateur astronomer, Don Machholtz.
I've been star-struck since the fourth grade when Mr. Woodhouse brought his homemade telescope to school and showed us sunspots. At UCLA, I took a general astronomy course from a well-known astronomer, George Abell , which I loved. Of course, it was a whole lot more challenging than I had imagined, involving a lot of physics, chemistry, and higher math, for which I was somewhat unprepared. Fortunately, there was Tom, and Chet Herbst to help me through. It was not so much about star-gazing as gaining an appreciation of the vastness and complexity of the universe.
Tom was interested in the sky, as well, and along the way, we bought a small telescope, through which we could see not only our moon, but the moons of Saturn. We gave it away, some time back, but a couple of years ago, Tom splurged on a beautiful, 8-inch Celestron with a computer and a motor in it to help find things and follow the rotation of the sky (earth). Wow!
One of the most wonderful features of our geographical location here in the foothills is the amazing night sky! So many stars!! Too much light in our old neighborhoods in SoCal to see much. So, this class seemed like the perfect thing to enhance our appreciation of our beautiful view and new telescope!
Tom learned quite a lot from Don, in the classes. Don, real estate appraiser by day, is a world-class sky guy at night. He has his name on about 10 comets, which means he either discovered them first or near first. He's traveled the world to monitor astronomical phenomena! So, for the last class, he invites students in small groups (spread over several nights) to his home and observatory to catch glimpses of the sky through his own scopes: a giant set of homemade binocs (on a stand), a six-inch telescope, and an 18-inch telescope. He lives about 1/2 hour from here, on a hilltop in Colfax, and has a wonderful wide-angle view of the sky.
There was no moon, that night (that is to say, it was the new moon), and it was very clear. Perfect! Several students, like Tom, came each with a significant other. We were all dazzled as he moved from scope to scope, training each on a different object in the sky, round-robin fashion. As Tom had reported to me over the course of the class, Don knows the sky so well, that he knows exactly where each (of thousands of visible features) can be found and quickly zeroes in one, and then another, as if he were pointing out flowers in his garden.
We saw globular clusters (bottom photo), the Andromeda galaxy (top), other galaxies, nebulae--Veil (middle) and Ring, Venus, Saturn (+moons), Uranus, Neptune, red stars, blue stars, the Pleiades and many others--even a comet! He kept finding more and more fun things to look at as the night wore on. In two hours, we had racked up quite a list of objects, all fascinating! It was as fun to watch him work as it was to look at the stars, I should say. He's had a life-long love affair with the sky and it shows!
One funny thing I mentioned aloud, as people were gathering at the beginning of the evening, was that, since it was already dark, I was meeting folks in the dark and in the dark we would stay. I never saw the faces of the people who were there Tuesday night. We talked, and laughed, and oohed and ahhed together, but I wouldn't recognize a singe one of them by sight in brighter circumstances.
It was a fun sky party! I was blown away by the objects we could see through the scopes, especially the Andromeda galaxy (M31), the Veil Nebula and the globular clusters (long-time faves)! Now, we need to study at home, with our dandy 8-inch, so that when you come for a visit, we can show you a fun time in the dark, as well...
Saturday evening, we followed Tom's sister and her husband, Dick, back to Santa Barbara since they had so graciously offered to put us up for the night after Mark's memorial day. They live in Montecito,which is less than an hour away from Lisa's.
They live a beautiful home in a gorgeous neighborhood in one of the most lovely areas of the whole country! Such accommodations! We went to church with them the following morning. Diana is the associate pastor of Montecito Covenant Church. I was curious about how the church looked since they had built a new sanctuary a few years previous and I had seen it at the framing stage. Diana had also told me about some lovely stained glass window to be installed.
It's a beautiful, airy space. I've taken a few shots of the windows, in particular. All of it is just stunning. The windows reflect the woodsy nature of the neighborhood. The leafy parts are represented by two-layer glass ("flash" glass), into which leaf shapes have been sand-blasted. There's a large platform made from sandstone, which is particularly nice.
I took a quick picture of Diana and Dick standing in front of the sanctuary after the service. So cute!! Afterward, we met their son, Eric, his wife Rachel and adorable three-year-old Grace for Mexican Food (what else?). Should have remembered to take another picture, then. We greatly enjoyed our time with them and always wonder why we don't do it more often. Of course, distance plays a bit of a part. We left from lunch to drive home, which turned out to be about 470 miles away, pulling in around 9:30pm. It was a really nice visit, though, and well worth all the driving!
From Stockton, on Saturday morning, we drove the five-or-so hours to Moorpark in western San Fernando Valley. Tom had to be at the Fischingers' church by noon to practice with friends of the family who were going to sing a couple of songs for the service. One funny little thing was that Dylan, who flew into Burbank (from SF) then rented a car for the day, was driving to the church, as well, and, as it turned out, was just a couple of off-ramps behind us as we merged onto the 118. Out of those millions of cars zooming along...
We first met Mark in the mid-eighties, when he and (Tom's niece) Lisa had been dating for several months. He was at Stanford, she still in high school. He was friendly, funny and bright. Clearly, they made a great couple. Dylan and Rachel helped out at their wedding in 1987. Unfortunately, we never got to know Mark super-well, but we always enjoyed his company a couple of times a year when the families gathered for the usual celebrations. We enjoyed watching as their family grew to three boys--Ben, now 17, Luke, 14, and Joel, 10 (I'm close, if not exactly right on the ages).
We knew that he loved the ocean, but at the memorial service we learned detail of which we hadn't been so aware, i.e., that he was an expert sailor, diver, water-skier, fisherman, and just about anything else that involved water. We knew he was a techno-geek, as well (in the best possible sense), making his living on the cutting edge of the software industry and also generously helping anyone else with their own technical challenges over the years. He was a wonderful family guy and friend, as confirmed by all the people who went to the podium to describe his influence on their lives.
He was also brave and tenacious.
As a teenager, he was diagnosed with serious nasopharyngeal cancer (cancer of the tissues just above the back of the throat) carrying a poor prognosis. He was blasted with radiation and maintained a positive attitude throughout. In college, the cancer returned, this time in his lungs (I believe). More treatments. They say he fought it and steadfastly maintained that positive perspective, eventually surviving to help others, through extensive speaking and volunteer work, face their own illnesses. We had heard, over the years, and it was stated again on Saturday, that he survived that type of cancer longer than anyone else in the country. But it was the premature deterioration of the tissues from the radiation which eventually caused his body to fail, about 11 days ago. The last three years have been quite a challenge for him and his family.
The loss for Lisa, their boys, extended family and close friends is great. They're all amazing and strong and so supportive of each other and will move forward in healthy and positive ways, though they'll miss him so much. We'll miss him, as well, and, as is often the case, wish we'd known him better.
The service and the gatherings that followed were truly a celebration of his remarkable life (pun sort of intended). Here's a nice photo of Mark that we tried to use on a handout, but it didn't have high-enough res. I've also posted a recent one of him with Lisa, Ben, Luke and Joel that we did use. I didn't think to take too many photos in Moorpark, but did snap one of Tom's mom and her sister, Eileen. At Lisa's house, later, I shot a pic of Tom, his mom, and Rachel Trautwein, who is Lisa's sister-in-law.
It is always such a mixed experienced, a memorial day for a loved one who has passed away. Sad, of course. But it truly can be healing and uplifting, as well, as one reflects on the whole life of a person (along side one's own life, too). Then, there's the gathering of so many friends and family members that one sees too seldom. That was Saturday. We honor Mark and wish for those who loved him good memories and continued appreciation of how fortunate we've been to have known him.
We returned home last night from a trip to southern California to be a part of the memorial activities honoring Mark Fischinger, our "nephew-in-law". I will write about it in the very next blog entry.
First, however, chronologically, (the bloggish order), Tom and I made a stop in Sacramento Friday evening to indulge my desire to experience the fruition of my labors in learning my part of the choral movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony (which includes the "Ode to Joy" tune as the theme). Most of our 100-member choir was going to join with a smaller group of singers (opera types) and an orchestra to perform in a large cathedral located downtown Sacramento.
The concert was scheduled for Saturday evening, the same day as the service for Mark. I was sorry to think about missing the performance, since I had worked so hard to learn the tenor part of this very challenging (for me), and exhilarating piece of music. But, of course, there was absolutely no question that I would go to the service. In the Scale of Things, Beethoven didn't even come close.
Most days, for at least six weeks or so, in addition to choir practices, I have been playing my notes on the piano, listening to a cd of just my part, trying to memorize the German words, and singing along with a perfectly-timed airing of the Sympony by Public Television that we recorded.
The video features Leonard Bernstein conducting an enormous number of musicians and singers on the occasion of Christmas Day 1989 in Berlin, a few months after the Berlin Wall had come down. Quite a dramatic event! This total emersion led to my living with the different sections of the music bouncing around inside my skull, mostly uninvited, at all times. When I awoke in the middle of the night, or walked to pick up the paper or cooked dinner, I would nearly always become aware of some Beethoven knocking around (often inaccurately) in my brain. Mental wallpaper, it has become.
I began to do a little scheming when I realized that the dress rehearsal for the concert in the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament (get it?) was on Friday evening. I would consider it pure joy (get that?) to sing with everybody and the orchestra, even if there were no audience to hear it. Just to hear the whole group together in that majestic space would be plenty for me!
So that's what we did. I spent a couple of hours in the rehearsal (at the edge of my section so as not to throw off the standing positions for the main event) singing my heart out next to the French horns (that's me on the right just above the woman with the salmon-colored vest). Tom said that the effect from the pews of the church was magnificent. The sound was glorious for me, I can tell you! It was enough!
We, then, drove 45 minutes, or so, to Stockton to spend the night before continuing on to the Westlake Village area. Of course, "Freude, schoener Goetterfunken" is still rattling around in my head and only the necessary focus on "O Magnum Mysterium" will chase it out. Which is just fine with me.
Really. Such a bad title...
On a lovely fall Sunday afternoon, I suggested that we go for a little hike in Empire Mine State Historical Park, about 15 minutes away. Lots of colorful trees, there, I heard.
Tom, as I think most of you are aware, is allergic to hiking. If it were possible to nod off whilst trekking through the forest, Tom would. It's just boring to him, somehow. So, why wasn't I suspicious when he put on his walking shoes and hopped in the car without comment?
First, we had a few things to pick up at the the hardware store. Then, we followed the some of the spectacular trees through Nevada City (one of which you can see here). Before I knew it, we were driving through the tall pines on North Bloomfield (hey, isn't EMSHP behind us?). But, it was still pretty, so on we went. So clever! He had turned a hike into a driving tour of the backcountry. 
However, I think he must have forgotten that if one drives far enough (45 minutes, or so) on North Bloomfield (over lots of unimproved road), one bumps right into another State Historical Park! Ha! Malakoff Diggins SHP, to be specific. It's a large tract in the mountains that was rather unceremoniously literally washed away (by hydraulic mining) in the Gold Fever of the nineteenth century. It is one place where one can see how Gold Fever was really more like Gold Tuberculosis. Plus, they've left all kinds of rusted old machinery, flumes and piles of mine tailings. Still, it's quite beautiful, and, wouldn't you know, there are lots of hiking trails!
So we did a bit of hiking. Not too much. Tom decided there should be a photo of me, since I had taken a few of him (trying not to grumble). That's my slow-motion running pose!
Malakoff Diggins is really quite interesting
(here's the site: http://www.parks.ca.gov/DEFAULT.ASP?page_id=494)
but we were getting hungry. We continued to drive through the mountains, and decided to get back home a different way. That meant a long, twisty, bumpy, but gorgeous, drive through deep-green conifers dotted with bright-yellow big-leaf maples. 
At one point, after having slowed several times to let squirrels (with the worst possible timing) cross the road, we were surprised by a black bear bounding across the road about 25 feet in front of the car. So fun! We're often surprised by deer running across, but this was the first bear we'd ever encountered this way (though I've seen their prints near the house).
The rest of the way was lovely, but not so exciting! So, we had a Minor Adventure which turned out rather pleasing to both of us, after all...
We are sad about the death of Mark Fischinger on Saturday evening. He is gone too soon. Our thoughts are full of memories of him and his valiant life. We wish comfort to Lisa, Ben, Luke and Joel, as well as the multitude of family and friends who loved him. More later...
I took off for Fresno, again, yesterday (as I'm wont to do from time to time--I was just down there a couple of weeks, ago), so as to spend a bit of time with Mom a day after her 80th birthday! Terry and I took her to Macaroni Grill, where we were served by Jason, the most loquacious young man on the planet. No kidding. He was a great server, but talked our ears off every time he came over.
80 years! She's doing quite well and enjoying living near Terry and H's family, which includes 8 great-grandchildren, now! My sister barely looks old enough to have any grown kids, much less so many grandkids! They all get together most Sunday afternoons, including Mom, so she gets to watch them all growing up, week to week.
Terry's is still quite busy with the three residential care facilities for medically-fragile children that she founded and runs with a partner and large staff. Each facility is a house that's been modified to meet the needs of these kids (six in each house), most of whom are in long-term care. She's the primary RN. So, I was very glad that she could take the time to hang with us for awhile, yesterday.
Mom lives in a lovely apartment complex with quite a lot of big, wonderful trees that provide crucial shade in the Fresno summer. It's located in north Fresno, near the houses my sister visits every day. It's a very nice arrangement.
Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope we have cause for many more of these celebrations! Perhaps, next time without quite so much of Jason...
We had the priviledge of hosting our good friends, Kyle and Noel Becchetti for a short (but fun) time Monday (don't they look happy?). They are true rolling stones and we were so glad to be a a bit of moss on their busy itinerary!
For, I don't know, umpteen, years, or so (13, more or less), they ran Center for Student Missions, which necessitated lots of traveling, which seems to suit them, just fine, thank you. CSM is an organization that provides an inner-city ministry experience for young people in nine cities in North America, Houston to Toronto, San Francisco to New York. Noel was, until very recently, President, and Kyle is finishing her role as the Queen of Everything, the director of all the operations.
This year, they have been in transition from their ministry with CSM to a new ministry (for them) called Truthseekers, Int'l. It's an organization based in India (New Delhi), run by Indians, which seeks to teach people (especially the "Other Backwards Castes, or OBCs"--about 700 million people--only about 1/10th of the planet!) about Jesus and to abolish the millenia-old caste system in India (is that all?), which is justified by the Hindu religion. It's an exciting and fascinating story, which you can read by going to http://www.truthseekersna.org/index.cfm?pg=1 and reading "about us". Noel and Kyle will head up the fundraising efforts in North America--under "about us", go to "Meet the Truthseekers (North America)". And get involved, if you want to!
This means that, in addition to traveling around the US, meeting with churches and other groups, they'll be off to India on a regular basis. They've been there this year, already, to check out the program. So, if you think your church or group would like to hear about this remarkable work, they'll be happy to come and tell you all about it.
So, we talked and laughed and ate, as usual. Then, next morning, they were gone. No worries! We have many ways to keep in touch. Playing Scrabulous has been one of them. Then, they'll be along again, someday...
Well, we could pretend, anyway. Not knowing how the day would eventually work out, Sunday, we drove to SF to see Rachel's new apartment and maybe help a bit with the settling-in process.
Turned out to be Fleet Week and Air Show day, unbeknownst. A 2.5-hour trip became a four-hour crawl as the flipping and dipping biplanes distracted the traffic on our way in. The day's plans were in flux, anyway, due to the fact that some of Dylan and Rachel's friends were gathering on Haley's roof deck to watch the Blue Angels do their incredible stunts over the Bay. Some puppies came along, too, though they spent most of their time chewing on each other's ears and snoozing.
It was very cool! And loud! And well worth the journey. All those years in SD and we never went to see the (same-ish) air show, there, for some reason. Too many military overtones, maybe? The Bridge, Bay and SF skyline was a big bonus, this time. Plus we got to pat Haley's doggies (black lab Bodie, chocolate lab pup Piper) and Megan's Golden pup, Tuck. There were other cute canines were on the roof, as well, for fun. That's Tuck using Bodie for a pillow and also in Meg's arms.
We did, eventually, get to Rachel's cute apartment with an amazing, 6th-floor view of downtown. Tom got the TV mounted on the wall, while Rachel and I put a couple of simple bookshelves together an embarrassing number of times before we got it right. And we had disassembled them, ourselves, only a year-and-something, ago. She's still in the cardboard-jungle stage. I should go back to help some more...
After some take-away Chinese, we headed back home. It was late as we were heading over the Bay Bridge. Tom noticed what looked like a volcano erupting from the water just to the left, and it turned out that we were watching the beginning stages of the Angel Island fire, which appeared to be quite substantial, already. They got it under control, last night (Tues), having burned about half of the 740 acres on the island. All the historic buildings were saved, though, fortunately.
We arrived back home after midnight, having been sustained by M&Ms Peanuts and Reese's Pieces along the way. Quite effective for maintaining alertness, we're happy to report...
OK, so we didn't get to harvest any tomatoes or cukes from our garden, this year. Um, I didn't quite get the drip system finished and the soil just didn't look friendly enough. So...
I actually planted a cover crop last Friday. I've heard about them. Farmers do it all the time. I went to Peaceful Valley Organic Nursery and Garden Shop where they sell all sorts of cover crops. I bought the "soil builder". It's mostly beans, peas and vetch (who named that plant?) . It's all about the nitrogen-fixing bacteria, of course. I want organic material and nitrogen, so as not to need to add so much (if any!) next spring.
It turns out that the seeds need to be mixed with a bacterial inoculant before planting, so I did. I felt as though I'd earned my Ms. Greenjeans patch by the time it was all in the ground--an hour before we got a day-and-a-half of the most lovely, soft rain! So perfect! The first precip in six months!
Anyway, now I just need not to kill it before it does its magic--all for only $11. Doesn't look like much, at the moment (as you can see), but I'm pretty sure I'll have a veritable vetch jungle by December. And then, oh, the garden we'll grow next year! Of course, the way things are going, we'll need to grow our own food by then. And sew our own clothes, and cobble our own shoes, and...
We had the honor of a visit from Chuck and Sivi O'Grady, my aunt and uncle from San Diego! They were on one of their marathon journeys north to visit with various friends and family members in California and Oregon, and now we, fortunately, qualify as an additional stop along the way. As it happened, they arrived during our first bit of rain in six months, so we had two reasons to celebrate!
Sivi (my mom's youngest sibling--given name, Sylvia) and Chuck have lived in San Diego since the '50s and have been a part of the P.B. and La Jolla Beach scene forever, Chuck having been an avid and accomplished surfer and diver. He's also one of those can-do guys who can fix or find a solution to anything from a toaster to a car. Of course, it may not get done, right now...Sivi is Ms. Congeniality/Hospitality and runs the Hotel O'Grady, available to any number of friends, family and even strangers for any length of time necessary (and more...). She's unflappable and unfailingly upbeat and "can charm the husk right off of the corn", as they say.
We had a bunch of fun just hanging out, catching up, reminiscing, and munching Mexican food. They've always been able to work cool adventures into the fabric of their lives and have great stories to tell. For years, when it was a bit safer to do so, they would spend a few months camping on the nearly-deserted beaches of Cabo San Lucas. Hard to imagine it, now, with hotels crammed along the shore like they are. Also, for quite a few years, they traveled the Senior's Pro Golf tour with Phil Rogers (Chuck as caddie and Sivi as long-time best friend of Phil's wife, Karen), visiting all but three states in the process. After that, it was spending springs in Key West as Phil would teach golf to other golfers.
They're fun and interesting and a younger couple in their seventies you will never meet (further evidence that 70 is the new 50)! Siv held up remarkably well to my forced march through all the Andy Goldsworthy books! Such a trouper, even with that little touch of arthritis in her knee! They were here for a little over 24 hours and, by now, have safely arrived at their next stop just down the hill in Penryn to visit with Chuck's brother's kids and their families. Then, it's off to Fresno to see my mom and sister and her family before they head home after several weeks.
We hope that this is the first of many such visits. We wish them a safe journey the rest of the way home and look forward to next time!
