...well, almost, right? So, here are some highlights of the last few days...
On Saturday, our neighbor, Lorri, and I met another of her friends at Tofanelli's for lunch, which was fun. Such interesting women! Lorri is a court reporter, a fascinating job, and one at which I would be manifestly unsuitable. There's the typing, for one thing. But she hears the stories! Beyond Police Blotter, that's for sure. Wendy, her friend, works for the Women of Worth organization (a local group), which seeks to address the needs of families struggling with domestic violence. After lunch, Lorri and I went to see "Benjamin Button". I'm not really sure if it deserves ALL the award attention it's been getting, but it was well done and we were both blown away by the aging/anti-aging effects of the characters. It provokes some interesting questions, like, "where do I get some of that make-up?"
Yesterday, Tom and I drove down to Loomis (the town) to visit with our good friends Scott and Jean Oas who live there now. Scott was the founding pastor of Community Covenant Church, the hub of our lives for 25 years. He and Jean moved on after about 5 years in 1986 ( I think!) and most recently served at a big church in Loveland, Colorado, where we were able to visit them from time to time (though it's been about ten years since the last time--oops). Last April, Scott transferred to Bayside Church in Rocklin (about an hour from here, near Sacramento) as a creative director for their worship services (of which there are about 25--I don't know. It's big enough to have it's own zip code, for sure). Jean followed a few months later.
She works for a church-oriented TV-event-live feed kind of a company from home, so she continues that job, though her championship kick-boxing career may take a hit. They've made quite a big transition with this move, having lived in CO for quite awhile. And, somehow, we didn't quite get to a real visit with them until yesterday, when we went to their beautiful new home for lunch. We also got to hang with remarkable college-student daughter, Calee, and her friend, Joe, which was fun, too.So, we have quite a bit of ground to catch up, but we made a good dent, thanks in part to digital photo archives and the internet. How wonderful it is to have them close (less than an hour, which is "close" for us)! Both our families are at quite different stages, now. Their older daughter, Jessica, is in the process of moving home from college in Seattle and son, Kinzie, is helping, so we'll have to wait until next time to see them.
And, for dessert, my narcissus are blooming away on the kitchen counter. How cool to see the flowers all bright and springy with snow falling in the background on Sunday morning! Ha! Love it! Next time...who knows? More calligraphy, hats, blotter...
