Sunday, September 25-Thursday, September 29
We got to the Obbemas on Sunday night, and I said hello to Becky, Rick and their twin daughters, Jenny and Katie. It was then time to let Auggie meet his new friend, Hank.
Hank is a 100+-pound Golden Retriever and early in his life quickly earned the name “Hank the Tank.” He’s big, happy and GORGEOUS. After a late-evening walk and some time to run and get their ya-yas out, Hank and Auggie started getting along very well. That was good news.
I know Becky since my time at my prior company. She ran my company’s account for my U.S.-based PR agency, and so I’ve known her through some good times and bad. The fact that she still likes me is a testament to her strength of character, as I know I was a difficult, stressed-out, demanding client more than a number of times. J
After a good night’s sleep on Sunday night, I woke up Monday and started to catch up on a lot of belated blog posts. Becky took a break from work to do a morning walk with me up a local mountain behind her neighborhood. Here is a pretty shot of “the Valley” from the walk.
Becky had just celebrated her birthday earlier that weekend, so I took her to lunch to celebrate that afternoon. I chilled and wrote while Becky and Rick finished work on Monday afternoon, and then we had a nice dinner Monday night once Jenny and Katie came home from volleyball practice that evening.
On Tuesday, I took a morning walk with both Auggie and Hank, which was brave. I had more than 180 pounds of dog on the ends of my leashes, but the furry guys were awesome and kept me standing and intact with no incidents.
I continued to do my work (blog posting, writing, catching up on email, laundry, cleaning up the van) while the rest of the household was at school and working. Then, the adults left the house about 4 pm to drive north. Jenny and Katie had an “away” volleyball game that evening.
Becky and I first drove to Los Gatos, a cute town in the southwestern end of Silicon Valley, where we walked around and did a little shopping.
For me, it was mostly window shopping. It was here that I recognized that not having a salary at the moment was a bit of a bummer. I wasn’t terribly interested in actually buying anything, but it hit me then that my bank account was already calling me home sooner rather than later, and that buying anything other than necessities was really not in my cards.
Hmmmmm.
When recently employed, I have been accustomed to spending money when I needed and/or wanted to, without having second thoughts about whether or not it fit into budget. I’m a fairly low-impact shopper, meaning that I don’t shop much or spend inordinate amounts of money, particularly not on things that I don’t need. However, if the spirit moved me to shop, then I would go and not have a huge discussion with myself.
Yet, here I was, recognizing that not having an income is a bit of a drag. Unemployed and working off a savings account, I have become acutely aware of my spending, feeling my “frugal genes” once again becoming more prominent.
Note to self: if you like having that flexibility and freedom, then finding a job will again become necessary.
Duly noted, self. J
We headed over to the volleyball game at the local high school gym. How fun to be back in a high school gym watching a sports event. And a competitive volleyball game, at that! I have never seen competitive volleyball, other than beach volleyball at the Olympics. These young women were fun to watch!
Jenny and Katie were great! And their team did well, too. The team ended up winning in a five-game series, and it’s always nice to win. But watching the team dynamic between the women on the court, as well as sitting among the parents in the stands, was really fun. Reminded me of my competitive high school days, though different. (My sports of cross country, gymnastics and track were more individual sports, not team-focused).
What I loved most watching was the power these young women had. In high school gymnastics, I never had any upper body strength. My best events were floor and balance beam, which required flexibility, grace and balance, while vault and uneven bars required more strength and were therefore my weaker events.
I have much more upper-body strength now after 17 years of doing martial arts. And that’s a good thing. But that night, these young women of high school age were whacking the volleyball with POWER. Wham – a solid serve across the court. Slam – a dunk down the net into the empty hole in the other side’s formation. Point!
I loved it! It was awesome! It was a very good time. J
The next day was another intensive day for me of bill paying and personal business, followed by an afternoon of cleaning the Champagne Chevy. A 2.5-gallon jug of water had tipped over in the back of the van, and I hadn’t noticed soon enough to stop the water from emptying almost all the way out of the plastic jug through the little slit you make to allow air in. Ugh. That meant that everything in the back was wet, which was unfortunate and frustrating.
Luckily, the weather in Morgan Hill was hot and sunny for a few days. I was able to empty out the van, air out a bunch of stuff, vacuum and thoroughly clean the van, the windows and the messy carpets. Thanks to oodles of cleaning supplies from Becky and a lot of elbow grease, coupled with a busy day at the washing machine, when I finally put everything back together, the Champagne Chevy was looking (and smelling!) very good. Aaaaah.
I even had some time to sit out by the Obbema’s lovely pool in the hot afternoon sunshine to read some more of Potter Book Six.
Since it was hot, the dogs snoozed lazily inside the cool house. (Aren’t they adorable big puddles of dog?!? J )
Becky and I ran to the grocery store so that I could stock up the van for our departure the next day. It was also time to prep for Jenny and Katie’s birthday, which was the next day. Becky had bought a cake for them when we were in Los Gatos earlier in the week, and she needed to get a few more things to help celebrate.
Dinner was lovely outside that evening. Yummy food, fabulous company, and a beautiful cake to celebrate two lovely young women’s 17th birthday.
The cake was DELICIOUS – banana with cream cheese frosting. (If anyone ever gets to “Icing on the Cake” in Los Gatos – get this cake! It’s yummmmmmmy!)
In fact, it was so yummy, even Hank wanted some.
He tried really, really hard …
And Auggie got a lot of love, too, lucky boy.
Thursday morning, Becky and I took both dogs for a walk to a local dam, where Hank jumped in the water for a wade and a brief swim, while Auggie chased critters. I was pushing off early afternoon and heading for Monterey Bay.
But not before I said a huge thank you to Rick and Becky, the girls and Hank for wonderful hospitality during our stay. We had a truly lovely time with you.
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