gifts from thailand & vietnam

We got a package yesterday from Jeff & Vanessa that was full of gifts from Thailand and Vietnam!

I (the dishaholic) got  two beautiful bowls, a blue wooden one made by the Hmong tribe in northern Vietnam and a blue & white ceramic bowl made by a disabled person through the Reaching Out program in Hoi An, Vietnam. The bowl is the second handmade Hmong item that I have. Years ago I bought a little lizard, made by a Hmong woman, that was being sold at the Peace Corps Convention for Returned Volunteers in Chicago. Makes me want to watch Gran Torino again (for the umpteenth time). I saved the notes about the origin of each of my bowls and the newspaper they were wrapped in.

Mike got an elephant t-shirt from the Elephant Nature Park in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where Jeff & Vanessa have both volunteered.

There were also gifts for Steve, Karina, Leslie and Steven in the package. Steve got a bird-on-a-wire t-shirt, Karina got a purse made by the Hmong tribe, Leslie got a bracelet made by the Hmong tribe and Steven got a Technics t-shirt. It was like Christmas all over again… in January.

And, of course, the stamps on the package were a gift in themselves. I saved them (did anyone think I wouldn’t?), along with the postal receipt.

Then… the box became a new toy for Max.

Looks like Max is checking to see if it’s addressed to him. Later on Alma took a turn poking around the box, but I didn’t get a photo before she wandered off. Happy day for everyone.

I doubt that any package – contents as well as the package itself – has been enjoyed more.

One last thing….

Steve gets into trouble even when he’s in his own house. Don’t know what we’re going to do with him.

postcard from hoi an, vietnam

This is the second postcard we received from Jeff & Vanessa.

christopher crisp uncovered

December 10 was a warm & sunny day when we headed down to Inglewood Park Cemetery to visit the graves of my brother, cousins, aunts, uncles and friends. This year was a bit different from past years, though, because we had an additional mission. Before we left the house I logged onto Find A Grave to see if anyone had a photo request posted. Several were there, including one from October, which is unusual since requests at this cemetery are usually claimed within a few days. Not so with this one. We soon found out why.

Christopher Crisp was one of three people we were going to hunt for. The first two were easy to find. Little did we know it would take an hour and a half of cemetery tromping to find the third one. Mr. Crisp was born in England, so we started using our best English accents (Mike’s is good, mine not so much) when speaking to each other (hey, Mike started it!), which made the search more fun.

After scouring the La Ramada section for an hour I decided it was time to visit the office and ask for help. We were starving and parched, but weren’t willing to give up yet. The young lady in the office offered to send a customer rep out to help us find the grave. Louis joined us a short while later and ended up going way beyond any expectations to help us find the grave. Perhaps he was caught up in finding the missing headstone, too.

After spending about 10-15 minutes checking markers for a grave number close to Mr. Crisp’s without success, Louis headed to the front office to pick up a list of graves in the same row as Mr. Crisp’s. One of the graves on the list was quickly found, which gave Louis a place to start.

Louis started poking his shovel in the grass where the headstone should have been. Clunk! Hmmm, could that be it??? He jabbed the ground a few inches over and… clunk!… another hit. Yep, it was indeed a headstone. The excitement mounted as he lifted the blanket of sod and there was… Mr. O’Hara. Ok, then, it MUST be the next one over. Again, Louis gave the ground a jab and – clunk! – a possible headstone. A few inches over and… another clunk! Could THIS be Mr. Crisp?

UPPER LEFT: Louis starts the search; UPPER RIGHT: lifting sod; LOWER PHOTO: oops, wrong headstone – let's try the next one over

Once again, Louis lifted a blanket of sod, but before he had it completely lifted I could see CHRISTOPHER and 1847 imbedded in the sod. We had found Mr. Crisp!

CHRISTOPHER 1847 in the sod

CRISP embedded in the sod

Hello Mr. Crisp!

A little cleanup reveals a headstone in perfect condition. There isn't a chip, crack or scratch to be found. Even Louis was impressed.

Two headstones uncovered... Mr. Crisp and Mr. O'Hara

Mike starts cleaning Mr. Crisp's headstone....

...and Louis steps in to help. He's got the BIG broom and a gallon of water.

CHRISTOPHER CRISP 1847-1921

We’ve decided to adopt Mr. Crisp as our honorary great-grandfather and will be trimming, cleaning and decorating his grave each Christmas along with our family members’ graves at Inglewood Park; his grave will never become overgrown again as long as we’re around. Graving has provided adventures for us before, but this is one that will stand out in our memories. We’ll never forget the fun we had searching for – and the thrill of finding – a long-forgotten headstone.

* * *

We’ve been reading all the Crisp Point Light Historical Society info and now plan to go see it in person one day. It’s amazing how beautifully the lighthouse has been restored. I just wish there was more info – and a photo! – of Mr. Crisp somewhere.

postcard from hanoi, vietnam

This is the first postcard we’ve received from Jeff & Vanessa while they’re traveling around Thailand, Vietnam and other Asian countries on their six-month mini-retirement.

retirement – day one

I know, I know, I can’t be chronicling every day of Mike’s retirement, but the first day of retirement is special.

So… what did Mike do today? He started with a three mile walk around the park, after which he cleaned the turtle pond (it was in dire need). Seymour and her entourage are very happy tonight.

After cleaning the turtle pond, he proceeded to vacuum, sweep and mop (the house, not the turtle pond). Do I need to say it? I’m loving his retirement already!

The only thing he won’t/can’t do is cook dinner. Tonight was no problem, though, since I took him to his favorite restaurant, Tokyo Steak House.

He even got a colorful dessert in honor of the special occasion.

I predict it’s going to be a long and happy retirement… for both of us.

mike’s last day of work

RETIREMENT IS HERE!

Tomorrow Mike will be a free man… at least free from work. Paid work, that is. He’s got lots of plans for work around the house and yard, but he’ll be free to take a break any time he wants to, eat when he’s hungry (not on an arbitrary schedule), watch TV if he so chooses. Freedom will be very sweet after more than 38 years of doing four clock rings a day and being at the mercy of managers who…. well, I won’t go there.

Today saw the last time he’d pack up his lunch, walk through the gate,

get into the car and head down the 14 (for work, that is).

It’s been a long haul.

He said he’d be singing “Take This Job and Shove It” on the way there and “18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses” on the way home.

HAPPY RETIREMENT, MIKE!! You earned it.

cypress lawn cemetery

Cypress Lawn Cemetery is a spectacular cemetery located in Colma, California. Many industrial titans who lived in San Francisco are buried here, along with publishing giants and people who made this area (and the country in some cases) what it is today.

The entrance looks like the entrance to a medieval castle. The back gate continues the medieval theme:

In between these structures is a cemetery filled with monuments, crypts, mausoleums and graves that are so spectacular that very few people could afford them nowadays.

There are very old tombstones, some from as early as the 1800s…

Man’s best friend can be found in this cemetery, apparently waiting for his master.

Photographers use the beautiful, gothic atmosphere for photo shoots.

My favorite crypts are the ones buried in a small hill. The monument is on the top, the crypt is in the hillside.

Colma, known as “the city of the silent,” has 1.5 million residents underground in 17 cemeteries and about 1700 above ground… all in less than two square miles. Colma’s motto: “It’s great to be alive in Colma.”

carmageddon hits los angeles (not)

Several months ago we learned the 405 was going to be closed down from the 101 to the 10 – about 10 miles – for an entire weekend in July (7 p.m. July 15 to 5 a.m. July 18) in order to tear down the south half of the Sepulveda overpass bridge. The panic began. Angelenos were asked to either stay home or go somewhere else for the weekend. Stay out of your cars and don’t go anywhere near the 405… or any of the alternate routes. Just stay off the freeways, please.

Yeah, right. They were talking to Angelenos. One person per car, always going somewhere. Angelenos love their cars.They pack the freeways at all hours. They eat, drink, call friends, put their makeup on, read reports… you name it, they do it in their cars, not at home.

The freeway to be shut down for the weekend is the busiest, most congested freeway in the United States, possibly the world. Day or night. It’s the main freeway traveled to get to LAX. It goes through the west side of Los Angeles (think Beverly Hills, Century City, Westwood). It’s the main artery to the BEACHES! What in the world would Angelenos do????

Well… The alternate freeways were very light even before the 405 was shut down and they stayed light all day Saturday. The good folks of Los Angeles LISTENED and heeded the advice. The traffic on all roads in the Los Angeles area were the lightest they’d been in years.

Angelenos partied at home, had barbeques in their backyards, shopped at local stores and ate at local restaurants. They met and talked to their neighbors.

Sunday morning dawned and the demolition of the bridge was almost finished. That was amazing. The freeway reopened at 11:30 a.m., almost a full day ahead of schedule. Unbelievable. The construction company really came through. So did the people of Los Angeles; they have every reason to be very proud of themselves. The Mayor of Los Angeles was ecstatic. Thanks to some great public relations work, carmageddon never happened. The word was spread early with constant reminders. The press ran with it and got the word out. Personally, I never would have thought it possible. Now, it has to be done all over again 11 months from now when they demolish the north half of the bridge. I believe it will once again go very smoothly.

Randy Newman sang about his love of L.A. and I think today most everyone in Southern California just might be singing along.

what a day!

Boy, what a day this has been! First, a cousin from Texas finds me through a listing on my work website (thanks to his wife, who knows her way around the internet)  (not many people in the world with my name) and after talking to him for about 30 minutes I sign on to send him an email with some info and there’s an email from another cousin, who found me through a memorial I created on Find A Grave for my 4-greats grandfather that was also his 4-greats grandfather! I don’t think it gets much better than this!

This makes six new cousins I’ve found in the past year. Maybe eventually we’ll get all the branches, limbs and twigs of the family genealogy completely filled out… or at least we’ll leave a great foundation for future generations to build on.

first step to retirement completed

Mike’s officially on his way to retirement in less than six weeks. Today we did a teleconference with a wonderful counselor, Helen, who answered all of Mike’s questions and talked him through all the forms he had to complete (and there were a lot of them!).

July 31 will be his last day at work and August 1 he will be RETIRED! It’s a well deserved retirement  after 38 years on the job, but it’s really hard to believe it’s finally here.

I’m feeling kind of old today…