Hi all,
We had the tree-trimming party last night. John and Kathy drove down mid-day from the cabin at Inverness, where they spent the night. Madelyn had originally volunteered to bring dinner for the party, but stayed home to care for Ben's wife Melissa, and their very new baby. Rebecca stepped in, bringing (in addition to her two little boys) a whole lot of delicious food. Sandy contributed one of his delicious salads. Mariah brought her friend Nick, they had just returned from an adventure-travel trip in the Phillipines. Greg and Alex and Joe arrived a little later. It was a really fun evening.
Nancy and Wendell and their kids and grandkids were attending holiday gathering at one of the kids' houses. They will come down to join us all on Christmas Day.
Smile, Joe...
Love, Lennie
Written December 23rd, 2015
I'm at Campus Dr., enjoying a completely lazy morning. Still in my pajamas at almost noon! The only family here so far are Mom, Sandy, and I.
Huge news, Mom has a new great-grandchild! Joe's son Ben and his wife Melissa have recently had their first child!
Madelyn and Joseph will stay home tonight, of course, to help care for the baby and new mother. Rebecca has volunteered to bring the food which Madelyn had planned to bring for the annual tree-trimming tonight. Greg brought the Christmas tree, on his way to meet friends last night.
I don't really blame myself for my laziness, because it's been quite a hectic week! This year has been so busy that I have really let the dust, dirt and clutter accumulate in my house. I spent at least 30 hours cleaning, this past week,before I felt I could put up the tree, a 3/4 size fir which I bought at Home Depot. There were presents to buy for our own grandkids, and of course wrapping and Christmas card writing and posting. And all of the plants on both lots, except the well-established trees, had to be watered, a couple of hours doing that.
The van was coming for me at 3AM yesterday morning. so I had very little sleep the night before. For warmth while I waited outside for the van, I wrapped the Christmas present I'd bought for my mom around me: a holiday-themed shawl.
I got to Oakland International Airport at 7:00 or so California time
foggy, darkish and damp.
This photo is from the BART-Airport SkyTrain:
On the wind-blown Coliseum BART station, I was glad to have my rain jacket and hood.
I got to Oscar's at 10:00 AM, as arranged, and we played some music. I was charmed by this photo of him as a child with the mandolin orchestra at the Brooklyn Cooperative where he was raised (in the 1930's), his parents were communist by persuasion, Jewish by heritage, but, as communists, decidedly secular. Oscar is on the far right.
(Almost every time I come to Berkeley, I have lunch with Oscar and Paulette at their charming little home in El Cerrito, only fifteen minutes walk from the BART station.)
The next thing I had to do was write and mail a bunch of bills.
I stopped at the "Paris Bistro"
which is a Vietnamese-owned coffee/pastry place right next to the BART station. It's very clean and they have a spotless restroom, so I often stop there.
The homeless are very prevalent right around that BART station. The "Paris Bistro" is zealously protective of its restroom key!
I called Sandy and he said he'd not been able to leave Campus Dr. to go shopping for two days. Marisa had already been on vacation that long. I headed up the hill on the bus, as soon as my bills were mailed, so he could leave to go to the grocery store.
After dinner, Mom and I watched an episode of Hamish Macbeth.
We started a second one but my head kept jerking backward with fatigue!
Love, Lennie
Hi all,
Here are a few photos from Mom and Sandy's monthly "tea" held last night because the end of the month conflicts with the usual "tea" date.
Mom sends you all warm wishes for the holidays! We are sitting in the kitchen, and she is reading the newspapers.
1) Sandy with Mom as she practices walking with the walker 2) Betsey Tabraham 3) Danielle with the Chinese exchange student who is staying with her this year 3) Marcia, who was with Mom in the Library School at UC Berkeley 4) Paulette and Anna Jarnagin at the buffet table.
I always forget to take photos of some who attended, and last night was no exception. Benter's husband was there with his brother-in-law Alfred, both of their wives are down with the flu. (But Benter still cooked something to send along.) Danielle is very excited that for her last year of teaching French, her daughter will be sharing her office!
I mostly conversed with Benter's husband, Kaluoch, and his brother-in-law Alfred who were asking me if Donald Trump had any chance of winning.
I was so pleased that Kaluoch's sister and her husband have both moved on to better jobs than they had at Brennan's restaurant and bar. They are here fairly recently from Kenya, just since May.
