Two Months Worth of Blog at Once!

Welcome back all you intrepid armchair travelers.  Did you think we had deserted you?  Fear not, we are still alive and well in the state of California.

The Santa gig at Fashion Fair is over and Ross has recuperated for the most part.  It has been in interesting year at the mall however each day Ross had at least one child that made him laugh or lighten his mood.  All in all, the children have been wonderful….some of the parents could do with a little talking to, but that is another story.

The requests were all over the map but some of the most asked for gifts were Barbie (and all her accessories), Dora (and her stuff), Wii controller and games, Xbox and games, Nintendo DS and games, clothes, Toy Story stuff, books, other electronic games, and animals (stuffed and real – puppies, cats, hamsters, snakes).  The requests that really got to Ross were the ones from little ones wanting a bed of their own, a room of their own, a home, a Christmas tree, their parents to get back together again, and one young girl who really wanted her sister to have lived until after Christmas instead of dying late November.  Teenagers wanted clothes, clothes, money, gift cards, clothes, musical stuff, clothes, and makeup.  Young adults were on Santa’s knee only to get a picture for Mom…….or Dad………or Grandma.  Some young couples were asking for money, a mortgage, a house, a job, and one young man only wanted his sweetheart to marry him….he proposed on one knee in front of Santa and the lucky young lady and she said YES (applause all around the mall).  A few women from an earlier generation only wanted a man (one woman – age 62 (she told me) wanted a man – 30 to 35, tall, blond, well built, and “able to keep me….. happy”……..and to live longer than the rest of her husbands!!  Santa also heard many requests from all ages of children that they just wanted their families to be happy and have a great Christmas.

Santa saw babies from 3 days old and up.  Some were sleeping so that gave him a good excuse to try for a sleeping Santa pose with Santa pretending to be asleep while holding the sleeping babe and an opened book that is dropping from his fingers.  The oldest person Santa saw was a 89 year young woman with her great, great grandson (3 years) sitting on her lap.  He also met with a woman being pushed around the mall in a wheelchair by family members.  Santa asked her if she was having fun.  She looked Santa right in the eye and said: “Son, I’m 85 years old.  I have raised 7 kids on my own, buried three husbands, broken my hip and am sitting in this wheelchair……….Hell, No, I’m not having fun!!”  Santa chortled for hours over that one.  He also saw a few twins, one set of triplets, and lots of families (largest one was 18 people).  There were groups/staff from the mall and the Fresno Women’s Chamber of Commerce (21 in all). 

Sure we had our problems, but in the end we had a successful year and the photo boss seems to be pleased.

While Ross was sitting on his duff at the mall Ed was merrily shopping for groceries, taking the dogs for their daily walks, making meals for everyone, and working out at the gym he joined when we got to Fresno. 

The gym was like nothing we’d ever seen before. More than fifty treadmills, about the same number of ellipticals and hundreds of other machines…the purpose of which wasn’t always completely clear!  There were free weights as well of course.

There was a sauna, a steam room, full size swimming pool and hot tub. Oh yes, and the one in NW Fresno is one of four…soon to be five owned by the same company.

Christmas Eve was spent resting, drinking, and nibbling appies from Trader Joe’s.  We had seen one neighbourhood that was lit up beautifully but did not get to see Christmas Tree Lane  the 2 mile long festival of lights where most all houses were incredibly decorated with  lights strung through the giant evergreens  over the street – quite festive.

Christmas Day was a quiet day where Ross got to sleep in.  We started with champagne and OJ, stollen, and coffee……then opened presents that Ed had bought (Ross was somewhat busy doing other things for some reason).  We took the dogs for a walk in Woodward Park and watched the geese and ducks beg for food from anyone passing by.  We had meant to go to Erna’s Elderberry House for Christmas dinner but thought that we could use the $500 elsewhere.  Ed found all the ingredients for a great turkey dinner at …….. you guessed it – Trader Joe’s (stuffed turkey breast, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans au gratin, Brussels sprouts, and our own plum pudding for dessert).

A few days later Ross became just another citizen of this planet Earth when he got his hair and beard trimmed.  The stylist took about 4 inches of hair off the head and about 2/3 of the beard.  And it feels soooo much better – cooler, but better.

We packed up all our belongings on Dec 30 and headed west to Monterey.  Found a RV park (of sorts) on the fairgrounds in Monterey.  This is where all the exhibitors park their rigs during the rodeo/horse and cattle shows/etc. during the summer.  But it has water, power, and sewer. Met with Brett (the big boss) and debriefed about the year then met up with his wife and two boys for dinner.  Great family and the kids are very well behaved.  Good dinner at Cannery Row Brewing Company where Brett ran into a group of friends he had graduated high school with.

Dec 31 (New Year’s Eve) – Met up with Brett and the boys to go to the Monterey Aquarium.  Brett’s two – Andrew and Will – know this place backwards and forwards so we let them act as leaders.  Great time.  Weather has been rainy and cool but the boys wanted to go for ice cream so found their favourite place and ate ice cream while almost freezing our dookuses off!!  Back to the motor home and picked up the dogs and back to Fisherman’s Wharf for a couple of bowls of soup – Ed had clam chowder and Ross had butternut squash – anything to get warm again!!  Hit Trader Joe’s (what are we going to do when we get home?) Home in time to watch the ball drop in Times Square (with a couple of power naps before the witching hour), then in bed for a great sleep.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

Jan 1 – We were invited to Brett’s place for brunch and had a great time.  Molly and Brett are wonderful hosts and of course the two boys are great.  Back to the motor home to again pick up the dogs and head on to explore the area.  We saw a bit of Carmel and walked the dogs on the beach for a bit (lots of sand now in the car!) then down the road to Carmel Highlands.  Happened on the Mission there and had a look around because of course everything was closed.  When we got past Big Sur and the weather was getting wetter by the minute we turned around and headed back to Fisherman’s Wharf………..for more chowder!!!  The rains have started again and the place is WET!!!

In fact, while some of our friends in Canada have been having record snowfalls and frigid temps, we here in California have been having lots and LOTS of rain.  The deep depressions (about the size of a large football field) we see around the city (Fresno) are always fenced off with gates locked.  We now know that these “ponds” are like reservoirs – runoff from the streets is fed to these places.  They fill quickly and are slowly absorbed.  Impressive to drive by one of these ponds that is dry one day and filled to the brim the next. 

California  seems to be having a wetter winter than expected however the natives  are jumping for joy….they may not have as many fires this year as in the past.  However, with the rains there also comes flooding and there has been a lot of flooding here.  Floods always block highways, help to destabilize mountain cliffs so they come crashing down on homes and property, and sometimes even carry away homes.  There have been some minor washouts near us but thankfully the earth here is stable….for now!.