Sunday Lunch at Awful Annie's in Lincoln

We drove out to Awful Annie's in Lincoln after church for lunch. Lincoln is about 21 miles away. It is located on Highway 65 which is G Street through the town. Highway 65 is off of I-80 and merges into Highway 70 on the way to Marysville in Yuba County.

Awful Annie's serves breakfast and lunch and dinner on Friday and Saturday nights. Annie opened her first restaurant in Old Town Auburn off of I-80. She was at the Lincoln restaurant today. The front of the menu.

Some of the weekend specials. I was thinking about having the Prosciutto Frittata.

Gerry had a Mex Chili Scramble with potatoes which are very good. He said there were vegetables inside of the scramble.

Cholula, his favorite restaurant hot sauce. More restaurants are offering it now. It use to be he had to settle for Tabisco sauce which is not really the same.

We both had biscuits served with soft butter and raspberry jam which is homemade. Gerry always brings his biscuit home. I devoured mine. :))

I had a Creamy Scramble which had chicken apple sausage, green onion and cream cheese melted through the scramble. I decided to be good and have fresh fruit. The scramble was very good although very rich. I couldn't finish it all. Surprisely the pineapple was very sweet, the watermellon was good, the cantaloupe wasn't quite ripe.

The food at both restaurants is very good. If we eat at the Auburn restaurant we sit out on a covered porch. It overlooks Old Town and there is a beautiful view of the old courthouse.

We came home and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.

We have a couple of Avon boxes full of old cassettes stored in the spare bedroom. Gerry got down one of the boxes and I've been playing some of them. We have a unit that will play records, CD's and cassettes. Records and cassettes can be put on CD's. Gerry told me I need to do that with the cassettes and finish putting the rest of records on CD's. I put some records on CD's some time ago. It is time consuming to do that and there's no good place to set the unit up where it can be left set up. We have another stereo unit that we actually play our music on which is situated in our entertainment center.

I am going to get my pictures from the card swap up on my card blog now.

Sunday Morning

I didn't post anything last night. I was too tired, watched TV for a change and went to bed earlier than usual. Yesterday morning I woke up about 4:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep. Then Gerry's alarm went off at 5:30 am so I decided to get up too.

Gerry was meeting a few guys at Trinity Life to go to San Francisco for a work day at a Rescue Mission in the Tenderloin area. He drove our Voyager van and had 5 passengers. There were 2 other vehicles that went, I think he said a total of 13 people. They spent the day moving sheets of sheetrock into the building that was being remodeled and then formed a chain of guys moving the sheetrock up to the second floor of the building. There were several other churches there too. He got home just before 5 pm.

I had made my salad Friday night for the potluck at our card swap. I was going to make a hot dish too so I got that started while he was getting ready.

It was raining like crazy. I left the house before 9 o'clock. I didn't have to be at my friend's house until 10 am. Because it was raining so hard, I thought I would drive real slow. Then driving down Madison Avenue I had a moment of panic. I noticed a car traveling ahead of me move over to the inside lane from the number 3 lane or right hand lane. I didn't realize why until it was too late. There was a huge puddle of water across the number 3 lane. So I prayed "God, you're the pilot, get me through this". I made sure my foot was on the gas pedal, not the brakes and went through. The van did hesitate for a moment, we made it though. Praise God!! It was dark, it was raining so hard, I just did not see the puddle -- more like a pool. :))

The swap was fun. There were 9 ladies. The cards were all really nice. I need to take pictures of them and get them up on my card blog. Oh, surprise, surprise!! I won 1st price for my 2 cards. I was totally shocked!! I got 2 Martha Stewart punches and a tube of flowers. And I don't have the 2 punches so that was extra special. Think what you want about Martha Stewart, I love her crafting products. I'll take pictures of those too.

Well, it is 8 o'clock so I better go start getting ready for church. Have a blessed Sunday and I will be back later.

Today

The rain is back, although it is not raining at the moment. It has rained off and on most of the day. We even had some sun this afternoon. I think there is more rain expected during the night. Tomorrow is suppose to be cloudy.

I got another email this afternoon that services for Mr. Hotoke, my former high school choir director is scheduled for Friday, March 5th. His widow has asked that those former choir members that can attend the service, sing at the end of his service. That will be such a wonderful tribute to him. There is a page on Facebook dedicated to him and different ones have left comments. I added my thoughts to the page.

I am going to a Shoebox Card Swap tomorrow. I've put pictures of my card samples on my card blog which is listed on my sidebar. We have a potluck lunch so I am taking a fruit salad which is called "Five Cup Salad". It is pineapple chunks, mandarin oranges, coconut, miniature marshmellows and sour cream for the dressing. I'm also taking a hot dish which I usually do as a casserole. I am going to put it in my crock pot instead. There's no recipe for it, my former sister-in-law use to make it years ago. Hamburger meat is browned and half of a chopped onion is added. Then corn kernels, sliced green olives, stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce. The seasonings are salt, pepper and oregano. This is all mixed together and simmered for about 30 minutes or so. Then it is added to noodles which have already been cooked, put in a casserole dish with lots of cheese sprinkled on top. Then put in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or so until it is bubbly and the cheese is melted. I use either egg noodles, large macaroni or rotelle (the corkscrew looking pasta). It is so very good and so simple to put together.


Gerry is going to San Francisco with a group of men from Trinity Life Center for a work day at a mission. They are leaving Trinty at 7 am and should be back in Sacramento by 5 pm. Monday of this week was the only day he got to ride so he has been kind of bummed out. Hopefully the weather will be better next week.

I am going to make Facebook pages for both of my blogs. I will send out invitations to everyone on my Friends list to become a fan. Should be fun!

Sad News

I received an email this afternoon from a Kailua High School classmate saying that Mr. Shigero Hotoke passed away on Saturday, February 20th.

Mr. Hotoke was the choir director at Kailua High School for many years. I believe he started the choir program when the school first opened in 1954. I was privileged to be in his Acappella Choir, a class of 30 or so students, during my senior year of high school.

My family moved from Honolulu to Kailua during the summer between my junior and senior year. My younger sister and I continued going to school at Kaimuki for the first month or so of that particular school year. It was a long commute getting from Kailua into Honolulu on a taxi. We then had to catch a city bus to get to school. After school we would go to Waikiki where my mom and one of her cousins had a dressmaking shop. It was such a long day that Mom wanted us to transfer to Kailua.

I was really upset that we had to transfer schools. I had attended school with a lot of my classmates at Kaimuki from the 7th grade. I discovered that I only needed classes in English, History and Math in order to have enough credits to graduate. That left me with three periods to fill. The counselor asked me if I could sing or liked to sing. I told her I did. There was an opening in Mr. Hotoke's 5th period which was the Acappella class.

My first day of class, Mr. Hotoke had me do the scales a couple of times and then told me "to take a seat". I sat in the 3rd seat in the soprano section. Mr. Hotoke was an excellent teacher, he made each student feel special. He was a firm believer in that everyone could sing if they just tried. He was dearly loved by all of his students. There was a total of 300 students in the entire choir.

In the spring of 1960, he took 100 students to the island of Kauai for 2 concerts. We stayed with different families from the school where we gave an evening concert. My roommate and I stayed with a Japanese family.

Mr. Hotoke was very active in the community and sang with several different groups which he continued after his retirement. The Acappella Choir became known as the Madrigals and each year he took a group somewhere to perform. I believe they traveled to Japan as one of their trips.

In 2004, Kailua High celebrated their 50th anniversary. A Christmas concert was presented the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend featuring alumni from the choirs of the school's 50 year history. I heard about it through classmate emails and knew I wanted to participate when I read that Mr. Hotoke would be directing. I don't think I will forget the experience and the thrill to be able to sing again under Mr. Hotoke's direction. My husband and I still talk about that trip.

I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Hotoke after the concert telling him how much it meant to me to have been in one of his classes. I think I would have dropped out of high school because of the family move my senior year. Being in his class convinced me to stay in school and complete my senior year. After I shared my story he gave me a big hug and we both had tears in his eyes.

I don't remember a lot of my teachers during my 12 years of school, however I do remember Mr. Hotoke and the impact he made on my last year of high school. I have no doubt that the many students who were privileged to be one of his students would probably have the same things to say about him.

He will be greatly missed by those who had the privilege of crossing paths with him.

Me ke aloha pumehana, Mr. Shigero Hotoke.

It's Raining, It's Raining

Well, the weather service was correct, for once. It started raining about noon or so and it has been constant. It is 10:23 pm now (according to my laptop) and it may have stopped. The wind is blowing pretty hard too.

Yesterday I told Gerry we needed to go to Costco today. So this morning I said to him that I wanted to go before it started to rain. We left the house about 11 am. After we got our shopping done, we stopped to have a hot dog and cold drink. For $1.50, can't beat that for lunch. While we were sitting having our hot dog, we saw a friend of ours. She and her husband had just gotten to Costco and were going to eat first before they shopped. Gerry walked over to talk to Bob who was already seated and then I went over to join them. Donna brought their lunch and we visited for a while. We got up to leave and it was raining. Donna said it was sprinkling when they walked into Costco.

Gerry has known Bob and Donna since they were in high school at Folsom High. They were sophmores and Gerry was a senior. Bob & Donna were part of the youth group at Community Bible Church in Folsom where Gerry's dad pastored. They were married after they graduated. Donna found Gerry through Classmates.com. Right after they made contact, we met them for lunch over in Old Folsom. They eat at the Japanese restaurant I eat at on a weekly basis. I see them in there once in awhile. They are a neat couple and have come to enjoy visiting with them. Bob had a brain tumor removed several years ago and is unable to use his right arm and hand. All things considered, he does quite well.

The van needed some new windshield wipers so Gerry went back into the store to get some while I waited outside. He wanted to go to Trader Joe's so we drove over there. By then it was raining pretty hard. We finally got home after 3 pm.

I hadn't taken anything out for dinner so I fixed some Portuguese sausage with rice for dinner. It was quick and easy. Jason called and said he was coming over to bring Gerry a cable cutter that Jason had gotten for him. We were eating when he got here. He stayed for about an hour or so and visited. By the time he left, it was raining really hard and he didn't have a jacket with him. It is always good to see him.

The rain is suppose to continue into tomorrow so Gerry may not be able to ride. He was going to have to drive to the ride start in West Sacramento and then they were riding over to Davis and beyond. Thursday is suppose to be clear and then more rain Friday.

So not a very exciting day today. Tomorrow I really need to be at my craft table. I am doing a shoebox card swap on Saturday, am making a Mother's Day card and Easter card. Then I need to make kits of the two cards for 10 people. Plus I need to figure out a salad of some kind and a main dish for the potluck. I'll have the card samples I make over on my Elegant Reflections blog soon as I get them made.

Lunch Today On The River After Church

After church this morning and in the van ready to leave, Gerry asked his usual question "where do you want to eat?". I couldn't think of any place which is my usual response. :)) He mentioned wanting to go to Chevy's and asked if it was alright to do Mexican today. It was fine with me.

He got on the freeway and headed towards Sacramento. I couldn't figure out which one he was going to until he took the exit for I-5 towards downtown Sacramento. I realized he was going to the Chevy's on Garden Highway which is on the Sacramento River. I don't think we've ever been to this particular one.A bowl of Chevy's salsa. Gerry stuck a tortilla chip in the salsa before I took the picture. Jalna, is this called "staging"? LOL!!

Gerry had his head down and didn't know I was going to take this picture. I had my camera ready (yes, I remembered to put my camera in my purse before we left for church). As soon as he looked up, I snapped and got this. I didn't realize I was so close. :)) He told me it wasn't nice to get him stuffing his mouth. He finished off 3 bowls of the salsa. I can't eat spicy/hot stuff so I am happy to let him enjoy it all.

They make the guacamole right at the table.

Here is Gerry's dinner. We forgot what this is called and we couldn't find it on Chevy's menu online. It was two chicken enchiladas with a green cream sauce on it. It was served with rice, vegetables and a sweet corn tamalito. (I'll share Chevy's recipe for these that I found online later).

Here is my dinner, 2 cheese enchiladas with tomatillo sauce (green vegetarian sauce). Tomatillo are small, look like green tomatoes with a brown jacket on. The waiter assured me that the sauce was not spicy, however there was a little bit of a hick to it. (I found a recipe online for this too.) I had an extra serving of rice instead of beans which I can't eat either and a sweet corn tamalito. I love these!! They are quite tasty.

This is a shot looking across the river to downtown Sacramento. The odd shaped building on the right of the picture is actually in Yolo County which is on the other side of the river. It was built several years ago by The Money Store. It has a name for the shape of it, however, I can't remember what it is called. One of Gerry's daughters and her husband use to work in the building. The buildings on the left of the picture are in downtown Sacramento.

A view of the Sacramento River with Yolo County on the other side. The Sacramento River and the American River are the main two rivers that run through Sacramento. The American River flows into the Sacramento River at Discovery Park. The Sacramento River then flows through the Sacramento Delta out to San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. Gerry rides his bicycle on the American River Parkway that goes along the American River.

Crawdad's, a restaurant that is right on the river. It actually is situated on a floating pier. I meant to get a picture of that and then forgot to do it. I had lunch here back in the late '90's with some friends that I worked with at the Sacramento County District Attorney's office. We sat on the deck and had our lunch. I can't remember if it was Crawdad's then or if it was called something else.

* Correction: This pole actually goes into the ground, I think its called a "piling". It is one of several which holds the floating pier from floating down the river. So when the river rises and falls, the pier slides up or down on this pole. The markings on the pole show how high the river has gotten. This is a tall pole situated on the deck of Crawdad's. The markings on the pole show how high the river got in those particular years. Enlarge the picture so it can be seen more clearly. Look at the very top one. Absolutely amazing!! That white door to the right is an elevator to get down to the restaurant and the marina. Where I am standing taking this picture are steps to walk down to the restaurant and the marina.

* Correction: This houseboat is actually tied to the pier. A houseboat that is moored in a slip to the left of the restaurant. It sure was nice with a nice deck on the top.

This is looking down the river with some of the boats moored at the marina.

This is looking up the river. Notice the empty slips, a sign of the times.

The backside of another restaurant. It would be nice to sit out here and enjoy a meal.

Office space available. How cool would it be to have an office right on the river. The sign above it is for a law office.

I am not sure, this may be the backside of Chevy's. We parked on the top/street level and then drove down to the parking on the bottom. Gerry's wasn't sure if the van would be too tall to drive it into the bottom level. It is pretty low down there. It was fine.

After we left Chevy's we drove along Garden Highway towards Sutter County. The river is right beside the highway. There are some beautiful huge homes along the river, the river on one side and farmland on the other side. We drove under I-5 and Highway 99. After we got into Sutter County a ways, the highway turns away from the river and heads inland. We drove through the town of Nicholas which has a post office and tavern as the only businesses we saw. One house we drove by had a huge orange tree in the front yard which was heavily laden with fruit.

* Correction: We actually took the onramp for Highway 70. Highway 70 merges into Highway 99 a little past where we got on the freeway. We came up on Highway 99 again and took the onramp to head back to Sacramento. These are rice fields off in the distance perhaps newly planted.

More rice fields with rice actually growing. Note: To those of you that purchase and eat rice on a regular basis - if the package says: "grown or produced in West Sacramento, Colusa, Arbuckle to name a few towns, that is rice from the Sacramento Valley.

We took the Elkhorn cutoff to head towards home. These dark clouds greeted us. It was raining a little bit. Gerry did turn on the windshield wipers for just a little bit. It was sprinkling when we got home.

I really enjoy our Sunday drives.

Chevy's Fresh Mex Sweet Corn Tomalito

5 tablespoons margarine, softened

1/4 cup Masa Harina

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup water2 cups corn kernels, fresh or frozen, thawed, divided

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon milk

In a small mixing bowl, mix the margarine, masa and sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 1 minute.In a blender container, blend half the corn kernels with the water until smooth.

Combine this mixture with the margarine mixture, stirring well. Add the remaining corn kernels, corn meal, baking powder, salt and milk and mix well.

Pour the corn mixture into an 8-inch square baking pan.

Tightly cover with plastic wrap and steam by setting atop a medium saucepan of water on top of the stove.

Bring water to a boil and steam corn mixture for 50 minutes to one hour (check to see whether you might need to add more water), until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tomalito should have a smooth, moist texture.

NOTE: The pan must be tightly wrapped at all times.Makes 12 to 16 servings.

Source: Chevy's Fresh Mex Restaurant

Tomatillo Sauce

Tomatillos are those little things that have begun to appear in supermarket produce sections that resemble green tomatoes wrapped in brown paper. This unique and versatile sauce can be prepared with either canned or fresh tomatillos.

1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 or 4 cloves garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 14-ounce can tomatillos, drained, OR 1½ cups fresh tomatillos, husks removed, chopped
1 7-ounce can chopped green chiles
1 fresh jalapeño, seeded, stem and veins removed, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste
1 tablespoon water
1 medium green tomato (optional)

Sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until the onion is clear. Add the tomatillos, chiles, jalapeño, and green tomato (if using), and pour the entire mixture into a blender or food processor. Pulse to make a coarse purée. Return mixture to pan. Add the sugar and salt, and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes until sauce is thick. Makes about 2 cups. Stores well in the refrigerator.

Lunch With The Girls

I got an email from Sherri, whom I use to work with, couple of weeks ago about getting together for lunch.

So today we met at Mimi's Cafe in Sacramento for lunch. Sherri, Rhonda P. and Alena from my old unit came along with Darlene, our former supervisor and Rhonda D. who is a court clerk. Darlene retired a year ago and Rhonda P. started working at the courthouse after I retired. We met at 1:00 pm and didn't get up to leave until 3:30 pm. We stood outside and talked some more before we finally walked to our cars.

We had a great time yakking and catching up. Of course I failed to take my camera again. There's been a lot of changes going on with a new Presiding Judge the first of the year and on Monday, my old unit gets a new supervisor. They've been without one since Darlene retired.

Three of us had omelets and the other three had sandwiches. It was suggested that maybe we'd get together again in a couple of months.

I sure enjoyed seeing everyone and sure do miss them. I don't miss the job or the commute on Watt Avenue.

It was 4 pm by the time I got home. Gerry had gone on a bike ride and he had just gotten in too. He wanted to go to Roseville to our friends, Pete and Diana. Pete had a shovel and wheelbarrel that belonged to Gerry and he wanted to get it. So after he had a shower, we headed over that way. We stopped and had some dinner then went over to our friends. We ended up staying for a little bit and visited. They hadn't had their dinner yet so I finally got Gerry to leave so they could eat. We finally got home about 8:30 pm. I headed straight for the shower and finally got my PJ's on.

I think I am headed to bed now. I've read my email, checked Facebook, so I'm ready to head down the hall.

Oh, our weather has turned ugly again. Well, we did have a little bit of sun today. It was suppose to rain last night and/or today, however that didn't happen. Rain is expected tomorrow so we'll see if it happens. :))

Crack Seed Center - Honolulu

I ordered some goodies from Crack Seed Center in Honolulu last week. Here's what I ordered: Li Hing Mui Apricots - 1/2 lb.

Sweet and Sour Apricots - 1/2 lb.

Sweet Whole Seeds - 1/4 lb.

They sent me three samples. This was Seedless Li Hing Peach. There were 4 pieces. I thought it was very good.

Sweet and Sour Shredded Mango with Li Hing Mui. I ate this today and liked it too.

Chun Pui Mui, 2 pieces. This is plums which the website says has a lightly sweet flavor with a hint of orange zest.

I really enjoy these goodies. When I was a kid this was the kind of "candy" we ate. Crack Seed Center carries all kinds of varieties. The service is excellent. My order was shipped the same day I placed my order. They ship everything USPS 2nd day mail so shipping is rather expensive. It is worth it to order some every once in a while. :))

Spring Is Coming

Gerry and I went out to do some errands today. As we pulled out of our carport, we both said "oh, look", "when did that happen"? Our tree is blooming. The picture doesn't do it justice, however it is filled with flowers.

When we got home, I went outside to take some pictures. Daffodils are blooming in the yard of the mobile across from us so I took pictures of them too. I love daffodils, they mean spring is coming!!

This particular mobile is for sale for $4,000.00. It is a small 2 bedroom, 1 bath. The guy that lived here bought a larger mobile in the park. The skirting from the mobile next to this one can be seen in the background. It is also for sale for $30,000.00. It is a small 2 bedroom, 2 bath. A mobile home realty has it listed so that's why the high price. We have no idea what the inside is like, the outside is a wreck. We will be real glad when the residents in this one move. They are a huge problem!!

Since I was outside, I thought I'd take a picture of the back of Gerry's van. He said they washed the back window when they gassed up in Boise. You'd never know that looking at it. LOL!!

Gerry borrowed an infant car seat to use for Pam & Steve's baby. Pam is a cousin of Gerry's kids and she has a 9 month old little girl. They were on the ski trip and the car seat was used picking them up at the Boise airport and then when they left to fly back to California. The seat belongs to Andrew and Michelle Williams so we took it back to them today.

We then drove downtown and stopped at the Buckhorn Grill to eat lunch. We tried to do this one Saturday night a few weeks ago. Their speciality is charbroiled tri tip. We both had a sandwich which was very good.

From there we drove to Oto's Marketplace, I needed to get rice and was just about out of Aloha Shoyu. We got some bento boxes for dinner too.

Our last stop was Trader Joe's so Gerry could get some granola and plain yogurt. This is what he eats for breakfast every morning.

The weather was fantastic today, in the high 60's. We need to enjoy it while we can, I saw in the newspaper this morning that rain is expected on Friday. If it does rain, the flowers on our tree will be gone.

One of the projects I wanted to do while Gerry was gone was to clean out my closet. Well, I did not get to it. Yesterday I decided I'd start on it. It will take me a while to get it all cleaned up and organized again. I tried on a bunch of clothes to see what didn't fit anymore. I have one large trash bag full and am working on a second one. I am sure I will have a few more bags by the time I get done.

I did a little too much yesterday and really paid for it last night. I have a bulging disc at the base of my spine and now have arthritis in the same spot. I have constant pain and last night it was excruciating. I went to bed about 8:30 pm last night after I took some Tylenol and plastered myself with Ben Gay. Of course I was doing laundry too. So that is why I say it will take me a while to finish the closet. I did find some jeans I've been looking for and another robe. A lot of my clothes I've hung on to thinking I'll get into them later and the later never comes so they are going to Goodwill. The shoes and purses are another story. LOL!!

Have you been watching the Olympics? Gerry watched some of it last night and said he got so frustrated because they kept jumping around to different events. I think I saw that Men's Figure Skating is on tonight. We do enjoy the skating events.

My Sister's Obituary

Nalani, Eke's oldest granddaughter sent a link today via Facebook for the obituary/guest book that their local newspaper published for my sister.

This is the link for the Guest Book:
http://www.legacy.com/gb2/default.aspx?bookid=6326626570497


View/Sign Guest Book
Ethelwynne Alo Chung-Hoon Rycroft Rogers
1924 - 2010

1926 - 2010
Also, affectionately known as 'Eke', peacefully passed away in her daughter's home surrounded by her family on Feb. 8, 2010 at the age of 83.

She was the fifth child of the late Ernest Haakua Chung-Hoon and Kaui Kanakaole. She was born on Dec. 5, 1926 on Kapapala Ranch in Ka'u , Hawaii.

She was preceded in death by her first husband, John Keith Rycroft, her second husband, Edward Emanuel Rogers, and her son, William John Rycroft.

She is survived by four of her five children, Thomas Keith Ioane Rycroft, Patty Jean Rycroft, Robert Samuel Rycroft (Kathy) and Sandra Ann Bland (Bob), her twelve grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.

She was the Matriarch to four generations. Ethelwynne gracefully battled cancer for nine years. She was cared for by an amazing staff of loving people at her Oncology Doctor's office in Simi Valley as well as by her son Robert and her daughter Sandra. With their care she remained brave, beautiful and strong through her last moment here on earth.

Eke forged many life-time friendships during her many active years as a member of the Simi Valley Sweet Adelines and the Channel Islands Channelaire Chorus. She was an exceptional seamstress and visionary designer of many memorable celebrations. She enjoyed music, dance, reading, football and above all spending time with her family that respected, admired and loved her very much.

A Memorial celebration of her life will be held from 12noon until 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 14, 2010 at the Rancho Simi Community Park, 1765 Royal Ave. Simi Valley.

Arrangements were entrusted to the care of the Rose Family Funeral Home 581-3800.

Happy Valentine's Day

I went to worship service this morning with Gerry at Trinity Life Center which is a couple of blocks from our house. Since we left Roseville Nazarene Church, Gerry has been attending services at Trinity. I've gone with him to a few special events. This was the first Sunday I've been to a worship service. They run about 800 or so on Sunday mornings. The service was good. Rev. Glen Cole use to pastor Capital Christian Center in Rancho Cordova. He retired some years ago and one of his son's now pastors Capital Christian. A couple of years ago the congregation at Trinity called him to pastor. They were without a pastor and the numbers were way down. They have grown tremendously under Rev. Cole's ministry.

After church we went to the Outback Steak House in Roseville for lunch. Gerry had received a gift card some time ago and we hadn't used it. We got there right after they opened. It was a little funny, a large group from Trinity Life Center were there to have lunch too.

Anyway, I had rack of lamb with a loaded baked potato and salad. Gerry had chicken that was wrapped in bacon and cheese melted on top, garlic mashed potatoes and a salad. I brought some of my lamb home to finish later. Then for dessert we shared a chocolate brownie dessert that came with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, whipped creme and chocolate shavings on top. It was yummy, in fact every thing was really good.

There is a concert at Trinity tonight at 6pm and we're going to go to it. The Blackwood Brothers are performing. They are a Southern Gospel group that has been around for a lot of years. I remember hearing about them as a little girl. The original group were actually brothers that sang together. They have all died so don't know who makes up the group now. Anyway, it should be good.

Probably will watch more of the Olympics when we get home later.

Gerry just told me there's a PGR mission tomorrow. It has been a while since he has been on a mission. They'll be welcoming home a KIA serviceman.

Happy Valentine's Day to all who read my blog!!

Saturday

We had a beautiful day. The sun was out and it was in the 60's. We left a little after 4pm to go have some dinner at Willie's Burgers in Carmichael. I wanted the Taco Combination again that I had a month or so again. I was not as impressed this time. The meat in the tacos were cooked too much and the rice tasted like it had too much tomatoes or whatever they use cooked into them. I don't think I'll be asking to go there again any time soon. Maybe next time I'll have a hamburger.

We came home and watched the Olympics - men's short track, women's moguls, and men's luge. Apolo Ohno is awesome to watch. The games didn't start here until 8pm and were over at midnight. I think figure skating is on today and that's what I really enjoy watching.

Liberty Grace Williams

Michelle, Liberty's mom, just emailed these two pictures. They were taken for her 4th birthday which was January 27, 2010. She is an adorable little girl, very inquisitive and on the constant go.

We are Grandma Betty and Grandpa Gerry to her.

Stir Fry for Dinner

I fixed stir fry for dinner last night. We enjoy stir fry, it just takes so long to get the vegetables ready. Doesn't this look so colorful? Sliced onions, green pepper, red pepper and celery.

Sliced fresh tomatoes, mushrooms and green onions to sprinkle on after it has finished cooking.

Sliced sirloin steak.

Here's the finished dish. Sure looks good, huh!

This was good, however it was missing something. It needed more seasonings or something. I used Black Bean Garlic Sauce for the first time. Added some sugar, salt and pepper. Put some garlic and ginger in the hot pan first before I put the meat in. So will have to play with this again.

Kaimuki High School's 50th Class Reunion

Kaimuki High School's Class of 1960 50th class reunion is being held the middle of April. I really wanted to go home for it. I think I've mentioned that I didn't graduate from Kaimuki although I was there my sophmore year, junior year and the beginning of my senior year. I went to school with a lot of the classmates from junior high years. I graduated from Kailua High School whose reunion is the end of March.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to go to either one.

Anyway, my Hawaii blogger friend Jalna asked me to email her any contact information I had and also when and where the reunion was going to be held. She told me she would "crash" the reunion and take pictures for me. She is a photographer and does excellent work. She also is a 1971 Kaimuki grad. So I emailed her the name with email address of Pearl who is one of the committee members and also Harold who is helping out. She emailed them both last night asking if it would be possible for her to attend the reunion to take pictures for me. A response was sent today from Pearl saying there shouldn't be a problem with Jalna doing that and invited Jalna as her guest.

I am so excited that Jalna will be able to do this for me and can't wait to see the pictures she takes. Jalna and I have never met, I don't remember exactly how I found her blog. Through blogging we have become dear friends and someday I want to go home so I can meet her in person along with her friend and co-worker, Leslie. They are faithful readers of my blog. Jalna and Leslie work together for a group of doctors in Honolulu.

Thank you, Jalna!! You are a very special friend and I appreciate you so very much!!

Gerry's Home

Gerry got home at 6:30pm tonight. He and Jason left Bogus Basin in Idaho at 7:25am (Mountain time). They stopped in Winnemuca, NV to eat and get gas, at Cabela's in Burney, NV (this is a sporting goods store), in Auburn, CA to drop off snowboards that belonged to Jason's cousin and her husband. It was 6pm when they got to Jason's house. So considering all the stops they made, they made very good time getting home.

I fixed sweet and sour spare ribs for dinner and thankfully I had everything ready. We just had to wait a few minutes for the vegetables to be done. He unloaded all his gear and most of it is laying in the dining room.

He said he had a good time with his three sons, 1 daughter, 3 grandsons, and 2 granddaughters. The girlfriends of the three grandsons were there for part of the time. The oldest of the 3 grandsons and his girlfriend are getting married in June of this year. Also one of the cousins of Gerry's kids was there with her husband and baby. He did some skiing and snowshoeing. One of the things they all like to do is tubing. Gerry went to watch and take pictures. He enjoys people watching.

They had some rain and snow driving through Oregon. The snow wasn't sticking, as soon as it hit the windshield, it was water. Then they had some rain coming over Donner Summit.

He took a lot of pictures and posted them on Facebook. I tried to copy them over to my pictures on my computer so I could post some on my blog. Unfortunately, when I opened them up in my pictures they were all blurry. I asked him to email them to me or put them on a flash drive so I can upload them. Whenever he does that, I will post them.

I'm glad he is home, I can sleep tonight without worrying about being by myself. :))

Tonight

This is the last night I will have to sleep with lights on in the house. I've left one of the lamps on in the living room and the light above the stove since Gerry left on the ski trip. I know it is crazy, however, I don't like being in the house by myself at night. He is leaving Idaho with his youngest son sometime tomorrow morning and heading west. Yay!!!

It is a 12 hour drive. They will stop for gas and a quick bite to eat along the way. He said they should have dry roads which is a good thing. They had lots of snow going up to Idaho. Rain is predicted for here tomorrow so maybe there will be snow when they get into California. Hopefully not, though.

Hope the day goes by quickly. LOL!!

Last Night

I didn't go to sleep until 1 am this morning. I was channel searching last night and saw that the movie "Antwone Fisher" was going to be on at 10 pm on the AMC channel. I decided to watch it and was not disappointed. It is a very good movie; I enjoy Denzel Washington's acting. I believe the movie is based on a true story. The movie didn't end until 0030 hrs (12:30 am).

It rained most of the morning yesterday, actually it rained all night too. The sun did come out in the afternoon. There were a couple of projects I wanted to accomplish while Gerry was gone. I got one of them done. I don't know if I will get the other one done. I've spent a lot of time goofing off and out having lunch with daughters and a friend. It is okay, it helped to make the time go faster.

Gerry should be home sometime Thursday evening.

Well, I'm off to start my day. It is foggy right now, however we are suppose to have some sun later. Let's hope so!! :))

Ethelwynne Alo Chung-Hoon Rycroft Rogers - 1926 to 2010

I lost a sister today, Ethelwynne Alo Chung-Hoon Rycroft Rogers, who was born on December 5, 1926. She lived in Simi Valley, CA which is in Southern California. She is survived by 5 children, Tom, Patty Jean, Bob, Bill and Sandee; numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces, nephews and extended family. Also 2 sisters Marie and Viola and a brother Paul. She was affectionally called "Eke".

Eke was my father's youngest daughter from his first marriage. There were 6 children, 2 boys and 4 girls. There are also 6 children from my father's marriage to my mother, 2 boys and 4 girls. I am my father's 9th child, the 6th daughter. Of my family, she is survived by my brothers Eddie and Sam, my sisters Nani, Ernie and Naomi, nieces and nephews.

I got a message on Facebook from my nephew Tom earlier this evening telling me his mother had passed away about 5pm California time. Tom lives in Washington, DC. She was surrounded by family and had spoken with Tom and her sisters Marie and Vi in the last couple of days.

She had breast cancer several years ago and had a mastectomy. She underwent chemo treatments and was cancer free. Then 2 years ago the cancer came back. It was a strange strain, when she had chemo treatments the cancer went away and would stay away for a time then it would appear again. Last fall she fell and broke an ankle. The chemo treatments had to be stopped so she could heal. The cancer came back and spread and affected her liver. I also heard from another niece and she told me she spoke with Eke's youngest daughter Sandee this morning. Sandee and her daughter Nalani were laying in the bed with Eke. Eke lived with Sandee. Eke's oldest daughter, Patty had flown up to California for the weekend to be with her mom. Patty lives in Hawaii on the island of Maui.

A Celebration of Life is planned for sometime next month.

Regretably, I have not been close to most of my family and had not been in touch with Eke for several years. I feel bad about that, however am comforted in the fact that she had a very close knit family and a lot of them were with her in her last days. I am also comforted in knowing she is no longer in pain. I don't know where she was spiritually; I don't know if any of her family were believers, however, I am praying that somehow in their grief and pain, they will come to know that God's love and comfort surrounds them during this time.

I called Gerry in Idaho to read the message from my nephew. I was doing ok until about an hour or so ago, the tears came then and my husband is not here. I have the assurance that God's love and comfort surrounds me and so I know I will be alright.

Lunch Today with Irene

I met my friend, Irene, for lunch today at Arigato's, a Japanese restaurant in Roseville. Irene and I were classmates at Kaimuki High School in Honolulu. She actually was part of our 9th grade class at Kaimuki Intermediate but we didn't meet and become friends until we started 10th grade at Kaimuki High. She and her husband are retired and live in Del Webb's Sun City in Roseville. We found each other on Classmates web site a few years ago. We contacted each other and were going to get together. Then somehow that didn't work out and we didn't get back in touch until a couple of years ago. I think the last time we got together was sometime last year.

When I found out Gerry was going to be going to Idaho, I emailed her and we made plans to get together. Whenever we do see each other it is usually a two hour lunch. :) There is always so much to catch up on.

Kaimuki's class of 1960 is celebrating their 50th class reunion in April. I didn't graduate from Kaimuki, I graduated from Kailua High. My family moved from Honolulu to Kailua on the windward side of Oahu during the summer before senior year. I started my senior year at Kaimuki, however it was too long of a commute into Honolulu each day so I had to transfer to Kailua High. Irene is going home for the reunion. Kailua High's reunion is the end of March. I hoped to be able to go home for one of them, I really wanted to go to Kaimuki's. I don't think I'm going to be able to do that so Irene said she would take lots of pictures. We are going to get together again before she leaves. So many of the kids in the class of 1960 at Kaimuki were classmates from the 7th grade.

After I left her I went to a store called Home Goods. There is a store in Vacaville which is west of Sacramento on the way to the Bay Area. We have stopped at that particular store when we've been in the Vacaville area. The store in Roseville hasn't been opened too very long. It is a super neat store. I didn't find what I was looking for so I stopped at Marshall's in Citrus Heights and then Ross Stores in Citrus Heights where I found some of what I was looking for and then came home. I left home at 11:00 am and got back about 3:45pm.

It was a nice day, there were some clouds and the sun peaked out some. I didn't need a jacket. Soon as I got home though, the clouds got heavier and it is now raining.

I talked to Gerry earlier and he will be heading home on Thursday. He said it should be good weather, no snow is predicted. Rain is predicted off and on here so there may be snow when they get to California.

Sunday

I met Elizabeth and Jenni, two of our daughters, at the Olive Garden for lunch today. I was so happy that Jenni was able to join us. She took her kids to her mother-in-law's so she could come. Elizabeth's girls stayed home by themselves; they're all teenagers. Anyway, we had a very enjoyable time together. It would have been really nice if Denise, Joyce and Wendi could have been there too. Of course, Denise lives in Alabama, Joyce lives in LaPuente (So. California) and Wendi is in Idaho on the ski trip. She lives with Joyce and her family.

I had a dish called Pork Milanese, a new dish. It was two pieces of pork scaloppini that had been breaded and pan-fried along with cheese tortellini that was in a garlic/butter sauce with fresh spinach. It was very good. I brought half of it home. Jenni had Fettuccine Alfredo and Elizabeth had a Baked Ziti dish with five different cheeses and marinara sauce. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures. Both girls are camera shy so they would not have wanted me to take pictures.

I came home after we were done. Elizabeth was going home to do dishes and Jenni had some errands to do. We will have to get together again some time soon.

Our weather is still cloudy days with the sun peeking out once in awhile. Rain is forecasted again for the middle of the week.

Tomorrow I am having lunch with a high school friend who lives in Del Webb's Sun City in Roseville. We haven't seen each other for a few months so it will be nice to get together. We are meeting at Arigato's in Roseville for sushi.

Well, I should head to bed. I didn't sleep very well last night. Gerry told me this morning he didn't sleep very well either.

Saturday Night

I was going to post last night but I watched TV until late. Yesterday I went out to the Placer County Fairgrounds in Roseville where the Gem Faire was being held. I pulled into the parking lot and the line for the ticket booth was almost out to the street. If a person is on the mailing list and received a flier in the mail, there was a free pass for Friday only so that probably accounted for the crowd. It took just a couple of minutes to find a parking space even though the lot was pretty full. As I walked away from the van, a guy from the fairgrounds was walking down the row and telling people that all the cars parked in that particular row were parked illegally and would be towed. Well, since I was parked in that row, I had to move the van. There was no sign or anything at the beginning of the row saying you couldn't park there.

I was only in the show about 30 minutes. It was jammed packed in the building and I can't stand crowds. Most of it was beads for making jewelry. There was some jewelry, mostly Chinese people from San Francisco and Los Angeles who had alot of overpriced jade and pearls. I didn't see anything interesting so I left. When I came out to the parking lot, some of the cars parked illegally had moved, however people were still trying to park in that row.

From there I was going over to Rocklin, the next town over to a scrapbook store that was closing. For some reason I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to get over to the scrapbook store. I probably took a round about way to get there!! I walked in to the store and the first thing I notced was that the checkout line snaked around about a fourth of the store, the store is quite large. I picked up some cardstock and then decided I didn't need it that bad to stand and wait in the very long line. So I did something I've never done in a store before ... I just put the cardstock I had picked out on a shelf and walked out. I didn't even try to put it back where I found it. I felt bad about it later. That is so out of character for me.

I hadn't had any lunch yet and I needed to stop at Bel Air for a few things so I drove over to the Bel Air by the church we use to go to. Next to it is a Chinese restaurant. I went in and had some lunch then went to Bel Air.

The sun was shining while I was in Roseville and Rocklin. I got home about 2:30 pm and the clouds had already moved in and the temperature had dropped quite a bit. Another rain storm was suppose to be moving into the area but it didn't start raining until early this morning. It has been foggy all day. Tomorrow it is suppose to be sunny.

Gerry has called at least a couple of times each day. Today he went skiing with his oldest son and he told me they had a good time. His son didn't try to do anything crazy and take him down any scary runs. Then this afternoon he went out by himself for a little bit. He is wanting to do some snowshoeing. He took a class last year, I think, and really enjoyed doing that. It might have been the year before he took the class.

Tomorrow I am meeting my oldest stepdaughter for lunch at Olive Garden. She was going to call her sister that lives in Citrus Heights and see if she wanted to go. It has been a long time since I've done anything with my stepdaughters so it should be fun.

Well, I am going to play some Mah Jongg and then go to sleep.

My Second Day Alone

I left lights on last night when I went to bed. It was after 11 pm when I went to bed. I got up a couple of times during the early morning. I slept very lightly and kept opening my eyes to look around the bedroom.

I got up at 6:30 this morning and turned on the TV. It was foggy and yuck outside. Well, I basically spent the whole day watching TV, didn't get my shower until almost noon. I intended to work on my closet, however I did not get there. Actually it felt good to be completely lazy.

About 4 pm it started raining and it has not stopped. At times it has been pretty heavy and the wind is blowing too.

Gerry called about 8 pm and we were on the phone for almost 2 hours. My husband is quite the talker. I just listen. :)) They got up to the condo after 3 pm. Two of the grandsons went out to snowboard for awhile. While we were talking Gerry told me the wind was blowing pretty hard outside and it was blowing the snow all over the place. He said he took quite a few pictures driving there. He was going to send them to me but they couldn't get an internet connection so they will have to call the lodge office in the morning.

Tomorrow the rest of the California group is flying in, they will stay until Monday or Tuesday of next week. Gerry and his son will probably head back Wednesday or Thursday, depending on what the weather is like by then.

I sure hope the rain stops tomorrow. I want to go to the Gem Faire in Roseville. Also I got an email that a store I go to often to find colored cardstock lost their lease and is closing the end of the month. Everything is 25% off in the store so I thought I'd go by and try to get some cardstock. They have a wide assortment of colors.

I probably should go clean my dinner dishes. I panfried a pork chop, baked a potato and microwaved some frozen peas for dinner. It was very good and filling.

Yearly Idaho Ski Trip

Gerry left early this morning to drive to Mt. Home, ID for the yearly ski trip with his kids. His youngest son who lives in Roseville went with him. They use to fly, however last year they decided to drive. They have to pay extra for their ski/snowboard bags and then when they got to Idaho, they would rent a van for a couple of days to be able to transport everyone up to the ski resort. This year he was taking the ski equipment and a baby carseat for a cousin who is going on the ski trip. She, her husband and their baby are flying up to Boise tomorrow (I think). One of his daughters and a granddaughter who live in Southern California are also flying up.

Gerry's oldest son who lives in Mt. Home organized these ski trips 10 years ago. They go to Bogus Basin outside of Boise to ski where they rent a couple of condos to stay at. I think this is Gerry's 5th trip. He doesn't ski a whole lot.

He called about 5:15 pm to let me know he was at his son's. He said they had to chain up getting out of California. Then in Nevada there was snow on the road so they followed a big rig so they could drive in its tracks. He said it snowed through Oregon and into Idaho. It rained here early this morning so snow in the mountains was to be expected.

So I am by myself for a week. I'm planning to get some cleaning done, like cleaning out my closet. It is worse than a national disaster, I can hardly get in it. And work on getting my craft room organized again. I've got a couple of lunch get togethers too so I should be able to stay busy and make the time go quickly. I do okay during the day, the nights are rough though.

It was a beautiful day here today until about 2 pm then the clouds started rolling in. I think more rain is expected the rest of the week.

Well, I'm going to watch some TV until I just can't keep my eyes open any longer.