"Hot August Nights"

Location, At Home, CA

Boy-oh-boy! What a week! We were at Cindy and Gary’s house to celebrate “Hot August Nights”, a celebration of friends, and Cindy and Gary’s recent retirement. There were 4 couples gathered for this celebration, Clyda and I, Budd and Brenda, Don and Bev, and our hosts, Cindy and Gary.

On Thursday before everyone gathered, Cindy and Clyda shopped while Gary and I visited Fry’s for some electronic stuff. You can never have too much “electronic stuff”. I bought an Irobot Roomba which is a small circular electronic vacuum cleaner which was on sale for one day only. It does a heck of a job and we plan to use it in the kitchen on the bamboo floors.

The remainder of the day was spent in and around the pool as the temperature was in the 90’s.

On Friday we drove to Emeryville and the Ikea store. Clyda wanted some bookshelves. We found what we wanted but not in white so I get the job of painting one of the shelves. Next we drove to the Crate and Barrel Outlet store in Martinez. The ladies shopped while Gary and I browsed bookstores.

Then it was pool time for the remainder of the day. Around 3:30 PM Don and Bev arrived and Budd and Brenda came shortly after. We all spent the remainder of the afternoon around the pool. What a way to relax.

On Saturday we drove to the Amtrak Station in Martinez and took the train to Sacramento. It is about an hours ride. The train was very full or I should say many seats were occupied by one person taking up the whole seat. We sort of made room for ourselves by asking people to move over. It is amazing what a large group will do to reluctant folks.

The train drops you off in Old Town so the first stop was at Fat City for lunch. It was very good. We had a room to ourselves with appropriate group tax for service. At 17%, it is kind of steep.

We wandered around the shops and eventually got an ice cream before going back to the train station. It was very warm the whole time which kind of dragged everyone down but we still had a good time. We arrived back at the house for more pool time.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Retzlaff Winery in Livermore. After some tasting and buying we stopped at Wente winery but they had a tour bus of people on the premises so we left and went back to the pool.

Don and Bev left on Monday so the rest of the ladies shopped while the guys went to Fry’s, Costco, and every Safeway in the East Bay looking for cheap Cutty Sark scotch for Budd to stock up on.

More pool time and left over’s for dinner. Cindy had planned and cooked all meals for the weekend and put out a spread that was fantastic.

The other activity that occupied us every evening and some mornings was the Wii. Now if you are from some other planet and don’t know about a Wii, it has been the rage for the past few years among young kids, older kids, and now adults and seniors who have discovered the Wii. The problem is finding one. They are sold out as soon as they hit the store. The Wii is a series of games played on a TV screen using hand held controllers. Our favorite game was bowling which can be played by up to four players. It is just like bowling only the alley is on a TV screen. Of course, having a big 54 inch LCD screen helps with the realism. I am afraid we all have aches and pains from the Wii exercise after the weekend.

This morning Budd and Brenda and us packed up and after one last bowling game left for home around 11 AM.

We arrived home after 5 PM with a car loaded with stuff. What a wonderful week at Cindy and Gary’s house and what great “Hot August Night’s”. Thanks Cindy and Gary for a great week, good food and better friendship. Looking forward to next year.


PS: I elected to not post any photos because of the "Mature Nature" of the subjects involved in this weekends Hot August Nights.

On Vacaction

Location, Walnut Creek, CA

On Tuesday we drove to Walnut Creek. The drive took about 6 hours with stops for coffee, gas, and lunch. It is actually an easy drive with the car. We averaged 25.9 MPG which is good as there is no way to maintain a set speed because most drivers still want to go fast and the heck with fuel mileage.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we drove to the Mendocino wine country of Anderson Valley. We stopped in Healdsburg at Rodney Strong winery for a taste and then went to lunch in downtown at HBG for a sandwich. We ate outside as the temperature was perfect. In fact, the temperature was perfect all day.

We drove to Boonville and Philo. In Philo we stopped at Scharffenberger which is known for their champagne’s and had a taste or two and also bought a bottle of their Brut for later consumption.

A side story here: years ago son Craig worked for a man who had a ranch near Philo and did trenching for the wineries when they installed irrigation pipes. The lady at the winery knew everyone locally including many of our friends who live in the surrounding area but did not know Craig. It was a nice to talk to her and find out who was doing what. Oh, the man Craig worked for sold his ranch to Kendall Jackson, the big wine retailer in California. And so it goes.

By the time we started back home it was getting late so we stopped for Mexican food. It was a short evening as we all headed to bed.

No pictures today as I forgot my camera. Bummer.