Amy invited us to come up to Austerlitz, New York, to see their new house, on the first day of Spring. It was still on the chilly side for a while longer in the northeast.
It is a modern colonial-style home in the forest.
The long winter had stripped all the leaves from the woods, giving it that stark, bare trees beauty.
Their pond was still frozen, as were most other ponds we saw on long walks.
Amy and Lukas share their house with three roommates, which I find comforting when Amy occasionally works remotely from up there while Lukas is at his job in New Jersey.
Topaz, who has been one of Lukas's best friends since childhood, made me delicious cappuccinos on request during our stay. His girlfriend Olivia and Lukas's sister Rabea complete their household. There is still has plenty of space for guests.
For one meal, we drove to Dan's Diner, a cool railroad-car conversion just a couple of miles up the road. While Julie and I went with a burger and fries for this lunch, I noted that sausage gravy boiling on the stove smelled good. Lukas's egg platter looked delicious.
For dinner one evening, we drove about twenty minutes on a backroad to a pub in Hillside, Roe Jan Brewing Co. It reminded a lot of a restaurant I happened to see in the Adam Sandler movie "Grown Ups" a few weeks later on a plane ride. Great brews and meals.
Julie and I returned to California in April, beginning in San Diego.
Landing at noon, we joined Darlene and Brooks for lunch on the harbor.
I worry that I share too many personal details in this blog about family, who really don't sign up to be featured.
Suffice it to say that we enjoyed a wonderful stay with great meals, lovely walks, me playing guitar (fun for me, at least), shared movies or "Simon & Simon" re-runs on the big screen TV, stirring discussions --- Saved the world again! You're welcome! --- and all the joy that comes with being around loved ones.
Any time we're in San Diego, it is nice to simply be in San Diego, especially with family.
While Darlene worries it is growing too fast, there's still a nice chill vibe in their hometown.
Darlene cooked some great meals at home and we also dined out sometimes.
Julie's sister Jacque and her oldest daughter Kendra came over for a walk on the harbor and lunch at the Ketch. Great meals and micro-brews to go with lovely harbor views are the norm.
We always say we don't want to stay so long that we become like stinking fish left on the counter too long, but it always feels surprising to realize that it can possibly be time to leave already.
That time came as it always does, and we were sorry to leave but happy to be going to visit our son's family.
We were warmly welcomed for our stay in Santa Monica.
I'll try to avoid a laundry list of "and then we did this..."
A highlight was a trip to Duke's Malibu for lunch, where reservations scored us a great table by the window with waves crashing on the rocks and the deep blue sea beyond that.
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| No, that's not Julie in the blue hat taking charge. |
George Costanza was not among them, but they managed to coax the sea lion into the net so he could be hauled to safety, presumably being reintroduced into the sea when it overcomes the trauma.
Formula One Racing is a passion for Jay, Sasha and Owen. The Long Beach Grand Prix proved to be irresistible this year. I went to a pre-race expo at the Long Beach Convention Center a few years back on a race weekend, but this was our first time actually being at the race.
Jay and Sasha booked a hotel day-pass with cabana at a rooftop pool overlooking the track. We could see the cars speed around the corner, but mostly we heard the growls of their engines as we enjoyed the pool.
At the Singapore Grand Prix a few years back, Jay proposed to Sasha while staying at a similar hotel. How could she say no?
After a couple of hours enjoying cabana life and dunks in the pool, Jay, Sasha and Owen headed over to the track to visit the paddock, which ended up requiring race tickets.
Julie and I stayed with Rory at the hotel on a picture-perfect day. As happens frequently when I take time off, I had a cruise call that took me inside for longer than expected to help a client with his air for a cruise. Rory awakened while I was away, but Julie soldiered on. Rory is a very sweet, calm baby.
At the time we were traveling around Southern California revisiting our roots, Laszlo took his father on a special father-son trip to visit their family roots in Hungary and Slovakia. Another trip of a lifetime!
Can there ever be too many of those? I think not.
While Laszlo was in Europe, we were pleased when Amy told us she and Lukas would be coming for a visit to celebrate the birthdays of Amy and Gina. We had high hopes this visit might be pregnant with additional meaning.
As it turned out, it was. Amy and Lukas are expecting a baby sometime around Thanksgiving! What a great early Mother's Day (and Father's Day) present!
On Mother's Day, Gina, Emma and Laszlo hosted a lovely brunch on the lawn of their condo complex.
They had many tasty dishes, including baked oatmeal with blueberries, fresh fruit bowl, deviled eggs and cauliflower cheddar bake.
It was a beautiful day for a walk, more like we expect Spring to be.
We had many hikes and walks, as usual, mostly just Julie and me, but sometimes with Gina and Laszlo joining in.
Julie and I returned to Gladwyne to hike. It's a short but lovely ride away from home and offers shady trails on warm days.
We were surprised to see ourselves of the cover of our glossy neighborhood magazine, Stroll.
The cover and a story within commemorated an outing hosted by the magazine where we enjoyed a delicious wok meal and watched some of our neighbors make candles in downtown Ardmore.
Emma's skating rink put on an entertaining Spring show.
Each of the seven girls in Emma's act took a solo, and Emma's was graceful and beautiful.
American Airlines and Prague invited us to attend a cocktail party and presentation announcing the initiation of non-stop flights between Philadelphia and Prague, so Julie and I road the Mainline train into Centre City for a night on the town.
The event was held in The Union League of Philadelphia Club, a handsome building I've walked past many times wondering what it would be like inside.
It's very stately, patriotic and beautiful. It was quite an honor to be there.
The presentations about Prague made us want to return. A video featuring author Dan Brown capped the presentation. His new book, The Secret of Secrets. It's another great book by the author of The Da Vinci Code, and it made me want to return to Prague all the more.
I had a Cheesesteak Sandwich, which was tasty and huge. I took almost half of it home to have for lunch the next day. Julie ordered a slice of pizza. It tasted great to me, but Julie didn't like the charring on the crust, which is something Portnoy loves.
As crazy as it may seem, we returned to California again in June, once again kicking off our stay in San Diego staying with Brooks, Darlene, BG3, Rizo and Teddy.
As usual, we did all the things we love to do with them, including feast on delicious meals, including homemade Mexican food with all freshly-cut fixings.
The main reason for our return to California was Owen's third birthday party.
We veered from the pre-sorted gift list to buy Owen a big rocket that counts down and releases steam as it blasts off in the hands of a well-trained astronaut. It came with a space shuttle and two little astronauts. Owen loved it, taking it along when we went to King's Head for a celebratory dinner on his actual birthday.
We soon found ourselves on the baseball field. Owen had been to a Dodgers-Phillies game with his dad a few days earlier, so he sat in the stands and instructed me to go on the field and play "basketball." I knew what he meant.
There happened to be a ball there, so I took a windup and tossed it softly at the backstop. That was enough being a spectator. Owen got to his feet and said now he would be the pitcher and I would stand with an invisible bat the way he demonstrated to hit the ball.
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| This is actually at the beach park near their house. |
After playing a while, I looked at my watch and realized people might arrive soon, so we headed back to the table to greet early arrivals.
Two older boys were playing soccer nearby. Owen ran over to join them. At first, they ignored him, but when he persistently kept after the ball despite their tricky dribbling and passes kicked past him, which would have discouraged most kids, Owen stayed with it. Eventually, the big kids let him join the game.
Soon, the party was in full swing. Baby Rory had roseola (we think) or an allergic reaction to vaccines he had recently been given, so he was to be quarantined as an "ET," in the custody of Nana and Granddad. So, we had a nice time holding him during the party, separated from all the kids and their parents.
The party was a bit hit, with lots of donuts, bagels and cupcakes eaten. The oddest thing to me was that the most popular drink among the Xer parents seemed to be Kombucha, which I find disgusting. I was happy to have a canned Starbucks iced coffee.
Before dinner on the night of his actual birthday, Sasha and Paige took Owen to the arcade on the Santa Monica Pier. Everything was meant for kids a few years older, but Owen seemed to enjoy pretending to play.
His favorite seemed to be the kind of stationary riding toy that I liked at Los Altos Shopping Center when I was his age, although the ones I liked best were horses or emergency vehicles. I actually liked the fresh, aromatic loaf of bread from the Los Altos bakery even more.
took his battery-powered BMW convertible out for a spin around the rose garden at the beach park, delighting lots of folks beside us.
This time, we stayed at the Sovereign Hotel, which we thoroughly enjoyed, both because it had a very cool feel of historic Los Angeles and because it is an easy walk from Jay's house.
I did the standing portion of my morning exercise routines in the hotel's patio area, and the more prone portions on the rug in the lobby. Few passed me, and nobody objected.
The hotel also provided beach towels for the lounge chairs and going to the beach. While not a full-service resort stay, the hotel provided what we needed. We took advantage of the chance to go to the sand and at least dip our feet in the water one day while Owen was in pre-school.
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| Lunch on the Sand |
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| Sunday Children's Time at Park |
On Sunday, we all waked to Palisades Park for a casual Sunday church service. I believe it was Baha'i. In any case, parents read books to the children and we all sang songs.
When the song leader asked what song to sing, assuming it would be one from the sheet he had handed out, Owen said, "You Are My Sunshine," a song from a musical book Darlene and Brooks gave him. It turned out to be the only song all the grandparents attending knew, and Owen led the singing with a big smile.
Upon returning home, we were soon off to Gina and Laszlo's home to celebrate granddaughter Emma's 16th birthday..
Laszlo's parents Ria and Z joined us, and we had a nice visit over the weekend, including games of Tripoley and singing a few Paul Simon songs with my guitar backing.
My guess is Emma was looking forward to going with her friends at Suburban Square to celebrate as teens.
Life continued in California after we left. Jay and Sasha went to the Budweiser sponsored kick-off party for the World Cup on the Santa Monica Pier on the evening we flew home. They said that was a terrific event.
Then, a couple of days later, they went to a concert starring Sasha's all-time favorite Beatle, Ringo Starr.
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| Yes, that is Ringo next to Jay's boss and Jay in front. |
It pays to work in the music industry!
Summer soon arrived in Philly, and within a week, the heat made that obvious.
