Thanksgiving weekend ends, diet starts tomorrow (or Tuesday, or...)

SACRAMENTO, California, USA - The wonderfully long Thanksgiving weekend is almost over. Adm. Fox and I just finished a dinner of leftovers with Dr. Pam and Steve. And tomorrow night, we might actually have to cook a complete, fresh meal.

Son Dylan helps with T-day dessert

It was fun time, with children and friends coming and going in and out of the house faster than characters in a Harold Pinter play. At times, it seemed like it was a Harold Pinter play.

Thanksgiving Day itself, we went to Steve's sister's house in Loomis where we joined with probably 40 members of the extended family for a big dinner that included pasta with a meat sauce (and venison in the pasta).

Friday, the house and yard were taken over by Christmas decorating - serious Christmas decorating. Like a general commanding her troops, Dr. Pam had various children, nephews, other relatives and friends all setting up Christmas items on the front lawn.

The pre-teenage boys especially liked hanging out of second story windows - and climbing on the roof.

Dad and Jason

By Friday afternoon, the house was decorated with the finishing touches. Electric lights went on today (Sunday).

It turned out also to be an all-family weekend for the Fox-Fitzgeralds, too. Son Dylan arrived Tuesday to help with the baking of many pies for the festivities.

Wednesday, son Jason arrived to have breakfast and fill us in on his adventures as a coach in Michigan - with snowboarding adventures to start next week in Vail, Colorado.

Sami, Grandpa Michael and Kami

And today we were able to catch up with daughter Anne at her Rancho Cordova house with husband Steve and granddaughters Sami and Kami. Sami is now slightly taller than her mother - and probably two inches taller than Adm. Fox.

At one point, three-year-old Kami asked me to read her a third book, and when I said I was too tired, she grabbed the bag of Doritos we were munching together and said, 'No reading, no chips, Grandpa.'

She probably has a future as a hostage negotiator.

Below are three photos of the Lovotti house - one sans decor, the other with.  And at the bottomw, a photo of the house all lit up. (Like a Christmas tree?)

At the top - the house at 10 a.m. then at 2 p.m and below - all lit up

Writing and receiving letters - real letters - not emails

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The mail arrived today at the post office around the corner and there, buried between political ads for California gubernatorial candidates (Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman), was a letter from my sister Anne.

A letter! And actual piece of paper, tucked neatly in a small envelope with a first class, forever stamp affixed in the corner.

A 'forever' stamp

The letter was in response to a missive I sent last week (a real letter, too), when I decided that sending electrons across cyberspace in an email to communicate was getting tiring.

Of course, writing a letter, printing it out (my handwriting is beyond atrocious), addressing an envelope and then - gasp - taking it to the post office, had its tiring moments, too. But there is something soooo satisfying about dropping a letter into the mailbox to be delivered. And it's even more satisfying when you receive a letter.

I know my granddaughters Samantha and Kami love to get mail, and from time to time, I dash off a letter, usually adding a sheet of stickers and sometimes some photos - or even toys.

My late mother wrote letters every week of her life. And at Christmas, her card list had more than 300 people - old roommates from college, relatives and professional acquaintances with whom she had become friends. Starting sometime in early November she would pen a few cards every day, sending them out with personal messages to each person, inquiring about families and health and other such things.

Not all responded, though I remember our roadside mailbox in Lakewood, New York being quite full in the spring, as people wrote her back.

For me today, the best part is holding the letter I just received, then setting it in a place of honor, from which it can be picked up and read again later. And read again.

I have a full sheet of first-class, forever stamps, waiting to be put to good use, as I type this. Perhaps it's time to leave the world of electrons and get put together another real letter.

A busy fall: teaching, grandkids, kids, amigos, music & dancing

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The fall is whizzing by - and it isn't even actually fall yet.

But since returning to Sacramento nearly four weeks ago, Admiral Fox and I have barely stood still long enough, to, well, stand still.

We've visited with our amigos and hosts, Steve and Pam, a lot, (though their schedules rival ours). We've also hit the Bay Area (where we visited with son Dylan and Dan & Lorraine Olsen), seen Chief Engineer Scott Noble and his wife, Counsel Jen Noble, several times, and as much as possible, visited with daughter Anne and family.

Last week we went to a fundraiser luau for granddaughter Sami's softball league. It was a riot, even when Sami tagged her father square in the head with a whipped cream pie tin that turned out to be a little harder on the edge than it was supposed to be.

You can see the result of her pitching arm - and how much head wounds do bleed - in this video.




Kami lifting luau game tickets - while I'm not looking


Son-in-law Steve after his turn in the pie booth

The week before that, we went to daughter Anne's casa in Rancho Cordova for Kami's third birthday fete. It was a lot fun, and the weather cooperated to let us be outdoors for the entire evening party.

We gave Kami some percussion instruments (a drum, mariachis, tambourine, bracelets with bells, etc), much to the chagrin of her parents and other grandparents who quickly suggested that Kami bring those toys to our house, where they could reside.

No deal, we said.

Here's a short video of that party:




Kami with her birthday cake

While Admiral Fox and I have been scurrying about every day - trying to keep up with full teaching loads along with all this other fun - we have squeezed in some music and dance.

The dance has been by Adm. Fox's who has become addicted to an exercise class called Zumba. This   new dance program is getting worldwide notice. She hits three or four Zumba classes a week and has signed up to become certified as a Zumba instructor next month.

Hang on Mexico, Zumba and Adm. Fox will arrive in December.

My dancing has been limited to shuffling around our upstairs apt. most often to Frank Sinatra singing New York, New York or some other sedate tune. But I have picked up the ukulele plenty I and hope to get back into it much more, now that life has settled down.

Settled down. Who am I kidding?

In and among all this fun, we have also been dealing, long distance, with our Mexico land problem and have moved ahead - along with a number of our neighbors in Tenacatita - to file for federal injunctions against the developer who seized the entire Tenacatita beach area, evicting 800 people in the process.

Mexican media have been covering for nearly two months as a national story. It's a land grab that is breathtaking even for Mexico. Canadian media recently ran the story, too. So far, despite all my contacts in the American press, no major newspaper or wire service has picked it up.

Too busy chronicling the hijinks of the Tea Party, I suppose.

But for people interested in a relatively depressing update, well, here's the link:

LINK: Vancouver Sun on the Tenacatita takeover

Settling in and getting ready (not!) for the first day of school

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - So, rather than preparing the first set of lectures for this week's classes, it seemed infinitely more advisable to tap out another blog entry about the last few days here in Sacramento.

The lectures will come to me Monday, when classes start, I'm sure.

We have almost completely moved into our new digs in an area known in Sacramento as the Fabulous 40s, not because everyone who lives there is, well, in their fab 40s, but because the houses are well-maintained, most often huge and generally, very cool casas.


Dr. Pam's casa - and now ours, too, until December

It is the type of neighborhood where our Lexus (safely stored in New York) would be a better fit than my 1990 Nissan pickup truck (parked out front in the photo above). But it's a very friendly group of people living in the area, and early in the morning, you have to step lively to not bump into all the people walking their pooches around, or get run over by a jogger listening to music on an IPod.

Until the late 1990s, Admiral Fox and I lived about 12 blocks from our current living space and so moving back into the neighborhood is a return to old times.

We walked by our old house Saturday and were shocked at the growth of a two-feet high tree planted out front when Dustin (now 30) was about 14 or 15. When we left it was about 8 feet tall. And we were told the tree would grow fast.

Jack and the Beanstalk would be proud of how fast this tree shot up.


The Admiral with the tree planted by Dustin

But perhaps the highlight of the past week was going out for lunch with daughter Anne and granddaughter Kami. Kami is about to turn three years old. And we already have some birthday presents in hand for her soiree next week.

But we did give her a magic wand, a light stick and a ballerina outfit when we saw her. And, of course, she entertained the entire restaurant.


Kami modeling Grandma Sylvia's glasses


Dressed in her tutu

We hope to catch up with our other, more elusive, granddaughter, Samantha, in the next few days, though with her school and sports schedule, we will likely end up at one of her softball practice sessions.

And that would be fun, too.

Several days of All Family - All the Time in Sacramento

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The first hint of what was about to happen was when son Dustin Fox called from Puerto Vallarta and said he and spouse Cami and daughter Sasha had decided to come to the U.S. for a 10-day vacation, to visit us - and to escape the insufferable heat of coastal Mexico this time of the year.

Then, because they were coming, son Jason Fitzgerald, (temporarily ensconced in nearby Chico, Calif.), decided to drive south to Sacramento for a visit, too.

And rounding out the family reunion was daughter Anne Fitzgerald Allen and her daughter Kami who live in nearby Rancho Cordova.

All we were missing was son Dylan Fox (who lives in the Berkeley, Calif. area) and Anne's other daughter, Samantha (who was always at softball practice when we were having get togethers) and Anne' husband Steve. We will try to remedy that next week and get everyone together for a farewell soiree before the Mexico Fox family heads back to Puerto Vallarta.


Jason, Michael, and Dustin


Jason, Michael and Sasha

It was a great couple of days, getting the Mexico contingent hooked up with cousins and brothers and sisters and... We almost needed a flow chart to figure it all out.

And one upshot is that after two days of hearing tales of Mexico (and surfing, most likely), son Jason is planning a foray south this winter, either for a short vacation, or for the whole season.

Beach volleyball in La Manzanilla will never be the same. I don't know anyone else who carries around professional volleyball gear everywhere he goes.


Sasha Fox and Kami Allen, the cousins

Below is a short movie of one family dinner in Sacramento - at a Mexican restaurant of course - followed a by short clip of Jason with one of his two much-beloved dogs who travel with him everywhere.

Car crashes, classes and city clatter - welcome home!

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - The Admiral and I have been back in Sacramento for a little more than two weeks and already packed in two road trips (San Francisco for a birthday dinner and Camp Connell for a Four Headlamps reunion), taught two weeks worth of university classes, and dealt with matters automotive.

Because our two Mexico vehicles are in, well, Mexico, we are relying on the little red Nissan truck that I purchased new in 1990. With 105,000 miles on it, it's practically a new vehicle, except that it lacks one necessary accessory for this latitude (and this time of the year): an air conditioner.

When I bought the Nissan in February of 1990, air conditioning seemed like such a luxury. Today, driving to the university in 100-degree heat, it didn't seem so.


Nissan gets a new muffler

When we picked up the Nissan from its winter, spring and summer home at Ruth and Brian Gray's house in Murphy's it was obvious that either Brian had put on a new hot rod muffler or - and more likely - the muffler had a hole in it the size of Rush Limbaugh's mouth.

The Rush's-mouth theory won out when I inspected it and we made a quick trip to a muffler shop in South Sacramento, where we had a new muffler installed. When I went to pay the bill, I thought I had accidentally warped to Mexico. It was $53, total.


Fender bender near our Sacramento house

No matter where you live, people always seem to claim that the worst drivers in the world live there.

Sacramento is no exception, except there's evidence that people do drive like maniacs, particularly on the freeways that criss-cross the town like a tic-tac-toe board. The Admiral and I have had a few close calls, but mostly been witness to numerous cases of horns blaring, people shouting and much wild gesturing involving fingers. One fellow swerved across three lanes of traffic to shout at me because he thought I was going to swerve into his lane.

Three lanes!

Luckily, we have two bicycles (my ancient KHS and a borrowed unit from Sanders Lamont) to provide most of our local transit. Less time on the freeway and less wild gesturing of fingers and shouting will be good.


One of my classes at CSU, Sacramento

Admiral Fox has already started her countdown-to-Mexico calendar, now that we have two Sacramento weeks behind us. I'm a little more sanguine and won't get really excited for, say, another week or two.

Part of the reason is my four classes are taking up much of my attention - as they always do at the outset of the semester. But the other is we are seeing our granddaughters Sami and Kami more and they are a hoot to be with.

This morning I spent an hour chatting with daughter Anne while granddaughter Kami decorated my head with her collection of plastic bugs.


Kami at her birthday party last week

I will really miss her decorative skills this winter and spring while I'm in Mexico and real bugs are climbing on my head.

But that's, oh, three months from now.

Not a World Series game, but plenty of action anyway

ROCKLIN, Calif., USA - The Priority One text message came through at 8:30 a.m. this morning: The softball tournament was on for this morning, with granddaughter Samantha's team set to play at least one game, maybe three if they won the first two.

Yikes. Put down the Sunday paper and grab the shoes.

That news put a spin on things because we figured that the team was out of the running in the girl's softball tournament held in Rocklin's Lone Tree park, when we didn't hear Saturday night after the first round of games concluded. But as today was the last set of games of the entire season, we kicked into gear, packing cameras, sunscreen and roared up Interstate 80 to the ballpark.

(The roaring part was a lot of fun. Gawd, I wish I had some lights and a siren on my pickup truck.)

The 30-acre park is a sports nut's dreamscape with beautiful softball and baseball facilities, and a professional-style snack bar that was busy most of the day selling hot dogs, hamburgers and enough Coca-Cola to give the jitters to the entire population of Northern California. I had two Supersized Cokes (along with a cheeseburger and Doritos) and expect to see what kind of late night programming there is on Sundays. And maybe I'll check out the sunrise, too...


Snack bar menu

We arrived mid-way through the first game, immediately scooping up our other granddaughter, Kami, who was toddling about on her 13-month-old legs with various girls from the softball team shepherding her so she wouldn't get into too much trouble while her mom (daughter Anne) attended to the team in the dugout, one eye on the field, the other on the ever-toddling Kami.


The Captain and Kami read while the game goes on


The Admiral on stroll patrol with Kami

The games went fast - really fast - but unfortunately neither broke in favor of Samantha's team, coached by her dad, Steve. Samatha got several good hits, made several great plays (ok, I'm her grandfather, but damnit, they were good). The rest of her team played very well too, losing to girls teams, the members of which looked like they were an average of 30 pounds heavier.

And most of that extra weight seemed to be muscle.


Samantha at third base, right before she scores a run


Coach Steve huddles before the play


The pitcher's mom yells some encouragement

It was a beautiful warm day, maybe our last warm weekend of the summer as the forecasters are now calling for a chance of rain, falling temperatures and really cold weather in the mountains by the end of this coming week.

That might put a crimp in our plans to take the Grey Goose Express II to the mountains next weekend for a trial run. Perhaps a lowland expedition will be a better choice.

In the meantime, I have several huge files of video taken today at the game to go through. But below is a sample, the first segment of which shows Samantha getting a single.