Retirement Surprise

For about the past 4 years my dad's response to "when are you going to retire"? was "This year..." only to be followed by another year of work.  However, mid 2011 something changed, and despite the date rolling forward from September to November and eventually into February of 2012, he finally officially retired. I fully appreciate the difficulty of leaving a secure job and believe me, the loss of routine can be a frightening thing for us Caetanos, but I wanted to see my dad retire because, darn it, it was time the man stopped having to go to work! 

In an unbeknownst to him celebration of his actual retirement Jonathan and I, along with my mom, planned a secret weekend trip to Alameda.  We arrived later than desired, but safe and sound via cab from the airport on Friday night and entered the house from the back.  My mom called out to my dad, "Jerr, look what I found in the back".  When he walked into the hallway he stared for a moment at our silly mugs and said "where'd you come from?" with a faint smile.  "Surprise!!", we replied back as he looked back and forth between us and my mom.  Fully aware that exuberant surprise doesn't run deep in the Caetano blood I was happy to see his disguised shock at our presence.

 We woke the next day to gray skies and rain showers that soaked Alameda all day Saturday and into Sunday but being determined to enjoy this celebration weekend we loaded into the trusty suburban and made our way across the island to check out a Pinball Museum. My initial research on the museum's website had me thinking it was akin to you're average museum for touring, so I was pleasantly surprised when we arrived and the admission covered an hour and a half of all you could play pinball! The first of 3 rooms included original pinball games from the 1950s but as you wandered deeper into the museum the machines spanned the generations all the way up to today's pinball machines. Having watched a pinball documentary Jonathan informed us that when pinball games were first developed they were considered games of chance and therefore a form of gambling so they were declared illegal to play. Soon thereafter someone developed and implemented the button operated flippers in order to bring about an element of skill to the game which allowed for their legalization.

                                                                                                                                                      

We all enjoyed about an hour of play, crisscrossing through various rooms which contained varying stages of pinball machine development.  It was fascinating how the art changed and the speed increased as the years and technology advanced. Jonathan noticed that the earlier models provided 6 balls for a certain price which eventually transitioned to 3 balls for the same if not higher price, and it certainly wasn't difficult to recognize that with increased speed/bells and whistles and decreased pinballs, the likelihood of spending more money, faster, greatly increased with newly developed machines. Tricky machine manufacturers.

With the buzzers and bells of pinball still faintly ringing in our ears we headed home to unwind until dinner.  We had reservations at a well known German restaurant in Alameda that I'd heard great things about for years but had never tried. Its a shame we hadn't been to this restaurant until now because it was fantastic!  Dad and Jonathan enjoyed wild bore, I had a pork chop that was out of this world (and I'm not much of a chop fan), Mo said her chicken was terrific and Mom was quite pleased with her pork cutlet. The sides for each plate were similar, mashed potatoes, or spätzle, a side salad with beets and my favorite, some delicious sauerkraut. A round of various scrumptious desserts finished off our celebratory dinner and well all made our way home very full and very satisfied.

Jonathan and I were scheduled to depart OAK around 4 PM so we concluded our visit by going on a short walk about the neighborhood, hanging out and chatting, and sorting through a few childhood things.  The final leg of our trip, our return to Phoenix was annoyingly delayed but none the less we arrived home safely and were quite happy to pick up Jackson and return to the kitties.  I don't pretend that my dad's retirement will be filled with transatlantic adventures but am nonetheless happy for him to have finally retired and wish him enjoyment and occasional relaxation in all his new found free time.  Adjustment may be a little bit of a challenge, but sans any mandated schedules, I think he just might find a way to enjoy life, be it in California, Idaho or the desert we call home.

Here are a few more pics from our pinball adventures.



Interesting





I loved the sassy art styles



Creepy!



Nice attention to Deco detail



One of the originals



Jack and Lola 



Jack playing camera shy



Washington DC

About two weeks back I had the opportunity to return to the Nation’s capital for an entire week for work. I arrived late Sunday night and following an excessive wait for my bag at the carousal, my rage was quickly relieved upon crossing the Potomac and seeing familiar federal buildings, museums, monuments and the cherry trees blossoming to their heart’s content.

Luckily I didn’t have to get to work until 9 the next morning so I enjoyed a quick walk around before finding my work building. The gorgeous brownstones wrapping around ¾ of the Logan circle weaken my West Coast knees. I am Californian to the bone but would be lying if I said I didn’t miss the breathtaking brownstones of DC. The bright white cherry blossoms overwhelming the trees in front of the buildings simply added to their iconic perfection. I was delighted as I started making my way to work to realize that I wouldn’t be needing my light jacket. In fact the weather was so fantastic for the entire week that I never once wore my jacket while out and about. I know this type of weather is rare for the area, but it sure made my memories of the area that much more fond.

Monday evening I made my way to Alexandria to visit with Beth, James and their daughter Kendal who had recently turned 2 years old. When Beth and Kendal picked me up from the metro stop Kendal eyed me silently as if trying to figure out just what I was doing in her car. Beth showed me a movie of a wildly excited Kendal from before my arrival which included questions of where I was and even a hooray + wild leg kick of joy, yet despite this prior excitement, Kendal remained silent for the entire ride home. While James and Beth and I caught up Kendal continued her analysis and it wasn’t until I sat down on the floor to get to her level that she started warming up. I was starting to worry my kid charm was wearing off but by the end of the evening she let me read a few pages from one of her books and was excited to show me her room before being put to bed. I very much enjoyed my visit and was grateful to have finally met Ms. Kendal.

Tuesday after work I decided to enjoy the evening solo and made my way to the tidal basin to check out the cherry blossoms with the a couple thousand other tourists. The blossoms were simply beautiful. Bright, colorful, filling the basin with life and the joy of spring. I snapped a few photos, admired the Jefferson memorial from afar and sauntered back towards the metro remembering an evening about 5 years ago when I met Jonathan at the Smithsonian stop to enjoy a walk down the mall before he proposed in front of the Capital building. Oh DC, how I love thee.

 

Wednesday afternoon I walked to the law office where I worked while we lived in the area to say hello and extend my gratitude to the office manager who gave me a change into the IT world. I’ll admit I couldn’t remember what floor the office was on in the building and after about 4 attempts was happy to see a familiar face when the elevator doors opened. We chatted for a few moments before she informed me they were having a happy hour on the building’s roof and invited me up to join. I wasn’t expecting such a celebrated return, but was delighted for such a fantastic opportunity to catch up with so many people. Nearly closing down the deck party I headed out to meet up with the one and only Erin McIntyre from Rutgers.

Erin and I swam together at Rutgers and she is now attending GW to get her degree as a PA. I am admittedly far removed from the current Rutgers Swimming/Diving team and had mixed feelings when she filled me in on the current teams season as well as overall transition since I graduated. It was also nice to swap classmate/teammate stories and learn what others are up to. I consider myself fortunate to have such a collection of friends from my various life phases and very much enjoyed my visit with Erin.

For my last evening in DC I had the opportunity to visit with one of my best buddies, Ta. Ms. Tamara and I have been friends since about 8 years old, having met on the Alameda Alligators swim team. Despite living in different states and at times not seeing each other for years, reunions are always easy and seamless. The true sign of a fantastic friend who I absolutely cherish. We enjoyed dinner, and discussed life, life and more life and as always I wish we’d had more time to hang out.

Around 3PM on Friday I metro’d my way to the airport for my trip back home. Despite my final destination not being Phoenix, I met up with Jonathan in Sky Harbor to board another flight to Oakland. Surprise Dad retirement trip to be continued…

More trip photos in the slide show to the right!

Tooth troubles

Wednesday evening when Jonathan arrived home from work we decided to entertain Jackson with a little game of fetch in the backyard. The weather was in the high 70s if not low 80s, and the spring blossoms made the air pleasantly sweet. From beneath the shade of Maurice’s diagonal trunk Toby approached where we were sitting via his kitty crab run next to Jackson as he returned the ball for another toss. While crouched in greeting to Toby Jonathan noticed a little bit of blood on his lip. I didn’t think too much of it since Toby is an avid hunter and/or scavenger, consistently bringing home dead animals and the occasional random wing. However, upon closer inspection Jonathan noticed a broken tooth!

Unlike with most kitty tooth breaks Toby had managed to break a rear tooth, instead of the more commonly chipped or broken front fang. To make matters worse it appeared that he managed to break it pretty close to the gum line. The cha-chings of feline dental procedures echoed softly in my head while I continued my internet research. Of course I was concerned with Mr. Toby’s health and comfort but he appeared somewhat unaffected by the broken tooth since he had enough energy to mess with Jackson as well as gobble down his dinner.

The next morning I managed to get Toby into one of the carriers and loaded him into the Cooper. Despite making a 3 day near cross country trip without so much as a peep, he is alsway quick to protest the anticipated trip to the vet. He was surprisingly calm and relatively loving when I let him out of the carrier in the exam room, but this euphoria didn’t last long. As if in anticipation of the vet’s arrival a switch flipped and Toby went into crazy stress mode. I attempted to lift him from the floor to the table and not only lost that battle but also a little skin and blood in the tussle.

After covering him with some thick towels and lifting him to the table the vet was eventually able to sooth him enough to check out his teeth. Turns out our little Mr. Toby had a wicked cavity which likely caused a weakness in the tooth resulting in a break from whatever random bone Toby gnawed on that evening. The dreaded tooth extraction was scheduled for the next morning. Poor Toby was going to have to go under for his dental routine, and we would be providing painkillers and antibiotics for the days to follow. I dropped a very annoyed cat back home before heading back to work for the remainder of the afternoon. As to be expected, he was none too happy to see me return later that evening and managed to avoid all petting and eye contact attempts until after he finished his dinner.

The following morning Jonathan dropped Toby off at the vet on his way to work. The vet would be performing an extraction of the broken tooth, an additional dental inspection and dental cleaning, as well as some blood work to be sure Toby was in good health. Around 4 PM I got the call that Toby was safely out of surgery. Very groggy but ok. He was apparently pretty cooperative and even allowed for blood to be drawn before being put under but started to get a little feisty shortly thereafter. During the exam the vet found a second tooth, (same tooth, but on the right side) that had a nasty little cavity and also had to be extracted. The remainder of his teeth cleaned up well and his blood work showed a very healthy kitty. They noted that his blood pressure was consistently little low and that he had a slightly slower pulse than expected, but again very healthy overall. Seeing that Toby can be quite a crate fighter they ended up placing him back in his carrier with some blankets before the anesthesia wore off. He was still a bit groggy when I picked him up at 6 and after I let him out in the house, he remained noticeably shaken. He roamed from hiding place to hiding place, not wanting to be bothered and clearly not feeling well.

As soon as allowed I gave Toby his first dose of pain killers. I hadn’t expected immediate results but literally within minutes he perked up. He stopped hiding, was content to hang out with us in the living room as well as hop up into the cat stand, and felt good enough to attend to some much needed self grooming as well as Jackson harassment. The following morning he proved to be on the road to recovery with some early Saturday morning “feed me” harassment including some voice altered meows, most likely the result of not opening his mouth fully. After breakfast and some painkillers Toby seemed to enjoy a pretty normal Saturday inside including a little play time and Sydney harassing.

Despite a costly vet bill I’m glad Jonathan noticed the broken tooth and that we were able to get the situation resolved and Toby back in good health. He appears to be making a speedy recovery and will likely be off the pain meds as of Sunday night.

** Toby update as of Tuesday... all is well and he back to his usual fiesty self, minus a few teeth.

Marrrrrrrmalade (the pirate version of marmalade)

This year we had a pretty good harvest from our solitary Grapefruit tree, and thanks to our mini bumper crop I had to come up with a more waistline friendly consumption method than continuing to make grapefruit pound cakes. The next best option, marmalade.  I found many a recipe online and finally settled on one that included a mix of honey, sugar, grapefruit, and ginger. Sounds like a reasonable Sunday project right?

We started Sunday with a little run/Jackson walk, worked on our concrete walkway and eventually made our way to Home Depot to check out some potential bathroom counter top tiles.  I was pleasantly surprised when I noticed the new addition to the over sized Venus flytrap at at the HD entrance, but unfortunately the tile was a bit of a let down.

 

Once we got back home I started on my marmalade.  After the honey and sugar came to a boil I added the microplaned ginger, grapefruit zest and the tart contents of 8 grapefruits.  While I cleaned and sanitized the glass bottles the contents of the pot steadily boiled, thickening and finally reached the desired temperature of 210 degrees. 

  

 

   

After scooping the potentially hazardous burning gu into the bottles Jonathan helped me tighten the lids before placing them in the boiling water.  This is the point at which Jonathan questioned. "Could these explode?".  I honestly had not thought of this but since I wasn't sure, I suggested we take a step back.

After 10 minutes I pulled the jars out of the water and placed them on a towel to cool.  Apparently the test for a proper seal is if you press the center of the lid and it doesn't bounce back, the jar has sealed; however, if it does bounce back, well you've got quite a bit of marmalade to consume in a short amount of time.

 

While waiting for the marmalade to cool we enjoyed a little chill time in our backyard. I sat with Jackson on one of the lounge chairs while Jonathan provided a little musical entertainment. Just before we were about to head in Toby sauntered up from the back gate with a small feathery gift. Nothing too extreme, but its the thought that counts.

 I didn't end up trying the marmalade until the next day and boy oh boy is it grapefruity and mighty thick. Sometimes, and I do emphasize, SOMETIMES, I get a sweet bite of a delicious homemade marmalade, but for a majority of the time I'm reminded why grapefruits are more often than not sugared before consumed. Seeing that this batch is a bit too intense for my taste I've starting to brainstorm with my mom some additional ingredients that I can be mixed into cut the tang of the grapefruit..



Yum



  

Our time outside also included a visit from a little hummingbird.

LA LA land

I spent 4 out of 5 days this past work week enjoying a taste of California.  I'm a Bay Area girl to the bone, but any time spent, pretty much anywhere in California warms my heart and reminds me how much I heart the state.  Seeing that I was in town for work purposes I didn't get to many free time activities, but was able to take in some sights and a few pictures during my stay.

I stayed on the 14th floor of a swanky hotel on Wilshire Blvd and could even catch a glimpse of the Pacific ocean! The style of the hotel was such that had I wanted to dawn a robe while hanging out in my room my choices were Zebra print or Leopard print.  The exotic robes were fitting for the massive red pocket door that served as the bathroom door.

To get to work each day I walked though a lovely neighborhood.  I didn't go off my map's path knowing I'd get lost, since even with the map in hand I tended to walk the opposite direction before noticing that my little dot was no longer on the designated path. Thank goodness for technology.  I didn't take as many pictures as I could have but tried to focus on some of the more interesting homes and items I came across.  The area was so beautifully Californian with a wide variety of house and apartment styles, gorgeous lush and colorful landscaping and people who smiled and said hello as you passed.

                                                                                       
On my final day in LA I had the chance to make a house visit to set up some equipment in Santa Monica.  I can't say for sure if I've ever been to Santa Monica before, but its an interesting place.  Lost of packed in homes and 1970s color inspired apartments.  Somehow the funny light pink and even lighter pink accent works out there.  Due to a little drama I actually had the chance to make it out to Santa Monica twice, but sadly both times I didn't make it to the beach.  It was so darn close but a beach visit just wasn't in the cards, nor on the work schedule.

  
I flew back to Phoenix on Thursday evening and, as always, was very happy to return home to Jonathan, a very happy and wiggly Mr. Jackson and the kitties. In just over a week I'll be making my way to DC for another work adventure.  I'm very much looking forward to returning to the area and catching up with some good friends while in town.

(Below are a few more pictures from my morning walks to work)