thanks to Mike and Kaaren Hack for the ride up and to Rochelle and Steve Hall for the ride back ... to and from the "new" house of the Biggams in San Andreas. it's not as far as i thought. and there are several shortcuts that work well. thanks to Scott for letting me sleep in his room (very generous).
in the year of events, the Biggams have traditionally organized the summer event, in recent years a baseball game at Noble School, across the street from their house in San Jose. in November they moved to this wonderful new house with a fabulous view out the back deck. lots of food, lots of drink, lots of good companionship.
a stalwart band of hikers navigated to Natural Bridge, off Parrots Ferry Road, and trekked down the hill (billed at .7 mi) to caves that, had we worn bathing suits, we could have actually done some swimming thru the cavern. i did get some interesting photos of the ceiling. the water was cold. the way back always seems shorter, and i think we all successfully avoided all the poison oak on both sides of the trail.
this morning was a caravan into Murphys, a cute small town with a great sense of history (we visited the museum), good food and the Ironstone Winery, now host to a variety of top name concerts (Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Boz Scaggs, of that caliber) with a 44 pound piece of crystalline gold, the largest such specimen in the world. a small museum, gift shop, deli and downstairs banquet hall with an incredible pipe organ. thanks to Becky a docent who realized we missed the tour. you can also see the "caves" with fermenting tanks and barrels. quite a place! maybe there is a concert in our future...
tissue alert:
i had given the book of "Linda stories" to Lisa last night, but she put off reading until this afternoon. she read a few of them and couldn't continue. her comment was "this is just wrong!" with Linda not with us (physically). Lisa was especially taken by the comments of Liz Pittel:
"Linda was a force to be reckoned with ... her wonderful beaming smile, her quick wit and undeniable intelligence, her great big loving heart, her fantastic advice, and most of all, her wonderful spirit will ALWAYS be carried in my heart. i think of her often and smile. her phlysical presence shall be missed, but she sahll never be forgotten. she has made her imprint on us all and we are all the better for it."
it was pretty emotional moment. and still is.
in the car on the way home, Rochelle and i were discussing an assignment in one of her classes: what is family? as it turns out, the blood relationship that one might ordinarily assume was the basis of family is important, but far less so than the people we choose to have in our lives. the really important stuff is connection, trust, responsibility, and the love we feel. at several points in the weekend, the group was asked if we were related. after 20 years, i think it's pretty clear that we are family.
thank you all, dear EPPNS friends, for your love and support. this was the best of all possible places to be to mark 3 months, 13 weeks, since Linda left us. and as Lisa pointed out, it just wasn't right without Linda, who had wanted to come visit the new house. so we just needed to experience it all on her behalf: the hummingbirds, the delicious food, the camaraderie, the crossword puzzle and sudoku, the leisurely walk in Murphys. it's all on us now.
found a new book: "The Gift of Grief: finding peace, transformation and renewed life after great sorrow," by Matthew D. Gewirtz. i had seen it referenced in the URJ Torah commentary last week, and this was nice and auspicious. Gewirtz is a rabbi. stay tuned for excerpts.
