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Well it has been a long time since the last post, but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening. Val and I drove to Panama City Beach to stay in the condo that is in the Sally Family Trust--I call it Sally's Condo. We were there about three weeks, but I had to fly back to Houston for a couple of days for a board meeting at Lexicon, the small biotech company that I have been associated with for the last 10 years or so. The condo was in good shape after a year of rentals, but there were still a lot of "chores" to do to make it perfect in our eyes. But the weather was gorgeous in 70's and low 80's and the water was about 80 degrees. The beaches in the panhandle of Florida are so beautiful. Don't get me wrong, I love the Pacific and the So. Cal beaches, but the beaches at Panama City Beach are so pristine white, the sand is so much finer that in Calif and the water is very clear. Since there is little or no surf, depending on the weather, you can see fish and other critters in the water. I saw one pretty good sized shark, lots of dolphins and rays and of course many birds.
After replacing some stuff, repairing a few things and having one wall painted, the place was perfect. We ate lots of fish and shrimp and Key Lime pie.
Jimmy and Teresa Goode came down to their condo during the time we were there and they had visitors from England--Teresa's niece Sara, nephew John, John's girlfriend and their two children. It was very fun meeting them all for the first time.
We left the condo and drove back through Lake Charles, LA and Beaumont, TX where we celebrated Val's 70th birthday with her children and grandchildren. We got back to Sugar Land on Halloween.
It has become clear to me that my back has not improved as much as I had hoped after the last epidural steroid injection--but at least I did not get fatal fungal meningitis. It is somewhat better, but I decided to see another surgeon for another opinion--this time an orthopedic surgeon. I saw him on this Monday and he confirmed the diagnosis and we discussed several options. I was encouraged by his comment that there is no urgency or medical necessity to do surgery for the degree of spine slippage that I have (grade 2 spondylolisthesis). Since I have not really had physical therapy recently, I am going to try that and see if I am improved enough to avoid surgery. I will be going today to get taught the regimen.
We heard good news yesterday that Craig and the boys will be coming here for Thanksgiving--arriving next Tuesday and staying until Saturday. They will stay in my condo in Sugar Land. We will be having dinner at Lorrie's. Val will be going to celebrate with her family but will be back in time to have another dinner with us, I hope.
Yesterday was Sally's birthday. She would have been 71. I thought about her a lot.
Well we are back in Texas--flew back a week ago. We had a lot of stuff lined up to get done--Dermatology, Dentists, and another epidural steroid injection. Had the injection a week ago and things are better but not as perfect as after the first injection 6 months ago. I hope it will improve over time. But, Yikes, the day after the injection I heard about the increasing cases of fatal fungal meningitis that had just begun being reported in several southern states. Apparently some clinics use a steroid from a compounding pharmacy in Massachusetts and some vials were contaminated with particulate matter--fungi I guess. Texas apparently had some of the vials but no cases as of now (we're all dying of West Nile virus). However, I panicked and called the office to find out the source of the stuff they injected into me. I was assured that they use a different steroid and that it was sourced from an ethical drug company. Whew! I find it hard to believe that any clinic would be using stuff that isn't regulated by FDA--maybe it's a few cents cheaper? I guess the FDA is not allowed to regulate these pharmacies--the consequence of a Republican Congress and a Conservative Supreme Court. And they want to get rid of even more regulations. Dietary supplements are already exempt (thanks to Orin Hatch) from FDA oversight. Such is life in these United States. Well--enough of that.
Val and I are driving to Panama City Beach, FL on Thursday for a couple of weeks. As you may remember, I purchased a condo there in Sally's Family Trust and it has been renting well all year. We are headed down to make sure it has all the stuff that is needed and to replace or repair any damaged items. We will be heading back at the end of the month and stopping in Beaumont where Val's children and grandchildren will be giving her a 70th birthday party. She is a halloween baby. So this is a busy time for birthday's. I think we are all somehow indebted to New Year's eve or thereabout for the action.
Since the last post, we have had a pretty quiet month. We have caught up with family and friends. We've had lunch with Boyd and Helen at Thornton Winery in Temecula, my Orange HS gang in San Clemente and next week we will have lunch with Ken and Mo in Laguna. Part of the time was spent here with workmen fixing our upper deck that had developed a lot of dry rot over the 30+ years since this place was built. They did a great job and we now feel safe out on the deck.
Today we went to the San Diego Zoo for the first time this year. I always enjoy that and it is so large that you can see something different each time you go. We spent about 3-4 hours until we got tired and came home. Next week, we hope to get out to the Wild Animal Park, which is owned by the zoo, but gives a different experience, a little like seeing the animals in the wild.
We will be flying back to Sugar Land on October 1. I will be having an epidural steroid injection again and Val has several doctor and dental appointments set up. She is also looking to purchase a house sometime this fall or winter.
We plan to go to Florida for a couple of weeks in October to check out the rental condo that is in Sally's Family Trust. We will be driving and we will overlap with Jimmy and Teresa who will be coming to Florida at the end of the October.
August began quietly as Val returned to Houston to help with some of her grandkids. After she returned, we had one more trip planned to the Pacific Northwest. So on Friday, Aug 17th we flew to Seattle and 3 days with Len and Alansa Bates. Len was my college roommate and he was in my wedding. Had a great time there - pike place market, Space Needle for Brunch, Chihuly museum (a glass artist of some renown, apparently), the salmon latter and the Ballard locks from Lake Union to the Puget sound, Anthony's for seafood, and, of course, great food and wine at Len's--really better than any restaurant.
We then rented a car and made a slow drive along the water up to Vancouver, BC to see Bob and Karen Rangno, who are old, dear friends from our time in Nashville at Vanderbilt U. We spent a lot of time catching up, seeing the sights, and eating well. Bob is a very talented sculptor (now mostly wood, but some stone as well) and he has many of his creations in his house. It was great seeing them and I hope they will visit us sometime in the near future.
We ended our trip with a visit to Jimmy and Teresa Goode, Sally's brother and sister-in-law. They live in Port Ludlow on the Olympic peninsula at the mouth of the Hood Canal with a gorgeous view. Jimmy has a boat and sets out crab traps and so he has a supply of Dungeness crabs--we had a lot of crab and good wine and brought 5 frozen crabs home to Carlsbad where we shared them with Craig, Kathie and the boys. While at Jimmy's we explored Port Washington, a very nice little town, and drove up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. We loved seeing them again and hope that we will get together with them in October when they are going to be in Panama City, FL. We hope to spend a couple of weeks there in the condo that I purchased last year as an investment.
Health wise, we survived the trips but Val's knees and my back are still problematic. I have scheduled another epidural steroid injection for the first week of October when we get back to Houston.
But it has been a fantastic summer. Busier than any I remember, and everything worked out as planned. If you want to see any of our pictures of the trip, they are here. And if you want to look at some of Bob Rangno's sculptures, they are here.
Since my last post, we have been on the go (still). We took a short trip to Central California for a "reunion" with my Stanford Eating Club (Kinda like a fraternity only better). We then went to Pinnacles National Monument for some hiking and then to Carmel for a couple of days. Then when we got home, we turned around and went to Princeton where I had a meeting (part of my retirement plan) and then a few days in NYC. We had a great time. Val had never spent much time in the City so we did touristy things--major museums, a show, Carnegie Deli, and around the island cruise on the Circle Line. The first night there we had dinner with my good friends Barry and Laura Gertz, who live on the upper west side. We stayed in a hotel on the upper west side adjacent to the Museum of Natural History. We had a great time.
Val is now back in Houston for a couple of weeks taking care of a few things and taking care of some grandkids for a while one of her daughters has a break. She will be back just in time for us to take a trip to Seattle, Vancouver and Port Ludlow. We will be visiting Len and Alansa Bates, friends of mine for over half a century. We then will see some friends in Vancouver whom I haven't seen since forever. Finally we will go and visit with Jimmy Goode, Sally's brother. I love the Northwest and am looking forward to this trip. It is the last big trip this summer, I think.
With all the traveling and walking around, my back has gotten worse. The effects of the steroid injection seem to be waning. I hope I can tough it out until I get back to Texas where I may get another injection. Or maybe it will get better on its own (optimist).
Here are some links to the photos from the above trips.
Carmel, Pinnacles, Big Apple.
A lot has happened since my last post a month ago. Val arrived from Texas and we have been busy! We took Christopher (Craig's oldest) to look at Stanford. I hadn't been back to campus for a long time and it has expanded tremendously. My old chemistry building is now all surrounded by chain link fencing and inaccessible for some reason. There are new science and engineering buildings in a new quad adjacent to the old quad, which is still the same. Stanford has an impressive art collection, particularly sculptures by Rodin. It was fun to see. I also saw some old friends that are in the Palo Alto area--I hadn't seen them since about 1968 so we were all a little older.
After that trip we went to the 50th anniversary of good friends Judy and Joel Bedford. They live in Denver and the anniversary was at a rustic resort in Saratoga, Wyoming. Sort of smoky in Denver but better in Wyoming when we arrived. Val and I had decided that we would go on the Grand Teton and Yellowstone after the anniversary. We got a place at Jackson Lake Lodge in Teton and it was just great. We took trips up to Yellowstone and also explored the Teton area. We are now back and recuperating before the next trip to Carmel next week and then NYC at the end of the month. So it has been a summer busier than any I remember in recent years. Val has never seen anything in the west so it has been fun to introduce her to the wonders. Here are a couple of pictures.
Made it safely to the West Coast where the weather is as beautiful as always--actually a little better this year so far with little June Gloom. Have been trying to get reoriented to the condo here and getting it ship shape. I love being back in California.
Yesterday I went to a memorial service for Virian Sturdevant who was a contemporary of my Mom's. She died peacefully at 104 years young. Virian was my Cub Scout leader. She was a sharp as a tack until the end. Those who spoke at her service indicated that when they saw her shortly before she died, she was reading the sports page of the LA times and she could discuss what she had read. Virian was the mother of Don and Sara. Don was my best friend from about 1st grade through high school. A lot of my high school friends were at the service and it was fun seeing them all. I think we will be getting together with several of them this summer.
Tomorrow Val arrives from Texas. She will be here most of the summer. Next week we will be driving up to Stanford to introduce my grandson, Christopher, to the school. I would love for him to apply. I haven't been back to the campus much since 1959. I understand that it has expanded tremendously with many new buildings.
Here at the condo, a family of bluebirds has made a nest in roof tile of the adjacent condo. I see the parents making continuous trips back to the nest with mouths full of worms. I got a couple of pictures I want to share here.
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| Bringing Home Dinner |
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| Heading for Home |
After replacing some stuff, repairing a few things and having one wall painted, the place was perfect. We ate lots of fish and shrimp and Key Lime pie.
