California (still?)

Gosh we’ve been out of touch for a while now so I’ll do my best to fill you in on the activities in the last week or so. June 5 was the wedding - and what a grand time it was! Shirley had an opportunity to visit with her brother Ray Sault and his wife Beverly as well as their children and grandchildren. The wedding was wonderful and perfect in every way - heck even the weather cooperated. Lisa and Ross chose a library themed wedding which suited them to a tee with both of them having been conferred with their PhDs and having met at the Circulation Desk of the Library!! We were delighted to see Graham’s family from England again - we had met them 2 years ago when we visited Ray and Beverly. You know we must have taken a liking to them because we invited them to visit with us in Florida (or at least use the house if we were away). Extra special to our visit was the meeting of Les’ cousin and her husband, Jean and Bob. Right away they made us feel special and a part of the extended family. “Aunt Shirley” reveled in the attention everyone showered on her! Bev’s brother-in-law even stole a cupcake for Shirley at the wedding from the dessert table well before the appointed time! And to top it all off, Jean and Bob absconded with 2 more for the next morning rendezvous. Bob is a hoot and we enjoyed his humor. Our last night together we had a cookout at the RV Resort gathering place. Apparently there was a charge to use the grill but Bob talked his way right out of that $25 charge - charmer he is! The last thing I will say on this is ….I have a friend in Florida that I always say makes me a better person when I am around her. She knows who she is…but Jean gave me that same sense of belonging.

From Morgan Hill, CA we headed down to the Hearst Castle and then to Malibu, CA where I am writing this now. I am posting some photos of Hearst Castle and I will add that it was well worth the price of admission. It’s a little on the gaudy side for me (seeing I’m so classy!) but it was certainly a showplace. It is run by the California State Park system and they do a nice job with the tours and keeping the place beautiful.

We arrived here in Malibu on Friday and then off to Hollywood on Saturday. Surprisingly enough we didn’t run into much traffic at all in the morning and we were able to find a parking garage close to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre that was very convenient. We walked up and down the streets to see all of the stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I was taking a photo and Les and Shirley had meandered ahead when I looked up and saw that Les was talking with two guys - what??? Well it turns out that Les recognized them - Gregg is our across the street (Dick and Nancy) neighbors’ son. He and Jeff were touring Hollywood on vacation! What a small world. It’s hard to believe that you would actually run into someone you know here! I am posting a photo of them as they are getting ready to board their tour van.

Sunday is always “hang out” day for us mostly because there is either a Red Sox game or a NASCAR Race, both yesterday so it was a lazy one for us. This morning we all mustered the energy to travel to Simi Valley to the Ronald Reagan Library. Shirley didn’t want to go because she is a Democrat but we enticed her with the promise of lunch out! The Library was wonderful with all varied exhibits as well as the original Boeing Air Force One that carried 7 Presidents I believe including George W. Bush. We had an opportunity to tour the inside of the AFO, really cool and so obvious that our technology has skyrocketed in the last 20 years. As a bonus for Les the Library happened to be hosting an exhibit of NASCAR and INDY cars!

All from here for now, almost time to pop the corn for the Bruins/Canucks Game.