and yellow

 I started off the month with a picture of our green lawn with yellow flowers.  Since then, because of a feeling of spring and St. Patrick's day, I have been noticing green, outside and in.  All of my walking places are flourishing with green grass, leaves, etc.  Drives are even more pleasant for the same reason.  And inside the house we have green decorations, most notably candles that keep the house smelling sweet.

But yesterday yellow all of a sudden started crowding my mind.  Those yellow flowers are not just on our lawn but we've seen fields of them along the coast and people pulling to the side of the road to walk in them and take pictures.  Yesterday yellow made me wanting something lemony.  I kept well-hydrated while drinking lemonade and made lemon bars last night (which I haven't done in years.  Lemon bars remind us of the time Julia craved them during one of her pregnancies and made them quite a lot).  I think I am still feeling lemony, this last day of March, and will look for at least one more thing to bake.  (And maybe I will watch "Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events" - ha! ha! - another family favorite.)

Our Mardi Gras 2021

 Why do I always forget that Mardi Gras is usually in February?  Well, friday night we decided to celebrate better late than never.  We made homemade beignets (as usual), listened to Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick Jr., and the Princess & The Frog soundtrack.  We also enjoyed wearing decorative masks that had nothing to do with the virus - hurray!  It was a fun night.

"Here you come again!"

 My kids think my reaction is ridiculous, but it just surprises me and is fun and hilarious and a nice memory when they burst into singing a song from my teenager era.  But then again, who doesn't love Dolly?  Our family certainly does love Dolly.  And this song will always remind me of my crazy kids and their continuing habit of bursting into song:

March's Pinnacles National park

Some 23 million years ago multiple volcanoes erupted, flowed, and slid to form what would become Pinnacles National Park. What remains is a unique landscape. Travelers journey through chaparral, oak woodlands, and canyon bottoms. Hikers enter rare talus caves and emerge to towering rock spires teeming with life: prairie and peregrine falcons, golden eagles, and the inspiring California condor.

The Bear Gulch Cave provides a home to a colony of Townsend's big-eared bats as they rest there in winter and raise their young in the late spring and summer.  The colony in the Bear Gulch Cave is the largest maternity colony between San Francisco and Mexico.

Pinnacles National Park is about 3 hours from San Francisco.  The East entrance is near Hollister and the West entrance is near Soledad.  Unfortunately you cannot drive through the park from one entrance to the other.  

Reggie and I went to Pinnacles for a day trip for our anniversary.  We chose the East entrance.  Because the main parking is miles from the biggest trails, and the shuttle is not running, we got to the park at 6:30 am to be able to park in one of the few spots right next to the trails.

The Bear Gulch trail was green and beautiful, with big mossy boulders along the way.  It leads to the caves and the reservoir. 

We walked just a bit of it, but because we knew the caves were closed (because of the pandemic) we decided to spend most of our time and energy on the Condor Gulch Trail instead.  Someday we hope to go back to do the caves and reservoir, and then back again to do the West entrance with it's unique scenery.

The Condor trail was beautiful, and boy what a hike!  It was rocky and just went up and up and up! It was a moderate hike for the first mile, which took us to a beautiful lookout point.  The view did not disappoint - of the pinnacles, the tree filled mountains and the condors circling the top.  Then we started going further, but weren't sure how far it would take us.  (Because we had gotten there so early there was no place open to give us a map.)  It wasn't too long before we decided to go back down the way we came.  When we did get a map we knew we made the right decision, as the rest of the trail was defined as "strenuous" and went on for a few more miles.  We were pretty tired but proud of ourselves for doing 6 miles total and "66 floors" as our phones put it.

The following are our own pictures.  I hope someday there is a "part 2"!

one year ago

 There have been a lot of news reports and people looking back on what happened one year ago - how shocking it was to have everything in our country shut down.  I remember that a few days before this date the virus was in the news and we were watching other countries go through it.  It seemed unbelievable to me that schools were canceled and everyone was ordered to stay home.  I remember video footage of people in Italy going out on their balconies to sing to each other.  

A couple of weeks before this date the virus was clearly in our country.  I was assigned to go on the 8th grade field trip to "The Exploritorium" in San Francisco.  I thought that if there was any place in this world where germs were spread it was at a hands-on museum that fascinates children.  I was so relieved when the trip was cancelled.  A few days later we had an emergency early morning staff meeting to tell us that one child had been in contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus.  For the next few days student attendance was at about 50%.

Our last day of school - which we had no idea would be our last day of school -  will always be in my memory.  It was a beautiful spring day and the campus was calm and the schedule relaxed.  I was outside at an extra long, free-time PE class, keeping an eye on one of our students.  Well, he eventually started up with some antics and silly behavior that was going a bit too far.  I knew he qualified to be removed from class and given extra work.  But for some reason I just couldn't do it.  I gave him chance after chance after chance until the class ended very happily.   At that point we had no idea this was his, and all the other 8th graders',  last day at school.  We had no idea that all the things he had been looking forward to and talking about since 6th grade would not happen - no Great America trip, no graduation assemblies and activities - no graduation.  I am SO happy and relieved that his last day was a happy one.  I am SO relieved that I followed inspiration and let him enjoy every last minute of time with his classmates on that beautiful spring day.  

Happy March Birthdays!

 Julia and Hannah are March birthday-buddies.  They both bring a lot of energy and fun into our family.  I can't imagine life without either one of them.  We hope they had fabulous and happy birthdays!

Nothing says I love you like 34 Reeses!

 Today is mine and Reggie's 34th anniversary, which marks the end of a week long celebration, thanks to Reggie.  Starting Monday, every day of the week he had a surprise for me.  The first was a list of "34 Fun Facts about Reggie & Nancy":

1. Met in high school   2. Did not like each other    3. First date was a walk   4. Attended a church dance together 5. Had to wait until Nancy turned 16 to go on first official date   6. Took road trip with Nancy & family to Utah and Idaho 7. Built a snowman in Idaho  8.  Got baptized  9. Nancy dumped me so I went on a mission (She didn't really dump me)  10. Walked Sinbad when she was at college  11. Returned from mission and married Nancy  12.  Had first child, Julia  13. Took trip to Hawaii  14. Had Hillary  15. Took trip to Idaho for family reunion  16. Had Mariah  17. Had Samantha  18. Samantha had heart procedure  19. Nancy hurt her leg  20. Had Luke   21.  Kids started graduating  22. Nancy took Julia to college  23.  Nancy took Hillary to college.  24.  Took Mariah to college  25.  Julia got married  26. Hillary got married 27.  First grandchild Addy  28.  Second grandchild Audrey  29.  Mariah married  30.  Samantha starts college  31. Took Luke to college   32. Took some trips, just the two of us (Las Vegas, New Orleans, etc.)  33.  Isla, Hannah, Eli, Bear, Avonlea, Emerson, Kaia, Talia  34.  the greatest fact is I love you Forever!

One day I woke up to 34 Reeses!  The other days were a playlist of our favorite songs,  a gift card for Bath & Body Works, and 34 roses.  

Saturday we took a trip to a national park, only 3 hours away, which I will blog about later.  On the way home we stopped in Monterey.

Hurray for blogs so that I can look back on this over and over again.  I have the best husband ever.

Samantha's Job

 I was so excited for Samantha when she went away to college; it was her dream come true to get out on her own, have some independence and live that college life.  I, in fact, was so happy for her that I forgot that the point was for it to lead to a career.  

Since Samantha came home and finished off her courses online she has been so helpful to me with my Mom.  So when she told me she was job hunting I was surprised and nervous.  Again, I forgot that the point was that she have a career.  She was very pro-active about it - found a couple of job postings, asked Mariah for help with a resume, got some interviews and even a couple of offers.  

So she is now working in a school that provides day care/preschool/pre-kindergarten for infants through age 5.  She is loving it!  My Mom and I miss her at home during the day, but Samantha loves her Grandma so much that when she gets home she immediately changes her clothes and then says hello to Grandma.  They still watch Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune together almost every night.  

It has turned out wonderfully!

(below is some scenery from the walks I often take when I go to pick her up).

early morning walk up a mountain

 I still need to blog about Samantha's job!  But until I do, here are some pictures of a walk I took today   after dropping her off and before I started work.  Her job is blessing me with lots of natural trails to enjoy.

 

Well, I got it!

Last week I got an email from Kaiser saying I had an appointment to get the Corona Virus Vaccine this Sunday.  What?  That was such good news!  I think the desperation to get schools opened around here meant that Kaiser pushed "school staff" up a tier.  

So, two things happened as I got my first of 2 shots today:  On a lighthearted note, I kept hearing a song from "Hamilton" running through my head.  Secondly, I felt emotional and expressed that on facebook, which I am including below the song.  

Sitting in a huge tent in the Kaiser parking lot getting my 1st coronavirus shot, feeling emotional . (I qualified because I work in the schools.) I am surrounded by strangers of different ages, ethnicities, jobs, living situations, etc. yet I feel such a bond with them because of this situation we have all gone through for the past year. I am so grateful to anyone and everyone that worked to develop this vaccine. It is such a blessing and miracle. I pray for continued progress that the vaccines can be readily available for all who are wanting and waiting for their turn . Hang in there and stay safe everyone! I love you all!

WandaVision!

 Our family has been enjoying WandaVision on Disney Plus.  I in fact don't know what to call it because it has several episodes, so it's not a movie; but it's not a tv show because it does not have seasons.  From what I understand the 9 episodes are it, and a lead in to future Marvel Movies.  Anyway, it has been fun to watch together and talk to each other about, and I like that I can relate to the kids in my class with it.  Little, fun, lighthearted things like this are very therapeutic!

Here we go March!

 I've put away my Peppermint lotion, stopped listening to my winter playlist and am noticing all of the green around town.  I'm using my "cotton blossom" lotion, started listening to my spring playlist and am going to try a very small gardening activity.  I'm going to honor the Irish heritage around St. Patrick's Day and celebrate mine and Reggie's anniversary.  

So yes, I'm calling it - Hello March and Hello Spring!