Back on Mary's beaches, Keawakapu, Mokapu and Ulua Beach.
Here are the pictures from a morning snorkel on the 4th of July.
This vacation was with my son Chris, his wife, Casey, and their two offspring, Danny and Sarah. We spent 10 days on Maui staying in a condo in Wailea. It was an absolute blast!
Friday, July 5, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
Moved Out!
 |
| As I left Golf Links with the last of my possession on Saturday evening, I clipped these two roses from Mary's garden. A very bittersweet moment... |
After having five days of two men packing and moving my stuff into storage two weeks ago, followed by a frantic weekend where Stephanie and I packed up the rest of the stuff, the movers returned on Tuesday morning (June 11) and packed and put into storage the last of my household goods.
There was a small pile of odds and ends left in the garage and the new owners graciously let it linger there for a few days. Stephanie and I made daily trips to Los Gatos from San Francisco to get the last of it out, finishing on Saturday. After sweeping the garage, Golf Links was no longer mine.
Sue and I bought that house in the summer of 1984 when we returned to California. I was recruited by a company then known as KLA Instruments and is now KLA-Tencor. Chris was in middle school and Erika was just starting school. The family loved the pool and spent hours and hours in it in the summertime. Erika went to Daves and then Hillbrook. Chris went to Fisher Middle School, Los Gatos High School and then moved to Univeristy of California at Santa Cruz. In the early years at Golf Links, we had lots of fun with kid's parties and activities.
The family pet that was most appreciated was Zippy, the cockatiel. We used to let him fly between the family room and the kitchen--he had a perch in each room. Chris learned how to rub the back of his neck. The bird would walk from his perch to Chris sitting on the couch and demand a head rub! It was hilarious. The bird also imitated sounds and he was best at imitating the sound of a squeaky cabinet door in the kitchen.
In the early 90s, Sue and I were divorced and she sold her interest in the house to me. Three years later, Mary moved into the house, we were married in 1996 and with dot com money in 2000-01, we did a major remodel. Before the remodel we redecorated the house to make it ours. These were some of the most pleasant memories with Mary. Just coming to an agreement on the wall hanging or the color and pattern of a chair, wall paper or whatever. Its mundane activity, but very close to my heart.
Besides Mary and myself, Mary's son Daniel lived with us for a couple of years. And, of course, Mary's dogs: Sweep, Beau, Rocky, Shawna, Wolfie and Leyla (aka Wiggles). Sweep, Beau and Rocky were rescue dogs and died within a year or two of our adopting them. Shawna and Wolfie were from Sandy LaFlammes' Dawnglow kennels and lived until the ages of 17.5 and 15.5 years! Leyla was adopted by the family next door and she moved with them to Tennesee a few months ago.
Mary's last year (March 2009-April 2010) was the most intense living in the house. I became the chief cook and bottle washer. When Mary was feeling good, she'd come out and sit at "the round" as we called it. During that year, I called it the Master and Commander chair as she instructed me on how to prepare food for dinner. I will never forget her quote as she sharply barked a corrective action to me.
"Patrick, I am going to die of cancer, dammit, not from food poisoning because of something you do wrong in the kitchen!"
After Mary died, I kept the house because of her dogs, Shawna and Leyla (aka Wiggles). When Shawna died in March of 2012, I knew it was time to sell. Mary and I had prepared for the day when I would die and leave her behind--we always figured I'd die first. We never planned for her to die first. In our planning for her, the first step was to sell the house and buy something smaller and with less yardwork. It has taken me three years to get to that point and that is what I will be doing now.
If you are a regular reader, you know I purchased a studio apartment in San Francisco last year. Well, I now have three storage rooms of stuff in Los Gatos at Extra Space Storage. And I will be living out of my studio apartment until I find the condo or townhouse that will become my new south bay home.
My travel takes me away for the rest of June and most of July. So I don't really have to face living in a one room apartment on a daily basis until August. And by then, I might have found my new place in the south bay.
If you need my snail mail address, please feel free to ask for it.
Email to:
Pat @ Lamey . us . com (without the spaces, obviously) and I'll send the new address.
Ciao...
There was a small pile of odds and ends left in the garage and the new owners graciously let it linger there for a few days. Stephanie and I made daily trips to Los Gatos from San Francisco to get the last of it out, finishing on Saturday. After sweeping the garage, Golf Links was no longer mine.
Sue and I bought that house in the summer of 1984 when we returned to California. I was recruited by a company then known as KLA Instruments and is now KLA-Tencor. Chris was in middle school and Erika was just starting school. The family loved the pool and spent hours and hours in it in the summertime. Erika went to Daves and then Hillbrook. Chris went to Fisher Middle School, Los Gatos High School and then moved to Univeristy of California at Santa Cruz. In the early years at Golf Links, we had lots of fun with kid's parties and activities.
The family pet that was most appreciated was Zippy, the cockatiel. We used to let him fly between the family room and the kitchen--he had a perch in each room. Chris learned how to rub the back of his neck. The bird would walk from his perch to Chris sitting on the couch and demand a head rub! It was hilarious. The bird also imitated sounds and he was best at imitating the sound of a squeaky cabinet door in the kitchen.
 |
| This isn't a picture of our Zippy but it is a classic cockatiel and looks like Zippy. |
In the early 90s, Sue and I were divorced and she sold her interest in the house to me. Three years later, Mary moved into the house, we were married in 1996 and with dot com money in 2000-01, we did a major remodel. Before the remodel we redecorated the house to make it ours. These were some of the most pleasant memories with Mary. Just coming to an agreement on the wall hanging or the color and pattern of a chair, wall paper or whatever. Its mundane activity, but very close to my heart.
Besides Mary and myself, Mary's son Daniel lived with us for a couple of years. And, of course, Mary's dogs: Sweep, Beau, Rocky, Shawna, Wolfie and Leyla (aka Wiggles). Sweep, Beau and Rocky were rescue dogs and died within a year or two of our adopting them. Shawna and Wolfie were from Sandy LaFlammes' Dawnglow kennels and lived until the ages of 17.5 and 15.5 years! Leyla was adopted by the family next door and she moved with them to Tennesee a few months ago.
Mary's last year (March 2009-April 2010) was the most intense living in the house. I became the chief cook and bottle washer. When Mary was feeling good, she'd come out and sit at "the round" as we called it. During that year, I called it the Master and Commander chair as she instructed me on how to prepare food for dinner. I will never forget her quote as she sharply barked a corrective action to me.
"Patrick, I am going to die of cancer, dammit, not from food poisoning because of something you do wrong in the kitchen!"
After Mary died, I kept the house because of her dogs, Shawna and Leyla (aka Wiggles). When Shawna died in March of 2012, I knew it was time to sell. Mary and I had prepared for the day when I would die and leave her behind--we always figured I'd die first. We never planned for her to die first. In our planning for her, the first step was to sell the house and buy something smaller and with less yardwork. It has taken me three years to get to that point and that is what I will be doing now.
If you are a regular reader, you know I purchased a studio apartment in San Francisco last year. Well, I now have three storage rooms of stuff in Los Gatos at Extra Space Storage. And I will be living out of my studio apartment until I find the condo or townhouse that will become my new south bay home.
My travel takes me away for the rest of June and most of July. So I don't really have to face living in a one room apartment on a daily basis until August. And by then, I might have found my new place in the south bay.
If you need my snail mail address, please feel free to ask for it.
Email to:
Pat @ Lamey . us . com (without the spaces, obviously) and I'll send the new address.
Ciao...
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Under Contract!
"Well, it ain't over til it's over," according to Casey Stengel.
But the contract is signed as of today. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be out of the house for good by mid-June.
Everything will move into storage and then I'll be house hunting for a downsized place. It's gonna be an interesting summer!
But the contract is signed as of today. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be out of the house for good by mid-June.
Everything will move into storage and then I'll be house hunting for a downsized place. It's gonna be an interesting summer!
Friday, April 26, 2013
It Is Time!
Well, we've tried about everything and my Golf Links house remains unsold. We've had over 400 realtors through the property these last months and we've had over 6,000 hits on the realtor's website. It's time, I want to get out of living in a museum.
Sooo...price drop!
Let your friends and family know if they are interested in a killer location with a totally remodeled in 2001 home.
Click here for the listing.
Sooo...price drop!
Let your friends and family know if they are interested in a killer location with a totally remodeled in 2001 home.
Click here for the listing.
Friday, April 19, 2013
Spring has sprung!
Let me see, my last post was actually early February. Wow, time flies in retirement!
So what, if anything have I done since early February?
From the top, the house still has not sold. We are now doing the strategy known as "lower the price." Tim tells me I will be ok in retirement even if I drop the price substantially. Well, I ain't gonna do substantial, that is for sure! Things are a bit cooler for real estate here in Silicon Valley but I am hopeful!
Beginning from my Feb post, I have as ususal, stayed busy. What ever happened to the sitting in the rocking chair and clipping coupons retirement? Jeez!
OK, so my brother Dan decided to retire as well. Only he decided that Manila in the Philippines would be a good place to spend most of his time. Now, Dan has spent his entire working career in Phoenix. How does one decide to spend so much time in Asia in retirement? Well, ask his Filipino girlfriend, eh?
In support of my brother, I drove down to Phoenix to help him in his final days. He sold his house, I sold his car. And his most precious possessions were moving in with me in the bay area. Dan too! He'll be back next month for an extended stay.
Well, his departure didn't happen on time and I needed to be back home. So I left my Humette (Honda Element) with Dan. He filled it up with his possessions and left it at Mary's son's place (Tim) on his way to the airport. A couple of weeks later, I flew down to Tim's to recover my car and Dan's possessions. I did the 14 hour drive in one long day and unloaded his stuff into my storage room for now. We'll decide what else we might do with it in June when he is here.
Meanwhile, I flew to Pennsylvania to visit Mary's other son, also Dan, but I call him DP to avoid confusion. DP married Kamie last June and this was my first trip to visit the newlyweds. They live in Lebanon PA in a very nice three bedroom home. DP is studying for his RN degree on the military education funds and Kamie is doing freelance work at the moment. It was great to see them, experience the area and just spend time with family. (Remember my three retirement objectives. 1) Family time, 2) Simplify my life and 3) work on my health.)
Part of the trip to Pennsylvania was to get the furniture from Mary's estate to DP and Kamie. The dining room table, sideboard, chairs and glass cabinet were packed and shipped along with virtually all of Mary's books. Unfortunately, these things did not arrive as scheduled but just a day just after I left. Oh well, DP and Kamie report that everything arrived in tip top shape! And, I have rearranged furniture in the house for sale such that the downstairs room is empty as is Mary's office.
As I left PA, a marvelous winter storm moved in. We left for the Philly airport early just in case there was a problem. Well, two hours to the airport, DP dropped me off and then 5 hours for him to get home in the storm! Ouch!
During my visit DP introduced me to a great, inexpensive red wine. Carmenere. I have purchased bottles from several different Chilean vineyards since DP educated me and they have all been under $15 and very good!
Upon returning from the visit with DP and Kamie, I ran the medical gauntlet. Well, my version. Opthalmologist--everything OK. Cardiologist--OK and lose weight. Primary Care--OK and lose weight. Dermatologist--"let me take a few biopsy samples". Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Bottom line is four confirmed cases of basil cell skin cancer. That is a total of 9 or 10 now over the past 8 years. Love that sun adverse Irish skin!
Well, the worst one was in the middle of my forehead. Using video chat (Facetime), I had the grandkids in Denver thinking it was a bullet hole for a few days. Fun!
As Sarah said during the video chat, "Are you pulling my leg, Grampa?" Awww, would I do that?
Before hitting the road again, I caught a couple of theater performances. One was at ACT (act-sf.org) named Dead Metaphor. I really enjoyed that but even moreso, I enjoyed being a minor celebrity. Why? Well, as I reported last Feb, I was selling my studio apartment in SF. And, the buyer was a staff member of ACT. The theater has a nice room where donors can relax before performances and at intermissions. It was there where the connection was made of my being the seller of the unit that the staff person bought. Oh, she is so happy you sold it to her! I felt very good.
The other performance was Jersey Boys, the traveling Broadway show. That was a blast! I had no idea what Juvenile Deliquents the early rock groups were! Great music, great story!
And, of course, I had to move out of my sold apartment and into my new apartment between trips. Shall we say it was tight because of the few days between trips but I got it done. Thankfully, my friend Scott A come over one Monday afternoon and we got all the heavy pieces out of 405 and into 1705.
So then on to Minnesota. The prime purpose of the trip was to visit Mary's grave on the anniversary of her death which is, of course, my birthday.
During the trip I visited friends and family and it was a wonderful week: My sister, cousin Mary Jo and her family, Stephanie and her sister's family includeing my best buddy since 3rd grade. On April 8, I went to the cemetery and visited not only Mary's grave but also graves of other family members: Grampa and Grandma, Dad, Mom, Uncle John and Aunt Claire Lamey, and Mary's family too.
You may not be able to read this relatively small pictures. They are the gravestones of my mother, my Aunt Claire Lamey and my late wife, Mary Hughes. They all died on April 8. April 8 is my birthday and also that of Kamie, DP's new bride.
The bulk of the day was spent at Mary's grave listening to our music. Its a day I reserve to be alone and contemplate and remember. Yes, there were tears but they are good tears.
From Minnesota, I flew to Denver to visit my son and his family. We had a great weekend and we are all getting excited about our planned trip to Maui this summer. Its so good to visit my grandkids, it is just a blast. And Sarah did say she thought I was kidding when I said it was a bullet hole! Smart girl.
By the middle of this week I was home again. I spent my first overnight in San Francisco for the simple reason that I got off the plane at noon and had a massage set up in the city at 3:30. After that, I went back to my apartment and just blobbed out after Wendy's fantastic work.
The next day I came on down to Los Gatos and the Golf Links house (Click here). Los Gatos is warmer than San Francisco even though its only one hour away. So I was pleasantly surprized to find these April flowers! iPad users click here.
Enjoy!
So what, if anything have I done since early February?
From the top, the house still has not sold. We are now doing the strategy known as "lower the price." Tim tells me I will be ok in retirement even if I drop the price substantially. Well, I ain't gonna do substantial, that is for sure! Things are a bit cooler for real estate here in Silicon Valley but I am hopeful!
Beginning from my Feb post, I have as ususal, stayed busy. What ever happened to the sitting in the rocking chair and clipping coupons retirement? Jeez!
OK, so my brother Dan decided to retire as well. Only he decided that Manila in the Philippines would be a good place to spend most of his time. Now, Dan has spent his entire working career in Phoenix. How does one decide to spend so much time in Asia in retirement? Well, ask his Filipino girlfriend, eh?
In support of my brother, I drove down to Phoenix to help him in his final days. He sold his house, I sold his car. And his most precious possessions were moving in with me in the bay area. Dan too! He'll be back next month for an extended stay.
Well, his departure didn't happen on time and I needed to be back home. So I left my Humette (Honda Element) with Dan. He filled it up with his possessions and left it at Mary's son's place (Tim) on his way to the airport. A couple of weeks later, I flew down to Tim's to recover my car and Dan's possessions. I did the 14 hour drive in one long day and unloaded his stuff into my storage room for now. We'll decide what else we might do with it in June when he is here.
Meanwhile, I flew to Pennsylvania to visit Mary's other son, also Dan, but I call him DP to avoid confusion. DP married Kamie last June and this was my first trip to visit the newlyweds. They live in Lebanon PA in a very nice three bedroom home. DP is studying for his RN degree on the military education funds and Kamie is doing freelance work at the moment. It was great to see them, experience the area and just spend time with family. (Remember my three retirement objectives. 1) Family time, 2) Simplify my life and 3) work on my health.)
Part of the trip to Pennsylvania was to get the furniture from Mary's estate to DP and Kamie. The dining room table, sideboard, chairs and glass cabinet were packed and shipped along with virtually all of Mary's books. Unfortunately, these things did not arrive as scheduled but just a day just after I left. Oh well, DP and Kamie report that everything arrived in tip top shape! And, I have rearranged furniture in the house for sale such that the downstairs room is empty as is Mary's office.
As I left PA, a marvelous winter storm moved in. We left for the Philly airport early just in case there was a problem. Well, two hours to the airport, DP dropped me off and then 5 hours for him to get home in the storm! Ouch!
During my visit DP introduced me to a great, inexpensive red wine. Carmenere. I have purchased bottles from several different Chilean vineyards since DP educated me and they have all been under $15 and very good!
 |
| Carmenere is under $15 from several different vineyards in Chile |
Well, the worst one was in the middle of my forehead. Using video chat (Facetime), I had the grandkids in Denver thinking it was a bullet hole for a few days. Fun!
 |
| One of four spots removed. |
Before hitting the road again, I caught a couple of theater performances. One was at ACT (act-sf.org) named Dead Metaphor. I really enjoyed that but even moreso, I enjoyed being a minor celebrity. Why? Well, as I reported last Feb, I was selling my studio apartment in SF. And, the buyer was a staff member of ACT. The theater has a nice room where donors can relax before performances and at intermissions. It was there where the connection was made of my being the seller of the unit that the staff person bought. Oh, she is so happy you sold it to her! I felt very good.
The other performance was Jersey Boys, the traveling Broadway show. That was a blast! I had no idea what Juvenile Deliquents the early rock groups were! Great music, great story!
And, of course, I had to move out of my sold apartment and into my new apartment between trips. Shall we say it was tight because of the few days between trips but I got it done. Thankfully, my friend Scott A come over one Monday afternoon and we got all the heavy pieces out of 405 and into 1705.
 |
| The view from the 17th floor. |
During the trip I visited friends and family and it was a wonderful week: My sister, cousin Mary Jo and her family, Stephanie and her sister's family includeing my best buddy since 3rd grade. On April 8, I went to the cemetery and visited not only Mary's grave but also graves of other family members: Grampa and Grandma, Dad, Mom, Uncle John and Aunt Claire Lamey, and Mary's family too.
The bulk of the day was spent at Mary's grave listening to our music. Its a day I reserve to be alone and contemplate and remember. Yes, there were tears but they are good tears.
From Minnesota, I flew to Denver to visit my son and his family. We had a great weekend and we are all getting excited about our planned trip to Maui this summer. Its so good to visit my grandkids, it is just a blast. And Sarah did say she thought I was kidding when I said it was a bullet hole! Smart girl.
 |
| From left: Issy, Chris, Danny, Casey and Sarah |
Oh, and my departures from Minnesota and Denver shared similar characteristics--lots of fresh snow!
 |
| Departure day from Minnesota. |
 |
| Departure day from Denver. |
The next day I came on down to Los Gatos and the Golf Links house (Click here). Los Gatos is warmer than San Francisco even though its only one hour away. So I was pleasantly surprized to find these April flowers! iPad users click here.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
April in Mary's Garden
The past few weeks have put me in Minnesota and Colorado. Just before I left, the garden had no flowers but lots of buds on the plants.
Well, in the two+ weeks that I have been gone, the weather has certainly caused spring to burst out all over.
Here are the pictures for April of 2013. iPad users click here.
Well, in the two+ weeks that I have been gone, the weather has certainly caused spring to burst out all over.
Here are the pictures for April of 2013. iPad users click here.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Happy Birthday, Mary
Technically, I am a day late. Yesterday I was fully aware it was Mary's 66th birthday. And, I did not have the guts to sit down at the keyboard and write a birthday post.
I managed to surprise her twice with birthday parties. One was before she moved to California so it must have been 1994. The second was her 60th birthday and I held it at the California Cafe with friends and my daughter.
For pictures of her 60th, click this link. View Album
Mary's birthday started the 31 calendar days when she was the "older woman" because my birthday is April 8. She hated the simple fact and after a few years asked me to stop mentioning it--it really did bother her. I don't know why, and frankly I'd certainly love to bother her with it now but it is and never will be possible.
We were able to celebrate her last birthday in 2010. She was feeling pretty good during the first part of March. We were, of course, basking in the glow of the Oncologist's parting words from her Feb 22nd visit, "Go and live your life, you are cancer free!" That was such a hopeful birthday. Yes, she was still on morphine because of the pain in her back and we were working with the medical folks to wean her off the drug. Plus, identifying the source of the pain so she could truly, "Go live her life..."
I gave her a small gold penguin pin. She collected penguins and it was always a default gift if I couldn't come up with anything else. Finding penguins could sometimes be a challenge but it made for a fun hunt.
Her appetite was good and after almost a year of my preparing meals, I managed to fix a nice birthday dinner for her. Heck she even switched back to fish which she was unable to stomach in January.
Here are a couple of links from the postings I made in 2010.
http://pat-los-gatos.blogspot.com/2010/03/happy-birthday.html
http://pat-los-gatos.blogspot.com/2010/03/nice-and-quiet-birthday.html
Happy Birthday, Mary
Always and All Ways will I love you,
p
I managed to surprise her twice with birthday parties. One was before she moved to California so it must have been 1994. The second was her 60th birthday and I held it at the California Cafe with friends and my daughter.
For pictures of her 60th, click this link. View Album
Mary's birthday started the 31 calendar days when she was the "older woman" because my birthday is April 8. She hated the simple fact and after a few years asked me to stop mentioning it--it really did bother her. I don't know why, and frankly I'd certainly love to bother her with it now but it is and never will be possible.
We were able to celebrate her last birthday in 2010. She was feeling pretty good during the first part of March. We were, of course, basking in the glow of the Oncologist's parting words from her Feb 22nd visit, "Go and live your life, you are cancer free!" That was such a hopeful birthday. Yes, she was still on morphine because of the pain in her back and we were working with the medical folks to wean her off the drug. Plus, identifying the source of the pain so she could truly, "Go live her life..."
I gave her a small gold penguin pin. She collected penguins and it was always a default gift if I couldn't come up with anything else. Finding penguins could sometimes be a challenge but it made for a fun hunt.
Her appetite was good and after almost a year of my preparing meals, I managed to fix a nice birthday dinner for her. Heck she even switched back to fish which she was unable to stomach in January.
Here are a couple of links from the postings I made in 2010.
http://pat-los-gatos.blogspot.com/2010/03/happy-birthday.html
http://pat-los-gatos.blogspot.com/2010/03/nice-and-quiet-birthday.html
Happy Birthday, Mary
Always and All Ways will I love you,
p
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