Picture Wall

Thursday, April 17: Judy standing before the famed avocado picture page; Also useful as a refrigerator. This was recently upgraded to a biscuit picture page since the refrigerator has recently been replaced. The purchase is all part of a refinance loan so that a number of house repair projects can be done: heat pump replacement, dual pane glass, roof repair and a bathroom remodel to name a few.

Home Again

Saturday, April 19: Carol arrives in San Francisco only 3 hours after she took off in London (if you don't include the 8 hour time difference) After spending a semester studying at the University of London in England, with brief side trips to France, Italy, and Ireland she was ready for less adventure.

Cayucos Holiday

Saturday, May 10: We took a quick weekend trip with my sister's family; Mark, Lori and Adrie Carroll to Cayucos. Some friends had given them access to a home there, not far from the beach... just across the four lanes of highway one. This picture of Estero Bay was taken just a block or two up the hill from the house.

Windpowered Surfing

We spent time sunning and walking the beach. From the shore we watched people using para-vane style kites to surf the waves along the beach. Looked like great fun and watching took no work at all.

Carol & Adrie

For the most part the weekend was spent, seriously loafing. We ate, we slept, we talked and we slept. Oh, we did make one energetic drive into Morro Bay for dinner out. Whew... Busy, Busy, Busy!

Christen

Thursday, May 15: The big event in May was the wedding of Desiree Ellis and Liviu Amariei. Desiree is the daughter of Nancy Stoeckel. Liviu is from Romania and works for the same orphanage as Desiree. Actually this was to be their second wedding since they had a civil marriage in Romania one month earlier. Christen arrived home from Washington D.C. to attend the wedding and spend two weeks. Seen here seated at my desk in her PJs, reading her email.

Wedding Rehearsal

Friday, May 16: Since the Stoeckels live at the other end of the island and the wedding was to be in their backyard, our whole family was involved. Christen and Judy helped cook and set up; Carol made a Powerpoint program and then video taped the wedding. My responsibilities included making and installing the reception area party lights, obtaining and setting up sound, setting up the video projector and taking candid pictures. No screen big enough could be found so Tom and I rigged a low-tech bedsheet. Since the sound person didn't show up for the rehearsal, I ended up doing that also. This might have been easy if it weren't for the music on 7 different CDs.

Desiree & Liviu

Saturday, May 17: The wedding took place at the gazebo down by the creek in the Stoeckel backyard. The event went off perfectly... well, except the wireless lavaliere mic failed, the audio for the Powerpoint didn't work, and I walked through a screen door trying to get pictures from the balcony... but they did get married and nobody really noticed the problems.

The Dance

A reception dinner at the side of the house followed. Desiree & Tom, Liviu & Nancy on the dance-grass. And hey, look at those party lights!

Desiree and Liviu will stay in the United States for another month but they intend to return to Romania to resume their ministry with the orphanage

Emilie

Wednesday, May 21: With Christen home, Judy and I took some time off and we made several family trips to the mountains. The Stoney Creek campground and store in the Sequoias were not yet open so we parked the VW bus along the side of the road, donned our day packs and walked in. Down from the road is an area where the creek runs down through a long series of granite pools and falls. This picture of Emilie was taken, back in the bus after a long day of hiking around.

Kaiser Pass Road

Thursday, May 29: We decided to attempt staying for three days at Jackass Meadows campground. The Forest Service office in Prather had said Kaiser Pass road was open but they weren't sure about the road to Florence Lake. The campground gate was said to be open but there was no camp host and they weren't sure about the bathrooms. We made backup plans for Lake Edison.

Seating Arrangement

Except for the water running in the road and a small washout, the drive to Florence was uneventful. We arrived at Jackass Meadow campground about 1:00 and discovered that besides a camp host we were the only campers. We had our pick of the campsites and chose #8 with plenty of shade and access to the San Joaquin river. In Fresno the temperatures soared to over 104 degrees and at Florence the winds blew and the sky threatened a storm, so we made preparations and set up a canopy over the table.

Jackass Meadow

No thundershower occurred however and by the end of the day the clouds separated and gave beautiful pre-sunset colors to the evening. This picture was taken from the bridge crossing the San Joaquin South Fork, looking downstream towards Hooper Diversion.

Mono Hot Springs

Friday, May 30: After breakfast and hiking around we made the 9 mile, almost 1 hour drive into Mono Hot Springs Resort for baths in the hot tubs and supplies from the store. Christen wanted to see where the natural hot springs were so we went hiking until we came across one of the many pools of hot water. Might be fun sometime.

Family @ Florence Lake

On the drive back we went on to Florence and ate lunch in front of the camp store on top of a granite dome facing Florence Lake. Temperatures were in the 60's. We sat for a picture with Florence Lake and Mt. Shinn in the background.

Campsite #8

Saturday, May 31: In the middle of the night we were joined by Bob Stoeckel. He had mentioned that he might come up on Saturday and try and find us. So his arrival at 11:30 PM on Friday night was a surprise. He slept in his car and then set up his tent the next morning. He stayed on another night in the campsiteto go fishing after we left at the end of the day .

Meadow Walk

In the morning we went for a hike with Bob into Jackass Meadow.

Hooper Diversion Road

Then went on to where the Hooper Diversion road crosses the river. Christen and Carol waded across the river then sat on the other side in the sun until they found their feet again before returning.

Camp Codger

S'nuf said.

Kaiser Pass Summit

Christen drove for the return trip out and over the Kaiser Pass summit. There was about 6-7 feet of snow here at about 9000' elevation, melting fast. We let the dog out since she loves the snow and likes to catch snowballs.

Birthday Gathering

Sunday, June 1: On June 5th dad will achieve his 88th birthday so we celebrated early at Bob and Marvella Kleiser's house in the foothills below Coarsegold along highway 41. Seated clockwise around the table starting with Judy are Bob Kleiser, Birthday Barney, Ruth Chumin, Marvella Kleiser, Lori (Marvella's daughter and her son), and Abi Carroll and Christen Long at the back.

Dad's Bday Cake

Safety first. Dad prepares for the traditional lighting of the candles with a more efficient method of extinguishing them.

Bob and Marvella are living in a home on 20 acres that was constructed by an artist/painter. It is a beautiful home that exudes an artistic bent: from the painter's loft, with floor and ceiling windows, to the front room with a continuous rock wall fireplace. Carol's favorite place is the basement because it is accessed from bookshelf secret entry.

GrandDaughters

Dad enthusiastically appreciates the hug he gets from his granddaughters: Adrie Carroll, Carol Long, Christen Long and Abi Carroll. After the dinner was sat around and watched Bob's collection of turn-of-the-century 16mm Edison movies.

Stoeckel Gathering

Monday, June 2: A pizza get-together at the Stoeckels. Clockwise, starting from Judy: Crystal Ellis, Liviu and Desiree Amariei, Tom Stoeckel, Christen Long Adrie Carroll, Carol Long, Carolyn Stoeckel and Nancy Stoeckel. After dinner we watched picture collection I had gathered and the movie Carol had taped of the wedding.

At the Airport

Tuesday, June 3: Christen headed back to Washington D.C. on a morning flight. The picture was taken at the Fresno airport, now designated "Fresno Yosemite International" (FYI).

Cleaning the Roof

Wednesday, June 4: Back to house projects. Carol works on the roof with the pressure sprayer, cleaning off the moss and debris. Eight years after the roof was re-shingled, it is time to clean and apply the wood preservative we bought for it years ago.