Home again

January 14, 2008
We've been back in Oriental for a week now and are getting things back to normal again. Yesterday we bought $360 worth of groceries, a new record for us. We pretty much cleaned everything up before leaving, so major replenishment was in order.

Is this a cute baby or what??? The big new news is that we are grandparents again. Annette and Tony (featured in a blog post a few pages down) have actually had the baby - she turned out to be a girl. They had avoided finding out in advance, wanting to be surprised like we used to be in the dark ages. She was 6 pounds and something, so she came out looking pretty and not as squished as most babies I have been involved with. The parents sound very happy. As soon as the dust settles, we are going to give them a visit.

Here are the proud parents.

Wow, I can remember when little Tony was that small - but time marches on. The next family member in line for diapers could be me!!!

Otherwise, we are preparing for our big show at the end of the month. It feels good to be rehearsing. Things are so easy for us now. Sometimes a break gives your art a chance to mature.

We have lousy cell phone coverage, but we have it on all day and mostly we get our calls, so don't be afraid. Otherwise email.

Party time in Santa Cruz

New Years, 2008

We started the festivities with a dinner party at the home of old friend Madeline.
Then it was off to the home of Faye, the social center for New Years in Santa Cruz. Faye is right next to Andi. We claim no responsibility for the bottle of "2-buck Chuck".
Here I am with Charles Sutton, Santa Cruz's other flamenco singer. Charles and his wife have a house in Spain where they participate with the local flamenco enthusiasts.
Here is Andi in her new silk party dress along with her good friend Julie and her boyfriend, Jon.
Finally, after all that party, we drove down to the Mojave Desert to visit Andi's brother Tom and his wife, Wendy. Here are Andi and Tom on the front porch of the cabin. They have the most awesome collection of antiques dating back to before the Civil War.

Christmas 2007

Christmas, 2007 found us in the San Fransisco area for a round of parties and family events.

Here is Andrea and daughter Elinore in a low-light photo at a party hosted by famed flamenco dancer, Juan del Valle.
Then we went sailing on SF bay with Elinore's boyfriend Robin's family... who didn't make it into this picture.
Just checking to see if you were paying attention before when I told you who these folks are.

After Christmas celebrations, we were off to Santa Cruz to get ready for the New Year.

California Dreaming again...

End of December, 2007
We flew into California just in time to start a round of family visits - we had a terrific time with all and regretted not getting to visit all our old friends. We got in as many as possible, time and geography permitting. And as December 21 rolled around, it was time to celebrate our anniversary. And where better than in Napa, trying to find the perfect budget Pinot Noir. (It turns out that there is no such thing - Pinots worth mention seem to start at $25/bottle - we didn't buy many of those!) We had a great time tasting, something that both of us seem to enjoy so much that we may have to enroll in AA as a team. We were surprised at the very high quality Merlots available at $15/bottle. We came home with a mixed case for special occasions in the coming year.

A pastoral scene in Napa's Carneros wine region.
There is money up here. Having little, I at least got to pose with an Aston Martin.
If you buy the big bottle, you get a discount.