Retro Ramble 2005

Auckland from Takapuna:

Takapuna from Auckland:

Retro Ramble 2009

Calvin stands in front of Calvin, Geneva 2009

Home Now

One important correction to the post below. On the flight home I read the stack of family Christmas letters that Mom gave me. They contained some details about family history from before my birth that I did not know. The first letter was from 1956 and it states that my father worked at the airport for "two and a half years" up to that point. So technically he worked there from mid-1953 through 1956. High confidence in this assessment as my father was always fastidious in proofreading my mother's Christmas letters.

Going Home

At SBA. There is a lot of family history here. My father worked at this airport in 1952 and 1953 when he went to Westmont and UCSB. The hangar to the right in the lower picture is where he kept his Cessna 180 in the mid-1960's. To the right of that (not pictured) is where I took flying lessons in 1981 and 1982. Boarding now...

Life in the Retirement Home

The theme for this month's Birthday reception was "The Jungle." There was a performance. The dance below was performed to the tune "See Ya Later Alligator." There was also a line for snacks. It is difficult to describe how slowly a buffet line moves in a retirement center. Perhaps the picture below gives some indication, except it doesn't include the residents in wheelchairs.

Walk for the Ancestors

Meeting people. It's what I do. In this case, I met some folks in front of Whole Foods.

So I met these good folks, Caroline and Kagan Holland, on their Walk for the Ancestors. They're indigenous California indians (Tataviam Tribe) seeking to draw attention to the crimes committed against their people by the Spaniards during the colonial era. I listened to their story. I liked them. But I found their cause to be rather questionable, to be honest. They claim there was a Spanish holocaust that is not taught in schools. That's possible, I suppose, but I remain unconvinced. Devoted bloggers can judge for themselves.

http://walkfortheancestors.org/

The End of the Beginning for One, The Beginning of the End for the Other

Two old classics going in opposite directions. The car passed smog and will soon be registered. The store behind it, which was never really a store, is being liquidated. The owner is (reportedly) now unable to manage his own affairs and his heirs have taken control of the property. They are making an inventory of the contents and removing them piece by piece, as the below picture shows. Note the antique guns and ornate counters are already gone--replaced in part by the large table with piles of soon-to-be-gone treasures.