Christmas Surprise

My parents were big on the stealthy Christmas. The surprise factor was as important as the gift. This is a picture of me getting a Schwinn "continental" English style racer. I'm sure mom and dad had been watching me over the past few months tricking out my old bike, or at least trying. I would ride over to the Kelso Bike Shop and look at all the cool accessories they had to fix up your bike. The "continental" was always there, but was untouchable as far as I was concerned. I liked the gold one. I studied it— and figured that if I put on new handlebars and a fine English leather saddle—no one would ever know the difference. Boy was I wrong! I think my main source of income at that time was paper route money, which wasn't much. In fact, I tried to spend that money even before I paid my paper bill, but that's another story. The first thing I decided to do was buy the handlebars to get the maximum effect out the transformation. They came bare-bone out of the box so you had to buy plastic tape to wrap around them, and a plug to put in the hollow end. As I carefully wrapped each one, I could just picture how great they would look on my bike. Of course what I was really seeing in my minds-eye was the "continental", not my own bike. My friends were not impressed and neither was I, but the seat was next to come, and that would be the clincher. After all, that seat was so sleek and distinctive, not to mention expensive, it would tie everything together. What a disappointment! It still looked like the one-speed, over-weight, cruiser that it was. Lots of my friends did the same thing with their bikes. I think the only person who was happy with all this was Les at the Kelso Bike Shop. This brings me back to Christmas. My mom and dad knew what I really wanted. But a "continental" was expensive even for them, but it fit in with the Roland way of doing Christmas. I'm sure they would have liked it if my desire was something more modest, but the opportunity was there and they seized it. I appreciated it then, and even more now.

Grandkids

It is true that grandkids change your life! I don't know what it is,
but there's something that happens to your heart. Part of the
mystery is the part of you that you see in each each one of them.
Some are so like you and others are strangely different, but
familiar. I love the relationship that I have with all 5 of "my
kids". I feel like I can contribute something special into their
lives that I couldn't do with my own children. Maybe that's why I
enjoy it so much. Here is picture of me and Peter. We can sit for
hours just talking and cuddling. He seems to enjoy the closeness as
much as I do. I like the fact that he is laid back like me except
when things don't go his way, which is at least once or twice a day.
On this day we just hung out together. Nothing really seems as
important as these new additions to my life. In fact, I really don't
like to do much other than watch them grow, play, eat, wobble, and
cry. What's happened to me?

Bud Break in the Vineyard

I went to the Yakima Valley with my friend Joel McNelly to visit some of the vineyard owners. Joel is the owner of Capstone Cellars in Longview. Yes, Longview has its own winery! I met Joel last summer at a wine tasting and Los Lobos concert in Vancouver. We hit it off and Joel seemed to take an interest in my growing desire to make good wine. I owe it to my parents for introducing me to fine wine. I didn't drink any alcoholic beverages for 10 plus years in my adult life, but when my Mom and Dad would take Nancy and me out for dinner, they would order wine and we would try it. Whites at first, and then red, and I was off and running for what has been a learning experience with wine.
Joel has developed quite a relationship with some of the top growers in the Valley. Like they say, good vines make good wines. That is the first thing Joel taught me. if you want to make good wines, you ned to understand the vineyard. We met with Dick Boushey in Grandview and he showed us his new high-density vineyard. He explained to us that by planting the vines closer together, the vines have to compete for water and nutrients and this produces more concentrated flavors. They still keep the yeild down to about 3 tons per acre. I was impressed with his knowledge and willingnes to take time to show us about. We had lunch at the famous Snipes brew pub where we continued to talk about all the gossip in the Valley. Names were thrown out about whose who in the wine busines, it made my head spin!
We then went over to Zillah and saw Paul Portteus at his winery. Paul is an interesting guy. he lived on Vashon Island near Seattle and it sounds like he was a part of a Jesus commune or something like that. he had an interest in buying some land in California, but it was too expensive. He heard about some cheap land in Eastern Washington and how the wine industry was getting started. Paul moved with his family and the rest is history. Porttius makes some good wines and their Rattlesnake Red is moderately priced and very popular. Paul is very hot on the Valley and seemed surprised that anyone would want to make wine in Longview when you could just move over to Yakima and be where the action is. He also thought that Joel and I were too old to be getting into wine!! Thanks Paul. This made me mad because I don't believe you are ever to old to do something you care about. I guess Robert Mondavi shouldn't have started his own winery when he was 55 and later produce Opus One with the Rothchilds.
We headed home without hardly a goodbye to Paul, and Joel and I continued to dream about making the perfect 10. Two old farts who love the fruit of the vine.

Spring break

This week is Spring break and this is a picture of Nancy, Ezra, India, and Alice in front of OMSI. We've had a great time doing day trips alone and with the grandkids. Started out the week taking in a movie "Heart of Gold", a movie documenting Neil Young's new album. Very touching because the album was a product of Neil finding out that he had an anurism and would be having surgery. he writes thoughtful songs that probably relate more to thoses of us who are getting older and our mortality is more present.
We had a fun time at OMSI. This was Alice's first outing to OMSI and I think she had fun, especially in the science lab for kids, where she played in the sand and water. Ezra and India were a kick all piling into Alice's stroller! The animation exibit was cool. The kids learned how a series of still pictures put together create motion. On the way home, we stopped at the GAP so Ezra could buy a hoodie with the money his Dad gave him.
Yesterday Nancy and I went to the museum of glass and the Washington State Museum of History in Tacoma. Amazing! The sky bridge between the two museums is a must see. Dale Chihuli, a famous glass artist from Tacoma created 1000's of glass pieces that look like shells suspended over your head when you cross the brigde. The hot shop is a working studio where you can watch glass blowers at work.
I love all the things we can do right here in our state. So much to do. We still want to go to the beach, taste wine in the Yakima Valley, go to Portland again—alas too much for one week—but hey, there's always another day

Dad's 80th birthday

I can't believe my dad is 80 years old! I'm sure he feels the same way. We went to a wonderful concert the week before his party where Benny Goodman music was performed by a great jazz quartet. I was looking around and realized that there was mostly old people in attendance. I was hoping more youth would have the opportunity to hear the music—more young folks like myself—then it dawned on me that I too am getting older. My dad has always lived his life. he has always found something fun, exciting, and challenging to do. He used to have a sign that hung on the outside of his daekroom that said "work fasinates me, I could sit a watch it for hours". This saying was the complete opposite of what he does. He's not afraid of work, and he plays just as hard. I have the same passion for hobbies as he does. When I was young he liked to build balsa wood airplanes with small engines. he liked the ones with small engines and flew free-flight. I helped him, but the detail work was too much for me. Photography has been the constant interest for my dad. Our family is his favorite subject. Recently, I have taken many of the family slides and scanned them into my computer to preserve them for the future.
The other constant in dad's life is my mom. They were made for each other because they are so different from each other, but also because they have similar values and desires. They ussually did everything by the book and it paid off. For example, they always started out small and worked there way to the top. No instant gradification here. From their houses, to their boats, to their cars, they always lived within their means. As they prospered they moved up to bigger and better, but never in a pretentous way. In fact, my parents shared their success with everyone, including people they hardly knew. Dad's other passion is automobiles. At 80, I know he secretly goes down to the Lincoln dealership and looks at the new cars. It wouldn't surprise me if he drove one home one day. He doesn't see to well at night, but put him behind the wheel during the day and he is happy. A car in the hands of my dad is an art. Family trips to California and across the country is where he shines. I think that's why mom and dad bought a moter home, so they could enjoy the road, but for me it will be the Sunday drives to every small town within 30 miles, to visit friend and family, and the inevitable stop at the 24 flavors ice cream shop to close out a drive.
Computing is the current interest of dad's, and of course digital photography play into it. I hope he continues to enjoy whatever catches his interest because as long as he finds joy in something new, I do too.

Day in Vancouver

Day in Vancouver
Spent the day in Vancouver. This is me at Ester Shore Park. I asked Nancy to take a few pictures of me because I didn’t feel like there were any current pictures of me. I usually take all the pictures, so it seemed right there should be a few of the old man. We went to Costco and picked up some stuff for the pantry and then walked around the park looking for a place to have lunch. I wanted a good sandwich, but couldn’t find a place that looked good. It looked like there might be a few good places to have dinner. We also went to the wine supply shop to buy some corks and bottles. On Sunday, I was able to bottle about a case and a half 2004 wine.