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Day Five (Part two) – Carmel to Cambria with a Slight Detour I had promised Joan Coastal Redwoods and by golly we were going to find some. (Yes. Yes. We had seen countless giant sequoias, biggest trees on the planet. But Joan wanted to see the tallest. These are two very different species; and the…
Day Four – Drive to Carmel by the Sea. Yep! It’s along way across the San Joaquin Valley. 200+ miles. But time goes quickly when you’re in a car with good friends, and it’s especially helpful when the route is pretty straightforward. It’s definitely an eye-opener for New Englanders whose entire state is about the…
And so, I continue the saga of the seven-day California Road Trip Mr. Penfire and I took with our friend Joan and Dave…and track the chain of events that converted my the three sheets of paper I started out with…to 3 1/2 pounds of books, booklets, brochures, newsletters, maps, and information sheets. Day Three: We…
We started out with just three sheets of paper printed out from my computer: California Road Trip Itinerary listing all our various reservations for lodging, restaurants, and tours, a map of Carmel by the Sea, showing the location of our hotel there, and a map of Yosemite Valley. How then did I return home with…
My daughters claim I love paper way too much. And alas, they are no doubt right. For I am trying (it’s the zillionth time, at least) to “organize” my office, and it’s not going well. The file folders crammed with paper are mostly hidden in files drawers (and file boxes stashed under the desk). It’s…
Full disclosure: I haven’t read Thomas Wolfe’s famous novel though I have read about it. Unlike Wolfe, I have never written a Great American Novel. But I have, quite recently, gone home. Four years ago, Mr. Penfire and I sold our house in Massachusetts and moved to southern California to be near our children—and grandchildren….
Boxes. And boxes. And boxes…of photographs. Random envelopes of pictures. And a lot of albums, too. Do you have the kind of stash I’ve accumulated over the years? The albums contain pictures of me, my husband, and our two girls; for several years I kept up with dealing decks of prints into bargain priced albums,…
Ever wonder how things got to be the way they are in the “land of the free home of the brave?” Certainly, the America I’ve experienced as an adult is markedly different from the one I learned about in school. Ideals collide with reality And yet the idealized schoolgirl concept of The United States remains…
Joe had proposed—and Rosemary had accepted—by letter. Joe, of course, was “long gone” with no idea when he would be back to the States. More weeks, and months, went by. The Redwood with its powerful winch and feisty oversized engine had installed, repaired, opened, and closed dozens of nets in dozens of harbors throughout the…
When narrating in infinitesimal detail the story of his and Rosemary’s wedding, Joe would often say, “I think this whole thing was planned in heaven. Some saint was taking care of us.” Chapter one was always “The Letter.” And Chapter two was “The Ring.” When Joe graduated from high school in 1934, his mother gave…