It was a pretty quiet weekend for me, which was really nice. The highlight was that we went out to dinner Saturday night, and had a great meal. That dinner was from a gift card, the second to the last gift Wizard’s brother left him. So we toasted Mike and enjoyed our dinner. Of course, grief is always with us, but we focus on celebrating his life and our memories, not wallowing in loss.

And now that Wizard has posted this on his social media, I can tell you all about the very last gift his brother left him. One that shocked Wizard to his soul.

The 2007 Shelby GT 500 (Mustang). It’s a truly special gift, and one we cherish and promised Mike (his brother) we would keep in the family.

I’m not a big car gal in general, but this car has a special place in my heart. Mike loved that car beyond words, and in the last years, Wizard cared for it when his brother couldn’t. He’d make the 100 mile round trip just to take the car out for a drive, or take it be washed or whatever it needed. We’d bring that car home (100 mile round trip) to have detail work or maintenance done on it. And yet…despite all that…Wizard was so shocked when in the last week or two before he died, his brother told him he was leaving Wizard the car. But his brother wanted him to have it.

So that’s what happened to the beloved Mustang, it lives on here in our home, and each day we feel a bit of Mike with us. It’s not the hunk of metal, but the memories and the laughter stored in that hunk of metal that matter so much.

I won’t keep sharing stories of Mike, but the Mustang is such a big deal to us, so I wanted to share it. I’ve just been waiting until Wizard was ready.

Now I should probably brush up on driving a stick shift, LOL! This thing is a six speed with a sports clutch, and I haven’t driven a stick in 3 decades. I’m going to need to practice in an empty parking lot. I’ll let you know how that adventure goes when we get around to doing it!

How was your weekend?

TGIF!! This was the shortest week in history! But here we are on Friday again, and that means it’s time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. I made meatloaf! It’s been years since I made it. I used oatmeal which made it gluten free and it was fine.  Meatloaf isn’t my favorite but it’s good for something different. I really like it dipped in mustard, is that weird? Even better, I divided the leftovers into two more meals and froze it, so that’s a win I enjoy cooking, but I also appreciate have easy meals available, and stretching food dollars when I can. Next up, I’m trying my daughter-in-laws gluten and dairy free creamy lemon pasta dish — I’m excited about that one! I let you know what I think of that after I make it.
2. With all that’s been going on, I’ve been doing less yoga. I tried to keep doing some, and maintained a reasonable amount of flexibility and balance. But I am definitely going to work a bit harder to get all the way back to where I was. That said, all the yoga I’ve done for a couple years now really helped me keep up with what I needed to do these last few months I did keep up with the walking — Maggie and I generally do one and a half to two miles a day unless weather or obligations get in our way. Walking is a great way for me to manage stress, and it’s great for Maggie too.
3. While in Cambria, I had something called a Chevre Omelet for breakfast. It had roasted balsamic red peppers, spinach and goat cheese. I enjoyed it. I also had an ollaberry muffin that was delicious. I don’t remember having ollaberries before, but I could have and just forgotten. The muffin did have dairy so I only had a few bites, but it was soooo good! Those were the most new-to-me food I had. The last night, we ate on a patio overlooking the ocean. The food was good, but standard so nothing to really talk about. However despite it being dark, we could feel and hear the ocean across the street, and the weather was cool not cold. The atmosphere and company made it perfect.
4. I’m going to tease Wizard here. So we told him we were going to see the elephant seals. Evidently, what Wizard heard was elephants and seals. He never said anything until after we saw the seals. He told us afterward that he’d realized elephant was the species of seals. But when we’d first told him, he could not figure out how or why elephants would be there with the seals. LOLOL!! We cracked up. But honestly, I’ve done things like that, so I can’t laugh to hard. Plus on the way home from my brother in law’s service a few days before that, I was so tired, I told my son to check the weather when I meant check the traffic. My son and his wife tormented me for the hour long drive home about that (youngest son and his wife were with me as Wizard and his brother were driving the deceased brother’s Mustang). We all do silly stuff that makes people around us laugh.
5. Last night, oldest son sent pictures of himself on the roof hanging Christmas lights. Sigh…why do my kids do this to me? Even though they are all responsible adults, I always have a mom-moment when I see stuff like that! Trust me, they know it and do it just to freak me out But seriously, he’s going all out and making his house bright and fun for the holidays! Turbo loves it! We’re going to have to put up some lights and get some decorations for our house soon. But I haven’t thought that far ahead yet I will soon. Maybe…or not…and either way is fine.

That’s my five. Not super exciting, but it works for me. Now I’d love to hear your five!

We’re home! We had such a great trip. First, we missed CPA Boy, Special K and Turbo because they were sick. Turbo is all better, CPA Boy is mostly recovered and Special K was the last to get sick so she’s still living the misery. Hopefully they’ll all be well soon!

Youngest son, his wife, and Wizard and I had a great trip. It was no pressure and tons of fun. I’ll post some highlights:

We stayed across the street from the ocean and a gorgeous boardwalk. Think small, quaint and rugged little beach city and that’s Cambria. I found it to be very unpretentious and truly relaxing. I loved all the raw beauty there. It was cool, occasionally foggy and so pretty and peaceful. Our rooms had small balconies that overlooked the ocean. Here’s a picture of the little boardwalk:

People walked it from early morning until the late evening, with lots of folks walking their dogs. I felt perfectly safe to go by myself when everyone else was busy, and I happily did it. Weirdly with all the dogs I saw, the all were leashed and behaved. We considered taking Maggie, but ultimately decided not too (don’t tell her that!)

Here’s a sunset pic from one of my solo walks:

And here’s some elephant seals a few miles down the road — there were so many of them!

And zebras! there’s lots of cows and even some buffalo. But when my daughter in law told me there were zebras, I was skeptical. But she was right:

Otherwise, we shopped on what is their Main street. It had touristy stuff, but lots of antique store things too. We found a few shirts (touristy!) and some car and music memorabilia for Wizard that is awesome. I got two pictures one that reminds me of Savaged Illusions band from my Savaged Illusions Books, and one from The Wizard of Oz (or close to it) that I loved because…witches! They are for our office. We also bought some wine for our modest little wine rack and truly enjoyed ourselves. We only did one wine tasting, and actually drank very little alcohol there, but we had lots of coffee

We picked up Maggie as soon as we got back into town, and so far, she seems fine. She’s tired, but the owner of the boarding place told me on the phone earlier in the day when we were discussing a pickup time: “She might be getting older, but she has a lot of energy and loves to eat her wet food.” That sounds like Maggie did fine there. We only worry because she got so sick last time, but that likely was just stress colitis from a heck of a lot of stress going on at the time. Fingers crossed she gets through the night without getting sick and we’ll breathe a big sigh of relief.

Today, I get to do all the usual food shopping, piles of laundry and returning to normal life. But that’s all okay. The couple days away were much needed and appreciated!

How’s your Wednesday going?

I’m going to do a little different Weekend Roundup, just covering Friday and some of Saturday as I am writing this on Saturday. Then I’ll be traveling and only have my phone. Sorry if this is a little disjointed, I didn’t sleep last night (just overtired from a long but good day), but I’ll sleep tonight!

Friday: It was a marathon day for Wizard’s brother’s memorial service, but it all went well. Since we had the service in a park, we had to set up and break down everything — canopies, tables, and chairs. Plus organizing food (we could not cater at that park). It took a village for sure, but everyone pitched in and it turned out just as Wizard’s brother wanted. One of three remaining brothers led the service, and Wizard spoke. I am so proud of him, it was hard for him to do, but he was able to paint a picture of the brother he loved. He also spoke without notes, which amazed one of his brothers So many others did too, including his daughter who captured her dad as she knew him in words and shared him with us. Aside from the fact that she made me cry, my writer’s brain got all happy and excited at her both real and yet elegant writing skill.

One of our niece flew in from Australia in a turn around trip just to come to her uncle’s service (that’s a long flight!). That is the kind of man he was. His time may have been short, but the memory of his love and the laughter he spread will be long.

One glitch is that Turbo, his mom and dad got hit with a virus. They could not come to the service. Oldest son sounded so upset on the phone. They also aren’t going on the trip this weekend that they arranged, so we feel bad. Now it’s just youngest, his wife and us. But we are going to go and just relax. We canceled the two dinners daughter-in-law had planned because we didn’t want to do those without them there. Instead we’re going to do more of a sight-seeing and recovery trip and food will be an stop and eat as we want it kind of thing.

Friday evening, we got home, picked up food and were all exhausted. But the Wizard and his brother felt the service had honored their brother so it was all worth it.

Saturday, Wizard took his brother to the airport, I did laundry and started organizing for the mini-trip. We leave Sunday. Oh and Maggie is going to her old boarding place, and we hope she does okay. We really need to know before we take a longer trip in the spring. But dang, she is tired as I’m writing this on Saturday. Of course, we walked over two miles this morning, so that makes sense

I won’t be online Monday, but will try to answer comments on Tuesday. I’m hoping to get Wednesday’s post up on schedule. After that, life will slow down to a more normal pace. Hopefully, LOL.

Oh and today is our Anniversary. This little mini trip is our gift to ourselves.

How was your weekend?

TGIF!! Can you believe it’s November??? I’m not ready! But the calendar doesn’t care, so I guess the holidays are coming regardless of my readiness Okay,  before we jump into sharing five random things about our week, let me insert that I won’t be able to answer until Saturday (hopefully). It’s crazy time here in our lair, but this too shall pass Now I’ll start with my five things:

1. My brother-in-law is on his way from the airport as I write this on Thursday afternoon. Wizard is picking him up. Am I ready? Bwhahahaha!! But no matter, he’s easy to have as a houseguest and the sheets on the guest room bed are clean, so I’m kind of ready?
2. Today is Mike (Wizard’s brother’s) memorial service. Biker witch and Biker hubby are coming over to the house to hang with Maggie. I’m so grateful to not have to worry about her.
3. Saturday we’ll take brother-in-law back to the airport, and the hopefully catch our breath, and do a bunch of stuff.
4. Sunday we leave for a short two night trip. I’ll tell you guys about that when we’re back. I’m very much hoping for easy and relaxing.
5. Tiredness passes right??? So I had a dentist appointment that I was hoping would shed a little light on what is going on in my throat, and a bit on the roof of my mouth. You know what I got? “It’s time for you to see an ENT.” Oh, you mean that thing we’ve been fighting for three long months to do???? Really??? Sigh…I’m sure it’s going to turn out to be something minor and easily addressed, and I’ll be like, “Why did this have to be so hard?”

So that’s my whining, uh, I mean five random things Now I’d love to hear yours! I’ll be here (hopefully) on Saturday to read and answer comments. In the meantime, I hope you all have a fun and fabulous weekend!

Halloween day got away from me. Heck this whole week, weekend and beginning of next week is a marathon. But here’s our Halloween Roundup:

We sat outside, not many kids but a few really cute ones with fun costumes so it was worth it to see them. A couple neighbors came over and sat with us and that’s always fun. If I’d known it was going to be a party, I could have had margaritas (virgin for me), chips and salsa! We donated the remainder of our candy to a church. Oh and Wizard and I carved pumpkins, and his was better than mine so in my totally mature way, I refuse to show you my ugly pumpkin

Also Maggie got lots of compliments as she sat outside with us. She preened and believes every word, LOL.

So that was our Halloween night, was yours more exciting?