February 2009

We had a really mild winter this year -- until February. Then it rained and rained. Andre finally got a taste of cold, wet weather. Between storms, we rode bikes along West Cliff Drive, one of our favorite things to do together.



Feb. 1 was Xochiquetzal's first birthday. She's Sergio and Griselda's fourth child.

Here's Xochi getting a birthday kiss from their new pup Carmelita. One of the neighbors brought her little baby boy over. Andre couldn't resist asking to hold him.

I spotted their hands together and couldn't resist getting a close-up. We celebrated Valentine's Day by taking Andre bowling for the first time. He scored a decent 79 and 75, with several strikes and gutter balls. I hadn't bowled in a long time either and scored 87 and 96, but I used to average about 120.

Anyone who knows me, knows that Luis Valdez, director of Zoot Suit and La Bamba, is one of my heroes. He's teaching a class at UCSC on Chicano theater with his son Kinan who now runs El Teatro Campesino. The Chicano Latino Resource Center sponsored an informal talk with Luis and Kinan. That's Luis with his wife Lupe and Rosie Cabrera, the director of the Chicano Center.

I've been friends with Erica (above right) since we were housemates in the mid-1980s. She invited Andre and me to watch her hula group, which participated in the Dance Around the World show. I didn't get any photos of Erica's hula dance because I was videotaping, but I did get a few shots of other performers.

January 2009

Leaving Las Vegas on New Year's Day, we drove through miles of desert, hung a left into Death Valley, came out alive, then turned north towards Snow Country. As night fell, we splurged on a nice hotel in Bishop with an indoor heated pool, jacuzzi, and big TV with all the channels. Naively, I had thought we would cut home through Yosemite, not realizing that they close the pass as soon as the first snow falls. The hotel clerk told us we had two choices: go south, back the way we'd come and head home through Bakersfield, or risk going north through Reno, possibly getting snowed in.



The next morning we decided to go north. Andre had never seen snow before this trip, so we wanted to be sure he got a good taste of it. The scenery was gorgeous and the little towns adorable. Not only did Andre get to see snow, he drove in it for a while, until it got too heavy. Then Daniel or I took turns, as if we're experts at driving in snow storms. We kept hearing rumors that they'd closed I-80 or that chains were required. So we charged forward without stopping except for gas and food. I called a childhood friend in Tahoe, but all roads off the interstate were closed. Besides, we didn't want to get stranded for days until they plowed our car out.

By the way, for you young'uns, that's an outhouse -- or outdoor bathroom -- on the left. I'm glad I don't have to get up at night and trudge through the snow to go pee!



Daniel and Andre had stopped at an Army surplus store in San Diego before the new year. Somehow I don't think their camouflage worked well in this weather. They should have been wearing white like me and the snow bunnies, so they could blend in.



On January 16, 2009, the 2nd anniversary of Maya's death, I played in the National Women's Seniors/Masters Racquetball Championships, in Canoga Park near L.A. I had never played against women in my age group before, but I was optimistic after beating most of the men up at the university racquetball courts in Santa Cruz. Boy, was I in for a surprise! The winner of my division (50-54 years old), Debbie Tisinger-Moore, is a 20-time national champion and finished undefeated. Check out Reta on the left in the photo below. At 80 years old, she's still competing. Her good friend and opponent Mary Low Acuff made the patchwork quilt that I won in a silent auction, pictured below. It's pieced together from some interesting tournament t-shirts. Mary Low died a few years ago and Reta says the tournaments haven't been the same since. Can you find me in the group shot? Good luck. I'm the brown-haired spot near the top right.



Here I am in my fluffy pink tournament vest with Nidia from the 55+ division. Doesn't she look fabulous. This was the 20th annual Seniors/Masters nationals, but only my first. I'll definitely be back for more next year -- and hopefully better prepared.



The organizers of the tournament were very thoughtful and scheduled all the matches in the mornings and evenings, giving us the afternoons to go out and do other things. In 80-degree sunshine, Andre and I headed down Topanga Canyon Road to Santa Monica Beach. It was a day that Maya definitely would have loved. I bought California license-plate key chains with all our names on them: Andre, Chelsea, Daniel, Dany (his son), and Maya (our daughter).



On Saturday, the second day of the tournament, we headed down to Hollywood between matches. Andre had been to Venice Beach before on one of our trips to San Diego, but Santa Monica and Hollywood were both new for him. I hadn't been to Hollywood since it became such an amusement park. I looked and looked for my footprints in the sidewalk, but couldn't find them.



On January 20, 2009 we inaugurated a new president, Barack Obama, the first African-American president of the U.S. -- and the city of Santa Cruz went crazy (well, what's new?). While thousands huddled in the freezing DC weather to hear him speak, dozens of Obama fans gathered in downtown Santa Cruz to sing songs of peace and hope and celebration. We watched the speech later on YouTube.

Happy New Year 2009 from Las Vegas

Andre and me on The Strip in Las Vegas at midnight.

Celebrating the New Year with some Andre champagne.

Daniel and his cousin Erika and her daughter Diana.

Daniel's cousin Isabel and her daughters.

Gisel, the youngest child of Lety's brother Moises and his wife Candy.

Hiking in the hills above Moy and Candy's house in Las Vegas.

Red Rocks State Park outside Las Vegas.

Lake Mead next to Hoover Dam.

Hoover Dam, built between 1931-35, in the Great Depression.

Daniel at the border...of Nevada and Arizona.

New Year's Eve in Las Vegas.

On the way to Las Vegas we stopped off at Daniel's cousin's house in Colton, California near Riverside. They're all planning to go back to Mexico soon because their father isn't doing well. It will be a big adjustment for their daughters who were born in the U.S. But fortunately, they're all excellent students and completely bilingual already.

Here in Las Vegas we've been staying with Lety's brother Moises (same name as her husband, Daniel's brother) and his wife Candy and their four kids. Lety's parents are visiting also, with her brother Hector. They'll be going back to Mexico in a few days, after a month of vacations in the U.S.

Daniel, Andre and I did a lot of hiking in the area, in the mountains near the house, in Red Rocks, and around Lake Mead and Hoover Dam. It's amazing to appreciate the engineering involved in building the dam, especially when you consider it was constructed about 70 years ago.

For New Year's Eve we enjoyed a seafood feast at Red Lobster, then joined the crowds on Las Vegas Blvd. which had been closed off to car traffic. It reminded me a bit of downtown Santa Cruz on Halloween -- the women were all dressed in tiny, skimpy, sexy outfits, despite the cool night air. Thousands of people were enjoying themselves while the police watched on the sidelines. The fireworks show was amazing.

Today we'll take off for Mammoth Lakes.

Christmas 2008

Andre & me in San Juan Bautista with Santa before watching La Virgen Del Tepeyac by Teatro Campesino in the Mission chapel, starring Luis Valdez as the bishop. On the right, Andre, Daniel and I pose in front of the Xmas tree at Diane and Armando's house in Chula Vista, where the Becerra gals and friends prepared the traditional tamales on Noche Buena (below).


Andre's first sledding experience, in the Laguna Mountains of San Diego County.

Andre's first time in the snow.

Vicki Finley Harley & I, overlooking the desert. We've known each other since Mrs. McNary's kindergarten class at Rosebank Elementary.

My nephew Hugh, his wife Shaya and their kids on Christmas Eve at Hugh's sister Tiese's house.

Maya's biological grandma Carmen in San Diego.


12/27/08 Greetings from the Laguna Mountains, one hour east of San Diego. Andre and Daniel are out stomping around in the snow -- another first for Andre. We're staying in a cabin at the Mt. Laguna Lodge with a childhood friend, Vicki, her 15-year-old son Alec and his friend Mike. Andre and I even have our own room. Vicki is busy cooking roast beef, ribs, potatoes and asparagus bernaise for dinner. Life is rough!

We got on the road on Tuesday, Dec. 23 and drove straight through to Chula Vista. With 3 drivers and not too much holiday traffic, we cruised down quite painlessly, only stopping for food and gas. Andre and I got up early on Christmas Eve and went for a swim in the motel pool.

We dropped in on the Becerra women and friends as they finished up making the traditional holiday tamales. Andre and Daniel were the only men there for the first 15 minutes. I could tell they were getting bored, listening to the "gallinas" (hens) clacking away in the kitchen. Finally, they were rescued by Armando, the man of the house.

On Christmas Eve we went out for dinner with my dad and his wife Judith and had a nice table right by the fireplace. Afterwards, we went to my niece Tiese's house. My only desire was to be with her two kids, J'Shon and Jayla, hoping not to miss Maya too much. But much to my surprise, they had a full house when we got there. It was filled with Charfauros', my relatives from my first marriage. I was so excited to see former sister-in-law Marian and her husband Eli, my nephew Vern and his girlfriend Angie, Marian's twin Alan, and my nephew Hugh with his wife Shaya and their 3 kids. In addition, there were lots of Tiese and Hugh's relatives on their dad's side. Too bad we were too stuffed to enjoy the feast they put out.

Christmas morning I was surprised to see J'Shon and Jayla sleeping in late, probably because they already opened some of their presents on Christmas Eve. Andre, Daniel and I crashed out early, but when I woke around 3:00 a.m. to go to the bathroom, I found Tiese still cleaning up the kitchen and putting food away. I helped by cleaning the stove. The last guests had just left around 2:00. That might also explain why the little ones were slow to awake on Christmas Day. The big hit of the day was a complete rock band for their Wii game. The biggest rock star was Tiese's husband Jason. Hopefully, he'll let the kids have their turn sometime.

We weren't expecting any gifts and we brought very few down, but what was cute is we got matching gifts. Judith gave us each a pound of See's Chocolates (YUM!) and Tiese gave us each a small digital alarm clock. The funny thing was trying to figure out whose was whose afterwards. You know my chocolates had the most left and Daniel claimed he'd set the time on his clock.

We visited Jim Heiner, former Hilltop High School English teacher on our way up to the snow, and my long-time friend Mary on the way back. We stayed a night with Maya's bio-grandma Carmen and her family. As it turns out, Carmen got recently married too -- to her sweetheart of 20 years. Maya would have been so excited. We shared some of the leftover wedding cake (YUM!). It was so great to see Carmen and her daughters.