Greetings! This past year, Tim and I often started a sentence with "Last year, when...," only to realize that the event was in 2019. Such is life during this pandemic - on one hand, hyper-focused on every day, on the other hand feeling like 2020, and this year, didn't exist. But as so many have had to do, we're adapting, and trying to get out and enjoy activities, family, and friends when possible. We're thankful to still be around, and painfully aware of so many who have been affected
A fun, outdoor event last December was a lighted art display in Golden Gate Park. Amanda skated - with light up wheels! - and Tim and I biked. Fun and magical - until I decided to try to video with my phone while biking. The video starts with a loud "Umphf" as I went down. No harm done - and lesson learned! Tim did better in his physical pursuits, continuing to meet outdoors for karate workouts, and successfully completing a weight loss and fitness challenge at his gym. Good job, Grandpa! Our traditional New Year's Day hike was a multi-activity day - Amanda and Kyra skating, Martín, his brother and Odin riding bikes, Tim and I hiking, and Jocelyn having a tailgate party with her camp chair and oxygen tank! We joined her in a while, for snacks and an outdoor visit.
A dry winter (not good) makes for beautiful hiking here in our coastal hills, with scenery of burned areas as well as regrowth and spectacular wildflowers. One day in GG park, we toured the botanical gardens and rode the giant Ferris wheel there, to explain the enclosed photo. We continue to kayak when we can; during the first large group on the water in the spring, people were so glad to see each other. One getaway was a trip to Monterey, where we biked, beach-walked and had some scrumptious meals. We spent all - too - few precious days with Lily and Jackson going to the beach, on walks, or bike rides; also a fun day at the Exploratorium one day in July. Likewise with Odin and Kyra - health and vaccine status limited time with them, but now all the grandkids are vaccinated! A very important event for Kyra was her high school graduation - more on that later. Jocelyn and family were able to go to the beach, or swimming at the Russian river a couple of times - a challenge for Joc actually walking to the shoreline, but then she swam within 20 feet of the shoreline, tethered by a long hose to her oxygen tank!
Trying to find virus safe activities to break up the daily routine, we attended a zoom cocktail - making session, which was a lot of fun! Tim comes up with a new concoction once a week or so. We also volunteered for a bottling work party at Petaluma-based Griffo distillery, and as our thank you, received two bottles of their fantastic gin! With the warm weather came camping! Twice, in June and July, at two different Sierra lakes with kayaking friends. Amanda and the dogs joined us for one overnight, and we hiked to a beautiful waterfall. Besides virus planning, there were also fire considerations. There were some smoky days from fires to the north and east, and the area later was threatened by the mega Caldor Fire, but we had beautiful days on the lakes and enjoyed the scenery with friends. We also attended two Giants games with friends. That ballpark, in the summer, after not going for two years, was wonderful. Also, they won (the first time) and there were fireworks!
I've been fortunate to spend times with friends, either on-line, or in person, as appropriate, catching some live music, for book club, beach days, kayaking, biking, hiking, taking the dogs for walks, going to yoga, or just visiting. I decided that to actually learn ukulele the right way, I needed the motivation of a group class. Our small group has met once a week for several months now. The community band where I play clarinet is scheduled to begin in February, but like everything, that is subject to change. And then there is gardening. As it was clear the CA drought was continuing, I scaled back, but even battling gophers, I had zucchini, some pumpkins, tomatoes, and a broccoli plant that keeps on giving! Our cat, Chloe, is 11 now, but still pretty alert. I'm starting to understand feline, being around her so much; she has a definite vocabulary and ways to make her wishes known. The dogs entertain her, and she terrorizes poor Petunia, who constantly tries to steal her food
Tim and I have also been trying to catch up with necessary house tasks - Tim installed important self-sealing fire-proof vents, and then we took on the project of hiring a painter. The hard part was agreeing on colors!! That and some prep work took much of August. The old red house with green trim is gone and we now have a crisp charcoal gray house with a bright orange door!
A long-awaited trip was with Kerrick James, an Arizona based pro travel/landscape photographer, to ride scenic railways in the southwest in September, a special series commemorating the steam engine. To add to the hesitancy to travel, I had some mild viral symptoms a week before the trip. I tested negative, but Tim - without symptoms - tested positive!! The three of us tried to stay away from each other - Amanda also was going to Glacier NP - and we all rescheduled tests and all tested negative. My symptoms resolved, and we were medically cleared, but Tim had cancelled everything! He immediately Un-cancelled, we again pivoted; in the next 48 hours we finished packing, and enlisted granddaughter Kyra to house sit! The trip was amazing - seeing parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, and we enjoyed traveling with Kerrick, his partner Julie, and another couple. We were treated to a thunderstorm at the rim of the Grand Canyon - a treat because it made for beautiful lighting for photos. We returned to the rim twice more for sunset and early morning shots. Tim and I stayed on for a few days in Santa Fe, seeing the Georgia O'Keefe museum, a mind- blowing exhibit called Meow Wolf, and attending a Flamenco dinner show. We want to go back! Then, early October, we attended a Brandi Carlile concert at the Stanford Amphitheatre on a beautiful warm evening. So good to hear live music in a well-behaved, vaccinated crowd.
We haven't been able to do much in-person volunteering this year, but one event that was uplifting was helping at a local church's community Thanksgiving dinner and give away at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. I had a lot of fun as a greeter (more like an interceptor), greeting folks in English and Spanish, giving me time to remind about masks and giving a dose of hand sanitizer before they entered the building. Once there, Tim and many others provided families with a frozen turkey, a bag of groceries, free coats, and vaccines. We noted that our previous job experiences - mine with the Mobile Clinic and his in an Oakland box factory (50 years ago) - really! - came in handy. As a matter of fact, I ran into some of my co-workers from the Mobile Clinic who were there giving vaccines and doing health screenings. In addition to that event, Tim was able to work one day in late spring doing hiking trail maintenance in one of the burn areas of Hood Mountain Regional Park.
With our September trip right before Lily's birthday, we celebrated later with a day in San Francisco with this now 13-year-old, visiting an art exhibit, having lunch, and sightseeing at Japantown. It was so good to have a special day with just her, and to notice that she is now taller than Grandma! Then, early October, we attended a Brandi Carlile concert at the Stanford Amphitheatre on a beautiful warm evening. So good to hear live music in a well-behaved, vaccinated crowd.
Jackson turned 11 on November 5 and was available for a day with us on the 21st. We started with a yummy breakfast, then a visit to local park, later ice skating at Snoopy Ice arena. His cousin Kyra joined us, and the two of them had some special time together. Tim went out on the ice, but the memory of his dad breaking his arm under similar circumstances was on our minds, so his session was tenuous and short - no injuries either.
For Jocelyn life has been about ongoing challenges. Because of her perseverance with physical therapy, and pursuing the things she CAN do, she is slowly seeing improvement from her long-COVID symptoms. She is still on oxygen, and still has flares of the multitude of symptoms if she does too much, but what used to be daily, ongoing setbacks are now less frequent. She really appreciates everyone's concern and good wishes for her. Jocelyn and Kyra worked on making jewelry to sell on Etsy, and the process served as therapy for Jocelyn to regain some of her fine motor skills. Kyra suffers multiple symptoms, too, but some are different. She does better when she is very active, as when skating, but then tires easily and may need to stay in bed for a day or two after. She sometimes has rapid heart rate, then may faint, but has some medical recommendations to help with those symptoms. Because of her symptoms last June, and concerns about exposing the family to illness, she had a private, outdoor ceremony at her house for graduation. She had a cap and gown, a beautiful dress, and Jocelyn-printed a diploma. We sang "Pomp and Circumstance," had cake, and then she went to bed. Poor kid! Not much fun for 18-year-old - or anyone. She wants to continue with school, and find a job, go out with friends, but she just has to get better first.
Odin is almost 9! He, his dad and uncle love mountain biking, and sometimes ride 15-20 miles! He is a math whiz and working on reading. He's a happy little guy, in spite of having to isolate from friends and family for so long, with things looking up now that he's vaccinated!
Jocelyn started driving again this year, short trips at first, which triggered many symptoms, and now she is able to go longer distances. They even took a couple of family trips, with Martín driving, to Monterey, and to Mt. Shasta to play in the snow! Ability to even ride in the car for that long is a huge improvement over last year. Martín is working hard, taking care of most of the grocery shopping, and still going to karate workouts (with Tim), when schedule allows. When Goju Kai promotionals start again, he will be ready for promotion to black belt. Everyone in class says how exceptional his skills have become.
Pandemic brought changes for everyone; for Amanda, one of those changes was taking away roller derby, which has been a huge time commitment in her life since 2017. She continues to roller skate outside on local trails with friends but is ok with not returning to roller derby, because the extra time in her schedule had a silver lining; she decided to go back to school and work on her bachelor's degree. In January 2021, she began online coursework toward a BS in Computer Science from Dakota State University. She is in school full-time and working, so most of her days this year (including summer semester) we found her cooped up studying or learning various programming languages and math. Tim called on his own programming experience and helped her immensely in her courses as the learning curve can be pretty steep. It's tough and a ton of work, but she enjoys the problem solving and creativity in her classes. She'll graduate in a couple years with the goal of working as a software engineer. In 2020, you may recall that Amanda and Tim spent about 6 months of weekends converting an empty cargo van into a camper. In 2021 Amanda was able to take the van out for several road trips, visiting Death Valley, Alabama Hills, Anza Borrego, San Diego, Oregon, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks, Glacier NP in Montana, Grand Tetons & Yellowstone National Parks, and few overnight local trips. She even used the van to transport two of our kayaks a couple times - at 14 feet long, they just barely fit inside! Then after getting the COVID vaccine in the spring, she and her bestie Shannon hopped on a plane and spent about a week in Guatemala in May, hiking, swimming, eating great food and challenging the limits of her Spanish skills! It was a special trip after not being able to travel internationally for so long. She loves to travel and adventure, but is happiest at home close to family, and hiking with or snggling her dogs, Bucky and Petunia (both 9 years old,) whose muzzles become a little more silver with each passing year.
Jordan and Lauren bought a house this year! Still in Santa Rosa, with a nice park within the community. Lily is in 7th grade this year and Jackson is in 5th. They are so happy to be back in the classroom with friends! We're thankful that they and their mom and stepdad have been healthy. And they have a sweet little kitty named Josie. Lily is playing baritone sax in band, is becoming quite the artist, and loves sleepovers with her friends. Jackson is playing drums in band this year. He really likes history, and also his classes at Flying Frog, sort of an urban indoor parkours. We have missed them so much and are thankful for the days we can spend with them. They had a busy summer and were able to do some traveling.
I often think about Christmases growing up with my family - excitement, gift-wrapping, stress, cookies, decorating, love, food, celebration. Tim has his memories also. And of course, after we married and had kids, we were lucky to be part of multiple celebrations, where we shared each other's traditions with our kids. This was a life-long lesson in how to be a family - for better or for worse. The last couple of years have felt disjointed, and there is longing for those large family gatherings, as we, along with everyone, try to navigate this crazy virus and stay healthy. In addition, we miss and think of Terry every day. His legacy is his beautiful children, and our comfort is watching them grow. On January 4, it will be five years since his passing. If so inclined, light a candle, raise a glass, do something to help others. Conditions allowing, we may hike to a special beach spot to remember him.
We are thankful for all our friends and family, and all the times we have been able to gather.
If we can't meet in person, well, there's Zoom or Skype! As conditions allow, we'll be going on our New Year's hike, in some form!
Tim and Sharon Morgan, and Family