Aunt's 80th Birthday

My Aunt Meding, my dad's only sister turned 80 last Sunday. She is visiting from the Philippines so of course we had to have a party.


dad, aunt and Uncle Ralph


mom, aunt and dad


Cousin Aurora with niece Julia.


The next generation of cousins. Emma and Julia.


cousin Joel and Kim


When parents fall asleep, their kids will play...

52 Weeks of Musc: Week 39

Spiderwebs by No Doubt

"I'm walking into spiderwebs
So leave a message
And I'll call you back"

52 Weeks of Musc: Week 38

Bicycle Race by Queen

"I want to ride my bicycle
I want to ride my bike
I want to ride my bicycle I
want to ride it where I like"

52 Weeks of Musc: Week 37

Somewhere In the City by Madcap

"We can run and hide
Through the day and night
New York or L.A.
Downtown's the place for hearts like ours"

The Nuns were in town!!

My cousin, Angel (yes, we were both named after his dad, also Angel) brought his show Nunsense II: The Second Coming from Chicago last weekend. They had two shows Friday and Saturday at the Metropolitan Church in the Valley. He was in town 3 weeks ago to promote the show. I have to admit it was hilarious seeing him walking to all these different places in his nun habit promoting the show!
He flew into town Tuesday to do some last minute promoting, visiting with old friends and family. I volunteered for LAX pick up duties and somehow I became "the official photographer" (according to cousin Angel) for the show...

The Cast.


With Berda.

Cleaning, another birthday and a visit from friends

August had me slammed! So many things were going on. The only thing I was able to do was to keep my photo project going. For a while there, I thought was not going to be able to keep that going. Some of the photos and music matches were a stretch.
A number of things, many of them little, popped up but with a few big stuff thrown in made August a scramble!

Cleaning out the Garage!
My garage has been called "The Black Hole", "The Bermuda Triangle" or the "Last Frontier". Things get sent there and unless it is placed near the door or the path it will never be seen again. The last car parked in the garage was my old Camaro. That car was sold back in 1993!
I had planned on emptying out the garage and turn it into a photo studio/recreational room. I had to make room for a pool table and August was the month that it was going to get done.

August 4 was the day the pool table was arriving. The emptying out of the garage actually started in July. Putting everything out onto the driveway was fairly easy. It's amazing how much junk accumulates over the years (20+). The hard part was throwing things away! Amazing how much Sentimental Value a bunch of "junk" can have for different people.







I went through 4 of these dumpster bins.


I am pretty sure that I will be needing more before this project is over. Yes, that's right, it isn't over yet. Not by a longshot!

Another birthday

Yeah, I had another one of those too. I had planned on doing something fun this year. I was thinking of going on a small road trip... but...

I don't think I did anything special this year... actually, I don't think I did anything this year. My parents took me out to lunch that was cool. I pretty much was kept busy with the whole garage project.

Mollie and family in LA

It was not a good circumstance when I met Mollie. She was in town for a friend's funeral who died in Iraq. I got to know her a little while she was in town and I knew I wanted to get to know her even more. We kept in touch through email and she managed to call me twice from Korea (she served in the army as a military police). Through her, I was contacted by her mother in Ohio and later on her sister contacted me through this blog. As it turns out, Mollie's tour of duty with the army ended and she moved to Africa. She has been working in a number of projects to clothe, school, feed and nurture children, specifically orphans in 3 different countries. I knew she was in Africa but I did not know that her tour of duty was over.

I was helping out putting shelves together with Jim and James over at Raw Materials when I got a call from Mollie's mother saying that she was coming to Los Angeles with her family for a little vacation and that she would like to get together and finally meet face to face. After making plans to get together, Mollie calls telling me that she will be coming along with her family! I didn't even know she was in the country! Cool!
So plans had to be made, changed and postponed.
Mollie's family at the hotel.


At the hotel...


In front of the Disney Ice Cream Shop in Hollywood.


Splash Mountain in Disneyland.


With her mom at the airport.


In the 4 days they were in town I got to meet and know her family. It definitely wasn't enough time but it certainly was full. They are a great bunch of people. Mollie will be in the states for now, Utah is not that close but not as far as Korea or Africa!

52 Weeks of Music: Week 36

Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell

"I always feel like somebody's watching me
And I have no privacy, whoa-oa-oa
I always feel like somebody's watching me
Who's playing tricks on me?"

Missing Laura

Each year, it sneaks up on me. Then out of the blue, it hits me like a ton of bricks even though I'm looking straight at it. I knew it was coming, it's the reason for my parents' trip to Hawaii. They wanted to visit Laura's gravesite.

I debated writing all this here. I've so much I want to say... if only I had the words.


I've been cleaning out the garage for the last 6 weeks and for the most part it has been easy enough deciding what to keep (very little) and what to throw in the dumpster (most everything). The hard part is finding all these things that reminds me of Laura. Celia and I were digging through the "pile" and found some of Laura's old Cheerleading and Song Squad uniforms. We tried to sell them at a yard sale but there were no takers. We were trying to decide what had to be done, whether to keep, donate or throw them away... I don't remember what wat we decided. For all I know they are still in a box in the garage.

In cleaning out the garage, I've come across a few boxes of old family pictures. I smiled at a few pictures, laughed at others then found myself crying after a while. Here are a few...


This was Celia, me and Laura in front of the Tigers at the San Francisco Zoo. This was from our first year in California.


This was the whole family at Lombard Street.


Laura bringing home laundry.

I miss Laura.

52 Weeks of Music: Week 35

The Old Rugged Cross Made the Difference by Gaither Vocal Band

"And the old rugged cross made the difference
In a life bound for heartache and defeat;
I will praise Him forever and ever
For the cross made the difference for me."