Dinner with Holly and Van

Holly and Van brought chinese food for dinner from The Wok Takeout. We spent a nice evening catching up on our recent trips.

While we were in Africa, Holly and Van spent September and early October on a five week trip. It included: a week on their own in Cinque Terre, Genoa, Milan, Lake Como and Bologna; a Roads Scholar tour - Beyond the View: The Amalfi Coast and Sorrento, and; the National Geographic Journeys: Morocco in Depth.

We had talked about taking an OATS trip to Morocco with Holly and Van. Based on their summary of the trip, I probably won't be able to get Sharon to Morocco!

Celebrating Lee's Sixth Birthday!

Morgan, Lee and Clem came over for a few hours in the morning. We had an early birthday celebration for Lee; his actual birthday is tomorrow. We got him a couple of LEGO sets: LEGO Classic Creative Pets and LEGO Creator 3 in 1 Wild Animals: Majestic Rhino with Birds.


fifth birthday

fourth birthday

third birthday

second birthday

first birthday

2025 Notre Dame Irish versus USC Trojans

Saturday night after Sharon got back from Carmen's baby shower, we went to Sharon's nephew Eric's house to watch the Notre Dame Irish versus USC Trojan college football game. Sharon's family are huge Notre Dame fans. Sharon's dad was Irish-Catholic and raised in Indiana. There are at least two other times that we have joined the family to watch Notre Dame play USC: November 2012 and November 2010.

The group included Tom, Eric, Kevin, Leah, Lydia, Amelia, Sharon and I. I don't think that I have ever watched an Irish game with Eric; he gets very into the game.

No. 13 Notre Dame ended up beating No. 20 Southern California by the score of 34 to 24. It was a pretty exciting game. With USC leading 24 to 20 in the third quarter, Notre Dame's Jadarian Price scored on a tackle-breaking 100-yard kickoff return. The fourth quarter featured two USC turnovers, a fumble and an interception.

Looking out of sync in the wet weather, Notre Dame quarterback C.J. Carr was 16 of 26 for 136 yards and one TD. He rushed 1 yard for Notre Dame’s final score. Jeremiyah Love rushed for a career-high 228 yards and a score.

Notre Dame boosted its College Football Playoff hopes with the victory and should move up in the rankings.

The Notre Dame-USC football series is one of the oldest and most traditional rivalries in college football. USC recently removed the scheduled 2026 game against Notre Dame from its official team website. The two schools have reportedly not yet reached an agreement to extend the annual series.

Carmen's Baby Shower

Sharon and Morgan spent the day at Carmen's baby shower in Orinda.

Tomasin

Tomasin stopped by for a couple of hours midday. We played a couple of games of cribbage and caught up.

The Hindenburg of NBA teams

“This is the Hindenburg of NBA teams this year.”

Safe to say @BillSimmons and @ZachLowe_NBA aren’t too high on the Kings this season. pic.twitter.com/B8slhHZhCh

— The Ringer (@ringer) October 15, 2025

Cindy - Over the Years

Happy Birthday, Cindy!

Bill Simmons NBA Over/Unders, Part 1: Sacramento Kings

Holly - Over the Years

Happy Birthday, Holly!

Celebrating our 29th Wedding Anniversary

Typically, we try to take a trip to celebrate our anniversary. With me recovering, we stayed close to home.

29 Years

Celebrating twenty-nine years of being married to this stunning woman!

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy: A Monk and Robot Book

My second book for October was A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers. This is the second book in Chambers' Monk and Robot series; I read the first book in June. I also previously read her first four books: The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet [July 2017], A Closed and Common Orbit [April 2018] and The Record of a Spaceborn Few [January 2019] and The Galaxy, and the Ground Within [September 2021].

The book continues the journey of Sibling Dex, a restless tea monk, and Splendid Speckled Mosscap, the first robot to return to human civilization after centuries in the wild. The pair travel across the moon of Panga to human settlements, where Mosscap attempts to answer its core question: "What do people need?" Through philosophical conversations with various communities, Dex helps Mosscap learn about the complexities of human wants and needs in their post-scarcity, solarpunk society. Ultimately, the two friends realize that true fulfillment might not be a grand, fixed purpose, but the simple comfort of being together while searching for the answer.

The series is an example of the solarpunk genre, presenting an optimistic vision of a future where humans have overcome consumerism and environmental catastrophe to live in harmony with nature and with each other. The world of Panga is presented as kind, gentle, and cooperative, though not without its own quiet struggles.

I am lukewarm about this book. While I appreciate what the author is trying to do, I found the story pretty pedestrian. It will be interesting to see where the storyline goes in the next book in the series...

Out of Africa

Saturday night, Sharon and I watched Out of Africa as a rental on the Apple TV. With the intersection of our trip to Africa and Robert Redford's recent death, we have been talking about the movie for some time.

Out of Africa is a 1985 epic romantic drama film directed and produced by Sydney Pollack. The film is based loosely on the 1937 autobiographical book Out of Africa written by Isak Dinesen (the pseudonym of Danish author Karen Blixen) with additional material from Dinesen's 1960 book Shadows on the Grass and other sources. The film stars Meryl Streep, Robert Redford and Klaus Maria Brandauer.

Danish author Karen Blixen (Streep) moves to British East Africa in 1913. Her marriage of convenience to Baron Bror Blixen (Brandauer) quickly falls apart leaving her to run a failing coffee plantation on her own. She begins a passionate but complicated romance with the independent big-game hunter Denys Finch Hatton (Redford), who values his freedom above all else. After losing the farm and Denys in a tragic accidents, Karen reluctantly returns to Denmark, where she channels her bittersweet memories into her famous writings.

Out of Africa won seven Academy Awards at the 58th ceremony (1986), including: Best Picture (Sydney Pollack, Producer); Best Director (Sydney Pollack); Best Adapted Screenplay (Kurt Luedtke); Best Cinematography (David Watkin); Best Original Score (John Barry); Best Art Direction (Stephen B. Grimes), and; Best Sound (Chris Jenkins, Gary Alexander, Larry Stensvold, and Peter Handford). Streep was also nominated for Best Actress.

When it was over, Sharon said "that was quite good." Although I am sure that I saw the movie forty years ago, I didn't remember much of the plot. With a run time of two hours and forty minutes, I found the movie slow in spots, particularly towards the end. The cinematography is wonderful; I particularly enjoyed the shots of the animals and the bush. Filmed in Kenya, the bush was much greener than what we saw in South Africa and Zambia.

Grey Duiker

After seeing a number of grey duikers running away from us at the Makanyi, I finally got a picture of one during the evening game drive on day fourteen at the Leopards Hills Private Game Reserve. I am going to eventually build a list of all the animals that we saw.

Throwback Thursday - Heavenly Valley - 1998

Kitchen Remodel - Day #XXX - Before and After

The Kitchen Remodel series of pictures can be found here.

                    Before                                    After 

Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

My book for October was Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown. This is the sixth installment of the Robert Langdon series, following Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Inferno and Origin. I also read his two earlier books: Digital Fortess in June of 2004 and Deception Point in November of 2004.

In Dan Brown's book The Lost Symbol, Brown introduced the character Katherine and the subject of noetics. At time I said, I didn't think that he did a very good job integrating the subject into the novel. Brown brings back Katherine and dives into the subject with a mishmash of nonlocal conscious, human to machine interfaces, multiple personalities and epilepsy.

Two random comments. This is the second book in a row where epilepsy played a major role. Additionally, I think the idea of nanobots for human to machine interfaces a lot more than serious brain surgery...

Like all of the Dan Brown books, the story does a great job of exploring the location. Prague serves as the backdrop for the story. It paints a wonderful picture of the city. Neither Sharon or I have been there. Tom was there in April. With a potential trip to Paris to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary in 2026, Sharon suggested that we take a side trip to Prague.

Although I am still not sure how I feel about some of the "science' in the book, I enjoyed it. I give it a "B+." Holly had suggested that we read this book for another book club dinner. If we do, it will be an interesting discussion.

The Loco Scheme - Dick Heringer at UC Davis

As I have mentioned, I didn't know much about the parents when they were in college. The one thing that I did know was that something happended to my dad while he was playing football. There were mutterings, but never really a discussion or any real information. As I discuss in a section of my upcoming book, this event had a cascading impact on my life.

California Aggie, Volume 52, Number 7, 29 October 1953

THE LOCO SCHEME

All-University Weekend—That's what’s keeping the world going around for most at this stage of the game.
   There’s going to be a helluva football spectacle that day in the Los Angeles Colisseum. I predict (my head is now at the block) the Cal Aggies will beat Santa Barbara, and in the minor game of the day I expect to see the Bruins defeat the Bears.
   On the local scene the Aggies have suffered a setback. Star guard Richard Heringer has been hospitalized because of a brain concussion suffered in the Nevada game. Hope you get back soon, Dick. We need you.
   On the interfraternity side, in basketball we find somewhat the same story, with Kappa Sigma on top with three wins and no losses, followed by a secondplace tie between the AGR’s and SAE’s, with a two-and-one count.

  STANDINGS: 
  Team       W L 
  Kappa Sigs 3 0 
  AGR        2 1 
  SAE        2 1 
  Delta Sig  1 2 
  Sigma Nu   1 2 
  Theta Xi   1 1 
  Calpha     0 2 
  Phi Sig .  0 2

   Sports are breaking out all over the place. Coach Woody Wilson announced that Intramural tennis will Start next week. Anyone is eligible who doesn’t hold a Varsity Letter in tennis. Signups open this week.    Monday, Nov. 2, is the time for all aspirants for the Varsity and Jr. Varsity Basketball teams to meet in Room 119 of the gym. Time, 4 p.m.—Coach Stromgren announced today.

Dick Heringer and Joyce Abbott at UC Davis

Snipes Wedding Weekend - Day #4

The Wallens headed back to Bremerton on Monday morning.

Snipes Wedding Weekend - Day #3

Julie, Tomasin, Jill, Wallen, Sharon and I had brunch at Casa East Sac [belgium waffles].

The six of us spent the late afternoon and evening for Park Winters celebrating Keith and Lizette's wedding.

Snipes Wedding Weekend - Day #2

The day included:

• a nice breakfast of quiche and fruit on the deck;
• facetiming with Drew and Carmen;
• A 3.25 mile hike through Effie Yeaw Nature Center and around Ancil Hoffman Park;
• watching some of the New York Yankees versus Toronto Blue Jays MLB play off game (Blue Jays 10, Yankess 1);
• some sandwiches from Jersey Mike's;
• the Night Before party in the Snipes' backyard in Davis, and;
• watching the end of the Seattle Mariners play off loss to the Detroit Tigers (Tigers 3, Mariners 2 in 10 innings).

Jill, John, Sharon and I took off for the Night Before Party about 3 pm and got to Davis about 3:45 pm. The party was scheduled from 4 pm to 8 pm. With 100 people invited to the wedding on Sunday, 92 people had RSVP'ed for the evening. The Tomasins rolled up just before 5 pm. There was a very nice buffet dinner from Taqueria Guadalajara.

Snipes Wedding Weekend - Day #1

With Keith and Lizette getting married on Sunday, Wallen and Jill are in town. They flew in on Friday morning and spent the afternoon helping the Snipes set up for an expanded rehearsal dinner in their backyard on Saturday.

Fighting the Friday afternoon traffic over the causeway, the Wallens rolled up to our house in Carmichael about 4:15 pm. They are spending the weekend with us. They actually haven't stay here overnight since Hunter's 60th in 2013...

The four of us spent some time catching up on the deck. Sharon made a great dinner of Peruvian chicken, rice and green beans on Sunday night.

It was really nice to have a leisurely opportunity to catch up just the four of us.

Wallen and I finished the night walking Tiber to the end of the lane and back. We all crashed about 10:30 pm.

Clem

Tongabezi Lodge

On our trip to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Zambia, we spent three nights at the Tongabezi Lodge. As I already said in my musings blog entry, I doubt that we will ever go back to Zambi, but I really enjoyed the Tongabezi Lodge.

During the trip, Tom pointed out that the Tongabezi Lodge is featured in the book 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz. Sharon gave me the book for Christmas more than twenty years ago.

While the book focuses on places and attractions, it often includes specific, noteworthy accommodations as part of a destination's entry. Tongabezi is included in the section dedicated to Victoria Falls/Livingstone, Zambia, and is highlighted as one of the quintessential places to stay in the region, known for its unique riverfront location and luxurious, romantic setting.