Familie aus Deutschland

We arrived in Southern California just in time to experience a record-breaking heat wave. One morning we are scraping ice off our windshield, and the next John is walking around in shorts showing off his snowy-white legs. We actually made a detour – we headed north and then west to stop for a one night visit with my sister Monica and family. I had a new touring bike waiting for me at the REI in Berkeley – it was last year’s model, discounted $250, and the closest one in my frame size was in the Bay Area. Surely a valid excuse for meeting up with family.

Our trip south was intended to be a one week jaunt, but parental health problems kept us for another week. This time John’s mother had a very rapid heart beat which put her in the hospital for a day. We stayed a few extra days to escort her to a cardiologist appointment, and monitor the effects of two new medications. Things seem to be stable now.

My cousin Baerbel, her companion Lothar, and their daughter Linda arrived at my parent’s house for a two-week visit from Hamburg, Germany. They had to see Las Vegas, although none of them left a single Euro there. They drove to the Bay Area for a visit with my sister and a grand tour of San Francisco. The original plan was to have them visit us in June Lake, but our unexpected extension of our trip cancelled that. We did cross paths, however. We met for dinner, and we all stayed the night at my parents house, talking until midnight. From somewhere in the depths of my memory came enough German vocabulary, augmented by wild gestures, for us to have good conversation. They flew back home the next day, and we promised to visit them next summer when we travel to Europe. The accompanying picture documents this family reunion.

Upon our arrival home, it was a full day before we realized none of the clocks in the house were reset for daylight savings time. We turned on the radio to listen to the news, and the announcer said it was 6:00 pm, not 5:00 like we thought. No wonder we were so hungry!