Happy 80th, Mom !!

It's my mother's 80th birthday on February 16th.  I took a flight out to CA to celebrate with friends and family.  It started out with a somewhat sad departure from Copenhagen because Jens was supposed to go with me.  As a matter of fact, he likes to remind me that going to CA for my mother's birthday was his idea.  We were so thrilled and relieved that he was able to get travel insurance but as time when on, his condition deteriorated.  This meant that I had to say good-bye to him on departure day.

I was excited to see for myself, for the first time, what the new interior and extension looked like at the end of Finger C.     Boring is a pretty good description of it.

The actual finger use to end with a glass bridge over a road.  The bridge led to a single airplane and the other airplanes could only be reached by passenger bus.  Now there is a huge new extension and the older part has been modernized.  The above pix are the new part and updated part of finger C.  Below is the extension under construction.  And for a good laugh, I snapped this photo of an accident which happened just shortly before the construction got underway.

Getting on-board a flight using company tickets is the same old story.  I've told it many times now so I will simply by-pass it.  I wanted a Business Class seat but they were filled as well as the next best: Economy Plus.  I finally had to ask the person checking me in, why in our system it says that there are a few seats open but when I actually check in, the seats are full.   The explanation is that many passengers and quite often, bump themselves up at the last minute.  That explained a lot.

So that was the short version and I didn't even tell you about how I bumped my head 3 times because of the squishy lack of space.   Oh and when I got on the flight, I was one of those idiots sitting in someone else, seat.   "Um, excuse me sir, you're sitting in my seat", some woman said to me.  "But my ticket says seat C", I informed the dumb woman.  "Yes, but this is seat B. Seat C is on that side", she said to me.  I felt embarrassed.  So as quickly as I could, I grabbed my stuff and moved to the other side of the aisle.  I sat down and buckled up and then heard some guy say to me, "Uh, I think you are sitting in the wrong seat."   How could that be?  How could I sit in 2 wrong seats?  Frustrated but patiently, I showed the man my ticket and looked at the tag under the over-head compartment which read: 35C.  I said to the man while pointing to my ticket and pointing to the seat sign, "35 C,  35 C."  He looked at my ticket and read out loud, "31H. You're up there on the other side".  

Oh how dumb could I be?  So embarrassing.  My workmates would say: typical Eddie.  I really should have known.  35C was the gate number.  I go to this gate almost every day when I am at work.  35C was in large print and 31H was in small print and I am blind as a bat without my reading glasses.  But the good news was, I got to move a tad bit forward in the cabin.  After about 9 hours or so in the air and about 2 hours before landing at SFO, I looked out of the plane and waved to my good friend Patrick who lives in BC, Canada.  I'm pretty sure I saw you waving back to me, Patrick.

There were 2½ option after landing at SFO to fly onto SNA, John Wayne International Airport in Orange County.  The ½ option was, if miraculously the flight landed ½ and hour early (which is possible), I could take the next flight out of SFO to SNA.  Surprisingly, if I only had carry-on luggage, I could have made it.  But I didn't.  So my original plan was to take the flight 2 hours after landing and I hope that the plane would not arrive late.  I was also hoping that SFO was not as funked up as EWR airport.  My worst case scenario and option 3 was the last flight of the evening out of SFO to SNA. That would mean waiting in SFO airport for 4½ hours. 

Sadly, when I got to the gate, they told me, and a few other stand-by passengers that the flight was full.  What a drag and how typical.  But what happened was the last 3 stand-by passengers - of which I was one - crossed our fingers and just waited until the gate closed and then we would have to hope that the last flight had space - which it did.  But I really wanted to get to SNA ASAP because my time was limited to visit with my sister and I didn't want her to have to stay up so late just to come and pick me up at the airport.   How much more fun it could be to have an extra 2 hours and visit before crashing in her guest room.  

Well...……. as luck would have it, for some strange reason, the full flight was waiting for the last 3 passengers to come to the gate.  The flight purser made the announcement twice over the speakers:  UA flight 5728 is now boarding.  The gate will be closed in 3 minuts.  The purser made this announcement twice and we - the last 3 stand-by passengers, saw 3 people running towards the gate.  Oh shoot!  Here they come.   But they continued to run to another gate.  This meant there was still a chance.  But wouldn't you know it, the 3 passengers came running toward the gate.  But they too kept on running towards a different gate.  Halleluiah, the 3 minuts had passed and the purser said, "It's your lucky day.  Welcome on board."   And with that much great luck, I was on my way to SNA.

At just a little over 7pm, my sister had picked me up at the airport and before I know it, I am in heaven, eating Mexican food in Jeanette's kitchen.

The next 2½ days are spent with Jeanette walking the dog, running errands, visiting the doctor, eating and enjoying simplicity. Here now are some pix from some of the ways we passed the days.

First I am amazed by her collection of bikes, bike signs and bike artwork she designed.

 American made Schwinn bikes in quality condition.

 This mirror is actually lined in the rubber bicycle tire from her ride ½ way across America.

 This map hanging in her garage shows where she has been riding.

She can be quite goofy on a bike too.

We started the day with tour of the house and neighborhood and a poo-walk for the little doggy. 

Jeanette's work office with 2 screens and tv, a new back door and more.

Jeanette redesigned the ironwork to fit the style of her house.

Then we hit up a shop to exchange a bbq lamp, return IKEA bed sheets, do a bit of clothing shopping, some lunch and then for a stroll on one of the beautiful near-by beaches called Crystal Cove.

 There's Jeanette way in the background, in the middle.  

I forget just how amazing the shopping is in the US.

Then Jeanette has an appointment with a doctor about the soreness in her thumb from all the computer mouse work she has daily.  From the doctor's office, I snap a number of photos.  The windows are tinted so I had to work the photos to try and bring the subject back to a natural color.

I just have a freebie, cheap-o photo-chop program so....

 The weather is so amazingly clear, you can almost reach out and touch Santa Catalina Island.

 Background - Balboa Peninsula.  In the middle is Lido Island.  In the foreground, Newport Beach.

 In the opposite direction are the heavily covered, snow capped San Gabriel Mountains. 

 From the ground level looking up in front of the doctor's office are these beautiful palm trees.

The jagged left-hand edge is not a mistake.  

I purposely lined the frame up with the edge of the building.

 In the doctor's office parking lot there was this car - funny.

After the doctor's appointment, we drive to Crystal Cove beach where we take a nice long relaxing walk along the coast line.  

 This would be great for Jens - beach wheelchairs that can 

roll in the sand and all the way to the water.

Something you don't find too often in California.  

Most beaches have a law against alcohol.

But there is a nice selection of fruit and vegetable juice.

And there was also an interesting collection of Tiki mugs. 

I was telling Jeanette about this camera.  It's about a year old and I have only had a few "outings" with it.  It has way too many whistles and bells. My last camera was great but I wanted something that could do a bit more.  This does a lot more.  A LOT MORE !

The problem is, it takes a sharp memory to use the potential of this camera.  The instructions booklet is 350 pages long.  Anything more than a double-sided 3 page fold-out is more than enough for me.

But one of the amazing things about this camera is the zoom lens.

In real life, Jeanette and I could just barely see that there were some people sitting at the top of the hill.  And you can't really seem them either unless you click onto this photo and zoom in.  And you can't zoom in, in real life unless you can a camera.

But with this lens, I just have to zoom all the way out and this is what I get and this is without any photo shopping or chopping.  Not bad - eh?   

Now if I just knew what to do with all the other buttons.  There are actually only 5 to 12 buttons on the camera depending on how you are counting them.  The problem that I am having is that each button has about 10 functions and some of the functions work in connection with the other buttons and the combination you press them.  Then there is a touch screen and that has additional buttons or tabs and does, like 10 times that of what the buttons can do.   At this age and with the deterioration of my noodle, I think I ought to go back to a Kodak instamatic where you just point and shoot.  But I don't know where or if you can even still buy film - Ha!

Now take a look at this - my camera is so advanced, it knew that my sister was being a classic card and fuzzed her out of the picture.  Really, I swear I didn't do a thing except click.  Thank you, Camera.

I found a stone in the shape of a heart so I made this so that I could snap it and send it to Jens.  My camera has Wi-fi - but heck if I know how to make it connect to my dumbphone.  I managed once before but that was last summer and I tried really hard to figure it out - but no luck this time.

I swear I didn't do anything to the above photo.  My camera just knew that my sister was being her childish self and wouldn't have anything to do with her - ha ha.  

OK - now what the heck is my camera doing here?  It decided on it's own to soft focus the edges and make us look like we haven't seen the sun in ages.  I swear - I only pressed the shutter-release button.

Then I snapped this sail ship.  It's such an amazing lens that it looks like it was almost sailing near by. But I actually have my camera zoomed in on the coast of Hawaii - really !  Ok not really, but really.

 My sister makes me act goofy.  She is such a card and brings out the silly in me. LOL

I need to learn the button combination for removing wrinkles, 

whitening coffee-yellow teeth and tightening my Tom Hanks rubber-neck.

We head back to the car because now the sun is going down and it's getting really chilly.

This is the last cove you see as you leave Crystal Cove driving south, down PCH.

Now we have arrived to Laguna Beach.  We park the car and make our way to a Thai restaurant.  Jeanette can't remember exactly which street the restaurant is on so we ended up walking on a few different streets.  When we get to PCH again, the sun is down behind Santa Catalina and I snap a few photos of the beautiful sunset.  The sky was so colorful, I didn't even need to try to download a 350 page manual to find the golden filter button.

We finally find the restaurant. It looked closed from the sidewalk but it was open.  

And it was delicious.  Here are 2 pix from Google Maps. The pix are from the day hours.

We were there for dinner.

The following day, when I got out of bed, Jeanette informed me that it had been a cold night and that there was frost on all of the roofs in the neighborhood.  She also said that all the lawns had frost on them too.  But that was gone by the time I got up.  I snapped a photo of the neighbors roof, through the kitchen window screen.  Not that this photo is anything interesting, it's basically here for the Danes reading this as we don't use screens here in DK.  Actually I have forgotten about it myself.  You can still see frost on the roof of the neighbor house.  Then I moved to a window where there is no screen but that is only because this part of the window does not open.  

In LA where everything is based around the car, there are drive thru-doughnuts, banks, restaurants, dairies and more.  So I shouldn't be shocked to see a drive-thru pharmacy but I was so surprised that I had to get out and take a photo.

I snapped these for Jens.  He loves Denny's.  Not because the food is great but because it's so unusual for a Dane.  I wanted to wi-fi these to Jens too but no such luck.

Then we finally made it to San Clemente where you will find one of the most amazing and wonderful beach restaurants in So. CA.  Here you sit above the waves that actually break underneath your table.

George - I noticed you posted scenes from this very spot on your way back to LA from my folks house.  If you ever get a chance to stop in again, you will only regret you have not done it sooner.

After lunch, we hop back into the car and begin to make our way down the 5 freeway to Fallbrook where my parents live.  It's late afternoon and we end up having a nice home-cooked meal.  My camera is still packed at this time so not a lot of snaps from my arrival day at my folks house.  After dinner, Jeanette drives back to her place in Costa Mesa and I just hang out with my parents catching up on what has been going on with work, my flight to CA, Jens, pension, health and so on.  Not terribly exciting but very nice and comfortable and just an over all great visit to be with my folks again.  It was very laid back with food, chit chat, a few hands at cards and just a very easy day.  My folks go to bed early and they rise early.  I tried to stay up to 11pm where I would wait for a message or send a message to Jens as he was getting up at that time in DK where it is 8 in the morning.

On Thursday, my mother had errands to run which was perfect because my good, long time friend George was coming out to Fallbrook to see me.  He was staying at a motel just 4 minutes away from my parents house.  I drove out to Oceanside to pick up George where he was to arrive on the Metrolink.  But due to the heavy rains, the trains were off schedule and he missed his connection in down town LA.  Oh that was a drag because we only had a very short time to visit and now it was going to be cut by several hours.  But luckily he found out that Amtrak was about to depart from Union Station and he made a quick dash to hop on board.  As it turned out, he was only late by ½ an hours plus the ½ hour from the rain delay.  

We found each other in the very spread out Oceanside train station.  We jumped into the car to get out of the rain.  The train station is only 2 narrow streets away from the beach so I drove there to see what it was like in the rain.

Then I ended up back on the main road and we looked for a near-by restaurant to grab a quick bit.  It was too late for breakfast and too early for lunch.    We ordered just a little nibble and 50 cups of java just to sit, relax and visit over coffee instead of in the car during the down pour.   It has been a number of years since we last saw each other.  On my last visit to see my folks, we tried to do this same plan but it just didn't work out. My plan was to have lunch  in a Mexican restaurant in Fallbrook that my parents recommended.  But for now, we stopped here at Harbor House Café.  We drank about 10 cups of coffee and had a little tortilla soup which I never even heard of before.  And it was yummy.

   

That's me standing at the cash register and George snapped this with his phone because I said, "That guy has a really cool beard."  He and his wife were celebrating a wedding anniversary.  Sweet and sad at the same time.

So...……. after we were full to the rim with brim and the splashing of puddle water stopped splashing on the restaurant windows from cars driving by - seriously - we got back into the car and headed out to Fallbrook.

Here is a vid of the rain on the way to Fallbrook.

By the time we got to Fallbrook and pulled into the restaurant parking lot, the rain had for the most part subsided but we had to watch out for big puddles of water walking from the car to the front door of the restaurant.  The restaurant is called El Jardin or in English - the garden, and I was loving it.

After lunch, we drove to the motel, George checked in and then he took a little nap.  I went back to my folks house to take a little nap too but ended up occupying myself with things and talking to my parents.  suddenly it was time to pick up George and bring him back to my parents house.

We had a little visit, some food to nibble on and then soon it was time to bring George back to his motel and call it a day.

The following morning is a blur.  I picked up George in the morning and he came by to visit with my folks again.

But the highlight was, my mom had to run an errand so she dropped us off in Old Town Fallbrook.  It was almost like Frontierland at Disneyland but based on a real town in a real old time. 

Correction! Correction!  ha ha - did you catch the mistake? My mom said she read this twice but she didn't mention it.  First it was George who told me and then it was a woman on a news website that I read and have chatted with who lives in Fallbrook.  They both informed me that this town is not in Fallbrook.  It's in Temecula.  I spent quite a bit of time on google maps looking for it and just could not figure it out.  Now I know.  Thanks George. Thanks SoCalGal20.

I seriously doubt there were any Vikings running around in the late 18 and early 1900's.

After a quick visit in Old Town Fallbrook, we go out to dinner in what was supposed to be a little Italian restaurant.  But the place as been remolded since my parents were there last.  It was large, noise, busy, fairly tasty, but mostly fun to be there all together.

 When da moon shines inna you eye,

likka bigga pizza pie - 

atsa morie

This is my best Mafioso pose.

 Holy Cannoli !!!

Mamma Mia !

eh, you wanna know sumpating….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM !!!

Today is Saturday.  It's Mom's birthday and she has a very exciting birthday party to go to today.

Girls only !

This means that today, I go pick up George from his motel and spend my last few hours with him before he heads back to Los Angeles while my mom is at Jeanette's house for the girls only b-day party.

George checks out of his motel room.  As we walk out of his upstairs room, we snap a few pix of the place because the rains have finally stop and everything looks so fresh.

 George hands over the key to the front desk and we walk right next door to a restaurant called The Garden.  In Spanish it means el jardin.  We were surprised to see the same waiter working at El Jardin also works at The Garden.  Anywhoo.... the place was very cute, service good and food was very typical American breakfast and deserves 4 stars.  Here now, are photos of 2 of them.

After breakfast, I drove George back to my parents house where we had our last 

little visit with my dad before the 3 of us drove out to the train station in Oceanside.

And now my dad and I have arrived at the train station to drop off George.

My dad was so considerate to suggest we walk George to his carriage to be sure that he gets on. 

The train takes off and so do we.  My Dad and I are headed to the girls-only b-day party.  My sister said it was ok if we came at 3pm or later.  While driving north up along the 5, I kept an eye out for the Metrolink thinking it could be really funny to see George on the train going back to LA.  But no such luck.  Finally we ended up in Costa Mesa but our plan was to have a guys-only lunch before we crash the b-day party.  My father, with his German background, wanted to pop into a German deli and grab a bratwurst sandwich.  The deli is just a 5 minute drive from Jeanette's house.

When I think of German, I think of  Inge fra Sweden wearing Austrian/German Alpine clothing and speaking with a German accent.  If you haven't seen Trading Places with Eddie Murphy, you are for sure missing an all time classic comedy.  "Please to help me with my rucksack?"

I think my pop was in 7th heaven.  The smile on his face tells you how delish the bratwurst is.  And so was the homemade potato salad.  I must say so myself.  It really was delicious.  So if you need a switch from your boring McDonald burger and what to try some tasty European food with culture behind it, stop in at this place. Globe Deli, 1928 Harbor Blvd in Costa Mesa.  Just a few minutes from PCH in Newport Beach / less than 2 miles   It's like going to Europe but without having to get on a flight.

Now it was close to 3:30.  The original idea was to pick up my mother after the party was over.  But my mother and her car are like Siamese twins.  You pretty much can't separate them.  Since moving to Denmark, I've come to appreciate the value of public transportation.  It would have been very practical to put my mother on the train and send  her off to Jeanettes house so that we could all drive back together.  But mom would rather be totally independent and come and go as she pleases than to be stuck on public tranport. 

Of course, now that I think of it while writing this,  my dad and I should have gotten on the train with George and we could have gotten off in Santa Anna and have my mother come and pick us up.  Then we could have all driven back to Fallbrook together. Dang !  Why didn't I think of that sooner?

So now it's time to crash the party.  As soon as I walked in, I could see that the party was a success.  The sun was out, the front door was open, my father and I walked in and happiness was in the air - not to mention helium filled balloons.  All the beautiful ladies at the party had smiles as big as could be.  The women at the party were my mother's nieces - my cousins.  There were 7 out of ll cousins.  I could tell my mom was having a good time - until we showed up and started snapping photos.

 From left to right -

Jeanette, Carol, Mom, Tina, Laura, Bernie, Shelly, Nancy

Each of these women are amazing.  

It's been somewhere around 30, 40 or more years since I've last seen most of them.

The sun was setting and the party was coming to an end.  The guest started leaving as some of them had a longer drive and they wanted to get back before it was dark.  Then my folks left in one car and I left about 15 minutes after that.  The traffic going south on the 5 was nutso but I finally made it back to my parents place.  

Here are a few flowers that the birthday girl received from her family in Tennessee and Connecticut.

The next day my brother Michael popped in to wish my mom a happy birthday and to have a little visit with me.  His wife Cathy wanted to come but she had promised to attend a shower for a girlfriend.  It was great to see my brother as I did not see him on my last visit.  I will however see Michael and Cathy in Dublin this August when their daughter Sabrina gets married.  

Jeanette also popped over and the 4 of us ate Mom's delicious homemade tostadas.  And like my father in 7th heaven eating bratwurst, I've been in heaven eating mom's homemade food; some of it Mexican and some of it Middle Eastern as well as enjoying Mexican food from El Jardin.

Finally it was time to wind down my CA visit and begin to pack up and say farewell to Fallbrook.  On Tuesday, my folks were to drop me off at Jeanette's house where I would spend my last night before going back to the airport and start my Stand-by nightmare once again.  But first my father had a dentist appointment many miles away in Rowland Heights.  Rowland Heights they told me, has become China town.  It's been a zillion years since I have been here and I didn't recognize it at all.

 All the building are in Chinese. 

 The view from the dentist office.

Pop and the dentist.

According to Google maps, the drive is 85 miles/137 kilometers which take approximately 1hour and 25 minutes - just to go to a dentist and it took all but 12 minutes just to make a check.  But this dentist charges ½ the price as most other dentist so...…..  you do what you gotta do.

It was a long and exhausting drive but with all the rain and weather, it sure was beautiful to see all the snow capped mountains, green hills and the state flower everywhere. 

 Can you believe it?  This little 80 year old lady from West Covina hauling ass down the freeway at speeds that will send you into Tomorrowland. Yes, that's right:  hauling ass ! 

This is my 80 year old mother and her Siamese twin.

Pedal to the metal, baby !

 Not only does she have a lead foot, it's also very pretty.

She had her toes all dolled up for her party.

With toes like this, every lane is the diamond lane.

This is the California state flower.  

At speeds this fast and snapping from the Diamond lane, you can't see that the flowers actually look like this. 

(from Google).

 

 

 

and lots and lots of cement.

 Luckily we did the diamond lane almost the entire way - thank goodness.

Then from China Heights we had to head on out to Costa Mesa again.  It was another hour's drive.  Google says: 34mi/54km.  But before we stopped at Jeanette's place, we had lunch at Globe Deli to have another German bratwurst and it was just as good as the first time.

After lunch, it's just around the corner to my sister's house where my parents set me off and we have to say 'adieu' until next time.

 And there goes my father and Speedy Gonzales in a very fancy luxury car.  

It will take them another hour and 10 minutes to get home - 70mi/111km

Bye Mom and Pop - Thanks for a great visit.  I love you.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

As my folks back out of the driveway, I wave good-bye and then grab my sister's patio chair and a beer and rip off all of my clothes and try to soak up the last 2 hours of sunshine before heading back to the airport tomorrow.  Most of my time was either occupied or it was too wet or too cold to get any sunshine.  Very unusual weather for Sunny Southern California.  And as I write, it's still raining.  One thing is for sure, California does desperately need the water.

After the sun sets and my sister completes her work for the day, we sit and visit and then walk to one of the local restaurant for dinner.  Jeanette is always quite the hostess.  If you even need to plan a party - or your life - talk to her, she's got a great idea for what you are thinking of.

The next morning I am packed, we do a quick breakfast and a walk with the doggy and then I'm off to the John Wayne International.

Check out the passenger in the back seat.

I finally made it to SFO without a hitch.  

The airport, like many airports, is filled with artwork.  I snapped some of it.

I checked in my bag and hoped to get in Business Class from SFO to CPH.  Upon check-in, they tell me there is space on the flight but Business Class does not look so good.  I told them I will keep my fingers cross.  Thank goodness, even before everybody was on board, the purser called me up to the counter and handed me a ticket for the last available seat in Business Class.

 I'm your martini and I know what's good for your mother !

Nobody will know what this means except for my sister Jeanette but she'll never even read this. 

It was smooth flying all the way and I was thrilled to be home and to see my wonderful husband once again. 

Now if you made it this far and read every word and clicked every photo, video and link - congratulations !  You deserve a gold metal for patients and perseverance.


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