Thursday, May 2, 2019

California - There and Back Again

Guess where I am?
So yeah, I took a few days off. Felt guilty at first, got over it rather quickly. Especially as Beans, Juvat, and Tuna covered my absence very well.

Officially we came out here to witness the senior granddaughter's First Communion. It was an impressive affair, she looked angelic as did all the young ladies and gentlemen. Lovely and solemn, I was in the moment until The Naviguesser tapped my arm and asked, "Does this make us Papists?"

I assured him, it did not.

It's not the first time I've attended Mass, probably won't be the last as well. The WSO converted to Catholicism some years back as Big Time (being very Catholic as he is mostly Italian with a bit of French thrown in for good measure) wanted his kids raised in the Catholic faith. When asked by my youngest if I had any problems with that, I assured her that I did not.

Paternal grandfather was Catholic, converted to marry my grandmother. Dad's second oldest brother, Uncle Charlie, converted to Catholicism to marry my aunt. Like I told The WSO -

"Pretty sure we worship the same God, just the techniques and traditions are a "bit" different."

(That "bit" can cover a lot of ground.)

At any rate, that's why we flew to California.

Said flight was rather long, PVD to EWR to LAX to FAT. (As an exercise for the reader, I'll let you look those up.) We had a rather nice meal in LAX, expensive but very tasty. If you're ever stranded in LAX's Terminal 8, check out Engine Co. No. 28, awfully damned pricey, but very tasty. Bring an appetite, bring your wallet. You'll need both.


We were actually able to see the mountains while we were out there, some days are so hazy that seeing what's in the distance is not possible. As you can see above, the snow-topped mountains were pretty clear. (We were on out way to Visalia to see Avengers: Endgame, which while rather long, was rather entertaining. I was not disappointed.)

The Taco Guys
The afternoon of First Communion we were all invited over to one of The WSO's friends for a most excellent party. Those two guys in the photo above make some of the best tacos I've ever had. Which all of the many Mexican-Americans at the party pronounced very authentic. As did Big Time's brother, The Godfather, who has traveled extensively in Old Mexico on business and has probably eaten in every taco place down there.

We laughed when he said, "I'll be the judge of whether or not the tacos are authentic."

Heh, you tell them gringo. Truth be told, he did judge them authentic. He wasn't wrong.

Senior Dog Aurora
Met The WSO's dogs and cat for the first time. I had heard much about them and they turned out to be rather awesome pets.

Junior Dog Brownie
Brownie is just a pup, six months old and is still a little hyper, but once you get to know her she is very sweet.

Elsa, the Cat
Elsa gets along fine with Aurora, can't abide Brownie at all. She and Aurora will touch noses and sleep together. Brownie, for all her youthful exuberance, gets a swat and a hiss. She doesn't know why, so she keeps poking her nose in. Elsa lets her know that that is rather an unwise course of action. Aurora tries to keep her younger sister in line, but it's a full time job.

For her part, Elsa gets along with people just fine, very personable, very friendly.

So by the time you read all this, we should be back on the ground in Little Rhody. The lads did a fine job of covering the first few days away. As I type this it's Monday afternoon, The Missus Herself is cooking bulgogi, The Nuke, The WSO, Tuttle*, and L'il Sweetie are telling "sea stories." Big Time is at work and Little Bit is at tumbling practice. I can't wait to see if I convince LUSH to post while I'm out here. (Which if you see something on Wednesday she did, otherwise, she did not.)

We shall see...




* You shall learn who Tuttle is in due course.

30 comments:

  1. Always good to see loved ones but feeling guilty about leaving work?...... C'mon Sarge.. ..even batteries need to be recharged. Couple of good looking pups there, what are they? I'm a dog person myself.

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    1. Aurora is a pit bull, one of the sweetest dogs I've ever met. Brownie has some German Shepherd in her, from her stripes I'd say she's got some tiger in her as well. She's just a pup, over-exuberant and rowdy yes, but funny and sweet as well.

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  2. Love me some bulgogi. Gonna have to give this recipe a try. Still haven’t made it as well as the O house at the Kun. That was good eats.

    Glad you had a good time, and a safe trip.

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    Replies
    1. We're back in Little Rhody. A bit wore out but hey, it was in a good cause.

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  3. Well, that 'mountain' photo looks more like clouds than mountains.

    Glad you had a good trip. Decompressed and all that.

    As to being Papists, that's a good one. I caught some doorway evangelists out with that one once. They were railing against the evils of various -isms, and also Catholicism, when I interrupted and said, "It's okay, I'm a papist." Which they though must have been some version of Baptist, so they left me alone after that. Mrs. Andrew, who was within earshot, broke down laughing over that. Oh, well, now all we need is a real pope, sigh...

    And, yeah, LUSH skated, again, with TMH's permission. Seems you really are the paternal head of the clan, heh...

    Nice dogs and nice cat.

    Now I have to look up what bulgogi is.

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    Replies
    1. Cumulo-granite. The rocks are in there, the snow makes them look cloud-ish.

      As for bulgogi, chase the link, it's a recipe on the other end.

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    2. "Which they though..." Did you forget something Andrew? Usually your comments fit you to a ' t '.

      Oh well, no one is perfect, as I know quite well.

      Paul L. Quandt

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    3. I figured if OAFS could get away with it, so could I. How silly of me...

      Curses, fallen afoul of the Ogf, again.

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    4. Dangerously close to lèse-majesté!

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    5. And, weird, my combonkulator didn't read the link as a link, until I did a diskcleanup and then suddenly the link links.

      I think I could make big money being hired to walk into server farms and shutting them down just by existing.

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    6. I can now see that the mountains are mountains, now that all the allergy and sleep gunk has been removed from eyeballs and I turned up the screen brightness. Forgot about that nebulous look in the horizon in California. Reminds me of when family drove from Vandenberg AFB to Porterville, we'd see the mountains going east, see the clouds on the return trip. Back in the day (mid to late 60's.)

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    7. Ah, sometimes the computer only "sees" what it wants to see.

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    8. Those mountains like to hide in the haze.

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  4. Happy am I to read that you had a good visit and have returned home safe and well.

    Thanks for the post.
    Paul L. Quandt

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  5. glad you made it back all right. Travel can be exhausting - but the first night back in your own bed is pretty sweet, isn't it?

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    Replies
    1. Don't know yet, we just got back today around 1100.

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  6. Tuttle?

    I thought it was Buttle.....

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    Replies
    1. Bad joke from the movie "Brazil".....

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    2. Ah, I have not seen that one. (I need to get out more.)

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    3. It's a Terry Gilliam movie, and a bit...uhhh...searching for the right word here....obtuse? Arcane? How's about just "Different".


      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil_(1985_film)

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    4. If watching it, watch the Director's Cut, as that one shows the movie as it was meant to be shown. The theatrical release jumps around and leaves out very critical scenes.

      And, yes, Terry Gilliam's mind on too much caffeine... A very very weird but good movie.

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    5. drjim - Ah, Terry Gilliam, that's right up my alley! Say no more!

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    6. Beans - Director's cut? I'm on it!

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  7. So... in reference to your title..

    Did you see Smog?

    Do you have hairy feet?

    Sick, twisted, inquiring minds want to know. The rest of us will just laugh anyways...

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  8. Bulgogi - just not fair somehow, and to have it prepared for you, just increases my inner angst.
    I used to fly SFO-RNO-FAT-LAX-FAT-RNO-SFO, daily, whilst accruing wealth flying for "Western Airlines! The ONLY way to fly!"
    You may be seated.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Round, round, get around, you got around.

      Bad Beach Boys reference...

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