Thanks to Charlie’s motivation and research, he & I went on an adventure with our neighbors Mike & Julian. In addition to a few days near Mt. Shasta camping at Lake Siskiyou, we also did a river rafting trip. Thanks to Mike’s familiarity with the area, we explored Mt. Shasta, another nearby lake, and a hidden but majestic waterfall outside the town of Dunsmuir. We loaded our van and their trailer with four kayaks, three bikes, and a small sailboat. All were deployed! Not only did Mike sail on Siskiyou, and I circumnavigated the lake by bike, and we all kayaked, but Charlie swam across the lake, and back! This first batch of pix depicts some of those endeavors…

This next batch of pix shows a couple different waterfalls, some campfire goodies, and our river rafting adventure, after which we headed home…

 

Another big event this summer was a visit by Uncle Ron, Julian & Livi, and their new baby Cooper. Cousin Elayna made the trip up from San Diego to hang with the family. This first batch is of the wonderful dinner and Nancy & Jered’s (Lucas & Rosa’s) new house at Pie Ranch. (Peruvian/Bolivian hats from us.) Enjoy…

This set of pix is at our house in La Honda where the family gathered for another meal…

…and of course we had a banquet in the private dining room at the Dominican Oaks…

 

Speaking of visits, Kirstie, our fellow traveler in South America from New Zealand, road her bike the length of California (joining her companion who rode from Canada to Mexico!). And once again, wrapping up the summer, was the Pescadero Art & Fun Festival (PAFF). In addition to the cyclists camping in our yard, this set of pix shows art by Mary Windram (the black & white one), Lynnette Vega (colored pencil on black paper), and some others, including Edgard & Paola painting a bus, etc…

Finally, here’s the work I put in the show. And check out the timelapse below…

As already presented in previous posts, our trip to South America was the big event of Summer 2019. But that was only three weeks, and summer has been more than three months, not without some other fun events. One of them was Mom turning 90 years old on July 15th. Not only did we have a big surprise party on that day (thanks to Nancy’s prep), but came back to Dominican Oaks for the July birthday event. Some pix…

 

Back up in La Honda, we also had Jose Perez and his family – wife Diana and their three girls – over for dinner. (Pano distortion!)

 

It was also a summer of many house projects: new dishwasher, paint touch-ups, shed pad construction, and new gravel for the driveway, corral, and pathways. Most importantly, after much waiting and a few CLHG meetings, Ventura Avenue (our street) got repaved – and it’s beautiful! As I write this, our new shed is being built, but you’ll have wait to take a look. Meanwhile, enjoy new ground…

Timelapse of retaining blocks for shed pad (after laying down the first and most important row.  (Only a little bit of backache.)

 

In preparation to teach the Big History Project 10th grade World History curriculum, I attended a conference at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. So, I couldn’t help but tour the museum, and here are just a few pix taken…

I do want you, dear reader, to check out the Big History Project. It is a game-changer in education, but just one of several big changes for next year. We’ve also adopted courses from UC Curriculum Integration and UC Scout (after much research into various programs). Please explore Big History…

https://school.bighistoryproject.com/bhplive