"Focus on the journey, not the destination.
Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."
~ Greg Anderson
The month of May had many fun activities. Individual blogs were published on each of the following bucket-list activities: the month began with fun running event - the 8th Annual Monrovia Fountain to Falls Run/Walk. Next was an enjoyable Mother's Day Brunch honoring Bonnie, Jenny and Heather for being great mothers. This brunch was followed a few days later by a Traditional Family Lunch for Heather's birthday. Later in the month, during the Memorial Day Weekend, I did a Mountain Trails Motorcycle Ride on the fire roads in Big Bear.
In addition to the above activities, I published blogs recognizing May Birthdays, Favorite Family Photos, an Updated Planning Schedule, Memories of Our Family Car - the Forty, and Memories of the Iron Butt and Other Harley Rides.
My Monthly Wrap-Up Blogs summarize other "non bucket-list activities" that take place during the month. The month of May had a number of these activities, summarized below, and was a fun month.
Activities With Family-
Griffin Visits: Heather and Griffin dropped by our house early May for a visit - Griffin is showing Grandma Bonnie a video on his iPhone.
Later in May, Griffin spent three days at Camp Pali, near Running Springs in the San Bernardino mountains. He had never stayed away from home overnight alone prior to this, so it was a big deal and I think he had a great time. The first two photos below are at the camp, then he came by our home after the trip to show us some photos on the computer.
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Me As Handyman: When the girls have a chore around their house that I can help with I try to do it for them (hoping that it isn't plumbing or electrical). I had a couple of opportunities to do this during May.
Jenny: Bekah and Matthew gave Jenny a new desk for her home office for Mother's Day. Since it came in a huge box, with 26 assembly steps and about one million parts, I volunteered to help with the assembly. Jenny, Bonnie and I worked together the afternoon before Mother's Day and were successful in our chore. It is a very nice and functional desk for Jenny's work. A few photos below show the pieces and the final result.
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Tracy: Tracy had some outside patio lights in her back yard that were not working. So she bought some new fixtures and we hooked them up. Sounds easier than it was because the existing brackets didn't work well with the new fixtures, but at least she will have lights now. I don't have a photo of "before" but below are "in process" and "final result" photos.
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Dale & Pam: Bonnie & I spent the Memorial Day weekend in Big Bear. Dale & Pam were at their Big Bear home on Friday (a stopover on their way to Utah) so we had dinner with them at Maggio's Pizza. It's always fun to visit with them and catch up on what they and their kids are doing. Pam got laughing so hard trying to tell a story about Dale's exercise routine that she could never make it all the way through the story - I wish I would have taken a photo.
Activities With Friends-
Poke-In-
A Little History: I was invited to join Poke-In by Jarrett and Pat in January 1987. The club is a combination poker and investment club, and my "buy-in" was $2,500 which went into the kitty to be invested in whatever way was decided by the Investment Committee. I arrived a little early to the first meeting I attended and the host showed me to a seat in a room adjacent to where the Investment Committee was having their meeting. I remember hearing Bob H say, "The commodities where I invested our money went way down and all our money is gone." He said their broker had recommended those particular commodities but it turned out he was wrong. I remember Steve saying, with his sense of humor showing, "Do you think he'll ever do business with us again?" I told Bonnie when I got home that night that it was good that I hadn't planned on the Poke-In investment for our retirement fund.
Current Activity: The month of May was my turn to host the Poke-In festivities. With monthly deposits from members, and some market appreciation, we have recovered from the "commodities episode" and have a pretty good sized portfolio of securities in the stock market. We play poker (and other games) each month at one of the members homes, where the member provides dinner and drinks. We only have 13 members left from the original 18, after age and health have taken their toll. It's a great group of guys, and we have an annual Christmas party and other "get-a-ways" with the wives attending, so it is really an active social club. You can see the high-stakes serious gambling in the photos below (i.e. nickel/dime/quarter betting).
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Surprise a Stranger-
Just for fun I've been giving a gift of $7 to a stranger on the 7th day of each month (or another day if the 7th doesn't work) with a brief explanation as to why I'm doing it (I'm sure they think I'm crazy). I attach an explanatory note to a 5-dollar bill and a 2-dollar bill.
On May 7th I was running the trails in Canyon Park when I came across a Park Service Volunteer working on the trail. I asked him to tell me about the work he was doing, such as what the requirements were, how the Canyon Park people were to work with, etc. because I have been thinking of volunteering for trail maintenance in Canyon Park after my YEAR 77 activities are completed. He introduced himself as Gabby, and he was very helpful in explaining his duties, hours worked, and other requirements. He said there was a good group of people working there, that most of the men were in their 70s, so I would fit right in.
Anyway, Gabby was so pleasant and helpful I decided he should be the May recipient of my $7 gift. He was very appreciative of the gift (no one is impressed by the amount, but everyone has been appreciative of the thought) and said he was going to tell the other guys about it.
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Miscellaneous Other-
Memorial Day Weekend: Bonnie & I had an enjoyable weekend at our cabin in Big Bear over Memorial Day. We left home in light fog and drizzle on Friday morning and drove up the mountain. It cleared to a beautiful, sunny day around Running Springs and stayed that way the rest of the weekend. It was on the chilly side, going down into the low 30s at night and only to 60 or so during the day, but that was a very comfortable temperature.
Friday night we had a fun dinner with Dale & Pam at Maggio's Pizza.
Saturday we went shopping in the village and later had a wonderful dinner at our favorite restaurant, the Sweet Basil Bistro.
Sunday morning I drove to the Aspen Glen Picnic Area to determine exactly where the Pineknot Trail trailhead was so I could easily find it in June when Dale and I are going to hike the Pineknot Trail to Grand View Point. There were quite a few hikers already in the forest area at the trailhead, which is beautiful, and the trail looks like the beginning of a fun hike.
Then I drove over to the Pine Knot Marina where we used to be stockholders. We also rented pontoon boats many times to take the family boating, picnicking on the lake, and watching the July 4th fireworks from out on the lake. Photos below from the left:
1st row- A small park just before the entrance to the Marina (when photo is enlarged you can see the two ducks in the middle of the photo); the next two photos are just inside the Marina gate and show the sad situation of the low level of the water in the lake.
2nd row- The first two photos are of Grout Bay on the Fawnskin side of the lake. The first looking at the shoreline where all the private docks are sitting on the ground, and the second looking out to where the water is currently. The bay is totally empty. The last photo is at the west end of the lake, near the dam, and there are quite a few boats on the water (with fishermen on board) and fishermen along the shore.
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Just inside the gate at Pine Knot Marina is Bosco's Bait Shop and while I was there I struck up a conversation with Bosco about how low the lake level is. He said the water level is currently 15 feet below normal level, and that they always lose 3 feet of water during the summer months, so the lake will be 18 feet below normal by the fall. He said the water at the east end was only 9 feet deep, 20 feet deep out from the observatory, and 42 feet deep at the west end where the dam is. This has obviously been very tough on the tourist business in Big Bear. Later in the morning Bonnie & I went shopping again in the Village and had a good lunch at the Big Bear Brewing Company. They served large amounts, so we stayed at the cabin in the evening and ate leftovers.
Monday morning I rode my Honda trail motorcycle over the mountain to the south on fire roads and went down into the valley for an "old times sake" trailbike ride. Art H. and his friend Ellen drove down Highway 38 in their car and I met them for lunch at Seven Oaks Resort. I published a separate blog on this activity.
Tuesday morning Bonnie & I packed up and went back down the mountain to Monrovia, missing most of the holiday traffic, which I guess was a little bit of a nightmare on the prior day.
Cute Babies (and Cute Oldies): Bonnie & I were not in attendance, but the photo below is so fun I must include it in this report. Linda spent Memorial Day weekend in Logan and had a chance to visit the Coverts. This photo is Linda and Grandma Barbara holding Michael & Gina's twin girls, Millie Susan and Lucy Barbara. I don't know, but I'll bet Barbara is holding Lucy Barbara.
May was an active, fun and interesting month. I'm looking forward to an active and fun month in June.
