Friday Music and an Anniversary Story

I haven't posted a Friday Music song in quite some time. I was inspired to post this song because it is New Year's Eve and the 33rd anniversary of when Roger and I first met. 

Imagine us sitting at the dining table looking out over the Monterey Bay, our hands clasped while we told each other our stories, shared our heartbreaks, our love of the Beat writers, our love of music. Roger was listening to this artist, Ray Lynch, whom I'd never heard of. This song became part of our story. 

Here is our story as we wrote it on New Year's Eve in 2004/5 for the blog. We've posted it here a few times over the years and thought it was time to tell it again. 

Our New Year's Story

Roger Remembers:

on new year's eve 1988 i went to a party of friends. sometime early in the evening i met the twin sister of a man i knew in santa cruz. i knew of her existence, but little else. someone introduced us. we shook hands, mumbled a few words, and went our separate ways. i was happily dateless that night, having just decided that i needed to be alone for a while, so i had a great time dancing among a crowd of friends.

at midnight, or close to it, lovers kissed, partners danced with each other, and my newest acquaintance and i, both being dateless, saw each other and danced together briefly but intensely. i don't recall speaking.

two weeks later a friend told me that she knew someone who would like to go out with me, and gave me the phone number of my midnight dancer. i had been divorced for 3 years and dated several women, but all were mismatches of one sort or another and i was tired of trying. so i decided that i would call this woman and talk to her and maybe go out to dinner, but that i would be my rasty self and let the chips fall where they may, so to speak. it worked out well. better than i expected. she too had a bit of an edge.

we had a nice dinner. we found each other interesting. we talked up a storm. we never stopped. we're still at it. well, we do enjoy silence together too. we have never stopped being together since new year's eve 1988.

One of our very first dates. He was beardless, I had short hair.

A month after we met, we decided to drive to Muleje. Here we are camped somewhere in Baja.

We were dressed up for a party. Summer 1989.

Robin Remembers:
Seventeen years ago, at a New Year's Eve party, I danced at midnight with a man I had just met. When the clock struck twelve we found each other and just for a short while danced a crazy New Year's Eve dance together.

I was newly separated from my husband, had just gotten to California, and was not really looking to start a romance. My twin brother and his wife had been invited to a New Year's Eve party, but they are as reclusive as I, so were not planning on attending. They suggested I go rather than stay home and mope with my broken heart. I was a bit wary because as kind as their friends are, it was a new-age spiritual group, and I am not exactly new age or spiritual (in that "everything happens for a reason" kind of spirituality). I decided to go anyway and wound up dancing with Roger at midnight. There was definitely something about dancing with him that made me want to see him again. I told a mutual friend that I wouldn't mind if Roger would call me. I didn't really know how to go about dating. It made me feel like I was back in high school. Robin likes Roger. Okay, now what? The friend gave Roger my number, and he called. Two weeks after New Year's we had dinner. Interestingly, we both had a bit of an acerbic edge, having decided that we would just plainly be ourselves. If the other didn't like it, well no big deal. So neither one of us was on our best behavior. It was great fun, and we've been inseparably together ever since. We know it's an understatement to say it, but we're so glad that we broke with our personal traditions, went out to celebrate, and stayed awake until midnight on New Year's Eve in 1988.

In Muleje with a guy we had met. He was bicycling from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

We loved each other's company and took up boogie boarding together.

So, we decided to grow old together.

The first sunset photograph we ever shot together. This was in Muleje.

Still goofy after all these years!

Happy New Year to you!

A Sunset Moment

I posted this on Facebook the other day, and I really wanted to post it here on the blog as well. I should have posted it here first. Blogger is my favorite site for communicating with online friends. I don't know why I didn't, perhaps distracted by life itself. 

I was trying to photograph the sunset drops of rain on the pine needles in the tree out back. They were glimmering with a beautiful glow. I clicked a few pics and then ran out front to see if there was a rainbow in the eastern sky at sunset. Yes there was. Clicked a few more pics. 

When I downloaded the photos this is what I saw. 

I hope you'll click on the photos. I didn't get the little drops of rain on the pine needles at all, I got the actual rain streaking down in sunset colors. I've never seen anything like it. And then there was a double bow out there facing east. It was such a lovely colorful moment.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, this is what our Christmas Day looked like. It was the very best gift.

Everyone's A Critic

I'm sure you remember the Chicken Library post. Well... we discovered that not only do they read these free library books, they have found a way to give us their reviews.

They tore this book up pretty well. I would say they did not like it. What do you think? I trust their opinions. I just wish I knew what book this was. 

And Then This Happened

 We've been having beautiful sunrises here. Certainly not what we expected with the weather report predicting rain rain and more rain. But Sunday morning looked like this...

...and Monday morning looked like this...

... and then I ran out a short while later to see this...

... and our lovely neighbor across the street posted this on Facebook... that's me photographing the rainbow...

...and still no rain at all, so we decided to go for a walk and then this happened...

We didn't really feel much of it at all. I felt a little rumble, but not anything that would suggest a quake of this size. We started getting texts from California Earthquake site keeping us informed of the shaking. It was wild, even though when we got home there wasn't a single thing tipped over or knocked down. We're hoping that the little aftershocks stop and that's the end of that for a while. 

So, that's what we've been up to.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Sparkling Blue

  

I just needed to be reminded of this beauty. The sparkling blue Monterey Bay. I think I probably photographed this the last time we were in Capitola in 2019, before the family beach house was sold. This sparkling blue water is the balance to the bleak gray skies here, balance to the chaotic madness of the times we're living in, balance to headlines that scream about Trump's anti-semitism (scaring me all the way down to my Ashkenazi bones), balance to a raging pandemic, balance to this day that would have been my father's 103rd birthday. He's been gone almost 30 years, but he is remembered with a love as high as the sky, as blue as the sea, as sparkling as the reflected light of the sun. 

PS-- We haven't gotten any test results from Roger's Zio patch yet. He mailed it last Tuesday, so we're just waiting and wondering. We will update as soon as we know anything. Beauty is the balance to this wait as well.

A Mirror Image

  

Probably not what you expected for a mirror image. I would have imagined a beautiful blue lake with a blue sky, perhaps some billowy clouds and a mountain range. That perfect reflection. But instead it's this. The windows of a lovely second-hand store. We drive by it whenever we make that journey into town or to the marsh. I always look out the car window and notice us reflected in the mirror as we go by. I always think, "Wow, I should photograph us as we drive past." So I finally did it on our way to the marsh the other day. There we are, the old Dharma Bums. We exist in a storefront window. Click!

On Sunday we drove past the store and the mirror was gone. It had been there for years. Now gone. I'm so glad I clicked the pic, silly as it is.

Almost Wordless Wednesday: The Chicken Library

  

We've all seen these little free mini libraries. They're all over town and we're pretty sure they're everywhere these days. This was the first time we saw the chickens waiting for something to read. What do you think? Is there a book out there called "Which Came First..." If not, there should be. These chickens want answers, and they want them now. LOL.

PS-- Roger is still wearing his Zio patch. The doc is waiting to get those results. So no answers yet. We thank you all for your kind, thoughtful and supportive comments. 

A Fib

  ...but what I am writing here is the truth and not a fib at all. 

Roger was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation (often referred to as A-fib).  Mayo Clinic, our go-to website for all matters related to health had this about it:

Atrial fibrillation (A-fib) is an irregular and often very rapid heart rhythm (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots in the heart. A-fib increases the risk of stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

During atrial fibrillation, the heart's upper chambers (the atria) beat chaotically and irregularly — out of sync with the lower chambers (the ventricles) of the heart. For many people, A-fib may have no symptoms. However, A-fib may cause a fast, pounding heartbeat (palpitations), shortness of breath or weakness.

Episodes of atrial fibrillation may come and go, or they may be persistent. Although A-fib itself usually isn't life-threatening, it's a serious medical condition that requires proper treatment to prevent stroke.

 He has an appointment with his doctor on Monday and still many more days of wearing his Zio patch. That patch will provide lots of information, and then we will know how to proceed. He is still experiencing all of the symptoms, which will be recorded on this device. In fact, he is experiencing quite a bout of it as I type this. 

That's life these days. 

Hope all is well for you, dear friends out there in internet blogland.