Don't get old!

Hey - I just thought I would pass along a little bit of wisdom from one of the older members of the current family group - DON'T GET OLD! I just returned from two hours in the dentist chair being poked at by two dentists consdering what to do about my two upper front teeth. For those of you who don't know or remember, these are the teeth that were knocked out by the Maytag washing machine when I was 5 years old. (At one point, they actually used a torque wrench on me!) I currently have implants for both of them and they are both failing. It is possible to replace implants these days, but the considered opinion of the experts is that I am not a good candidate because of bone loss around the implants. So, the fall-back solution is a permanent bridge. That will be $10,000 please! With this situation in addition to the prostate cancer, I should be able to come up with a really awful pun about getting it from both ends, but I will refrain. The current schedule for treatment of the prostate cancer is that I will have gold seeds implanted on Nov. 6th and begin 8 to 8 1/2 weeks of external beam radiation treatments on Jan. 4th. I believe it was Mother/Grandmother/Mother-in-Law Betty who opined "After a certain age, staying alive is a full-time job!"

Struggling to stay young at heart!

Bob

Fun and games in Denver

Jan and I returned on Tuesday from spending 4 days in Denver at a Boller family reunion. It was made extra special by the occassion of brother Clifford's 80th birthday celebration. In addition to the 16 immediate family members in attendance, there were 50 or so friends and other relatives attending a party on Sunday afternoon at the home of my niece. It was good to see everyone and to meet some of Cliff's long-time friends and neighbors. We have 4 generations in the family again. Cliff's great-grandson, Jackson, who is 2, was the hit of the party.
On Tuesday, Jan and I had some time before our flight, so we spent a couple of hours at the Denver Art Museum. What a fabulous place! The area is interesting both for its architecture and for the art in the museum. If you are in Denver and have a little time, I highly recommend it. It sort of puts the San Francisco museums to shame.

Take care of each other.

Bob

Updates from Benicia

Well, June was fairly quiet here in Benicia. Bob worked. Jan worked too much. We got in a couple of sailing days. Worked on taxes. Had multiple doctor and dentist appointments, etc. The last weekend in June we did a quick weekend in San Diego - down on Friday and back on Sunday. Jan gave a presentation at a conference about using technology in nursing education. Of course, just before she was to present, I got a panicked call from her because the flash drive containing the PowerPoint slides wouldn't work. Turns out there was a virus on it! Sort of embarrassing to have happen at a technology conference.
We were able to spend some time with our good friends Mary and Damon Wright. They were our neighbors when we lived in the condo in Park Point Loma. We also spent most of Sunday with old friends Paul and Barbara Holz. We actually ventured out to the area around Temecula, CA, to look at housing. Temecula is about 1 hour northeast of San Diego along I-15. It is also about 1 1/2 hours south of where Jan's school is located, so she is thinking it might make some sense to relocate there. The housing market in that area has taken a real beating, down more than 50%, so there are some relative bargains. However, the economics of selling our house here in Benicia aren't favorable either, so we're here for now.
This coming weekend we are off to Denver for a Boller family reunion to celebrate brother Clifford's 80th birthday. He's the oldest sibling and the first male in our family to live past age 70. So, we decided it was worth taking special note. All my brothers and sister are planning to attend. Brother Glenn who lives in Alabama has been having multiple medical problems so we're hoping he will be able to make it. There will also be a few of the next generation in attendance. It will be good to see everyone again.

All for now.

Bob

Sacramento Jazz Fest and sailing on the Strait

As usual, the annual Sacramento Jazz Festival was a blast! It was great to see everyone again. I'm not sure how we'll handle next year if Carl isn't involved with the Army band. It was a lot of fun watching and hearing their performances. The band played 11 performances, which is a lot in 3 days. Some groups only do 3 or 4. The festival is somewhat smaller than in previous years and, in my opinion, more manageable from the perspective of the audience. They have eliminated the venues out at the state fair grounds and now just have venues downtown and in Old Sacramento. This eliminates a lot of running around. Thanks to Evie for being the catalyst in getting everyone involved.
After scurrying back to Benicia on Monday, we got the boat ready on Tuesday morning and enjoyed a great day of sailing on the Carquinez Strait. It was a really nice day with warm temperatures and enough wind to keep the boat moving without too much to make it hard work. The memorable moment of the day came when, after several attempts to come about with an untrained crew, Roger exclaimed "Captain, your crew sucks!". This was all happening while the current was attempting to push us into one of the permanent channel markers. Luckily we avoided a collision, but only by a few feet! Happily, as the day progressed, the crew's skills improved markedly with a little practice. I didn't take any pictures, but Roger and Evie did, so perhaps they will post some.

Take care,
Bob

Heidi's Graduation!

Oh, what a week it was. Saturday was a beautiful day. Heidi's graduation ceremony started at 10 AM, held in the new Concordia Fitness Facility which had just been opened the day before. It was a very Lutheran (?) ceremony, but very nice.

Heidi graduated with High Distinction, and received the Outstanding Graduate in Studio Art award. All the parents, Roger and Cindy, and stepmothers, Sue and Evie, were very proud. Check out the pictures. Unfortunately, many of them are blurry, but we captured a few good ones here.

Next we came back here for the boring Old Peoples' afternoon party. Then the fun college kids' evening barbecue. About 80 people in all, and it was a very nice time. Heidi's 83 year old grandfather came from Iowa with Cindy's sister. Aunt Mildred represented the Schlaphoff side. The Maag's and the Waverly neighborhood gang showed up to add fun to the party. Heidi and her roommate, Nora, were very gracious graduates.

The afternoon's menu consisted of black olive tapenade, Tony & Luigi's veggie dip & veggies, my signature Green Guacamole (all of the ingredients are green), and my soon-to-be-signature baby skewers. They are stupidly funny, make a beautiful presentation, and people somehow love them. You merely take cocktail toothpicks and put two pieces of assorted stuff on them. This time I used a combination of cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes, dried apricots, baby dill pickles, green and black olives, purple grapes and summersausage. I mixed and matched them and literally tossed them onto a big clear plastic platter. Go figure.

At the evening party, Roger manned the barbecue and grilled up hamburgers and chicken that I had marinated overnight. I'd made pulled pork and French Potato Salad (no mayonnaise so it could sit out) and baked beans. Recycled the leftovers from the afternoon and we had a party!

And cake, of course the cake. Check out the picure, it is too funny.

The back yard was perfect, thanks to Roger for vacuuming, sucking and otherwise picking up maple seeds all week. I used the scootching method and bonded with each individual brick for several days. We planted flowers, and our first purple Pansy popped out for the occasion.

So now it's officially summer. Heidi is working at the Waverly pool and coaching the swim team again, then, she heads off to New York City! She was one of ten applicants nationwide accepted into the NYCAMS program at Bethel University, a semester-long art residency and internship program. It will be a wonderful experience for her!

And wish Heidi the best of luck!

Thought for Today!

The four stages of life: childhood, young adult, middle age, and happiness is a good bowel movement.

Birthday Celebrations in Morro Bay

Greetings from Morro Bay, CA. Jan and I celebrated our joint birthdays there this last weekend. The photo is of Morro Rock. You can't tell from the picture, but the rock is about 575 feet tall. It sits just off the beach at Morro Bay, but is joined to the mainland by a small spit, so you can walk/drive right up to it. Morro Rock is the northern-most of the 9 Sisters which are ancient, volcanic formations that lie along the CA coast between Morro Bay on the north and San Luis Obispo on the south. Before modern navigation came along, the 9 Sisters were important navigation aids to sailors along the coast.

It was a very nice weekend, although the weather was cool and windy. They had a kite festival out by Morro Rock on Saturday afternoon, but had to cut it short because the winds were gusting to 45 MPH around the rock.

This was a great time to go to Morro Bay because the countryside is all green and lush. It will all be brown in a few weeks. It's about a 4 hour drive from Benicia. We had a lovely dinner at a French restaurant in Paso Robles Friday night before going on to Morro Bay. Saturday we drove down the coast to San Luis Obispo and had lunch at a beach restaurant where the wind was blowing the sand so hard that we had to brave a sand blasting in getting to and from the car. On the way back, we stopped at a couple of wineries, one in a 102 year old school house and another where they have one wine that is made from a mixture of grape juice and apple juice. It was good, but a bit too sweet for my taste. They also have a small vineyard next to the tasting room that is guarded by a half-dozen or so peacocks.

Sunday Jan had to spend grading papers (Ah! the life of a professor) so I did some wine tasting along the back roads between Morro Bay and Paso Robles. My preference is for small, family-owned wineries where they are usually not very busy and you can talk directly with the people involved in making the wine. The wines in central California are very different that those farther north in Napa and Sonoma. The area east Paso Robles is known especially for zinfandels. It is interesting to compare zinfandels from Paso Robles with those of Napa/Sonoma and also from the Shenadoah Valley farther north near where Kevin and Nancy live. They are all made from the zinfandel grape, but because of very different climate and soil, they have very different characters.

I enjoyed exploring the area around Morro Bay. Since the first time I saw the area (at least 25 years ago), I always said it was where I wanted to retire. However, the smart thing would have been to buy property back then. It's way too expensive now. When we were driving back into Benicia today, Jan said "Benicia sure is a nice place!". So, I gues we're here for now.

Well, I guess I better go get ready for the cul-du-sac cake and ice cream group which is becoming a tradition on birthdays.

Love to all,

Bob

Fun and Games at the Bollers

Well, its been kind of a hectic couple of months here in the environs of Bagdad-By-The-Sea (San Francisco). What with birthdays, tax day, kidney stones and dog sitting for Rudi (photo), we've been pretty busy.

Jan continues being unable to say NO to anyone (except me of course -AW!), so she is working night and day to keep up with her students. A normal teaching load at the graduate level is 2 classes, but she has 3 because her boss, the Dean, talked her into taking a class that she was supposed to teach. Distance learning has many advantages, but studies show that it requires about 20% more time for the instructor.

Regarding the kidney stone, I had the first episode on March 9th and finally passed the damn thing on April 8th. In between there were 4 or 5 (I lost count) episodes, including 2 trips to the emergency room. Gotta love that morphine! Everything seems to be OK now, except that I am taking a course of antibiotic to treat the mother of all kidney infections. With this antibiotic, I can't eat anything and it can make your arms fall off! (I'm exaggerating, of course, but I have lost 12 pounds!)

The photo is of Rudi, the 100 pound standard poodle that lives across the street. We've had him for just over a week. He is supposed to go home this evening. Rudi is a real sweetheart, but you'll never convince Lizzie (our Yorkie) of that. She finds the whole situation to be very annoying. So far, Rudi has only broken one ceramic pot trying to jump through the window to get at the squirrels.

Jan and I are planning to spend next weekend in Morro Bay which is on the coast south of here. This will be our joint birthday celebrations. (I'm an official old geezer now!) Jan made the reservations when she was down in that area last month with Wayne and Shirley for the pinot noir festival (yes, that's as in the wine).

That's all for now.

Love to all,

Bob

Serendipity II Mast Overhaul Project

Well, after a year and a half, the mast overhaul project for the Boller yacht (otherwise known as Serendipity II) is nearly complete. She's back in her slip in the Benicia Marina and about all that remains to be done is to "tune" the rigging. To you landlubbers, that means adjusting the tension on the cables that support the mast so they are all approximately equal and not too tight or loose. While the boat was out of the water at the Napa Valley Marina, we had the bottom painted - two coats at $250 per coat, just for the paint. (I hope you tree-huggers are happy!) During the time she was out of the water, I had the mast removed (unstepped) and replaced nearly everything on the mast; new lights, VHF antenna, internal wiring and spreaders. That was about a 2 week process, but not full time. Getting the old stuff off the mast was the difficult part. When they re-installed (stepped) the mast, I snapped a few pictures. I've included some here.

So, Serendipity II is now ready for any and all visitors. Come on down and we'll have a fun day sailing on the Strait!

Sailor Bob

Fletcher!

Well, I've been a slacker lately, but here is something worth waiting for.

Erica had a photo shoot with 7-month old Fletcher, who may be the child that gives them a run for their money. She had quite a time getting him corralled, but here's what she managed to get!

Now I know why she keeps having babies -- she loves to dress them up!

Shirley the Master Teacher

Hi All,

Just returned from New Orleans, where Shirley orchestrated a masterful and lively session (lively at a research conference, no less!) She hooked me into presenting with her at the Faculty Research Conference hosted by the National League for Nursing (the organization advancing faculty development and excellence in nursing education). The session title was "EVATEC: Transforming the Classroom to a Pedagogy of Engagement". EVATEC is the model that she has developed and "branded" and it really does work. I was her protoge on this session. (I only used profanity once during our preparatory work, telling her to "do the f---n" thing yourself!" when I didn't like her telling me what to do during my part of the presentation. She gave it back to me one time too.)

She submitted it as a poster presentation but they invited her to present at a breakout session instead. That was quite an honor and she did a marvelous job, with me there as her token nurse educator....which she didn't really need. But they loved her and got a kick out of us as a "sister act". She wrote a manuscript that will be published in their journal, and also a full White Paper on the topic and her model which will be posted on her website. It's the best synthesis I've seen so far on the theories behind the new learning paradigm (in contrast to the older, more traditional instruction-based paradigms).

I hope you read the White Paper. My two cents are in there too, but she was the masterful creator of the masterpiece.

We had a great time in North Carolina with Adam, Lexi, and the beautiful Laila!

Love,
jb