Rancho Sierra Satwiwa

Rancho Sierra Satwiwa is a National Recreation Area; Sycamore Canyon cuts through it, passing by a waterfall (apparently), leading to the Pacific. It's beautiful with some dramatic scenery and amazingly accessible. I usually catch myself thinking, "LA?..."
which I guess it isn't. Anyway, Tiger Scouts were planting native trees and being Jr Rangers for a day.

Jack just roamed around for the most part, gathering mulch at the right moments. That furrowed brow look is signature.

Michael enjoyed the project and I the throwback to when I helped plant many, many trees and bushes along the narrow sides of our LA house. Japanese, because of generally cramped conditions, tend to favor container gardening; watering took forever. We'd go to the 5 or 6 extensive nurseries in Gardena - 1st generation Issei established strawberry farms decades prior - getting rides on those little golf-cart vehicles hauling our plant-picks, as a regular weekend activity.

I remember concocting my secret recipe for successful planting - generous heaps of blood meal, cushioning the roots and the earth. When my mother moved to her Torrance house, she'd drive back and forth, transporting as many pots as she could load into her Chrysler. When she died, I brought one of her sago palms as a momento, to our Agoura Hills rental, where we left it when we moved to Lausanne.

Horseriders criss-crossed our morning activity.

Then, we went on a quick hike, before circling back and heading home; identifying the morning's starter plants with their full-grown version.

Living in rentals for several years now, it was very satisfying to finally dig and plant something somewhere. Truth be told, it was also nice to be able to just drive away afterwards, too.

Students for Breakfast

Saturday morning, about 10 of the Lausanne students drove up the canyon for breakfast: sausages, scrambled eggs, pancakes, fruit salad, and rib-eye! I get pleasure in seeing people eat with sheer abandon. Tyler picked up a carafe of Starbucks coffee - a great idea, btw, when keeping multiple cups full.
Joanne taught Jack, rock, paper, scissors - Jack seemed stuck in scissor-mode. A Japanese game, jan-ken-poi really went global in 150 years. I saw Swiss kids avidly playing it.

Jeff feeling awake after his third cup of coffee.

This was also a reunion of sorts, as Robin (next to Michael) transferred to Colorado State to be near her family, returning to visit Joanne during spring break. One of our best times yet with everyone, who are anticipating senior year.

The students are perfectly comfortable keeping the boys in line. Michael understands "going away to college" as "going to Pepperdine," often telling me, "You won't be lonely 'cause I'll be there, too."

Friendly Weekend

We finally met Calvin - son of Travis & Ariana Moore, who moved to St Louis while we were in Lausanne. The Moores regularly babysat Michael and Jack - Ariana gave Michael art lessons, while Carolyn took Jack for speech therapy. Particularly memorable was the time Michael painted upside down under their dining room table, a la Sistine Chapel.

Calvin is 11 mo - around the age we got Jack in Chengdu.

Our children have not been around babies very much, so we appreciated the chance to teach niceness - ie do not step on Calvin.

The Kwongs came over for a meal together; Kathryn teaching Calvin a game on the coach.

A lot has changed at the church where we all first met, which is sobering but about normal to my experience. Seems that social dynamics - a good church, office colleagues, student life, etc - only last for a season (links to famous Mad Men excerpt dealing with nostalgia), before other factors weigh in and alter things forever.


I include the marinade for the steak - really liked this one. Came from my cousin's wedding reception. I let it marinade for 3 days and splurged on Costco's prime rib-eye. I think "choice" cut would've been fine though.

Savory Garlic Marinated Steak
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 T minced garlic
2 T honey
2 T olive oil
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp liquid smoke flavoring
1 pinch cayenne pepper

2 (1/2 pound) rib-eye steaks

Kimm & Jorge's Baby Shower

After 20 years, Kimm, a friend from high school days, looked me up before we left for Switzerland. We rendezvoused at a children's park in Santa Monica; I introduced Carolyn and Michael and Jack, and she, Jorge, a budding filmmaker. My immediate reaction: "how many Jorges are there out here?"

Well, now, we're back and Kimm's expecting a baby boy, Luca; we congratulated them at a baby shower. The evite, announcing the event as an "outdoor cocktail party," certainly peaked my interest. Actually, it was lovely and poured LOTS of Chilean wine (Jorge's home), as well as this hired fellow, who was serving up grill-to-order tacos with salsa - a GREAT idea for a party, btw.

Kimm & Jorge

We parked ourselves, strategically, near the taco station and let the atmosphere soak in: this great advocado tree wrapped around on two sides by the house's brick porch. When the sun went down, the string-lights went on, and we were charmed.

Debbie, another high school friend, appeared out of nowhere. The last I heard from her was in Tacoma; she was up in Redmond at Microsoft, set to cash out her stocks after 5 years and take a trip around the world.

She just got back - a 5 year journey with James, her "sig-oth." Debbie returned to the software industry, while working on a screenplay - how many Debbie's are there out here?

We were obviously from a bygone era, so seemed to be an object of interest to the rest of the crowd, who were a really nice group of folks. It felt OK to be tangential - something I increasingly witness given my age, given our culture's mobility - and felt good to see Kimm and Jorge surrounded with so much love; we were glad to be a part of it. BTW, this cake was a winner, too.

Kauai

With travel reward points set to expire - they were also lowering their value - we blew it all on a trip to Kauai. The spectacular Napali coast from the air...

from a helicopter, to be exact. Beth flew out from snowy Iowa. 30 years ago, she stayed at the hotel of Elvis's Blue Hawaii fame.

We communicated by mic within the cabin.

Also went on a whale-watch...

with Captain Andy,

but the unusually choppy waters meant staying closer to shore; ie no whales; only the constant mixing of Slinky Tikis -the catamaran's signature drink.

The boys loved the sand & surf. They'd lie on the sand and wait for the wave to pull them back down.

Hawaiian shaved ice, which I knew as KORI, its Japanese name. Apparently, Japanese sugarcane harvesters introduced kori to the islands in the '20s. A block of ice shaved so finely that you can gently scoop it up soaked with fruit flavoring. The Japanese variety has a well of azuki beans at the bottom.

BTW, it's always interesting to see Japanese culture - language, food & customs - so ingrained in Hawaii. I turned my head at the Honolulu airport, overhearing "yoi-sho," kinda Japanese for "whoa" (my father said it all the time), when lifting something rather heavy. This guy was white. Another time, at a buffet, another man (also white) next to me, thinking I was confused about a dipping sauce, told me, "That's SHOYU - Japanese for soy sauce." The first time anyone has ever explained to me what soy sauce was. Only in Hawaii?

***

In a pre-9/11 moment, the Hawaiian Air pilots invited Michael & Jack into the cockpit, trading the captain's hat for a photo op.


Hawaii seems mostly very rural and relatively poor, except for pockets of tourist resorts with upscale restaurants and boutiques. And these chickens...
which are everywhere. The yellow pages offer services for "chicken removal."

Whether by air, sea, or luau, I think we heard the story of Hawaii at least three different ways. Jurassic Park & South Pacific were filmed there. I also learned the islands were moving apart, albeit slowly; the scale of comparison to bring the point home was always the growth rate of a fingernail.

Dad's Night/Dads Day - Jack's Preschool

Jack loves his twice weekly sessions with Mrs. Gomez and Mrs. Hills at Westminster Preschool. I'd been hearing about Sophia and Dominic for weeks, so it was nice to finally meet them at my little show & tell the other morning. The assignment was to explain what I did for work - when I was 7, I never knew how handy origami would be in my adult life - samurai helmets for all. I explained how Japanese children often give the peace sign for a photo.

Handed out Botan rice candy

Botan is a pinkish candy where you eat the rice paper wrapping - melts in your mouth. Like Cracker-Jack, always came with a tiny plastic toy at the end compartment. Like CJ, these went the way of cheaper stickers several years ago.

There was also Dad's Night at Westminster, where I met other dads and saw Jack in his munchkin environment.


These photos are from Michael's year at Westminster. Here's Snow Day, when artificial white transformed this little slope into sledding run.

Mrs Noe and Mrs Crowl - Jack's teachers next year.