When my mother was 76 (four years older than I am now), she got remarried after a matrimonial hiatus of 35 years. She married Irving Aaron Jenkins, a tall and robust ex-classmate from Cornell’s class of 1937 who was once engaged to her best friend in college and who had been widowed (from a different woman) several years before they reconnected after their 55th reunion. Irving was a few years older than my mother and he lived until age 95 with my mother. He had rowed heavyweight crew at Cornell and actually competed against The Boys in the Boat from Washington in 1936 before they went to Berlin to take the gold medal for the eight-man shell. He was also a Golden Gloves heavyweight boxing champion and he spent 40 years on the big island of Hawaii managing a Del Monte pineapple plantation from horseback. I always said he was a James Michener novel unto himself. Irving was a wonderful man who became much beloved by our family and, I believe, added a great deal of pleasure and texture to my mother’s last stage of her life. One of the best things about Irving was his disposition and always upbeat attitude. A notable thing about Irving was that whenever you asked him how he was, he would always answer the same way by saying, “better and better!” I have always viewed it as a hallmark of who he was and how I wanted to look at my life.
Today was a lovely day in San Diego. There was no significant May Gray or June Gloom about, just some nice low-lying mist that evaporated early in the morning as the cloudless sun-filled sky shone through for the rest of the day. Kim and I hadn’t seen my sister Kathy and her husband Bennett for some time, so we invited them to brunch at one of our favorite old spot, the Rancho Bernardo Inn. It’s a lovely spot near where Kathy & Bennett live and We’ve been going there for family gatherings since long before we bought this hilltop fourteen years ago. While the Inn is in Rancho Bernardo (Duh!), it has the look and feel of one of those weekend places the L.A. or S.F. crowds go to on weekends for a mini-break (I can hear Hugh Grant saying those words as I form them). You can play golf on the verdant course surrounding the Inn or hit a few balls on the tennis court. I can’t swear to it, but I bet these days you can also find a pickleball court if you want. But mostly, these places seem to be about taking vigorous hikes around the grounds and next to the ponds or overlooking the ocean and having a leisurely meal on the open terrace with dappled shade and the flitting of local birds looking for a spare crumb. The dining terrace at the Rancho Bernardo Inn is called The Terrace (go figure) and the fare on a Sunday ranges from California breakfast to California brunch, both with their necessary quotient of organic this or avocado that, and local vintages available in abundance. The nice thing is that as pleasant as this spot is, it hasn’t gone price point ballistic, probably because its not on the ocean, and you can relax and enjoy your time there without wondering how bad the bill is going to be. I had a lean and savory flank steak and eggs that came with a chimichurri sauce to die for and I got a full day’s ration of protein in under 500 calories. We had a great and overdue visit with K&B, talking about everything of interest and yet nothing in particular. None of us seemed to have a care in the world on this lovely Sunday morning. Better and better.
We had left Buddy with local pup-sitter Augie, who connects well with our energetic boy. Buddy does not fuss about being left behind when he has Augie to keep him company. I have no idea what Augie and Buddy do when we are not there, but Buddy seems to like it whatever it is, and Augie is all about racking up $15/hr to hang around with out little chocolate toy poodle for as long as we want. While Buddy adapts well to life at doggie daycare with his pal Collean and being reminded that socializing with other dogs has its benefits. It seems to agree with him, nothing beats being able to stay at home and having the attentions of a twelve year old boy who has his own dog (Hobbs) who is so chill that Buddy’s rambunctiousness is more fun than annoying. So for Buddy, life just gets better and better.
We got home by 1:30 and had absolutely nothing that needed doing. We were well fed, Buddy was well played and given my impending departure early the following morning, I was inclined towards a low-key Sunday afternoon. Since I have taken more control of my own garden this summer, thanks to Joventino’s absence and my higher energy level, I used an hour to tidy up and water a few things that I had started with on Saturday. I had found and ordered four Corten steel hillside terracing barriers with the thought of placing them on the hillside facing our driveway and front door. I had redone that hillside last year and planted an array of succulents with barkwood gravel around them. The angle of the hill was just a snick too much to keep everything in place over time. I chose to attack this with these terracing borders and some purchased “rock glue” spray (a new product to me which seemed like it might help keep the gravel in place). I imbedded the Corten steel terraces, planted the added succulents (and two red Brazilian Jasmines for color) I had bought for that purpose and spread 200 pounds of added barkwood gravel to spruce it all up. I then sprayed it all and had a wonderful sense of accomplishment that I had bought the right stuff to fix a minor garden problem and it all got implemented with no issues. I also had a light sweat on from the exercise, which felt good. My gardening just gets better and better.
As Kim napped on the sofa, I spent the late afternoon writing and half-heartedly watching an action movie I found on Netflix (i.e. no added cost). But what I really did was look out the window at the beautiful setting of our home and pondered the wonderful life we have made for ourselves here on this little hilltop. Voicing gratitude is important, so I turned to Kim and noted that life just keeps getting better and better.