Penelope's First Super Bowl; And A Digression...Or Two

As a pre-toddler, Penelope's screen-time is
rather severely limited, so I doubt she'll see
much of XLVI. But on Super Bowl eve, she
did display her hereditary loyalty to the
Dolphins, courtesy of Grand Aunt Carole
and cousin Lexi. 

Carole happily reminded me of Rebecca's old Dolphins jersey,
a family favorite. This would have been Xmas, 1974, as the
Dolphins were headed to their fourth consecutive Super Bowl
appearance. Alas, Oakland knocked them off, and the
Dolphins' consecutive appearance record stands at three.

Hereditary because for several decades our Dad (Carole and
mine) was scorekeeper at the Orange Bowl. As a kid, I got
to see a lot of football games, usually cheap seats or
"complimentary" (he knew everybody that worked there),
occasionally on the sidelines, or even the pressbox,
including the Dolphins' first regular season game and local
hero Joe Auer's 95 yard run back of the opening kick-off
against KC. (The season went down-hill from there). But I
digress. Above is a shot I took in December, 1972, a play-off
game against the Browns. You can see Earl Morrall throwing
an out-pattern to the diminuitive Howard Twilley, with Norm
Evans and Hall of Famer Larry Little protecting. The Browns
led for much of the game, but Morrall pulled it out in the
closing drive.  

And the Perfect Season continued, to Pittsburgh, and then a
victory over the Redskins in VII. Few now remember that it
was Earl Morrall who quarterbacked the Dolphins most of
that season. Starter Bob Griese went down in the 2nd quarter
of the fifth game, a broken leg administered by the Chargers'
estimable Deacon Jones. Griese did not return until the 2nd
half of of the AFC championship game against Pittsburgh, but
then showed why he was starter and another Hall of Famer.
All of which is to explain my antipathy for the Pats, who
threatened to eclipse the Perfect Season back in 2007-2008,
but were thwarted by these same Giants in the 2008 Super
Bowl. I still dislike the Pats. Go Giants!

OK, not everyone in the family is a fan; here Penelope sports
some new "sweet pea" head-gear from grandma; Penelope
knows what to do when the camera is on...

PS 21-17 Giants! Yes!

California Quotidian, III

Our routine changed January 3rd, when Vicki had knee-replacement surgery at Stanford Hospital. She had been troubled by her left knee for several years (despite doing the Everest, Abel Tasman, Milford, Routeburn, Mont Blanc, and many other treks), and a variety of consultations convinced her that knee replacement was the way to go. As it turned out, only a partial replacement was needed. The operation was deemed a success, and she returned home the Saturday following her Tuesday surgery. Her recuperation and rehabilitation are going exceedingly well. She is already back to walking half a mile a day or more!

Penelope and her parents were in Florida, visiting her other grand-dad, immediately following the surgery, but soon returned to find grandma sleeping a bit more than usual and with a strange apparatus (the ice-water circulating machine) wrapped around her leg. But things have gone quite well. Both my wards are excellent, the baby and the surgery patient. Vicki was able to care for herself mostly and threw down her crutches within a few days of coming home. Penelope is a bit less self-sufficient but is amply entertaining, now nine months old, clapping, waving, feeding herself all kinds of solids, and perhaps within just a few weeks of walking. We have even been able to make her laugh, once or twice. Formerly, I thought she was perhaps humor-challenged, but I have since come to understand that she just has a very discriminating sense of humor. The same thing won't work twice, even the same day. Tough audience.

My two wards: a recuperating Vicki sings "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
to Penelope

January has been entertaining as well, watching the mean-spirited clowns who constitute the Republican presidential race and its "debates." Spend, Mitt, spend! Spend it all! And then there were the NFL play-offs. I had really hoped to see Tebow and Brady humiliated on consecutive weekends, but I guess I will have to wait. I am rooting for the Giants, again, as in the 2008 Super Bowl, despite their undeserved win against my adopted 49ers. And the weather is finally moderating. Camellias are blooming all over town.

And when not otherwise occupied, I continue digitizing the 87 gazillion 35mm slides of our earlier life. I think I have done about 30 gazillion now, but still have to get to the boxes of prints. One of the more interesting--to me--slide specimens is below. Tentatively entitled "At the edge of the abyss...".

Us in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris, August, 1986; we
think this interesting pose was captured by Vicki's sister
Linda or possibly her husband Joey; Vicki had just finished
her MBA and had been accepted into the credit class at
Republic Bank in Dallas, the beginning of a promising
banking career (I so enjoyed telling people I was married to
an SMU coed); we were celebrating with a month-long
European vacation; a year later, I had been through SMU's
death penalty year, with much personal education in crisis
communications, athletics, and governance, and the hiring
of a new university president; after the months-long credit
class, Vicki went to the personal banking department; but
by this time, the S&L crisis, the real estate crisis, and
the oil crisis, were all hitting Dallas; "work-out" became the
productive part of the bank; then it bought another large
but troubled bank; and then itself failed; Vicki sat at the
same desk in the same department of three different banks
through that year; 1987 was not our best year, but it
all turned out well, for us, and certainly was memorable...

And no doubt there will be more newly digitized travel slides to share from yesteryear. Meanwhile, in California,

We abide...

Happy New Year in San Francisco

We spent the New Year's weekend in San Francisco, mostly revisiting old favorites, acquiring a few new ones, eating well, viewing the harbor fireworks, and resting up.

Amazing how this place has had its ups and downs; we like

seeing the vintage clothing stores, the Goodwill, all the

tourists our age or older; the clever T-shirt aphorisms, etc.

For a small donation you can take a picture of this "vintage"

van

After a nice Italian dinner in Cow Hollow, we returned to the

hotel, rested up, and then embarked on our long walk along

the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building; here, the baker at

Boudin's does his thing

A seasonally-ornamented rig in the harbor

near Fisherman's Wharf

The moon nearly colliding with Coit Tower

And our goal for the evening, and the weekend, the SF harbor

fireworks, one of the best anywhere; Happy New Year, all!

Rebecca had taken us to see one of these several years ago,

when she lived in SF; it has become one of our favorites

As long as you don't mind wading into and waiting among a

boisterous but good-natured crowd of 200,000, in the harbor

chill, right at the Ferry Building (south-side quay), it's a

pretty good show; the best fireworks we have seen

And, as you can see on the Ferry Building

clock, it's all over by 12:20; unfortunately,

public transportation shuts down in the vicinity

of the fireworks, so it's a long trudge back to

the hotel

Next afternoon, after lunch at Alioto's, we walked along among

the many sights; here, a seagull adds a splash of color to the

bow of the USS Pampanito, with The Rock in the background;

we toured the Pampanito in 1990, with the girls, on our first

summer tour in the Milennium Falcon...

Alcatraz; it was a beautiful day

In the (free) amusement museum, the Musee Mecanique, on

or near Pier 44, a collection of working old amusement park/

arcade machines, scores of them, plus a history of such parks;

Vicki scored a respectable 190 on Skeeball

Ah, the good old days...

Obligatory street scene, near Lombard

Obligatory bridge scene

And, for something new, we drove out to the Presidio; here, a

part of the National Cemetery there

And finally, on the way back home, Rebecca's

old apartment building on Divisadero at

Haight; thanks for a great weekend, Rebecca

and Jeremy...

Tour Du Mont Blanc, 4

And now, the exciting conclusion of "Tour Du Mont Blanc":

On the Bovine variant, the ugly city of Martigny, far, far below

Along the trail to Bovine; all through our trek, the alpine
wildflowers were everywhere, particularly the alpine azaleas
(alas, Vicki had the camera that day)

It gets to be a long story here; after Bovine, and en route 

to the Col de la Forclaz, it started raining; heavy rain; we

made it to the campground at the Col de la Forclaz, where a 

French couple from Lyons we had been leap-frogging

 (nyuk, nyuk, nuyk) helped us tent and shared their hot 

water (for our backapacka dinner); the next morning, with 

heavy rain predicted the next several days, they helped us 

find the train back to France, and then on to Les Houches, 

where we dried out in a nice little hotel; the next morning
we breakfasted on our bilberries and other goodies; we
would run into our Lyons friends another time, days later
and return the favors; "kindness of strangers" is truly one
of the best parts of travel

Back in the Valley of Chamonix; so from Les Houches we
trained back to the campground in Chamonix, established
a camp there and deposited our stuff, and rode back up
the valley to cover some of the ground we had missed; at
this point, we were beginning to ask ourselves "wait a
second, isn't this supposed to be a vacation?!"

The Great White Mountain

Chamonix from Plan Praz;  piecing together parts we had
missed, we rode up to La Flegere and walked to Plan Praz;
and then rode the cable-car up to Brevent; we left the great
descent from Brevent to Les Houches for another year...

From Brevent, parapentes sailing by

Spice girl: back in Chamonix, just in time for the Saturday marche

Poulet roti..the best; well, Costco's is pretty 

good, too

A Saturday afternoon repast at our favorite, Camping de
L'ile des Barrats    

Vicki waits for the bus while I do a bit more shooting and
shopping

Tenting area at Camping de L'ile des Barrats

Last minute shopping completed

And, after an hour's bus ride, we are back at the airport in 

Geneva, repacking, awaiting our flight back to Montana...

Tour Du Mont Blanc, 3

Our 2005 TMB continued:

The Grandes Jorasses as we climb up to Rifugio Bertone

Tenting near Rifugio Bertone

Looking back to Rifugio Bertone

Companions here and there; they're inquisitive and gentle and,

hey, they make fontina

The weather is always an issue; there are good days and bad;

if you're lucky, like us, you can go back and make up the bad

days later, maybe years later; if not, then you know that a bad

day in the mountains is worth two good ones anywhere else 

Trudging up toward the Rifugio Walter Bonatti; rain expected

My favorite, Rifugio Walter Bonatti; a double room, a great
meal, great wine, great views, interesting fellow trekkers,
hot showers, even a warming room to dry out boots and
clothing...

Tenting near Rifugio Elena; lots of weekend climbers here;
you can drive right up to Elena and climb Dolent 

The beautiful Val Ferret

More crazy bicyclistes, before Monte Dolent

Us, before Monte Dolent, nearing the Grand Col du Ferret, and

the Swiss border

At Camping Philosophes, in Champex

We had the Swiss version of cheese fondue in Champex; 

rather bland and uninteresting, I thought; needed more
garlic and kirsch; but the scenery was genuinely Swiss

Next morning, picking a quart or more of

bilberries, the Euro-equivalent of
huckleberries

After a morning hiking uphill, picking

bilberries, and in anticipation of the variant

around Bovine, it's time for another glass of

wine; European trekking beats all others!