An Exciting Day at the Park. No, really!

Brain cancer is...

 ...tracking.

Halfway through our walk today, we thought the story would again be about verbs (present participles in this case) and happy people at the park:  kiting, snoozing, playing, snuggling, skating, reading, visiting, grilling, fishing, triking, cycling, laughing...  What a pleasure to see so many great verbs in action.

And then--in an instant--the story changed!  A red truck zoomed by us, intentionally jumped the curb into the grass, and did a doughnut before speeding away, still in the grass.  We watched a ranger truck, lights on, in hot pursuit.  Now that's exciting!

Today we watched a high-speed chase unfold.  We can only share our excitement because no one was hurt.  And because there's not a lot to do when walking at 3 miles per hour.

We saw the beginning of the chase, we followed the tracks, and then we found a walking buddy who told us about the end of the chase:  The red truck leapt the curb and exited onto Imperial via State College, against traffic, with the ranger in hot pursuit. 

So...we followed the red truck tracks like the forensic scientists we are.  Above, can you see them? Here's a hint, if needed:

And here's where we deduced the red truck exited onto State College.

What an exciting day!

Bonus Cancer Content

At dinner we talked about people in our lives who are facing cancer.  All we could feel is sadness.  The upside is that we realized that we no longer want to punch anyone in the face, as we did in 2016 (click here for a punch post).  That seems like real progress.

The Changing of the Hats

Brain cancer is...

...prepared.

It was 3:30 and 82 degrees when we got out for our walk.  You know warm weather is here when Darrell switches to his vented hat for walking.  Just one more strategy for keeping those Optune usage rates in the high-ninety percentages! 

We hope you enjoyed your Saturday as much as all the people we saw at the park were enjoying theirs!

Old and New

Brain cancer is...

 ...happy for Friday. Cheers!

Today was family fun Friday.  At one point we were old. 

Our hearts sank when we thought our favorite breakfast table was taken...

...but it turns out they saw us coming.

It's great to be regulars.  We love being old.

With LuAnn we went to a new sushi place:

We love being new.

Happy old.  Happy new.  Happy Friday.

Bonus Content

LuAnn's red bud tree stops all foot traffic on the way to her front door.  Here's how it looked today:

 

Here's how it looked last night, when LuAnn caught both color and composition:

Magic!  Why do we not own a red bud tree?

 

Daily Recap: The Strategy

Brain cancer is...

...recapping.  

Maybe you do this too. At the end of each day, we reflect together on activities and what we have learned throughout the day.

Perhaps the seed for our daily recap strategy was planted back in these days:

Zach (#56) and his team would play under the lights Friday night, and then on Saturday morning, they'd hobble back to the locker room and "watch film."  "Watching film" in this context meant watching a recording of the previous night's game, reliving highlights and low lights to feed forward into plans for the next game.

Post diagnosis, our daily recap follows this structure:

1. Listing, in order, the events of the day.
2. Stating the high points. 
3. Stating memorable moments.
4. Making a concluding statement.

Is that how your daily recap goes?

Today, given work responsibilities, we spent the day apart.  When I finished my work, Darrell said, "I can't wait for daily recap!"

I got a raise for one of my gigs today, so of course we needed to go out for daily recap (top pic, above).

As in watching film, clips are more important than viewing running footage, so here are just a couple clips:

2.  High point:  Darrell's quote:  "May I compliment you and Ginger on a job well done?"  (Yes, he said that.)
3.  Memorable moment:  Our Goodwill donation center closed.  It makes Darrell very sad.
4.  Concluding statement:  "What a great day!"

Sorry that there was no surprise ending.

Happy Thursday!


(Football photo credit:  Tiana, the cyber sleuth)

This Walk Brought to You By...

Brain cancer is...

 ...grateful for Ginger and Tim.  And Chibbie.

Long ago, in 2016, Ginger and Tim treated us to an OC Regional Park Pass.  Each year since then, they have renewed our pass.  Today they renewed it again.  That's four years of park passes.  That's a lot of steps.  And a lot of bird photos.  And a lot of love. 

Thank you, Ginger and Tim, for every single park walk.  And Chibbie:  You may not have helped pay, but thanks to you too. You're beautiful.

Every day we realize we are not alone on this journey.  We hope you are also aware of the love and support that accompany on your journey.

Bonus Whatnot Visual Content

This first video is a relatively long time coming.

Alternate YouTube link:  Click here.

Curt and Barb took care of the huge problem we had with filling our cork table.  Curt visited a winery and asked a favor.  Brilliant!  We added to the solution ourselves during CA19, as you see here:

YouTube link here.

Everything is relative.  You would have been impressed with our cork pour if not for the Curt Cork Pour, right?  Major ammunition for anyone's next Cork War.  You know where to find us if you have a kid getting married.

More recently, Christine thought of us today with this beautiful tree.

Thank goodness no bird marred the shot!

Finally, check out this gift from Chris:

Chris is in Costa Rica.  We think this brown beauty is a coati.  Whatever it is, it's way better than a woodpecker!

Thank you for another incredible day, Team D, enriched by the gift of your presence and your adventures.

Q: What's worse than a bird photo?

A:  A bird photo without a bird.

Brain cancer is...

 ...persistent but not successful with a sighting today.

In the white tree, second from right, lurked a woodpecker.  That's a rare event for us at Craig Park.  Our chubby, red capped woodpeckers are frequent Fawnskin visitors.

They are also common at Carbon Canyon, where they drive the park rangers crazy by destroying wooden structures.  We suppose we grew to take them for granted. 

Today we stood and listened to the Craig Park woodpecker for ten full minutes.  A fellow walker joined us.  No success in sighting.  Boo!

It was a great day anyway. 

Really, how bad can life be if your biggest problem is having spent 10 minutes staring at a tree?

99% Kudos

Many of you wrote to us, congratulating Darrell on his incredible 99% Optune usage rate, reported yesterday.  Thank you warmly for appreciating. 

Darrell and I concluded that it's once every three to four days that I thank him for his courage and effort in wearing Optune.  I know I'm speaking for the team when I say, "Darrell, thank you for doing this every day." 

You and I know how to pick a winning team, right, Team Darrell?

Walk, Change, Work/Play, Rock it!

Brain cancer is...

 ...thankful for the power of verbs.

The title of this post captures our day perfectly.

First we walked.  Above, the pelicans seem to be either content or not speaking.  Hard to tell with pelicans.

Then we changed arrays, our first non-forest-view change in weeks.

We weren't complaining about the view though.  We also like how it appears that someone on the TV is assisting Darrell in the shave.

Next, Kristine came and we work/played.

It had been too long.  How productive/what fun!  So grateful for great friends.

Finally, Optune Amy sent Darrell's Optune usage stats.  Ready?

Ninety-nine percent, Friends!  Darrell rocked it!

We hope your Monday could also be captured in vigorous verbs!

"It's all uphill!”

Brain cancer is...

 ...philosophizing.

Today we walked our park loop in the opposite direction.  That is, we walked facing forward, but we went left rather than right at the start.

About half way through, Darrell exclaimed, "It's all uphill!"  We laughed!  Then we realized that we often feel that the trail is all uphill, both when we walk a loop in the reverse direction, and on the second half of an out-and-back trail.

"How like life," we decided.  We don't notice the gentle, easy slopes downward, but we surely notice when those little slopes  slant uphill instead.  Point taken.

Lawn Care Update

Darrell ran in to show me (us!) just how long the grass had grown in our absence.

Three weeks in wet weather = grass that is almost too long to mow.  Almost, but not quite.  Here's the finished work:

Tough work.  Well done Darrell.  (PS:  At least the yard is flat?)

Why Is the Fridge Empty?

Brain cancer is...

...learning our way around the kitchen.

Since our return from the cabin, we've run into a few difficulties in the Fullerton kitchen.

1. All the coffee mugs are black instead of white.
2. We don't know where the Ziploc baggies are.
3. The fridge is empty.

We didn't discover #3 until breakfast time, so we grabbed take-out and headed to the park.  Here's the view at our breakfast table.

Later, Darrell bought eggs and some Ziploc baggies that we can use until we find the baggie drawer.

Happy Saturday, Team D!  All our best to you and the people you love.

Cornell Avenue Super Bloom

Brain cancer is...

 ...contemplating yard work.

Spring certainly sprang here while we were in the mountains.  Our front and back yards have plenty of volunteer oxalis plants.  (You know oxalis:  the yellow plant in the image above.  It also goes by names such as "Bermuda buttercup" and "sourgrass.") Our research tells us that this native of South Africa invades the California coast as a noxious weed.  We know, right?

When Darrell and I started this post, we were mostly going to complain about the oxalis super bloom, but then we began appreciating our other blossoms.

The roses, above, were planted by the original owner of our house, Doris, probably in the late 1950s.  Thanks, Doris!

These purple cuties were planted by Zach and Summer before they left for Colorado.

We appreciate that the kids' love of gardening sprang anew in our garden, even though they have their own faraway garden now. 

And LuAnn gave us these butterfly amaryllis bulbs early in our marriage. We have taken the plant with us each time we have moved.

It's always a happy surprise when the amaryllis show their dramatic faces. 

No wonder spring is considered a time of rebirth and renewal.

What started as a tongue-in-cheek post turned out to help us realize that our blooms are pretty super indeed.

Happy Super Blooms, Friends! And Happy Friday!

Down the Mountain (CA19-22)

Brain cancer is...

...back at elevation 187 feet.

It snowed on our way back to sea level, a fitting finale to Cabin Adventure 2019.

We were surprised by several lowland views like:

Blossoms at LuAnn’s home, and...

Magic porch!  We also found out that if you stop mail for three weeks, it comes to your house like this:

Darrell's almost finished going through it.  Ha ha.  It's good to be back.

Hurrah for Accurate Weather Predictions! (CA19-21)

Brain cancer is...

...celebrating our final CA19 snowfall.

Thank goodness the weather predictions were accurate: It’s snowing!

Today we spent much time feeding the birds, making up on work, and watching the snow fall.

Nothing could be better for our final full cabin adventure day, Cabin Adventure ‘19, Day 21.

And then we were at the top. (CA19-20)

Brain cancer is...

...so very open to adventures!

We should know that when the day starts with Darrell saying, "Take me somewhere new for lunch,” adventure loomed.

We thought we'd have breakfast, do our chores, walk by the lake, have lunch at a new place, and then be back home to work for Cabin Adventure '19 Day 20.

Breakfast and chores went as planned.  We did start our walk by the lake, but we didn't have enough steps when we ended up back at the Cougar Crest Trailhead.  Because Cougar Crest was finally dry enough, we decided to finish our walk doing some of the way up to the Pacific Crest Trail.

And then we were at the top.  Here's the video version:
Click here for slideshow: https://animoto.com/play/O9kfi8zeYFPGLYT00ePMGge.

Tomorrow is our last full day here, and weather is predicted.  So this hike was our grand finale.  It made us both very happy.

Then Darrell got his lunch at a new place:  Jasper's Smokehouse and Steaks. More happy.

What a trip Cabin Adventure '19 has been.

Sweet Moment Side Note

Right as we were hitting solid snow near the top, we met an old retired couple from Breckenridge, Colorado. We talked about their previous and next adventures, and we shared ours.  We can't tell you how sweet it feels to have made it to that club:  ORCC (Old Retired Couples Club).

Blue (Lake, Sky, Marsh) Monday (CA19-19)

Brain cancer is...

...appreciating blue. 

Thanks for the “Blue Monday” jumping off point for the day, Dad.

Blue is definitely the color of the day here on Cabin Adventure Day 19.  

Blue sky.  Blue lake. Blue marsh.

Above we are far east looking west. That’s the cutoff, on the distant horizon. This was a new walk for us.  We haven’t been this far into the marsh and its muddy borders.  How did we not know about this second boardwalk?

Darrell’s favorite pic of the day

Happy Blue Monday

Elsewhere: More Blue

Summer and Zach’s Colorado walk was as lovely and blue as ours.

The Mayfields saw the biggest, bluest bear ever, in Denver.  Apparently it's peaking into the convention center.  Luckies!

Warm and Sunny Sunday (CA19-18)

Brain cancer is...

...so warm!

It was almost 60 degees today. Crazy!

We enjoyed meals out and a great hike with Beth and Geoff.

 Then down the hill they went...but not before we got more dates on the books.

Happy Friends, Team D! Get some dates on the books!

Saturday (CA19-17)

Brain cancer is...

...happy about Saturday. 

The Szabos came up today. Yay.

Back to Our Mountain Routine—But Not for Long! (CA19-16)

Brain cancer is...

 

...back to our routine.  For today anyway.

Breakfast with Tiana and Alex was a re visitation of our many culinary exploits during their visit.

We hugged them goodbye, joyful for the days we had together here in the winter wonderland.

Then we did our errands and walked at the lake before carrying on our efforts back at the cabin.

Happy Routine Friday, Friends!

 Elsewhere, in the Trees above Fawnskin...

Thanks to Chris, we can resume our Eagle Cam watch.  Here's the Fawnskin Eagle cam link:
Big Bear Eagle Cam (Live Feed)

So far no eaglets. Sit tight, eager parents.

If You Only Have One Meal Out in BigBear... (CA19-15)

Brain cancer is...

...happy about breakfast. 

Alex and Tiana took us to Grizzly Manor Cafe this morning. It’s the one meal to have out, according to this source and oh so many others.

It was really good, especially this pancake, which took four of us to eat.

Today we enter the final week of Cabin Adventure 2019.  We’d better check out the rest of that “must  go to” list.

Happy Thursday.

Warm, Toasty Wednesday (CA19-14)

Brain cancer is...

....nice and warm.

Today we enjoyed higher temps, blue skies, and time to relax.

We did see a few more butterflies on our walk. Speaking of butterflies, both Chris and Denise found more butterfly news. Chris found a CNN article relating the butterflies to the super blooms, which of course are related to the rains, as in this news report Denise found.  More pieces to the puzzle! Thanks Friends!

Elsewhere in frozen regions...

Zachary and Summer brave a Colorado blizzard.  Brrrrrrrrrrr.

More Guillaumes in the Mountains! (CA19-13)

Brain cancer is...

...joined by Alex and Tiana.

Hurrah!  Fortunate us, they are up spend a couple days with us.

The snow that started during our walk yesterday fell all night long so that Alex and Tiana arrived to enjoy at least a foot of snow.

Happy Tuesday!