KM and THB head to the Olympics (again)

 Color theme for Paris Olympics

Twins should be ready to attend in 2028 (LA) and compete in 2032 (Brisbane)

84 * 92 96 00 * 08 12 16 * 24

Red - THB and KM (in utero in 84)

Black - THB, No KM

* - Neither THB or KM

* - No fans in 2020-21

JB, THB, KBM, BB - Atlanta 1996 

(JB and BB also went in 84, 88, 92, and 00)

Beijing, near the top of the O stadium (nicknamed "The Bird Nest"), 2008

London 2012

San Ramon, 2020 or 21

 

Twins 2018

Twins 2020 or 2021, wearing the same shirts!

Pre-O's July Pics

Episode 2: two plus weeks in, and all that has happened is the bumper was removed from the Volvo and of course the car was more damaged than the first set of pics showed. State Farm and Continental need to agree on a new estimate, which requires an adjuster coming to the shop. No word on the results In meantime, the first check from SF never arrived and SF cancelled that check and issued a digital version. The e-mail announcing this task was just a "your digital check is on the way"  (in the tech world, we called this "paving the cow path") and thus THB had to call back and ask when the real link would be coming...

the other car

Episode 3: four weeks in, State Farm and Continental reach agreement on a new estimate and Continental will commence working on the repairs. Estimated time to complete:  2 weeks. The brother of the owner of the repair shop got married on a Monday, the shop was closed that day. Sorry, no pics of the reception (held in Martinez, not the E-Ville shop). It's a race: will THB be back from Paris before the repairs are completed. Episode 4 to be posted after THB and KM return on Aug 9

THB takes the silver medal (lifetime achievement)

Twins warming up for tennis camp

twins on Sandy's favorite beach

next victim

Sandy does her special impersonation:  an ostrich

(below) Marcus, Prague, July 2016, tour guide -

prescient?

Quote: somebody should shoot him. 

Who, we asked? Trump. 

Wind tilts a staked tree

mini soccer in the park, played by big guys

THB talked to two guys standing outside the closed badminton club across the street: Yep, it is re-opening!  New ownership, no signs posted yet

the word is out, and parking is going to be a problem once again

Night heron spotted near the South Bayfront Bridge 

THB, DB, EW, JW, and EW's sis go to the Crocker Museum in Sacramento to see the Portland Vase exhibition: it is marvelous. It also turns out that THB and DB own an artist's rendition of a Portland vase...

Viola Frey's piece in the exhibit, front and back

DB realized the piece above looked a lot like DB and THB's piece, back and front

Viola included a version of the Portland vase in a number of her works

Of course, she included lots of items in her work, the vase is dead center in this painting

More work by artists in THB and DB's collection

Beth on the left, Robert on the right 

reversed 

Nancy Selvin

More work from the Crocker by artists that are in THB and DB's collection

Akio Takimori, no vase

Tip Tolan, no vase (artist not in THB and DB's collection)

Robin Hil, Dot Transport Cabinet. Note the cabinet is on casters for easy relocation and uses mirrors behind shelves. THB's fave piece in the museum  (artist not in THB and DB's collection...yet?)

Richard Notkin

Detail; DB and THB have two of these small tiles in our collection

Richard Shaw

Jun Kaneko

Nancy Selvin

Annabeth Rosen

Department of Quotes (Alice in Wonderland): I can see the tail  is long, why is it so sad? 

Spoiler alert: the short version is in the last paragraph 

When THB was around 55, he visited an eye doctor in Santa Cruz who noticed a "hole" in his retina. At least, that is what THB remembered, and the eye doc said that THB should visit a retina specialist. It turned out to be Macular Degeneration (MD), and of course THB had an unusual form: clinically the wet form, presented as the dry form.  THB's mom also had Macular Degermation and she could see my future...when she went to the hospital in late 2014 and never came home, there were 7 magnifying glasses in her office and bedroom.  

In In the last few year, THB's sight became more distorted: he could no longer read very long without his brain and eyes tiring quickly (hence the transition to audiobooks). He didn't see complete words or strings of numbers; he  started getting shots of Avastin in his right eye, a common treatment for people with the wet version of MD. He also cut way back on his driving, and DB became his personal UBER driver. 

Recently, while DB was on a trip to Seattle, THB was driving very carefully on the freeway when a car well in front of him swerved out of their lane. It turned out there was a bucket rolling in the lane THB was in and he couldn't see until it was almost just in front of the car.  Close call, and rather frightening. There may have been other close calls, who knows? At least recently being rear-ended by a guy changing lanes while crawling along does not seem likely to have been THB's fault.

THB has decided it is time to cut the cord: no more driving. UBER will become his friend (though the letters and numbers sure look small on an I-phone). The e-bike (on loan from LB) will now be his vehicle of choice for short hauls. 

LB's e-bike

UBER app