CHARLIE TIME February 17- April 11, 2015

As I write about our two months returning to California, I never realized the outcome would be so different from the plans we'd originally made. Our general idea was to head back for about five weeks to see Charlie again.  He'd been having good results from his three chemo treatments and we just wanted to see him again...figuring we'd come out every couple of months. We also planned to go to San Luis for a week to see friends and from there make a trip to Mexico to spend a few days with Paul's sister in Guadalajara. Plus my brother Kurt had asked Paul to work on a remodel project in Boulder on our way back. As is typical for us, we always try squeezing lots to do during our time on the west coast. So, with all that in place, I made all our flight reservations and set out for California. 

We had quite an adventure on our flight west from Jacksonville to SFO; overbooked flights, free flight vouchers for giving up our seats, watching our plane being de-iced in Charlotte and still getting to San Francisco only two hours later than scheduled.   It felt good to be back in California's  warm sunny days.

 
But things were not to be as we had planned or hoped. When we arrived in Healdsburg we learned that Charlie's treatments were no longer having any affect on his cancer and he had stopped the chemo just that week. I don't think I really understood what that meant to any of us. But as the days went along I realized our plans would be changing. I cancelled the trip to San Luis and we just stayed with Charlie, Mary and their kids. He was feeling good those first two weeks we were there; the chemo was getting out of his system, he had more energy and wanted to be doing things. But it also meant there was nothing stopping the spread of the disease.


We loved spending days in the yard behind our RV on this wonderful swing we had found at Goodwill... and just talking or not talking. The grassy field around us surrounded by trees made a quiet and secluded area. 

 On other days he and Paul worked on things he wanted to get done.

 The following week we unhooked the RV and took Charlie and Mary for a trip to Bodega Bay in our moveable home, so he could cast his line into the bay and enjoy a day away from home. Chilly out there but so pretty. As the wind picked up and really began to blow, we put away the fishing gear and drove back into Guerneville for a surprise dinner at their favorite restaurant, Chef Rick's. A wonderful evening together, laughing, tasting a fabulous French dinner and sharing wines. Such a wonderful day together.

After three weeks in Healdsburg, we decided to go ahead with our visit to Mexico to visit MarLyn. I tried to make changes to those tickets but "non-refundable" meant exactly that and changes weren't possible. Thank goodness all my other flight reservations had been made with Southwest, my new most favorite airline! Easy to reschedule with no penalties. And reschedule I did often at this point.

MarLyn and Randy had moved to a new home since our last visit and it was fun to see their new neighborhood. They are very happy with their decision 2 years ago to move to the tiny village of Ajijic, along Lake Chapala. The photo above was the view from our bedroom deck. Bright sunny days, and warm temps, just wonderful. We walked the neighborhood, visited the markets, ate at fabulous restaurants and had some dental work done.  All that in only five days!

 A stop at a small market to pick up some items one afternoon we found this man sharpening knives  on the sidewalk.

One of my favorite days was a drive into Guadalajara to visit nearby Tlaquepaque.  A beautiful historic center with colonial-era churches, old mansions and colorful buildings and flowers. I loved it all!

MarLyn and Randy taking a break

 We found this darling small cafe in the back of a shop, and stopped for an afternoon iced coffee.

Then a late lunch with the all female Mariachi Band performing at El Patio Restaurant. While eating and listening we also watched a potter creating some sculptures.  

 Our days went by quickly but before leaving Paul had two things he wanted to do.  First was get his haircut and second was a visit to the dentist. His dental work turned out to be a little more involved than we had thought which also changed our plans for returning to California.

 So, instead of both of us flying back to LAX, I flew alone while Paul stayed another five days with his sister. I picked up our car at the airport and drove as far as San Luis for the night and back on the road early the next morning for drive back to Healdsburg.
 I spent the next five days with Charlie and Mary just helping out with more time together, before flying out to Boulder to meet up with Paul for five days of renovation
 work.

 Our niece, Neevie, was home from San Francisco for a few days so we had the extra fun of spending time with her, plus her sister Mia was now living in Boulder so we had the two of them together for the few days we were there.

By now it was mid March and we wanted to get back to SF spending more time with Charlie, he was getting weaker and he and Mary needed our help more now.  It also was niece Mandy's spring break from her teaching at the Grand Canyon, giving her the chance to come to California to visit her Uncle Chunk, how he loved that!

We spent tons of time just talking, sharing memories and more talking, and crying.  Her visit was good medicine for all of us. And through it all, PK found a bit of time to repaint the cabinets in our kitchen one afternoon, working is often his way of coping.

 It was now late March and our 45th wedding anniversary, a quieter celebration this year at a pizza cafe in Healdsburg, then a pretty ride on a warm evening up and around Fitch Mountain just outside of town.  Spending time with Charlie was all we really wanted to do, but we did want to give them all a break from us being right on top of them all the time, so we took the RV out for a couple of days to the Elks Lodge in Napa, a great location right downtown and yet a really quiet setting. We hadn't been in Napa for probably 25 years so spending time just driving around the valley, stopping in the little towns and one day up to Lake Berryessa.

But in the four days we'd been gone, things had changed. Charlie still loved being outside, and with Paul's help they'd get a heater going in the morning, sit with their coffees and listen to some blues playing in the background on a little speaker. Just being with everyone, waving at his neighbors driving by, sharing beers when someone stopped in for a visit, the days went by. But now we were losing my handsome, life-loving, courageous brother to the hideous cancer.  Our nephew, Lucas and his wife Sherry flew from Hilo, Hawaii to be with him but the days were getting so hard, the disease was taking him. It was time for Hospice to help us and help Charlie's passage through this life to whatever lies beyond.

Charlie died in the early morning of April 7th. In his words, he "launched the planet", but to me I see him riding off on his Harley finding what lies beyond

 this universe of ours. 

It's so very hard to believe this happy younger brother won't share this world we me any longer, but what love and laughter he shared with all of us. As he told me, he's only a thought away and I only need to find the Belt of Orion in the night sky where he's joined our brothers Marcus and Harry forming those three stars. Three amazing men I loved so dearly, gone far too soon. Paul and I will miss all those nights out by the fire pit listening to his favorite tunes, telling stories and just enjoying each others company. How blessed we were to have had the last four summers with the RV parked alongside their home each summer. 

And just a year ago....

We stayed on to help Mary through the next few days, then it was time for us to say good bye and move the RV back in storage up in Ukiah and start the return to our vagabond lifestyle and Foster back on the east coast, knowing that each day is a gift of time with those you love. 

HILLSBOROUGH RIVER & STEPHEN FOSTER STATE PARK February 1-15 2015

While still camping at Hillsborough State park  in central Florida, we took a day to visit the nearby town of Lakeland, FL.  It was only a half hour drive on back roads from the campground.  

Being major fans of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and design we were excited to see The Florida Southern College Historic District. It is a designated National Historic Landmark by the National Park Service for being the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.  How was it we had never heard of this??? We walked the campus, the "Child of the Sun" as Wright named it, with a small guided tour to learn the details of the unique method of construction he chose. 

The campus comprises 64 buildings on 100 acres, 12 structures designed by FLW. The buildings are  connected with over a mile of low hanging covered walkways. Built between 1941 and 1958, many of the buildings we saw were in some stage of restoration. The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel above, was the first building on the campus and covered in scaffolding for repairs the day we visited. The current President of the college is a strong advocate for restoring the buildings to their original state and saving this amazing collection of architecture.

The story of how this small Methodist college with no endowment could afford to build the vision of FLW was fascinating. It took the dreams of two men; Ludd Spivey,  President of FSC from 1925 to 1957, to envision a "college of tomorrow"  and the sixty-nine year old architect Wright who felt most colleges were architectural failures. This endeavor was part of a plan to build college enrollment which had fallen hard during The Depression.

One of the creative ways to assist with the cost of building was to put the students to work! Labor for several of the buildings and the textured concrete blocks used came from students who received free tuition in exchange. With male students mostly gone during WWII at least one building was completed by female students.

Across the street and near the Visitor Center was a newly built FLW structure, a 1939 design of a two-bedroom, one-bath home, The Usonian House.  74 years after its design, the house had was finished November 2013. It was stunning; every detail exquisite. His idea with a Usonian design was to create simple, low cost houses that would be within the reach of the average American. The house is one story, built of all natural materials on a concrete slab and gorgeous. 

Every detail was designed by Wright as he often did; the furniture, light fixtures, all bookcases or shelving built not added later. We could easily have moved in, we loved it all; the clean lines, the 5000 colored glass inserts that brought 8 different colors into the rooms, the warm woods and the unique textile blocks. I can't remember the cost we were told of building this home today, but it was far beyond the original concept.  

Our next stop was just a couple blocks down the street, The Polk Museum of Art. The museum has two large galleries that were displaying the work of two contemporary artists, Gabrielle Wu Lee and Kathy Sosa.

Again, we used our NARM Museum pass for free entry. That yearly membership has brought us to so many unique museums across the country.

 After leaving the museum we headed to the car to realize we were missing our keys. Turns out, Paul had left them in the door when he was locking it, and someone came along, saw them in turned them into the library across the street. Such a lucky thing for us!!!

Thursday, February 5th was opening day at the Florida State Fair in Tampa and we decided we'd give it a try. We went late in the afternoon once the rainstorm blew out, and had a nice couple of hours touring the exhibits.

Even a lake in the middle of the fairgrounds...that's Florida!

Friday, we moved 90 miles north to Stephen Foster Folk Cultural Center State Park and Campground. We had site #32 for the next nine nights; large and private. The park is set along the Suwannee River atop bluffs with wild azaleas everywhere.

There is a permanent folk culture village with a blacksmith, weavers, and other craftspeople and we were lucky enough that it was in full operation the Saturday we were there, a fun surprise. Each Memorial Day Weekend the park hosts the Florida Folk Festival and I'm sure it's terribly crowded. So nice to be here in the off season.

Though Stephen Foster never set foot in the park, the center honors his memory, the American composer who wrote "Old Folks at Home" and the song that made the river famous. Throughout the day his music can be heard coming from the park's bell tower. After a few days we didn't even notice it any longer. The museum we're standing in front of was built in 1950 and displays eight dioramas of Stephen Foster songs, along with historic pianos and his personal desk.

The park was huge and great for biking around and down into the little town of White Springs. We had decided to try kayaking the river one afternoon but when we got to the canoe put in area it was all roped off...the river was too high and too swift to allow a canoes and kayaks in. 

The 97 bell carillon and the beautiful entrance to the park and our Ranger station.

The Museum is housed in this lovely anti-bellum style mansion.

About 30 miles south of the park is the Olustee Battlefield near Lake City, FL. A Civil War battle was being reenacted the second weekend we were there. Usually our timing is off, and we miss these events but this one we timed just right.

The battle was fought on February 20, 1864 and was the largest battle fought in Florida during the war and the second bloodiest battle of the War for the Union. The Union losses at Olustee made Northern authorities to rethink the need of further Union involvement in the state of Florida.

By the time we arrived on Saturday, there was a field filled with cannons ready for the reenactment that afternoon.

Everything was detailed to the period, including the medical tent. It drew quite a crowd as soldiers came in from the battle field with severe wounds to be treated by the doctor and his two nurses.

We met this group of ladies as we were parking our car.  They and driven four hours that morning to come to the event in style.

All good battles had to have a band...

And then it was time for the soldiers to march.

and do battle.

all right in front of us! A great day and our first real experience with Civil War living history.

Sunday morning we drove two hours east to our next campground, Pecan Point RV Resort just four miles from the Jacksonville Airport. We were staying only one night in order to put the RV in storage for another trip to California to visit my brother, Charlie. Pecan Point is a Passport America park with one night available for the half price fee. It's a large park with concrete pads and table, all pull-through sites, a nice pool and laundry area to get a load done before we left. It's so easy when an RV park provides overnight lodging and storage all in one! Great park...that's all we needed, we had the frig emptied, tanks cleaned and the RV in its spot by check out time at noon.

But since our flight didn't leave until later that evening we still and time to visit another nearby historic site, the Kingsley Plantation along the Fort George River, part of the Timucuan Historic Preserve.

A fascinating fact of this plantation was that when Zephaniah Kingsley moved to Fort George Island he brought his wife and three children. His wife, Anna, was from Senegal, West Africa, and had been purchased by Kingsley as a slave. But here, she actively participated in running the plantation, acquiring her own land and slaves when she was freed by Kingsley in 1811, a unique situation in Spanish Florida.

As we walked the grounds we saw this cutter digging around in the leaves, our first armadillo sighting!

We finished our walking tour with a visit to the slave quarters and the remains of 25 slave cabins constructed of cement tabby which made them durable and able to survive from the late 1700's. 

Free blacks and several private owners lived at the plantation until it was given to the state of Florida in 1955, and acquired by the National Park Service in 1991. 

We had left Foster the evening before at his new home boarding in southern Jacksonville, so we returned to the RV park, parked the car in the storage area with the RV 

and called for a taxi to the airport. What an easy way to make our flights to California.