When hearing about Winter Storm Rocky and the like, it makes me so grateful to be living in Imperial Valley.
Grandson Bo is in the freshman class at The Citadel in Charleston. The area had considerable flooding, and there was the possibility of a hurricane. Although it has been the wettest February on record, I don’t think any of those things bothered Bo. His main concern is food, and getting enough of it.
His mother, my daughter Debbie, had a 30-minute call from him last week. She said 20 minutes of it was about the lack of food. He said he is going through his hard-earned savings just to keep from starving. Of course this is tough to hear about one of my dear grandchildren. Bo, at 6 foot 6 inches, is an eating machine like many others his age.
Debbie and her family recently visited with him while they were in Charleston for their son Ben’s la crosse tournament.
They brought many snacks with them. Bo quickly ate two apples, three bananas and two power bars. These were soon followed by an oriental chicken salad, an onion burger and part of his sister Kendall’s smoothie. Next he visited the la crosse team tent and started eating their snacks. I guess he thought he was eligible since he had been on the team the past few years.
After taking a short nap, which only made him hungrier, they visited Applebee’s restaurant. There he ordered an appetizer, two entrees and a huge dessert. Before the family left to go back home to Greenville, Bo had a pizza, some beef jerky, and Top Ramen noodles that he attacked with a couple of pencils since chopsticks were not available.
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The grandsons of a friend of mine gave up certain foods and other things for Lent. I’m not sure what they ate. It was all healthy and they lost weight, and they could have as much broccoli as they wanted. Sweets were not part of their menu. On the 41st day the younger brother ate all the leftover birthday cake belonging to one of his roommates that was in the freezer.
They also gave up texting and Facebook for the 40 days, and soon didn’t miss either one.
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Last week my friend Ruth and I got to visit my long-time friend Nancy, a close buddy from the days we lived in Los Angeles. She was vacationing in the Palm Desert area for the winter. Her home is now in Bigfork, Mont., but she loves the desert this time of year. She stays busy playing golf, and visiting with neighbors in her desert community. Some nights she plays Texas Hold ’Em, Mexican Train, and bridge with various neighbors. It is a beautiful park with lush grounds, a golf course and a couple of clubhouses.
I always learn things from Nancy. This time her words of wisdom were that she had totally given up “stress” and “boredom.” To quote Nancy, “bored people are boring.”
Ruth always comes up with good ideas on our outings. While in the desert she suggested we visit the beautiful Sunnylands Center & Gardens, which is part of the Annenberg estate. Sunnylands was the winter home of Walter and Leonore Annenberg. For more than 40 years, presidents, heads of state, and leaders from government, business, science, and the arts found hospitality and conversation at Sunnylands. We were fortunate to be visiting there on March 1, the first anniversary of the Sunnylands Center & Gardens.
On our way home we decided to visit the popular Town Pump Steak House in Westmorland. Neither of us had been there in ages. We thoroughly enjoyed our steak and shrimp dinner. When we asked for our check the waitress said it had been taken care of. Turns out a youngish couple, originally from Holtville, had picked up our tab. Their thoughtful act was just a perfect ending to a lovely day!
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