August and October 2021

Not exactly in chronological order, but why not start with the 15th Bob Willis memorial reunion (remote).  The normal reunion and even the remote one was a little chaotic this year because of scheduling around Jeff Goldsmith's east cost trip(more on that in a bit), but Flint Webb, Risa Stewart, Eric Haines, and Rick Shetron joined in to raise one to the King.  Hoping for a in-person meeting next year.

Just because I really like it, here's a shot of one of Alison's roses

Obligatory pet shots.  Poppy continues to steal my slippers every chance she gets.  One shot when I was alone for the weekend with Dobie the demon cat and five dogs (two of them Brie's).  Pippin thought Dobie was a chew toy (hence demon cat).

In August, we traded in our crappy green 2018 hybrid Highlander for a new ruby red hybrid Highlander.  There was much rejoicing and the standard naming competition around the red color, where despite an overwhelmingly convincing argument that it should be named "Smaug" (because it's a hybrid and therefore anti-smog, so a bit of yin and yang), the winner was "Minnie" because the red paint sparkles in the sunlight.

We did a long weekend in Saratoga to spend time with Jeff Goldsmith, chronicled here. During that trip, we stopped for gas on the Mass Pike and Alison had to try the claw prize machine, despite Dave's insistence that she had just been lucky the first two times she tried them (and won).  Afterwards, Alison got to do the victory dance.

Then Dave had to fly to California.  Jeff's trip had been cut short by pain and swelling in his legs and he ended up in the emergency room in LA, but it wasn't clear what the plan was for his return home, given he wasn't fully ambulatory.  So Dave flew out on a one way ticket to stay with him at his house in Tujunga until things were settled, which ended up being a week and a half. This involved a number of small parties (almost every evening), hikes in the mountains around Jeff's house (there is an easy access point to the hiking trails there), and a opportunity for Matt to show off his red sports car by driving 100 MPH on a 30 MPH stretch of the Angeles Crest highway, a two lane road that winds through the mountains above Tujunga.

Dave also visited with Maddy, Noah, Heidi, Brenna, Nick, Anne and Lisa

We had a chance to do another cocktail class at Number 9 Park with Rick and Elizabeth, always a great time.

With all the travel schedules, Brie ended up dog sitting for us, we ended up dog sitting for Brie, and Brie stayed with us for a few days while Aidan was in Ireland (along with Pippin and Finn).  We had a chance for Brie and Aidan to take us out to dinner in Boston.

Dave had a week back in Acton, then it was back to LA.  Jeff's health was failing quickly, and he called to ask Dave to come out.  Next day, it was off on another one way ticket.  Jeff passed away on Oct 1, 2021. There's more about that on the Jeff Goldsmith memorial page here.  Alison flew out to help with the memorial service and other related issues (she's the executor for Jeff's estate), and we had a chance to visit her friend Gayle at Gayle's new house in Long Beach.

And below, just because it was cool, one of Jeff's friends who was really into origami made a wizard and pet dragon for Dave.  Each one is a single sheet of paper.