chapter12

Today is sunday and the internet connection is givving me lots of trouble. It is nearly 12.30 and I ahve only just managed to get connected. so i am sending my blog before i check emails. Sara the message about you being connected to skype has come thpugh skype so that is great and i would love to try and hook up today. We would be ready to do that from around 5PM here, which should be 10am Monday morning your time. Alternatively if you want to call me on the SSF skype no,  i could leave everything on from 5PM. Also we can always do the landline thing first to say we are both ready. 

On Saturday I got picked up by Cynthia and Nancy at 9.30 to travel to Napa/Sonoma for our day at Fran and Dan Weber’s house. They live on a 2 acre property that is covered mostly in walnut and pear trees. They have grapes growing around them but no grapes on their property. As soon as we arrived we went straight into the town of Sonoma with them and 3 of their 6 grandchildren to watch the Firemen’s water fight, an annual event where teams form the local stations compete to push a keg across the line using fire hoses to score “goals” against the other team. There was also a fete so we watched the little guys go for prizes, etc. Back at Frans we had lunch and then spent the afternoon and evening catching up and talking about our childhoods, looking at photos and recipes and cooking dinner. It is now Sunday morning.

Today is the 90th Birthday party of Dante Sciandri. It is at David and Pia Sciandri’s house and all of the old timers are going to be there, the “cream of the crop” as Auntie Lindy says. I went up there earlier to take some photos of the party set up. The back of the house around the kitchen was set up for the early arrival. The lounge room is all set up for the luncheon. The garage is set up for card games after lunch, Pedro of course. Then I went to breakfast with Mike and Linda out near the cliff house before heading back to pick up Noni and Gramps to chauffeur them to the party. People were arriving as we dropped them off so I got to see a few of the old ones. Right now I am hanging at the Martinelli's getting my home messages done while Linda does the last shopping for dinner tonight.

The South City support network is really pretty special and it has definitely helped our family cope with the things that have happened in the last few years. And everyone thinks the old guys and gals are still going because they get to have such a great social life. There is always something happening and they all go to everything and everyone loves to be around them. So that is all good too.