JOURNAL OF TININTHEWIND

 Kathleen and I are fortunate to have two Sons (Scott and Bill) who have been a delight throughout their entire lives but more importantly matured to go on and have such a positive impact on all of society and also to all who know them.  Enough standing on the soap box by me, already!

    Scott recently was asked, by the Canadian company that builds the Q400 aircraft used by many airlines throughout the world including Horizon Air/Alaska Airlines for whom he teaches and flys, if he would be interested in introducing and teaching the plane to the pilots who will ultimately be flying the eight new ones ordered by Ethiopia Airlines.

     Once Scott expressed an interest his current employer Horizon Air gave their blessing to his taking a leave of absence so he could fulfill this consulting roll for the Canadian company who builds the plane.

     He is currently in Ethiopia now teaching and working with his students.  We are proud of him to say the least.  He is writing a blog about his experience and if you have an interest click on the link below to follow along on this adventure:

http://ghostsailors.com/blog-africa/ 

     Scott and his family have lived in the Seattle area aboard "Ghost" their 52' sailboat since 1998.  Angela, Scott's wife has maintained a beautiful web-site that tells of their life and its trials and tribulations of raising our two grandchildren on and in a unique setting.  If you have an interest in checking out their web-site click on the link below:

www.ghostsailors.com/

Posted by George at 09:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     Pictured above are two of the sweetest, classiest ladies you could ever hope to know.  Kathleen, my mom Betty, and I spent part of Sunday helping to celebrate with other family members their two Birthdays.

     Goldie (pictured 1st) was celebrating her 99th.

     Emerald (pictured 2nd) was celebrating her 88th.

     The maiden family last name for these two great ladies was Sires.  There were 9 children born to Roy and Lena Sires of which Goldie and Emerald were 2nd oldest and 6th oldest.  Seven of the nine children were named after gems.  There was Goldie and Emerald, Beryl (Betsy), Opal, Sylvia, Pearl, and Sardius.  There were two others, Jimmy and Roy Thomas. Of the nine, pictured below are the four surviving children of Roy and Lena, Goldie, Emerald, Beryl (Betsy), and Roy Tom.

     It is rare to be able to celebrate a 99th birthday, but couple that with also being able to celebrate an 88th and you have the makings of a great day.  There is a lot of love for these two classy ladies and that in part is due to all the love they have given to all who were in attendance.

    I reflect on a conversation between Goldie and her niece June at the celebration when Goldie said, "quit telling everyone my age".  The classy Lady that she is, if asked directly, "how old are you", would reply with a number something way south of 99.

     I include two pictures here of Goldie from my collection and these were taken at age 98.  I will let them speak for themselves.

                                                      Slide Show

Posted by George at 06:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     All good trips should start with a Sun Rise but few of us get up early enough to capture one of those on film, especially not me now that I have joined the ranks of retired so a picture of a sunset will have to do.

     When Scott, Angela, Zak, and Ellie made plans to come down to Mexico to visit us we wondered how many sunsets would we have together?  We haven’t been writing in the blog lately due to having the priority of spending all our time with them.  We were lucky to have shared six sunsets at the end of very busy days.

     Like sugar plums dancing through their heads Zak and Ellie dreamed each day prior to their trip that they would be able to “hang 10” on their boogie boards, and boy, did they ever give it the college try.  We were all amazed at how well they did.  Zak was constantly sharing what he was learning with his little sister and she was a quick study.  There were the spills and the swallowing of a little salt water but Dad, Mom, Grandma, and Grandpa were always handy to come to the rescue.

     Scott and his Family stayed at the Don Jose Hotel in La Penita.  I would generally pick them up around 8:30 and we would all have breakfast at the pool side restaurant cooked by Rubin and Cece.  There were so many things to do that at times it was difficult to choose.

     Zak and Ellie became the official score keepers and volley ball chasers for the adult pool volley ball games at 10:00 and even though the beach was a strong draw for them they usually wanted to finish their obligation to the teams.  That gave us adult’s time to get organized for the rest of the day.

     Each day we tried to plan a different beach outing.  One day we did Cave Beach and several car loads of our RV park friends joined us on the outing.  The drive through the jungle on a goat trail and the steep decent to the beach did not disappoint our guests.  It was a spectacular day for us all as the whales that were migrating along the coast put on quite a show when they jumped and caused huge splashes that were easily visible to the naked eye.  The waves were gentle and Zak and Ellie got in a lot of practice on their boards.  There was a school of very small fish hanging close to shore and from time to time some barracuda and small tuna would charge in to the school and send them flying out of the water.  The water was a little murky on this trip and our snorkel gear did not work as well as it had in the past.  We finished the day at Chacala which is a small sea side village with a magnificent beach, our favorite restaurant with tables set under palapas in the sand, and swimming beach that is second to none.  Zak made friends with a young Mexican boy his age and even though there was the language barrier, they had no trouble laughing, playing, and boogie boarding together.  Dinner of Mahi, Mahi, (Dorado) cooked over an open wood fired grill and one of the most spectacular sunsets we have seen to date put an end to a beautiful day.

     On one of the days we ventured off to Syulita which is a well known beach that is popular with Surfers and we all enjoyed watching the action while again feeding our face under a palapa on the beach.  Angela is a collector of beach glass and she and the kids made some excellent finds.

     There were many hours spent on the La Pentia RV Park Beach, taco Tuesday at the Pavilion on the point, time in the park pool, and even some plain old R & R at the motor coach.  Several meals out and about in the local communities, and even a carry out of Karina’s wood fire grilled chicken.

     The day of their departure there was time for them to experience “Market” in La Penita.  The purchases were typical of tourists on holiday and that only made the carry on bags a little heavier for the trip home to Seattle.

     As parents we could not have had a more wonderful time with our loved ones and already we miss them. 

     The slide show of pictures that follow are but a small collection of hundreds that were taken but should give a pretty good idea of our week together.  Enjoy!

                                                    Slide Show

Posted by George at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

     Being a Grandpa is about as special a thing in life as it can get.  Having the four grand kids that I have, (ya I know I'm biased) is absolutely awesome.  There is just no other way to put it.  From time to time one of them will especially touch my heart and when they do I am going to shout it to the roof top.  This time its Zak that has center stage.

     Zak is six years old now.  When he was younger, on a couple of occasions I had the opportunity to introduce him to my passion of fishing.  We would get a few hours together either on the dock or in my bass boat and for whatever length of time a little ones attention span would last I would cast the line out, hook a fish and then let him reel it in.  I could tell from the start that he was a quick study and one day would become a pretty good fisherman.

     In the above first two pictures Zak was about two and a half, and in the last picture Zak was about four.

     Now to what touched my heart!  Zak and his family live on a large sail boat.  www.ghostsailors.com/.  This is their home like the "tininthewind" motor home is Grandma and Grandpa's home.  We have been told that Zak really likes spending time on the docks fishing, and exploring all kinds of sea life around.

     The other day we stopped by to visit and planned to stay awhile as Angela, Zak's mom, was planning a special supper.  Zak waited patiently while we adults caught up on the latest and when he got his turn he asked me if I wanted to go fishing.  Hanging above our heads in the cabin below deck was a selection of rods and Zak suggested I should pick one and he would grab his so we could go up on the docks to fish.  I reminded Zak that I did not have a license and it would be best if I just tagged along and watched him as he fished.  What a great opportunity.  I was going to get to see him at the ripe old age of six trying his hand at jigging for fish some thirty feet down to the bottom of the harbour sea floor from the dock. 

     As we made our way out on the docks Zak called to me to follow him as his hot spot was at the end of a dock a short distance from their boat.  Walking along we were greeted by a neighbor who assured me that Zak was the resident expert and kept them all in fish.  Zak proceeded to drop his bait to the bottom, (30 feet or so) and proceeded to jig the bait up and down in short jerks.  All at once he called out, "there's one" and he began to reel with haste.  Suddenly he announced that it wasn't a fish but rather a piece of sea weed.  Sure enough when he got it to the surface he had a small piece of sea weed on the hook.  Pretty good for a little guy to have that kind of sense of touch and I was recalling how over the years I could pretty well announce what kind of fish I had on my line simply by the way it acted long before I was to see it.  I was impressed.

     Time passed and Zak continued to do everything in his power to hook a fish as I know he wanted to show me how it was done.  Fishing was slow but it allowed us to discuss other things while he continued to try.

     I was sitting in a chair watching him from a short distance and we had been silent for awhile when he turned to me and looking at me sitting in the chair, said "Grandpa, I'll hook-em and you can reel em in, OK?".

Posted by George at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)