Back to Basics

Recently, I saw a commercial for Allstate Insurance. According to the commercial, Allstate has been in business since 1931—through the last 12 recessions (have there been that many in the last 78 years?). The commercial goes on to say that after the fear subsides in a recession, people start enjoying the small things in life—“back to basics,” they called it. Coincidentally, I received Ina Garten’s latest cookbook as a Christmas gift. The title? Back to Basics.

I think I have always embraced a “back-to-basics” kind of life. In 2000, my family and I moved to the Bay Area of Northern California. At the time, the technology industry was at its peak. We moved right into the middle of the “lifestyle of excess” in Silicon Valley—expensive cars and even more expensive real estate. At the time, I was a stay-at-home mom and we were living on one income. We felt so out of place. We couldn’t compete; even more, we didn’t want to compete. That was probably the most difficult 16 months of our life. Then, we faced not one, but two lay-offs in one year. We were fortunate to live not only within our means, but well within our means. Living by this principle helped us survive that turmoil.

Fast forward almost 9 years to the worst economic year in our lifetime. While people in our community are losing their over-mortgaged homes, significant portions of their retirement savings, and jobs, we are blessed to be in pretty good shape. We wanted to buy a home just as much as the next person, but we resisted the insane California real estate market. We have a long way to go until we retire so, despite our retirement losses on paper, we have time to recover. In the face of Monterey County’s economic trouble, my job looks pretty secure; having some seniority to fall back on doesn’t hurt either.

I can’t help but wonder if our country would be in such bad shape if more of us had embraced a “back-to-basics” kind of life? We can all help the economy get back on its feet without spending our way into bankruptcy. Start enjoying the simple things again—home-cooked meals, visits with friends and family, gifts from the heart. Let the “Joneses” keep up with themselves. Pretty soon, I bet they will be trying to keep up with you.

Prescription for Fun

As the holidays approach, I have spent some time reflecting on everything that has happened in the past year. I cannot believe how much has changed and that we survived the year!

I had lots of good things happen in ‘08, once I recovered from the accident that almost ruined every Christmas to come: the “Costco Caddy” incident on December 20, 2007, when a runaway Cadillac crashed into our local Costco food court. I missed severe injury by inches, but my leg wounds ultimately resulted in surgery and a long recovery from the “disabled list.” Since "the winter of my discontent", I was part of a relay team that participated in the Big Sur International Marathon. Although I didn't run as much as I would have liked, I was able to participate and finish. I also went back to school at UC Davis for a professional certification in Land Use and Environmental Planning. My activities with St. George’s Episcopal Church and Native Daughters of the Golden West added more fun to my life.

After two years of intense work and 17 years of mentally baking an idea, Route 66 Railway—El’s coffee-table book about Route 66 and the Santa Fe Railway in the Southwest—arrived in late October. We’ve sold a bundle of signed copies in less than two months and overall sales are climbing thanks to tremendous word-of-mouth. The media coverage is just beginning: El is acting as a one-man PR agency, but that’s a small trade-off for having a book that looks so good. More signings and author talks are scheduled over the next four months, so watch El’s book website: http://www.66rails.com/. He also started a personal photo blog, “Outside is America."

Our daughter Kathryn is an 8th grader at Monte Vista Christian School. We’re all so proud of the fine young lady she has become. She joined the leadership class, sings in the middle school choir, went to MVCS’ summer equestrian camp, and continues as a Girl Scout. We took Kat to Disneyland for her 13th birthday, which fell on Mother’s Day this year. (As a bonus, Elrond and Kat got a cab ride on the Disneyland Railroad!).

As a family, we still found time to have fun, topped off by an Amtrak trip to Portland and side trips to the Oregon Coast, Columbia River Gorge and elsewhere. In September, El and I finally got to meet our longtime favorite SF Giants shortstop, Omar Vizquel, at his first West Coast art reception (see my September blog post). We reunited with old friends John and Debbie Scott and their children. El and I spent memorable evenings listening to Bruce Springsteen in Sacramento and the Police. I had been waiting to see both bands since college!

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to Tess, our Calico kitty, who passed away in November after more than 15 years of bringing us joy. We’re still in mourning, along with her sister Zoe, but Atticus is doing his best to keep our spirits up.

We have a new arrival: a gray kitten named Lucy, who slowly adopted us during the past few months. Atticus finally has a little playmate/ henchman.

Despite a year that started out so terribly, I managed to bring the fun back into my life. I have so much to be grateful for. Despite the many challenges and struggles in our world, I have a renewed spirit of optimism for 2009. I hope your holidays are happy, and that life brings you great joy in the coming year.

Dirty Wow Wow

On Halloween, our cat Atticus decided to “dress-up.” Well, not dress up in the traditional sense—he assumed the character of Houdini. Shortly after 9:00 PM, he escaped from the house and started his 40+ hour adventure in the big wide world. My husband noticed he was missing about two hours later and spent the next several hours trying to find him. The next morning, Atticus still wasn’t home. Frantic, we printed up flyers and posted them around the neighborhood and in nearby stores. We walked the neighborhood, calling his name, looking in bushes and under cars. We even drove through the surrounding streets hoping NOT to find him on the side of the road.

By Saturday evening, it started to rain—HARD! We were terribly worried about our white cat that spends all of his time indoors. Where could he be in the midst of all this rain and bad weather? We put his basket out on the front porch hoping that he might find it and know he was home. Saturday night turned into Sunday morning and still, no Atticus. We couldn’t imagine where he was. We printed and put up more signs to replace the rain-damaged ones. Around 3:00 PM, I said to Elrond, “I am starting to lose hope that we’ll find him.” Not 30 seconds later, the phone rang. It was one of our neighbors calling to say they saw the sign at Safeway about a lost cat with a gold ID tag. They thought the same cat was under their car because he had a gold ID tag, too.



We ran down the block to their house. Under their car was a dirty gray cat. At first we didn’t think it was him. Our daughter crawled on the ground under the car to get a better look at the cat. She called out “Atticus?” He turned to look at her and cried “wow!” Not “meow”, but a frantic “‘wow’ you found me!” It was our beloved cat—the cat that makes our house a home with his purring and rubbing and “wowing.” He was filthy, to say the least. We thanked our neighbors profusely and took Atticus home to have a bath. Fortunately, he doesn’t mind water much so this was easier than you’d think. Kat donned her bathing suit and helped get him clean again. After sleeping for nearly two days straight, Atticus seems to be back to his old self.



You may be puzzled by the title of this blog—Dirty Wow Wow. Last summer, we took a trip to Portland, Oregon. At Powell’s City of Books, we saw a display about a book called “Dirty Wow Wow and other love stories: A Tribute to the Threadbare Companions of Childhood.” This adorable book is about beloved childhood stuffed toys (one being named ‘Dirty Wow Wow’). Although Atticus is not a stuffed toy, he is our beloved pet—our ‘Dirty Wow Wow’ who adds so much joy to our lives.