A Fond Farewell to Fresno

We had a great time in Fresno for only one week, but it was a full one.  It ended with a spontaneous family gathering for dinner at our favorite Sushi restaurant, OoI, in Clovis.  In the front, L to R, me (Barbara), Julie holding Ryan, Olivia. In the back, Logan, Jamie, Jenny, Greg, Claudio, Tom and Jason.

Our busy week started on arrival, Friday, a week ago only minutes after driving in the driveway; not unhooking the Jeep; and going to a fund-raising dinner for the Music Department at Clovis East.  Jamie was playing in the Jazz Band. She plays many instruments, but this night she was playing trumpet.  What an amazing musician, guitar, French Horn, keyboard, now trumpet.  She also sings in several choirs.

The whole family was there, too.  I only got pictures of 1) Julie (she hated my taking a picture of her with her eyes closed-she’s beautiful even with her eyes closed).  She is an amazing writer and now is beginning to Blog. This is the granddaughter that carries 15 units at CSU,Fresno, works 20-30 hours a week at Chipoltle, and is a 20 hour a week intern at a Ad Design and Marketing Company. Can you spell busy? She must take after her mom, grandmother and great-grandmother.  Next to Julie is  2) Tom,  3) Jason in the back , and 4) Mom (you’ll hear more about Mom next week as we celebrate her 90th birthday at my sister, Janet’s, in Portland).

Sunday morning we went to church in Kingsburg instead of our home church, Friends Community Church, because Jamie was singing.  She is the second from the left in the first row.  We really enjoyed the singing and the sermon on marriage was also very good.

 

Later that day we all, 13 in all, went to BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse for Julie’s Birthday dinner.  Julie had introduced me to the deep dish pizza and their incredible desert, Pizookie.  Check it out!  Just writing about it makes me hungry.  We will be planning a trip to BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse real soon.  Julie - 20!  We can’t believe she is no longer a teenager.  Grand children grow up way too fast.  But having an adult granddaughter who takes us to new restaurants, hosts us at Chipoltle,  designs Geocaching Path Tags, and just likes to come over to our house on wheels and talk is just perfect.

 

 

Then on Wednesday the work began on replacing the roof on Tom’s shop.  He and Jason had been working on replacing the facia shown in the picture at the right above.  Jay had already taken out the overgrown, intrusive Sunburst Locust that had destroyed the roof.  He cut off about 6 inches of the rafter tails and added the new facia.  About 6:30 a.m. we heard the roofers arrive, about 20 of them.  (Just an aside note to Nick yes, there are people who are up at that time, but WE ARE NOT, and we think they are nuts.)  It had rained off and on for 2 days and the forecast was for rain on Wednesday so we thought maybe they would not work on the roof, but with their early arrival they had stripped the old shingles by about 10 a.m.

 

We left at 8 a.m. to get the oil changed on the rig.  The shop was near us in the country way back off the road.  We have lived here since 1968 and I never knew this place was even here.  The work was done and Larry, who changed the oil, suggested that we have the front breaks checked before we leave town and we exited the shop down the ditch bank road.  The water level is pretty high and Tom was a little nervous when making the turn with his wheels near the ditch edge and the front of the RV hanging over the water.  TMI for me! 

They had the roof sheeted, papered and were loading the composition roofing at 10:30 when we got back. 

At 12:45 that day I had an appointment to talk to Mr Raul Rodriguez’s 4th grade class at Mayfair Elementary School.  I was in 2nd grade when Mayfair opened and the 60th anniversary of that opening was celebrated in 2009.  Mr. ’R’ was responsible for challenging his students to do a history project on Mayfair; The Fresno Bee did a story about the Mayfair Project and it continues today. 

Mr ‘R’ has asked me and other student alumnae to speak to the class over the last couple of years.  As I was telling the students what life was like when I was in 4th grade, no TV in Fresno, no long pants or shorts worn at school by the girls, and so little crime that our doors were always unlocked, the kids were making origami for me and this is what I brought back to the RV.  Pretty cool.

Thursday we drove our home on wheels to O’Brien’s Brake Service, the best, most reliable brake service in Fresno. Fresno PD, the local school districts, ambulance companies and all the knowledgeable people in Fresno bring their vehicles to  O’Brien’s.  Frank and Augie, now run the shop for Carol O’Brien and you will not find a more honest shop anywhere.  We went in to have the brake pads replaced and the play taken out of the front end.  We were prepared to spend the night in the shop if the repairs took 2 days to get the parts.  We were at breakfast when Frank called about an hour later and said, “Are you sitting down?”  Now when I heard that I braced myself and said, “Yes”.  He said, “You have over an inch of pad left. You don’t need a break job.  Come and get it”.  Any other shop could have changed the pads (or maybe not) and charged us and we would never have know the difference.  We just love knowing a shop where we can have work done and know we will be treated more than fairly.

 

Now back to where this blog started, the going away dinner at OoI’s.  One wall of the restaurant for customers to leave messages; you know the old non-techie answer to Text Messaging.  Jamie, held up by mom, Jenny, is writing a message for Logan about his school, Temperance-Kutner.  T-K is also the alma mater of Jenny, Jason, Julie, Jamie and now Logan.  That’s how life is before getting On The Road Again, Caching Places That We’ve Never Been.  Thanks for joining us on our ride.