Category Archives: Home & Family

July 31, 2011 · 1:35 pm

Ladies’ Wedding Tea

My daughter Jessica is getting married next week. We are mostly ready for the big event (125 guests). Yesterday, she and I went back to the tailor’s for another sash fitting, bought her two party dresses, and went to the florist. John and Paul went to the grocery store and the bakery. Sinead (the Maid of Honor) and Jessica baked cookies when we got back.

Last night, we held the Ladies’ Tea for the senior women in Jessica’s life to celebrate. The gentlemen of the family were invited to go elsewhere. The younger ladies are getting together for a bachelorette party next week. All of the guests brought their favorite treats. We had cakes and cucumber sandwiches and rosemary bread and cornbread (with honey) and tarts and biscotti and lavender ice tea and hot teas and wine. The table decorations were the wishes tree, wedding favors, and love poems with ribbons to be given out at next week’s big event. My favorite was the almond cake with marzipan frosting in the shape of a gift box with a big bow (from Flower Flour bakery and florist here in Willow Glen, San Jose CA).

Tonight, the families of the Bride and Groom meeting for dinner and board games at our house – to check in and make final plans. We usually play Settlers or Hearts.

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Tagged as Jessica, John, marriage, Matthew, Paul, San Jose

July 16, 2011 · 6:57 pm

3 Beautiful Old Typewriters

In 2009, I wrote an entry about the old Remington Portable typewriter pictured at the top of my blog page. I recently acquired two more, an L.C. Smith & Corona Super Speed from a garage sale ($10), and an Oliver Standard Visible Writer (appropriately olive colored) which was a gift from my mother. All three are now part of my office in WP668 (our backyard caboose).

Typing this on my Apple MacBook Pro laptop, with its sleek compact design, makes me think again how far the mechanics of writing have come. The function of these three 80-year-old machines is the same but the designs are very different. I find them interesting and beautiful.

I learned to type on a portable typewriter. Now, many of them are being dismantled for their beautiful parts and sold a bit at a time on Etsy* and at craft fairs to those who like the steampunk look. As my husband says, before something gets to be antique and valuable, it has to survive being old and worn out.

* Etsy currently has 3,948 listings for handmade items such as rings, pendants, cuff links, and earrings which mention “typewriter keys”

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains, Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as WP668

July 16, 2011 · 5:44 pm

Last Harry Potter Movie

I went with family and friends to see the last Harry Potter movie last night. It was dark and sad but with a marvelous battle at the end. My kids love J.K. Rowling’s books and have read each of the seven Harry Potter stories many times. My son listens to recordings of the stories regularly. For the last fourteen years, our whole family has awaited each book and movie eagerly. We have several copies of each book, some in more than one language. In 2003, when we took a family trip by Amtrak train from Chicago home to the San Francisco Bay Area, we had to share just two newly-arrived books among the four of us. I think I achieved a personal best by reading Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (870 pages) in a day and a half. I am sorry to see the end of new stories about our favorite boy wizard.

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Tagged as Jessica, John, Paul, San Francisco, San Jose

July 13, 2011 · 7:24 pm

Van Gilder Glass – 3rd Home

My Great Grandfather was Walter Van Gilder, a glass maker. You can read my 2009 blog entry about his home at 1007 Circle Park Drive, Knoxville Tennessee. I own several engraved and picture mirrors made by him but I think Walter Van Gilder’s best work is a stained glass panel (about five feet wide) which until this morning was over the door of my parents’ house in San Francisco. The panel is lovely but in deteriorating condition, so I asked Architectural Art Glass expert Vince Taylor to remove and fix it. Vince has created three stained glass panels for our house in San Jose and he does beautiful work. Once the lead has been replaced and the frame restored or replaced (depending on what is possible), the Van Gilder panel will be ready for its next hundred years. Ours will be the third house it has graced and we look forward to welcoming it home later this year.

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Tagged as Eleanor, San Francisco, San Jose

July 11, 2011 · 10:01 pm

Geeky Model Trains

While I was in Washington DC with the TechWomen mentoring program, my husband John was giving technical presentations at the National Model Railroad Association convention in Sacramento, California. He talked about state-of-the-art for model train layout wiring and the use of Arduino electronics in model trains. John also went on a Yolo Short Line train ride in Sacramento, a tour of the Lehigh Permanente Cement Plant in Cupertino, Sacramento area model railroad layout tours, a visit to the excellent California State Railroad Museum, and a generally had fun with the boys while I was off hanging out with the girls.

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains, Home & Family, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Geeks, John, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen

July 11, 2011 · 9:08 pm

Swimming Alcatraz

Last weekend, my brother Pete swam around Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay in the Swim Around the Rock open water competition. He said it was a tough 3.25 mile course (from Aquatic Park around Alcatraz and back) but that the calm water on the far side of the island gave him a rest from the current. The water was a relatively-warm 60 degrees F. Only 40 swimmers were allowed to enter. The course was monitored by kayakers, lifeguards, and support boats. Pete was met at the finish with family hugs and tea.

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Tagged as San Francisco

June 26, 2011 · 6:02 pm

TechShop San Jose Opens

Yesterday, John and Paul and I went to the crowded opening of the new TechShop in San Jose, California. We also joined as lifetime family members!

TechShop is a membership-based workshop that provides members with access to tools and equipment, instruction, and a community of creative and supportive people so they can build the things they have always wanted to make.

Location: 300 South 2nd Street San Jose, CA 95113
http://www.techshop.ws/ts_sanjose.html

We heard the opening talk by my former boss, Greg Papadopoulos, on the topic “Think Global, Innovate Local”. There were at least dozen ex-Sun-Microsystems Engineering staff there to cheer for Greg.

Being the owners of WP668 (backyard caboose), our family already has developed a basic workshop but having access to some of the larger TechShop equipment and the classes will help with a variety of home and hobby projects. Some of the equipment I want to learn to use: FlowJet 4′ x 8′ CNC Water Jet Cutter, Epilog Helix 60-Watt Laser Cutters, Tin Lizzie Quilting Machine, Hand-Held Plasma Cutter, and the Computer Controlled Embroidery Sewing Machine. Paul and I plan to take classes together in Autodesk Inventor, and Arduino 101 (Board Soldering) later this summer.

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Tagged as John, Paul, San Jose, Sun Microsystems, teaching, WP668

Category Archives: Home & Family

Ladies’ Wedding Tea

3 Beautiful Old Typewriters

Last Harry Potter Movie

Van Gilder Glass – 3rd Home

Geeky Model Trains

Swimming Alcatraz

TechShop San Jose Opens

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