Tag Archives: Eleanor

October 24, 2012 · 6:52 pm

Pizza and Art

Last Sunday after church, we went out to a pizza lunch with my mother (retired Professor of Life Drawing at California College of the Arts) in San Jose. Between conversational interludes, John read a book, Paul played a game on his smart phone, and my mother drew Paul. As usual, people walking by the table stopped to admire her drawing. Paul is studying Art at Foothill College, having grown up seeing art as a constant and necessary expression of creativity.

TechWomen Dinner at Home

The Huawei TechWomen mentors and mentees gathered in my home for a potluck dinner tonight. My husband made a halal chicken curry with rice as the entree. There were women from at least seven countries around our table: China, Egypt, India, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, and the USA. The guests had fun visiting my office in WP668, our backyard caboose. The food was interesting, plentiful, and delicious. My mother and husband joined the party. What a delightful group of new friends!

4 Comments

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

Tagged as China, Egypt, Eleanor, Huawei, John, Mentoring, Middle East, technical women, TechWomen, WP668

September 10, 2012 · 9:38 pm

2 More Patents

In the 2011 Katysblog entry called On His Own Terms, written the day after my father died, I included a list of dozens of his U.S. patents. I just got a letter for Wade Dickinson from a company trying to sell plaques for his new patents. A quick search of the US Patent and Trademark Office website told me that two more of my father’s patents have just issued:

8,256,992 Underground sequestration system and method
8,256,991 Engineered, scalable underground storage system and method

A pleasant surprise.

The letter offers a lifetime guarantee for the patent award plaque – what does that mean when addressed to someone who is already dead?

1 Comment

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Eleanor, Wade

August 19, 2012 · 10:53 pm

Camping at the Lair of the Golden Bear

Yesterday, we got back from our annual family camping trip at the U.C. Berkeley Alumni Association’s Lair of the Golden Bear near Pinecrest, California. We had 19 people in four tents, with 8 in just ours. As usual, we had an enjoyable and relaxing time. The car is unpacked and stuff is mostly put away but I am still working my way through the laundry. I have finished the towels and bedding and most of the clothes. I still need to wash the sleeping bags.

Some of the highlights of our week in the Sierras:

Hiking to the Natural Bridges swim-through cave. The air was so hot and the water was so cold! Carrying my camera in a zip bag to take pictures from the deep pool was tricky.
Seeing an eagle pulling big fish from the Pinecrest Lake right near the swimmers and boaters. One of the Pinecrest summer residents said it was a bald eagle but it may have been an osprey (fish eagle).
Watching a white headed woodpecker eating his way from pine to pine.
Walking along the creek (Tuolumne River, North Fork), looking for wild flowers, animals, insects, and pretty stones.
Watching the sunset from the Trail of the Gargoyles, in the Stanislaus National Forest. We could see Mount Diablo (a 3,864 feet or 1,178 meter peak in the San Francisco Bay Area) in the far distance.
Hanging out with family and friends.

This was the first time we have been camping since my father died – he loved the mountains. We stopped at Railtown 1897 in Jamestown on the drive home yesterday to collect more caboose pictures – see my Caboose Sisters Pinterest page for the whole collection. I also put up a Camp Blue Pinterest page with more images from our camping week.

2 Comments

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as birds, Eleanor, Jessica, John, Lair of the Bear, Matthew, Paul, University of California, Wade

July 26, 2012 · 9:01 pm

Safe Disposal of Old Medicine

This week, San Francisco Bay Area’s Alameda became the first US county to pass a “Safe Drug Disposal Ordinance” requiring producers of drugs sold or distributed in the county to pay for the safe collection and disposal of unused medications. I noticed this news story because I just took a bag of such medicines to the drop box at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (795 El Camino Real, Palo Alto). About once a year, I go through the medicines in our house, check the expiration date, and put old stuff in a bag for disposal. I have written about challenges Disposing of Toxics when clearing my parents’ house for sale earlier this year. I was pleased to find the PAMF drop box as a safe and easy solution to this ongoing problem. Information on other Bay Area disposal sites is available from the Regional Water Quality Control Plant “cleanbay.org” web site.

1 Comment

Filed under Home & Family, News & Reviews

Tagged as Eleanor, San Francisco, Wade

July 16, 2012 · 10:58 pm

San Jose Airport Hands

We drive the the San Jose airport several times a month to drop off or pick up my mother on her trips to visit my brother in Southern California. I am always charmed by the huge “Hands” mural by Christian Moeller (2010) which wraps around the seven story parking structure. It is elegant, cleverly executed, and never gets old.

Non-Travel Diary 3

While my husband John is in China on business for Huawei, I am keeping a non-travel diary. This weekend has been packed with activities:

Saturday morning, my mother and I picked up our new glasses from Visual Eyes Optometry in Willow Glen (San Jose CA). She was fitted with her new lenses and frames (and I got new lenses for my sunglasses).
Saturday afternoon, my son Paul and I went to the amazing Palo Alto Clay & Glass Festival, then took an evening class from Jeanne Fishback at TechShop San Jose on the wood lathe. We had a great time – and will take a second TechShop wood class this coming Friday night.
This morning at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Rev. Channing Smith announced that next week is Backpack Sunday – we will collect school supplies and backpacks for the children of Santa Maria Urban Ministry (no red or blue – gang colors).
Paul and I went to the Clay & Glass Festival again this afternoon. In the last two years, he has taken most of the ceramics classes offered by the excellent Foothill College art program. So, Paul was fascinated to see the finished work of so many superb creative potters. The artists also had fun talking to Paul – many of them know his teachers at Foothill. I bought some amazing pots. After seeing the art, we went to see the latest Ice Age animated movie.