51st Anniversary

Sunday, September 27th, was Frank's and my 51st wedding anniversary. The Saturday night before we remarked how we had absolutely no plans and that was perfectly OK. Unbeknownst to me he got early up before me Sunday morning and snuck out to the store. He pointed out how difficult it is to get a card for 51 years so he did the best he could by modifying a card.

I came down the stairs looking for him and intercepted him coming in from the garage. He told me to go sit in the living room because he was not finished "setting up". Here is what he set up. Frank says when we were first dating he got me red roses since they mean love. He rationalized that since both he and are are a bit faded now, he got me pink roses instead because they are a paler version of red. In the pink striped box are my favorite donuts, French crullers. Frank had the bakery section of the grocery store write on the cake. Our wedding album is at the bottom of the photo. In the center of the table is our scrapbook that he made during our dating years. Why the bananas? In my aging years they have become critical for my health and Frank wanted to make sure I had enough for my daily needs and at the correct stage of ripeness. Romance also has a practical side to it.

The scrapbook Frank made for us is just above the wedding album. It is open to my 21st birthday. Note that the rose I am holding there is red. The cover of the scrapbook is silkscreened from a set of computer punch cards. Now that really dates the relationship.

We normally take our son Alex bowling on Sundays but the alley had a tournament this week and we would not have been able to go until late afternoon. Instead, I went online and located a cell phone directed scavenger hunt in our hometown of Livermore. Afterwards, I recreated the route we took, counterclockwise starting at the red dot where the car was parked, using MapMyWalk.com. It was generated from memory so there may be a few inaccuracies. The total distance as calculated by the app was 1.28 miles.

The hunt took us to historic buildings in Livermore then asked challenge questions about what we had seen on the plaques. The first site was the building near the flag pole that used to house the Independent newspaper. Called the Bank of Italy, Unfortunately my selfie skills showed little of the building but the phot does prove that Frank, Alex and I were there.

Our next stop was the Muse and Mane Hair Salon. The significance of that business is the building that houses it, the Bernal Building. The plaque  had interesting facts about early history, such as it was built with bricks salvaged from the Livermore Brewery.

Our third stop was Carnegie Park, the green area on the route map. Central to the park is the Carnegie building that once was Livermore's first library and has a gazebo for outdoor concerts. In the surrounding paved area I located a Livermore-made brick. The hunt instruction told us to make sure we stretch at this point. Alex and Frank complied. I did too but there is no picture to document that. It is hard to simultaneously selfie and stretch.

 Next stop on the hunt was the Veteran's Memorial on Fifth and L Streets. I photographed Frank posed at the corner near the flagpole. Frank photographed Alex and me executing an honorary salute as instructed by the hunt. 

The next stop on the hunt was to locate murals in Downtown Livermore. The area was very busy as this particular Sunday was Nostalgia Day for Livermore and the streets for a about a three-block by four-block area had classic cars parked all along them. I took a photo for our son Dan of a particularly striking Corvette since he likes those. One definite advantage of Nostalgia Day is that the streets were closed off to traffic, leaving pedestrians free rein to roam wherever, not having to pay attention to traffic lights or walk signs, or even having the freedom to diagonal across streets safely as they pleased.

We decide at this point we'd had enough of the hunt and wanted to take a break. We all had sundaes at Loard's Ice Cream. Afterward we walked back to the car and drove Alex back home to San Ramon.

Once home we chilled for a couple hours and turned on recorded football. That cake was calling to us and we rationalized it had been about four hours since the ice cream, so not too soon to commemorate our 51st anniversary by cutting the cake.

Frank had bought the cake because he liked all the colors on top. He did not know what flavor it was, only that it was pretty. I read the label describing the cake as Chocolate Enrobed Mousse Cake, which I had never heard of. I googgled it and AI informed me that

A chocolate enrobed mousse cake is a rich dessert featuring light chocolate mousse layered with sponge cake and completely coated in a smooth chocolate glaze, ganache, or icing.

We do not know what it was, but it was certainly GOOD — no glaze, no ganache, no chocolate icing, no chocolate at all. It was full of surprises, just like 51 years of marriage.

Ponder: Spectacular Things

Spectacular Things ©2025 by Beck Dorey-Stein is one of the Reese Witherspoon selections and I usually enjoy her picks but not this one. This novel was drawn out. I did plod on and read the entire book only because the first chapter was captivating and posed a very interesting premise. 

Two sisters, Mia was always a giver, and the other sister, Cricket, was always an acceptor have. Note, I called Cricket an acceptor not a taker.  Both sisters care deeply for each other and sustain a very close relationship. The opening conflict is that Mia needs a kidney and Cricket is a good match. Is Cricket capable of assuming the role of giver? The scene then flashes back to their childhood years and continues chronologically. The reader needs to wait until the final pages of the book to learn the resolution.

PROS:

• The characters are well developed but this does not mean I like them.
• The characters' actions are decided for good and not out of revenge or evilness or selfishness. I found some of the decisions unwise but this lent interest to the plot.
• A great deal of the setting was in Maine so the weather challenges added depth to the story. 
• There is a shocking occurrence about a third of the way into the book.

CONS:

• Soccer is the all time, all day, all consuming focus. My eyes glazed over with all the emphasis on training and physical discipline to be the best.
• Not all relationships in the novel are heterosexual. I am not a homophobe, but this type of interaction is beyond my ability to empathize. Introduced late in the novel, it does nothing to advance the plot.
• The overall pace was slow and soccer seemed to assume the role of a Johnny-one-note.

I vacillated between my rating of two or three stars. Two stars correspond to Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it. Three stars corresponds to Better than average; not a waste of time. Well, I did finish it but it was a waste of time. This book seemed atypical of Reese's selections.

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it