Sun is shining. Weather is sweet. Make you wanna move your dancing feet1
June Solstice (Summer Solstice) was today, Friday, June 21, 2019 at 8:54 am in Los Angeles. In terms of daylight, this day is 4 hours, 32 minutes longer than on December Solstice.
Outside, for my good morning walk in the front garden, I heard sawing…opening the front gate I saw the reason. OMG, they are trimming our apple tree. Quick examination revealed they were taking out damaged trees. I first though the woodpeckers had placed the sign there but alas, they are not strong enough to carry a steel sign!
Our tree crashed on our pickup truck about 6 years ago!
The weather was a little interesting…looked like rain and sure enough we got some. It was just enough to wet the sidewalk!
We went to the doctor and Sue got an A+ on all the tests! I must brag about her…she got an A+ and did not study, did not crack a book, and did not look at her notes. She does not have to go back for a year! Yeah Sue!
Sue was so happy with the doctors report…here we are in late sixties and mid seventies with blood pressure of 30 year olds, more energy than we know what do do with, and Sue has hair…me, not so much!
Time to celebrate so off the Indian/Nepalese/Tibetan restaurant known as the Himalayan Grill in Sunset Beach for delicacies…our version of Cheers! You kow, “Where everybody knows your name”.
The Chef saw us and came out to say hello or Namaste in Nepalese. He described his version of a grilled cheese dish…we didn’t exactly understand what he was saying but we ordered it anyway!
We ordered and ordered and oredred. With a glass of wine and two real beers, the bill was $116 BUT subtract the booze and we get $90 meaning we dine on super food for a mere $18 per lunch for the next several days!. Good investment!
The chef is a friend of ours and he made Sue a Nepalese grilled cheese dish! The cheese was roasted and a crust was formed on the outside before they sliced it. Onions galore…it was terrific! Loaded with onions and bell peppers plus roasted cheese…it was outstanding!
Me, on the other hand, reverted to the very spicy Tandoori Chili Chicken. Put simply tandoori is a marinated meat cooked over an intense fire in a tandoor. A tandoor is a clay oven in which a hot fire is built. Marinated meats are lowered into the oven on long metal skewers and cooked in this smoky and extremely hot environment until done. They slather a very hot chili sauce onto the chicken and continue cooking…delicious indeed!
We made a bee-line for Cold Stone Creamery (but did not use the warp drive today) after lunch and we put out the fire with ice cream. Then home as I needed to get horizontal as we are going dancing this evening!
So what does one do with a full tummy? Why take a nap of course! I was sawing logs and occasionally rattling the shingles for about an hour before waking up and heading to the GG Elks.
On our way home, we got invited to Disneyland by Robin and Bob…they were celebrating Bob’s new job! They wanted us to join them but alas, we had the cake! So we called Catal and asked Valerie, the GM, to take care of dinner for us. She knows Robin and Bob well so it was no problem!
But first, the cake! What cake? The “Welcome Home” for Brian and Jan (and Leon). We stopped at Katella Deli and picked the cake up…well, tried to pick it up! I had NO idea how heavy a full sheet cake was…enough to feel 90+ people! The sliding glass door in the bakery only opened part of the way and I had to squeeze through it making great conversation topics for the many customers laying money on whether or not I would drop it right there!
But, we needed plates and utensils to make it easy at the Elks so Ralph’s here we come! Exiting Ralph’s revealed a magical sky…time was about 6:45 PM.
Arriving at Garden Grove Elks, which is only 12 minutes form out home, we found most of the gang having dinner. We missed Bob & Donna (vacation) Mike & Bridget (de-complexing) , Iris & Will (resting) , and Sandy & Bob (watching the submarine races) but all in all, a good showing!
Brian and Jan had just got there so they had not ordered…Brian has a burger, first one in over two months, and me…being weak…popped off the diet and had a burger! Note to self…hide the bathroom scales!
We should mention that calling the Katella Deli to order the cake was easy! I just said “I need a Full Brander, with UK and American Flags, and a Welcome Home Brian and Jan on it!” They knew…a Full Brander is a full size chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake!
Ready 
Set 
Go!
Katella Deli was quite right…we cut the cake into big pieces and fed the entire room leaving only about 16 pieces remaining for Leon to scoop up!
Our resident surgeons went to work saving the carcass! The amazing surgical skills, the remains was carved into pieces that precisely filled the to-go boxes. We asked why no surgical masks but decided not to push for an answer.
Brian and Jan were pleased…they did not have to take any home and therefore stayed on their diet!
Speaking about “All Gone Bye Bye” that’s what we did. 9:30 PM and we called it a night. The music was pretty good and the friendship was terrific!
So, you know the drill…the Silver Ghost gets its secret mission instructions via the GPS and we edge toward the Ol’ Twenty-Two. At the top of the ramp, Sue pushes the “Warp Drive” lever and all we see are streaks of light until we come out of warp at the Seal Beach exit.
Did You Know? Warp drive is a technology that allows travel at faster-than-light speeds. It worked by generating warp fields to form a subspace bubble that enveloped the Silver Ghost Mimi-Van, distorting the local spacetime continuum and moving the Minivan at velocities that could greatly exceed the speed of light.
These velocities were referred to as warp factors. Warp drive was the most common form of intercity propulsion used in the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area, making intercity exploration, commerce, and warfare; essentially Intercity civilization possible.
The Grey Ghost has a 2016 version of the warp engine but soon, we plan for a 2020 model which will include stealth options making it easy to sneak into the Santa Ana Elks.
Life continues at normalk speeds once the Silver Ghost is ticked in for the night. We enter our abode and head for the oven carefully adjusting it for 350 degrees meaning tookie time is near! We watched some TV and crashed at midnight. Tomorrow is another day!
