Root Beer Love

In a recent turn of events:

Short Story:
My taste about root beer has completely altered.

Long Story:
In the past, I always hated root beer. It could only be tolerated in a root beer float - until I realized I could make a float with any kind of soda.
This week, we had a few root beer sodas left over in the refer and Ivanna decided to drink one with brekkie. I asked if I could try it - and what do you know!- ended up liking it. Tastes do change! Is it time to try some other hated food and drink?

The Massive Flood

I love story telling. I like to tell them myself - but I think I love most of all my fathers stories. He's got so many! I can hear the same old story time and time again and yet not tire of the interesting tales. I love gatherings when more stories will be shared. On Christmas (the first day of Christmas I should say) I begged my papa to tell a story. The one about the 1955 Santa Cruz Christmas Flood. This is basically what he told us in the living room after breakfast. He later emailed the story to a friend.

From the hand of my Papa David L. Bertsch

Dear B----;

This morning I was thinking about you and wondering how you go about your Christmas traditions. We are having a Christmas morning with no tree, no lights, and no presents for the first time I can remember. Later we will try to decorate some and observe an old tradition known as "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Elisabeth and Providence are here so we had a very nice breakfast together and then I was asked to tell a story. The one they wanted Providence to hear was from my childhood when Santa Cruz was flooded at Christmas. It's one of my favorites because my father stands out as the hero; nearly losing his own life as he saved others. It wasn't until years later that I found out, from my grandfather's perspective, what happened that day.

I was only eleven years old at the time in 1955 that Santa Cruz was experiencing one of the earliest and wettest winters in history. I believe it had rained strong and steady for about a month and the San Lorenzo river had just about reached it's capacity to carry so much water. As Christmas neared, another wave of back-to-back winter storms smacked our coastal town with more winds and torrential rains. Large trees were often seen being washed down stream on their way to the ocean. Occasionally, we watched in awe as a whole house or cabin from somewhere passed by us. Perhaps it had come from a collapsing canyon perch overlooking the river way upstream. Likely, many lower structures had been undermined, swept off their footings, and slid into the raging water. Usually the roof top or a wall section showed above the murky depths. Could this be the same river that previously was so shallow that we had played in it daily as toddlers and young children?

My father and grandfather had built an eight unit, two story apartment house between their two houses at 100 Broadway. Dad's house was built on the bank, at the edge of the river, but we didn't live there for very long. In front of the apartment building and the two houses was a very large oval driveway with a grassy center. It was big enough for some fair sized games and water fights. I once remember dad or grandpa having a goat staked out there near our house and my little brother, Paul, who could barely walk upright, got too close and was knocked over by the goat. As he tried to regain his footing, the way toddlers do, the goat saw his bottom rise up and rammed his poor little diaper covered rear end which sent him sprawling again.

I think it may have been Christmas eve when massive flooding was forcing the evacuation of the lowlands around downtown Santa Cruz. The occupants of our Rose-Anne Apartments that had not left in time, now found themselves surrounded and trapped by rising floodwaters. My father, Larry Bertsch, still had his wooden row boat handy and came to the rescue! Grandpa, Milfred Bertsch, helped by securing one end of a long rope to the neighbor's avocado tree while dad rowed across the swirling current to save the tiny panicked group, who by now were moving some important things upstairs in hopes of saving what they could. Once the boat was across and the long rope tied off, half of the stranded people got in the boat for their passage to the safety of higher ground. All went well until round two. With the rest of the passengers on board and starting towards the new shore, my grandfather watched intently as dad strained against the pelting rain, the wind, and most of all, the current. He was pulling the boat along the rope, hand over hand, when, somehow, he slipped and lost his grip. Grandpa was horrified to see dad, in all his heavy fire department protective gear, plunge headlong into the cold dark waters. He knew that dad was fit, and was a great swimmer, but that gear he wore could sink him like an anchor. That split-second glimpse of dad going under burned into my grandfathers mind as though it would be the last he would ever see of his son. Then a miracle happened! I'm guessing that my father may have tumbled enough to get his feet under him for a push off the bottom. We're just not sure. Whatever took place there in the silt laden water resulted in a quick role reversal. Those he had tried to save were now saving him!

Everyone made it to land and then, huddled and shivering, they were all invited to our old two story Victorian style home about a mile away on Windham Street to clean up and have a meal. It happened that mom had made twice the amount of tamale pie as normal and I clearly remember her remarking how it must have been the Lord moving her to make so much extra. What a feast it seemed to me. Our house was full of grateful guests and the food was so very tasty with plenty of tamale pie for all of us.

My Good Luck

My kind and generous in-laws (that is to say, my older sisters in-laws) gifted Ivanna and me with a 1990 Jeep six long years ago. I fell in love with this old, slightly broken down, heap of metal. It is a beauty. Each accident it's been in somehow adds to its charm. It was given to us because it was "on it's last legs." About a year and a half ago (that's right I had it for 4 1/2 years!) when I took a job in Campbell I decided I needed something a bit more reliable. I wanted to be able to start the car each day and feel pretty confident I'd make it to wherever I aimed to go.

So I bought a 2000 Mazda Protege. It hasn't really been the dream boat I'd hoped for. I had a host of trouble when I first got it. The air conditioning unit didn't work. I normally don't use the air - windows down work well for me. But I went on a month long - 13 state trip with my sister and niece and well - we needed air. That cost around $500.00 to fix. Gulp! I also replaced the tires and then the brakes. Fast forward to the last few weeks. The alternator failed and so my sweet papa replaced it for me. The alternator belt snapped off - he replaced it. It snapped off again - he replaced it - but not before I had to get towed home! That was a long day. Then it snapped off again. (Truly it happened three times!) It now seems fixed. I had him drive it around on Sunday. I was doing errands downtown Wednesday when I noticed my car was over heating. My dad hasn't fixed this newest problem yet - but I have no doubt he'll be able to do it. He's quite amazing like that.

Anyway, I'm hopeful my luck has changed because I got the almond in the rice pudding last night - and I'm supposed to have good luck for a year. Boo-yeah!

(And really, I didn't cheat to get that almond. This is for you Hua.)

Marshmallow Chronicles

Book One:
A few weekends ago I went to a bonfire. We roasted food for dinner and then sat around visiting and playing music. It was a great night!
Awhile after dinner finished s'more fixings were taken out and folks started making the tasty treat. I switched seats and had to move a cup so I wouldn't have to worry about bumping it.
Strangely after moving the cup, I felt something poking my left arm. Someone had left an open sided s'more on the arm of the bench and it was now stuck to me.
I was thankful the chocolate had not gotten all over me. I was quick to wash up my vest and shirt (yes, it had gotten both!) and hope that the stain would not set. (It didn't - thankfully!)

Book Two:
Last weekend I went to a BBQ. It was a very fun night. Again there was a bonfire and well - you just need s'mores to go with fire right? I was playing the fiddle - but was rather squished from my neighbor and scooted back to give my bowing arm a bit more space. I realized that I'd bumped something behind me and so - with my chin I held the fiddle up and reached with my left hand to catch what was falling. A marshmallow roasting stick! I caught the marshmallowed part with my hand. As I was figuring out how to get the marshmallow goo off my hand (it wasn't really much at all - but you know - it's sticky and I didn't want it on the fiddle!!!) I realized that I had gotten the bow stuck in my earring! Thankfully I was still sitting close enough to my neighbor to quietly ask for help. Once my bow was free from the earring I cleaned off my hand and was able to continue playing as though nothing had happened.

Contra Dance

A few weeks ago my family was invited to a dance some friends were putting on. The dance was a delightful time. We were able to enjoy food, friends and of course dancing (the point!)
Ivanna and a friend got really excited about dancing, this is easy to do... dancing is great, and I was emailed about dances happening around Santa Cruz. A group of us decided to go to one!
The dance met at the Vets Hall in Santa Cruz and had a "beginners class" 20 minutes before the dance started.
There were many people there. And everyone seemed helpful and excited about helping the beginners. It was particularly nice because people were encouraged to dance with people they didn't know - the fact is I only danced 3 dances with people I knew. The rest of the dances were with strangers!
There are a lot of dances happening around the community. I was told that each one is different. As in the size, style, age range etc. I'm hoping to go to dances at other venues and see if I notice a difference.
Fun, fun, fun!

Worst Taste

We got a new light for our blue bathroom. It's very nice! My dad bought it in Idaho because he found it for $10.00 and had been wanting a new fixture for some time. A few weeks ago we finally installed it. It looked pretty nice (he also rewired the switched, which had been in the hallway! And added a dimmer switch. The whole thing looks and works quite well.)
Papa took my Mum on a date last night and they went to Home Depot of all places, to get lampshades as the fixture was missing them. (There was a reason it was $10.00)




Somehow Ivanna and I couldn't hide our disappointment and puzzlement. Why this kind of shade? It doesn't even go with anything. Nor does it look good! Daddy said that he wanted to get frosted glass lampshades, but thought this was okay. My mother started laughing and said "I knew it! I knew it! I have the worst taste - ever!"

She doesn't have the worst taste ever - but this sort of did indicate that she did!

(Mama really did laugh about this and said it'd be okay if I posted something about it. And I think we're going to try and get something that matches a bit better with the other new fixtures!)

Netflix

Our family signed up for Nexflix a few weeks ago. It appeared to be a well thought out and reasonable plan. We don't watch TV - but do enjoy watching movies every now and then. And Netflix allowed us to rent movies from the comfort of our own home.
The error was made for me to head up the movie queue. That's right - the worst movie chooser in our family. We figured that because I'm also the most picky movie watcher it still made sense.
It didn't. I have fully abdicated my Netflix Movie Picker thrown. I will not add one more movie to our queue! Ever-single-movie-has-been-awful!
Uriah was trying to coach me last night as he looked at the next movie that came. "Osanna, actors can tell you about a movie. For example, if Mandy Moore is in it - you don't add it to the queue." That was said after he read the cover for "How To Deal."
I reason that because I don't really know a thing about actors/actresses it shouldn't be completely held against me.
Ivanna and Uriah have stepped up to the thrown and will be selecting movies from now on. I'm looking forward to it!

Fail

Every now and then I look for funny stories, pictures and videos. What can I say, I like to laugh... maybe these will bring you folks a few chuckles too.


see more pwn and owned pictures


see more pwn and owned pictures

Halloween - Bliss by Bliss

I went to a really fun party for Halloween and didn't dress up. Here's the play by play.

1. Drove into Santa Cruz with my siblings. Talking and laughing the whole way.
2. Arrived at the Johsen's house!! (Where the party was taking place of course!)
3. Visited with "Grandpa" - he's not my grandpa - but I call him that anyway.
4. Admired everyones crazy cool costumes. (Some of the youngsters even painted their hair!!)
5. Helped some kiddlets get dressed - made sure one had shoes for the trick-or-treat trek.
6. Hem up a little girls Snow White dress - was admired for a very poorly done job!
7. Ate yummy soup and bread.
8. Had a tasty glass of red wine.
9. Saw the trick-or-treat party off.
10. Took a leisurely, but long walk in the cool - but somehow warm - night air.
11. Arrived back at the house before it started raining again.
12. Sat on the front porch and handed out candy to trick-or-treaters.
13. Celebrated with our group of trick-or-treaters when the arrived back - tired - wet - and cold - but very content with their loot!
14. Listened to crazy and interesting stories.
15. Returned home around 10.
Another delightful Halloween, just the way I like it!


(Luke inspired me to write this when he posted this it's pretty funny. )

Fall & Fires

I love fall. I like the crispness of the morning. The heat of the afternoon. Beauty all around me. But, I think I like most of all the rain and fires fall brings. I love the crackling of logs burning. The hot licking flames as the fire rages and then warm glowing embers as the fire subsides. I cozied up to a fire this afternoon and watched - then listened to it burn. This while the rain pounded down upon the skylight. Fall is here - and I love it!

Mending My Ways

Last Christmas my mama went all out (well, all out for us) and bought me and my sister Ivanna a beautiful little sewing machine. It is a "brother" and is a basic model. It's very light and compact.

My former sewing machine was a singer - much heavier - and much older. The singer wasn't old enough to be cool though. And after breaking three times while in my possession it was time to say good-bye.

The brother is great, it can do all the small easy things - plus some of the extras. And so, I couldn't believe that it had only been out once since getting it! This is October folks! That means it was getting used about once every 10 months. And I enjoy sewing.

So a few days ago I got all the mending that was in my pile of "need to get this done as soon as you possibly can" - which included three pairs of pants - one blouse and one shirt. I was able to get it all completed in a short while about an hour and a half (I did have a few hick-ups along the way.)

I will certainly be sewing more in the near future. I have the machine out and fabric waiting to be stitched!

(And I wish I took pictures for you! I decided I need to get a camera because papa's camera is NEVER around when I want it! Or the batteries are dead.)

Trapped With No Way Out (okay so there was a way...)

Last night my family went to a movie - I mean my whole family. And we made a night of it! Leaving the theater I saw an exit sign, quickly double checked that it wasn't an emergency exit and then said "Let's go this way." You see, even though my leg is a bunch better I'm still trying to "save steps" as I've started putting it.

My reason for picking that exit was, we were parked on the second floor of a parking garage - the exit was on the second floor. The other exit required that we go to the first level. Clearly, this would save two flights of stairs to navigate! Hurray.

We went out the door into the dark night. It seemed a bit strange because no one else was out there. But I saw an exit sign down an "open hallway" upon another door. After everyone was in this "open hallway" I opened the door with the exit sign on it and went through. My papa had the sense to keep the door open because we realized there was no handle on the other door we'd just come through. Meaning, you could go out, but not back into the theater.

This door had a handle on the inside and after walking down half the flight of stairs we decided this staircase wasn't leading us where we wanted to go - after all we wanted to end up on the second level! So we returned to the strange "open hallway."

We continued along on this dimly light path for a bit and found three more doors close together. Two of them were side-by-side with an "EMERGENCY" sign writing on the ground pointing, we thought, to one door, but couldn't exactly tell which one. So we picked the other door.

Inside we found a staircase extremely similar to the stairs we opted against taking. With one difference. These stairs had another set of stairs running the opposite way. There was a platform opposing us, and the staircases mirrored each other. Anyway, we decided, this is was it!

We got to the bottom of the staircase only to find that the door was locked at the bottom. Odd, very odd! We went back up to the top of the staircase - only to find that door was also locked. We tried it again... yep locked. Down we went again... that door was locked!

My mum was a bit nervous but said "I'm not afraid because we have dad and Uriah with us." Then Ivanna was said "We may have to call 9-1-1... or perhaps we'll have to beat down the door." The second idea seemed like a rather unlikely possibility as the doors appeared very heavy duty to me. "Or maybe" she continued "we could pull the fire extinguishers, I'm pretty sure that sets off an alarm or something."

Meanwhile, Uriah had leaped over our set of stairs onto the mirror set. Raced up that set of stairs and opened that door. He ran through that "open hallway" and set us free!! I saw a guy open a back exit to the theater with his key and we said "hey, wait!!" (an so on...) But he looked at us weird and then shut the door before we could reach him.

Ivanna went and knocked on a door to the theater and someone opened the door. She told them we weren't able to get out that way and so we were allowed to go through the theater to exit the other way.

Down a flight of stairs to level one, back up a flight to level two, and finally we arrived at our car.
Exit complete. So much for saving steps huh?

Last Night

A few weeks ago I tore my calf muscle. It caused a considerable amount of "slow down" for me. I was on crutches for about a week and then I've been limping around. But, everyday I'm getting better and look forward to walking naturally (without the limp) very soon!

On to the story!

So last night Ivanna and I took a little drive because we wanted to talk about a few things that had happened during the weekend. In a good way, of course.

Suddenly, Ivanna turned to me and said

"So do you want to go walking downtown?"

I looked at her puzzled, and said

"Huh? Are you serious?" (Of course, downtown hasn't always been my favorite place. I realized though, that it's driving down there that I really hate.)

She shrugged her shoulder at me.

When I said

"Really, I can hardly walk."

she busted up. Somehow she'd forgotten.

Thankful

I've been sleeping in the living room for the last week. It isn't always the easiest thing because- people go to bed after I do (keeping me awake with bright lights and good conversations.) And get up earlier than I do (waking me up with bright lights and good conversations.) But tonight as I was preparing to bed down on Uriah's mat I realized that I have likely had the best part of the "deal". You see, I've been in the living room because Ivanna got ill. And Uriah isn't sleeping very well because he gave up his comfy mat for me! Anyway - I started listing things I am extremely grateful for... and thought I'd share with you.

I am grateful (and it doesn't really go in this order):

1. Orange Juice from Traders (the unpasteurized kind)
2. My sister-in-law having a new niece or nephew any day
3. The Abbott Family for making music easy
4. Gardening
5. The Word for becoming Flesh
6. My students - who remind me what joy learning is!
7. Lights for being bright and being able to turn them off
8. Laundry
9. Sweeping
10. Naps
11. The Lizard for regularly updating her blog.
12. Hua for being real, but trusting the Lord too.
13. Being able to read
14. Smiles
15. Phone calls - and being able to miss them.

Church History

I wanted to let those of you who care - know that I've been blogging about Church History! Just so you all know - the Lectures have been amazing, and the book we're reading "The Story of Christianity" by Justo L. Gonzalez is excellent.

Here's the link for those who would like to check it out.

Penguins - A Great Read

I read a wonderful book over the summer called Deconstructing Penguins: Parents, Kids, and the Bond of Reading it came recommended (and loaned) to me from Leah. While reading it, I was super thrilled about the ideas it gave me - and the connections I was making. Taking apart books, getting to deeper levels, uncovering the mystery seemed within grasp (finally!) I had begun doing this long ago, but to be honest, I wasn't that good at it.
Anyway, my friend Hua also read the book and with her children we started Animal Farm which is an excellent book. I'm grateful to be putting into practice some of the things I learned.
Everyone who is home educating, teaching or interested in literature should read Deconstructing Penguins.

Apples in the Fall

It is such a delight to spend time in the kitchen. My friend Hua came over early this week to make Apple Butter and Apple Pie. I enjoyed cooking, canning, and singing. But most of all, I enjoyed visiting together. I felt kind of like a sponge soaking up water.


Her son Kapailani, helped with labeling the Apple Butter.
Please note the "ER" are up by the Kerr label.






Her son Nainoa sat on a plum outside while cleaning a paint brush. How is that not hilarious?! I tried so hard not to laugh, but then exploded in laugher behind my uno cards. I reasoned this was okay because I had laughed at myself when I spilled Apple Butter all over my own pants. He is the best of sports because he thought it was funny too. Thankfully he's tall, because he fit nicely into Uriah's shorts while his got stain treated (and I got up from my uno game to do the stain treatment. So don't think me too cruel!) Children are great sources of jokes and laughs!

Getting Calls

I am not much of a phone person. Don't get me wrong, I love to stay connected, I just like to do it in person.
When my sister moved far away last year, taking my 3 year old niece, I knew I'd be on the phone a bit more often. I didn't know that it would make me scramble away from whatever I was doing begging for a turn to talk.
This morning I got a turn and during the conversation Providence (after whispering to her mother, which I could hear the whole time) told me that she wanted to name her baby brother (who is not on the way) "Tom Dooley" What?! I guess we sing to her...

Family

My "cousin" is in town. I write "cousin" because he is my sisters-husbands-cousin. A bit distant right? Anyway, our families have always been close, and he married one of my dearest friends.
My cousins moved away to Texas before Nick was deployed. He's been gone for 9 months and is only home for 2 weeks before leaving again for 5 more months. They decided to spend a week here in California so all the family could catch up too! I've enjoyed a few visits with him, but even more with my Cousin Rose and their two daughters.
I love having a tired little child come up to me and ask me to hold her. Or a packing a bag full of treats for church so the youngsters will be excited. And getting excited about bugs and baby chicks and walks all over again because life is just exciting when you're with children! Pretty much I love everything about being Auntie Osanna.

Because We Can!

Ivanna and I worked on getting things cleaned up in our bedroom. Our new set up has proven to be awesome! But we STILL aren't completely unpacked. We are getting way closer - but days like today keep us from saying "We're done!"
The Trouble:
Our dear friends and renters have bought a house and are moving away soon. The last two renters we've had have been amazing (my sister, and the Johnson's) and they will be hard to replace. There is one excellent family I am praying will be able to move in, but there we don't know for sure if it will work.
Anyway! As a result papa has been talking about possibly having strangers move in. This wouldn't be much of a problem, except the house is 5 short steps from ours. And my bedroom faces that house. I've been thinking... what if they are young people who stay up late? What if they keep me awake at night?!
The Solution:
Thursday night I came up with a pretty noise barrier idea. A tall fence (but lattice rather then fencing as we had two extra pieces on hand.) And pink jasmine growing through it. Everyone liked the idea and I felt like it couldn't wait. So I asked Ivanna and Uriah to help today, and we finished this project. Another project completed!

Games

Seriously, how can you not be thrilled when there is a come from behind victory? And your team is the come-from-behind of course!
Our friends and neighbors invited my family to watch the Olympic Games at their house, as we don't have cable at ours.
We saw a great race 4 men, lots of swimming, (not sure what it was called...) Anyway, USA won by a few 100th of a second. It was intense!

Projects!

I have always enjoyed projects. It's just one of those things about me. And living here at 313... I have a lot of room to do projects, and my parents allow a lot of freedom. I have always wanted to re-upholster some chairs. We were given some chairs a bit ago, but lent them to friends. Yesterday we were given them back, and fell to work.













Here you can see all three of them. A project finished. One thing I don't always tell people is that I don't always finish projects...
















Oh yes, and the chairs are folding chairs. They are super cool because they also stand up on their own after being folded!

Oko the Duck

Oko is not my duck. She is Providence's duck. She doesn't like the chickens that much. But she likes to be fed, and take a dip in her "pond." (As you can see, her pond is really a kiddy-pool.) I think Oko is happy though. We are building all the chickens, and duck a new home. You can see a bit of it in the upper left-hand side of this picture. They will like that home even better.

Charmed Life

I have been meaning to post about our newest addition. I claimed this post weeks ago - but between trips and redoing my bedroom I've not gotten around to it until now.
We have darling baby chicks. I love babies - and I really love baby chicks. It's totally adorable to see them following their mother around the yard. The babies are a bit nervous of us yet, but we're working on them.
Here are some pictures. (Finally pictures on my blog!)
The story: We had a really wonderful rooster, but his life was ended over the Christmas Holiday. But Mother hen went off to make herself a nest anyway, laid about 9 perfect eggs, and began to sit. A brooder, hurray! I felt badly for her right away, because she wasn't going to actually have babies. Even though she was a chicken and wouldn't really understand. The poor girl was doing what God made her to do! It didn't seem right, so we got some fertilized eggs (4 of them) with our friends from a ranch. Mother hen was only able to hatch one of the eggs. My dad decided Mother hen probably wanted a bigger family. So he went to the feed store, told them our story, and they gave him two newly hatched chicks. Those little chicks joined the family, and they have lived happily since.

Peaches in The Summertime

Imagine the first wonderfully large peach of the year. Grown in your own yard, kissed by the sun so its rosy red on one side. And then eating it while watering your garden. Yummy.
Additionally, imagine trapping your twin sister in a loft while doing this (by accident of course!)
And there you have my afternoon yesterday. (I wish I had a picture for you. That peach was beautiful and delicious!)

Idaho, Sunburns, 4th of July

It's been fun seeing my family here. We've busily passed a week together. Mostly it's been pretty low key. We've visited in the Spence and Idaho Bertsch family homes. We did go to a late night movie (it started at 11:45). I tend to be an early to bed-er, but dusk doesn't happen until just after 10pm. How can it feel like night before this? The sun also rises early - dawn starts around 5:30. We've had lots of sun! I've really done my best not to get sunburned. This is likely a normal aim for most people. It became an aim for me after a friend noticed I was often sporting a burn. A comment was made like "But you always have the worst sun burn." This was said to Ivanna who was rather confused, as she had not been sunburned for about a year. After quickly remembering that I had gotten a new sunburn the last 6 weeks straight I confessed it was really me. That was roughly a month ago. I've been much more careful about being in the sun!
Today is the 4th of July, and right now I can hear (and see if they are close enough) fireworks. Now that's really different from home!

Aprons

I actually really like aprons. I have made a number of them myself - and prefer it that way. I love wearing my own handing work. And since I don't make that many clothes, the aprons I have made are even more endearing.
I like to use aprons, because I hate stains. I actually have packed my apron when I've thought "Maybe I'll be helping in the kitchen..."
Simple is offering an Apron Giveaway from Flirty Aprons. Give them a look!

Beach

I went to the beach yesterday. Fun! We had a great time visiting with some friends down there. There was a bonfire - a guitar - and some sun.
The Lord has blessed me with good friends, good weather, and good times! Hurray.

And the Alternator Fails...

Car troubles. We all have them some time or another right? Here's one of my (ehhmmm.. of many!) stories.

When I was 17, my sister, a friend and I took a trip to Milbre driving the Blazer. Which by the way was loads of fun to drive.
We were driving home late at night in the dark. A heavy fog had fallen over Hwy 17 - which I courageously drove through. We were heading to Felton so I got onto Mt. Hermon Rd. After driving through Scotts Valley I suddenly noticed the headlights had dimmed. I asked my passengers if they noticed... They had! By the time we got to Gram Hill Rd. The headlights were weaker.... Hwy 9 they were almost gone. We finally approached my friends road with almost nothing left. But it was dark and we thought it'd be safest to continue on our way. This of course was our 17 years of wisdom thinking. We arrived in her driveway with no headlights, driving by the dim moonlight, unharmed, but slightly rattled.

Exciting times!

Playing for Fun

Tonight, like many Monday nights before, we had a jam. We host the jam in the living room - about 5 people come, besides the Bertsches, so it is full, but what fun we have! We get through about 12-15 songs, each person leading at least once. Seriously, playing and singing is awesome.
I know Ivanna covered the fun we had yesterday (if you haven't seen it yet, click here.) So I won't labor over that point. We did have a great time - although cold!

Best Friends

Yesterday as I was driving down Highway 17 toward school listening to some great tunes I started thinking about how much I've grown to like my little brother. I mean, seriously enjoy him. He's hilarious, smart, kind and fun. Suddenly, an overwhelming feeling came over me when I realized that he's not just my little brother anymore, he's become one of my best friends.

Suprise!

I have been thinking about starting a blog. Not because anyone has pressured me into it. There has, quite shockingly, been little of that. But because I have seen how much fun my sisters are having. And have, truly had a wonderful time reading other peoples blogs. So, now you know the reason I started this blog... There will be more to come!