One Year Anniversary - Home and Heart

May 20, 2010 was the official date I transferred back to the United States with Oracle. I came back for family reasons. There are certain duties and responsibilities in all stages of our lives. When those are more important, I have to put off my personal likings and preferences, such as adventures and explorations in new things and new places.
To the left is a picture we took this past March in Los Angeles for Joseph's birthday. Michael happened to be in town during the school break, and we were happy to drive down to spend a week in Joseph's apartment.


Here is another picture taken last summer when we took my mom out to an orchard to pick fruit near Davis, California. Recently, her physical health has been in serious decline, but her spirits are still high and her mind is still sound. We hired a live-in 24-hour helper, as she has difficulty getting up by herself now. She is in the hospice program again after a fall in early April. I have the same apprehension about this program. The staff and program are very helpful and humane. But their goal is to do the send-off with the best care and comfort. I am in denial.
The hospice staff advised us to use morphine for my mom for her chest pain. She is in bed about 20 hours a day, except for meals and bathroom trips. Her energy level is low and easily exhausted. Technically, it is a case of myocardial infarction. My younger sister flew in from Taiwan on May 3, and Michael flew back from the East Coast on May 6. We hope that there will be no regrets, but, deep inside me, I am still holding on to that slim chance of near-full recovery.

Michael is coming back to California in early June after one year of teaching at the Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut. This fall he will start working toward a Master's degree at UC Irvine in chemistry. We plan to drive from Avon to Campbell, California. According to the Yahoo! Map planning site, a non-stop drive is 3046 miles. That's what's shown on the left. In this planning stage, we are including a few stops to visit; this will include places I had never gotten back to for 30 years. I'll make a journal and take pictures to blog this cross-country trip.













Otherwise, I enjoy the California weather and seasons. This is something many Californians take for granted. I picked out four pictures for each season from my archive for the Campbell home.

(Spring) Azaleas and roses blossom in the backyard.

(Summer) The loquat tree in the backyard finally bear the first fruits last year since we planted in 2005.









(Fall) Foliage and beautiful yellow leaves of the ginkgo trees in the neighborhood street. There are many ginkgo trees with only two bearing fruits. The smell of the fruits is not so great ;-)

(Winter) Frost in the front lawn last winter. It was quite rare.