Trixie Camp 2025

In June, I finally made it back to Trixie Camp.

What's Trixie Camp, you ask.  It's a gathering of fans of the Trixie Belden series of books.  When the internet was starting, someone had set up a fan page for the series that then lead to a message board.  The regulars became friends, and we started wanting to meet up.  Thus, the first Trixie Belden convention was born.  After a couple of years, we started calling it Trixie Camp.  I was at the first one back in 2000, but I haven't been able to be a regular recently.  The last one I was at was 2017.  Yes, we'll talk about the books, although it's rarely a formal thing.  It's mainly a chance for friends to hang out together, form new friendships with those who are new to the group, and tour the area where we are meeting up.

This year, was in St. Louis.  After years of wanting to visit the city, I was there two Junes in a row.  We visited the arch, which meant I got to explore the museum at the base, which I was disappointed on missing out in last year.  We did a riverboat cruise right there by the arch.  And we did a mystery theater dinner where we played many of the suspects.  That's was just Friday.  Saturday, we explored St. Charles, the town we were staying that's actually just outside of St. Louis.

Honestly, it was just nice to get to see everyone and hang out.  I've often said that what we do isn't as important to the success as just hanging out and having fun.

While it officially ended Sunday morning, I stayed an extra day to spend time with some friends who live nearby in Southern Illinois.  They came over, and we went to Hannibal, Missouri, aka Mark Twain country.  Yes, it was touristy, but I enjoyed getting to see it.  And it was nice to see them, too.

Game Day!

I know I’ve mentioned it a couple times here over the last couple of years, including when it started, but I have a couple of friends (a former roommate and his wife) who host monthly game days. It’s always the second Saturday of the month. It starts at one and goes until people leave. It’s a come and go as you please, but I’m usually there for most of the entire thing. 

And it’s a blast. I wasn’t super familiar with many of the games when we started, but now I’m familiar with many of the favorite games. And we have hardly scratched the surface of their collection.

It’s rubbed off on me. I’ve started getting games from Kickstarter. Not that I’ve sat down and figured out how to play all of them. I’m at about half of the games I’ve gotten so far figured out. And they are fun if not favorites of the group. Still, they do seem to enjoy them when we play them. 

Anyway, this post was inspired by this month’s game day. It was a little low key compared to many of the game days. There are a lot of college students who attend, and they are done for the summer. We talked a bit more than usual, too, which was nice. I was able to introduce a game that seemed to go over well. The game was Horizons, which is a game I bought after playing it with my brother and his family in March. 

This is always a highlight of my month. I didn’t leave until about one in the morning this time, and the last couple of hours was just talking. And I’m already looking forward to next month.

A House Cooling Party

 Almost two weeks ago, I went to a house cooling party. 

A friend I grew up with in Santa Rosa now lives over in Alta Dena. While she didn’t lose her house in the fire, she came very close. And she had lots of smoke damage. So, for the last five month, she’s been working on getting everything replaced and redone that she needed taken care of. While working full time and keeping her daughter on track in school. Well, they were finally able to move back in, and they had a party to celebrate. It also happened to be her husband’s birthday. 

And yes, they called it a house cooling party since warming it up didn’t seem like something they’d want to celebrate. 

I knew a couple of the people who were there, and it was nice to catch up with them. And it was nice to chat the little bit I could with the hosts, although they were quite busy talking to lots of others, as you’d expect. It was a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon and early evening.

May 2025 - Cursed Children

It May, I went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

I went with a friend.  I'd read the play when they released the hardcover years ago, but I'd forgotten lots of it.  The one thing I really remembered was that I had to see it if I ever got the chance.  I had to know how they'd do the magic live on stage.

Honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how they did some of it.  But it was super impressive.  I bought everything I was seeing, and we have some real magic live on stage in front of us.

I have a feeling my reactions to the play in person are probably the same as when I read it.  There is one twist in particular that I wasn't that impressed with.  I'm sure they could have figured out some other way to get the plot going.  But I guess not.

Either way, it was nice seeing my friend and it was a nice night out.

I was shocked at home empty the balcony was, however.  But it worked well since it meant we could move away from the middle schoolers near us who didn't seem to get being a good audience member.  They could have been worse, but they could have been much better, too.

March 2025 - A Milestone Birthday and Some Family Time

In March, I hit one of those milestone birthdays.  You know, the ones that end with a 0.  Obviously, it didn't sneak up on me, but it's still taking some getting used to.

My birthdays often fall during month end close at work.  At my current job, it's quarter end close, so that's even busier.  But, my birthday was on a Saturday this year.  And it happened to be the Saturday that my friends still host their monthly game day.  Yes, they knew, and they made sure I was wished a happy birthday.  And they let me pick where we got dinner from (Chick-fil-a, for the record).  I even won some games that day.  One was a set up, but I don't think the rest were.

The following week, my brother and his family were in town for a day.  The original plan had been to go to Magic Mountain, which I have a pass to this year.  But it was cold and wet most of the week, and that day wasn't looking any better.  We decided to call it off, and then they wound up not opening at all that day anyway.  So they came over to my place and played some games.  It was a good day.

Then, the following week, we spent some time together in Palm Springs.  My parents and uncle and aunt were also there.  I wasn't expecting, but they had cake and ice cream for my birthday.  Yes, we played some games, but we also swam and played some pickleball.  The weather had really changed, and it was significantly warmer than it had been just a few days before.  Considering we were there to swim, that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It was a good month.

February 2025 - Rain and a Paddle

We got rain, finally, in February. It wasn’t the entire month, but we had several decent storms pass through. Unfortunately, that did bring flooding and mudslides to the areas that had been hit by the fires in January, but none of that really impacted me. During the worst of the rain, they let us work from home, which was a nice bonus. 

And the last Saturday in the month, I went out paddle boarding again. I’ve only been out one other time since I hurt my shoulder almost two years ago now. This time, my shoulder bothered me less than it had the time before, which I was very thankful for. I’ve got to figure out when I can go more frequently because it was nice to be out on the water again. The water was chilly that day, but the temps were warm enough that it was a very nice day. And hardly any wind. It was nice to be out with the friend who got me into it. Good time catching up with her.

December 2024 - Home for Longer at Christmas

Yes, I was back in Northern California again for Christmas. But I was back for longer than I would normally get to spend. Despite being hybrid now, they decided to close the office for the weeks of Christmas and New Years. It helped both of those holidays were on Wednesdays. So I packed up my work stuff, including both monitors, and lugged it all to my parents’. I was already planning on taking the Thursday and Friday after Christmas off, but this meant I got to spend a whole with my family, just working two days. 

Of course, it also meant I had a shorter time to get presents purchased and wrapped. I really need to get a better jump on that next year. 

Anyway, because I was up early, I got to go to church with my family twice, including Christmas Eve. And we looked at Christmas lights. Plus I got into enjoy a family tradition - sleeping around the Christmas tree. 

I drove home the Sunday after Christmas, so I was home for New Year’s. I spent New Year’s Eve playing games with some friends who host monthly game days. It was a fun way to ring in the new year. 

October 2024 - Canada and New England Cruise

In October, I was able to get on a cruise to Canada and New England.  It was a last minute thing, as in about 48 hours before I set sail I found out I got approved to go via a program we have at work.  Fortunately, I was already planning to take the week off but hadn't made any firm plans or reservations for the week.  It was still a scramble to get everything together in time and leave, but I did it.

The cruise was round trip from New York City, and my friend Rory, who has moved there, was able to join me for the cruise, which was a lot of fun.  It was nice to have someone to do things with and generally hang out with.

Unlike the cruise I had done in September of 2022, this was one more New England than Canada.  We only had one sea day, and we had two stops in Canada.  There were still come cross overs with the cruise I'd done before, but I saw enough new that I felt it was worth it.

One stop was Newport, Rhode Island.  I'd just started a series of historical mysteries set there, so I really enjoyed getting to visit the area.  I visited with an author I like when we stopped in Portland, Maine, as well.  Other stops were Boston, St. John's Bay, and Hallifax, the last two being in Canada.  It was really foggy the day we were in Hallifax.  Like barely seeing anything in front of you until afternoon.  But that was the worst weather we had, which is pretty remarkable.

And yes, we saw fall foliage.  It took getting in Canada to really see it, but it was nice.  Nothing like the pictures you see out in the country, but still, there were some beautiful trees.

I left late the day we came back, which gave us some time to hang out in New York City.  We went to the 9/11 memorial and stopped by The Mystery Bookstore.

I was very sad when it was time to head to the airport and fly home.  It was a much needed and enjoyable vacation.

August 2024 Part 1- Visiting a Friend

The beginning of August, I went to central California to visit a good friend of mine.  Originally, it was going to be for a week with me working from his place during the week, but that wound up being cut down to about four days.  Still, it was a great visit.

Saturday, we played ultimate Frisbee and then hosted a game night for his friends.  Many of them the same, which helped me since I am bad with names.

Sunday, we went tubbing, which I really enjoyed.  The tube I was using leaked, which was funny, but I made it to the end.  I also got a bad sunburn, but it was a small price to pay.

Monday, I worked, and then we finished up a TV show we'd been watching together.

Tuesday, right after work, I headed home.

Seriously, it was a great visit.  I wish I got to see him more often.

July 2024 - A Little Bit of This, a Little Bit of That

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

July was a month of a little of this, a little of that.  Nothing major happened, but I did several fun things.

The first weekend I went paddleboarding for the first time since I hurt my shoulder in May of 2023.  It still bothered me a little, mostly in an "I'm not used to this way" not in a "I'm going to be injured again" way.  And it stopped as soon as I got off the water.  I haven't made it back out again, mainly because I haven't wanted to buy passes again quite yet.  I'll probably do that in the spring.  I'm hoping to make it out a time or two before then.

The second weekend, I went to support a friend who was preaching at his church.  This is the first who hosts game day, and much of the group are his friends from church.  The result was plenty of people I know there, which was fun.  We went out to lunch afterwards, and it was the weekend of game day, so we spent a lot of time together that weekend.

I also went down to Santa Monica in July to enjoy the beach and some cooler weather, which was nice.

And I attended the launch party for Ellen Byron's new series, which is set in the California Gold Country.

As you can see, it was a full month even if nothing big happened. 

June 2024 Part 2 - Friend's Wedding

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

In the middle of June, I finally made it to St. Louis!  I'm not sure why, but I've wanted to go there for a long time.  Okay, so I was only in the city itself for a few hours, but I did get to go up in the St. Louis Arch.  Going up in the Arch itself was just okay, and I'm not sure I need to do that again.  But I would like to go back and spend more time in the museum.  I really missed out there.  Then I had dinner nearby.

After that, I headed to Southern Illinois, which was my real destination.  I was there for my friend Brian's wedding.  We hung out a lot in college and spent some time together when he moved back to So Cal later.  I was honored to be included in the day.  I enjoyed getting to spend time with he and his now wife and her family.  With the wedding going on, that was the focus of the trip, but I'm glad I was able to be there for him.

June 2024 Part 1 - Camp Pendleton Mud Run 2024

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

Saturday, June 1st, I got to get muddy this year. Even better, it was at Camp Pendleton. 

The one mud run I had signed up for cancelled on me (sadly, since it was always fun). I thought I might not get a mud run in this year, but then Camp Pendleton announced they were having a mud run on June 1st and it was opened to the public again for the first time since 2019. I signed up right away!

The course was only 3.5 to 4 miles instead of having the full 10k (6.2) mile course like they used to have. We started and ended with the old route, but had a different part in the middle. 

It was a little cooler than I would have liked.  The sun did come out while I was there, but it was overcast to start with.  Still, I’ve done it in colder weather.

I was disappointed by how few people were there.  Granted, it made getting in and out easy, but even as other events started to die down, this one kept going strong.  I hope they don’t take this as a sign of lack of interest and don’t have it in the future.  The did only announce that it was open to the public six weeks beforehand.  And it was the first one in five years.  So hopefully, they will allow it time to build up again.

Because I had a BLAST.  I think I was smiling almost the entire time I was on base.  Even driving to and from the venue itself.  And yes, I was smiling while running.  It was so fantastic to be back.  Yes, I would have been happiest doing the entire course that I used to do, but I was more than happy to take what they offered me.

After a lunch at the Pit Stop Diner (love that place) in Oceanside, I started making my way home.  But I stopped to visit friends in Orange County along the way.  These are family friends from growing up.  I didn’t get to see everyone I would have liked to see, but it was nice to visit with the ones I could.

May 2024 - A Mostly Quiet Month

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

Not much happened in May.  It was a cool month, especially for So Cal.  We can be pretty hot.  We can also be pleasantly warm.  It's rare that it was a cool as it was.  We had one week where it didn't hit 70.  That's winter weather!

Other than that, it was work and my monthly game day.  The friends who started that a couple of years ago and kept it up.  It's definitely a highlight of my month.

Speaking of them, I did have them over the last weekend in May.  They're huge fans of the show psych and hadn't had a chance to watch the last couple of movies.  Since I have Peacock, we fixed that.  They were okay.  Definitely not the best the show/franchise has to offer.

I also went to the theater a couple of times.  I discovered my theater offers discounted tickets on Tuesdays, so I went to see Unsung Hero and The Fall Guy.  I thought I might take more advantage of that, but I haven't been back.

Other than that, I played disc golf a couple of times with friend who also happens to be my pastor.

As I said, quiet.

Lunch with Friends - April 2024 Part 2

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

There were some authors who were going to be at the LA Times Festival of Books on Sunday, and I was considering going back for day 2, until I got a text from my friend Donald.  He and his wife, Heather, were going to be coming through town Sunday afternoon and wanted to know if I wanted to have lunch.  I immediately said yes.

We met over on the other side of town from where I live, but it wasn't too much out of their way.  Not a big or fancy restaurant, but it was a delicious.

And it was very nice to get a chance to sit and catch up with them.  We could have talked much longer, but they needed to drive home.  I always wish we could spend more time together, but a small visit is better than nothing.  And I'm usually the one who has to drive away since I usually visit them driving to and from visiting my family.  So I really can't complain too loudly, can I?

LA Times Festival of Books - April 2024 Part 1

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

April was the LA Times Festival of books again.  I went down on Saturday and just Saturday this year.  I had a fantastic time.

The real highlight was getting to spend the day with my friend Angelique.  We've been going together for decades at this point, which is scary to think about.  Heck, it's scary to realize we've been friends that long.  Doesn't really seem possible.

Naturally, we spent most of the time around the mystery booths.  We got to talk to some authors that we've become friends with over the years, which is always fun.  We did wander around the rest of the festival as well, but the mystery section (and the booths are all right together) is always home base.

I managed to get away with only buying one book, too, which was pretty amazing for me.  Of course, considering how many books I have around here I haven't read, I need to show more restraint like that.  Or find more time for reading.

The festival isn't what it once was.  We can often get through what we want to see by early afternoon.  But we found a nice bench to sit on and just talk, which was so much fun. And the weather was nice.  Not too warm, not too cold.  Considering how cold April and May were overall, that was a blessing as well.

Lunch with College Friends

About a month ago, I met up with a couple of friends from college for lunch.

It started because Brian is getting married this summer, and he asked John and I to be in the wedding.  He was about to move to be closer to his fiancee, so this was the only chance to hang out and see him before we go back for the wedding.

To my surprise, they both came up here.  In fact, we wound up not that far from my place.  I feel a little guilty about that, but neither one of them seem to mind.

We sat around and talked for several hours, sharing memories and catching up.  Yes, we talked a little about the wedding as well.  It was just a nice, pleasant afternoon.

Master's University Winter Classic 5K - 2024

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

Well, you can see how good a job I've been doing at keeping up with this blog this year.  So much for my once a week life updates, right?

Almost a month ago now, I took part in the Master's University Winter Classic 5K.  Last year, it was cold and threatening rain, with a little bit of sprinkles on us.  This year?  It was cold, but not nearly as cold.  But the sun was out.  Once we started running, I warmed up pretty quickly.  I finished in a little over 36 minutes (like 36:10 or something), which I was happy about.  I took a couple of weeks off from running in December because of my cough, so the last couple of weeks before the run were a struggle.  I took a couple of walk breaks, but did better than expect overall.  (And I generally walk at some point during my runs, even before I took the break in December.)

As always, I saw a couple of friends there, which isn't a surprise after attending school there and then my time working there.  However, it wasn't the friends I normally see.  Still, it was nice to say hi really fast to them.

Starting 2024

I finally did it!  I got all caught up.  I'm hoping now that I'm caught up to stay that way.  As part of that, I'm going to be using the beginnings of my Sunday/Monday posts over on Carstairs Considers over here, too.  I might pop in with other things as well.  We'll see.  But at least I want to keep that much on top of things here.

(And a reminder that if you landed here after I left a comment on your book blog, you probably want Carstairs Considers.)

I had a quiet New Year.  Church Sunday morning, and then a quiet day at home.  Yes, I stayed up until midnight.  Actually, I stayed up until about 1 AM.  There were some fireworks, but none of the pot banging and yelling that we often have.  I was awake in time to watch the Rose Parade live, too, which doesn't usually happen since it is so early here in California.  And you tell I'm not a morning person?

No, I haven't started undecorating from Christmas yet.  That was on my agenda for the weekend, but it just isn't going to happen.  Honestly, I think I'm going to struggle to get the two reviews written I need to write and the others edited.  All I really want to do is curl up and veg.

Let's see, what else?  We got the month closed at work without too much in the way of surprises.  It's nice that it wasn't fiscal year end this month.  As much as I had having to deal with that around Thanksgiving and then into December, it's nice that the December close is fairly quiet.

My cough is getting much better.  It's still there sometimes, but not nearly as bad as it was even a week ago.

My life group at church met Saturday morning to clean the church.  After that, I stopped at a local nursery and picked up some pansies for my planters.  Hopefully the wire I have in them know will keep the squirrels from digging them up, although I did see one sniffing around the box a couple of hours ago.

November 2023 - Thanksgiving

(Just a quick note:  If you are landed here because of a comment I left on your book blog, you might be more interested in my review blog, Carstairs Considers.  But you are very welcome to stick around here, too.)

In November, I went home for Thanksgiving like always, despite the traffic.

Seriously, I wish I had paid attention to a traffic report before I left because I got stuck in some of the worst traffic I've ever been in.  What should have taken me one hour took me give hours.  The traffic heading north the Wednesday before Thanksgiving can be bad/sluggish, but it's never that bad.  Once I got past the slow down, things were fine.

What I've heard is that a track carrying pipes lost it's load on the freeway.  Everything was cleared up by the time I got to it.

What's frustrating is, had I known, I could have easily avoided it.  There were a couple of alternatives I could have taken.  I just assumed things would be fine.

The bad part is that I missed seeing my friend and his family on the way up.  By the time I made it past the traffic, I just had to drive.  As it was, it was after midnight by the time I got home.

But the rest of the weekend was great.  My brother hosted as always, and his in-laws were visiting.  It was fun to see them.  Friday, we went to see my uncle and aunt plus my cousin and his family were down.  Saturday and Sunday were just quiet days.

Fortunately, I took Monday off so I could drive home that way.  I would not have bene happy having to fight traffic on the way back on Sunday.  But the traffic was much better on Monday.  I did drive through Fresno and see my friend and his wife, which was great.  I just missed seeing their kids.

September 2023 - Computer Issues of Some Kind

In September, I had a computer meltdown of some kind.  My laptop just shut down on my and it had to wait for the battery to drain itself to be able to turn it on again, a process that took several days.  Fortunately, I have my old laptops, so I was still able to have access to some stuff, although my old laptop is really, really slow.  And a friend at least helped me a little diagnosis the problem.

Both times it happened, I had plugged in my external hard drive to run a backup.  I started plugging it in after the computer had been on for a bit so it had time to warm up, and everything has been fine since then.

Until this last Sunday, when it did it again even though I thought I'd given it long enough to warm up.

I bought a new laptop, although I haven't even taken it out of the box yet.  I'm wondering if it is the laptop or the extern hard drive.  And wondering how I can even go about testing that out.  But I should try to figure it out sooner rather than later, I know.

Got to love technology.  That is, when it is working well.