Good Produce, Two Cats and a House

We survived the move and are about 80% unpacked. Once the essentials are nicely put away it’s hard to find the drive to put away everything else. I remember my dad saying that if a box of things has gone unpacked for two years you might as throw it away. With the exception of things like picture albums I have to say that I really like his idea. Since we’ve been married Becca and I have moved many times: from our respective apartments to the tiny white house behind the Provo library; from the tiny white house to my mom’s house for a couple of summer months; from my mom’s house to a basement apartment; from the basement apartment to São Paulo Brazil for a couple of summer months; from São Paulo to our third story apartment in South Orem; from South Orem to a house in Central Modesto. That makes six times in three and a half years and not staying any one place for more than a year. We’re ready to break that old record and stay in this house for at least two.

We love California. The abundant agriculture products of the Central Valley are rich and flavorful. I remember preparing a refried bean and ground turkey mixture that I make and chopping a clove of garlic for it. The garlic’s odor was rich and strong and made for some delicious tacos. We also love the strawberries, peaches, nectarines and tomatoes here.

Each time we moved we felt that we had to start all over getting to know our neighbors, church members and new friends. Here we have been invited over to most of my relatives homes (we’re still waiting for my dad’s folks to give us a call J) and many of our friends have been over to visit us as well. I still have to get back to a few of them. It’s nice to feel wanted.

Our wonderful landlords have allowed us to get two cats. One is a kitten that my step-mom and step-sister Tristine went and got but had to give up since their current cat kept hissing at it. They asked Becca if she wanted it and Becca accepted. She is several months old and weighs not quite four pounds. She was the runt of the litter. They didn’t think she would survive when she was born so Tristine named her Mira, being short for miracle.

We went to a nonprofit rescue center to get our second cat. The night before we went I had a dream of a dark colored cat in our bathroom. When we went to look at the animals I saw a full grown, dark colored cat the reminded me very much of the cat in my dream. Curiously, I felt like we should get her instead of getting a kitten like we had planned on. Fortunately, Becca felt the same way. Compared to the tiny kitten she looks quite large so Bertha sounded like a good name for her. Don’t ask why.

Becca likes her bosses and coworkers and is impressing clients left and right. She does at least four massages a week for people who request her because of work she’s already done on them. This is after working there for barely a month. After not practicing her profession regularly for about a year and a half she’s feeling the stress of it physically. Hopefully she’ll get back into the grove soon.

I’m starting a new pilot program with a high school and an elementary school here in Modesto. We’ll be providing live interpretation for them during school hours via the internet. It’s actually very exciting and I have high hopes for this new service. I would explain more but it’s time to go to church. Thanks for reading.