Dreams, Moments, Travels
This is where I’ve been spending a good part of the day into the evening while my uncle Woody recovers from his open-heart surgery. Three bypasses to correct six blockages. We started on the 2nd floor, where his surgery took place and where Intensive Care is located, and then moved up to the 4th floor. Today was his last day at the hospital.
This is the great aunt of mine I am visiting in Santa Barbara, California. She was born Anna Mary Knezetic to her father, Robert Knezetic, and mother, Louisa (Lillian) Priezula Knezetic, on October 9, 1926. On August 3, 1946, she married Woodrow Burnstein, who, after the war, had dropped the ‘Stein,’ and the two became Mr. and Mrs. Woody Burns. My aunt has always been known to me as Tata, which I was told was Croatian for aunt, but upon looking that up, I found that Tata actually means “father.” After more than 40 years of her being Tata, I guess it’s better to leave it that way. Tata is the youngest of seven children; her siblings have all since passed away. Her sister Amelia was my father’s mother. Her brothers were Bob, George, John, Frank, and Mike Knezetic who just passed away this past April.
Update: Here in 2023, while updating some things, I looked at running this photo of my aunt through Photoshop’s photo restoration and colorized filters and felt it needed to be shared.
At the same time, I realized that there was one other thing I should have shared back on this day. While helping organize and clean some things, I came across this bottle of 409 All Purpose Cleaner, a common cleaner for sure, and at first glance, you might not notice anything special.
But look closely at the label, down at the bottom left, can you make out the date? This brand-new bottle of 409 was made back in 1977 and is now 28 years old vintage.
Following our Monday return to Phoenix, I made hasty arrangements for my return to Santa Barbara, California, to help my aunt and uncle following my uncle’s triple-bypass open-heart surgery. Tired from the 510-mile drive the day before, I left Phoenix before 9:00 a.m. and managed to miss any major traffic jams from Los Angeles through the San Fernando Valley into Ventura and Santa Barbara.
I arrived at 4:00 p.m. (5:00 p.m. in Phoenix) in time to meet my aunt and visit my uncle. Recovery is progressing, but this is going to be tough for this 81-year-old great-uncle who probably found it easier being part of the Normandy landing during World War II. Updates to my Photo of the Day are going to be difficult for a few days; bear with me.
Attention: This post had a few extra images added to it in 2022 to offer a better overview of what was seen on this day.
Today is Caroline’s birthday. Our original plan was to go to Disneyland yesterday, as today is Monday, and Caroline should be at work, but family is a higher priority, so we tended to that.
These moments on the coast are not about an early morning respite from Tata and Woody; I’m taking Caroline home today and turning around tomorrow to come back. With my uncle in the hospital, there’s not a lot to be done, and family friend Boyd has agreed to get Tata to and from the hospital to visit him, so these duties are covered.
So, as much as possible, we’ll take our time getting back to Phoenix, as after today, it looks like I’ll be away for about a week or so. This is the Mission Basilica San Buenaventura in Ventura.
We spent about an hour along the ocean watching the sunrise.
Now it’s birthday time with a visit to the General Patton Memorial Museum at Chiriaco Summit because what’s better than sharing with Caroline some history of the guy who helped kick the Huns’ ass.
Where was this when I started dating Caroline?
It’s kind of strange that you can see more swastikas in America than in all of Germany.
…and this, Caroline, was the tank that blew Hitler’s head off. From Caroline, “John, just what kind of idiot are you?”
No time to linger as we are now trying to reach Phoenix before 6:30 when Caroline has a final in her Visual Basic class at Paradise Valley Community College.
Attention: This post had a few extra images added to it in 2022 to offer a better overview of what was seen on this day.
After visiting Uncle Woody this morning, who was sitting up and ready to get walking, we took his German Shepherd Sophie to the park for a chance to run around and chase a tennis ball with a dog friend named Chester. Chester is a Retriever who hangs out with Gail, a friend of my aunt and uncle. Gail recently lost an older Retriever, and so last night, she and her husband picked up their new puppy, Tula – a Golden Retriever.
Back to the hospital in the afternoon, but with my uncle exhausted and my aunt too, we got her home and made plans to head down to Los Angeles for a few hours.
Met up with Mark Shimer at Shabu Shabu in Little Tokyo before returning to Santa Barbara for another night.
Attention: This post had a few extra images added to it in 2022 to offer a better overview of what was seen on this day.
Awake at daybreak to finish our drive to Santa Barbara, the weather is just perfect.
We took a few minutes to stop here in the North of Ventura County.
We are just south of Santa Barbara, using this crystal clear view to stare out over the blue waters to the Channel Islands.
By 11:30 a.m., my uncle was out of surgery and on his way to recovery, but too groggy and connected to a ton of external plumbing for us to meet with him. We will check in first thing tomorrow morning. Being here allows my Aunt Ann (Tata) to relax, knowing that she doesn’t have to cope with things alone and we’ll be on hand to take care of things she might need, such as driving her places because, like Caroline, Tata doesn’t like driving.