Farmers Market Colors

While recuperating in Jamul from my most recent surgery, I went with family to a farmers market in San Diego. A couple of photos were keepers, including the berries above and whatever that is below!

Here's a long shot of the farmers market, with San Diego Bay in the background:

Now I'm back in the office, with just 13 working days until I retire!

I Love My Family

This photo was taken in 1967. Brother Jamie in front; l-r next row Charlou, yours truly and Rick; Daddy and Mommy in back. Grandma and Grandpa, my mother's parents, lived in Kansas City (where my sister and I were born) and had a winter apartment in Chula Vista, where this photo was taken.

Daddy and Mommy are in Heaven.

Jamie is a music teacher and lives in Bonita with his wife Annie and young sons Ryan, Jesse and Christopher. I blogged about Jamie here.

Charlou is a registered nurse and lives in Bella Vista, Ark., with her husband Bill. My nephews Rich, Mark and Matt live in Clovis, Fresno and Arcata respectively. Rich is married to my niece-in-law Nicole.

Rick is an independent construction contractor and lives in San Diego. His daughter Tara is a forestry student at Humboldt State University.

Oh, me? I have two daughters -- Becky lives in Clovis with her husband Mario and their fraternal twin sons Phillip and David, who are students at Fresno State. Daughter Jessica lives in Chula Vista with my grandson Steven (I blogged about Steven recently here) and honorary grandson Johnny. My granddaughter Kimberly lives in El Cajon and is a student at UEI (I blogged about her high school graduation here).

My siblings and I have always been very close and have also had some "precious moments" over the years when we were at odds from time to time. But we always come together in love, with the legacy of Mommy and Daddy and our strong family history.

Thank goodness for Facebook! Many of my family members, from siblings to grandchildren, have Facebook pages -- a great way to communicate since there are so many miles between us.

I love my family!

Lizards and Tigers and Snakes, Oh My!

My grandson Steven, who's 16, has an after-school and Saturday job at South Bay Tropical Marine and Reptile in Chula Vista, which caters to snake, lizard and tropical fish aficionados.

Occasionally Steven gets to go along with the boss and other staff to related conventions where South Bay Tropical is a big player. This past weekend they were at the Phoenix Reptile Expo.

Earlier this month, they were in Pasadena for the Herp World Expo at the Pasadena Convention Center. So I got to go! It was in the exhibition hall.

Here's just a small portion of the exhibition hall:


The South Bay Tropical booth was very popular:


Here's Steven with a coworker:


Lizards and snakes for sale:




The expo also featured a photo area where people could get their pictures taken with a really big boy:


There was even a young tiger (he wasn't for sale):


I posted about the 2010 Herp World Expo here, including a photo of Steven and me cuddling with a 40 lb. python!

Two Sweet Boys

When I was growing up, I played with snakes and lizards. I've never had a fear of reptiles.

This 40 lb. python is a sweet boy. So sweet, in fact, that my grandson Steven and I cuddled with it at the snake expo on Sunday at the Pasadena Convention Center.

I've been to the all-new, all-improved convention center many times, but this was the first opportunity I've had to be in the exhibition hall except on tours when the convention center had its grand opening, during which it was empty.

On Sunday the hall was packed with exhibitors and collectors:


Steven, who is 15, lives in Chula Vista and works weekends at South Bay Tropical, which breeds and sells exotic fish and reptiles.

He worked at the South Bay Tropical booth all day Saturday and Sunday at the expo, along with several others:


We convinced his boss to let me take him away for an hour to get a sandwich at Camille's and have a visit.

Steven's another sweet boy and the youngest of my four grandchildren. It was great to have him here!

The Pasadena Convention Center is owned by the City of Pasadena and managed by the Pasadena Center Operating Company.

Black and White

My eldest nephew Rich married my new niece-in-law Nicole on Saturday at a beautiful outdoor wedding at her parents' home in Prather, Calif., in the foothills of the Sierras.

She had a black-and-white theme, right down to the cake:


It was magnificent, and we all enjoyed ourselves long into the evening.

Here's the happy couple:




And those shoes? She was smart enough to change out of them when the dancing started!

CAPIO -- Day Two

What a treat to spend some mommy-daughter time with Jessica today!

We met for lunch at a restaurant in Coronado at the ferry landing. The ferry comes and goes from San Diego on the other side of the bay every 45 minutes or so. You can see it near the pier in the photo above.

We had a nice meal and nice catch-up conversation, all the while watching families playing on the little beach by the pier and kiteboarders doing all kinds of remarkable feats between the water and the sky.


Here's my baby girl! She's married to my son-in-law John and is the mother of two of my four grandchildren, Kimberly and Steven.

Tomorrow it's back to the CAPIO conference for a full day of sessions that are required for me, including Government Communicator Ethics, Advanced Digital Photography (God knows I need that one), Feature Writing Refresher, and Employees: The Forgotten Public.

The conference ends on Friday morning, then I'm back in Pasadena on Saturday and then on a plane to Memphis on Sunday at 6 a.m.!

This One's for You, Daddy

I want to thank everyone for your support and patience over the past couple of weeks while my sister and I handled all the obligatory arrangements surrounding my father's death. And now, life goes on and I'm back in the office.

I walked around the City Hall courtyard yesterday for some solace in the middle of the day and took this photo of one of the rose gardens. We never had rose gardens in the courtyard, surprisingly, until after the building reopened in summer 2007 after the three-year retrofit and restoration project.


This has always been one of my favorite photos of my father. It was 1954 and he was the executive officer on the USS Siboney. Most of the other photos I have of him in the Navy are when he was in dress uniform, but here he's in fatigues, taking a well-deserved break on this escort aircraft carrier.


I found this photo after he passed away. My mother had written "The day before you left" on the back. She must have sent it to him with a letter when he was out to sea.

And here they are later in life, about 10 years ago. After his career as a naval officer, my dad became a teacher and vice principal, and then he and my mother, also a teacher, retired and did a lot of volunteer work together.


Thanks for letting me share. Tomorrow I'll get back to the business of posting PIO- and city-related info on this blog.

Still Out, But Coming Up for Air

I rarely post anything about my personal life on this blog because its primary purpose is to explain the role of a PIO.

Allow me to make an exception.

My father, Dave Easley, passed away yesterday. He joined my mom, Alice, in Heaven and had a huge grin on his face at the very moment he left. I know they were reaching out to each other. It was a truly holy moment.

After my mom died suddenly and unexpectedly in January 2007, my dad never recovered. They had been married 60 years.

I have been coming down to San Diego just about every weekend to try to build my dad up, take him on excursions and try to keep him engaged in life.

But nobody could help him. Not his family, not his friends, not his church, not his doctors. Many, many times he said he just wanted to go be with my mom, and now they are reunited.

I am grateful for the love and support and kindness that so many have expressed to me this past week while my dad went from emergency room to ICU to Hospice. The rapid turn of events has been monumentally overwhelming.

I'll post more in the next few days. For now my sister and two brothers and I will be consumed with all the necessary details and process that must be dealt with at a time such as this.

Once again, please bear with me.

My Brother the Music Teacher

I've been thinking about my youngest brother Jamie (James Easley) alot today. He has severe tendonitis or some such thing in his wrist and has been trying to deal with that. When I was home in Bonita (near San Diego) last weekend, he told me it was becoming unbearable. I told him he'd have to break down and see a doctor, which he hates.

Here he is with his wife Annie, their children Christopher (in the cap) and Jesse, and my niece Tara, who is my brother Rick's daughter. This was at my dad's house a few months ago on Sunday Family Dinner Night, which we do every week. There were about 15 people that evening!



Jamie's a very busy guy who is living his dream. He got his degrees in music and education many years ago from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. Now he teaches music -- chorus, band and orchestra -- at Tiffany Elementary School in Chula Vista. But that's not all. He teaches an after-school music program. Plus he's the director of music at Chula Vista Congregational Church, which entails lots of planning, leading choir practice every Thursday evening and directing the choir and sometimes a small orchestra on Sunday mornings. Oh, and he gives private piano lessons.

I don't know how he does it! But teaching music to children is in his heart and his soul. I love the bumper sticker on his car, which says it all:



I love my siblings -- sister Charlou, brother Rick and brother Jamie. Just thought I share since Jamie's on my mind.

More from Post-Graduation Party

The e-mailed photos from my Treo finally came through! Although this one is washed out (blame the photographer, me), it will give you a glimpse at my first-born Rebecca (Becky). I think it captures her spirit beautifully.

And here's my niece Tara (my brother Rick's daughter), on the biggest and widest and coolest chaise lounge I ever saw, with Becky in the middle and youngest daughter Jessica on the right.



I'm back in Pasadena and have been running errands all day in preparation for the big trip tomorrow to Ludwigshafen and Järvenpää.

I borrowed Tara's digital camera for this trip so I can snap photos and post them to this blog with some commentary, hopefully daily. I'm so not a teckie -- I've never used a real digital camera before. I'm terrified of new technology with the memory card and the cable thing-y that hooks into the computer and all that new-fangled stuff.

Wish me luck! And stay tuned!!!!

Stay tuned!!!!!

The Graduate

Our little girl is growing up! My granddaughter Kimberly, who I can't believe is 17, graduated from Castle Park High School in Chula Vista (near San Diego) yesterday. The entire family gathered from her mom's side and her dad's side, the weather was beautiful and it was an all-around great day.


Here's the graduate in line waiting to take the big walk for the diploma.


Note the special stole around her neck. She's one of only 12 highly motivated students at her school to complete the multi-year School of Business Leadership, a program that teaches leadership skills and business modeling. It's at a handful of high schools around the state and is very exclusive. It's not easy to be accepted, and she gets college credits. She also attended a retreat with all the SBL students from throughout the state.


Her parents (my daughter Jessica and son-in-law John) have done a great job with Kimberly and her brother Steven. Jessica was a real trooper yesterday -- she had gall bladder surgery last Friday and was in a lot of pain, but of course wouldn't have missed this day for the world.


John's sister Jennifer hosted a party at her home in Bonita, time for family to celebrate Kimberly and enjoy each other's company.

Proud Nana with the graduate:

And I had the rare opportunity to have all four of my grandchildren with me at the same time! From left to right, that's David, 15; Kimberly; Phillip, 15; and Steven, 13. Steven is Kimberly's brother, and David and Phillip are fraternal twins. By the way, the boys had just gotten out of the pool.


Kimberly and Steven Luecht live in Chula Vista, and David and Phillip Salinas live in Clovis (in the Central Valley) with their parents, my daughter Becky and son-in-law Mario.

I have a photo on my phone of Becky and Mario at the party and I keep trying to email it to myself, but it's not coming through. Whenever it does I'll post it.

Here I am with my sons-in-law. They're good providers and excellent dads. But I love them most of all because they're great husbands and cherish my daughters.

My grandchildren with my dad, their great-grandpa:

Mom's looking down from Heaven, happy as ever.

UPDATE: Here's my daughter Becky at the graduation party:

Those Other Blogs

I received one blog comment and a couple of emails from people asking about the significance of the non-local blogs listed on the right-hand side of this page.

40-Ton Tourists -- My long-time pal Mike and his wife, Lori. Lori was a successful real estate agent who got out of the business when the downturn began, then took the course to become a trucker! She and Mike always loved taking long road trips anyway, so this was a dream come true. And now Mike, who is a fellow PIO, is getting ready to retire and join Lori full-time on the road.

Jan Curran Events -- Jan and I first met in 1981, I think, when she was Jan Goldberg and we both lived in Walnut Creek and worked as account executives for the same public relations agency in the Bay Area, for the nuttiest loon of an agency president who ever lived. We made him oodles of money with our hard work, clever campaigns and superb client relations. She moved to Palm Springs to work as a senior account executive at the Jones Agency, convinced agency president and Palm Springs kingpin Milton W. Jones that she and I were a team to be reckoned with (she was right), and Milt paid all expenses for me and my children to move to P.S., where I also was a senior account executive at the agency. Among my many other clients, I handled the City of Palm Springs, which, after I left the agency, hired me to do their marketing, publicity and protocol in-house. I got to work side-by-side every day with Sonny Bono, and I've been a public servant ever since. (Jan was hired to do network TV commentary and interviews for two or three hours before Sonny's funeral started. It was a horribly sad day for us all.) But I digress. Jan went on to become society editor of the Palm Springs Desert Sun (which we used to call the Desperate Scum), then retired to do occasional consulting work after a serious health issue developed. She has been battling it for years but she keeps on tickin' and has kept her sense of humor through it all, which is half the battle. Now she lives in Ventura where it's much cooler and better for her health.

Ventura City Manager Blog -- I get asked all the time what's happening with Rick Cole and what he's doing , so I decided to add his blog so everybody can see for themselves what he's up to. Rick is a great dad, which is #1 in my book. By the way, Jan and Rick don't know each other.

OK!!! Now that that's out of the way, I'm off to San Diego Thursday morning to attend my granddaughter Kimberly's high school graduation (yes, the jig is up -- I'm a geezer), then back here on Saturday, and then. . .

-- drum roll please --

. . .HOPPING A PLANE FOR LUDWIGSHAFEN AND JARVENPAA ON SUNDAY!!!

Stay tuned!