History Repeats Itself…

Picture of the house my Mom was born in. It is no longer there on Spring Street in Paso Robles.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that we are both shot up now with both vaccines and in two weeks we will be available for partying!!  With caution, of course.

And I am making new friends because of my book.  You know.  The booking I’m writing.  So, here’s the deal, now I know why authors thank everyone under the sun for help with their book.  My list is growing exponentially as I write on.  

This week my new friend is Jan at the Paso Robles Historical Society.  She has lived in Paso for about 8 years but she is the glue that helps keep the Society moving forward.  An appointment was made, and I met her at the old Public Library in the park downtown Paso 

Robles.  It is an amazing place, a Carnegie library.  So beautiful and now full of historical treasures.  Jan graduated from William and Clark as a history major and she is using her time to volunteer there.  I grew up in Paso but she knows so much more.  We had a grand time.

And get this…she is reading my blogs (completely unsolicited).  I was, of course, totally impressed.

But, I digress.

Confession time.  I never really liked history as a student.  I took U.S. History, an underclass requirement and got a D- for my efforts.  The only reason I didn’t flunk was because I always came to class and sat in the first two rows.  But I apparently forgot to read the material.  

So, here I am writing a family history… because in the 90’s I popped off in a discussion about Israel and the Palestinians and Rayman told me I didn’t know what I was talking about.  And he was right  I operated in much the same way as I did in college…impressions rather than facts.  

So, I started reading history and now I’m hooked.  I started with From Beirut to Jerusalem, to books about Korea, Russia, and the list goes on.  Lewis and Clark…Undaunted Courage was a great one.  The Caro books on LBJ and on and on.  Okay, so I have been catching up and I now have a deep appreciation of history.  As it does repeat itself, so do I.  I just finished the John Lewis book from Jon Meacham which is a great read about the fight for the vote.  And here we are…the same fight is going on in full swing as I type.  The Jan. 6th insurrection was about the right to vote, as an example.

Anyway, I’m still working on my book and I am on page 135, single spaced.  It’s actually taking shape.  The ladies at the Historical Society said they would put it on display and sell it.  OMG.  This is exciting.  

 

Picture painted of an old barn on the ranch.

However, it also gives me pause.  How much should I tell?  There is much angst as well as lots of laughs.  Oh, dear.  What to do?  Well, I will just keep writing until I’m done and then I will self publish because I am pretty sure I will be lucky to sell 20 books.  But that’s okay because this is more for the fun of it, for this labor of love.  With the history in my family, I really do have a lot of material.  

This week also found me out at Sculpterra Winery meeting with the daughter of Mr. Thimm, our ranch hand that lived in the house on the ranch and worked the ranch.  It was a hoot to visit with her and I came away with some great stories for the book.  I sent her my write up to see if it was okay and haven’t heard a word…but she did warn me that she didn’t spend much time on the computer…so there is that.  Hopefully she will approve of my rendition of her experiences living out there.  Sculpterra, incidentally, sits on part of the old ranch.    Below is a picture of Ryan and Tamara at Sculpterra.  Notice the CAT!!

 

 

Which brings me to the announcement that Rayman and I are in escrow to sell our parcel out at the ranch.  It is the next to the last parcel.  The very last parcel has several owners and it isn’t worth anything…it is weird and, I think, unbuildable.  So when we close on this parcel that is now in escrow, it will be a sad day.  How I will handle it is anyone’s guess.

The Paso family is all gone except for me.  My brother lives up north as does my nephew, and my long lost son.  My second cousin, Sharon, moved to Montana.  Not sure where her siblings are.  The family has come to an end, in a way.  So the ranch doesn’t carry the same emotional position it once did.  I guess that makes sense.  

In other news, we have been having fun watching programs on TV that are educational.  I’m back in the pool.  My golf still sucks but I must go on.  Same with Rayman.  

We leave for Borrego Springs on the 22nd for a few days of golf and visits with friends.  Our first fun trip since this time last year.  We did go to PDX but it was up in a hurry, a 3 month visit in lockdown and back in a hurry.  So our desert trip is something we are looking forward to with much excitement.

Hope you are all good and vaccinated and getting ready to rejoin life at a higher level!!

Hope to see you all soon!!




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