Younger Bro Carl Jackson in CALIFORNIA!

Carl LOVED the vibes of the Redwoods. He had thought not many were left on the west coast?!!
We went to Henry Cowell State Park.

Carl, my little brother. 8 years younger than I. He's become one of the most insightful, sensitive people I know now. He's a musician in Nashville, Tennessee, and it had been about ten years since he was in California.

Carl, sitting there looking back at us, was able to also catch some Jazz in downtown Santa Cruz.

Grandmom and Carl never really had a chance to get to know one another before. Dad was Grandmom's firstborn. Uncle Lynn, below, he's Grandmom's second son. And then Carl is Grandmom's only grandson.

Lorraine, Lynn's wife, called us "The Jackson Four"! True, just missing sister Janet!!! (She's in Pennsylvania) Grandmom was Jane Wolstenholm, then Jane Jackson, then...well, now "Ostergren"!

Zen in Japan August 2010

At our surf shop, kayaking friends: Sayoko and Shinji Yoshizaki's house in Ishiki Japan. Shinji's in the right hand bottom corner. Sayoko's behind him. The woman with her leg up, I don't know her. The clean cut guy in the top right hand corner: Yaari.

My boy Ischin in the green T-shirt, the bleached blond's Sheon. Zen in black and Naomi in white. Oh, and behind Naomi in the photo above is her boyfriend, Isamushi.

In Santa Cruz @ Walton Lighthouse

I met Betsy Engelman at tennis. She lives on East Cliff, in her newly renovated beautiful house.

Recently Betsy couldn't play tennis because of her knee, but she and I have been going regularly to the Apple Store in Los Gatos for MacIntosh-computer lessons. And then I've gotten to take walks together with Betsy and Holly~dog around the harbor by her home. She showed me where her parent's name lives on on the Lighthouse plaque:

"THE ENGELMAN & JOHNSON FAMILY"

Walking the train tracks back to Betsy's.

Across the way from the tracks is this Harbor. In Winter Christmas lights are strung on the masts 

Betsy's been painting also, she's actually a serious artist and done that sort of art for a long time.
 She was very interested in this painter's gear~

Summer has finally descended upon Santa Cruz. Until the past few days it's been very cool. 

People here are practically wilting in the 90 degree heat this week!

The kids in Japan

And Zen gets to eat the BEST FOOD!

Below he's at our friend's new restaurant cafe ocean

(he's aiming to get a TAN lying on the road in the background?! Well true, grass in Japan is the worst. You can't sit on it. It's always prickly. That's one thing they are terrible at. Growing GRASS~ the lawny type!)

Zen with his sisters Sheon-chan and Naomi- chan!!!

(Taka and I talking with them on Skype, our photo is down there in the corner)

The girls with their boyfriends~

And I don't have any recent photos of my OLDEST BOY~ ISCHIN-KUN!

these pics are compliments of Kahori!

Los Angeles and the final tournament with FRIENDS too!

Taka and I got to drive one of the boy's teams from Las Vegas to L.A. and before I released them from the van I took this photo! At their final location, hotel Anaheim!

Taka represented Santa Cruz (with the shirt!)... these were the courts that had 16 separate courts! The team did well, but the other teams took away the games. LINDA from George School in L.A.!!! Linda Pollock, took time off work and came and got us! Taka and me, we went out for INDIAN CITY food together and talked away for the little time we had. Special!!!! Too short but VERY sweet!

The hotel we stayed at with the boys didn't have real coffee. Taka and I found better (yes, Starbucks) amongs the palms, a walk away at a Marriot Hotel (also the Hilton...but lines of thirty or forty people drove us a little further to the Marriot)
And then finally we got to see Yuri-chan!!! From Japan...well, Yuri and I knew each other, when Taka and I first got together so more than 13 years ago! Yuri and I friends from 14 years ago?!

Yuri came the last night we were in L.A.. The night before we got to see her hubby and son too, but I missed the photographs there! ; (

  Leaving L.A....was a pleasure, and didn't seem a terribly long drive since we got to travel along with Zen's team mate's parents, Debi and Jan St. John.

  The trip was hard in a number of ways, but playing hard, and keeping up good spirits became "the name of the game" I guess you could say!

In Las Vegas! Some of the ENVIRON

(yes, Zen's #28)

These are some of the scouts which were at the Las Vegas games

A drive through the strip

 And a distance away, our hotel~ But the heat...Las Vegas is an outdoor sauna, with no steam. It never felt comfortable.

The buses looked interesting enough.
Yes, "our strip" was Stephanie Ave.

Taka charting our course...or no...also making sure of the times for all of the games!

And then finally it was time to evacuate!!! This hotel below, where the teams and most parents stayed, was overrun by the teams. Very cool to watch them all!

On the way to LAS VEGAS w/ Zen's team!!!

nice big spacious van for the big boys!!!

with stops at regular "hot spots" (food and stretch "spots")

Taka and I drove one van of five boys (missed one of the boys in the top photo)

Las Vegas, on the way- LOTS of dry land!!!

And so many wind turbines... with a beautiful lone horse! Took us from 3:30 a.m. from Gilroy to Las Vegas-arrived at 1:30 in the afternoon.