March 2025 This is where we are right now

Living in Rio Vista, California

 I have been speaking of the past. Now is the time to speak of the present. Nicki and I are living in California specifically in Rio Vista. This small town is about 40 minutes south of Sacramento, Ca. It is secluded in that the nearest town is 20 miles away from all direction. To the north is Sacramento, west is Suison and Fairfield, east is Lodi and south is Brentwood, Oakley, Pittsburg.

401 Pelican Pl, Rio Vista, Ca
Our present house

Why did we choose to moved here? Omar and family lives in Pittsburg which is 20 miles away. Raymond lives in Concord which not to far maybe 35 miles from us. It is a 55+ community meaning it is gated and you must be 55 years old or over to buy a house here. Also the houses in Rio Vista is not as bloated in price from most houses in California. Our house is reasonable at $550,000 where a comparable house in Brentwood would be maybe $750,000. Prior to moving here we moved to Reno, Nevada from Sugarland, Texas. Reno is a medium size city. Everything is within 12 minutes from our house there. The hospital, movie houses, casinos, doctor's office, malls are close by. Walking trails and parks are also close by. So why did we moved to California? To be closer to Omar and Raymond. We figured that in our golden years we like to be closer to them for various reasons. 

There are disadvantages living in Rio Vista. It is a small town. Our gated community called Trilogy has about 3,500 houses more than the town proper itself.

Downtown Rio Vista
Near Sacramento River

Firstly there is a drawbridge getting out of town on the east side. When a ship passes by, traffic is stopped and everybody waits until the boat passes. Since we moved here there are numerous repair jobs done on this bridge constantly which exacerbates traffic also. The worse is that there are two more bridges on the way to Omar's house in Pittsburg. One is a drawbridge too. There is only one highway 12 which passes thru Rio Vista. Any traffic jam e.g. accidents, repair work causes the traffic to stop sometimes for several minutes. Being a small town there is only one grocery store Lira. Their prices are higher than the average taking advantage of the monopoly they have in the town. There is one decent place to eat The Point. Oh there are several but they are below standard and we never eat there. The small town of Rio Vista has a small downtown. Most of the businesses there are small and old as if no new structure has been build in the last 30 years. For example there are two pizza places. One we do not go because the employees are lazy and not caring for customers with a hint of being racist. The other one which we go to closed because the building they are one was bought. One decent diner oh highway 12 has been closed for over a year. The are two motels which I wouldn't stay. It looks like its ridden by cockroaches or rats. There is one traffic light on highway 12, one drug store, one dentist. Oh we have one mayor recently elected of Japanese descent. 

Friends in Rio Vista

Are we staying in Rio Vista until we conked out? Probably. There is a large Filipino community here and they are active. We also developed close friendship with neighbors all of which are Filipinos. Oscar and Lulu De Gracia is our neighbor in our back. Roland and Cora Dela Rosa house is across the street from Oscar. And there is Demos and Christina Punsalan who lived a few blocks away. We seemed to have something in common. The three of us, Oscar and Roland like to drink whisky while

Demos is happy drinking non-alcoholic beer. There is a camaraderie that developed. We also go out to eat celebrating somebody's birthday. Another couple doctors Rey and Nevy also come along. They like to entertain and invite us to their big house every now and then. Rey and Nevy are in their eighties so physical activity e.g. driving is limited. Lulu is the professional cook. She makes professional grade Filipino snacks such as hopia, ensamada, cakes and so many. Lulu used to be a caterer. Oscar is a retired accountant and the most colorful guy with a lot of stories to tell. Oscar regale us with anecdotes from his youth and from his hometown in Batangas. He has many philosophies which are good to adopt. Oscar said he tell his children do not give me any problem I don't want to hear it. Just leave me alone and I am happy. Another is that he will buy and spend thiings that he like to do without worrying about tomorrow. Live your life to the fullest everyday. Let us be happy! Oscar said he

Roland's b-party. Oscar, Pol, Roland, Cora, Rey.

was married three or four times. Roland is the electronic expert. People come to him to if you have any new fangle electronic gadget to install, any problem with the TV, alarm, smart phones, etc. Roland is s very smart guy. We are glad his cancer treatment is doing well. I hope he get rid of it and live a full life, whatever that is. Cora, Roland's wife is a retired nursing director from Canada. If you have any question about medical health insurance and policies Cora can give you advise. Demos is the politician. We urged him to run for mayor of Rio Vista. Who knows, he might. He is affiliated with a group called California Forever. This group proposed to build a model city like Rio Vista but away from the old downtown. There is a grandiose scheme to develop the land east of Rio Vista that will

Christina, Nicki, Cora and Doris

contain thousand of houses, businesses. There is a certain amount of people opposing this. I suppose these people opposing are business owner in Rio Vista who do not want to be displaced by the this California Forever. Owners of Lira? auto dealers? restaurants? Yes all of those. They oppose programs under the excuse of development is bad, bad, bad. Ha, ha, ha. California Forever is headed by a young billionaire from Silicon Valley. Remain to be seem what will happen. Christina is Demos wife. She does not like to cook so in a potluck Christina brings food bought from a Filipino store. Christina also is very afraid of dogs so we make it a point to take Loki, our dog away when she is coming.

Lulu, Cora, Christina. Sitting
are Nicki, Nevy.

The three couples I mentioned have been remarried at least once. Oscar I said is married three times although the fourth one he said he did not marry. Lulu is twice marred. Roland and Cora too are twice married. So is Demos and Christina. It is only Nicki and I who are original couple so to speak. I don't know how many children each have from the first spouse but it sounds a lot. Oscar, Roland and Demos tell us their stories whenever we get together. Everyone is in good nature telling us their life stories.

This coming October we plan to go on a cruise on Princess ship. This is a short cruise about 7 days going from San Francisco to Seattle, Victoria and Vancouver, Canada. Only Oscar, Lulu, Roland, Cora, Nicki and I are coming. Demos has another cruise to go to. Remain to be seen how we fare being together in 7 days. I am sure we will enjoy the cruise and each other company. By the way I will celebrate my 80 years birthday on Oct. 8, 2025 while in the cruise. I will be taking bottles of good whisky with us to celebrate this event. Initially I was planning to go to Scotland with Nicki to go to the Island of Islay. This island is where my most favorite whiskies are made e.g. Lagavulin, Laphroiag, Bowmer, Ardbeg, etc. But I opted to forgo this trip and instead take this short cruise with friends.

High School Reunion

College Reunion

Last January 2025 we took a trip to the Philippines. First I organized a high school reunion in Manila. It was sparsely attended by five classmates. Our batch is thinning out most when people died.

We met at our condo in Eastwood City and have lunch at Casa delos Reyes. We stayed in Lico and as it happen Ate Cora is also visiting. We had dinner one night attended by people from the US like Erwin and Cita Jose and Marlene. I bought a whole roasted pig which Gado bought in La Loma. Leng Leng cooked a great dinner for everybody. 

A week after that we had lunch at the Manila Hotel. This is a college reunion from batch '66 of the Chemical Engineering and Chemistry alumni. There were around 50 of us who attended. I was one of the organizer. I managed and contracted a local company to make 50 windbreaker jackets. This was distributed to the alumni during lunch. We made a small program where I delivered the opening remarks. Lunch buffet was

so-so nothing remarkable from it. There were small groups from '67 and also from '65 graduates. The Manila Hotel once the most grandest of hotels in Manila is still with charm. The rooms were using native furniture and decoration. We ate at a chinese restaurant that night. And in the morning we went to the breakfast buffet. The buffet was very sumptuous with Filipino, Chinese, Japanese and American cuisine. 

The next day we embark on a cruise by NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line). This cruise is unique because it started in Manila. A bus took us to a hotel in Roxas Blvd. where embarkation is to take place. Then another bus took us to the pier where the ship is. It was not as bad as what we heard, the whole process is almost painless. The passengers are mostly Filipinos. 

There were maybe 25 of us who went. Stops were Boracay, Coron, cities in Okinawa, Japan and cities in Taiwan. I like the hotel in Keelung at Marriott one of the better hotels we stayed. The morning buffet breakfast was good. 

At the end of the cruise we flew back to San Francisco. I heard that many people got sick like coughing, fever, pneumonia even. Nicki and I were lucky we did not get sick. This maybe the last high school and college reunion we will have. Most people are starting in their eighties. Nicki is an octogenarian already and I will be this year. As what they say the plane has already landed and we are embarking already. Many people have checked out of this life. Hmm. 

This was taken in Taiwan, specifically at Taipeh 101, 
a mall and food stalls. 

 

Just got home from the Philippine cruise and reunion.
I still need some sleep for the jet lag.