In Late September 2013, Jennifer, Fianna and I made a trip to Southern California to visit Disneyland, SeaWorld, the Grandparents, and others. With Julia officially due on December 25th, we would obviously not be making the annual holiday trip or the annual (sort of) international trip, but wanted to do something before being tied down to Fair Oaks for most of the next six months.

Our SoCal friends were in our part of the state again for a second major Amador Vintner's Assn event - The Big Crush! Celebrating that time of year when the grapes are ready to bring in from the vines and get crushed, stomped or what have you. The Baers and their kids were up, as well as Rick & Gulshen. The Favetti's didn't make it but the Baers created and laminated a 'Flat Tony' to carry along (and pose) with us.

In September 2012, I flew into Nebraska to drive around with Rick and Laurie Bressler. They had already been driving cross country for a couple weeks and during their trip planning I had noted that there was a Cornhuskers home game the week they would be in Nebraska. In addition to the game, we visited some old 'bressler sites' and relatives throughout Eastern Nebraska and South Dakota.

I couldn't stop. Completed four more science fiction classics since the last article. These three were worth extra notice: Man Plus by Frederick Pohl (1976), Gateway by Frederick Pohl (1977) and The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974).

Roughly a year ago, I obtained a 30-book series called "Masterworks of Science Fiction". Not a series in that each book continued the same story, but a series of what some consider the best Science Fiction novels since 1950. Many of these classic books had gone out of print, and the creators of the collection thought this a good way to bring them back... to the attention of a whole new generation of readers. Since then I've been tearing my way through them. Fortunately, the version of the collection I stumbled on must have been about 10 years old. Since 2000 the complete collection has expanded from 30 to 73 books.

Pages