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The Big Bear Buds share many common affinities:
Big Bear
Lake, gardening, flowers (as in "buds"), good
eats, fine
wine, country living, traveling, beautiful views, Hawai`i, Hawaiian
music, and most of all, dogs.
Likely none of this rambling
account of how we all got together is of any
interest to anyone else but us, but lest we forget how this circle of
friendship happened in the first place -- and before our mental hard discs are
overloaded and heaven forbid, crash -- the chronology is now duly recorded for posterity here in
cyberspace:
The palest ink is better
than the best memory.
(or, in this case,
electrons on a screen)
As Bob observed in their holiday newsletter:
"The memory is starting
(now that's an understatement) to go.
Bob: "Have you seen my
glasses?"
Linda: "I can't
find my keys."
Bob: "Hey Lin, how about some romance
tonight?"
Linda: "Bob, we had romance last
night!"
Bob: "Oh."
It all began when Bob and
Linda made a brilliant move in the late 1980s, when along with two couples,
Red and Anne (Bob's and Linda's daughter's in-laws) and Tom and Maria (their
longtime friends), they bought
an utterly charming red log cabin in Big Bear.
In the winter of 1990,
D& T became their neighbors in the cottage next door.
D& T fell head-over-heels in love with Big Bear and
the neighbors on the street and in time, they moved from their little cottage to a house diagonally across the
street from Bob and Linda.
We shared many happy hours
with Linda and Bob, just puttering around our gardens, exchanging seeds
and runners, exclaiming over new blooms and engaging in plant talk. They
were as enthusiastic as we were about all the "new" plants we
were discovering up in the mountains. Like us, they were always
bringing a new plant home from the nursery to plant in their garden.
T with O & Fred |
D with O & Fred |
One autumn weekend, in 1998, Sue and Steve,
who were courting at the time, spent a weekend with the happily
marrieds, Bob and
Linda. D& T met Sue and Steve over a convivial dinner at Bob's and Linda's red log cabin.
Hawai`i was the common denominator among us, with Bob and Linda, with their
condo on Kaua`i, and Sue and Steve, with his condo on Maui, and D&T, born
and raised in Hawai`i with their entire families still there. Listening to Hawaiian music sung by Keali`i Reichel, we all became friends.
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Sue & Steve
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Big Bear love is virulently contagious and
soon, lovebugs Sue and Steve got married and bought their own cabin in
Moonridge. About that time, we lost Red, which eventually lead to
the dissolution of the three-way partnership and the selling of the red
log cabin.
Wonderful, fun-loving neighbors, Bob and Linda,
Anne and Red, and Tom and Maria were dearly missed by D&T and
the old-timers on our street, including Dorothy and Bill Faulder and Trudy and Ed
Graham.
Claudia and Jeff, a lovely
plant- and dog-loving couple, came along and bought the charmingly rustic red
log cabin. We were all relieved to see that the plants and trees, lovingly planted by Bob
and Linda, were being carefully nurtured by
Claudia and Jeff . One night, we got together over dinner and Claudia and Jeff,
the new owners of the red log cabin, met Bob and
Linda.
Again to the music of Keali`i Reichel, as well as Israel
"IZ" Kamakawiwo`ole's and the Makaha Sons', we all became friends.
Jeff & Claudia,
Oscar & Lucy-fur
In time, Bob and Linda found a
darling cabin of their own in Moonridge, just behind a stream and a hill
from Sue's and Steve's place. One weekend, Bob and Linda got together with
Claudia and Jeff and Sue and Steve. They all became friends.
Unfortunately, that weekend, D&T were down the hill..
Then Sue and Steve bought a place
across Boulder Bay, and then in March 2002, moved into yet another lakefront
house at Inspiration Point, just down the road from D&T
and Jeff and Claudia. Sue and Steve invited us for sunset
and cocktails, and we got together again, except this time, Bob and Linda
were down the hill.
>> More
here on that gathering.
Maybe this summer, the Big
Bear Buds will be up the hill at the same time and finally get together,
all together... up in
"Old
friends are the best antiques."
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