Travels With Heart: On the Homefront

By Annie Bowler, January 1, 2026 Volume 30

A road trip in early December across California reminded me of how lucky I am to call this

diverse, gorgeous state my home. But all this beauty creates challenges: I’m often

tempted to stop to take in the views and explore; just ask my travel partner, John. 

My first such stop was at the stunning San Pablo Wildlife Refuge, home to birds, birds,

and more birds. This refuge is an amazing example of how preserving wild lands near

urban areas benefit us all. Click here to check it out.

I was headed to Sausalito’s Heath Ceramics a very interesting ceramics factory & shop. Arriving there proved difficult because seawater, which comes up during winter’s “King Tides,” filled the roads on the way to their ceramics factory. According to locals, these high tides are getting worse as the seas rise.  Seawater is horrible for cars, so I had to turn around a half a dozen times before I finally found my way to the shop. Phew!

My goal was to find some tile for remodeling project at home. I couldn’t find anything

that worked in their “Overflow Tile Shed” so I left empty-handed. Nonetheless, I enjoyed

spending time admiring Heath Tile’s handcrafted plates and bowls.

Before leaving, I just had to walk through Sausalito’s houseboat villages for old time’s

sake. My cousin Bonnie lived in a houseboat in Sausalito long ago. As a teen, I

fantasized about such an idyllic lifestyle and still feel it could be a cool place to live. 

My main motivation for this road trip was to spend time with my youngest, Jacob, who is

heading off on the adventure of his life soon. It was good to spend time with this

wonderful young man! We enjoyed lunch at the awesome Cafe Leita in Berkeley.

The road trip home wasn’t easy. No surprise, I encountered another part of California: it’s crazy traffic!  Arriving home, I found dinner waiting and that Christmas has

arrived. 

John sells the Flower Farm’s mandarins and the other varieties of citrus we grow to the

Tahoe Food Hub. The Food Hub picks up all kinds of produce, including our citrus, in

Penryn each week. This non-profit connects North Tahoe communities with local,

sustainably grown food from farms from Nevada and Placer counties. Our mandarins

are served on school lunches throughout the North Tahoe region, which makes John

and I quite happy. 

The Tahoe Food Hub hosts a fabulous holiday party each year with live music, lots of

interesting, locally made products, and of course, we sell our mandarins. This year was

extra busy, the warm weather brought the whole town out; we came home with an

empty truck and not one mandarin!

A major highlight of our year was the birth of Kimberlee Ann, aka Millie, in March. John

and I live next door to Sarah and her kids. We feel lucky to be able to watch Millie

develop new skills day by day at a startlingly rapid pace; one day she can’t sit up, but

soon, she’s standing, and now doing her version of a dance and taking her first steps. She feeds herself finger foods now which she loves, though our dogs faithfully hover waiting for a few bites. Millie is tenacious; she wears herself out trying new tricks but after a catnap, she’s back at it again. 

We love that Millie is very comfortable with John and I, though obviously her number one

person is her mom, Sarah, with her big brother, JT, a close second. Our closeness to this sweet family has made this year especially poignant.  

Nine-year-old JT got a bike for Christmas.  For a variety of reasons, JT hadn’t ridden a

bike since his training wheels days, so when we headed out to Bicycle Emporium in

Auburn to pick out his bike, JT was nervous as heck. 

JT gulped when he saw the size of the bike that shop owner, Tony Marengo, said he

should get. Tony knew nothing of JT‘s misgivings, but he seemed to intuitively understand

how he felt. Tony taught JT about using the breaks, the gears, and how to dismount safely, all with a kind, reassuring tone. Out back behind the shop, Tony carefully steadied JT as he started to pedal first attempts. Tony shared his struggles when he was first learning to ride a bike. JT wobbled on his first attempts around the bike shop yard, but he had a determined look in his eye. Pleased, we headed for home with a new shiny bike. 

We live on a long quiet street that’s perfect for bike riding, so we soon set off. JT utilized

the skills that Tony taught him and by the end of that first ride, he was ecstatic, even a

bit cocky, riding through puddles like a champ. 

By now, we have a trail-riding, puddle-loving biker.  We are grateful to Tony for his

thoughtful encouragement! As they say, it takes a village to raise a child. 

Our youngest son, Jake, and his fiancé, Fátima, are off on a true adventure; they are

moving to Minnesota in January. (Yes, you read that right.)  Fatima will be working as a

Psychiatric RN at the Mayo Clinic and Jake, who's an EMT, is hoping to land a job there too.

We are excited for this sweet couple who have maintained a close, long-distance

relationship between Toronto and California for over three years. Being a Canadian

citizen, it hasn’t been easy for Fatima to navigate the US immigration system as well as

nursing regulations to get a job here in America, but they persevered, and in just a few

days, they will live together for the first time.

Interestingly, my parents met as college students in Minnesota. It was the end of the

Depression and there was a little work in Minnesota at that time, so my parents headed

to California hoping for better job opportunities. It seems ironic that Fatima and Jake will

soon head to Minnesota for amazing job opportunities.  We will miss them but hope their year is full of love and many great adventures!

My Parents

We were supposed to have been up at our cabin last week, enjoying the snow and

cross-country skiing. Unfortunately, my heart has been misbehaving a bit, (Nothing too

serious, so please don’t worry) but spending time at elevation was unwise. I’ve been

needing to take it a bit easy which frankly isn’t my normal speed. As things work out, it

was good to be home and spend time with family and friends. Like Dorothy said,

“There’s no place like home.”

I have heard from many of you that you enjoy reading more story each month. I thank

you for sharing life’s journey with you.  John and I have some exciting travel planned for 26 so stay tuned! 

May peace, hope, and civility reign for us all in 2026, 

Annie