70%

70% enjoys his time outside.

Adventures Had . . . and almost had . . .

Today we are headed to Muir Woods ( http://www.nps.gov/muwo/) it is about an hour north of us on the other side of San Francisco. The park has some pretty giant redwood trees. I don't know if they are the oldest or biggest in the country or the world, but I know they are old and big. I am sure I will have more details after our tourist adventure. We are bringing the good camera so there should be great photos. And, as a bonus we will have to cross the Golden Gate Bridge! We have not yet done this so we are both looking forward to it.

It continues to be a typical winter (read: wet season) here. Temp is about 60 degrees. It is sunny and bright. Sometimes it rains in the a.m. hours but today it is clear. We will bring our rain slickers because word on the street says it is wet in the woods, not a whole lot of sun gets through. The Girl has a snazzy stylish slicker, I of course, have a giant yellow duck jacket. It is actual foul weather gear, it works well though I don't at all blend in with the locals. And I will have you know, I won't be wearing the giant yellow overalls that go with it, so I will be feeling a little extra stylish. I may have a picture. OH, yes, this is the outfit I was wearing when I met The Girl (surprisingly she didn't think it was ridiculous, or maybe she did and that was OK---in my defense it was an outside day long music festival and it was raining and cold allllllllll day--I was talked into the boots at the last moment by RS as my girl shoes would not have been a wise choice, much like the Capri choice)

Adventures almost had . . . I was supposed to hang stuff yesterday. The Girl and I figured out where things should go. We didn't figure out a space for everything yet but we did find a place for the larger items. But I never hung anything. I went to the hardware store in town to get anchors and fasteners but got distracted. Short story long, I was out and about a long time. But I did hang one item today and will do more this week.

Merry Christmas

It is still Christmas Eve here and we aren't sure what sort of adventure tomorrow will bring. HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

The Longest Night

No, nobody was sick. Winter Solstice happened over the weekend. It is holiday I usually celebrate but it seemed to come an go this year without any celebration. The Girl and I talked about a Winter Solstice adventure but the day came and went. And today as I was driving back from a knitting circle, I realized that I have not donned one seasonal hat, no holiday earrings and not one string of lights on my person. At this point I doubt I will. I know where the stuff is in the garage, it's labeled and everything. I will say that my holiday season is a bit shorter than the general population, I don't do any Winter Holiday decorating or even planing until after the 13th of December ( I like to keep my birthday clear of the winter holiday celebrations). I haven't even strung up the Christmas cards; I don't know if I even will at this point.

I think the weather is part of it. There is no marker that winter is here, it is not crazy cold, there is no ice or snow (sorry if you recently found yourself snowed/iced in the house). Folks do decorate their homes. Certainly there is a retail buzz around, such as it is this season. Perhaps part of it is that the things that happen before winter didn't happen for me this year. There was no apple picking, no crazy day of baking 8 or 10 pies, no cookie bake, no Yule get together. Of course there is more. As the holidays roll around (and my birthday) I realize that things are just different. I miss my Mother in ways I didn't think I would in ways that I never anticipated. It is surprising and saddening to me all at the same time.

This shot is from Christmas 2006

A Fun and Silly Saturday Night

Yesterday we rode our bikes around town on errands and even into the next town over. It was a great way to spend the afternoon and it was a nice adventure. But the night then took a turn for the random and fun.

Here goes . . . first, dinner at the supermarket, second, a seek and secure mission for movie theater popcorn, third, watching a television show on the computer because we still haven't bothered to get cable. OMIGOSH it was totally fun. First, dinner at the supermarket -- really, it is more awesome than it sounds. After our errands we parked are bikes at home and headed directly to the grocery store, it is just a couple of blocks from the house so we went on foot and we knew we would be loosing daylight. The store is a lot like a Whole Foods in that htere is a lovely prepared food section, great breads and cheese and lots of natural food choices. So, we got yummy dinner and sat down there and ate it. We joked about how dinner at the supermarket was a fun outing, and it was. IT GETS BETTER. There was talk of a movie later in the evening but the evening got away from us, the local theater is a giant multiples and gets really crowded as the night goes on and we didn't want to deal with all that. So, the SECOND PORTION OF THE EVENING, involved driving to a closer independant movie theater to buy movie theater popcorn and then heading home to watch a television show on the computer because we still haven't bothered to get cable (and we aren't sure if we really will). What a great night.

The Girl has a little time off from work so we will be working on the packing process and having small adventures over the next two weeks. Hopefully photos and stories will appear in this very place.

Back on the Saddle

OK, I think I have used that title before . . . anyway, THE BIKE IS ALL BETTER. The Girl gave me a lift to San Jose this afternoon to pick up the motorcycle. Let me be the first to tell you, it is rockin'! The first California ride was a total success. I got lost and everything. The weather was a little chilly today but I was fine during the daylight even without the wind protection layer of my motorcycle jacket.

Just this very day I was on the phone with Rabid Squirrel and we were talking about motorcycles (OH AND THAT RS FINISHED HER BACHELORS DEGREE TODAY) and riding and stuff. She pretty much openly mocks me for my affection for the Vespa scooter. I mostly accept it because there is a grain of truth to it. Cruiser = mad cool, kinda bad ass and well, a little sexy. Scooter = scooter, less sexy, not at all bad ass and well, it's a scooter --- but they are SO CUTE!

Somewhat related, on the bike I realized two things and then a third thing at the moment of getting back into the development. Two things I realized - the motorcycle is really sooooo much cooler than a scooter (even though the scooter is still crazy cute) and that California smells wonderful. I think there are eucalyptus trees or something, really it is a fantastic scent. And the third thing you ask? The third thing that I discovered just one block from our house? I discovered that I had run out of gas. I put less than a gallon in to prep the bike for registration and to drive it to the darn gas station. Well, since the bike got towed, we never made it to the gas station. I drove 31 miles home and about town (never thinking to get gas) and the folks at the shop took it for a test drive. That might put me around 40 or 45 miles on three quarters of a gallon. I pushed the bike the last block. So sad. But I will again fill my little gallon container with gas and filler' up tomorrow and head on down to registration.

This is a photo of the day I got the bike. As you can see, she is a little bigger than a scooter.

Oh the people you'll see!!

Can you Stand it??

Random Wednesday

First, I promised some pictures of Half Moon Bay and I am posting them. Second, let me say that I don't think we actually made it to the beach at Half Moon Bay. The beach, not unlike the Small Wonder state, was contained in a state park. Again, like the Small Wonder state, there was a fee to enter. Well the fee was a whopping 7 bucks. We wanted to drive around and take a couple shots, we were not dressed to hang out on the cold beach so we passed but we had stopped a mile or so up the road where we took these photos.

The cliff seems high because it was fantastically high. There was a narrow walkway that lead even closer to the edge, of course I walked out but the wind was strong and it seemed like a bad idea. I hightailed it back to more solid ground.

Second, I have been unpacking lots over the last two weeks but not so much over the weekend; today (and yesterday) I flat out didn't unpack a thing. INSTEAD, I worked on making things pretty. I put up some lighting in the bedroom. There is no central lighting but there is a switch that operates an outlet, we had not been able to figure out which outlet it was but it became clear yesterday. I picked up some snazzy lights at IKEA. I have totally always wanted lights like these but have never been brave enough to put them up and well, 70%'s affection for things he really shouldn't bother with is pretty strong. But they are up. And, of course when a girl goes to IKEA she gets ideas. From stuff already in the house I put a little light element behind the bed. I blame The Girl for even thinking of such things, she is a huge fan of those decorating shows on the style and design channel. Anyway, this is the back story, the lights we had picked up (also at IKEA) in March of 06--the receipt was still in original box, the curtain rods I brought with me from Rochelle and the fabric was in with the sewing machine!!! Hooray.

You noticed I included a photo of 70% on the bed. He stayed on the bed, not moving even a bit, as I walked back and forth across the top of the bed.

Third, the motorcycle is all better! I got a call from the shop today and she is all set to be picked up. And it wasn't mad expensive so that is a bonus!!!!

Today's Highlight - Perhaps I am burying my lead here, but I applied to a school today. Yep! Last week I had an appointment with a rep at Ohlone College on the other side of the bay. She was very clear about the school, the numbers of folks that apply to the nursing program and my odds of getting in through the lottery. The number of folks that apply to the limited number of spaces is high and my odds are not awesome. Though based on calls I have made to other schools my odds on numbers alone do seem best at Ohlone. She looked over my transcript and as I had anticipated told me I already qualify to toss my hat into the ring for the lottery, but oh that lottery. There is a very real chance that my name will simply not be called, not because I am not qualified but because there 100 people trying to get those 30 available spots. The plan on this day at this moment is to run with it, here we are after all. There is a larger, long term plan in case the lottery doesn't happen but right now I am putting energy into the universe that I am a lucky girl and that I will be picked for the lottery.

A Birthday and the Rainy Season . . . All in one Weekend

Thanx to everyone for my happy birthday wishes. I got lots of notes through Facebook, e-mails, cards and calls. Thank you.

I want to blog more about stuff that happens but time seems to get away from me. I will work on the highlights. The motorcycle is at the dealership and is being repaired. Lucky for me it will be ready this week, unlucky for me we are to have rain nearly every day this week. But, if I time it right I should be able to avoid the rain on a particular afternoon or morning with some proper planning. So, the rain. We think it might actually be the start of the rainy season. Normally the 5 day forecast shows lots of little bright balls of sun. This week it shows lots of rain. Never has there been this much anticipated rain for so many consecutive days, perhaps it is the beginning of the rainy season, perhaps it is just a week of rain. I guess we won't know until next week. I'll keep you posted.

This past week. The Girl returned from the chilly East on Wednesday night safe and sound. Hooray. The next meeting is right at the University so that is a good thing, it is this coming week. The Girl is very very busy. I went to a knitting group on Tuesday night. It was fun. There was a lot of knitting and not too much chit chat but it seems like a fun group of people. I am going to go again this week, it is a bit of a drive so I doubt I will make it every week. I am looking for a more local group, I've tried to start one but the response has not been strong. If I do find a local group, I think it won't be quite as colorful as the group in San Bruno ( a town about 20 miles north of us). But the gals (and boy) at the San Bruno group did turn me on to a great knitting website called Revalry, it is supposed to list all the area yarn shops and knitting groups.

We continue to unpack the house. I feel like I made a lot of headway this week in the living room and the office. 70% update--70% would often go out in the Small Wonder State on a harness and leash. He would mostly just go out to the main door of the condo, eat some grass, wretch and then come back in the house. Sometimes he would get brave and walk to the next building, eat some grass and wretch but that was pretty much the extent of it. Well, 70% has been very brave in Palo Alto. He walked all the way around our unit's building. He walked to the courtyard and through the garden. He has done that twice. The last time we went out he was spooked by an unattended dog that barked at us. NOT COOL. That unattended dog is frequently unattended and it isn't supposed to be that way.

Birthday Adventures. What a fun weekend we had. Friday night The Girl wanted to head out for some dinner, so we went to a nearby spot for Mexican. DEE-LISH-OUS!!! As we were driving home, The Girl remembered an ice skating rink we saw while we were visiting in the summer. Yes, an actual ice skating rink here in Northern California. We found it. I grilled the teenager who was working the front desk, he was a sport. I think the whole think was hysterical. The skaters were going around and around the rink (too small to be a hockey rink, perhaps a little three on three but no more than that) with their winter coats and scarves, I was wearing open toed shoes. Lights were up, the whole nine yards. And of course I asked if there was a Zamboni --there is!!! How fun is that?!?!?

On our way home from dinner and the ice skating rink The Girl spotted a full size nativity scene at a Lutheran Church. Let's hear it for the Lutherans!! Those of you who know me already know how this story ends . . . me in the nativity scene! FUN! And with my snazzy red jacket I matched the color scheme. I am sure you'll be able to pick me out.









Saturday we did a little sight seeing to a place called Half Moon Bay, it is about half way between us and San Francisco. I think is a famous surfing spot. We drove and man did we drive! I felt like we went over mountains, I am pretty sure we didn't but there were some crazy hills. I will have pictures of that later this week, we took pictures with the good camera, the shots so far have been from the iPhone. After our sight seeing we came home and had some yummy home made pizza followed by individual desserts from that fantastic place on University Avenue Satura Cakes http://www.saturacakes.com/ The Girl had a flourless chocolate number and I had something they were calling NY Cheesecake. Not NY Cheesecake but really quite delicious. Today we laid low but this evening we went out for dinner/dessert. I had already had a bit to eat so I got dessert and The Girl needed some real dinner. Tonight we went to Coupa Cafe a neat little Venezuelan spot http://www.coupacafe.com/ . There were noodles in a boulanase sauce for The Girl and a crazy chocolate mousse number for me (The Girl helped after her noodles) as amazing as the dessert was I failed to photograph it. Unfortunate because it was really a thing of beauty. But we did photograph the spicy hot chocolate . . . see the cup in the foam??
Pretty.

Tomorrow The Girl continues to ready for her meeting this week. I will be making some calls about nursing programs. I had a meeting this past Friday with one of the community colleges who has a program I like. It isn't looking to good to get into a program any time soon. We are broadening our options, hence the calls tomorrow.

I will work on posting some pictures this week from our adventures. Again, thanx for the calls, notes and cards!

The Homosexual Agenda

I have, in the not so distant past been called an abomination to society. I have been told that my life and my behavior is a crime against God and nature. I have been told that I should repent because tomorrow could be the end I will burn in hell for all eternity. It sounds pretty dramatic, but sadly it is true story. Like a lot of gay folks, I have been hollered at by strangers on the street (unrelated to the comments above), once I had things thrown at me by a passing car and once I ended up as part of altercation on the streets of Philadelphia where the police were called. I was the only one who got a ticket in that altercation, though I was the only one who had not pushed, shoved, or used inflammatory hateful speech. I later had to deal with the Philadelphia Police department over the incident. All of that, for just living my life. Thankfully and I guess by Grace alone, I have never been a victim of physical violence because of being gay, aside from being shoved on the street.

What brings all this up?

I drove through San Francisco today and through the Castro District and saw firsthand the propagation of the insidious gay agenda. Yep, right there out in the open on the street. I saw two Dads leaving a Christmas tree lot with their little girl; one little happy family making their way in the world. There was a Dad at each and of the tree and the little girl, maybe 4 or 5 years old, stood by the point of the tree as they waited for the light to change. The little girl was holding tightly onto the branches of the tree and she seemed pretty pleased. I thought about that little family almost all the way home. I thought about the plight of that little girl and what her future might hold. At the time I didn’t know if California had Second Parent Adoption Laws (SPA) So if the Dad that adopted her meets an untimely end before she is 18 she will become a ward of the state or perhaps the grandparents will take legal custody of her leaving her other Dad, the Dad that took care of her every single day without any legal recourse. Perhaps the second Dad meets an untimely end, that little girl will not have access to any death benefit (through the government), she will not have access to any sort of social security or pension. And benefit that will pass to her will have to have been privately set up using a private lawyer at the expense of the Dads, and I think it will all be taxed in some nutty way. If that couple splits up, it would be by the grace of adoptive parent that the little girl might ever see her second Dad, remember, that second Dad has absolutely no rights.

Well, it turns out that California does have SPA laws, it happened in 2004. California was the 9th state to approve second parent adoption by statute. While there are a handful of states that have SPA not all of them are as well established as CA. Colorado, Connecticut and Vermont have some pretty strong laws on the books that permit SPA. There are 22 other states that have laws permitting SPA but those have been established at lower courts. 17 states are unclear on SPA and 3 have flat out banned SPA. Of course, four sates as of this November made it illegal for gay folks to even adopt Florida, Arkansas and Mississippi and Utah. (http://tinyurl.com/theagenda ) What does that say? Those four states would rather have children languish in the child welfare system than find a permanent home? That’s a pretty unfortunate perspective especially because I don’t think any of the states that ban gay adoption are overwhelmed with resources to care for those children.

That’s it. I am done with my soapbox. It is just so disheartening to, again and again, see legislature strong armed by religious organization’s books of faith. Isn’t there some sort of separation? Don’t we all pay the same taxes? It’s just disheartening.

More

Crazy tree in park.

More early morning sight seeing

The Seven Sisters

8 am sight seeing

Coit Tower atop Telegraph Hill.

Kitty Adventure

70% explores native vegetation on an afternoon outing.

Anything that can go wrong . . .

. . . typically does. And that folks, was how I was going to start today's post, with a list of all the crappy stuff that's happening. But I am not going to do that because that is no way view the world around me.

Instead of starting with set backs that happened this week, I'll start with the wonderful things that happened this week.

• My school semester is ending this coming Friday and I will finish with an A in each of my classes.
• The Girl is enjoying work, she has had many meetings this week and is headed off to a conference in Indianapolis (where it is 45-50 degrees colder than it is here ~ send her warm thoughts, I mean that literally "warm" thoughts) where she will make nice with other scientists, show off her big brain and fill everyone in on why her lab's product is an awesome resource.
• Native plants are still blooming, and I get to see them as I walk and ride about town.
• We went for a walk today on a new path with new and different trees that smelled quite wonderful.
• As photographed earlier, 70% is now heading out to the path on a leash he is generally well behaved. As in the Small Wonder, he continues to be alarmed by other people and cars but also as in the Small Wonder state when he gets a-scared he runs right back to the door to the house and not off in a crazy direction. 70% is much smarter than he lets on.
• A friend from the East was in San Fran this weekend for a work conference and The Girl got to meet up with her for a visit, very fun.
• It took me many days and many tries but I finally got the DVD hooked to the television in the correct way ~ the Netflix movies have already arrived!!!
• There is wireless Internet in the house and it is AWESOME. Awesome. Did I mention it was awesome.

So, there have been some setbacks this week. But I have to think that they are just irritating bumps in the road. It was a bumpy week, but here's hoping next week goes more smoothly.

Peace

Twin Peaks and China Town

OK, so if anyone remembers the crazy show Twin Peaks, I don't think this is the same spot . . . though it may have been nearby?? There was no amazing pie and no midgets having weird dreams.

Saturday after hanging out with K and C we headed up to Twin Peaks, it is just what it sounds like, a mountain ( large hill?) with two peaks which, on a clear day, offer amazing views. We had a clear day but it was late in the day. We drove instead of walking to catch the last bit of light. Well, let me be the one to tell you, I am not sure we would have made on foot. Well, that is not true but it would have been a long, nearly straight up walk and we would have been hoofing it back in the dark. The road wound around and around all the while at a steady incline, we are new the area, man, our lungs haven't built capacity for these vertical climbs!!! We drove. But we have some lovely photos!!!

Then the Girl and I hit Chinatown. San Francisco's Chinatown is the largest in the country. I thought it was the first, but I don't really know for sure. I do know it is the biggest Asian community outside of Asia, I only know that because I had to look it up. We had dinner on the balcony of a restaurant that was in a pretty old building. The balcony was more like the second story ledge that someone put a railing around about 50 years ago that happens to still be standing there. Not sure how stable that railing was but we never had to test its integrity.

It is still a little surreal for us. We are on the other side of the country and we live here now. It's a little crazy. Last weekend we went to a movie theatre not far from the house. The theatre itself was a giant complex yet it was within a small shopping center. The sign for the theatre was humongous and visible for miles from the highway. As we were leaving The Girls said "You know, this sort of reminds me of Disney Land." I had to agree, we figured it was like Epcot and we were in the giant ball. We had a similar experience in Chinatown on Saturday. We ate outside on a second story balcony. We could see all the people below, we were elevated with the store and street lights and could see the lanterns dangle over the street all the way up the hill. That seemed a little like Disney Land too. Epcot of course, in China.

A Visit to San Francisco and Turkey Day

Happy Thanxgiving to all! I hope everyone had a lovely day filled with fun and food! And I hope you had a great and wonderful long weekend!

The Girl and I laid low on Turkey day, Tofurky day as it is know in our house. I make made macaroni and cheese and fresh bread during the day and the thought was that we'd have homemade pizza for dinner. We were way too full to even consider an evening meal. The pizza will be had this week, the dough is in the fridge. I had set up wireless Internet network in the house on Wednesday so Thursday was also a day filled with wireless Internet -- hooray! Of course my old, tired machine is a little slow on the uptake so I still hard connect, but The Girl is very, very happy to have Internet on the Mac.

Two Fun Filled Days in San Francisco

The Girl's childhood friend who lives in Portland was house sitting with her partner in San Fran so we went up for a visit. Fun! The only time I was ever this far west was when the Girl and and I came out to look for a place to live so I had never really had the opportunity to hang out in San Fran. Our friends were house sitting in the Castro district (read: The Gayborhood). We drove from our house, it took only about 45 minutes to get there. Our friends, K and C had been there since Monday and had been walking about the whole city. The told us that San Fran is a mere 7 miles by 7 miles, and let me tell you, they walked it. We only had to walk a bit of it. We headed into the Castro and made our way towards a yarn shop I had heard about from someone I met on my travels, it's called Imagiknit ( http://www.imagiknit.com/ ).

There were some crazy, crazy hills that were just as hard to go down as they would be to go up. The next day (Saturday) there was talk of walking more. From the Castro to Chinatown or Telegraph Hill, neither was crazy far but I was looking up bus schedules faster that you can say "transfer, please."

But on Friday, we walked. We started by going to the nearby downtown Castro District

On the way to the Castro we passed Pink Triangle Park http://pinktrianglepark.org/ a memorial to the 15,000 gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders who were killed during the Nazi regime.

A view from Castro and Market streets of the historic Castro theatre. They are playing Milk, the movie about Harvey Milk's life and murder here in the Castro district in the 70s. I found a link about him at the local NPR web site http://tinyurl.com/6djfzw

Me and The Girl at the Castro, night was falling so we have many shirts on under our coats and scarves to boot. It may be warm during the day but a girl can get chilly in the evening.

Later that evening we saw a memorial march for the anniversary of the murder of Harvey Milk. There were hundreds of folks walking, each with a candle. There were at least 4 helicopters in the air from local news organizations and three mobile vans from local stations. There was a heavy police escort, I don't know if it was for the traffic (it was a large intersection) or for the protesters? The Girl took these photos

The whole weekend was a little like a San Fran food tour. We had yummy dinner from an Elsalvadorian (sp?) restaurant. Vegitarian food for me and interesting beefy items for The Girl. In the afternoon we hit an "UrbanBread" cafe with coffee that was dee-lish. We each had a pastry, too. The pastry wasn't quite worth writing home about but it did remind me that I make a mean blueberry scone and that I should whip some up. The next day we went to Chinatown. More to come on that later and our trip to Twin Peaks.

Goodnight!