Out in the world

It's so hard being the puppy. We went to the vet today and then into Menlo Park for a tug of war toy.

A Thursday

Fun has been had since the last post. The Girl and I are making more of an effort to do fun things outside together. And she has made an effort to do a fun thing outside herself - GOLF! Well, really it is the driving range. Last weekend, no two weekends ago she went out and got a golf club. It isn't a driver but it is some sort of hybrid - I got a brief education on the day of purchase but that information is gone from my head.. Anyway, she goes to the campus driving range at least twice a week and enjoys it. She reports back that some efforts are better than other but that she is improving her skills. Of course she still occasionally reports back that she nearly took out her neighbor with a rouge golf ball, but I am guessing that is part of the process.

This month is my Mother's birthday and it is challenging for me. Part of me is thinking wow, I should really celebrate the anniversary of her birth as opposed to the anniversary of her death, which is only a few months away (time really does wait for no one). So, I am somewhat melancholy.

The kitties are mostly well. Fang is under the weather. She has two enflamed nail beds and is on meds, as a result her belly is upset. But long before all that, Fang was pretty ticked-off at us and had taken to using our bed as a litter box - her normal accommodations are our bedroom where she can be guaranteed safety from the other kitties who want to sit near her and play (she wants neither company nor an activity partner). Luckily, she got moved to the office for poor behavior before the upset belly started, well, perhaps just as the upset belly was starting. Anyway, she is recovering. Other kitties are doing fine. 70% goes outside with supervision and his harness. He mostly hangs out on our little stoop with occasional walks across the path to get to the vegetation. Zig Zag goes outside on a harness and a leash and mostly just sits down immediately. He would lay there for hours if I would stay with him. As it is now he lounges on the balcony for hours coming in only to eat and use the facilities. Charmin is just starting to have interest in going outside. We went out today and it turns out that she is the only kitty that would actually take a walk with me. We made a small loop around the building.

The Girl, as mentioned before, is home for a bit. There may be a trip East in the fall for her. Classes start for me on Sept. 1 so I will be staying local. I am still enjoying work. OH, and I start volunteering up the road at the Ronald McDonald house on the 31st. I am going to do chair massage twice a month. I am looking forward to that. I just had my TB test so I am a walking test tube! No reaction as of yet and I am about 11o% sure it will stay that way.

I have been doing lots of baking lately. There are many breads I'd like to try and make, too. I haven't really done too many breads this month, or even knitting really. I have been working on the same two project for a long time now. I continue to enjoy knitting group, we meet once a week. Lately I have gone mostly to hang out and not so much to knit. I enjoy all the folks I knit with. I am trying to plan a field trip with one of the gals to go check out local baking supply shops! She is a bread baker and a baker in general oh and she does BEAUTIFUL KNITTING WORK.

That's my story for today. I am going to go wash the car. Have a great day.

Adventures

It is a pretty nice when The Girl isn't traveling for 20 days out of the month. She has been home for two whole weeks now and it is always exciting when Sunday night comes and we aren't driving to the airport so she can sleep on a red-eye flight across the country or across an ocean. So, short story long, The Girl is home and we are enjoying California together.

Saturday night we each went our separate ways and then met up in the middle . . . I took a brief bicycle ride and The Girl went to the driving range. After the driving range The Girl suggested we meet in the middle of our two separate locations which happened to be the on campus. Well, we lucked out and found out that the National Senior Games (read: Senior Olympics -- if the Olympic folks weren't such proprietary creeps) are happening right here in Palo Alto!!!

http://www.2009seniorgames.org/ We got there very late so there were no more competitions happening but there was a cover band! The band was from San Fran and they covered 70's music, which I am pretty sure was quite a bit after the band members actually came of age. BUT let me be the one to tell you, those folks were rockin' it! The singers, 3 older women all had sparkly shot dresses and one had a dress with slits so far up the sides I swear we could see her hip. These gals were totally ROCKIN' it!!!!! The athletes and their supporters were all dancing! It was a totally fun scene. We left only because it got to cold and we didn't have our jackets. The event runs through Sunday and we hope to see actual sporting events.

I took the motorcycle up to Napa Valley this week. The whole thing happened quite by accident and I just sort of felt my way there. It worked out fine. I got some wine at St. Supery which is something The Girl and I have tried before and we enjoyed. We can generally find a plethora of lovely wine at the local grocery store and sometimes when we look really hard we can find it for under 4 bucks a bottle. FUN!

Long Time No Talk

It's been months since my last post. A lot has happened. I'll run with the highlights.

The Girl continues to travel the world. She been about domestically in too many places to even remember. Sadly this week she woke up in Bethesda and didn't really know where she was. Kind of a downer. From Bethesda to Buffalo, NY. She should be flying home as we speak but Philadelphia weather got her planes all in a huff and she is hanging out in DE this evening. Since I've last written The Girl has also traveled internationally, most recently to Sweden and, well drats, I have to look it up . . . Germany. Yep, it was Germany in April.

I found a job. Hooray! It is at a fancy pants spa up the road. http://www.sensespa.com/ Right now I am on-call Friday and Saturday mornings and I picked up some other days through the end of August. I will figure out what days are good once school starts up again. So, the on-call thing seemed a little dicey to me when I first got hired but the place is so very busy that I am not worried. So far I have typically done three or four massages per shift. I didn't even do that many massages in school. I can tell you that after my shift my body is a little beat. I can feel muscles in my arms and apparently my third hamstring has been hanging out all these years doing nothing because NOW I CAN FEEL it on the inner back thigh. Whew, folks!

70% who is typically afraid of all things not native to the house caught a bird this week. Yes, I think it was a young bird because folks tell me that now is a period in CA when Momma birds are teaching their baby birds about life ~ but not apparently the dangers of life. The birdie was on our balcony and then in 70% mouth. I got him to release the bird and the bird was shocked but seemingly uninjured. I proceeded to put a bell on 70% collar. Now he mostly hides from the bell, which, unfortunately follows him. You see the rub here, right? He is working on being brave.

We continue to be in awe of our surroundings. The native flowers and weather is still surprising us. It would seem that since Spring started I am passing a new, undiscovered bloom about once a week in my travels. This week I noticed that some of the trees that line our very street have blossomed with red bursts of flowers. Quite lovely.

Since the rain stopped in, well, it stopped a while ago and since it has I have been primarily riding the motorcycle. With the exception of household errands that involve lots of bags I am mostly a motorcycle girl. I like it and while it is fun and cool and even a little sexy it is just not very convenient (gear, preparation, chronic bad hair days and lack of fun strappy shoes), alas, I generally forget all that once I am on the open road and enjoying the natural scents of the area and feeling the breeze. Ahhhh. Oh, and I always score rock star parking.

I have been exploring in San Francisco. I went to Golden Gate Park and tooled around. I hit the Conservatory of Flowers (much like our own Longwood Gardens - the folks at the Conservatory knew of Longwood!), walked many flower lined trails and strolled about. I went back to the park with some east coast visitors last week - FUN!!! We went to the Japanese Tea House and I got to see that famous intersection of Ashbury and Haight - it is a lot like (perhaps exactly like) South Street only there are more relaxed homeless people and the whole block smells like marijuana and patchouli.

That's my story for right now. I'll work on posting more regularly.

Peace

Outside

I am going out into the world. Hat secured; sunscreen on.

How cute is this cat?

How in the HELL did these get back in st

How in the HELL did these get back in style???

Bubbles LIVES!!!

So, I mentioned a sourdough starter last week or maybe it was earlier this week, anyway, I made something with the starter.  It is too soon to make bread with the starter, the mixture has to mature.  I guess, I could make bread as the starter is a week old already but last time we waited several weeks before the bread happened.  Regardless, I made pizza crust.  We haven't tried it yet but it looked and rose just like pizza crust should after I baked it.  Why pizza crust?  Well, every time the starter gets fed, half of the starter is supposed to be chucked.  The idea is that the starter doubles between each feeding and it doesn't take very long to have way too much starter!  But rather than chuck it, it is useable flour and water after all, there are other bread products that can be made - like pizza!  I also came across a recipe for english muffins, I don't know how brave I am for that one but I'll see how it goes.  Some photos: 

Other Fun Stuff

The Girl and I headed out into the world last night.  We went over to campus in the early evening because we wanted to see the Pacific 10 Women's Gymnastic tournament or final, I don't remember which one, it was a big game..  Coolness!!!!   But, we realized we were missing it hours after it started, SAD.  By the time we made it to campus, drove about to try and find the right building and parked, the event was practically over.  As we were walking it started to rain, then it started to rain heavier.  We opted instead to go to Men's Water-polo (That was The Girl's idea . . . water-polo???).  Alas, we got to the water-polo, the rain was coming down heavier (outside venue) and the that event too, was wrapping up.  A passerby told us that the next even was Men's Volleyball at a nearby building.   Off we went!  We ended up seeing Stanford play California Baptist (really, I am not making that up).  I had never been to a volleyball game that didn't involve folks playing just to go to the pub later with the team, as you can imagine the level of skill far exceeded what I was used to seeing.   Stanford got beat swiftly but they played well.   Fun was had by all and it didn't take us very long to find our car, which was a bonus.  But really, it was a pretty enjoyable adventure.  We hadn't been to that part of campus before so it was nice to see.

Ma'am and Wonderful Smelly Things

OK, so it seems like an odd subject line, here's the story:

I was on campus yesterday getting a tire on the bicycle fixed and a college student handed me a flyer and called me "Ma'am."  Well, that took the wind out of my sails, folks.  So sad.  So then it hit me, I am getting old.  I am more likely perceived as someone's Mom or a teacher on the campus than a fellow student.  Oh well, these are the breaks I guess I'll be picking up some skin firming moisturizer and scheduling some botox this afternoon. (OK - that is a total lie - I'll be doing neither)

Wonderful Smelly Things:  Two fold, also Pretty Things!!!

So, the weather has gotten a little drier and I have been riding the motorcycle and bicycle more often.  I took the motorcycle to knitting circle this week, which means I drove north on 280 heading towards San Francisco.  Remember, there are mountain ranges on nearly all sides of us, barring the side with all the water.  So, I am riding up the highway and off to my right is a mountain range with a ridiculously dense layer of fog rolling into it's upper portion.  The sun was setting so the sun was just above the clouds/fog; the view reminded me of being in an airplane above the clouds watching the sun set.  It was really quite beautiful.  Further up the road, as I approached my destination, not far from San Fran,  the sky went from blue and white to dark and grey and the temperature dropped probably by 5 or 10 degrees.  You can tell a lot when you ride in elements :-)  Anyway, it is surely and most definitely colder and foggier as one travels towards San Fran.  Riding home that evening I notices something totally different.  Even though I was on the highway, it smelled wonderful.  Each town that I passed had a different scent, it was AWESOME.  Some smelled like flowers, some like woods, of course there was eucalyptus, some had scents I can't even describe but they were lovely.  LOVELY.

The next day I rode the motorcycle to school.  I cross a bridge to get to the other side of the bay and on the other side of the bridge, you guessed it, are more mountains.  Well, there is a series of hills, hills big enough to be mountains to me, awfully close to the bridge.  Most days it is just a pretty green series of hills on this day, the entire hillside was full of sheep.  Actual sheep.  Sheep milling around, eating, hanging out, chatting it up.  Of course my first thought was -- imagine the cool yarn -- but my second thought was OMIGOD hundreds of sheep 10 miles from the house.  It wasn't quite as funny as seeing the cows standing on what seemed like a very high incline on the mountains by school, but it was pretty awesome.

Bubbles is Back

So, many of you may know that I created a Sourdough starter last January.  She lived and thrived for many, many months; some of you may have even gotten some sourdough bread.  In the move the starter was lost, by the time she made it back to us she was long dead.  I tried to get some of the original starter by contacting folks who had gotten a bit of her to work their own magic, alas, each person killed Bubbles (Bubbles Saccharomyces was the starter's name - I was taking Microbiology at the time and learned the scientific name for yeast, Saccharomyces is the genus name for yeast and thought it would be a riot to include it in the name of our starter).   I again started a starter, the first time I started her and promptly ignored her; turns out that yeast does grow fungus.  So is that yeast on yeast or is fungus different from yeast???  I don't recall, Microbiology was a whole year ago . . . .    Anyway, the second time is the charm.  It only took a few days and the sourdough starter is showing signs of life.  All we have to do is feed her twice a day for a month  --- you see the humor there, right?  I do think it is a little funny that we will have sourdough starter so close to San Francisco.  If you are interested, here is the link where I got the info on the sourdough starter back in January '08  http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.html  

Other snippets:  Well, there aren't too many other snippets.  The Girl is mad crazy busy at work. She will be traveling about in the next few months, one trip to Berlin and then a couple of trips to the East (Boston and the D.C. area).  I am in school; I have mid-terms this week so that is a little nerve-wracking.  We haven't gone any adventures since my last entry but we are considering another night swim this week. The weather is starting to change just ever so slightly.  There is more sun than rain these days. The rain still happens, and often a day will start cloudy, if it stays cloudy well, you just don't know if the rain will come or not.  I started seedlings for plants and herbs.  The seedlings I started in the house are sprouting just fine but the ones I left on the balcony never made it.  I guess it was still too cold for them.  I'll try again at the end of the month.

We are bicycling as much as ever.  Last week, for the first time I strapped groceries to the rack on the back of my bike.  I have two baskets but I got a bag of sugar and a bag of flour and that seemed sort of too heavy for the basket that already had milk and stuff in it.  So I strapped it to the rack on the bike, I felt like a real tree-hugger that day.  

Well, happy day!!!

Some Photos

Here are some shots of Spring from the neighborhood.

I haven't put out any food for hummingbirds though I have seen the hummingbirds about.  I think they are here year round.  I haven't seen one close enough to tell if they are the ruby red throated breed that we got in the East.   The birds continue to enjoy the bird feeder, the cats continue to enjoy the birds :-) 

Reality Break

So, I can't really say the seasons are changing in Northern California but I can say that Spring has Sprung. I posted some photos on Facebook and when I post from my home computer I'll be sure to add some Spring photos here, too. We are ankle deep in rainy season. It has been mostly raining for many days. Yesterday ~ GASP ~ I had to wear real socks and shoes, boots even, because the rain was so persistent. It turns out that even with all the rain California is not where it should be in water reserves, there has been a drought for many previous years. Regardless of water requirments met or unmet, the rain continues. The only down side of the rain is that it prevents me from using the motorcycle. No reason to add "wet road" to the list of riding conditions.

I am in school and my classes, like in Delaware, are time consuming but not rocket science (all actual rocket scientist please bite there toungue). I have met a couple of folks in my classes that could turn out to be potential friends, that is good, The Girl and I really haven't met any friends yet so every little bit helps. The nursing program. Well, that is really a bit of a downer. I thought I would be able to apply in April for the nursing program at Ohlone at the very least. Turns out that because I am taking a required math course, I am unable to apply. I had already taken a math course in DE but it doesn't seem to meet the requirements here. So, I won't be applying to any nursing program until at least the fall semester. When I first found out I was pretty sad. But, in the bigger scheme of things it works out just fine. By the time I am applying I will have California residency status and the whole thing will be much cheaper. That's a good thing.

The Girl has been very busy with work these last few weeks. There are several papers and projects happening. The Girl will be traveling all about in late May and April. We did venture into San Francisco a few weekends ago. And this past weekend we went to a movie on campus. The movie was Milk, about Harvey Milk. It was an interesting movie but as I was watching I couldn't help but notice two things. One, the movie could easily be happening today. Two, while some things have changed, some things have stayed the same. It was more depressing than inspiring. But it was interesting to see San Francisco in the film.

As you know I am part of a knitting circle. Well, some of the women in the knitting circle have entire blogs dedicated to just their knitting. I don't have that kind of time or dedication but there is no reason I can't at least post photos of finished projects. I have one project that I photographed only with my phone (I guess I should also start taking better photographs of my work) that I can post now. Here it is, I finished this in March and it now lives with a certain someone we know who is in New Orleans. Somewhat related, this past Sunday was a knitting convention called Stitches (yes they have such things). I have always wanted to go, the convention tours and in the East is always up in King of Prussia, but never got around to it. So, I move to California and I finally get to go to the yarn convention. It was very lovely. There was so much yarn and accouterments to choose from. I was very strong. I purchased a pattern for a hat; I don't normally purchase patterns because there are so many available for free that it seems sill to my to pay for one but this is a really nice pattern and the artist was working the booth so I feel good about it. And I picked up two balls of wool/cotton blend for my first pair of socks ever. Not sure when that will start but it's in the line-up. I am working on a scarf now that will live in Philadelphia and then I have a fashion scarf that will head to Delaware. After that, who knows what's next.

I also have some pictures of 70% on his walks. He hasn't gotten to go out as much as he might like because of all the rain. I honestly don't think he would mind the rain, he would just sit on the dry door mat and watch the rain; naturally I would be pushed out to stand in the actual rain away from the protection of the awning over the door mat. Perhaps I'll be a little more gracious and give it a go. We've put out a bird feeder on the balcony, which is quite popular with the local flying population. The kitties enjoy watching from the window. As a result of the bird feeder there is often a gaggle of birds on the mulch at the side of the house when 70% and I go for our walks. While he likes to watch the birdies from the window, it would seem that he does not enjoy being in such close proximity to the creatures out in the world.

Outing to San Fran for Giggles

So, The Girl and I hit San Francisco last night.  We went to see a musician play in Delores Park (it is right by the Mission District).  The artist was Katie Sawicki  http://www.katiesawicki.com  I heard her at a SisterSpace weekend I went to with RS.  There is a funny story in there if you want to hear it.  Anyway, our outing was a fun adventure; hopefully as summer gets closer we'll venture into the city a little more often. 

As we sat in the coffee house we noticed across the street that there was a steady line of 20 people or so waiting in front of a creamery.  Well, a girl can't let that go by without some inspection.  After the show we crossed the street just as an information gathering adventure, there was no intention of getting ice cream.  We got to talking to some folks who indeed told us that this was the BEST ice cream in San Francisco.  Of course we got ice cream, let me rephrase, I got ice cream.  I got two flavors, salted caramel and roasted banana DEEEEE-LISH-OUS.  The banana was better by far.  As we were leaving we noticed that the line was even longer now,  approaching 40 people long.  Here is the link   http://biritecreamery.com/

Spring is Springing In Northern California

Yesterday on my travels I noticed a tree blooming with small flowers.  It is the same tree that blooms in the East though I couldn't remember the name.  As I was driving home I noticed in the shopping center on the corner that there was a WHOLE ROW of these same trees all in bloom!  I asked The Girl about it and she suggested that they are Dogwood trees and I think she is correct.  I saw a white one in my earlier travels and the rows at the shopping center were pink trees.  BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!!  This morning I saw daffodils!!!!!  Daffodils.  I have been asking folks when it is safe to plant plants and things and no one really had an answer for me.  One neighbor, who self admittedly is a "killer of plants,"  said that she knows when it is time to plant because the stores start selling plants.  I thought "Wow, it really is that simple."  I saw plants for sale this morning at the drug store.  We have some seeds for herbs that I wanted to plant in the house first, I picked up some dirt last week; perhaps that is what I will do today.  I'll work on getting some pictures of Spring.

Silence

I know there hasn't been an entry in a while.  That is for a combinations of reasons, the first of course is time, the other reasons  are even less tangible.  I have been pretty busy working on details for school.  There always seems to be one more paper that is required, one more transcript and one more session that I must attend to participate in financial aid or get a nursing application.  It is a pain in the next and my academic counselor is really not a whole lot of help.  Awesome.  Another reason for the delay was a serious problem with my computer; alas that is all better now.  The last reason for the long span of silence, an probably the one that has the most weight,  is that I just haven't had it in me to write.  It's hard to put it "on paper" when even I don't really know what the heck is happening. 

Happy February.  Hopefully, I'll be back to the blog before March.

Peace.

Kitties

Saturday afternoon nap.

Random Photo

Does anyone else think this is REALLY funny??

Some Photos

I thought I'd post some photos today (this is not at all a way to get out of, putt off or totally ignore dealing with boxes of office supplies and accoutrements - nor should it be perceived as such. LIES ALL LIES)

So this is some of the stuff I worked on last week. In the photos the box of horses does look crooked, I don't think it is crooked on the wall, but now of course, I will have to go check with a level. Drats.

Oh, and we found the box of stuff that decorates the refridgerator! (I am talking about the pictures, not the water bottle on top)

Who Pulled Out the 45s??

So I don't listen to a lot of music on the radio, I haven't in a long time. I know very little about current music or artists. Of course that leaves older music wide open. I heard the song "Another One Bites the Dust" a few weeks ago. I remember that being on the B side of a 45, I have no idea what was on the A side, but as I recall the A side was the side with the popular song, right? So, the vinyls weren't actually mine, the records belonged to my sisters who are 10 years older than me. They had a record player on top of the dresser, I don't know if I was allowed to touch it or not, but I remember playing some of the 45s and lying on the top bunk - not my bed, but I remember it being a cool place to sit. So, then I thought about the 45, and how I might really be at the cusp of folks who don't really know what the the heck that is. I am 36 and I think cassette tapes were the new cool technology when I was a kid. I know I had a Walkman. So kids in their 20s don't really know what cassettes are and I suspect we are pretty close to a generation that won't know what a CD is. That's sort of neat to me.


California Stuff

I am working on getting things sorted to start classes later this month. I have a student ID number and yesterday I took a placement test at the college. Well folks, it turns out I can read and do a bit of math (luckily there was no spelling test). I placed fine. I am meeting with a counselor for registration on Monday. The goal is to take classes that will go towards the nursing program at the two year college (OHLONE) and classes that will transfer to a four year college as I prepare to enter the lottery in April. I have already taken all of the core requirements for the nursing program but there are a few classes that are required here in California that fall outside of the sciences but are necessary for the Associates Degree.

The Girl is at a conference through Saturday. I am trying to get through the last of the boxes but it may be a two person gig. I'll see how it goes.

Ohlone Campus.

View from main campus, i will be attending a different location. Step three of many complete, more to come soon.

Crazy Things Happening in Northern California

IT GOT COLD. Well, perhaps cold is relative but this week for the first time in weeks I had to . . . wait for it . . . it's gonna be good . . . WEAR SOCKS. Yes folks, sad but true. I had to wear actual shoes and socks as opposed to my usual slip on sandals. I know, I can feel your sadness for me from here. Our temperature seems to be in the 50s now instead of the 60s and the rain keeps coming. And while I can handle a little time out in the 50s in my sandals I can't really walk any sort of distance or ride my bicycle. So, shoes for me.

Random unrelated ha-ha. I slipped on a banana peel on the street. No falling, just slippage but it was an ACTUAL banana peel. On the street! There was no laugh track or anything but I did feel a little cartoonish.

This is where I would normally have posted the photos from our trip last week to Muir Woods, alas, the good camera and the storage card within it are in sunny Hawaii. The Girl left for Hawaii this morning. I took her to the airport at 5:15 a.m. I saw the sun come up on the Left Coast today. The Girl made it to the big island on time and without incident. She is there for a conference through Saturday. Don't feel too bad for her, the next conference is in cold Vancouver in February.

It has been a pretty quiet week. The Girl readied for her conference. I hung stuff on the walls around the house. We both unpacked more boxes. We are down to the last 8 or 10 boxes - VERY EXCITING. There were no New Year's Eve festivities. I thought there might be fireworks but in the end we just hung out at home. We had New Year's three hours after all of our East coast friends and family so it was nice to call folks at 9 p.m. and wish them happy New Year.

This week I will be registering for January classes at a local college, that is pretty exciting. The Girl will have a presentation at the conference on Thursday. Yep, that's what's shakin' here.

Peace