Trickery

Mid week last week my husband requested a spelunking day in San Francisco for this Saturday. Spelunking is our term for an un-formulated day of adventure, in which you spend the day using public transportation, hopping off at spots that look good to you, which you proceed to explore. We had not done this for a while so I jumped at the chance, and we set the day aside for exploring. On Saturday we slept as late as we wanted (oooohhh 7:45 so very late), sat about drinking coffee, then agreed to walk the one mile up to the train station picking up breakfast along the way.

We stopped in at a greek dinner and had omelets, then boarded the train to the city. We switched to the BART line, and decided to ride to the Embarcadero station and visit the Ferry Building. Climbing up the stairs to street level we remembered that it was farmer's market day at the Ferry Building. Though things were wrapping up at the market, we spent a little time winding around the stalls in the rain, eyeing cheeses, bread, fruit, and meats. We went and stood looking at the Bay for a while then meandered into the Ferry Building to look at the vendors and scout out a light lunch. We ended up with two superb Acme bread company Salami, butter, and cornichon pickle sandwiches on lovely still-warm french bread and found a table overlooking the ferries to eat.

Chris then proclaimed that he knew what he wanted to do next and we walked over to the Cable Car stop and rode up to Grace Cathedral. Chris had sung there in High School for choir and said he wanted to go see it again. When we arrived there were some signs about a concert happening that afternoon, but we figured we had about 30 min to go inside and check out the cathedral. When we stepped inside Chris headed over to the will call table, and I thought he was going to inquire about possibly buying tickets. But instead he asked for the tickets under our name, that stinker! He totally pulled one over on me! I had no idea that he had pre-planned the whole thing. He didn't let on at all! He even tricked me into eating lunch so I wouldn't be hungry for the concert. It was very tricky, and a lovely surprise. The Men and Boy's choir put on a concert, which was amazing. The space was filled with their incredible voices singing a mix of old and new christmas hymns. I actually had to breath in hard a few times to keep myself from crying, it was so beautiful. Though I am not particularly religious, I came away completely understanding how people could be inspired to fully believe. I was filled with awe from the whole event, and have probably said thank-you to Chris about 30 times in the past 24 hours.

After the concert we walked the Labyrinth outside the Cathedral, then made our way over to North Beach for a visit to the City Lights Bookstore. We browsed for a while and came away with couple of books, then went to a nearby cafe for a beer. We then went to the Stinking Rose for dinner, somewhere I have always wanted to go. This place is a serious garlic lover's dream. they claim to serve over 30,000 pounds of garlic per month. We sat at the window there, people watched, and ate probably about a pound of garlic between the two of us. Then it was off to watch A Christmas Carol in I-Max 3-D at the Metreon Theater. We arrived early got our 3-D glasses and were the first in the Theater. The movie was very, very good and was very true to the book. The 3-D was great, and I can see how 3-D might save the modern movie theater. Then it was off to the last train out of San Francisco of the night, a rainy walk home, and bed. All in all one of the best days ever.

cold snap

The Bay Area has been visited by cold snap, just in time to get us all in the mood for the impending holidays. Monday morning I stepped out the door and was greeted by a definite chill in the air. I hopped onto the highway and looked up to the surrounding hills and was greeted by heavy layer of SNOW(!) glowing white from the tops halfway down the slopes. Amazing and rare. Tuesday morning I spent 5 minutes scraping ice of the car windshield. I stole Chris's covered parking spot last night and avoided ice again today. Working outdoors for 3-5 hours a day in the chilly air (33 degrees this morning) has been a fun difference, though my nose may beg to differ. My goal is to stay warm for the next few days and then zoom off to the desert with Chris on the 19th to visit my Mom and her husband Bob for Christmas. It still gets cold in Tucson, but hopefully we will be able to eat lunch on the porch and hike in the afternoon without bundling up.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween. A fun filled day at work. Pedro the Guide Dog puppy came to work as a criminal (somewhat fitting, somehow); and L was a Police officer. As we work in a blind center, she was actually a officer of the White Cane Police. We have a policy at the center that all students that are legally blind are to carry a long white cane with them at all times when out of their room. This policy is not always 'honored'. Let's just say many people were 'busted', some several times. Everyone had fun with it, candy was handed out to those with their canes, or to those who had 'reformed'. Many of the staff dressed up, I was a detective with a trench coat, hat, and spy glass, there were cowboys, disco queens, and many others.

After debating for the whole week, Chris and I headed down to SLO for Halloween weekend. Chris's parents had out of town visitors and had arranged a trip to Hearst Castle for one of the evening tours on Halloween night. They had an extra ticket, so I got to go along while Chris stayed home to study and hand out candy to the multitude of trick-or-treaters.

It could not have been a better night for a tour of the grounds and house. The 'Castle' was a Labor of love for mister W.R. Hearst and was invite only destination for the likes of Amelia Earhart and Cary Grant in the 30's and 40's. It is a huge house with 3 guest 'cottages' set amongst extensive gardens on a hill-top on the central coast overlooking the ocean. We arrived on the hilltop at sunset and walked through the grounds, through one of the cottages, and the main house. There were many people that were dressed in period costume, lounging in the salons at cocktail hour, strolling the grounds, and even fixing their make-up in the ladies powder room. The weather was divine, warm breeze up on the hill top, clear skies for sunset and for star gazing, moonlight for the gardens and pathways. It felt like you were almost really back there, during that time, expecting Mr. Hearst to round the corner and challenge you to a game of pool at any moment. I highly recommend the evening tour here if you are ever in the area, it is unbelievable.

A boy and his dog

Living in the Bay Area, finding a place to live that allows a dog over 25 Lbs that is in our price range is nearly impossible. Therefore when we needed to make a speedy move up here last fall we needed to leave our dog with Chris's parents, down in SLO. Now don't feel bad for us, or the dog, as he is living in English Cocker heaven with Chris's Mom who breeds and trains them as a love and hobby. She has taken Dusty on as an obedience dog and has been cleaning up at dog shows with him all over CA. So when we heard that he would be nearby (Pleasanton) for a show we scooted on over for a visit. As you can see, both Dusty and Chris were thrilled to see one another. Many scratches and cuddles were shared, walks were had, and Dusty marked us both with several slobber 'trails' on shirt sleeves and pants legs. Hopefully in the spring or summer next year we will find a reasonable place in the area to live that will allow us to have Dusty permanently living with us. Until then we will happily share 'custody' and visit him in SLO.

Catch-up

Hmmm........ appear, disappear, appear, disappear. Sorry! Here is a list of a few things I have done in the past month:

- Cabining with friends. Spent loads of time on the dock, in the lake, and hanging out with my husband and close friends on the last weekend of the summer. Loved it so much that it may need to become an annual tradition.

- Wading up the 'falls' at bass lake, water as cold as just melted ice, cool rocks, pebbles underfoot.

- Birthday tea party at a friend's loft. Tea sandwiches, scones, and real tea-cups. Twin three year olds thrilled with a real tea party to watch at our table.

- Another attempt at Bikram Yoga up in the City. HOT, Sweaty, and not really prepared. At least I had friends to make eye contact with and grimace!

- A visit down to SLO to enjoy the vineyard view, chickens, and dogs. Also a beer at Spike's.

- Getting real about a budget and organizing our finances, painful now, but it will get better.

- Making pizza at home with Trader Joe's pizza dough, less expensive and more fun. No rolling pin? Ok let's use a wine bottle instead, and drink the wine too.

- Sitting down to watch Benjamin Button at home (best movie I have seen all year). If you haven't seen it, please do, it is amazing.

- Losing hours of time window shopping on-line now that I know I don't have the money to spare. Self-punishment, or guilty pleasure.... not sure which yet.

- The arrival of fall. Pumpkins, coats, and scarves. A chill in the morning air.

- Early rain this year, overnight, and hard all day. Walking into the apartment to find water all over the kitchen floor from flooding (fixed hopefully now). A quick trip to Mac's BBQ for comfort food (due to an irrational fear of electrocuting myself with the electric stove should I try to cook dinner).

- Re-learning to ride a bike. Facing my fear of riding with traffic and making my way safely to the library and back.

- Attempting to read Jane Austin's 'Emma'. I like the movies better!

- Seeing my husband walking in the door after class.