Today it was ghastly hot. Santa Ana winds with the smell of ash & smoke on the air. Nearly 90 degrees.
Unbelievable for nearly-November! And the predictions are that it will near 100 degrees by mid-week. Oh my!
But despite the heat outside, the Pacific waters were cold on my toes! In this photo John captured my grimace as the water came up to my calf and it was a kind of delicious pain. :)
Today it was ghastly hot. Santa Ana winds with the smell of ash & smoke on the air. Nearly 90 degrees.
Unbelievable for nearly-November! And the predictions are that it will near 100 degrees by mid-week. Oh my!
But despite the heat outside, the Pacific waters were cold on my toes! In this photo John captured my grimace as the water came up to my calf and it was a kind of delicious pain. :)
The family at the Hotel du Levant a few years ago. Wearing my way-cooler-than-jaime-somers bionic leg.
Ahhhh,……Paris!! :)
One of my more illustrious ancestors–a former governor of New York.
I’m not seeing much of a family resemblance. Heaven knows I didn’t inherit his hair! (and what’s truly amazing about his ‘do is that was long before the days of the carefully-crafted bedhead look…makes me wonder if he didn’t have some special tin of bear grease pomade on his bathroom counter…)
On second thought, his eyebrows might look just a bit like mine when my tweezers have gone missing for a few weeks…
CatGirl to me, upon seeing a ratty teabag packet lying on the ottoman:
“Mom, why is there a Lipton teabag lying there?”
“Oh, it fell out of my tote–I keep an emergency teabag in the side pocket just in case of a tea emergency” [Note: it lives in the pocket along with a few tampons and a few squares of Moonstruck chocolate….]
“But Mom,…LIPTON?” She says, disgust evident in her voice as she raises her nose in the air and points to the offending teabag.
“I know, I know. It would have to be a true emergency for me to drink that vile stuff…”[Note to self: replace emergency teabag with half-way decent teabag ASAP]
People:
I am sitting on a downtown street in San Diego after a full day. And I am blogging. Using someone’s wireless (thank you anonymous wireless hookup) and my laptop. Too Cool!
Had a full, full day: San Diego Friends Meeting, Clair de Lune, Balboa Park (The Museum of Man–why is is just about men? I cannot figure that one out! Because WO-MAN would somehow be too titillating shown in all of her anthropological glory??), the Botanical Garden, a Bonsai Show, and much time walking hand-n-hand with my sweetheart and glorying at the curiosity and beauty of my kiddoes. All in all, a glorious day. San Diego, you rock!
So GameBoy just brought me dinner so I will sign off now and get my fingers greasy. Fish tacos. YUM!
My Labor Day was chock-full of labor (and HEAT–the hottest day so far this month!).
We are oh-so-close to being fully unpacked now. Today we learned that the track shelving that was going to store so much of our stuff was not meant to be–there were no wall studs anywhere near the only place we could hang it and drywall anchors just pulled right out as soon as shelves were laid on the tracks. Ah well. We’ve found places for nearly everything anyways. :)
When I put clean sheets on the bed today I replaced our typical white matlesse spread with a spread of pale peach silk (made from some remnants given to me by a friend awhile back). I am hoping that sleeping in silk will somehow make this hotter-than-hades night bearable….
Note: this hibiscus photo is from a hike up a hill (the only place to park my car!) in Laguna Beach last weekend. LB has the loveliest cottage gardens!! :)
My big sis owns the home where my father grew up. It’s a thrill to wander around the backyard and to flashback to when grandma and grandpa lived there. The far rear of the back is especially memory-full. There is where grandpa kept his pigeon coop. And there are the remains of an old gate and a hodgepodge of fencing. I suspect it was originally a vegetable garden and was fenced to keep out the family dog. But who knows for sure?
This wee morning glories were climbing on the remnants of the old garden gate. I’m not much a fan of morning glory in my own garden, but seeing it in grandmas reminds me of sitting in the back porch late into the evening, eating watermelon with aunts & uncles & cousins, swinging on the clothesline, and playing lawn darts (always worried that one of the younger kids would get hit).
A pic from my sis’ living room. I love the colors and am green with envy at the fine art on display in her home (this is a Picasso lithograph that hangs over her fireplace)!
I want to make my own home inviting–filled with spaces that inspire creativity and celebrate life.
But for now I am just focused on unpacking.
One box at a time….
People:
Guess what? I have just volunteered myself for that special kind of HELL called MOVING.
Yes, our little family is moving to a slightly larger space because I need a bathroom that’s modified for disability access. My past few major falls/accidents have occurred in bathroom spaces and I’ve just finally come to accept the fact that I need a bit more space and the security of grab bars around toilet and shower. So we are trading in our 675 sq ft place for a whopping 850-ish sq ft. It seems HUGE to us.
And not to worry–we will be easily found just across the street from our former digs. And when we are out of HELL, you are all invited to a ginormous housewarming party (details to come soon)!! :)
Note: this will mean that our filing cabinet will no longer be in our mini-kitchen. How weird will that be?? It will also mean retro orange-y countertops–just perfect for my yellow kitchenaid!
After a week of family togtherness (aka my family reunion), I’ll be on my own (sans John or the kiddoes) until Friday night. Not sure what sorts of adventures I will have, but I’m sure they will be good ones. [Note: I’ll be spending much of my time at the Sunstone Symposium, so it’s not like I’ll be _totally_ on my own…]
Today I ate cookies for breakfast. How’s that for a nice segue into some solotime??
Have been road trippin’ for the past few days and now am settled in a cozy basement room with Aunt Suz’s big mancat purring at my feet (and counting myself quite lucky!).
The adventures of the past few days are too numerous to recount here, but a few highlights:
-flash flooding throughout southern Utah. Mud. And rivers of water. And the heady heavy scent of rain in the desert.
-fresh peach pie (heavy on the fresh part), so good that it melted in my mouth
-giggling neices and nephews. Seeing GameBoy and CatGirl watching over their young cousins.
-the familiarity of Mom’s new home, our old futon couch, and looking into a sibling’s eyes and seeing so many years of shared experiences reflected back at me.
-taking pictures of the sunset over the mountains as we drove through Sardine Canyon. Loving the wind blowing in my face as I held the camera steady in the window.
-Clouds. The ever-changing splendor of the Cache Valley sky.
