Family
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What’s new, pussycat?
(famous black cat image, which I found here) I’m sorry, little blog, for neglecting you so. It’s not that I don’t care about you, it’s just that I don’t care about you as much as I used to. Harsh? Indeed. And I’ve noticed that many of my friends’ blogs are similarly neglected. Not sure what to do about it, but one option might be to, perhaps, come visit once in awhile, write here, and make more of an effort to go visit my blog friends. Sigh. So, aside from pancakes I made weeks ago, what’s new around here? Let’s see… Today is St. Nicholas Day. St. Nicholas was known for…
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Walking with the ghosts of my ancestors…
Last week I went to Massachusetts on a business trip. It was my first time there. While I was there, attending meetings, listening to the CEO talk, working to plan the future of my company, there was a part of my brain that was wandering around outside, looking for old houses and gravestones. See, my great-grandmother’s side of the family comes from that part of the country. She was born in New Hampshire, near the Massachusetts border, and she and her family left for California in 1902. Several years ago, I dug into the world of genealogy, which is more obsessed and time consuming than blogging was 4 years ago…
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One Wedding, Three Babies, and a Funeral
(artwork by Amanda Dagg, found here) Keep beckoning to me, From behind that closed door, The maiden, the mother, and the crone that’s grown old. I hear your voice, coming out of that hole. I listen to you, and I want some more. I listen to you, and I want some more. She will always carry on. Something is lost, something is found. They will keep on speaking her name, Some things changed, some stay the same. ~The Pretenders, Hymn to Her That whole ‘circle of life’ thing is much on my mind these last few days. On Friday, I heard from my dear friend Janet that her father had…
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Friday Randomness
Happy Friday everyone. I went to the grocery store today and got Gen a HUGE chewie thing, which you can see her enjoying in this picture. Had to snap a shot, since she looked so funny with her butt up in the air and her face down on the ground. She loved it. Hope we don’t pay for it later. She has a very sensitive tummy. Tomorrow I’m going with Maya’s scout troop to Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, a place I’ll take over Disneyland any day of the week. The rides aren’t as good maybe, but it’s not NEARLY as crowded, it’s tons cheaper, it’s right there on the beach,…
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Happy Birthday Ted!
Happy Birthday today to my wonderful husband, Ted, who has actually started blogging again! Welcome back, to the same old place that you laughed about, hon. 😉 So yesterday was a lovely picnic lunch with friends and family at a local park, and today he’s crossing an item off of his lifetime, ‘to do’ list, and taking his bike over to the City, and riding it across the Golden Gate Bridge. He loves his bike, so this is the perfect way to spend a little ‘me time’. Ted is a wonderful man, a wonderful husband, and a wonderful father. I’m so very grateful that we found each other, and that…
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Mistaken Identity
My dear friend Cherry is having her baby today…as we speak, she’s going in to O.R. for her c-section, and I’m expecting a call and can hardly contain myself! Breath, J, breath. OK, but of course Cherry having her baby reminded me of when I had my baby, lo these many years ago. I wanted what any new mom wants right then…my mom. So we planned for my mom to fly from Juneau, Alaska (where she was living), to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (where we were living). At this sad point, I hadn’t seen my mom in about 3 years. A few weeks after Ted and I were married in ’93, my…
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Friday Randomness
(This is a lovely hookworm…want this in your intestines? The answer…perhaps. Find out more, below.) I’m behind on this whole blogging thing. I’m behind on my book review, having finished ‘The Night Listener‘ and ‘This World We Live In‘, but I haven’t reviewed them. I’m halfway through ‘Three Cups of Tea‘, but I left it at cheer-leading tryouts last week, and it’s lost, so I went to get another copy from the library. Now I’m finishing up ‘The Bride’s Farewell‘, and then I’ll get back to ‘Three Cups of Tea‘. So I guess you’re going to see a lot of book reviews around here in the near future. I have…
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Happy 14th Birthday, Maya!
Maya is 14 today, so obviously this picture is an oldie but a goodie. I have been thinking about the difference between those times when she was a preschooler, and these times, getting ready for high school next year. Sometimes I miss those times, because she was so sweet and said some pretty funny things sometimes, and if only I had had a blog then….but these times are wonderful and special as well. Watching her grow from a little girl into a teen, not too long from now into a woman…it’s amazing. Seeing the things she’s interested in, that I never was. Seeing the things she doesn’t really care about,…
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Lovely Weekend
(Pescadero State Beach, gorgeous photo found here) This weekend, I joined Maya and her girl scout troop camping at Camp Butano, in lovely Pescadero, California. Pescadero is just south of Half Moon Bay, and we were fortunate to get perfect weather. The girl scout camp at Butano is way off the beaten path, with a creek babbling nearby. We arrived on Friday night, and layed low there. Then on Saturday we went to the beach, where we had a lovely picnic, including a loaf of amazing artichoke garlic herb bread, which was hot out of the oven. We happened to be there as the tide was going out, and there…
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Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone
It’s Wednesday afternoon, and tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. I got up early and went to the grocery store before it got too crowded and insane. Came home and started some cooking. Sweet Potato Pudding? Check. Homemade Cranberry Sauce? Check. Green beans prepped for my favorite green bean dish (green beans, steamed, then sauteed with butter, then tossed with Gorgonzola cheese and toasted walnuts. Yum.) Check. Pumpkin pie and pecan pie purchased? Check. All that’s left to do tomorrow is make my Grandma’s Fruit Salad, put together the green beans, and enjoy a lovely feast with the family. And, of course, stop to think about what I’m thankful for. That is a long…
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Ted is a Good Sport
So for years, whenever I make a batch of cupcakes, Ted likes to amuse the family by cramming a whole cupcake into his mouth. It’s amazing. Today, Maya went to a birthday party, and brought home a HUGE cupcake for Ted, and double dog dared him to shove the whole thing in his mouth. He’s a pretty good sport, so he went for it. WARNING…if you’re eating or drinking anything while watching this video, it may end up all over your computer screen.
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Suzanne Vega ~ Men in a War
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR2o54X61No[/youtube] Funny how things change in life, right? This song isn’t even my favorite Suzanne Vega song, and before I lost my mom last year, it never would have made me think of her. But now. Now, any time I hear it, it makes me think of that horrible adjustment period after she died. Of how confusing the world suddenly was around me. Of how, though I still had (have) so many things and people in my life that were (are) so very important to me, things would never be the same again, would never be right again. I know how it is When something is gone A piece of…
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Friday Randomness
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiNB4epGxK8[/youtube] First off, go see Ponyo. Right now. I’ll wait here. Seriously, we went to see it on Wednesday evening, and we LOVED it. So much that Maya and her friend went to see it on Thursday. And the friend said she now wants to see it again, with her mom. Such a sweet, lovely film. It’s made for perhaps a slightly younger audience than Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, but it’s so charming and delightful, I can’t think of a single age group that won’t enjoy it. That’s two awesome films in one week, and I have to say that I cannot imagine two more different films than Ponyo and District…
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40 Years Ago Today
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B882w2gC22s[/youtube] My mom wrote about the moon landing a couple of years ago, on another moon landing anniversary. I love her story about my Grandpa and his calling it “Wizard of Oz” to believe that man would ever go to the moon. And his graceful recovery for his pig-headedness, 40 years ago today. Click the link and enjoy.
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Sunday Dog Blogging
Regular readers will know that our beautiful doggie, Genevieve has been feeling poorly for awhile now. She isn’t her regular perky self, and we’ve been experimenting with different treatments to try to help her. We’ve had a ton of tests done, put her on pain meds, thyroid meds, and meds to help keep her from peeing on the floor. The thyroid seems the most likely to me, and she was on the meds for about 5 days, but we pulled her off this weekend. Why, you may ask? Well, yesterday Ted woke up to discover dog vomit at the top of the stairs. He cleaned it up, but later I…