Isn’t that a beautiful graphic? It’s been raining here, a bit, and I’m hopeful that the high pressure system that has been over California for the last few months may have broken apart, and we may get some relief from our drought conditions. I don’t know what this means to the Coho Salmon, which may go extinct in much of California, because the rivers have been too dry for them to swim to their spawning ground. I hope the rain doesn’t come too late for them. We’re still taking drought showers, until there is enough rain that the official drought conditions are lifted. Which of course, 2 or 3 little…

I took a bit of a vacation from work (and, apparently, from blogging), which was relaxing and delightful.  We didn’t do any traveling this year, and mostly kept ourselves home bound.  So, what did I do with myself? Christmas was lovely, spending time with family, a delicious feast, wonderful gifts. Then my favorite week, the week between Christmas and New Year, which is mighty relaxing.   So, what did I do with this week of grace?  Let’s see… Delivered Meals on Wheels.  I considered taking the time off from this activity, but discovered that many regular drivers do, so they were looking for volunteers.  So I drove both on the 26th…

Work is crazy busy this week, so I’m just going to jump on in, OK?  Here are a few random thoughts buzzing around in my brain. I have been hearing some of the coverage of the 20th anniversary of the assassination of JFK.  Interesting tidbits…there was a story on NPR yesterday, where they were discussing how much the rest of the country HATED Dallas afterwords.  People having polite conversation with a nearby table in a restaurant, and when they said they were from Dallas, people would get up and leave.  That kind of thing.  I can’t imagine.  I think nowadays we’d be more sympathetic to the residents of a city…

I’m reading the new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and at almost half way in, I’m loving it.  It’s the story of a Nigerian girl who comes to America to get an education, because the colleges in Nigeria keep closing down due to strikes.  She’s getting ready to go back to Nigeria, many years later, and see what the world there has for her…but right now we’re in flashbacks, her college life, trying to live as an American African (different from an African American), trying to pay for tuition and rent and so on.  Trying to overcome her self hatred at some of the things she has done. I’m adjusting…

Here it is, Friday morning.  I’m feeling both happy and sad today, and in a bit of a rush, so I’ll quickly tell you what’s going through my brain, and then move on. Sad.  My best friend’s grandma died this week.  She had a stroke a few weeks ago, and either something else came up, or she had another stroke.  One of my grandmas had a stroke the same week, and is doing fine and fully recovered.  Strange how life is.  (Also, they caught my grandma’s stroke while it was happening, I think, which makes a huge difference.) Happy, because I’m going to Stockton today for the funeral.  I’ll get…

OK, it’s been awhile, so let’s just dive in, OK? Last weekend, we went to a party that was held at the clubhouse of a fairly unique condo complex. I was in love, and Ted was in love on my behalf. This particular condo complex includes about 80 townhouses, 2 to 3 bedrooms, right on the border of Mt. Diablo. What makes this complex different is that they have stables right there on site, for approximately 40 horses. They also have people hired to clean stalls, and they feed the horses. They also have 4 riding areas, one covered, and an area where you train your horse on a lead.…

We decided to start our weekend early, and went out to dinner, and then to the new Star Trek (link is to Ted’s review on his blog) movie on Thursday evening.  I like it when we do something like that during the week…though it can make for a tired Friday, it makes the weekend feel a bit longer.  I enjoyed the movie, and I’m glad we went to see it, but I didn’t LOVE it.  I think they did a really good job, but there was a sense of retreading an old story, rather than going in a new direction. Saturday I decided to get my butt in gear and…

Happy Birthday to my wonderful super amazing husband, Ted!  I got confused last night and wrote, “Happy 38” on our calendar.  That’s 10 years ago.  To celebrate his birthday, Ted likes to go for special birthday rides on his bike.  One year over the Golden Gate Bridge, another year over near Benicia.   This year he wants to ride up in the Marin Headlands.  So I’m playing hookey from work, and I’ll drive in with him.  I don’t even have a bike, so I won’t be riding, but I’ll drop him off on the SF side of the GG Bridge, then I’ll drive over to Sausalito.  I’ll have a nice walk…

This week was Spring Break for Maya, and I decided to take the week off from work as well. I’ve been with my company for 12 years now, with one 5 month hiatus when I was laid off, and I accrue vacation time pretty quickly, but we’re not allowed to have a lot on the books, so I take a random Friday off here and there, but once in awhile I need to take a week off. The week started off busy busy busy. Friday I had errands galore to run, as we had a houseful of teens coming over on Saturday to help Maya celebrate her birthday. Then we…

Happy Friday Everyone!  We finished watching Season 3 of Downton Abbey this week. Agggghhh! How can it be over already? I know, you’re probably saying, “But I’ve only seen 3 episodes thus far, how can you have seen all 7 plus the Christmas Special?” The answer my friend is that I donated money to my local PBS station, and they sent me the DVD. I will not give any plot spoilers, but I will tell you that the LOOK of the show is much better on DVD than it is on broadcast TV. This was a big season in many ways, but I recommend not googling anything, since those in…