I have this week off from work.  My company doesn’t allow us to accrue a lot of time (120 hours), and yet I’ve been there over 11 years, so I accrue quickly.  When an opportunity comes up to take a few days off, especially if I can time it with a break for Maya, and holidays, I’m happy to do it.  I have another week off for Christmas. So this week, I’m trying to think of what to do with myself.  Ted has to work several days at least.  He’s working as an independent contractor right now, which means, when he doesn’t work, he doesn’t get paid.  Blech.  Maya has…

Take a moment to thank all of the Veterans this Veterans’ Day, for their patriotism and service. There is a sad, lovely poem written during the First World War, by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a Canadian soldier and surgeon, after he witnessed the death of a friend. Lieutenant Colonel McCrae died of pneumonia during the war, in 1918. “In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now…

When I was in High School, the Homecoming dance was Friday night, after the game. We were all super casual, (except of course for the Homecoming Royalty), and we danced in the gym and had a great time. Fast forward to the year 2012, and the Homecoming game is still on Friday (LL 24, D 8…Maya goes to LL, so this is a good thing), but the dance is on Saturday, and the kids get MUCH more dressed up. Not prom formal, but certainly the girls wear what I would call a cocktail dress. The boys wear jeans and polo type shirts, mostly. I wonder if the guys ever do…

Here’s Ted, looking handsome and showing off the beauty that is San Francisco in October.  Seriously, if you ever decide to come to SF, come in October.  It’s the best weather of the year. Yesterday we went in to San Francisco for a few hours.  SF was hopping, with people coming in to see the Blue Angels put on their admittedly fun show of money wasting bravado, the Giants were playing the Reds (go Giants! (stupid Reds won, drats!)), and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park.   Ted has a gig coming up, directing and editing a show for a local TV station, Fresh From the Farmers’ Market, which…

When did ‘average’ become a bad word?  To call your child average is an insult, as would be to call yourself average, your marriage average, your dinner average.  From Merriam-Webster, “a level (as of intelligence) typical of a group, class, or series <above the average>”  Even the dictionary can’t settle for average, they have to say, “above average”.  If average is what most people are, then at some point, we have to admit that most of us are average, and to deny that is to set yourself up for disappointment and failure. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it’s best to settle in and get totally comfortable and…

As you know, I’m trying to blog every day this week, while I’m on vacation, to see how it feels to be more active in the blogging community again. I’m also trying to spend a bit more time reading blogs, and seeing how that feels again. Thus far, I’m enjoying it. It’s kind of like the first time you jump in a swimming pool after a long cold winter, and you think, “Oh yeah, I KNEW I liked this…I wonder why I stopped?” This is a meme I saw over at Simon Says. Simon is another blogger that I’ve met in person…he and his lovely wife Paola and their three…

Whilst dining with Heidi yesterday, she asked me about Walnut Creek, where I live now. I said, “Well, it’s bland (aka, mostly white), and if you want to live in the suburbs, you have to choose between the yuppies and the rednecks…so we chose the yuppies.” Driving home afterward, I started thinking that maybe I wasn’t being quite fair. I don’t think of Walnut Creek as my home town, because I came here as an adult, when I was 30. But I moved a lot as a child, and really, I’ve lived here longer than anywhere else. I lived in Fairbanks for 5 years. I lived in Stockton for 11…