(44 graphic found here) Today is my birthday, and I’m turning 44! I’ve always kind of liked the 11 birthdays, when the two digits of your age are the same. Which got me to thinking about what I was doing at these different stops along my life so far. When I was 11, we were living in Campbell, CA. It was probably the worst year of my childhood, though not for any definable reason. All I know is, we were all pretty miserable and stressed there. The kids were kind of snotty, but I made a good friend. I liked my teacher. Richard was in jr. high and having a…

(picture courtesy SFGate.com) We got a dusting of snow on our local mountain ranges last night.  We often get one or two dustings a year on Mt. Diablo (shown in the picture – this is actually the hills at the base of Mt. Diablo…the top is covered in clouds right now.  Cherry found a webcam, so if you look soon, you might see the whole thing here…Thanks, Cherry!), but rarely as low as this.  Some places as low as 350 feet got a bit of snow.   Sadly for us, we live lower than that, so we just got rain.  Still, it’s nice to drive around and see it in…

Today we did kind of an amazing thing.  Maya is taking a class in school called “Teens Around the World”, which I would describe as sort of a Global Studies class, where they learn about how people, mostly children and teens, live in other parts of the world.  They are learning a lot of compassion and caring, and are sometimes moved to tears.  They are thankful for what they have.  They want to share with others who aren’t as fortunate. In this spirit, the class decided they wanted to put together lunches for the homeless, and deliver them to people on the streets of San Francisco.  So we parents donated…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFnIP2NT5Yc[/youtube] I guess I’m not doing NaBloPoMo this year, huh?  Figured that out already, haven’t you?   Also, it’s starting to look like I probably won’t finish my book challenges for this year.   I mean, I might, but I’m just not sucked into reading right now.  More interested in sitting in front of the TV most nights.  Pathetic.  And my passion for blogging is at a low point right now.  Not terribly interested in reading, not terribly interested in writing.  None of it.  Pathetic. I’m afraid I’m boring the hell out of you.  I mean, so many bloggers right now are singing this same tune.  Not motivated, miss the heyday, think…

Just saw this video on Suebob’s blog, and I had to share.  Nothin’ like doggy love, is there? [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysKAVyXi0J4[/youtube]

Friday morning, and instead of exercising like I should, I’ll write a post. Good thinking, right? So, what’s up in the world of J and her family, and the world at large? Genevieve is still blind. Not that that’s going to change. We still don’t know if she has Cushing’s or not, and if she turns out to have it, we’re not sure what we want to do about it. Blech. Last Saturday was Diwali, and after a day in the City that included a trip to the Conservatory of Flowers and some yummy crab melts, we put on our salwar kameez and went out to have a lovely puja…

That I stopped enjoying earthquakes. Before October 17, 1989, I thought earthquakes were mostly fun. The surprise of it all. The wondering if it might get worse, which it never did, so there’s that danger that’s not really dangerous feeling in your stomach. The feeling that for at least one brief moment, everyone in the area is thinking the same thing at the same time. Turn on the radio, and suddenly instead of baseball or politics or celebrity gossip, everyone is talking about the earthquake, trying to figure out how big it was, etc. It’s kinda cool. (San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge) But that one was different, obviously. Instead of…

By not watching TV during the day time. Or being near a computer. Thursday is my day to deliver meals for Meals-on-Wheels, and this week I was training a new person, so I didn’t hear the story of the boy being aloft in his family’s homemade hot air balloon until it was well under way. The last house on my route, the woman asked me in to watch, and there was the balloon, at about 1,300 feet. Colorado had a lot of snow over the last week or so, so I’m guessing that high up would be really, really cold. I don’t know about oxygen. My heart sank for that…

(picture found here) Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends and family!  I say family, because Canada clarified their regulations recently, so that all you have to do to prove your citizenship is to show your birth certificate, that you were born in Canada.  Which Ted was.  Yay Canada!  So tonight, for dinner, I’m thinking Stuffed Turkey Rolls, yams, cranberry sauce, and salad.  Fun, huh? Maya has the day off of school today, for Columbus Day.  I have the day off of work for the same reason.  Poor Ted, the Canadian in the crowd, has to work.  Not fair, really.  It’s a good thing that Maya has the day off, though,…

(picture found here…wish I had at least been jumping…) So I fell off a horse last Saturday morning.  (Stupid horse…)  It wasn’t anything dramatic or crazy, like being bucked off or doing dangerous jumps, or riding a crazy horse or anything.  Just him zigging and me zagging and me not holding on like I should have, so I lost my balance and fell.  Damn, that really hurt.  REALLY. HURT. For the record, I didn’t feel like anything was broken, so I got back on the horse, and showed him who was boss.  Made him walk backwards and in the direction he didn’t like.  Not sure it helped.  Helped my pride…

(I couldn’t resist this little kitten…remember those stupid posters that said, ‘hang in there baby’. HA! Anyway, picture found here.) My bloggy friend Michelle wrote a lovely post yesterday about things that she has learned after her husband was laid off from his job 6 weeks ago. One of the things she mentioned learning was that now she knows what to say to people when they are going through something similar. She’s always been caring and concerned, but now she really *gets* it, you know? The worries and fears and shame that so often go along with such a thing. That struck me, because since losing my mom, I also…