Musings
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Alaska Railroad Adventure
The next phase of our vacation began with a rescue. When I had lunch with Aimee on Monday, she casually mentioned that she had a van big enough to carry all 5 of us and our luggage, and if we needed a ride to the train station Wednesday morning, to give her a call. We dropped off the car on Tuesday evening, and were planning on taking a taxi to the train station early on Wednesday. This turned out to be not as easy as we had hoped, as Ted called company after company, and none of them seemed to have vans or cars big enough for all of us.…
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Visiting the Old Neighborhood
We lived in Alaska for 5 years when I was young, before moving back to California when the overcrowding from the pipeline construction forced us out of Fairbanks. My mom moved back to Alaska, to Juneau, in 1993, and my brother and his wife followed in 1994. My brother and his wife (Richard and Kathy) had never been to Juneau, so it was a huge leap for them to move there sight unseen, but they fell in love with its spectacular beauty, with the cool weather, so different than Stockton and Sacramento, and the slower pace of life in a much smaller town. As did my mom. I have been…
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Home from Alaska!
We flew home from Alaska last night, we had a wonderful time. 11 days, and we went to Fairbanks, Anchorage, Homer, and Juneau. I have a lot to say and am still figuring out how I want to write about it here. I think I will end up making a lot of smaller posts, to avoid overwhelming with a ton of pictures and so on. For now, here is a picture I liked, from Homer. Loved this little otter just hanging out near the boats.
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5 Things Friday
5 Things I’m thinking about lately, in no particular order.
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Feeling Less Tilty
It’s been awhile since I wrote about my vestibular issues, hasn’t it? To recap, last year I went on an amazing trip to France with my cousin. When we returned, I had horrible jet lag, and didn’t sleep more than 2 hours a night for about a week. After that, I started feeling dizzy, like the ground wasn’t quite where I expected it to be. I saw my Primary Care Physician, who said it was likely jet lag, take a Benadryl before bed every night and call her if it didn’t get better. Then there was a period of it getting somewhat better and then much worse again, so I…
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Peach Salsa
Trying to figure out what to make for dinner is a never-ending problem, right? Yesterday was hot, mid-90s, so I didn’t want to use the oven. I didn’t really feel like grilling either, and thought that crab cakes would be a perfect solution. There is a local store here that sells pretty good crab cakes, all you have to do is take them home and cook them. Usually when I make crab cakes, I serve them with green salad, but sometimes a person gets tired of green salad. I knew that I didn’t want coleslaw either, so I did an internet search on ‘what to serve with crab cakes’, and…
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Babysitting Theo
This is Theo, a Keeshond that we babysat over the weekend. He is a foster dog at the rescue where we got both Mulder and Genevieve, Bay Area Keeshonden Rescue (BARK). His foster dad was going out of town for the weekend, and the rescue knew how much we have been missing Mulder, so they asked if we might want to babysit Theo. Theo is 18 months old, and has moved a few times. He came to Northern California from New York, and apparently his most recent family had two other dogs that didn’t adjust to him, so they had to give him up. He’s a very sweet boy, though…
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Miscellaneous Monday
My company extended our 4 day workweek through 2023, so Fridays are my ‘me’ days. My Friday morning walks are more relaxed and meandering than the other weekdays, since I don’t have to be back and at my desk by 8:00. I enjoy them, but not as much as I did when I had Mulder to accompany me in exploring our town. Le Sigh. This last Friday, I had an appointment at 11:00, after which I took myself to lunch, where I enjoyed a lovely grilled asparagus salad with a delicious biscuit and a glass of Sancerre. I finished up my chapters of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn for Engee’s…
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Gaslighting
Were you sucked in a few years ago, as I was, by the Serial podcast? They have a new season, The Retrievals, which is about a group of women who were treated for infertility treatment at Yale medical center. It’s riveting. So far there are 2 episodes, and I am hooked. These women all experienced extreme pain during their treatment, and all were ignored. Every single one of them, no matter that they spoke up (some yelled) during their procedures, and followed up. And typical of how gaslighting works, some of them began to think that the issue was indeed with them. Perhaps the fact that they were in pain…
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Throwback Thursday
I found this picture of me, circa 1987 or 1988, when going through shoeboxes of photos for Ted’s slideshow the other day. The picture tells me some very specific things about time and place. 1. Very likely this picture was taken in the summertime. I’m on the Golden Gate Bridge between San Francisco and Marin County, and you can see the fog below the bridge. Also, I’m wearing a long sleeve shirt (You can’t tell this, I just remember the shirt.) and a long black wool coat. Have you ever heard the (not actually) Mark Twain quote, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”? That’s…
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This is Us – 30 Years In
Ted and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary today. Sometimes I cannot believe it has been that long, but then I look in the mirror and realize that we are getting older, and I guess it makes sense. We met in 1987 at San Francisco State University. He was a Film major, and I was an International Relations major, and we were taking one of the required classes, Speech 150. It was not love at first sight, he thought I was a spoiled rich girl, and I thought he was full of himself. As time went by that semester, we got to know each other a bit more. I met…
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Songs About Relationships
I’m not sure if I have mentioned it here before, but my husband Ted has a music podcast, Planet LP, which has morphed over the years. When he first started as a way to entertain himself and stay creative in the early days of the podcast, he talked about music and books. Then he took on a cohost and the format turned to music only. Eventually, his cohost realized that he was too busy for the commitment, and is now an occasional guest. At one point Ted’s podcast was once a week, but when he started at his current job, he realized he had far less down time than his…
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Land Mines
This morning I woke up from a disturbing dream. I was sitting at an outdoor cafe, and my friend Katie, along with some family and friends, walked past on the sidewalk, pretending that they didn’t know me. I caught up with them, and asked one of the friends what was wrong, why was Katie mad at me? “Because you didn’t bring a gift to her funeral.” Oh. Rats. I should have done that. Wait, I DID bring a gift…I brought a framed photo of Katie and Janet and me. Perhaps my card with the gift had gone missing. I was so sad to have Katie mad at me. Later, her…
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Friday Thoughts
I saw this sad little vase of flowers on my sad lonely walk the other morning, and it felt right to me. I feel flat and sad without Mulder. It’s been two weeks now since he died. I know that we did the right thing, but gosh, it still hurts. It is, however, getting a little less painful, a little easier. I no longer expect to see him when I come downstairs. I no longer think he will come put his chin on my knee and beg for dinner every day at 4:30, knowing that dinnertime isn’t for another 1/2 hour, but hoping against hope that I have forgotten how…
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Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day turns bittersweet when your mother dies. A day to celebrate her when she is not here, it is difficult. I miss my mom every day. When I had Maya and became a mother, I felt a different bond with my mom than I had had before. I understood her more. She gave me such grace and understanding, laughed with me, gave me guidance. She was proud of the mother that I became. I don’t think there is anyone in your life that will love you as unconditionally as your parents, with the possible exception of your child or your dog. I am very thankful to have had the…
