Meme Monday – Birthday and Politics

I hope you all had a lovely New Year. We did…I had a four day weekend, to celebrate my birthday on Thursday, and then the New Year on Friday. Thursday, Ted and Maya both had asked for the day off but could not get the day off. She had to work in the morning, and he had to work in the afternoon. So in the morning, Ted and I went for a nice walk with Mulder, then we came home and took showers and so on, and he started work. Maya only had to work a half day, so once she was finished we went to our outdoor mall and stimulated the economy at Sephora. I had a gift card and some birthday money to spend, and I spent it all plus more. It was fun, I haven’t done that in a long time. The COVID precautions were really good. As it is an outdoor mall, we were outside for most of the time. The store itself is limiting the number of customers inside. They have employees in front of the store, and if you know what you’re looking for, they will bring it outside and ring you up there, so you don’t even have to go inside. If you want to go inside, you have to wait. It was honestly the best Sephora experience I’ve had in years, since it is often far too crowded for me, even prior to COVID. We had delicious take out for dinner, and a lot of wine/champagne, and somehow we (at least, Ted and I) managed to stay up until 2am on New Year’s morning. Which I regretted when I was unable to sleep past 7ish. But overall it was a really nice, albeit quiet, birthday.

One of my birthday wishes was to go for a hike in the Oakland Hills, even with a hangover, at a park named Joaquin Miller Park. It’s a big park with a lot of trails. The photo above is mine, not fabulous at all, but does show the nice view of Oakland below and the bay beyond that.

This second photo (not my picture, I found it at a website) is more what I was looking for, a beautiful trail of relatively lush surroundings, redwoods, and so on. So we found the trailhead for this trail, and started our hike. We turned back before too long, though, because it was very steep in places, wet and muddy due to rain a couple of days prior, and some of the steep, muddy, slippery places were at the top of steep embankments, and Mulder was VERY excited and pulling on his leash. So we decided to turn around and find a drier, safer trail to hike. Which is how we found the trail for the first photo, which was wide and paved and dry, not nearly as pretty, but it had the advantage of a great view, and of course of keeping us all alive. Maybe we’ll try again for one of the more covered trails next summer when it is dry, though probably Mulder won’t get to come, as he gets too excited and might cause problems. Too bad, because he really loved all of the scents and sights of the place.

Now this coming week, all eyes are on the Senate election in Georgia on Tuesday, and the increasingly bizarre election in Congress on Wednesday. I honestly don’t know what to say about it all, because it’s so disturbing and disgusting. I can’t believe that these Senators are so desperate to pander to the Trump base that they will throw what little credibility they have down the drain like that. When they could, and should, be working to try to bring the country together, and to assure us that the very elections that put some of them in their current office are safe and fair. It’s insane. And of course the recording of Trump trying to pressure the Secretary of State of Georgia to say he had recalculated in Trump’s favor is so far beyond the pale that it leaves me practically speechless. Except WOW, if he doesn’t go to prison for that, I don’t know why not. Except of course he won’t. We keep hypothesizing that he will resign before the 20th, and Pence will pardon him. The first time Ted or Maya said that, I thought, No, of course that can’t happen. Now I have to say I will not be shocked if it does. These people are completely immoral.

Now, to not end on such a dour note, here are some pictures of flowers that I received for my birthday.

Peonies from my friends Marilee and Paul.

Bouquet from my Step-Mom, Julie, procured by Ted at her request.

Orchid from Ted’s parents.

Lilies, wine, and kisses from my friend Dorothy.

I love them all, and really enjoy having them to remind me that I am loved.