Where we are now

Here we are, at the beginning of the first full week of February, and it’s going to be 75 degrees today. The birds are chirping merrily, the flowering trees are full of flowers, the sun is bright and warm. It would be lovely if only it weren’t so ominous, that this is going to be another drought year. Already, parts of Southern California are in drought. Up here, we’re getting there, again. There is still, surely, a lot of water in our reservoirs from last year’s deluge, but I do wish mightily that our snow pack were deeper. It’s not too late. We could have a wet LATE February (the 10 day forecast is the same as the 5 day forecast, with 0 percent rain for the next 10 days.). We could even have a wet March, though those are less common than wet Februarys. Blech. I read in today’s newspaper that today is the 42nd anniversary of the last time we had sea-level snow in the Bay Area. I remember that day, because it was the only time in my memory that we had snow in Stockton. That was the year we moved back from Alaska, where we had snow and plenty of it. I had no idea that it would be a once in a childhood type thing. I did enjoy it, though my teachers thought I was bonkers for not zipping up my jacket when it was obviously so cold outside.

The same weather pattern that pushes the storms here up north means they pick up cold air, which they then dump on the Midwest and East Coast, so presumably my friends out there are suffering a very different February than we are here. I had to explain to Maya that the groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter because he lives in Pennsylvania. If he were a California groundhog, he would have predicted an early spring. The idea that one groundhog should be held responsible for the weather of all 50 states is ludicrous. It is clearly a job to be shared.

As Ted is still a member of SAG/AFTRA, we again received screeners to view so he could vote. I haven’t watched a couple of them yet, but of the movies I have watched, my favorites are ‘Lady Bird’ and ‘3 Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’. I also really enjoyed ‘The Big Sick’ and ‘I, Tonya’. I love getting screeners. The awards also cover TV shows, so we receive nominated episodes, which is strange, because you get only the nominated episode, not the nominated series/season, which feels disjointed, because it is. Speaking of TV, or at least of Netflix TV, I’ve recently binged both ‘The Crown’ and ‘Grace and Frankie’. I liked season 2 of ‘The Crown’ better than season 1. Season 1 was good, but Prince Philip was so annoying and petulant that it ruined it a bit for me. Perhaps he was (or still is) that way in real life, who knows. Season 2, he’s still a little petulant, it’s difficult to be a man in a man’s world, but overshadowed by a woman. Not as difficult as it is to be a powerful woman in a man’s world, or worse yet, a powerless woman in a man’s world, but still, I can be a bit sympathetic to his frustrations. “Grace and Frankie’ is good, as always. I love both Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin. Ted and I have also been watching the new season of ‘One Day at a Time’, which is great, only because of Rita Moreno. I mean, everyone in the cast is very good, but she makes the show what it is.

This spring will be a big one for us. Maya is graduating from college in May, and we are planning a trip to France to celebrate both that auspicious day, and that this July will be Ted and my 25th anniversary. We had considered going to Italy, but I’m bitter with Italy still, because my Dad died there. Besides, he and my step-mom were there celebrating THEIR 25th anniversary, so I don’t want to push my luck. We’re thinking some time in Paris, and some time out at the coast of Brittany, where Ted has a friend from grad school. The last time we saw him, I wasn’t even pregnant with Maya yet. Crazy. We haven’t made any real plans yet, like hotel or flights, but I think we need to get on that soon. If for no other reason that then, life won’t get in the way.

We haven’t had a real vacation, the three of us together, that is anywhere but to visit family, for about 10 years. I love visiting family, but it would be nice to go see the world a bit as well. Too many times we have planned a vacation (in our minds at least), and then the car breaks down, or we owe money for taxes, or whatever. We always do the practical thing and scale back our vacation, and have a staycation or day trip instead. Not this time.

Speaking of 10 years, it was 10 years ago this month that our lives were turned upside down by my mom’s heart attack, bypass surgery, illness, and death. Well, the heart attack and surgery were February. The rest came later. Then Ted and I both lost our jobs in the recession (thankfully one at a time). Then other things that sucked came into our lives. It was a difficult time for awhile there, and I am very glad to not be in the midst of it anymore. I’m hoping that this will be a good year for us, and of course, for you in your neck of the woods as well. I’ll try to stop by here a bit more often, and your blogs too. I’ve gotten so lazy lately, it’s truly a disgrace. But when the weather is so nice outside, can you blame me? (As if I were outside all of the time, soaking it up, rather than inside, working at my desk, cooking in my kitchen, or watching TV…HA!)