January

My favorite month.  Usually quiet, laid--back.  Cold.  A good time to regroup.


This January, however, we hit the ground after the holidays by spending several days in LaVerne (east of LA) helping to move Tom's mom, Ruth, into an assisted-living apartment at her retirement community.  Diana had done a great deal to prepare, already, but we all, then, spent three busy days sorting, packing, unpacking and arranging everything in her new place.  I took only one photo--that of the kids and their mom in her cute, bright living room. 

By the time we had driven back home, however, we learned that Ruth had been stricken by a stomach flu (ack), which quarantined the whole facility for the next week.  Nice welcome.  Tom, meanwhile brought a bit of it home in his system.  My simple cold cranked up to sinus infection, so most of the second week of January was spent shaking it all off.  It really felt as the New Year for us began around the 15th.


Oh, yeah, and my birthday is in January.  Near the end.  Last Saturday, specifically.  


After a lovely Thai meal Friday evening, Saturday morning we drove to SF to connect with the kids.  We found Dylan and Emi, first, and we all headed over to the Saturday farmer's market held at the Ferry Building.  Wow.  A mind-boggling array of fresh produce, and other foods, prepared and otherwise.  Did I mention that it was a fabulous day to be outside?  

We (predictably, since it was my birthday, after all) ended up inside at Cowgirl Creamery to stuff ourselves with lovely cheeses of many sorts.  I had a melted-cheese sandwich of their Wagon Wheel cheese, melted while the cheese was still a part of the big cheese wheel, then scraped off onto the bread (see the poor pic of the process).  Well.  We shared several other tasty dishes, as well.  See how happy we are?

Afterward, we made our way over to Golden Gate Park (one of my favorite places on earth).  Rachel and Mike had biked over from their place.  We chatted in the sunshine, for awhile, then checked out the view from the tower of the DeYoung.  Did I mention that it was a superlative day? 

Upon leaving the DeYoung, we crossed paths with Kanga-guy.  He was hopping around on this interesting footwear.  Special pants, too.  We intersected with him twice more in our short time in the park.  He might have been showing off just a little.  Still, I have to admit that I would love to try those things...

Over at the Conservatory (which had, alas, just closed as we arrived), Rachel and I showed off our own footwear, which happened to match perfectly.  That's because I had admired her boots at Christmas and she bought me a pair for my birthday.  Cute, or what?  

Mike had to peel off from the group to do some "stuff", but the rest of us made our way back to Emi's to eat more cheese.  And Dylan's famous guacamole, at which he is hard at work here.

Here are a few cute people enjoying the fruits of his labors.  And then, there's a pic of the 5 of us, taken by Amber, who was visiting Rachel from Boston and of whom I somehow neglected to snap a shot.  But she's cute, too, take my word.

What comes after cheese?  Chocolate, of course.  Emi had made a wonderful layer cake for my birthday!! So rich and moist!!  Candles, even.

We drove home, full and happy.  Lucky lucky me!!!


Next day (Sunday), we topped off the weekend by driving to Modesto with the endlessly entertaining Browns (Karen and Terry) to see The Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan).  Why?  Because our choral director, Ryan Murphy, is the principal director and we wanted to support him.  It was fabulous fun!  The long drive (2 1/2 hours, one way) felt short because of the great company.  The production was amazing.  It included singers on Segways, a motor scooter and a golf cart.  The Gallo Center for the Arts is a wonderful facility!  We wrapped up the trip with Pho in Sacramento on the way back home.  


 So.  That's plenty for now.  My sister arrives today for a short visit.  More soon...