Quick update from San Diego... I'm writing this from my in-laws' study, where I can look out the window and over the valley, a lush green hill covered with avocado trees across the way. A nice setting for a little LJ. Monday it rained, the clouds cutting off our view; yesterday was sunny and beautiful. The big family gathering was yesterday, and it was good. Tasty food, some good conversations with T's cousins, played a trivia game with the group and got to show off my superpower. Now we're mostlly having a quiet day at home. It's overcast and a little chilly -- I've spent much of the afternoon curled up by the fire, reading an old Newsweek, the one with the complete presidential campaign coverage. Interesting read, although a lot of it is old news to me, the blog junkie.

Tomorrow we fly home, hopefully -- another rainstorm is blowing in. Wish us luck.

I hope everyone who celebrates the holiday had a lovely Thanksgiving, and that everyone else enjoyed their Thursday off.

Ours was fairly typical -- drove up to Santa Rosa for dinner at my grandma's. My uncle roasted the turkey, and it came out great. Potatoes, veggies, gravy, rolls, pumpkin bread and two kinds of pie for dessert. Tasty all around. The family has had a pretty good year, as these things go, so it's nice to get together for a low-stress celebration. It's especially good to be able to gather at Grandma's; for awhile it looked like the inevitable downward slide of aging was going to take her, but not only has she stabilized, it seems that her health has actually improved over the last couple of years. It looks like family gatherings will have to be at her place from here on out, though, because traveling is hard on her, so if it's not in her home, she can't be there. Fortunately Santa Rosa isn't too far -- maybe an hour and a half to two hours, depending on traffic.

I am a bit jealous of everyone who got to cook their own Thanksgiving meal, though. T and I talked about that on the way up: that we haven't ever pulled together a big holiday meal of our own, and it doesn't look like we'll have an opportunity in the foreseeable future (see above re. Grandma and inability to make it down here -- she couldn't even get to my wedding). For the most part, I love Thanksgiving food, and I'd love to plan the menu to my own tastes and then undertake the feat of making it all work. Of course, the potluck route is certainly less work, and it's nice that I didn't have to shop during yesterday's rush or spend any time yesterday or this morning cooking (we're typically responsible for bringing beverages to our family holiday meals). There are definitely advantages. But I still want to give the whole shebang a try sometime.

Already at lunchtime today, I was in the subway station and saw at least half a dozen people struggling with luggage. Many friends have already left town, others leaving soon. It's a great ritual, the annual Thanksgiving migration. I used to take part, in college, when I would take the train to New York and spend the holiday with my friend JR. That was always an adventure: piling onto the Septa train to Trenton, NJ, then following the masses to the New Jersey Transit and hope against hope that we'd find a seat somewhere, and then the ride from Penn Station via subway and bus out to JR's family home in Queens. And then the next morning we'd walk down the street and have the best bagels in the universe, but I digress.

Ever since moving back to California, the Thanksgiving ritual has been simple: I drive to wherever my family is having their gathering. For the last several years, it's been at my aunt and uncle's place in Sacramento, but this year my grandma is hosting in Santa Rosa. Which is nice, because it's a shorter drive, and otherwise I wouldn't get to see Grandma -- she's holding up well enough for 88, but she doesn't travel well, so if the holiday isn't at her place, she won't be there. So, Santa Rosa it is. And then we have a nice long weekend to ourselves, which is the other major advantage of not having to travel anywhere.

T's family always gets Christmas. It's a fair trade, I would say. Especially since it's usually easier to arrange travel during times that are a little less crazy. Right now it looks like we'll be down there a few days before the holiday, and then back in more than enough time to join my family. Handy, when it all works out.

Three straight days of family gatherings: survived. Check that one off the list for another year.

It was fun, of course. I like my family and I like T's family, and during our time with the latter I got to talk with aunts and uncles and cousins I haven't seen very often, or ever in some cases. So it was nice to have the chance to get to know them a little better. They're more than just names on a chart now.

Speaking of which, somehow we got volunteered to be the maintainers of the online family tree. Or at least to find some place to host it. One of T's uncles (actually, he's a cousin, but he's older than T's father so T thinks of him as an uncle. The connections get confusing when you're dealing with the offspring of thirteen siblings born over the span of 30 years) has been the keeper of the family website, but he's been slow to update it, so we're going to search for some site where it's easy for anyone in the family to log in and fix errors or make updates and post pictures. Should be straightforward enough, right?

Fun, but tiring. (How often do I post that these days?) It's good to be home and just kick back and play Mario Kart for awhile.

Today we had dinner at a churrascaria, an all-you-can-eat Brazilian steakhouse where waiters bring around various cuts of meat on giant skewers and slice them for you, at your table, using small machetes. The effect is like being served meat with swords, which is pretty awesome. The meat was pretty darn tasty, too. A little pricey, but fun.

And now I head into a family weekend. July 4th is my grandma's birthday, so we'll be going up to Santa Rosa for that, and then we head over to Davis for T's family reunion. It's one of those big "all the aunts and uncles and cousins and everyone but the kitchen sink" type reunions, so it's fun, but also a bit draining because a lot of these are people I either don't know at all or have only met once or twice. I do like T's family, but his father is one of 13 children, so there are an awful lot of those aunts and uncles and cousins and so forth running around.

As a result, I don't expect to be around much, or at all, between tomorrow morning and sometime Sunday. So I wish a wonderful weekend to all!

My aunts are getting married tomorrow!!!!

Well, remarried, if you want to get technical. But that first marriage license got thrown out in court, so...

I am beyond thrilled for them. And it had better stick this time.

My training is over and now I'm hanging out in the hotel lobby, taking advantage of the wireless access (which, by the way, suddenly presented me with a complementary option after the first night; I don't know why and I'm not going to argue) while I wait for T to come get me. He flew down today and is \picking up a rental car at the airport as I type. We'll get dinner down here, possibly at a really interesting-looking small-plates restaurant, and then we'll be driving up to my in-laws for the rest of the weekend. Not sure what we'll do with our mini-vacation, but it's certainly nice to get one.

I expect I'll probably be offline for the rest of the weekend, so I wish you all a good one! See you Sunday night.

I shall now present
A post written in haiku
To honor Moose Day

Thanksgiving dinner
Turkey, stuffing, gravy, rolls
And two kinds of pie

For family time
A brother comes to visit
The other one calls

No time to plan tea
Tea shop found on random walk
Grand coincidence

House blend of Assam
Many others on display
Another next time

As darkness now falls
We read in bed, also websurf
Soon we will find food

So as Moose Day ends
I think on tea and on friends
And hope for both soon

Two weeks in a row, it's a Saturday and I'm working. Last week I was promoting the library at a school open house; today I'm covering for the other librarian (J, formerly the library assistant) who usually works Saturdays. The upside is that I'll probably get a random day off next week, likely Thursday. But still, six day work weeks, two weeks in a row? Not of the win. I'll be really glad to be back at full staff.

Also, T is gone for the weekend, off to visit his parents. This is the first time since we got married, and maybe even the first time since we moved in together, that he's traveled somewhere without me. It's weird. Not bad, I like getting the house to myself on occasion. But definitely strange.

So this was a weekend of travel. First I went up to Santa Rosa for the better part of the day, spent some time with my parents and then my grandmother (who seems much better than the last time I saw her, more energy, in good spirits). It was a good visit, about the right length, especially considering that I'll be seeing my mom again next weekend.

Then it was off to the wilderness to visit muggy_mountain. She's even more lovely and intelligent and fun in person, and I had a great time hanging out with her. We polished off a bottle of wine and chattered about fandom and many other things, and then I spent the night in her tent cabin under a gorgeous and bewildering array of stars. This morning we got an early start (darn that nodding off early under the influence of wine) and drove down to Armstrong Woods, where we communed with the redwoods and got our feet very very dirty; after lunch in Guerneville we hit the beach, briefly, but it was so windy that we decided not to stay long. I brought her home and after kicking back for a little bit, I headed out for the three-hour drive home.

I really enjoyed my overnight in the wilderness. Trees, ocean, stars, and so much wildlife! The retreat center where muggy_mountain lives is a real haven for animals -- I saw deer, rabbits, all kinds of birds, insects galore, semi-feral cats, and the treat of the day: a fox. We also saw deer in Armstrong Woods, and at the beach there was a determined seagull, which tried valiantly to fly into the wind, but with no success. It did better than the crows, though, which I actually saw pushed backward. I am, and remain, a city girl, but I always appreciate the occasional day spent with nature. I'm tired from walking and driving, but it was more than worth it.

The first week of a new quarter is upon me and it's been crazy. Class presentations -- scheduling them and giving them -- getting back into the rhythms of life with students, dealing with glitches large and small. You would think that, after a three-week break, that we would have all our ducks in more orderly rows than this, but no. So it's busy. Not unhealthily hectic like it was at the beginning of the last quarter, but enough to keep me on my toes.

And then there's the rest of life. Instead of exchanging stuff for Christmas this year, I pooled some money with my parents and sent my brother, his wife, and their son some plane tickets. They arrive today and will be in town for a week. I can't believe I finally get to meet my nephew tonight! Very exciting. I'll spend tonight with them, and then Saturday we're having a big delayed family Christmas. You think that would be enough excitement for one month, but no: Sunday morning I head out of town for a week on a boat, and there's still plenty I have to do to get ready. It's Barenaked Ladies cruise time, and I can't wait. I fly to Miami on Sunday morning, the cruise departs Monday and comes back on Friday (so two full days on the boat and one day on Grand Turk), then luvmoose and I will be spending a couple of days in Florida -- she discovered that Jon Stewart is performing in Miami that Friday night, so we got tickets. BNL and Jon Stewart? I may melt into a puddle of fangirly goo before it's all over.

So if you feel like you aren't seeing me around as much as usual, you're not wrong. Especially next week, when I will be offline entirely for seven days. Hi, 'Net withdrawal, nice to meet you. Anyway, things should settle down once I return. I hope. At least it's been the good sort of busyness. Fun and exciting stuff happening. Yay.

Having a nice visit to San Diego. Except for some unsettledness on Friday, it's been sunny and beautiful. Yesterday was family fun, which was enjoyable -- good wine, good company, good gossip. But it's also throwing me off, because now I feel like I've already had Christmas and I keep forgetting that, on the calendar, it hasn't actually happened yet. Today T and I went to SeaWorld with his sister. It was fun, and T got lots of awesome photographs, which I will share when I get back. Then we got home, had dinner, and listened to the XM vocal classical station, featuring an early music concert by an all-male group called the Suspicious Cheese Lords. I think I need to track down their albums, in part because they sang so beautifully but also because they're called the Suspicious Cheese Lords, and how am I supposed to resist that?

We're coming home tomorrow night (Christmas Day is the very best day to travel if you want to avoid crowds). I'll catch up with you all then. In the meantime, have a most excellent Monday.

Tomorrow we're heading down to So. Cal. to visit T's family. Our usual 72-hour trip. Should be nice, seeing family, getting away. Also, it will be warmer there. And I never complain about that. The big family Christmas is Saturday and the rest of the weekend will mostly just be hanging out. Maybe we'll finally get to Sea World. Seven years now, I've been going to San Diego twice a year, and I've still never made it there.

As usual, net access will exist but be limited, so I'll be essentially offline for the next few days, starting tomorrow evening. So I will take this opportunity to wish a Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and an excellent holiday weekend to everyone!!!

And now, time to pack.

Another family Thanksgiving survived. It was nice, if a little sad without V. My aunt brought one of the last apple pies she made. Delicious, and a fitting tribute.

I did a things I am thankful for list last year, and really pretty much everything on there still stands, except that the job situation is better and my nephew is no longer really "new" and the kittens are now cats (but I'm still thankful for them). So rather than repeat myself, I shall refer you there. I do have one thing to add to that list: having a stable life. Maybe it's boring, but I like it that way.

Now it's off to pack for part two of my holiday weekend: four days in the Pacific Northwest for Moose Day and then a BNL roadtrip with shows in Portland and Seattle. Seeing lots of folks but especially luvmoose, who is meeting me in Seattle tomorrow morning. Flying out first thing, and I'll be back late on Monday (probably; the flight gets in at 5:30 but I have chorus and I'm going to at least attempt to make it there). "But what about NaBloWriMo?" you cry. Well, I figure phone posts count. Or maybe I can bribe my way onto someone's laptop. There will be a way.

I hope everyone has a lovely long weekend (or just a lovely weekend, if you aren't in the US)!

I am back. Thanks to all who sent their best wishes and thoughts in whatever form. Both ceremonies were nice. The memorial service was well-attended; V was a pillar of her community, had lived there for over 30 years and was involved in many facets of life in the small town. Many kind and true things were said about her.

My aunt is holding up well enough; she was mostly upbeat throughout the day, kept herself moving forward. I pulled aside my cousin D (her son) at one point and asked how she was really doing, and he said as well as could be expected. I think the interment was probably the hardest for her, to see her mother laid to rest between her father and her sister. She's the last of her nuclear family, and they were a close-knit group.

I'm doing all right. It was good to spend time with family, even if not under the best circumstances. Thanksgiving is probably going to be pretty subdued, though. Maybe her not being there is what will finally drive home the fact that she's gone.

A friend of the family passed away earlier this week. Not too much to say about it -- she was my aunt's mother and so a sort of grandmother-in-law. She was elderly, she'd been fading, so it's not really a surprise. But it's still a sad thing. I especially feel bad for my aunt; they were very close.

Anyway, various memorial events are taking place tomorrow, in a town four hours north of here. So that we don't have to be scrubbed and ready to go at 7 AM, T and I are driving half-way once we get off work. Which means I'll be offline tonight, and probably most of tomorrow. See you all upon my return. Hopefully next week will be a happier one for all of us.

Today is my second wedding anniversary. Since it's a Tuesday, and I'm still sick, I don't know that we'll do anything special, besides maybe go out to dinner. We might have gone out last weekend if this cold hadn't taken me down. Ah, the timing of life.

In some ways it seemed like a formality, getting married -- we'd lived together for over four years by September 26, 2004, and been a couple for going on six. Sometimes I think the eight-year relationship is the real accomplishment, not two years of marriage. But this is the formal date; this is the one we mark. (Although I doubt I will forget 12/18/98, either. I can't remember the exact date of our engagement, though. Sometime in April 2003, close to Easter. And yet in some way that was the most important part of the whole processes, deciding to get married in the first place. Funny how our brains, and our society, choose which anniversaries are worth celebrating.)

It's good. I know I'm pretty lucky, to have T as my partner. I know I don't always act like it. Something to think about, and work on.

Arrived safe, sound, and liquid-free in San Diego yesterday afternoon. We toured Petco Park (where the Padres play), went to the beach (where the ocean was calmer than I had ever seen it -- no crashing waves, it was almost as smooth as the SF Bay), had a Mexican dinner with T's mom (a rare treat for her, since T's father doesn't like to eat out and always wants Chinese food when they do), made our drugstore run, and then crashed early. Today we're driving up to Orange County to visit T's best friend SK, which should be much fun (she was in our wedding and I love her to pieces).

It's nice down here -- warm, but breezy so not too hot. And gorgeous, of course. I can look out the window next to the computer and over the grove of avocado trees, not-too-distant hills in the background. I wouldn't want to live here -- too isolated -- but as a place to visit it's quite lovely.

Off to San Diego tomorrow (or I guess that would be today, at this point) for a long weekend with the in-laws, coming back Sunday afternoon. We try to get down there twice a year, over Christmas and once during the summer, but because of various family reunions (and, in 2004, a plethora of weddings, including ours) it's been a few years since we've actually made the summer trip. It'll be nice to get down there and away for a few days, although somehow we got all booked up this trip so there won't be as much sitting around on the farm as usual. Most of the planned activities should at least be fun.

My 'Net access will be limited at best -- might get to check mail once or twice a day, probably very little LJ, certainly no IM -- so I'll basically be out of contact until my return. It's always so weird, being away from the Internet for an extended time. It's like a voice in my ear has been stilled.

Have a great weekend, everyone. See you in s few days (if I don't have time to poke in in the morning). And now: bed.

(More lines.)

The visit to the in-laws was largely uneventful. We arrived on Saturday evening, Xmas eve. The next day was T's big family Christmas at his cousin's house in Huntington Beach. It's a large brood, a couple dozen people all told. T's cousin made an excellent spread, and the company was enjoyable. I like his family; much like my own, it's sprawling, loud, and friendly, attaching various in-laws over the years.

The next day, Monday, we basically hung around T's folks house. They live in a large home on an avocado farm in north San Diego County -- T grew up in LA, but when his father retired, he decided he wanted to be a gentleman farmer. So he bought ten acres of avocado trees and built this house on the property. A visit makes for a nice holiday, although they are too isolated for me to spend more than a few days there. Fortunately, T figured out some time ago that three days was the perfect amount of time for visiting his parents. Usually we spend one day with the whole family, one day doing stuff, and one day just lazing around. This time, T was setting up a new computer. I mostly read, spaced out on TV, chatted with T's mom and sister, and hung out with their cat.

Yesterday, they took us to dim sum and then the San Diego Zoo. The in laws are big fans of the zoo, so we end up going pretty much every time we come down. It was a good visit -- we got a look at the tiger pacing around (no cubs, though -- there were some born at the zoo this fall but they weren't on view that day), and some quality time with the polar bears, and some of the other big cats were out and visible. T got some great photos of the snow leopard, which I will post when they're ready. Then it was a Chinese greasy spoon for dinner and then the airport. The flight home was also uneventful, and so here we are.

The only downside of the trip is that somehow it triggered my cold to come back. When we left, I was feeling mostly okay, just a bit af congesting and some coughing, but I woke up feeling kind of lousy on Christmas morning -- throat hurting a little, very congested, low energy, coughing fiercely. Now it's mostly just the cough, but it feels like the kind of cough that's going to hang around for awhile. And I just have to ask: why now? I have this week off work, for the most part, but I didn't want to spend this bit of vacation brain-dead on the couch. Boo.

Still, it is nice to be home. The kitties are fine, they mostly seem unaffected by our desertion, although Tori was a little shy of me the first couple of hours. But this morning she was back on my lap as if nothing had ever changed. Whew.