March 03, 2004

I haven't posted in a while, so here are some pictures for you:

Cow pelvis at Sunol Regional Wilderness.  

Nothing like the evidence of death to remind you that you are in nature.

  

The Backyard, circa Feb 29.

    Had the day off today, since the RAN people whom I answer to are out of town doing RAN things.  And so I trekked over to the Casa de Eltern (that would be the House of the People Who Spawned Me, for those of you who didn't study both Spanish and German in high school). 

    Mom and Dad had just returned yesterday afternoon from a three-day spa vacation in Calistoga, and were appropriately relaxed and weary.  Mom presented me with some bad-ass trinkets from Ca'toga, and gave me a play-by-play review of their trip.  And then we went out to go thrift-store shopping, but ended up antique-store shopping instead.  Dad blasted me with his own anecdotal recollections of the weekend as he scurried from garden, to kitchen, to garage, to garden, trying to catch up on his daily routines.  And then he settled down to his jigsaw puzzle, swearing quietly at the abundance of blue sky.  Mom showed me her flowers, and the Cat's new boyfriend.  We watched the evening news on Channel 5.  Mom muted the sound every time the president or governor tried to speak,  but Dad read along with the closed captions, shaking his head.  At precisely 6:30 we dined on chicken, with roasted potatoes, and salad served in the same salad bowls that have graced my parents table for the last twenty-five years.  For desert Dad and I ate the last of the apple cake (new recipe--quite good, and it uses only one mixing bowl!) with Haagen Daaz on top (two new flavors--French vanilla mousse and black walnut.)  Dad fretted about the state of the calendar ("It's still on February!   All those appointments we wrote down yesterday are wrong!")  Mom fed the Cat some kitty pate.  Dad took out the garbage.

    I left shortly thereafter, so that they could get down to their evening routines, and not have to worry about me being on the road after their bedtime.  I drove home, singing along with the radio, feeling happy and relaxed.