Sick

I have been sick all week, but I was so busy at work that I couldn't stay home. There is cold going around that starts with a sore throat and only gets worse.

On Friday night, we went to my shul and heard a woman talk about the history of African-Americans in Sonoma County. Things started out pretty good (a large part of Santa Rosa was bought by a black business man and he designated the land as a haven for freed slaves), but the current outlook is grim. She urges us to vote for the candidate who really care about what happens to underprivileged Americans. Not sure who she meant. We certainly can't tell from the last few debates we have seen on TV; all we know for sure is that none of the candidates like each other.

The rest of the weekend has been spent sleeping. Patrick bought a new snow jacket and he is wishing that I was feeling better so we could go to Tahoe.

Last Weekend

We went to a play called Moonlight and Magnolias at The Rep. There were four actors and they were very good. The plot was about the script writing for Gone with the Wind; it was funny! Patrick spent the rest of his weekend planting his new roses and I was is a cooking mode. Here we are at the show.


This is a sculpture we passed on the way to the theater. I think it looks like a green strawberry, but Patrick insists it is an apple. Look at the shape, what do y'all think?

Vineyard update: OK, so the weather rainy and cold, at least for us. Check out the picture, we don't get this very often, I think the last time was 05'. This vineyard is maybe 1200 feet and it maybe lasted for a day or so.

Oh, I have a book to recommend, it is the second book in a series (book 2 was just released). It is called "The Dark River" the first book is called "The Traveler". I'd say it is a modern sci-fi, a kin to Fahrenheit 451, about surveillance and control, Big Brother sort of stuff.

Vanessa has a whole bunch of post pictures related to my birthday. We have been trying more and more of the local restaurants, as when I lived in Napa we had scoped out a whole bunch of darn good ones. Vanessa can go into more detail, but we found one which was really good, Saffron and another one that was not so good, Vineyards Inn. You all will have to ask her to learn more about the food, that's her thing. OK all Later

Another Birthday

It was Patrick's birthday last week. I made him Nachos (junk food and not vegan, if you can believe it) and a cake. I got him some candy from this fun website that assembles boxes of candies that were famous in a specific decade. Patrick's was the 70s so there were all these old skool things like Boston Baked Beans, candy cigarettes (can you believe we had these?!) and wax lips.

Weekend

We had an uneventful week. After having no power, this was a blessing. One of my co-workers had no heat until Thursday.

On Saturday afternoon, Sarah dropped by for lunch. She was only in Ca for few days before heading back to Australia so I was glad to get to see her at all. In a few weeks she will be on a business trip on Amsterdam and she plans to sneak over to Istanbul for a few days. We are so jealous! As usual, we forgot to take a picture together. ( Patrick couldn't come to lunch because he was at a funeral :( )

Later, my cousin Kris came with Kaitlyn and her friend Elaina for a Jobs Daughters Installation. The Santa Rosa bethel was celebrating their 100th installation. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it is a Mason's thing for teenage girls. There is lots of dressing up and giving speeches. Kaitlyn is Junior Princess this semester and she gets to wear a cool robe and a pink/gold crown. So Fun! We can't to see her Honored Queen Installation. We went out to dinner, shopped and had a great time. Unfortunately Kaitlyn got sick on Sunday morning and missed out on some serious sales.

Patrick and I went for a hike in park behind house today and this was one on the nice views.

Blackout

The storm that sent us home early from Tahoe ended up affecting us more once we got home. Our power went out on Saturday morning and stayed gone until Monday at 2:00 am. I was miserable! We had no heat or light. Luckily there was some hot water left in the tank so we could get a hot shower. Patrick and I spent most of the last two days camped out at the movies, in bookstores and at restaurants. At night we drove around searching for wood and Patrick built us fires. It kind of felt like we were homeless. What a way to end our vacation. Here is Patrick building us a fire; the flash make the room look light, but he was doing this in the dark with a small flashlight.

My Birthday

I had a small party with my family after returning from Tahoe. Dad cooked prime rib and yorkshire pudding. Mom made me a fruit pizza for dessert. Our family friend, Kathy, gave each of us a red plate that you are supposed to eat off on special occasions. Then you write down the event on the back of the plate. My birthday was the first time we got to use ours.

Cousins

My cousins Kris & Doug and their kids Kaitlyn and Kyle stopped in Sacramento on their way to visit Doug's family in the bay area. We had dinner with them before heading up to Tahoe, My mom made the famous sour cream cookies and we ate at least a dozen before morning.

Tahoe

Patrick and I went to Tahoe for a week for the New Year and my birthday. Here are the views from our condo; it was on the lake. We went sledding on the first day and built a snowman. The rest of the week, I took snowboarding lessons and Patrick skied. He is good and I am not! I did have a great time and by Thursday I was on my feet more than my rear. I went down my first blue run (although I was really bad and blame most of my falling on the melting snow.) My parents, Garrett, Cheryll and Owen joined us for New Years' Eve. We dragged Owen around on the sled. He didn't like it at first because his snowsuit was slippery and he couldn't sit up, but once Garrett put him on his belly, he could look around and he loved it. Owen just stared out the windows of the condo at the snow and was happy. Cheryll, mom and I went to the casino to see a comedy show and the boys stayed in the room to play video games. One of the three comedians was really funny, but don't you just hate that outside of California, people can smoke indoors. GAG! The next morning I made Garrett and Cheryll snowboard with me. We all fell down so many times that they aren't sure if they want to do it again. (I'm sure I can change their minds!) One time Garrett and I fell so hard that our beanies and goggles flew off. That night we were all so tired that we went to a BBQ dinner and fell asleep. At dinner, Cheryll ordered these deep fried pickles - sounds gross, but was amazing. On my birthday, Patrick and I went to dinner at Restaurant 19; it is on the top floor of one of the casinos. The food was great and they give you cotton candy at the end of the meal. I had the grilled Chilean Sea Bass over a bed of cheesy risotto. Yum! We had to end our trip early due to a blizzard that put 10 feet of snow on the mountains. We left town a few hours before the storm started. We waited things out it Sacramento with family.