Catching up

I realize there's been a big gap between blog posts lately -- as many of you probably realize, this happens when there's a lot going on, and then I never get around to writing about things that normal people might consider "events" because we're either in the middle of them or recovering from them. (Plus it's somehow more fun to write about reeking closet mysteries and squirrel wars than "What I did on my Three Day Weekend.") So to summarize some of the unwritten events of the fall:

In September my mom came to visit. Lots of good Grandma time for Nim; we enjoyed the visit too. Or at least I hope my mom did, despite the fact that we hurt her back by encouraging her to ride my mountain bike on the way over to school to pick up Nimue. (Ooops) At the very least, we got in a good trip down to the aquarium in Monterey, aka "The Fish Zoo", which my mom hadn't seen in several years. She was particularly inspired by the jellyfish, and I managed to keep Nim occupied looking at the anchovies while my mom exhausted her camera battery gathering photographs on which to base paintings.


October brought a trip to Downieville and an excellent mountain bike ride with a couple of Chad's friends; I achieved my two goals of not getting dropped behind (at least not too far) and not damaging myself (only one semi-controlled slide into a gully...)

In November, Chad and I were able to escape up to the coast near Jenner to enjoy a long weekend for our anniversary.
Lots of good riding, good food, nice views, and a delightful lack of responsibilities for a couple of days. Linda came down to stay with Nimue in Sunnyvale, attended numerous school events with her, and as a result is now known among the Cherry Chase moms as a "good grandma", welcome in the school garden any time.

There was also a Thanksgiving camping trip, but I actually managed to write about that one already.


Chad built a most excellent cage to protect the garden from the evil thieving scum squirrels; we've now covered it in plastic to turn it into a greenhouse for the winter. This also provides entertainment, as the squirrels, as deft as they are, still cannot scale the plastic, no matter how hard they try. They keep trying, too...yesterday I watched two squirrels on the fence harass a third, who then took a flying leap onto the side of the structure, where it proceeded to slide ignominiously as its frantically scrabbling claws found no purchase. Ha.

Handy rocket scientist spouse also deinstalled the hideous fireplace insert in the living room that had been bugging him ever since we moved in; it disappeared off the sidewalk out in front of our house gratifyingly quickly after we wrestled it outside. Peaceful candles now grace the fireplace, so we can enjoy flame without the mess.

Last weekend, Linda was again in town to visit. We went to see the Nutcracker up in SF (as usual, a fantastic production), and ate good food and goofed off for a couple of days before she headed off to Germany to visit relatives converging over there. She will pass back through Sunnyvale on her way back home right after Christmas.


The day after that, we're heading out to Park City to ski with Andrew Towle and his tribe; expect another gap in the news. Perhaps you'll get a New Years' letter that's not really a letter in the meantime.