Tuesday December 11th

I'm working from home today. I did a little work, and a lot of other stuff. We mailed most of our holiday cards (business calendar/cards for me, business cards for Will, and newsletters to those we don't see often, cards to some of the rest). The newsletter has my blog address on it, so I guess I need to update this more often in case I get more than 4 readers! I sealed SEVERAL newsletters in regular white envelopes with handmade return address labels and clear labels that I typed for each of the mailing addresses, when I noticed the bottom said "Have a happy 2007". Yes, just like major law firms and other businesses do, I used last year's newsletter as the template for this year's newsletter. And my personal editor (that would be Will) also missed it. I am a great editor, but I will tell you that does not apply to editing my own work. So after a brief hissy fit meltdown by me, Will sliced each envelope, took out the old one, replaced it with the new one, and taped each one. What a great guy! I shredded the bad ones.

It's been cold for those of us who are "California Weather Wimps", but not as cold as some places. Above is a picture from the webcam at Georgetown, CO today where it was 7 degrees and snowing.

I guess 41 degrees in the morning is not really that cold. Yesterday I took the ACE train, and then a shuttle to Santa Clara University for a seminar where I spoke. Instead of giving out the usual conference bags, we got tiny umbrellas. Perfect for me to put in my backpack that goes with me to clients.

It's still in its wrapper, but isn't the animal print cool? You can see how small it is next to Mowry's head and on my keyboard. "Why must you always bother me when I'm trying to sleep" is probably what Mowry is thinking.

As long as I'm awake, I guess I'll do a little cat bath. What a tongue on that little kitty.

And now, if you'll leave me alone, I am going back to my nap.

Tonight Will is meeting a friend of his for dinner at Original Joe's in San Jose (http://www.originaljoes.com/), so I need to do all these things, but let's be honest, maybe not all tonight? finish a scarf, work on a present I'm knitting that I was happy with until I started piecing it together and now I'm not sure if it will work, make fudge for the people at our P.O. mailbox, watch TV, wrap some presents, read (I have several books out from the library, but I'll get some reading time on Bart tomorrow, Thursday and Friday) etc. etc. etc. Oops, I left out laundry!

Thursday I'm in SF, but I need to leave early because one of Will's clients has invited us to their office party. Last year I think it was on a weekend night at someone's home, and was quite lovely, but this year they've "upgraded" to a restaurant, but it's on a Thursday, so I have to get home and start the dress up process before we trek over the bridge to Palo Alto.

No, it's not the wicked witch, it's just Mow Mow - I must have been annoying him again because he completely turned around so his back paws and tail were on my keyboard and his head was hidden way at the back of my desk.

And last, but not least, check out this game: http://www.dedge.com/flash/hangman/
It's a game of hangman that you can play on your computer!

Saturday

Today we went to the once-a-month flea market at the local community college. It's still nice because it's in a beautiful setting, and sometimes I find fun things, but today I noticed a few too many new weird stuff amongst a little of the old fun stuff. I manage to find a few things. The campus is beautiful.

Then we went across the street from the campus for a burger. We decided we'd share a double burger and thus eat less carbs with one half bun per person. It was actually a sourdough roll and was realy good, but half of a double burger was the perfect portion. I took this picture while we were waiting for our order!! I didn't even think of taking a picture of the hamburger!We drove home and walked into town. Today was the Niles Home Tour, which we didn't go on, but we saw lots of people walking around going to the houses on the tour. There were also lots of people in the shops, which is great for business. We did go in to two houses - one was selling handmade soap that was delicious smelling. I bought a cinnamon orange that is curing in my bathroom because it's fresh and not quite ready, but smells great. We went into the other house because we know the woman and she was standing outside directing people in, and she invited us in. She had so many decorations, and her house is old and wonderful. My favorite was the tree in the bathroom with sample sized bathroom items for ornaments, appropriately called her "Toilet-tree".

We also went to two open houses in the neighborhood, and finally got the meet the wife of the husband-wife realtor team who sold us our house.

On our walk we enjoyed seeing the hills that are turning green. This seems to be everyone's favorite time of year. I don't mind when the hills are gold in summer because it's just another phase of nature, but this truly is the prettiest. Those black spots near the Niles sign are cows.Some of the trees are still bearing leaves with magnificent fall colors.

When people complain about no fall colors in California, they either don't go on the streets I do, or they just miss it, and that is a shame. Maybe we don't have as many trees with their leaves changing colors, but we have enough to keep me happy.We walked by my Local Yarn Store but I didn't go in today. That's it below. All the merchants on Niles Blvd. have their windows painted for the holidays, and my LYS is no exception.

Another leather recliner?

I'm working from home today, and it's a good day to be home because it's drizzly/rainy outside. I like the rain, but I like it best when I'm inside and not commuting to an office. It's also trash pickup day, so I got out there early to sweep up the Crepe Myrtle tree leaves from the sidewalk. Our yard waste/food scrap green bin is almost full, but not quite. If it wasn't raining, I'd happily stop working and go outside and sweep some more, but it is raining, so 3/4 full is fine. I was outside clipping lavender in the rain, but it's lavender - who cares if it's raining. Our 91 year old neighbor almost always puts out a green bin, but some of the younger people on the block don't. Maybe they have gardners who take away the waste, but in most cases I don't think that is the case. I missed having a green bin when we lived in the townhouse for 8 years.

Tuesday was the first night of Chanukah. Our menorah has been well used - you can see by the wax drippings that we haven't cleaned off from last year! Chanukah is one of my favorite Jewish holidays because I enjoy lighting the candles.

Cinders is on the left, and Alex (with white on his paws and ears) is on the right. I was trying to capture the size differential, but it's hard to see. Alex is MUCH larger than Cinders.

These are the fingerless mitts and short scarf I made my mother-in-law who lives in Washington state where they are having terrible storms. She's wearing a fur hat to keep herself warm, but maybe these will work inside or when the weather warms up a little. I don't think it EVER gets warm there!

I thought I was done with this post, and then I was perusing Craigslist free (http://www.craigslist.com/) and found a leather recliner in Fremont. It was received from a friend for free for the woman's 90 year old grandmother, but she had trouble getting in and out of it, so she was giving it away. Will is 6' 1" so it will work for him.

The Clampetts are at it again. Just when you think we won't be carrying furniture hanging out of our van or car, here we go!
And yes, it was drizzly and rainy when we picked this up, but it was in Fremont, so I guess that's okay. It is pretty close in color to my chair in the background by the window. The new one is in the foreground.

Tuesday, December 4th

Today I took BART to SF. They didn't charge us because there was a power problem at the station I go to, and they assured me it wouldn't be a problem on the other end. Then there was a switching problem, so there weren't any direct trains to SF, so we had to take another train and switch. The driver told us we could get off at a particular station (the next one up) so several of us did, but once there we noticed there weren't any SF trains posted, and we ended up having to take another train, go two stops, get off, switch to a SF train. So I guess a "switching problem" means we'll be doing a lot of switching trains. If only the first driver had a clue, I would have stayed on the first train to the stop 3 stops away, and switched once. I was only about 20 minutes late, so it wasn't bad, but it was interesting watching the lemmings get off one train, on another, on another, off...well, you get the picture. At least I got a seat each time so I could read my novel. Whether it was because of the construction going on at the station, a power issue or because it rained last night and BART burps when it rains, it still beats driving ANY time.

Tonight is Open Mic. We haven't gone in about 4 or 5 weeks. Will has a funny story to read, and he's practiced on his new bongos to play with a guy who plays guitar quite well. He hasn't played music at Open Mic because he can't exactly haul his drum kit, but with the bongos he can do this. I will knit while we watch the acts perform. Hopefully the woman who frequents Open Mic and talks the whole time will NOT be there. I'm not sure why she comes if she talks loud enough for us all to hear her while people are performing. She can just as easily get up and perform if that's her gig.

Tomorrow I'm back in SF. Sorry, no pictures today.

Saturday December 1st

One month from today will be 2008. WOW! Today was the usual errand day, minus garage sales because garage sale season is over until it gets warmer, which it isn't right now. Above is a nice sunbeam on the cat beds that is on the sofa in the spare bedroom - notice there aren't any cats drinking in the warm sunbeam? It was below 40 this morning (not to be confused with 40 below), and Will had to go out to get milk because he ran out and forgot to get some yesterday. I don't drink the stuff, so it's his thing. So he got a half gallon this morning, and then a quart when we went to Trader Joe's - just in case - you never know when he'll run out again. Last night he actually ate dry Cheerios for a snack - something I do every day. I like it that way!

You can see our beautiful crepe myrtle tree out our bedroom window. Its leaves have changed colors and the leaves will be falling off soon.

I had the blue scarf about 3/4 of the way done, but I decided I wanted it narrower so it's easily tied, like the black fun fur/wool-eese scarf I made myself, so I rip rip ripped the WHOLE thing and started over last night. This picture is after - I worked on it for a long time last night. No wonder my finger was sore, but it's fine today. OK, not fine, but back to where it usually is, and that's the way it is.I'm always ready to take my knitting with me.

Tuesday, November 27th

I still can't believe how fast this part of the year goes. It's almost December. I have knitting to finish. Oh noooooo! Knit, Joan, Knit. I finished these fingerless mitts for my mother-in-law (they haven't been finished off yet, hence the yarn hanging in case a smarty pants was going to comment, not that I know any smart pantses, but you never know), and I've started a scarf to match, but I'm late because her birthday is this weekend and I'm not sure I like the scarf so I may have to rip and start over. Not the first time for a belated gift - they are fun because when the gifts stop coming, there's another. This is the yarn I used for my felted hat, minus the mohair.

We turned the TV around so we could watch from our chairs that are next to the fireplace in the living room because we are California Weather Wimps and when it gets chilly, we get cold. Even Cinders was enjoying the fireplace.

Cinders and Alex were sitting on top of electronics in the office. The electronics are not on, so there isn't any heat being generated. You can't really see the size differential, but Alex is much bigger than Cinders, and his fur is magnificent. She is matted, and won't let us comb or brush her, but she's still soft where she isn't matted, and not bad for a 17 year old cat.

Of course that is Alex on the right. To get an even better idea of how magnificent his fur is, I put his toy mouse on him and you can see how far it goes because his fur is so plush.
Mowry has beautiful fur, too, but being a short-haired cat, when I put a mouse on his fur, it didn't sink in at all. It's not the same mousey, but that doesn't matter. Mow Mow is sleeping behind my monitor as I type, but you've seen enough pictures of that for now!

Thanksgiving and the Friday After

We went to Will's cousins' for Thanksgiving. The food was delicious. It was an interesting evening. You know how families can be. I'm just glad Thanksgiving isn't a religious holiday. We have much to be thankful for, but it is a holiday about settling in America. Everyone who lives in America can celebrate, regardless of what they believe for religion.

The view from their house is incredible. You can see right across the bay to where we live. Yes, that's the moon out there, and no, I didn't take any pictures of the people. You can't really tell in the photo, but that's Fremont just across the bay from Portola Valley where the cousins live.Then tonight Ken and Diann and our former neighbor Heather and her five year old son and her parents and a friend of hers came over for a few quick snacks and then we went to the Tree Lighting and Holiday Parade down Niles Blvd. I made turkey sandwiches, we had cookies leftover from last night, I had apples (that I forgot about so we schlepped them to the parade in a backpack and then we schlepped them home), and Heather brought pumpkin pie made by her aunt for Thanksgiving that we had after the parade back at our house. Her aunt made 4 pies for 9 people, so she was glad to bring it and get rid of one. It was very good!

We probably wouldn't have gone if we couldn't walk from our house since driving and parking can be a big hassle. (Probably? We've lived in Fremont for 8 years and never went). Last year we had a 90th birthday party to attend on parade night, but this year we went and it was really fun! We thought it might be VERY cold, but we were better prepared than for the Train of Lights and it wasn't as cold.

Our neighbors had a float, and their son was juggling fire sticks. http://kandktwirl.com./

Where else but in Niles can you watch the float all it up being pushed home down the street after the parade?

Who needs the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade? We have the Niles parade, complete with ballons and all.