Last Vacation of 2017

We headed up the coast and were lucky to have clear air. We could signs of the fire right on the edge of towns, but we had no smoke on our drive.

We had a little stop at Avila Beach just to touch the water and enjoy being out of the car.

We spent the evening in San Luis Obispo and met D.'s sister and boyfriend for dinner followed by a visit to Bubblegum Alley and Doc Burnstein's Ice Cream Lab. All the best places in one night!

In the morning we headed to Santa Cruz and D. and A. rented fancy bicycles and had a fabulous ride. I ran along West Cliff Dr. and through Natural Bridges State Beach. Ahh.

I still had time so I looked for a charging station and was lucky to find a solar-installation company that would charge the car for free. That meant I needed to get around on foot, but it was a beautiful day.

I made it to Bookshop Santa Cruz and the public library, which had this display of books about criminals and other people on Santa's naughty list. I have been trying not to shop much, but books don't count.

My cousin lives in Half Moon Bay and my sister drove down from San Francisco and we all took a walk along the bluffs. I would love to live so close to the water.  My cousin took us to a great restaurant that was near an equally wonderful bookstore, which we were happy to support.

We left A. behind with my sister and took home D.'s bicycle, which had been in San Francisco last year. Seemed like a fair trade.

On our way home we took the scenic route. We had probably driven by the sign many time, but this time we took the exit for Pinnacles National Park. We didn't go for a long hike but were still happy to have stopped. Good think I had put that annual park pass in the car!

As usual, it was good to go and good to come home.

New games

This game caught my eye because it was made by Danes (klask means smack).

I like that underneath is a small wall that prevents
one player from reaching over to the other player's side.

I received this game, based on Sagrada Familia, for my birthday.
The person who has most recently been to a cathedral gets to go first.

I had this game tucked away and found it as I was unpacking.

The object of this game is to build a library.
Bonus points for having books in alphabetical order.

This was found at the back-to-school sale that has things students
discarded the previous spring, but has not been played yet.

Must be time for a game day!

Filling time

We didn't know the brass carolers would be here so early so we missed the Fiddler on the Roof singalong, which was sold out by the time we considered it. Playing with fire is always a good way to fill time.

What happens if you put a piece of paper over a candle?
The flame goes out.

What happens if you put a piece of foil with a hole over the candle?
The flame goes out.

What happens if you put a piece of paper over a flame and it already is a little burned from the previous experiment? The flame goes out but the paper continues to burn and the parents get a little nervous.

Stay tuned for more family entertainment.

Shopping

I have mixed feelings about shopping. Sometimes I love it, finding just the right thing for the right person at the right price. Sometimes it is a chore and I am annoyed by the store, the salespeople, and everything else.

This season I had a good experience but I had to wait until now to tell it because the recipient just opened the gift yesterday.

It was the season of cycling (not shown) and Harry Potter gifts. One set of grandparents gave the illustrated version of the third book, another set gave a Quidditch shirt, and we gave a deck of cards (purchased at the Platform 9 3/4 store in London), two games (purchased at a secondhand sale), and a Quidditch book (purchased at the library's secondhand store). The socks were the big purchase.

I had seen a blog post about great gifts for the season and even though they were a size too small, twelve pairs of socks for $15 seemed like a great deal. Such a great deal that they keep selling out, although you can find them on consumer-to-consumer sites.

I was not planning to pay two- or three-times the price so I looked to see where I could buy them locally.  Not far from from home was a store with limited-stock listing. I headed out there only to be told that the limited-stock listing was misleading. I got the full scoop.

Each day a truck arrives and sometimes the socks are on that truck. In that case the listing online shows limited stock for that item for that store. What usually happens is that someone comes in and buys the limited stock and then it is out of stock, but that is not immediately updated online. The trick is to show up at a store at opening time and head right to the sock section. I confirmed this story when I was at a different branch of the same store.

I had a plan. Run, take a very fast shower, check on line for a limited-stock listing, head to the store early, and make a mad dash for the sock section. This is what actually happened.

I got to the store about twenty minutes before opening. Nice to live in a moderate environment where waiting outside is easy. There was already one other person waiting. "Are you waiting to buy Harry Potter socks?" "No!" She seemed a little confused by the question, but that was fine because she was not competition. As an employee headed inside I asked if she thought there were any Harry Potter socks, but she did not thing there would be. Oh no. A bit later another person showed up and I asked the same question and he paused. "I am feeling pretty fast today." Oh no, what if he got there first and bought all of them?? He laughed and said he was not interested in the socks. We chatted for a bit, two more people showed up but I made a quick judgment about them and decided they did not look like competitors.

Then it was eight o'clock. I did not run. I did not elbow anybody. I walked over to the section (that I had scoped out the day before) and did not see any. Darn! Double darn! I found an employee in the area and she said she had not put everything out yet so we walked over to her basket. Bingo! She had four boxes of socks still in their shipping bag. I gave her a big hug and went to the register. I got what I wanted at the price I wanted and now I did not have to go back to try again. Score!

Of course I shared this story and everyone asked the same question. How many sets did I buy? Sorry, it did not occur to me to buy more than one and to sell them to my friends so they didn't have to go through the same thing.

Last night A. opened them and today wore the pair with owls.

Happy holidays, everyone.

Saying goodbye

Last August we hosted a Finnish student for five days before the dorms opened. The dorms closed on Saturday but his flight was today so we hosted him again for couple nights. We were happy to host him, happy to take him shopping for an extra suitcase, and happy to take him to urgent care and explain the US health care system.

What I was not happy to do was to take him to LAX. Instead he took the train to Union Station and caught the FlyAway bus to the airport.

He had brought his own squash racquet for the semester, but not a surfboard.

Our official length of day is just under ten hours.

He is going back to a lot less!
I did see that it might go above freezing this week!

Maybe we'll get to visit one day. I think we might enjoy it in the summer.

Celebrations

Cello caroling in the village

Toys

Gifts. Can you guess which pile is for the teen?

Studying over the years

Last year I studied Castilian.

I had started studying at some point after moving to California.

About seven years ago I studied Danish.

I still study a bit each day.

In grades four and five I studied French. Thanks to my mom for mailing this to me.

Maybe one day I'll study French again and be able to read this.

"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one." I hope so!

Can't win 'em all!

In our early years in town we went to a lot of sporting events because they were entertaining, close to home, and no one minded a crying baby, if they could even hear one over the din. Now that we are getting closer to the empty-nest phase we find ourselves going to events again. Still entertaining, still close, and they are nice social events. It is also good for D. to support his students.

This weekend the men and women were playing their cross-street rivals, which the athletic department plays up. They have had the women's game first some years and the men's first other years. There still tends to be a bigger audience for the men, but both teams had many supporters.

We missed the cupcake give-away on Friday,

but they had free pizza and cupcakes between games.
Trying to get people to stick around?

At the men's game both the Stag and Sagehen mascot were supporting the teams, but we didn't see any Athena mascot during the women's game. It didn't seem to matter since the Sagehens lost both games.

I am in charge here

I was so nervous about judging my first speech and debate tournament, which I chose to do instead of paying a large sum of money.  It helped to carpool with someone who had judged before and who was able to give me tips. Getting a refresher course from the speech and debate coach on judging was a help, too. We were reminded that the students will respect us and that we have the final say.

So different from A.'s high school, which has no indoor stairs.

The first speeches I judged were good, which made it so hard. I did not want to give any kid last place. They were all so sweet and hardworking! I tried to answer the question, "Which speech would I want to hear again?" I also tried to remember A.'s advice and not write, "Good job," and then give them last place, but instead try to write constructive comments.

"This sign is in English when you are not looking."
I am not sure what that means, but I did like being in different classrooms.

When I wasn't judging I was hanging out in the judges' room. Snacks, coffee, and meals were provided, but since I am picky I brought my own. Talking to parents from other schools who have been doing this longer was encouraging. 

We stayed for the awards ceremony, which was run very efficiently. The third- and second-place people get a single clap done by everyone in unison and the first place person gets a brief standing ovation. I hope it teaches everyone to be supportive and a good sport.

One down, a few more to go.

Almost a tradition

We don't feel obligated to go every year, but we often go to Oak Glen after Thanksgiving. An early start helped us avoid the crowds and the heat.

First stop was to make sure my favorite chestnut tree was still there.

Apple cider doughnuts are part of the tradition, too.

We always stop here to help make apple butter over an open flame,
to check out the manual apple press, and to talk with people running the orchard.

This is also the place with hatchet throwing and a small archery range.

The debate at the end is always how many apples to buy. I always wish I had bought more so this time I bought a half-bushel of seconds apples, perfect for making applesauce. Two days and many batches of applesauce later I can honestly say that I did not buy too few. The fridge and freezer are full of both lumpy (what I like) and smooth (what D. likes).

We didn't quite observe Buy Nothing Day and it was only partially Opt Outside Day, but it was great!

Mini vacation

Schools are closed for the whole week but in order to be in town for a cello recital (not optional), avoid holiday traffic, and have time to cook we decided to take a two-person 26-hour vacation.

After stopping at the mall (who knew it would be crowded on a Sunday at 4:30 in the afternoon??) we made it to Palm Springs in time for a Thai dinner and to walk around.

We found a cute motel not far from the center of town.

The highlight of the day was riding the aerial tramway. Even the drive there was great.

The floor rotates so as we went up we had views heading up and looking down.

Once we were on top we had a fantastic little hike with views and rocks to climb.
Unfortunately we did not see any animals and the place to rent snowshoes was not open.

Not great for trees, but fun to look at. Photo by A.

Nice view on the way down. It is clear to see where the water runs.

After leaving Palm Springs we stopped at Hadley's to buy dates and the outlet mall to buy almost nothing (a sweater and pair of socks).

Good to go away and good to get home!