Photos (no blood and guts)

Pretty amazing to have this in my head on the morning of the 24th,

have it removed, and be home on the afternoon of the 26th!

The doctor and I agreed which side had the tumor and then initialized it.

This is how it looks today, minus a bit of goo from the bandage.

p.s.  If you want blood and guts you can watch a video of my surgery (not literally) here.

'Tis the season

It is kind of past the season, but this is when I am posting so I am extending the season.

First, the annual cello caroling  - small but mighty! 

Second annual caroling in the neighborhood.

Caroling with the German Club
(yes, singing in German!).

Mmmm - new recipe of mint chocolate drops. 

The German Club held a Winterfest
(not quite a Weihnachtsmarkt with Glühwein, but an entertaining substitute).

I skipped the cookie decorating but tried the origami.

They were out of potato pancakes but R. made about 50 waffles!

A. had all four grandparents attend his performance as Jacob Marley!

The season of lights ended with candles reflected in the motel room microwave!

Passing the time

If the pre-op appointment is in the afternoon and there is no need to report to the hospital until 5:30 a.m., what is there to do on December 23?  The library, of course!

We almost didn't make into the library since we so distracted by the little book store and chatty volunteer.

The Mission Valley branch of the San Diego library system just celebrated its twelfth anniversary.  I explained about the Danish tradition of a big 12.5 (half of 25) bronze anniversary, but I don't see that party happening.

There is a nice reading area with a view of the adult section.

Right off of the reading area is an outdoor area with a view of Qualcomm Stadium
(San Diego State vs. Navy in the Poinsettia Bowl at the time of the photo).

See that little sign above the board books?  It says, "Quiet Area."
What could that possible mean?

Other than some books in the collection this might be the oldest thing in the library.
D. politely pointed out that the library phone would not fit, but the librarian explained
it wasn't his choice to have this modem in the desk.  Always good stories at the library!

Playing with numbers

I set my alarm for 9:09 so I would be sure to get 9:10.11 on 12/13/14, but I was trigger happy and got it too early and the camera was too slow to take another shot.  I reset the alarm for 9:09pm.  If I had been thinking in 24-hour time I could have aimed for 12/13/14 15:16.17.  But I didn't.

This time the picture was not as good but at least I got it.

p.s.  Thanks to the tip from reader NMR you can read here about a baby born in Cleveland at 10:11 on 12/13/14.  The article also had this important information.

Saturday's Dec. 13, 2014, represented the last sequential calendar date for at least 20 years, if you count Jan. 2, 2034, or 89 years if you choose to wait for Jan. 2, 2103.

Tough Day on the Job

Some days I feel like we are home all day, watching D. juggle, reading books, doing puzzles, eating, and changing diapers.  Other days it feels like we aren't home at all.

We often visit the neighbors' hen
(and worry a bit about the ball that isn't where it belongs).

A great source of enjoyment comes from the indoor cats that happily play with a ribbon
(batting at the window) for as long as we are interested.

If it is sunny we try to find turtles at the botanic garden.  There are none in this picture,
maybe because they are hibernating or maybe because the sun wasn't hitting the rocks.

You can often find us at the grocery store,
finding something for dinner

and enjoying the free sample while we greet the other shoppers.

Other days we visit the koi fish and the Venus statue, a.k.a. Mama.

We have some special fish food that they love so much they let us pet them!

One thing we do every day is visit Mama at school and have some milk,

which may or may not lead to a nap.

Thanks for sharing your childhood with me, Z.!

Emergency food

I remember politely drinking powdered milk at Jules and Ella's house, probably because they didn't keep fresh milk around.  I don't think I have had it since those days about forty years ago, but we do keep it in our emergency kit and A. was interested in trying it.

According to the instructions if you want it to taste more like whole milk you should mix the powder and whole milk in a 1:1 ratio.  D.'s suggestion was to exclude the powdered milk for an even more authentic taste.

I noticed the Spanish instructions also use metric measurements!

We did not do a side-by-side taste, but people agreed that it was better than expected.  Good to know, but I still hope we don't have an emergency.

In case of drought

I considered writing about construction on campus but there is too much for me to keep up with and I think it requires good photography to present it well.  Instead, I present you with two changes to the grounds.

 Change comes to Twelfth St., now known as Platt Blvd. east of Dartmouth.

 The west of the boulevard has trees and ivy.

The east end has grass.

This semester a few of the center portions were converted
to mulch and drought-tolerant plants.

It might be too small to read, but the work was done by Scripps College.
I am not sure why that is important.

Meanwhile, down the road at Pitzer the fence is finally down where Holden Hall was demolished.

Part of the wall remains and this article explains that some people wanted all the rubble to stay, too.

The garden is temporary so the trees are in containers.

Not bad for something that will be replaced within a few years.