Windsday

Came early this week.

I am flat on my back with a muscle strain, listening to the wind.  How often are the winds in southern California as strong as those in the northern plains states?

Puzzled?  Read the Windsday series.

Our raingauge blew over, but I guess we got a bit over 1", similar to neighboring rain gauges I found through weatherunderground.com.

Some links from the LA Rainfall series:

• The LA County Department of Public Works' precipitation website
• Los Angeles rainfall climatology for 1877-2009 (courtesy of Charles Fisk)
• California Nevada River Forecast Center page with links to all precipitation data including a map widget 
• CNRFC 24 hour precipitation summary
• CNRFC climate station precipitation summary for the most recent two years
• National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction
  Service aka http://water.weather.gov has great java applets for mapping data
• US Drought Monitor

The cycle of life

When Iris was a newborn and when I was really sick, my in-laws would come over with a cooler full of food.  Or my mom would fly in, walk to the grocery store around the corner, and then cook up a storm.  They would not leave me without a freezer full of food.

They've had quite a few health challenges this year and are in no shape to travel to our house.

It gave me pause to realize that now I am the one cooking in huge batches and bringing them over to their homes.

Bad Dad is going to San Diego almost every weekend that he is not traveling for work.  Iris usually accompanies him.  I don't go every time, but I prep large amounts of ready-to-eat foods for them before he leaves.  Although we had Thanksgiving dinner in San Francisco, my in-laws enjoyed my traditional butternut squash and bacon soup with their thanksgiving meal.  (Their family traditionally holds a potluck with the host providing the mains while the guests provide the sides.)

I also sent down black bean and sweet potato salad (w/ corn but sans jalepenos) and apple-persimmon cake via my sister-in-law.  We met up with her at a hotel en route from her home in northern northern California to San Diego.

My mom received some of the same cake, but the rest of the meal came from Whole Foods.  Bad Dad pre-ordered it on the internet and specified the WF most convenient to my mom's house.  WF was mobbed on Thanksgiving morning.  We checked in at a computer kiosk set up for the event, paid at the register, and then went outside to the truck in front of the store from which they passed out the pre-ordered Thanksgiving meals.

A meal for 4?  Hah!

We ate it the next night, then divided up the leftovers.  We had turkey sandwiches for lunch this week.  Tonight, I made turkey salad and turkey and veggie soup (CSA delivery day).  Mark made turkey fried rice.  That's it for our leftovers.

What about you?

Hiking the Volcano & Fiscal Stimulus

Where were we last week?

Hiking the lip of a volcano in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve.  Yes, but where is Sibley?

We hiked it in the afternoon, after I spent the morning at Stone Mountain and Daughter Fabrics with owner Suzan Steinberg in the green sweater.   (Steinberg. Stone Mountain.  Get it?)  She and her dad opened the store in 1981, but I didn't start shopping there until 1986, when my former boss used to send me over for sewing supplies*.

I wanted to take the whole button inventory home with me, but the Cotton Shop by my house has a good selection of buttons.  I opted to buy a whole bunch of woolens (which don't sell well at the beach), a silk/cotton poplin and some fabulous knits home.

Then I met Mark and Iris at Shakespeare and Company Books.  We also visited Moe's Books.  Mark went to Amoeba while Iris and I checked out the offerings at Hat Fetish.  She got the hat, but not the glasses.

These, sadly, did not come home with us.

By then, we were ravenous.  I inhaled the cornmeal waffles and fried chicken at Brown Sugar Kitchen.  Note the collard greens and black-eyed pea salad in the background.  All polished off quickly.

After we ate, I chatted with chef/owner Tanya Holland.  She said that she might open up in LA and some people had suggested West Hollywood or Redondo Beach.  I squealed, "Yes, please!  Redondo Beach needs you!".

Then we hiked on the side of a volcano and came downhill to this sunset.

The Golden Gate Bridge is probably a dead giveaway.

* My boss at the costume shop at Berkeley Shakespeare, now California Shakespeare.  But if I had mentioned which boss above, that would have given away our location.

Did you know the Berkeley and Oakland hills were volcanic in origin?  It hadn't occurred to me.  But it makes sense, given their proximity to Mt Diablo, which is clearly volcanic.

Hatfetish.com is actually the internet storefront for brick and mortar Berkeley Hat Company, which I also learned about while working in the costume shop.  The really skilled craftspeople used to buy wool hat blanks and magically shape them to match their vision.  While they were busy, they sent unskilled labor (me) out to buy supplies.

We later crossed the Bay Bridge to go to grandma's house for Thanksgiving.  Bad Dad and I love to pat ourselves on our backs for selecting parents that live in top vacation destinations.

We bought so much fabric and so many books, plus two big straw hats, we were not sure we could pack them into the car on the way home and still see out the back window of the Prius.  Fortunately, I have masterful spatial skills.

We were aided by the fact that we left some stuff behind for my mom.  We also met up with my sister in law (and Iris' cousin) en route and gave her a cooler full of food to take down to Bad Dad's parents in San Diego.  I gave Iris' cousin her pink leopard print hoodie.  I could kick myself for not taking pictures of Iris and H together in their matching hoodies.  Perhaps I can do that later this month.  The adorableness needs to be documented.

7 days, 6 nights, desert, East Bay and SF Peninsula.  Whew.  It's good to be home (and done with the laundry).