A Parting Shot at '08

We got our box of camera parts from our friend yesterday—yay! Here's what I pulled off the card, all from December:

Hey, it's the Confusion Hill bridge! This area of Hwy 101 is notorious for landslides, so the state finally threw up its hands and decided to build a bridge to bypass the slide area. We check its progress every time we drive to San Francisco. Sadly, the bridge will also bypass Confusion Hill, one of our states roadside attraction treasures.

You can also see what "mediterranean climate" means—look at all that green! Grass growing, trees budding...must be December in California.

Is this where we're all heading? Are antelope the highest form of life on earth? Greg finds out at the newly-rebuilt California Academy of Sciences. Both it and the newly-rebuilt De Young Museum are both conveniently located for those wishing to decompress after a fun morning at UCSF.

I just love the De Young Museum: even though the building is new, it brings me a lot of happy memories of time spent in Golden Gate Park.

When we're in The City we also take the opportunity to visit friends. At Tom's house we relax with games and TV, but we let someone else operate the remote—whichever one it is!

The very happy person on the left is Sandra, Jason's after-school sitter in Albany. Sandra also watched Jason's older brother and sister when they were little. She's one of the best people we know, full of happiness and warmth and love, and the kids love to stop by and see her when we're in town. And Sandra is always happy to receive.

We were thrilled to see Manuel and The Carlas, friends of ours from Oax-town, up visiting Manuel's old alma mater. Humboldt did not disappoint, and put on a weather show of unparalleled severity for those poor tropical denizens. We used to work with Manuel at Berlitz, and Carlita was a student in our English class.

This one's for you, Wendy. Orange Gina and Vivani Catpants snuggle on the blanket Sven gave us. They NEVER do this. We had been up late one Saturday playing games, and rather than retire to the other room to sleep, the cats settled down with all of us in the living room despite the lights and noise.

I know it looks static, but believe you me, there is some serious motion going on in this photo.

You Call of Cthulhu players? This is Andy, one of the original Theron Marks Society members, looking tough in our friend's backyard in Berkeley. Don't split up the party!

Greg, Manuel, and The Carlas found this HUGE toadstool on the HSU campus. I'm sure the dreadlocked hippie people, dope-smokers, and skateboarders are just out of the frame.

Tom's Wall of Juju. For a construction kind of guy who's partial to welding and beams of steel, Tom has a surprisingly delicate touch with crafts. All the fans and the rattle he made.

Vivani taking a grooming break after getting worked up over the catnip toy and taking it out on her hat. We only bust out the hat when the floor is in need of a good vacuuming, because she crunches on it and strews pieces of it all over the carpet.

Did I mention that in addition to the two bottles of mezcal that Manuel and The Carlas gave us, Brian's mom gave him and Alisha another two?
I'm sure it had nothing to do with everyone's choice of headgear.

Merry Mithrasmas, everyone.