Good Night... (Photo from UDel, CMS, Offshore Wind Power webpage (http://www.ocean.udel.edu/windpower/))
Posted by Hello

All is NOT Quiet on the Western Front

Wow - what a roller coaster of a day - with the move coming closer emotions are running high in our house. It started out normally, us driving Ron in to work around 10 - he's been sick for 2 days but had to go to work today - Thomas was excited to go to playgroup afterwards. When we dropped Ron off - I called to find out where playgroup was going to be (because of the rain) and found out it was canceled - first bummer of the day - how do you explain to a three year-old that playgroup has been canceled - he kept saying That's OK we'll just go to the Mall (play area) and Jonathan (his friend from playgroup) will be there. Now of course the mall play area is NOT where playgroup is and Jonathan would NOT be there - and because Thomas has a bit of a sniffle (maybe allergies - I am not sure) I didn't want to expose him to the Mall - but of course once his mind was set on the Mall it's hard to change it. Plus I just didn't want to be in the Mall - I admit I was pretty peeved - but how can you be peeved at the mud at the park (where playgroup usually is) so Finally I (sort of) convinced him that it would be more fun to go see the baby seals at the Marine Mammal Center.

He's been potty training - not very successfully - Ron of course puts in back in diapers whenever he can - which doesn't help much - but that's another story - the nanny (well ex-nanny at this point) doesn't help much either - another story - but we stopped to get a coffee and have him go to the potty at Peet's in the Marina and made it into the potty room where he promptly went in his pants while standing next to the toilet - or he missed the toilet while he was sitting on it and went in his pants - I am not sure - and neither was he - but no matter - we got our coffee and went out to the car to change him, it started to rain...

I was still determined not to be stuck at the Mall - or at home for that matter where he (as expected of a three-year-old) would just keep making mess after mess -that I would spend my day cleaning up - you know toys here, toys there, paint, paper whatever... So I decided - shit - I used to work outside in the winter in much worse weather than CA could ever throw at us - we have an umbrella - so the Marine Mammal Center it was.

What a beautiful ride - up through the Marin Headlands - we chose to go over the mountain rather than around it and got to the top and were totally socked in with fog - now if you haven't been up over the top of the hill at the Marin headlands you have to go - it's scary enough in the sunshine - but today it was eerily and spookily beautiful. The clouds were holding tight to the top of the mountain - and as we went over the top of the hill down onto that steep drop - visibility was less than 20 feet in front of us - I thought maybe I was a little crazy, but was feeling a bit reckless - so I kicked in the 4WD as a precaution - and went really slow down the winding curves, each with a drop steep enough to give anyone vertigo - with the fog you couldn't see the drop off, but knowing it was still there, AND that you couldn't see it made it all the more exhilarating. Thomas was a little scared - but a good scared - he likes going up and down the hills in the car - we do it a lot in the city while waiting for Daddy - and kept telling me to go slow and it would be OK - "slower Mommy, slower" ahh the wisdom of three... We finally got to the bottom and over to the Marine Mammal Center - we parked right next to a female red-tail - she was sitting on a telephone wire looking for breakfast - I showed Thomas - he decided she was looking for a mouse - and we told the next two groups of people about her - with Thomas pointing out that she was looking for a mouse to eat. Thomas also tried (unsuccessfully) to make friends with the 2-ish-year-old that parked behind us on the hill. There were 60 residents - mostly elephant seal pups there, we stayed with a school group for a while, but Thomas got bored pretty quickly because they were mostly sleeping. He was very good at being quiet as all the signs said - much better than the group of school kids.

Luckily, by the time we left the MMC the sun had broken through, as I had hoped it would and it was warming up to be a beautiful day. I think Fort Cronkite and Rodeo beach has to be one of my favorite places to go here in the Bay area (and that's saying a lot - considering how many places I love out here) and today was no exception. The surfers were out in full force, the ocean was really blue - all kinds of blue, the deep ocean was a dark, sapphire blue, the underside of the waves was that beautiful light-filled aqua blue and the waves were choice! - with foamy whitecaps and perfect curls. Geez - I'd love to learn to surf - maybe in my next life... The secluded feeling of a beach bordered by majestic rock monoliths on the South - with the holes underneath, big enough to drive a truck through, so typical of Northern California beaches, bored by the pounding rocks and endless surf - and the high hills of Wolf Ridge to the North, just a half an hour from both my house and one of the most fascinating cities in the world, is somthing that the East Coast doesn't really offer. We crossed the bridge over the lagoon and since it was lunchtime sat down in the sand to eat what we had packed for playgroup - now of course we weren't really prepared for the beach - so eating lunch in the sand wasn't exactly enjoyable - I started to lose my temper as little bits of grit filled all the food and Thomas kept going down to the water at the edge of the lagoon - I had told him he couldn't get his feet wet, and if he did we'd have to go home - Yes - bad move on my part - because of course he did get his feet wet and I didn't back up my threat (somthing I often chide Ron about) because it was too nice a day to leave the beach, and all that was waiting at home was laundry, laundry and more laundry...

So I changed tack and took off his shoes and chilled for a bit and then folded up the blanket, took off my own shoes, and took off Ethan's socks and we left our picnic stuff near the lagoon and walked over to the main beach - closer to the surf. We played for a couple of hours in the sand burying each others feet, making sand castles, which of course Ethan would immediatly crawl on top of and crush down to nothing - if you have never been to Cronkite beach - it's not really sand, it is tiny little round rocks, lots of jade and other beautiful rich colored semi-precious stones that make the sand look more like earth - much bigger than sand grains but small enough to make walking very comfortable - Thomas found (well not found - it has been there as long as I remember) a big old creosote post - the biggest piece of driftwood ever - maybe 30 feet long - 2 feet high, and 2 feet wide - with squared sides - must have been quite a storm surge to get it so high on the beach - and he ran from end to end to end to end, jumping off at the end and then climbing back up and doing it again... I knew then he'd be exhausted by the end of the day. The "lady with the dark glasses" as Thomas named her - Asian wearing sunglasses - came out probably from the MMC offices for her lunch - and read a bit by the big post and took a short nap in the sun - Thomas was fascinated with her and lay down on the back side of the post - right behind her and pretended to nap too! Ethan's mission was to make it over the 50 or so yards of sand to the dog who was frolicking (yes frolicking) in the sand, near the dome tent that her owner had set up - with a big piece of driftwood. The dog looked almost exactly like Laddie - same size, coloring (missing only the white ruff) and demeanor, and I had a little pang of nostalgia... But the dog was soaking wet and playing with a big stick so I kept turning him around or bringing him back when he would get halfway there - he took it with admirable aplomb, for a one-year-old of course.

As I sat there, I knew that this was one of the things I'd miss the most once we leave - the ease of making it to a beautiful beach with my kids, on a whim, no parking hassles, no long trips, no sticky hot sand to trudge through... Don't get me wrong - there are beautiful beaches on the East Coast - but my kind of beach - this kind of beach - only exists here.

So it's funny, I started to write this blog, late, after Ethan crying for what seems like an eternity (he is having some fierce teething issues), me being severely dehydrated (we didn't have enough water with us today - we were only supposed to go to playgroup - so I gave most of it to the kids and of course the teething means lots of "boppy" which dehydrates me) and having a pounding headache exacerbated by Ethan's non-stop wailing, Daddy being very cranky - because he's been sick and Ethan is crying and I am so sick of Ethan crying that I am cranky too, yelling at Ron - him yelling at me - telling me that this is a "disaster of my own making", and that I deserve my headache because I went to the beach today, Thomas crying (because Ethan woke him up) and he is upset because we all are - but of course Thomas is the sweetest boy - as we are laying in bed (Thomas, Ethan (wailing) and I (trying to ignore Ethan's wailing and holding my head to stop the pounding), Thomas gingerly lifts up my t-shirt and points to the "boppy" and then to Ethan and whispers "I think it would help Mommy" - ANYWAY - I started to write this blog to vent out my frustrations - but as I reflect on the day, I can only remember how lucky I am to live in this beautiful place with my beautiful family. The GenPril I took have kicked in - we dosed up Ethan with Baby Orajel and Tylenol and he's out like a light, and All IS Quiet on the Western Front.

A cheap plug for a great artist

If you are in the mood for some thought provoking art - check out Rich's website (click on his name, then click on "my webpage" and select the paintings tab -

Rich - I really like the new (2004) paintings you posted - when's your next show? And when are we going to do coffee?

look at those teeth!
Posted by Hello

Hello - Welcome to our Blog!
Posted by Hello

First Entry

Always wanted a blog - so I could babble on, and perhaps fill the world with my wisdom?

So I started one - really because I wanted to post on the LOCE Wind and Wave Energy blogspot and had to sign up to do so - so here it is...

Wow! A Blog! I am so excited...
Posted by Hello

What is a blog?

If you don't know, a blog is short for "weblog" - basically it is an online diary. For now I set this one up to get some experience with blogging and to get my friends and family familiar with the process. Eventually I'd like to create an "Environmental" blog - a source for discussion and debate regarding the issues that matter to me (Yes it's all about me - if you want it to be about you - get your own blog - kidding, I am kidding ;-)) - similar to the blog I was reading (http://renewablesoffshore.blogspot.com ) which started the whole process.

Please feel free to post or comment as often as you like, I set my blog up as a team blog and if you got an invitation, you are welcome to post. I'd love to hear your comments, and what you are thinking about - if you download the correct software (let me know if you need info) you can post pictures, or blog from an email (write an email and post it to the blog).

Over the next weeks you may read about the trials and tribulations of moving, potty training, Ethan's first steps - no he hasn't taken them yet - the "nanny", playgroup, maybe I'll even start diatribing about how Arnold is plotting to ruin California, good thing we are getting out! - who knows???

For now just enjoy the pics and send me a post - talk to you soon