July 2006 Archives

Just another manic Monday today, for the most part. But one thing I do want to call out is that I did manage to squeeze out a little writing today, and after I was done (I stopped only because I had to go on to the next thing, not because I wanted to), I felt all excited and energized. I had writer's high. (Anyway I'm pretty sure it was that and not the caffeine from the green tea I'd had an hour before.) And I realized something--I had a hard time trying to write last night because I was at a point where I wanted to move forward to a particular plot point I'd been envisioning, but didn't know how. I was stuck. But once I stopped worrying about how I was going to get there, and just asked myself what the character whose head I was in would be thinking/doing right then, I was able to figure out what happened next step by little step. Bird by bird. And I got somewhere I didn't even know I was going to go, but I'm happy with it--because the story itself told me where it wanted to go, without being forced or twisted into shape. I love those moments. It totally gives me hope that I'll be able to finish this damn novel some day (I can barely believe that it's been just about exactly three years now--THREE YEARS--that I've been working on this thing, sheeyit). I must remember: just because I can't quite envision how I'm going to make it to the end now (either plotwise or just plain effort-wise), doesn't mean that I won't be able to get there somehow, just by going step by step and having faith in the process.

Faith in the process. Gotta keep the faith. I feel like maybe I've had this realization before. Ok, so maybe I've had it a whole bunch of times. But clearly I need to have it every so often.

Too tired to write more than a few notes on the day here.

Unexpected visits from friends who love entertaining your children are one of life's little rewards.

I made it to, through, and back from the Grocery Store in exactly an hour today (and didn't forget anything). I rock. Of course it really helped that Josh had made me a list first.

The Strybing Botanical Gardens in Golden Gate Park (we went there today with the kids and our friends Serena and Eric) are pretty flippin' amazing, and I would really like to go wander around in there by myself with a camera and/or a journal some day. Preferably a sunny, not too crowded day, say in early Fall. (I'll have to get working on that…anyone want to be my park buddy?) Favorite part: the Japanese garden. Although I also really liked the prehistoric plants. And I'm sure we didn't even begin to see it all.

Everyone knows that squirrels are cute (fuzzy tails! Big eyes! Cute little noses!), but why is it that I find turtles so darn cute? I know I'm not alone here. We got to feed turtles today at the Botanical Gardens and they were certainly way cuter than the ducks (or god forbid the seagulls), even with their shells all covered in brown scum from their pondwater home.

Them internets is a gol-durn time-suck. I think it's my version of turning on the TV "just to see what's on" and then an hour or two later stupidly wondering where the time went. I wanted to get some writing done tonight (given that I have writer's group tomorrow and nothing to bring) but nope: too tired. I'd be better off sleeping at this point.

Speaking of which…

Today went by so quickly and yet it feels like I didn't really *do* much of anything. I slept in (finally!), we had a late breakfast, I took a shower, I took Eli to the mall to see Cars (liked it lots, of course, but it did not replace The Incredibles as my favorite Pixar movie), we had a late lunch, we ran a couple quick errands (well, as quick as they can be when you've got a whiny 5 year old along), we came home and had dinner. Kid bedtime, then house chores, then puttering on the computer (more pix posted and blog sidebar finally updated, if anyone cares). And suddenly it's bedtime. I had high hopes for this day, but I guess I'll settle for low-key mundanity. It makes a nice change of pace every once in awhile.

Isaac has turned into a shrieker. He's gaining words fast and furious now (although many of them are variations on "consonant+ah", like "cah" for car or "caah" for cracker or "bah" for ball or "tah" for star, and so on) but they're mostly an entertaining game for him, not a serious method of communication. When he really wants to express himself, he shrieks. He doesn't whine, he doesn't whimper, he doesn't cry, he doesn't sing, he doesn't babble (ok he does do all of those from time to time, just not as his main method), he shrieks. Ear-piercingly. Happy shrieks, unhappy shrieks, "pay attention to meeee" shrieks, "the world is not serving my will" shrieks, and just general "I'm alive! Look what I can do with my body!" shrieks. Occasionally it's cute; most of the time it grates on my every last nerve like Tabasco sauce on a shredded hangnail. Sometimes--like this morning, for example--it is so bad I literally can feel my eardrums throbbing and I find myself wondering if I should start wearing protective headwear. God, I hope this phase is a quick one.

But have I also mentioned how gosh-darn *cute* he is? Amazingly so, I must admit. It's definitely the "plus" side of the ledger in this whole "living with a toddler" thing: mind-bending amounts of sheer adorableness in a chubby, flirty, wide-eyed, giggly package. (My dad always cites cuteness as though it completely made up for every other childrearing difficulty: "but at least he's just SO CUTE"--and he's not totally wrong, though he may have forgotten just how difficult the actual difficulties are, being 35 years or so removed from it.) You don't have to just take my word for it, let me show you:

And as long as we're at it, I might add that I just updated Isaac's webpage, if you feel like exposing yourself to even yet more toxic levels of cuteness. But you have been warned. Wear lead sunglasses or something.

Long day. Long week, finally nearing a close. Spent most of my free time tonight processing pictures, some of which you can see here if you're so inclined (scroll down and head to page 2 for the latest ones). I'm only up to June and there were hundreds of pictures taken in June and July, so I clearly have miles to go before I sleep. But I'm going to sleep anyway. I've got one more day of a Daddy-less household to manage.

I'll leave you with a fun picture from our Reno trip (since that's what I was just uploading): Josh and Jason meet "the Captain"! Arrrrrrrr...

So Eli has been taking swim lessons for about a month now during his weeks at summer camp, and has made it all the way to Level 3, which means he's really very close to actual swimming. It's a HUGE difference from last year when he did swim lessons--back then it was really difficult to get him to even put his face in the water. This year he's eager, excited and so proud of himself. I think he'll have swimming mostly mastered by the end of the summer--another milestone reached!

Last week on the morning of the day we left on our mini-vacation, we had the rare opportunity to stick around and watch Eli's swim lesson. Of course I brought my camera. He totally showed off for us, but totally loved that we were both there watching him. And we loved watching him, our goofy little guy, growing up before our eyes.

^ Eli at the pool, waiting around impatiently for the lesson to start.

^ Practicing backwards push-offs with his "swim buddy".

^ The lesson gets exciting--a trip to the deep end!

^ The most exciting part of the lesson...jumping off the diving board! (He hit the water with a big ol' belly flop but didn't seem to mind...)

So Josh tagged me on this one nearly a month ago, but I was in non-blogging mode then so I never responded to it. Since it's still so hot and I'm so lazy, I think I'll respond to it now rather than trying to think up something new and exciting about this long, sticky day worth writing about. Thus, without further ado and in no particular order and off the top of my head:

8 Odd Things About Me That You Might Or Might Not Know, But That I Feel Like Revealing To The Entire Internet (And Haven't Already):

1) Back when I was in 8th grade and extending all the way through until probably 10th grade or so, my friends and I (I'm not going to out any of them here) had a really active fantasy life that we expressed mostly through writing. This fantasy life could almost have been described as an adolescent form of multiple personality disorder, if we'd known what that even was at the time. We all had characters, each taken from various story worlds we liked at the time (ranging from Star Trek to Star Wars to Elfquest to ones we made up featuring, say, various members of the band Duran Duran as our boyfriends), and would write notes to each other in which those characters "interrupted" in parentheses (wait a minute....perhaps I have suddenly stumbled upon the reason for the predilection upon which this blog is based! Ha! But more on that some other time...). We occasionally would "LARP" these characters too, but mostly it was through writing. Very odd, and yet, somehow, very thrilling and very useful to burgeoning adolescents looking to try on different personalities and situations in a safe way. I actually wrote my senior thesis in Women's Studies about this time in my life, also managing to tie in a discussion of feminist utopian fiction. (I'll have to go back and read that thing some time, I barely remember it now.)

2) Speaking of 8th grade geekery, I started playing D&D in 7th grade and only reluctantly gave it up when I hit high school once I realized that a) boys were boring and there weren't any other girls playing; and b) oh yeah it was also social death.

3) I have a very short frenulum (that bit of flesh that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your mouth). Never really bothered me that I can recall, apart from an occasional wistful longing to be able to tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue, which I am completely unable to do.

4) I always wanted to play the harp. Not necessarily the big concert size one (though I like that too) but more like the smaller, more personal celtic size. I guess this hobbit is just a frustrated bard at heart. I just love the sound of it, and the feel of playing one. Someday I'll get one and teach myself how (or take lessons). Sounds like a good project for that probably-all-too-short "retirement" period of my life, in which I will have far too many things to try and far too little time (or energy) to do them all. Sigh. Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket.

5) I love glass as an art medium/art form. With the possible exception of stained glass, which I've tried and mildly enjoyed, I never want to actually do it (too hot! too dangerous! too heavy!) but God I love to look at it. One of the highlights of my life was going on an art trip with my mom to the Glass Museum and the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma to see a Dale Chihuly exhibition (not to mention all the other cool stuff they had there). It's one of those things I'd totally collect (and sponsor) if I had a berzwillion dollars to spend on being an art patron.

6) I really, really hate people who throw still-lit cigarette butts on the ground when they're walking or driving. As if the world was their ashtray and it was perfectly okay to just throw garbage (let alone fire) around without worrying about consequences. So selfish, and so gross. I always honk at people doing that if I'm behind them on the road. They probably don't have any idea what they've done or why I'm honking either.

7) I've always been able to relate to men as friends really well (as lovers is another story and one I don't know as I'll ever post about). I have a lot of guy friends, and I often find myself gravitating towards the guys' discussions at parties and get togethers. Of course, this may also have to do with the fact that I know mostly very cool guys who aren't your typical manly men shooting the shit about sports, but still. On the other hand, I have a lot of women friends too, and consider my girls' network to be one of my most treasured things in my life. So go figure. Maybe I'm just balanced.

8) I just don't watch TV. I don't have anything against it, really--there have certainly been shows I was devoted to, and I usually enjoy it when I find myself in a situation where I *am* watching it, but if left to my own devices it just doesn't occur to me to turn the thing on. It's kind of a handicap to me on a work level, where I have to at least somewhat keep an eye on pop culture, but I don't care. I'm really much more of a written word kinda gal, I guess.

Ok, that's it, my totally off-the-top-of-my-head 8 odd things. I tag...let's see, Attorney Wrangler, Daphne and Ian. :P

I was going to try to upload and post some pictures, but I can't find my camera cord. Grump grump harrumph. It's still freaky hot here, and now I have a huge headache, so my motivation? It is falling behind like a slow, clumsy tortoise dragging its flippers in the dust. Of Death Valley. Ugh.

Did I mention that Josh left last night for a 5 day business trip, and I'm solo parenting all week? Yeah. Grumpy ol' me still has to go do dishes and pack lunches, which is looking increasingly unlikely as we head past 10pm and Tylenol seems to have lost the joust with the headache.

Was it really only 3 days ago that we were feasting on delicacies, drinking fine wine and sleeping on a soft comfy bed in an air conditioned room? Sigh…how quickly mundanity creeps back. (Actually, "creeps" is not the right word…more like slams back into the room like a rowdy drunk frat boy.)

Pant pant pant…it is still so, so unbearably hot here today (definitely over 100). We spent most of the day trying to escape it in various not-quite-cool-enough enough places (bagel store, grocery store, mall, movie theater, car, grocery store, back yard sprinkler, etc. We had a nice visit from my Colorado aunt and uncle today, whom I haven't seen for probably several years now (they hadn't met Isaac). It was great to see them. My aunt's daughter (my cousin) is getting married in Colorado in September, and has invited my whole extended family to come, which is a big deal--there's been some family friction between my dad and his sister and this cousin of mine ever since my brother's wedding 10 years ago, but this new wedding and I guess the distance of a decade seems to be finally easing the friction. Thank goodness. I try not to get involved in these Dvorin family frictions--I think life is way too short to cut yourself off from your family, even if they are at times annoying--but they always impact my life nonetheless. I'm really looking forward to this one resolving itself (at least somewhat).

Anyway, the only other thing I wanted to record about today before backtracking to the rest of our vacation (scribbles for posterity, remember), is that today when Eli and I went to the movies, we had one of those "my boy is growing up moments": Eli wanted to go to the men's room by himself. And I let him. My part big/part little boy, who still uses the phrase "I have to go potty" and who still consented to come into the women's room with me (though not in the stall)--I'm so proud of him, even though (and especially because) it was hard to let him go. I was worried and kept peeking in the door when it opened, and it seemed like way too long before he came out again (with his hands washed!). But he did just fine, even though he told me later that he had a hard time figuring out how to open the lock on the stall door. Sigh…the end of another era, another door gently closing on a part of your child's journey towards independence, that you don't even realize you might feel funny about missing until you do.

Ok now it's getting late so back to the vacation stuff before I pass out. So let's see, I think we last left our heroes on Friday night, about to go to uber-fancy schmancy Cyrusfor dinner. This place was touted as "the next French Laundry but easier to get reservations" and I have to say that was nearly correct. Now, we've eaten at the French Laundry, and it still remains the benchmark against which every other great gourmet dining experience is measured. And while Cyrus did in fact come very close, it did not displace French Laundry in either our hearts or stomachs. I'd say that if French Laundry was a 10, Cyrus was between a 9 and a 9.5, mostly due to relatively intangible factors like overall atmosphere, service, and mood.

However, this by no means is saying that Cyrus was not superb, totally top-notch foofy dining. Overall, the dining experience was over the top and the food was fantastic--creative, entertaining, surprising, beautifully presented and of course, absolutely delicious. You can get an idea of their "normal" menu here, but because we're that kind of crazy, what we decided to go for was the "chef's tasting menu", a 7-course "chef's choice" menu that was made up on the spot for us. We also chose to get the recommended 7-course wine pairings with the chef's menu, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. The wine (and the sommelier) arrived first, and poured something that piqued our curiosity about the upcoming course, which then turned out to be the perfect, if unanticipated companion (of course). Because I know that each and every one of you seven readers is dying to know in excruciating detail exactly how over the top our dinner was (actually, I'm just doing this for my own gratification when I go back and read this someday), I now present to you the menu (lovingly retyped) that they presented to us on their restaurant letterhead after our meal (yes, this is the kind of place that actually gives you the menu as a take home souvenir of the experience…):

Chef's Tasting Menu For The Archers' Anniversary Dinner
Friday, July 21, 2006

Canapes
(This was when we got to select from the champagne and caviar cart. No, I'm not kidding. We had "J" champagne since that's a nostalgia label for us and a half ounce of whatever the least expensive kind of American caviar was…we are not *quite* that foofy yet that we can tell the difference between caviars, and besides, the "best" kind costs somewhere around $100 a half ounce. It was served with fingerling potato crisps, crème fraiche, crumbled egg, and minced chives. My verdict: good, not incredible.)

Amuse Bouche
(Two tiny little pastry-cupped creations…some sort of eggplant, and some sort of raw salmon? I can't quite remember, maybe Josh will. But incredibly delicious.)

Big Eye Tuna "Sashimi" with Lemon Cucumber and Lemon Verbena Tomato Water
Sauvignon Blanc, Tupari, Marlborough, New Zealand 2005
(This was my least favorite course, because I was underwhelmed with the fish. The lemon verbena tomato water was quite clever and delicious though. And the wine, which was supposed to have notes of "electric asparagus", was outstanding.)

Seared Foie Gras with Peaches, Blackberries and Buttermilk Biscuit, Frangelico Duck Reduction
Monbazillac "Cuvee du Chateau", Grande Maison, France 2000
(Ok, really, you had me at "foie gras"…but this was probably one of the most amazing things I have ever tasted. Honestly. Whatever you may think of foie gras, and I myself have some serious moral misgivings about the process of creating it, I must say it was like the perfect orgasmic Julie-dish. The creamy sweetness of the foie gras was sort of like a fruit; the texture of the peaches and the richness of the little bits of hazelnut scattered on the top were reminiscent of meat; the frangelico duck sauce plus the biscuit made it almost like an incredible Belgian waffle. I'm telling you, if there is a heaven, which I'm 99% sure there isn't, they will serve me this dish every day in between the hamachi course and the avocado, mayo and sourdough course and I will never get tired of it. The wine they served this with was apparently a sauterne (sp?), which I don't know diddly about except I know it's usually a dessert wine, which surprised us when it was poured but turned out of course to be totally, deliciously appropriate.)

Japanese Pen Shell "Tairagai", with Sweet Corn and Pickled Ramp-Greens
Reisling Kabinett, Ziliken "Saarburger Rausch", Germany 1994
(What the heck is a pen shell, you ask? Well we asked too. It's a mollusk, apparently, shaped vaguely like a very large mussel. What we were served was a slice of it, seared like a scallop but much firmer and chewier (like calamari or clam). But what really stood out in this dish was the sweet corn "foam" that was under the pen shell--not only did it look all marine-like, which was cool, but it tasted like, well, sweet corn foam. Not something you have every day. Yum. The wine was supposed to have notes of "diesel", and by gum it did. And that actually worked with the marine theme too.)

Intermezzo: Huckleberry Sorbet Lollipops
(These were little disks of sorbet frozen onto a short straw, served like a single-bite lollipop. Perfect palate cleanser.)

Quail with Haricots Verts, Cannelli Beans, Chanterelles and Lavender Dumplings, Vermouth and Lavender Consomme.
Pinot Noir, Cep, Sonoma Coast, California 2004
(Teeeeeny tiny tasty bird bits, oh so delightfully roasted. The combination of flavors here was subtle and superb, especially the hint of lavender in both the sauce and the dumplings. We finally got a local wine and it was quite fabulous, and of course perfectly paired.)

Ume-Glazed Pork Belly, Caramelized Bamboo and Cherry Blossoms (Josh)
And
Hoisin Squab, Black Bean-Rice Cake and Kumquats (me)
Rioja Crianza, Sierra Cantabria, Spain 2001
(Josh was a tiny bit disappointed in his pork belly, because it was braised, not seared, and was a little too fatty for him. I tasted the bamboo/cherry blossom sides though and they were terrific. I loved my squab--I'm a total sucker for both hoisin and black bean so both the sauce and the rice cake were super yummy to me, and both flavors balanced really well with the kumquats, which were sliced and sort of candied. Absolutely delicious wine as well, of course.)

Artisanal and Farmhouse Cheeses With Complementing Breads and Fruits
Montlouis Sur Loire, Francois Chidaine, "Les Truffeaux", Loire, France 2004
(Oh my lord, you know I love a good cheese plate, and this one was just superb--although really I would not have expected anything less. There were at least 7 or 8 selections, some local, some not, and I wish I could remember them more clearly so I could find them again. They were served with an amazing dried fruit/nut cake, some spiced nuts, some champagne grapes and of course, a perfect wine. Ohhhhhhh so good.)

Blackberries Lime Rickey
Moscato D'Asti, La Spinetta "Bricco Quaglia", Piedmont, Italy 2005
And
Caramel Soup with Kettle Corn Sorbet and Chocolate Filigree
1994 Colheita Port, Niepoort
(I really can't speak much to the Blackberries Lime Rickey, except to say that it was little beads of ice-cream like lime stuff with some coconut, and some berries, and some sauce. Not so much my thing, although it was very flavorful and refreshingly zippy on the tongue. Josh really liked it though, so I let him eat it. But the other dessert, which is one of their signatures--oh my god, another near orgasmic Julie-dish. It was served in a bowl with the sorbet on the bottom and a chocolate mesh disk across the top of the bowl, on which a few pieces of actual kettle corn were suspended. Then the server poured the hot carmel "soup" over the chocolate, in a circle around the pieces of kettle corn, until the chocolate dissolved and the whole middle of the disk fell down onto the sorbet, which by now was melting too. Mmmm, sweet, salty, caramel + chocolate + popcorn---soooooooo good and so cleverly served! The port was quite tasty with it too. Josh didn't care for my dessert too much, so we both happily ate our own after the requisite tastes.)

And then, even though we were groaningly full at this point, there were "mignardises", little candy thingies--I remember particularly a gewurtztraminer gelee and a dark chocolate candy and a passionfruit gummy thing--and then espresso, and then even more little candy things they sent us home with in a fancy gold envelope. There were some other little intermezzos/amuse bouches in there too but honestly you get a bit overloaded remembering everything, and since they didn't put them on the menu that they gave us to take with us, I don't remember them.

We got there at 9:30 (the only seating they had left when we called to make the reservation), and we didn't get out of there until a few minutes after midnight. As you can imagine, we went directly home and fell groaning into bed. The next morning we both had a bit of digestive discomfort from all the rich, unusual food, but I'd have to say it was worth it.

So now we're up to Saturday (yesterday), and I think I've actually exhausted myself with that whole menu recounting, so I won't say much more. It was hot, we were tired out, and believe it or not missing our kids and wanting to go home. But we had a whole day to kill before the wedding started at 6pm, so we decided to visit one more winery, then go grab lunch and see a movie. The winery was definitely the high point--it was Roshambo Winery, the hip young urbanite's winery. Their schtick (go check out their webpage, you'll see what I mean) is so entertainingly refreshing and different (and I'm sad to say, so aimed directly at us as far as marketing goes) and happily, their wines were so good, that we signed up for their wine club on the spot. We had a great conversation about music and blogging with a perkigoth wine guy who was pouring tastes for us, and can't wait to go back for some of the parties they throw there (Pirate Prom! Need I say more?).

Lunch was Tex Wasabi, movie was Superman Returns; both were interesting yet ultimately underwhelming. Then after a little dawdling and changing clothes at a Starbucks, we went to Linda and Petros' wedding, which despite the heat and the fact that we didn't know anyone else there, turned out to be pretty fun. I'm running out of steam here so I'll leave it at that, except to say that I'm really happy for Linda and I am looking forward to getting to know Petros better someday.

Whew, still hot here, but time for bed! Maybe I'll get around to posting a few pictures tomorrow…

Actually, we just got home, it's close to midnight and it's still over 80 degrees outside (and hotter inside). There's no way I'm going to get through a description of the whole day here--it will have to wait until tomorrow. But at least let me say that 1) Cyrus was AWESOME last night; 2) today was HOT LIKE HADES (the high predicted for Healdsburg, where we were, was 106); and 3) My dear friend and moon sis Linda got married today in Santa Rosa, and despite the melty heat (it was an outside wedding) it was a lovely and loving and love-full evening. Viva amore!

It was great to be away. It's great to be home.

That is all. Going to go strip down and go to bed with a fan trained directly at me now.

Today was wine day. Mmmmm, wine. Such an adult pleasure, and such delight for gourmand goobers such as ourselves. (For some reason, it is the pleasures of the mouth that give us the most joy…go figure.) After a super lazy morning and breakfast at the Glen Ellen Market, we rolled ourselves up to the Benziger Winery up the road from where we were staying. It had been recommended to us by one of the locals we met at the Saloon on Wednesday night--he piqued our interest by telling us about how this winery was one of the only ones in the world doing a special kind of organic farming called "biodynamic" farming (started by Rudolf Steiner, the same guy who started Waldorf schools, so you can tell this is some good quality crunchy hippy stuff--seriously, go check out the link above, it's pretty interesting). It turned out to be an excellent recommendation. It was an absolutely gorgeous setting, nestled in a bowl of a valley in the shadow of Sonoma mountain, and beautifully landscaped. We went on a fabulous tour (despite the 100 degree heat, and no, I am not exaggerating) and hung around the tasting room tasting their regular and reserve wines, and were so impressed with everything that we wound up joining the wine club and blowing a couple hundred dollars on various outstanding wines including biodynamically farmed ones like this one and this one. The tasting room manager (who was a lovely man and we had a great time talking with him) let us taste one of their "library" wines (an older vintage) that was a 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon and I can safely say it was probably the best wine I have ever had. Whoo. Good thing it was way out of our price range.

I love that Benziger is a family owned and operated winery, and that everything they do on the winery proper (and now in many of their supplier grape growers and their sister winery, Imagery) is done with the purpose of creating a sense of place. It really brings a new (and quite proper) meaning to the word "local", which is something I truly appreciate. They really are acting as stewards of the land, in the best sense, and I totally want to support that. And if it makes my mouth happy while I do so, all the better!

After a quick (and tasty) lunch at the Glen Ellen Market, we headed over to Benziger's sister winery, Imagery). They turned out to be pretty cool too, not only because they do the biodynamic stuff, but also because they grow a lot of the less common varietals we love (like Cabernet Franc or Malbec or Sangiovese), and they have an emphasis on integrating some wonderful art on their labels and at the winery. Each of their wines has a different label done by a contemporary artist, and all the original pieces are on display at the winery. Great concept--and now I really, really want to figure out how to get my paintings on those wine labels! I guess I'll have to hunt down the curator, who's a professor at Sonoma State. Hmm, maybe I'll have to invest in some decent photos of my paintings first…in my copious spare time…

Anyway, they had some very tasty wine there too, and we bought a few more bottles, but it was so hot that even in the air conditioned tasting room it was getting sticky. So we headed out of there and out to Healdsburg, which is where I am now, in the nice air conditioned hotel room, typing away on the comfy bed. We seriously upgraded our lodging for this one night--we're staying at the Healdsburg Inn on the Plaza, and it is *fancy*. I'm talkin' not only super squishy bed and fireplace in the room (yeah like we need that right now), but home made cookies/free sodas/wine and nibbles/gourmet breakfast fancy. Woo! We walked around the Plaza a bit before wilting in the heat and coming back here, but we're heading out in a bit for a super uber gourmet dinner (which I am verrrrrry excited about) at Cyrus. I'll report back on that tomorrow.

Wow, it's been an incredibly indulgent couple of days. Not sure how we'll top this tomorrow (maybe we won't, but I'm willing to try). I feel both rejuvenated and blessed.

There's a tender little sprout of optimism that seems to have grown up through the arid, hard packed dirt of my overwhelm lately. I feel like it's possible to pay attention to creative projects again, to break the stillness and reach inquiringly outwards into life rather than just running in place or turning always inward. Curiosity is back, a sense of noticing and wanting to fiddle, poke, explore, try out/on. Sleep is still anything but abundant, and work is still over-full and demanding; but there is a space that has opened up for me, mentally. I don't know how else to explain it. And I certainly don't know how to summon it (wish I did), but I'll accept it gratefully while it's here.

I think I want to start blogging daily again. Reporting from the front, so to speak. Not that every day will produce something fabulous (it didn't work that way before, that's for sure), but I miss having some kind of record of what was going on, in my life or in my head. Scribbles for posterity. So back to the "online journal" concept I go.

And in that spirit, let me start right here, where I am, and report. It's 6pm. I'm sitting here in a comfy lounge chair on the lawn of the Jack London Lodge in Glen Ellen. Josh is sitting next to me, reading a book. I was reading a book before I decided I was getting too foggy and wanted to switch to something more creative (I'm sure I'll run out of steam soon here and go back to reading, though). Comfy chair? Reading? (Blogging?) In Glen Ellen? How can this be? That's right, we're on vacation! An all-too-brief vacation, to be sure, but we'll take what we can get. We were supposed to be at Comic-Con, and had already arranged babysitting for that, but decided a month or two ago that we'd bail on that and go do a more relaxing, anniversary-like vacation instead, so here we are in wine country doing all kinds of delightfully adult things: eating! Drinking! Sleeping late! And even, if you can believe this, spa treatments! And we've only been here a day…

Ok so let me back up. We got here yesterday afternoon, after having first dropped off the kids at Dawn's and camp (we got to watch Eli's swim lesson first though, and that was all kinds of cute). But instead of rushing off to wine country, we lingered in Marin to watch a matinee of Pirates of the Carribbean (I give it a solid B, mostly because I loves me that Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and the special effects were awesome) and have lunch at our favorite sushi place. Then we went back home and finished packing, and got up here around 5pm or so. We spent some time hanging out here on the lawn reading yesterday too and then walked to the "downtown" (it's two blocks, seriously, and mostly restaurants) for a delicious dinner at The Fig Café. After dinner, we walked back to the lodge and hung out for a couple hours at the Jack London Saloon, which has been around since the turn of the last century and is certainly the only nearby place for locals to hang out. It was mostly quiet and empty but we did have a good time talking with a couple of older guys from the 'hood (so to speak), and the bartender, who was a transplant from San Francisco that was around our age. We drank far too much and heard lots of interesting stories (proving that once again, everyone you meet has an interesting life--you just have to scratch the surface to find it), then stumbled back home to bed.

This morning, we slept in (oh bliss!) as late as the hard bed and bright sun allowed, then dragged ourselves out to the lodge's continental breakfast before coming back to the room to shower and get ready for the day. After a stop at the Glen Ellen Market (so foofy and upscale it could seriously give Woodlands a run for its money) for some pick-me-up drinks and snacks we decided to go out to Sonoma to MacArthur Place, which had a spa that was recommended to us. Stopped in there, made an appointment for a couple's massage package, and then went off to the Sonoma Plaza to poke around for awhile and have lunch. We found The Girl and The Fig, which was the older and somewhat snootier cousin to the Fig Café, and had a truly outstanding light lunch there (including cheese plate! I love cheese plate!). Then we had our blissful spa experience (which in and of itself may have to be the subject of its own post, there was so much detail to love about it), and drove home in a pleasant daze. And now, we're back on the lawn, waiting for things to cool down and the time for our dinner reservation to arrive. It's been a fabulous 24 hours so far, and my God, we have 48 more to go! Mmmmmm….

Ok so it's been a month of blank blog. And what a month it's been. Busybusybusy more than usual, with work stress, travel, events, and tragedy. And I'm too wrung out tonight to write more about what's been happening, because another tragedy came our way today: Oreo, our sweet boo boo kitty, died today. Last night she had a massive stroke which led to seizures, and after rushing her to the emergency vet and sedating her to stop the seizures, she never recovered. She passed away quietly at our regular vet this morning, and this afternoon Josh and I buried her in the side yard, with a beautiful purple salvia to mark her grave.

It's really hard for me to express (at least right now) what a wonderful kitty Oreo was. (Josh did a good job here though.) She was the lovey-est, sweetest, most mellow cat ever. Her purr was legendary. Her non-discriminating, all-inclusive "lap-slut" ways won her many admirers. Even though she really hadn't been herself for probably a year now, and her presence had grown increasingly minimal, her absence feels sudden and stinging. She will be sorely, sorely missed.

I love you, cookie kitty, and I sincerely hope that we helped your last year be a comfortable and satisfying one. We totally owed you that much because you gave us so, so much. Good bye.

^old lady Oreo with her kitty sis, Maxi, on the couch. This was taken 11/05, before she moved more or less permanently into the bathroom with her heating pad.