Bea says:

"Mama, my elf is coming. I will wait for him."

and

"That peanut butter is too fancy."

A Tribute to the Big Guy On His 7th Birthday

Happy Birthday, Scannon! Here is swimming at Point Isabel last winter. Scannon's life has changed dramatically since Bea came along. Not only has he become a city dog, he's no longer our baby and he knows it. He's putting up with this amazingly well. He's so patient with Bea and her interest in him, accepting her kisses and awkward ministrations with a comb like the gentle giant he is. Its not easy living in a small apartment with a toddler and a 144 lb sleepy ball of fur and I can't imagine its any easier being that ball of fur. He waits so patiently for his walks putting up with all the last minute delays (better grab a sippy cup, where are Bea's shoes?, where's my phone?) that must drive him nuts when he just wants to pee for heaven's sake. He's gallant about my daily vacuuming habit (hey, there's a lot of fur around here), never complaining when I prod him to move into another room and then another and another. 

We've been worried about him at points this year. At times he's seemed a little defeated, a little hopeless. Now that the weather has turned cooler, there's a new spring in his step and he's showing some of his old playfulness. How much of his new demeanor can be attributed to changes in his pack, his new urban environment, the weather, his age? We can't be sure. I am sure that he's an integral part of our family and I hope that he stays with us for many, many years even if, as I sometimes think, he'd like to pack his cookie bones and hit the road in search of a family that shows him more consideration. 

Grandma Sue Visits

Grandma Sue came from Texas to be with us for Thanksgiving. She and Bea were fast friends, all shyness having dissipated on the ride home from the airport. Grandma came along on our usual routes and routines catching a glimpse of our new life in California.

On the Sunday before Thanksgiving we drove over the Bay Bridge to the starting point of San Francisco's 49 mile Scenic Drive near Jason's building in Civic Center. We followed the route through some of our favorite parts of the city: the Peace Pagoda in Japantown, the Chinatown gate, Fisherman's Wharf, and new spots we hadn't seen yet like the Presidio where we hopped onto the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time. Jason was a terrific driver coping expertly with crazy traffic, incredibly steep hills, cable cars, and muni lines, pedestrians. It was a foggy day and views weren't great, but Grandma caught a glimpse of Alcatraz.

We drove over the Golden Gate into Marin County stopping at the Bayside Cafe in Sausalito for lunch. After checking out the houseboats in the harbor we headed north to Muir Woods. We saw not only majestic redwoods, but also lush green moss and lichen (my favorite), wild mushrooms, even tiny finger size salmon swimming upstream. It was really magical and peaceful even with all the other visitors. Unfortunately, Bea seemed most interested in making prank calls on any cell phone she could get her hands on. Thankfully, we can return again and again with the annual pass Grandma treated us to.

Another highlight of Grandma Sue's visit (for me) was a nice morning spent browsing in shops on Fourth Street in Berkeley where we visited our favorite toy store The Ark. Bea slept in her front pack while Grandma picked out her Christmas gift for Bea: a half dozen wooden eggs (in their own carton!) and a carton of wooden milk bottles (with removable caps!). These will be added to our growing collection of play foods to fill Bea's new wooden shopping cart on Christmas morning. After visiting a few more shops, Grandma treated us to an impromptu lunch in the Ikea cafeteria. We enjoyed tasty Swedish meatballs and lingonberries while taking in the view of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges. Bea ate her mac and cheese very neatly and carefully with a grown up fork. We were impressed.

The visit was over way too soon. My best memories will be of Grandma and Bea cuddled up on the couch reading together. Grandma was endlessly patient with Bea's endless stream of book requests, actually taking an interest in the stories and taking the job seriously. I know they will always share this love of books.

Yesterday we made our first foray into Sonoma to pick apples. We stopped off at Dharma Trading Co the fiber arts supplier of internet and catalog fame on the way up to get blank silk squares. Bea and I will dye these soon to use as playsilks similar to these. We have been wanting them for a long time and are very happy to have obtained them.

It was a gorgeous day and it felt absolutely wonderful to be out of the city. The farm that was our final destination, Gabriel Farm, was very beautiful and friendly, not too big. We picked Rome Beauty, Pink Lady, and Arkansas Black apples. The farm also grows many varieties of asian pears as well as persimmons. Bea had a great time running and crawling among the trees, chasing boys, and nursing in the great outdoors. There were big, billowy clouds fast moving and fluffy. We lay down in the orchard and watched them and felt more than a little sad to have to leave. We can never truly relax like that in the city where privacy and quiet are hard to come by. We had a delicious picnic lunch on our way out. It was a day out of time and one we aren't likely to forget.

When we got home we checked out the website of our friends' new business Spirit Creek Farm in Cornucopia, Wisconsin.

10.18.07

Grandpa Bob rode out from Wisconsin on his motorcycle for an approximately 36 hour visit which we enjoyed very much. Wish it could have been longer, but we had time for good conversations and an adventure or two. Grandpa Bob, Bea, and I rode BART into SF for lunch with Jason near his building in Civic Center. It was pouring rain. After lunch we took a fun cab ride to our ultimate destination City Light Booksellers. Grandpa Bob ordered his copy of Howl from City Lights when he was fifteen. It was fun for all of us to visit this landmark and Grandpa took some good photos and Bea got a new book, The Carrot Seed. All too soon, it was time to say good bye. I should post a picture of Grandpa here too, but he was behind the camera on these and I accidently deleted our photos while exporting them from the camera.

Today there was a man making giant bubbles with old badminton and tennis racquets on the lake shore. Bea giggled with delight as the bubbles, some a foot tall, traveled across the park and into traffic. It made a nice change from last night when we saw a man hit by a car in almost the same spot.

I'll never forget the loud cracking sound and the shock when we turned I saw it was a person that had been hit. I yelled and dialed 911. I thought those jokes about 911 calls being put on hold were just jokes, they're not. I waited several minutes for a highway patrol dispatcher and then to be transferred to Oakland. It makes me afraid of not getting help in time if Bea were to need it. When help did arrive Scannon got really freaked out by the helicopter and its pulsing light. He pulled hard on his leash and Bea and I fell pretty hard on the ground. Twice. A nice lady walked home with us leading Scannon so I could hold badly shaken Bea in my arms. She never lost her grip on her pinwheel. We don't know if the man is okay or not, it didn't even make the paper here.

Bea and I aren't usually out walking after dark, but Jason has been up in Folsom this week learning about the new wholesale energy market so we were out giving Scannon his evening constitutional. We've been passing the time doing other unusual things like going to the SFMoMA .

It was our first trip across the bay without Jason and my first time maneuvering our large pram onto a city bus. We met a nice lady on a scooter who showed us the ins and outs of using the elevators to reach the train platforms. She does HIV outreach work and was on her way to a nutrition class. She's very concerned that in some of the communities she works with the babies born since 2000 have a 60% expectancy of developing type 2 diabetes.

Bea fell asleep in my lap on the train and remained asleep while I bought a map at a bookstore and ate my lunch in the beautiful Yerba Beuna Gardens. After waking in time for a diaper change she was ready to view some art! In the short time allowed (by Bea) we saw many very interesting paintings (Picasso, Matisse, Klee, Magritte, Pollock, and Mondrian among others) and sculptures including one very famous urinal. It was while viewing this busty Willem de Kooning portrait that Bea began slapping her chest demanding 'na-nas' and that I knew our time there had come to and end. It was a throughly enjoyable scratching of the surface of what the museum has to offer and we can't wait to go back on the first Tuesday of next and every other month.

We headed back to Yerba Buena and located the play circle where Bea ate her lunch and then toddled around watching the big kids play on the very big, very cool slides.