Farmer's Market helpers

Who needs internet?

My backyard in Fresno......
Its important to look at the positive. I may only get internet 25% of the time but look how pretty it is outside!

Snow!

Here is where I spend my day

Max turns 6

Max turned 6 years old on Saturday. We had a pretty small party with 5 kids, lots of Legos and decorate-your-own cupcakes. It was pretty mellow overall. I was tired by evening but nothing like some of the other parties I've gone to.

Most of the parents just dropped their kids off for the afternoon and it worked out fine. I mention this because I was shocked. I guess they are old enough to "handle" themselves but still. It never seemed an option before, to just leave. I think the other reason it seems weird and a bit sad is that at our preschool, whenever their was a kid party, it was an excuse for the parents to hang out. And, the parents were very cool, we wanted to stay. I guess our elementary school is not like that.

Is it a class thing? A culture thing? Hills vs. Flats of Oakland? Hmmm. I miss the community feel. Well, at least we had cake left over and didn't have to share it with as many grownups.

Video games and train tracks

A perfect Sunday morning.

At the end of the rainbow

I know I have been reporting a whole lot about driving and being away but just to give you an idea of why I might be yammering like a broken record, consider this....I drove almost 1100 miles this week. Actually, I think it was 1083. That's in a 5 day period.

When I hit the first hour of any drive, my left side begins to get numb. That's a relatively new thing since this commute began. I go numb. When the numbing begins, thoughts of exercise enter my mind. I start considering the yoga gift certificate that I still haven't redeemed. I remember that I should have stretched this morning before getting into the car. I try to remind myself to stretch when I get home in the evening. So far, I haven't followed through on any of this. But the same thoughts begin again on every drive.

Two days ago, while 1/2 numb, and listening to A Thousand Splendid Suns on route to some Central Valley outpost, I saw a rainbow. I was quite taken aback. Hard to capture in a moving car but very beautiful.


Yesterday, I returned to the Bay Area for my quarterly Hair Pampering. Very extravagant. Stacy, who cuts and highlights, takes her time, and by time I mean...I was there for over 3 hours. It was oddly great. I drank a glass of wine, ate truffles, had some peppermint tea, read People Magazine and of course, gossiped. Nice.