On Saturday, our friend Pamela--a photo classmate of mine at Ft. Mason--and her husband hosted their annual cookie decorating party at their beautiful home in Telegraph Hill. This was our second year, and we had such fun painting with colorful glazes and sprinkling with dots and sparkles other miniature bits. The cookies sparked imaginative conversations for a perfect December weekend.
For the past several years, I've been buying the annual Christmas ornament from the White House Historical society. I began collecting when I bought my townhouse in Virginia. One of my coworkers used to take orders for the office. Since then, I've kept up the tradition and bought them to remind me of my DC Christmases. Jeff and I like the historical themes. Each ornament honors a former president, and includes a discussion of life in the U.S. during that president's term. The ornament to the left is the first I collected. The one below is one of my favorites.
On a tree filled with glass decorations, one of my favorite ornaments is fake glass. I fondly remember making these pseudo stained glass ornaments with my mother and brother in the house where I grew up. In those days, our tree was mostly filled with things that Cliff and I made--blobs of felt, handmade frames with school photos, and melted stained glass. When Jeff and I spent our first Christmas together in San Francisco, my mother sent this ornament along to help start out our new tree.
I never thought that I would be one of those "ornament collectors", but each year when Jeff and I pull out our boxes of ornaments to decorate the tree, I am taken back to trips we've been on or font memories of family members. So, since most of my rabid readers are not in SF, I thought I would share a few of the stories that our tree tells.
Our annual Holiday Photo Show at Ft. Mason was a rousing success, once again. We had a continuous stream of people both Friday and Saturday, and moderate sales. (Moderate means some people sold a little, my dear friend Susan sold a LOT, and I didn't sell anything.) Nevertheless, the true measure of a good show is the positive feedback I receive from friends and strangers alike. Many many thanks to my friends who fought traffic and ravenous holiday shoppers to visit.
Time gets away from me each December. My excuse for not posting in over a week? Well, I did have a photo show, been decorating, doing Christmas shopping EARLY (well...earlier), went to a Christmas party, working on some photo projects, loading up my iPod with Christmas music.
Does the world really need a Bling Barbie? I truly think not. But I will give the marketing folks at Mattel credit for one thing. I'm sure that the Paris Hilton Cheap Whore Barbie wouldn't have done nearly as well...so kudos on the name choice. (Also big kudos to Toys R Us for locking up this "exclusive".) Oh, just watch now...this will be this year's Tickle Me Elmo and I'll be the laughing stock of Blogger.
Friday afternoon, my Aunt Teela and Uncle Jim arrived for Thanksgiving Part Two. After a lunch of leftovers, Teela and Mom watched Benjamin while the rest of us went to a matinee showing of James Bond. Everyone liked the film, although a couple found the movie too long. Not me...I really enjoyed the film. It was exactly what I was hoping for...classy with and edge, serious with well timed humor. The new Bond is wonderful. Can't wait for the next one.
Next, from our walk to Belle Island. This is one of the intakes to an abandoned VEPCO hydroelectic plant on the island. Let me tell you that this image is the stuff of my worst nightmares. Dark water sends shivers down my spine.
And lastly, my photo of how our walk in the park looked from Benjamin's perspective. Kind of a horror movie view, don't you think?
Turkey and stuffing. Garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. Orange cranberries and sweet potatoes. Crisp veggies and sauerkraut. Our table was full. My mom and dad. Jodi and Cliff and Benjamin. Jeff and me. Our hearts were full. It was a perfect family Thanksgiving.
We finished the evening with several games of Rummicube, which Jeff described in his blog yesterday. My mom and I brought out this game, thinking that we could throw off Jeff and Jodi who were kicking our butts at their Euchre card game...they were especially kicking MY butt. The four of us plus Cliff played several rounds, and Jeff somehow managed to win more than his fair share :) Nevertheless, our home was clearly addicted.
[For the record, Jeff took a few of the photos today. I liked his angles better than mine...so I stole them :) ]
We took a winding path home through some of the gorgeous houses along Cary Street and the James River. Jody met us at home with Benjamin all decked out for some Christmas photos. Dinner was my Dad's AMAZING fried chicken.
Well, Jeff and I arose early this morning (5am to be precise) to head to the airport...bound for Richmond. Check-in couldn't have been quicker, and security was only slightly longer, so we had plenty of time to buy a few magazines and the requisite latte before boarding.
No luck getting an upgrade...these 500-mile vouchers are utterly useless. But Jeff and I had fine seats.
Now, when the pilot comes on and announces that they are rebooting the computer to try and fix 'something odd', you know that you're being set up for a delay. When the pilot comes back on and tells you that they are going to try shutting all power down on the plane--rebooting the plane--then you know it will be a good delay.
Sooooo, we arrived at Dulles quite late, and just barely made our connection. Our luggage did not.
Its now 2am, and we've given up waiting. Our lugage should be here 'before 8am' accoring to the phone update.
On the plus side...we had a delightful family evening. Goodnight :)
I took this shot from Ft. Mason this afternoon as I was leaving photo class. Today, we spent two hours sharing works in progress--10 or so classmates presenting photos. And what a variety of photos. We had architecture, people, morning fog, graffiti (guess who that was), mysterious objects, etc. The mixture of styles and techniques is one of the reasons I keep returning to this class.
Yes, this is Yoda's butt. And it amuses me. And I think it sets up some of these other random thoughts I'm having this evening.
Like this shot from this weekend. Jeff and I headed down the peninsula Saturday to visit one of the local malls. Well, the holiday frenzy had already began, so we had to find parking near the Sears...which was oddly vacant. So...note to Sears: you will never beat hip Target at their game if you use bad graduation photos to highlight your photo studio. Inside Sears, we passed displays hastily constructed of cardboard and racks of cheap trinkets. If this is the best Sears can do, then they really do deserve to go out of business.
On Sunday, we drove north to Sonoma and hit a couple of wineries. The day was gray and cold, but I did catch this moody shot of birds on a wire. We visited a couple of new wineries, including Nicholson Ranch...where the friendly wine pourer asserted that broccoli wrapped in bacon and served with butter and garlic might cure my broccoli phobia...and put me in the grave, frankly. (He then went on to suggest replacing the broccoli with a second type of bacon: bacon wrapped in bacon with butter and garlic!) Well, he sold a couple of bottle of wine in any case.
Today was a bit of a blur, that began with a couple of fillings at the dentist. This rain shot pretty much captures the mood :) My dentist seems to be a bit keen on keeping the cash flow up. Until I visited him, I had never had a single filling. Since them, I have had four...just to be sure. Honestly, I buy the logic...but tell me that doesn't seem a BIT coincidental.
When I arrived in the office early this morning, long dramatic sunbeams were lighting up the walls, turning them into dramatic canvases. I only had my Treo this morning, so this picture is quite pixelated, but I still like how the image worked.
A common feature in many SF homes is a lightwell. Ours is wonderfully situated, and brings light into our main bathroom, the guest room, and (via a stained glass window) the stairway.
We had a simple but yummy dinner last night. Jeff had a hankerin' for a Dijon-style pork chop on the grill. I paired that with Jeff's favorite vegetable-asparagus--that I also grilled. They both turned our very nicely.
Buster (pictured) and Dobie seem to have a sixth sense for open doors. They can be sleeping peacefully downstairs, Jeff or I can quietly open the door to the upstairs balcony, and inevitably they are outside within two minutes.
I don't know anybody who is truly ready to admit that its time to plan December, but I'm caving and putting things on the calendar. Like this IMPORTANT event!!
We finished up October with sunny, mild days and fond memories of fall...plus a very nice pumpkin cheesecake, courtesy of my hubby. Yesterday, I spent the day at home on the sofa in front of the fireplace nursing a cold and watching the clouds build. By nightfall, a light drizzle settled in, and today, we've got good old fashioned rain on our hands. The garden is cheering the return of the rainy season :)
Thanks to everyone that sent along birthday greetings today...or phone calls or blog mentions or scary photos from birthdays past...or foamy grande lattes :) And Jeff and Chris are taking me out for RIBS tonight...my comfort food of choice!!
