Peter and the Wolf

This week I was a chaperone at a field trip with Naters. We went to the symphony - downtown San Diego, to see Peter and the Wolf. The whole thing was amazing, and perfect for the kids. They narrated the whole thing slowly, and showed many many children's drawings by area elementary students, to illustrate the whole thing. They went over different parts of the orchestra and different concepts, like the "leitmotif" which was music to represent each character.

bird - flute

duck - oboe

cat - clarinet

Grandfather - bassoon

wolf - french horns

hunters - some woodwinds and some fabulous drums for the gunshots

Peter - a very chipper and sunny bunch of strings

The began by using popular and well-known music from the Harry Potter movie -the kids recognized the music representing Harry, his broom the Nimbus whatever, his friends. It was lots of fun and I noticed that Nate was smiling and attentive the whole time. I have to wonder, though, if Sergei Prokofiev meant for the wolf to be taken to the San Diego zoo at the end???

The Tea Leaves

Soooo.....this is the sweater I tried to knit. Labor of lurve. I ordered some fabulous expensive yarn (well, expensive by my tastes). The yarn is Dream in Color Classy, in the color Beach Fog. Oh, so pretty and so soft! It was a dream to knit with. After almost three months I had finally finished the sweater. Not that it took the whole time, its just that I have knitting ADHD and was setting it aside alot. Anyway, I looked at it and realised that something was wrong with the back: it is almost two and a half feet wide. Sadly, the front and arms are perfect, so I could not find a five feet wide person and just give it away. I'm sure I'll take a picture of it but its just too painful right now. Ha! I just need to remember that its the knitting I really love, not the sweater-that-I made-showing off,and refocus.

This morning Jose kindly brought me a large cup of coffee while I stayed in bed with my calculator, a pencil and paper, the pattern, the sweater, a needle, and a book by Elizabeth Zimmerman until I figured out how easily a sweater can go south by ignoring gauge issues and then skipping a whole row of decreases by mistake. Back on track now and ready to unravel the whole thing and do over! Cowabunga!!!

Frankie makes Gyoza

Last night my good pal Yuri came over, we went shopping for Japanese food at the Japanese market, and Indian at the Indian market. We came home and I made a big pot of Mulligatawny Soup with coconut milk, curry leaves, coriander seeds, cinnamon, cloves, turmeric, ginger, green hot peppers, garlic and onion, a potato, an apple, red lentils, oh, everything but the kitchen sink and we split it into Tupperware for ourselves. Then, Yuri taught Frankie how to make gyoza and we had a huge yummy batch of that. Good food, good friends, happy busy kids, and a wonderful way to spend a cool rainy Saturday!

The San Diego Dog Festival Thingamajig

See the tiny little feeder that cricket is standing by? There is a gal who makes these food dishes. This one was the perfect size for Cricket and we picked it up at this dog festival thing here in an Diego. This gal apparently finds old wooden crates, Coke boxes, etc, and paints or stencils or finishes them, then routs out the perfect size hole to set a food dish inside. So cute! And, she makes some ceramic dishes to set inside. I absolutely could not resist getting one for Cricket even though most of the ones she had there were more cat sized really. We also picked up many treats for our spoiled pooches and almost, almost, a baby sister for them both. Jose had to try reasoning with me that we cannot handle any more dogs. We really cannot have more than two. We cannot. Really. Jose had to drag me away from this beautiful, sunny, happy Akita rescue girl who had been rescued from some situation or other, at one year of age had already had one litter of pups, and was in foster care. Look at that precious face!!! Instant love.

brunch

Our two families - ourselves and Yuri, Matthew and Ashley, took the kids to a restaurant on the beach for a very good, kind of spendy brunch on the beach. It was sunny and beautiful!

this idea in my head

So, I had this idea in my head that it might be fun to make one's own knitting needles. I got a few dowel rods at Lowe's, cut them up into 10 inch lengths or so, and sanded them. Here is a page ripped from the employee handbook at my latest job, covering the workbench whilst I put a coat of linseed oil on them. That handbook is great to have around for those times when I might need it! It was hard to figure out the best was to make the tapered ends. My lathe is slowly making its way over from Minnesota, but I tried using a pencil sharpener on the ends. It worked OK. Ideally the points would be long, sloping gently and dull at the ends. Later, I glued some little stones from Lake Superior on the ends. Sort of cute, but need to work on the points.

A few weeks ago, my neighbor's sister was visiting and saw us leaving the house, with me carrying a bag of knitting.

She asked me if I would ever consider teaching some girl scouts, as a volunteer, so that they could earn their knitting badge.

What a blast that was! The girls were about 10 or so, and were all pumped up about making scarves. I made each girl a little canvas bag, stamped with a hot pink heart of yarn and needles, and made a little list of local shops and cool websites for them to check out. The first class was tiring, with me running back and forth between each girl to explain over and over how each stitch goes. I cast on several and did one row for each of them so they could just start right out knitting. For the second class I did, some of them had made some progress and a couple had the most adorable things: a scarf with so many picked up stitches on the end it was on its was to becoming a neckerchief, and one with holes, loops and unintentional bobbles. Cute.

The great part about the class was that they had cookies for sale afterward, and who am I if not a supporter of my local troop?

a little San Diego in February...

Ice Cream on Coronado

These pictures are about a month old. About a month ago, unlike today which is cold and rainy, it was a warm, breezy night. We went with our friends Yuri and Matthew and their daughter Yuri to dinner on Coronado Island, then looked around for this great ice cream shop for dessert.

messy room of the month

This is our messy pre-teen boy's room of the month. Can anyone top this mess??

a couple of knuckleheads

So, I have finally found the camera after months of looking. Who knew it was in our 11-year-old's upper nightstand drawer? Now I will have to take some pics and find something pithy to say.

The boys are doing well over here. Frankie has gotten straight A's for the second quarter in a row - this school here has been an excellent fit for him. I pray we can keep him here in this school until he graduates. He is now in 9th grade. We will see. Naters is responding to our attentive monitoring of his homework. Heh heh. He responds to colorful threats, like Jose hanging a good Cuban machete from his belt and threatening to whop the side of his head with it like a good Cuban papa. I have promised to tie him up, but peanut butter on the bottoms of his feet, sprinkle bacon bits on top of that, and release the dogs.

Work is going well although I keep getting pulled away from my beloved sub acute unit and made to work on the surgery unit with joint replacement patients, fast discharges, where I do little or nothing of any life-affirming, meaningful stuff other than setting up discharge. I'd rather be at the mall, frankly. Although there is alot of social need, much of it I am powerless to change, which makes it less rewarding. Heeh hee, maybe someone from work will actually read this and I'll be relieved of all tasks entirely! Anywhoo...its good. One thing about being financially stable with a working spouse, and not dependent on my income anymore is that I feel more confident and more outspoken. I can be dedicated to my profession but at the same time, a bit sassy about it. It is a good place to be. I feel very blessed and lucky.

Jose, Frankie and I have been watching NCIS as much as possible. We agree that Abby is adorable. I agree with myself that Jethro is hot. Since Special Agent Gibbs works on a wooden boat in his basement, this has reminded Jose that he has projects to work on in the garage, involving sharpening his chisels and building a wooden container to hold his chisels, and putting a nice finish on his chisels. Other than that, I am not sure what he does in there. :)

a couple of scarfs only pink!

Here are a couple of scarfs I made for a Breast Cancer Awareness fundraiser. The buttons on this one are yummy black cherry buttons that I ordered on etsy. The above scarf is not as hideous as it looks in the pic - its very soft pink bamboo. Very pink - would not wear in all likelihood...

i love me some thanksgivin'

It's been such a long time since I last posted. My blog is having an identity crisis. My new job has keep wonderful, but its sometimes occupying my mind on my off time and keeping me awake at night. The old heartburn flares up, and an occasional set of lovely hives on my neck when I get upset about someone's social injustice. My new job is meaningful, stimulating, challenging - everything I wished for when we were living a nice peaceful life in Japan. So, be careful what you wish for!

Basically, I work at a small hospital on a certain small island with a major base on it, which I'll call Shmarp. They are into a certain model of care which involves basically the same building with some minor coats of paint, but added details of some alternative therapies like massage, acupuncture and aromatherapy for the patients. It is very common for a troubled patient to get a bit of lavender lotion or a few soaked cotton balls in the corner of his room. Volunteers bake cookies on each unit, once a week, and the smell wafts through the rooms. It is the spirit of the care. People seem kind, and caring, and dedicated.

I come from experience with several other systems, several trends (google the Disney Model gag and the Eden Alternative Model they tried at a certain hospital for about five minutes, made us all sit through corporate babble and show signs of total buy-in, then abandoned the plan after five minutes). I've been through several sets of layoffs and phases of low census, and I've cultivated a careful, respectfully cynical attitude toward the hospital corporation in general. I will not be impressed by any package of 403 B and pet insurance I can purchase at some discount, or cheaper movie tickets. Yep, I've seen everyone's cafeterias and they are all just ok. Corporate casual and small tasteful stud earrings. Blaaaaah! But yet, I find myself really liking it there.

But it does interfere with my knitting time, and time with my doggies. Oh, yeah, and those kids.

For Thanksgiving we are joining another family that were our very dear neighbors in Ikego, then moved to San Diego several months before us and now are living a couple of miles away. Then, another family jumped into the plans and now it is going to be even more fun. Matthew and Yuri are doing the turkey and a pumpkin cheesecake. I have some cranberry sauce in the fridge that I made last night and a sweet potato casserole guaranteed to clog your last artery. My Gott, the butter. Today I'm going to whip up some stuffing from a mix and doctor it up with celery, onion and some toasted nuts. Then, whip up some potatoes with butter and salt and lots of half and half. Oh, and some fresh green beans. I think someone is bring a salad that no one will eat.

Oh, lord. Does anyone out there in cyberspace have any experience with people in San Diego being in general obsessed with their looks, what kind of house the live in, what neighborhood they live in, and stuff stuff stuff?? Man.

Some people are obsessed with how they look. People here are inundated with images and ads for plastic surgery. There are certain hot neighborhoods that no one can really afford, yet everyone must live in anyway. Shampoo costs more than the whole outfit - no - ensemble - I found at the thrift shop. Maybe it is an American thing and what this is is culture shock. I'd really like to move to an isolated rural area and raise sheep and sell the wool, possible in Minnesota. I'd drive a rusty old truck and really let myself go. I'd let the gray come it where it wants and just go ahead and sag where they will. We'd raise our own veggies and make our own clothes.

Things to be very very thankful for:

*the family, friends, pups, the gorgeous weather, the mountains, trees

fresh water!

*the way the cranberries look when they are sparkling with water after being rinsed

*Jose and the boys

*the way the Rug Doctor filled up with very dark water from the carpet last weekend, and now we can enjoy the new sense of clean

*the smell of beeswax candles

*they way Miss Peach sheds in little soft tufts, you can tug at one and it comes out in one piece. She lets me do it. Is is weird that I enjoy this?

*the look and feel of a certain silk-wool worsted velvety grape hand dyed yarn from Uruguay feels whilst making a little pressie for my sister in law. Pure heaven!

*the way that being forced by our stupid Homeowners Association to hire someone to work on our front yard has enabled us to meet a very nice family business. And adorable old Dad, who speaks mostly Spanish, wished me a happy Thanks-holiday

*the boys and I having persisted in the idea that one doesn't need to match their socks on a weekend day, which has simplified our lives tremendously

Well, I'm going to go surf the net now. Cause that's how I roll.

everyday life over here...

It's been awhile since I last posted. I had been feeling so tired, so worn out, even though I wasn't depressed at all and in fact liking like here in San Diego and the prospect of a new job even. the boys were doing great, the weather is great here all the time. So why so droopy and craving the naps?

Well I didn't ponder too much on it, but then happened on an appointment for a physical and found out my iron was pretty low. Not tragically, but enough that I started on an iron supplement and you know, that pale looking, shadow under my eyes thing I haven't thought too much about this summer is pretty much going away also, and my energy is coming back. So, cool beans!! Female trouble, don't you know. Otherwise known by doctors as "God's Curse."

But enough about that, no one wants to know about that stuff, for gosh sakes!!

My new job pretty much rocks so far, but I know we are in the honeymoon phase of working. It feels so good to be back at something and feeling like I can make a difference and getting paid for it. The hours could not be better: part time, 9-2, four days a week. I can drive Frankie home from school and be back by the time Nate gets off the bus. They are hoping I get the CA license but hired me anyway. The pay would be what I was getting last time I worked, plus 3 years of cost of living. Sooo awesome. And, every morning I drive clutching my coffee and cruising over the long rollercoaster known as the Coronado bridge. Or whatever.

Knitting projects on the needles:

The Boneyard Shawl (free on ravelry, cool pattern, practical and warm)
The Sparkle Shawl (making with SWTC yarn, yin and yang the sequined yarn)
The Malvie Wrap (a Berrocco pattern, cannot say too much about this one...hee hee)

There are many many seeds of projects and balls of beautiful yarns that are just holding a spot in the closet. Lately I have been obsessed with shawls and wraps. I have decided that they are not just for old ladies anymore, at all. they are great for the beach when the sun goes down and it gets cooler, or something to throw on when walking the pups.

Must make:

The Little Colonnade (ravelry)
Ishbel (Isolda Teague)
the garter stitch cardi (on ravelry, a pattern on sale from $5 to $2.99

So that is my domestic life over here. Knitting, working, kids, dogs. And oh, yeah, that guy that goes in the fridge and eats stuff. Thank you so much Tara, Emily and the other Oakleaf girls for turning me on to knitting!! :)

Frankie update

I have told and told Frankie not to put Miss Peach in a headlock.

Frankie is doing great lately, grandma. He loves school, and has a whole scoop of new friends over there which is a great relief to me knowing he has adjusted to another move and a new school. Half way between school and our house is a Krispy Kreme, which has his donuts and my fabulous iced coffee. Nuff said. He is actually getting straight A's so far in school. Cool Beans!!

He spends most of his time camped out in the living room where he has made a nest of controllers, papers, books, more papers, wrappers and have drained glasses and plastic bottles, and balled up dirtly socks. Yes, this is in the common living area.

Since I am the maid, I usually pick up all of that myself. I find it very rewarding to clean up after the boy. Grrrr....

Frankie has announced to the family that he is going by Francisco now at school, but we can call him Frank still if we want. But I like to call him Mama's little Frankie-Bear. It is nice to still have options.

lil Tater

Here is little Tater wrestling with the Akita girl. They are like two puppies together. First, a pillow fight which includes one of the (smaller one) couch pillows that I made with my friend Yuri for our sofa. (You might notice that Cricket has the good sense to take his toy and hide under the coffee table) These is one of our little pillows that have already seen some hard times. We had the good sense to chose a machine washable cotton with batik-print dirt color for two of them, and a dark reddish-brown print for the other one, both envelope backs. Anyway, the dogs and boys really like these pillows. Grrr....

Nate has recently announced the household that he is expecting to commence puberty at any moment, being about eleven and a half. He has found a small red bump on his stomach and showed me, Jose, and my friend Yuri, what he declares to be his first pimple. He asked my if I would buy him some Axe deodorant spray, please, the next time I go to the store. He is getting some armpit odor, you see, since he is a big teenage boy now. Hee hee....not....but he wants to be :) I do wish he wouldn't grow up so fast!

just cleaning up around here

Life around here has involved alot of cleaning up, including our furry friends. On more than a few occasions we have woken up to a fury of tiny red ants. One morning on going down to the kitchen, all Jose would say is "That. Is. Impressive." After promising me that if I just went to bed, he would take care of the dishes, then forgetting said dishes, we woke up to the mayhem.

Jose then, wanting to be on time for work, sprayed ant spray everywhere and left the carnage. It was fabulous. I vacuumed everything rather than wiping it in order to leave as much of the deadly stuff still sprayed around. There were ants all over the kitchen, in a trail around each window, leading across the stove, in a ring around the ceiling, into rivers down the walls, and around the living room pictures. Wow! Next time I would be tempted to call some pest control.

I washed the dishes, as usual, vacuumed the walls, floors, counters, etc, and then went to WalMart, or as we call it, Walm-Apart, to get some plastic bins for the food in the cupboards that I hadn't tossed away.

Apparently ants are a huge problem for people around here. They are desperately looking for water, trying to survive. Almost makes a person feel sorry for them. If only we could come to an arrangement. I'd gladly leave a bowl of water out if they would agree to stay out of the house.

Anyway after this excitement, I took Cricket to the groomers we found, who love Pekingese dogs and between the owners, have 6!! Here is Cricket, with a red scarf, with two other Pekes, including Dulce, his evil twin.

In the meantime Natsumi gets an old fashioned bath with a hose in the backyard.

the after and before of the old teabox

Sooo. I picked up this teabox at a second hand shop in Kamakura, for about 1000 yen, or about $10. It was in good shape although there was glued on peeling paper all over the outside, and a bit dusty. The inside is lined with tin. I had this eyesore out in the living room holding bits of material for my various craft projects, and its roughly the size of a good lamp table also.

After living with this fellow as is for several months and moving him to San Diego, I decided it was time to have a little fun with it.

One thing that has been nice about being back home is that I can finally read labels when we go to the hardware store. So, I picked up some sandpaper, a scraper, some primer, some water-based paint and a water-based stain, and finally a nice matte finish spray on water-based finish for over the whole mess.

Cricket helped. Ha.

Whilst the boys were at school, I tried to peel off some of the paper. Too much elbow grease. After a while, I tried sanding it. Too much elbow grease. Finally, I tried spraying a bit of warm soapy water on it and then it scraped off easily and cleanly. Since the wood was unfinished underneath, I tried not to use too much water. Luckily as always, it was sunny, breezy and very dry in the backyard so this helped, and there was blessedly no warpage!

After stripping off the paper and drying it totally, the next day I sanded it just a bit and put on a coat of primer. By the end of that day, a coat of paint. That evening, I brushed stain over that and tried to be a bit artful about how I applied it, so it looked kind of grainy. Ha.

Anyway, that took a couple of days outside in the warm and sunny patio. After that, I used spray adhesive to position 4 cut up and trimmed grass placemats from Target, that I had cut up to fit around the thing, and quickly realized that a few staples were called for as well.

Taa daa.

casa de Gomez

So, this is our house in San Diego. It is a pretty nice house with a big master bedroom and 3 other teensy tinsy little bedrooms. At the end of the block is this walking path, which is watered by the fabulous "reclaimed" water (wash hands after contact). I was relieved to hear that we are not wasting the city's precious freshwater supply on keeping a facade of greenery in the middle of the desert.
Can you believe that we are expected, by the various housing associations that beplague us, to have sprinkler system which uses our water, to keep a ridiculous green carpet in front of the house, while at the same time we are importing much of our drinking water from the Colorado River, since there isn't enough to supply the city?!?

There, I've had my soapbox. And it was a run-on sentence too.

Another thing. I have gotten a call about a part time social work position at a certain hospital, on a certain beautiful island which I love, doing exactly the kind of work I have loved in the past. The hours would be flexible and so I could be home for my boys after school most of the time. I am soooo excited for this interview and keeping my fingers crossed about it.

In the meantime, starting the Spanish class at night next week.

The boys are doing great - they both say that they like their new schools, and they both seem to be making new friends already. Yay!

fabulous dark and moody path

Doesn't this path look moody and mysterious? There is some undeveloped land near our house, which the dogs love to walk around on - and it has great views of the mountains. While the sun is setting, they start thinking it is going to be walk time, and I start thinking this too. It is quiet, peaceful, and much cooler. There are also some most interesting holes all over as we get up to the top of the hill - they are deep, and about as wide as a fist. We are all wondering who is living in such arrangements, especially Miss Peach.

These ole boots...

In retrospect, I should have paid more attention to the signs that read " sprinkler systems use reclaimed water, wash hands after contact..." I have really enjoyed some long sweaty walks with my Akita girl and Cricket, without a care in the world until the last couple of days.

We walked barefoot and barepawed through lush green grass, scrambled up dirt paths unto a beautiful patch of undeveloped land overlooking the housing developments, the mountains, and awe-inspiring sunsets. I've walked through thrift shops and flea markets and the sandy beach, the neighborhood pool, and my own backyard, wearing my trusty flip flops.

To make a long story short, I have an infected spot of a couple of sorts in one of my feet, leaving it very sore and icky in ways I will not describe here, but rest assured Jose has seen much worse. So I will be swilling a couple of potions for a bit and staying off the trails. Sigh. Hopefully not for long.

But I'm going to need a little bell, to ring in case I need the boys to fetch me something.... :)