Random weather report
We're having a bit of meteorology. Not like the mid-west or anything, but extremely variable from moment to moment. Steady rain last night, woke to soft damp fog, then the rain came back with a brief squall about elevenses. Then we had the eye of the storm, so to speak, clearing with a touch of sun just long enough for me to make the required run to the post office, bank and grocery store. Now it's darkening quickly and though not feeling cold enough, there's snow threatened (hinted at?) for as low as 2500 foot elevation. I suspect the rain will start up again soon. Fortunately, no trips on this month's schedule.
I thought I had posted about the latest parental visit, but I see no sign of it, so perhaps I just dreamed the post. Last Friday B and I caravaned down to Stockton to catch the end of the J.C. Leyendecker exhibit at the Haggin Museum, caravan because I was continuing to B'field again to spend two days with the dad for belated Christmas while he was returning home to start off the next morning with his sister to do the same with their folks in San Jose.
The museum was delightful. We'd neither of us been there before and they had a charmingly random collection of exhibits, from American Impressionists to local history and Native American crafts, as well as the Leyendecker collection, original paintings for his magazine covers and advertising art (including the Arrow Collar Man, his primary claim to fame). After that it was a relatively mild drive down the central valley and I arrived slightly before my announced arrival time to surprise my father. Since he'd had skin cancer removal earlier in the week, he looked like he'd been beat up and left in an alley, but by Sunday morning the bruises and swelling had subsided significantly. The big excitement was letting him dictate where he wanted to drive around, which was always his favorite relaxation. Since he's lost vision in one eye and has gotten so frail, he wasn't able to renew his license last year, so he frequently complains of the trapped feeling that goes with dependence on others for transport and care. Just that and having someone to sit with at meals seemed like the best present I could give him this year.
Sunday I headed north again to collect B. from San Jose so we could spend New Year's Eve at home; nominally anyway. Dinner was Jack-in-the-Box tacos on the road, but I did open the good champagne at home -- Mumm's Cuvee Napa Blanc de Noir was acceptable, and such a lovely color.
Since then I've been catching up on the new books from Folio. I re-read Pride and Prejudice in the newly illustrated edition and I'm half-way through the unabridged Man in the Iron Mask, part of Dumas' pre-cursor to television arcs. This is based on the anonymous English translation of the period, so the language is properly florid and the intrigues are almost but not quite incomprehensible. I'm adoring it. I also see why the film versions are completely different. There's no way to get all this plot into even a mini-series.
Oh, and just to boast, my Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
The Venerable Lady Anne the Paragon of Fritterton on the Marshes.
::nods graciously::
And I'm nearly done with the left half of the ongoing cardigan (although I just found two errant stitches on the back that impact the neat ribbing. Since they're about two inches from the beginning and I've already started that piece over three times, I am going to consider them the intended flaws to keep the gods from envy. right.
E.T.A. It's now snowing. Or possibly sleeting.
E.T.A. (3 minutes later) Now hailstones. And they're sticking!
I thought I had posted about the latest parental visit, but I see no sign of it, so perhaps I just dreamed the post. Last Friday B and I caravaned down to Stockton to catch the end of the J.C. Leyendecker exhibit at the Haggin Museum, caravan because I was continuing to B'field again to spend two days with the dad for belated Christmas while he was returning home to start off the next morning with his sister to do the same with their folks in San Jose.
The museum was delightful. We'd neither of us been there before and they had a charmingly random collection of exhibits, from American Impressionists to local history and Native American crafts, as well as the Leyendecker collection, original paintings for his magazine covers and advertising art (including the Arrow Collar Man, his primary claim to fame). After that it was a relatively mild drive down the central valley and I arrived slightly before my announced arrival time to surprise my father. Since he'd had skin cancer removal earlier in the week, he looked like he'd been beat up and left in an alley, but by Sunday morning the bruises and swelling had subsided significantly. The big excitement was letting him dictate where he wanted to drive around, which was always his favorite relaxation. Since he's lost vision in one eye and has gotten so frail, he wasn't able to renew his license last year, so he frequently complains of the trapped feeling that goes with dependence on others for transport and care. Just that and having someone to sit with at meals seemed like the best present I could give him this year.
Sunday I headed north again to collect B. from San Jose so we could spend New Year's Eve at home; nominally anyway. Dinner was Jack-in-the-Box tacos on the road, but I did open the good champagne at home -- Mumm's Cuvee Napa Blanc de Noir was acceptable, and such a lovely color.
Since then I've been catching up on the new books from Folio. I re-read Pride and Prejudice in the newly illustrated edition and I'm half-way through the unabridged Man in the Iron Mask, part of Dumas' pre-cursor to television arcs. This is based on the anonymous English translation of the period, so the language is properly florid and the intrigues are almost but not quite incomprehensible. I'm adoring it. I also see why the film versions are completely different. There's no way to get all this plot into even a mini-series.
Oh, and just to boast, my Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
The Venerable Lady Anne the Paragon of Fritterton on the Marshes.
::nods graciously::
And I'm nearly done with the left half of the ongoing cardigan (although I just found two errant stitches on the back that impact the neat ribbing. Since they're about two inches from the beginning and I've already started that piece over three times, I am going to consider them the intended flaws to keep the gods from envy. right.
E.T.A. It's now snowing. Or possibly sleeting.
E.T.A. (3 minutes later) Now hailstones. And they're sticking!