travels
(More lines.)
The visit to the in-laws was largely uneventful. We arrived on Saturday evening, Xmas eve. The next day was T's big family Christmas at his cousin's house in Huntington Beach. It's a large brood, a couple dozen people all told. T's cousin made an excellent spread, and the company was enjoyable. I like his family; much like my own, it's sprawling, loud, and friendly, attaching various in-laws over the years.
The next day, Monday, we basically hung around T's folks house. They live in a large home on an avocado farm in north San Diego County -- T grew up in LA, but when his father retired, he decided he wanted to be a gentleman farmer. So he bought ten acres of avocado trees and built this house on the property. A visit makes for a nice holiday, although they are too isolated for me to spend more than a few days there. Fortunately, T figured out some time ago that three days was the perfect amount of time for visiting his parents. Usually we spend one day with the whole family, one day doing stuff, and one day just lazing around. This time, T was setting up a new computer. I mostly read, spaced out on TV, chatted with T's mom and sister, and hung out with their cat.
Yesterday, they took us to dim sum and then the San Diego Zoo. The in laws are big fans of the zoo, so we end up going pretty much every time we come down. It was a good visit -- we got a look at the tiger pacing around (no cubs, though -- there were some born at the zoo this fall but they weren't on view that day), and some quality time with the polar bears, and some of the other big cats were out and visible. T got some great photos of the snow leopard, which I will post when they're ready. Then it was a Chinese greasy spoon for dinner and then the airport. The flight home was also uneventful, and so here we are.
The only downside of the trip is that somehow it triggered my cold to come back. When we left, I was feeling mostly okay, just a bit af congesting and some coughing, but I woke up feeling kind of lousy on Christmas morning -- throat hurting a little, very congested, low energy, coughing fiercely. Now it's mostly just the cough, but it feels like the kind of cough that's going to hang around for awhile. And I just have to ask: why now? I have this week off work, for the most part, but I didn't want to spend this bit of vacation brain-dead on the couch. Boo.
Still, it is nice to be home. The kitties are fine, they mostly seem unaffected by our desertion, although Tori was a little shy of me the first couple of hours. But this morning she was back on my lap as if nothing had ever changed. Whew.
The visit to the in-laws was largely uneventful. We arrived on Saturday evening, Xmas eve. The next day was T's big family Christmas at his cousin's house in Huntington Beach. It's a large brood, a couple dozen people all told. T's cousin made an excellent spread, and the company was enjoyable. I like his family; much like my own, it's sprawling, loud, and friendly, attaching various in-laws over the years.
The next day, Monday, we basically hung around T's folks house. They live in a large home on an avocado farm in north San Diego County -- T grew up in LA, but when his father retired, he decided he wanted to be a gentleman farmer. So he bought ten acres of avocado trees and built this house on the property. A visit makes for a nice holiday, although they are too isolated for me to spend more than a few days there. Fortunately, T figured out some time ago that three days was the perfect amount of time for visiting his parents. Usually we spend one day with the whole family, one day doing stuff, and one day just lazing around. This time, T was setting up a new computer. I mostly read, spaced out on TV, chatted with T's mom and sister, and hung out with their cat.
Yesterday, they took us to dim sum and then the San Diego Zoo. The in laws are big fans of the zoo, so we end up going pretty much every time we come down. It was a good visit -- we got a look at the tiger pacing around (no cubs, though -- there were some born at the zoo this fall but they weren't on view that day), and some quality time with the polar bears, and some of the other big cats were out and visible. T got some great photos of the snow leopard, which I will post when they're ready. Then it was a Chinese greasy spoon for dinner and then the airport. The flight home was also uneventful, and so here we are.
The only downside of the trip is that somehow it triggered my cold to come back. When we left, I was feeling mostly okay, just a bit af congesting and some coughing, but I woke up feeling kind of lousy on Christmas morning -- throat hurting a little, very congested, low energy, coughing fiercely. Now it's mostly just the cough, but it feels like the kind of cough that's going to hang around for awhile. And I just have to ask: why now? I have this week off work, for the most part, but I didn't want to spend this bit of vacation brain-dead on the couch. Boo.
Still, it is nice to be home. The kitties are fine, they mostly seem unaffected by our desertion, although Tori was a little shy of me the first couple of hours. But this morning she was back on my lap as if nothing had ever changed. Whew.