favorite joke of 2007

A buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything."

Tip of the hat to NPR. Sorry, I don't know which show. They told a bunch of buddhist jokes, and I just loved that one.

Not turning Japanese

As you may know, Em left in the beginning of May to attend college in Tokyo. She finished her two years of community college ahead of time, (Mom says proudly). In August she came back over her break to attend her cousin Ben's wedding in Maine. We went, too. Emily wore a beautiful yukata, technically not a kimono, a less formal, summer garment. Besides our happy family, you can see Em's boyfriend, Brandon, who braved a full clan gathering for our first meeting. Of course, Jules had already vetted him.

Then we have Em in her Godzilla, I mean gojira kigurumi, or pajamas. They are commonly worn on the street, so it's not THAT weird she is wearing them on a train. Finally, a shot of Em hanging out in her dorm room in October, looking like a lovely, normal college student. More interesting perhaps, is that I pulled that shot off a Skype session we had. Skype lets us sit at our computers, talk like over the phone, and SEE each other, FOR FREE! It's wonderful. We just both need to be awake at the same time, and at least somewhat dressed.

Over her Christmas break (yes, she gets one), Em is meeting up with her friend Karen. They met online via livejournal like six years ago. Karen is from Australia, and is also studying in Japan this year, in Osaka. So they've had the chance to meet face-to-face, and hang out. There is a special train ticket available during winter break to college students called the seishun juuhachi kippu or the youth eighteen ticket. Basically it works as 5 day passes that do not have to be used consecutively that can be used to go from anywhere to anywhere in Japan. Karen and Em are planning to go to: Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Nara, Kobe, Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Nagoya. Em will take her laptop and camera along. I'm looking forward to the pictures. Em has some very wonderful photo essays on her blog. If you don't know the address, nudge me.

What is the meaning of Christmas?

Spot and Matt have been spotted in their Christmas finery, with a spotted present!

Actually, the present is Spot's newest "squeak", the word used to describe all squeaking toys, even after they stop squeaking.

We adopted Spot from a shelter in Encinitis in August. He was scrawny, and feisty. He has calmed down a bit, though he is still definitely a guard dog, with the usual phobias about UPS deliverers. When we got him, he went wild every time he saw a wheeled vehicle: skateboards, strollers, wheelchairs, you name it. It is very embarassing to have your dog lunging for a wheelchair. He is much calmer now, and will content himself with a few low growls if the wheeled thing doesn't come too close.

Spot is a chihuahua/rat terrier mutt. He weighed nine pounds when we adopted him, and has bulked up to ten pounds now. He is happiest sleeping all day and night in a bed with a human. He and I have some issues around that, and he does get away with murder at times. He just graduated from Puppy Obedience II. Of course, the classes have more to do with owner obedience. Spot is very smart, and really likes to train and learn new behaviors--he was kind of the class star. Of course, most of his classmates were actual puppies. Spot is around two and a half years old, so he had an advantage. He would probably tell you he needs every advantage because he is so small. He does have a bit of a Napoleon complex.

Spot is Matt's dog, first and foremost. They take lots of walks together, and Spot loves to hang out in the kitchen while Matt cooks, saying the "drop-it" prayer over and over. (Sometimes, it works.) Spot thinks all this fuss this month with boxes and bags and moving furniture is just crazy. Just wait until all our guests start arriving!

Arizona highways and byways

We traveled to Sierra Vista, AZ for Thanksgiving. Here are just a few pix. That's Miller's Peak, in the Coronado National Forest on the right. Matt's uncle has a ranch there--this a view on the road to the ranch.

While there, we also visited Kartchner Caverns. It was my first visit to a cave. I was thrilled to see stalagmites and stalagtites and all the other wide variety of speleothems. I loved learning new vocabulary, too.

Aloha everyone!

Welcome back to the intermittent work in progress that is my annual Christmas blog/newsletter! I am sitting home in Ocean Beach, after a rather manical day of cookie making. I have one batch of almond spritz baked and in the freezer. The batter for a batch of chocolate crinkles is "resting" in the refrigerator. I work tomorrow. The plan is to be ready to make mudballs (dough rolled in confectioner's sugar) and bake them Sunday, after obediance class. (Please note: neither of these recipes are the exact same as mine. I am too lazy to type them all in. If you really want my recipes, comment or email, and I will get it to you when I can.) I am also hoping to have the energy to make brownies and shortbread on Sunday. Then I will have the baking for the work holiday party done--yeah!

Oh, I mentioned obedience classes. They are for us humans to learn how to interact with our new canine member of the family, Spot. Spot is a chihuahua/rat terrier mix. We adopted him from a shelter, where he was a "second chance" dog, in late August. Spot did need sme attitude adjustment, so we enrolled in classes at smrtdog. We all just graduated puppy obedience II. Spot is about 2 years old, but small (10 lbs.), so he gets classed with the puppies. It's ok with him--they are very silly, and he can easily run rings around them.

video test

stockings hung by the surfboards with care

Ok, I had to document my window village. The snow globes are always there, along with the Arab coffee pots, and well loved. Adding the Christmas tschotschkes and lights just took it completely over the top, I must admit. The swag of lights along our balconies with the also-beloved electric palm trees. The fiber optic Christmas tree is special, but nobody, nothing, nowhere, can beat the stockings hung by the surfboards with care.

Gorgeous babes

With their mom's permission, the latest editions in my family. Doesn't Great Aunt Lisle sound silly? Just what until they really get to know me--I also have permission to be their eccentric Great Auntie Lisle!

Dang, Blogger isn't letting me make it larger...when I have more time...

Round and about 2006

I completed my cookie baking Sunday, so now I have time to blog. Just for the record, first I baked Almond Spritz, which in my family we roll into balls, and then roll in confectioner's sugar while they are still warm from the oven. I also made vanilla meringues, chocolate crinkles (Em's fave, and she is coming on Friday!), and Scottish shortbread. Just four batches this year, conserving energy for the actual holidays!

It's that time of year. Last night, I hung the ornaments on our 24" tall fiber optic tree. When I moved to California last year, Matt felt the one box of Christmas ornaments I brought was truly waste of space. (Only rivaled by my KitchenAid mixer, enthroned in our tiny kitchen, and worshiped all weekend.) But I love going through that box. I have a very eclectic collection of ornaments given to me by friends, ones made by my grandmother (you should see the red felt mittens that hug the tree via a vintage hair clip), old ones from my childhood tree, ones made by Em circa 1993. The tin devil from Holly & Bob. The tree really has a fetish aspect. It made me so happy, to trace the past through ephemera that only has meaning for me, to think of everyone I have decorated trees with!

OK. This is the main update post. I am consciously making some information a little opaque. It is not that I wish to be coy with you, but I don't want this blog coming up as a hit on the first page of Google results for something. That's already happened with my other blogs, and since this one is much more personal than those, I do choose to be oblique. Please don't comment that you can find tons of information about me online with no difficulty. Let me have my little fantasy. (Besides, you probably do know my name, at least if you are a relative.)

I continue to be the branch librarian of a library beside Lindo Lake in California. It's wonderful. In the spring, there were ducklings and goslings and even egretlings! We took the preschool story hour on a nature walk. It was super fun. I have really great co-workers in a really nice facility with a healthy book budget. It is so far from my experiences in Philadelphia that I literally have to pinch myself sometimes.

Matt and I moved from our temporary quarters in the neon strip to a much nicer neighborhood near a beach-by-the-ocean.. Matt continues as a neighborhood beach branch librarian. We do not have very many books in our quaint (read small) beach apartment surrounded by rose bushes. We do have two Mac computers (I got a MacBook in June, which I looooove.) In April, I finally sold the condo in Philly at a tidy profit, so I am getting a glance at how the other half lives (That is, the 20% with no balances on their charge cards. Woo hoo!)

Emily is completing her two years in community college in a year and a half. She is in a big hurry to go to Japan, as she has dreamed so long. She has straight As in Japanese, and likes to memorize kanji characters in her spare time. She's also taken more Spanish. And she also continues to draw comics. Let's hope she'll translate for us in a comment. If she doesn't sue me for copyright infringement...

My bi-yearly (at least it seems like it) medical melodrama struck in June. I was diagnosed with what I generally refer to as "the disease", which is how it seems to be referred to by many other patients. It is more specifically a demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system. I started disease modifying medication in July, which is going very well. Plus lots of physical therapy, always a favorite. It's actually quite a relief to have a diagnosis, and though it sounds crazy, it's the best thing that has happened to me medically in years.

I am learning to monitor my energy level, and to save my energy for the stuff that matters. Living in paradise helps keep that in perspective on a daily basis. This morning, I admired how shiny the coconuts fronds were against the blue, blue sky, almost like tinsel high in the sky. The tide was high and I could here the waves crashing on the rocks at the end of the block. Too bad I had to head to work after I walked Lady! But there will be lots more walks, and Matt will always make sure we schedule time for fun. He has become very involved in cooking, lots of fresh ingredients, which are plentiful and cheap. Low salt and low fat, so we are getting healthier while eating fabulous meals! I tend to say I am the luckiest person in the world on a very regular basis. It is almost embarrassing to be this happy. All this without mentioning the November elections! I am still working with MoveOn.

I hope that 2007 will see us heading toward peace, and that this blog conveys my best wishes to everyone who reads it. Thank you for stopping by!

pixations of the year

Ok, we've got a mixed bag here. First photo is with my mom and sister Ruth on the top of Mount Soledad overlooking La Jolla. They came out for my birthday and we had a lovely visit.

Of course, Emily still gets center stage. The photo with Matt is by yours truly at the Japanese garden in Balboa Park. Every visit to the park leads us to another gem. The phenominal rose garden. On Thanksgiving day, we walked through the incredible cactus garden. We've been to the art museum for some good shows, Herculaneum and Warhol among others. Plus we've been to the Old Globe for several shows, as I get free tickets via work. Plus we saw Titus Andronicus at the Shakespeare festival. It goes on and on. There are Mayan glyphs at the Museum of Man. Turns out Em had just done a paper on the Mayan language just before she came in August. We still haven't even been to half the museums, and we have been trying--2007, here we come! Must mention the searing show we saw this month at the Museum of Photographic Arts: The Road Most Traveled: Migration Photographs by Don Bartletti.

The photo a la sakura is courtesy of my sister Ruth. Em went down south for my great nephew Jake's christening near where there are lots of cherry trees. I may put up a photo of the beautiful boy and his beautiful sister, but I have to check with their mom, aka my niece Karin. Aunt Ruth took Em over to the festival, and took the lovely photo. I like using it as wallpaper, so I see Em when I am logging on and off.

Then we have a snap from just after dim sum with Uncle Eric and his partner David, who took the picture. Then you see Ruth and I floating in inner tubes in the pool at the Hotel del Coronado.

Life is good. Blogger is limiting me to 5 pix per post. If I get ambitious, I'll put up some more!

2006 it is, for a little while yet

OK, how cool is it that I last posted to this blog around May, logged on yesterday, changed the title, and le voila, my Christmas-letter-of-a-blog is underweigh. With almost no effort on my part, I can communicate my year in a snapshot with ease. Actually, probably multiple snapshots. I had to load this shot of our little town decked out for the holidays. I am still just loving seeing palm trees every day. I did tweak the template a little to be more festive. I hope I didn't break anything.

Christmas Adagio

Actually, this will be more, for me, like Christmas lentement (which I swear is used as a tempo in music, but I can't find a definition on the web. Think s-l-o-w-l-y, even langerous...). Anyway, I borrowed a fabulous new CD that came into my library:

CD 1. O holy night -- Ave Maria / Schubert -- In the bleak midwinter -- Coventry carol -- Away in a manger -- Gabriel's message -- Pastoral sinfonia : from Christmas oratorio / J.S. Bach -- Il s'en va loin de la terre (Shepherds' farewell) : from L'enfance du Christ / Berlioz -- Panis angelicus -- Schlafe, mein Liebster (Slumber aria) : from Christmas oratorio -- Wiegenlied (Lullaby) / Brahms -- O Jesu so meek / J.S. Bach -- While shepherds watched -- Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kommt (excerpt) / J.S. Bach -- Largo : from Lute concerto / Vivaldi -- Alma redemptoris Mater / Palestrina -- O magnum mysterium / Gabrieli -- Zastupnitse userdnaya (Zealous protectress) -- Iubi-Te-voi (I will love thee, O Lord) -- Once in royal David's city -- O Tannenbaum -- O little town of Bethlehem.

CD 2. Stille Nacht (Silent night) -- Gloria in excelsis Deo -- Largo : from The four season, Winter / Vivaldi -- The first Nowell -- In dulci jubilo -- The three kings / Cornelius -- Es ist ein Ros entsprungen -- Still, still, still -- The crown of roses -- Largo pastorale : from "Christmas" concerto / Corelli -- The lamb / Tavener -- Balulalow : from A ceremony of carols / Britten -- Ave Maria / Bach, Gounod -- Mille cherubini in coro -- Laudate Dominum : from Vesperae solennes de confessore / Mozart -- The infant King (lullaby) -- Lullaby my Jesus / Warlock -- What child is this? (Greensleeves) -- Barcarolle : from The tales of Hoffmann / Offenbach -- See amid the winter's snow -- The blessed Son of God / Vaughan Williams -- It came upon the midnight clear -- White Christmas. It's just about the perfect antidote to mall Christmas muzak...wish I could figure out how to rid us of the columns, but no time. I am trying to take it very slow and easy for the holidays this year, and this is the res

mi casa wireless!

EEEEEEE! Ayiyi, etc. Yo tiene el net. bueno. Benevenudo mi casa.

Above, there are shots of the living room, the two bedrooms, the kitchen, the view from the kitchen balcony, the bath...

I was very excited yesterday to discover a view of the palm trees from my bed. The dog had been very concerned about the birds in the palm trees yesterday morning, but I paid little attention. I was unaware that there were parrots living in the palm trees. Big green ones! No need for an alarm clock at Casa Pacifica, it turns out.

I took shots of our courtyard, which is intensely planted, and "our beach" today, before I was utterly exhausted. A little touch of New England. I will try to post them soon. Our unknown wireless benefactor is a little irregular, so posting pix takes some time!

Casa Pacifica

The latest (possibly greatest) abode. Patience and Fortitude guard the front steps. Apartment has two sets of French doors onto balconies overlooking roses. Entrance is off heavily landscaped patio. Woohoo!

Misc. pix

I'm still playing with my latest toy--and over a month after Christmas. That's our local Barnesandignoble. It's located in a former movie theater, the Loma Star, that was an independent bookstore in it's median stage, hence "Bookstar". The neon is very pretty, though it needs maintenance. It is also proof of two things. 1. There are people on Point Loma outside of our household who read. And not just adult books! 2. A bookstore can survive without a coffee bar. Besides, there's a good local coffeeshop just nextdoor. But they are not open late.



Not a literacy game. Cute though, eh?

the great big bird feeder

There is a large sweet gum tree right next to our balcony. It has just about lost all its leaves, though there are still some green. I've been figuring it will provide welcome shade if we still live here this summer. But something extraordinary happened this weekend. The sweet gum turned into a giant bird feeder. Finches descended on those pointy round pods that are so unpleasant to step on in bare feet. Goldfinches, house martins, juncos, birds, birds, birds. The goldfinches alight right on the pods and hang there pecking at the pods. The (slightly) larger birds sit on the branches to peck. Mourning doves sit on the ground below awaiting fallen seeds. I can sit in a recliner and watch all though the sliding glass doors! W00t.

the latest family addition

There he is, baby Jake. He came a little early, and is still a little jaundiced, but he looks to be a happy boy. I am Great Aunt Elizabeth to Jake, though he gets a few years before he's expected to say that. I've already tendered an invitation that he and his sister Gabriella come visit me in say ten years so I can get to work corrupting them as their crazy old Great Auntie. I had a great ime corrupting their mother many moons ago. Should be a fun role to play with them!

Best reads of 2005

The stated goal of my main other blog, Biblioblather was to maintain better track of my reading. I am THILLED to report that after 44 years of steady reading, I finally found a method of tracking authors, titles, and opinions. There is no searchable database, it's true, but I am very proud in any case. This from a woman who has retained a Pensees Livres from a trip to France in 1971, (thank you Google, and Le Monde for confirming the date, as one of my main memories of that trip was Nixon devaluing the dollar--OUCH!). I managed to enter three titles in that Livres Pensees before losing track/motivation, but those three entrees have been a precious ideal.

Skimming over a year's worth of blog posts for my favorite reads was kind of surreal. I have written in journals/blank books/notebooks much of my life, but never in date order. Whenever I want to write something, I just pick up one of the floating notebooks and start jotting. So they are a very motley array, except the one known as "the divorce journal", which my lawyer advised me to keep as an accurate record of events. I try never to look in it as it is very sad, but I was happy to find it last year before a court visit. Over the years, you do forget, thank goodness!

But it didn't take ten years for me to forget about some of the things I read this year. A few titles were complete mysteries. I decided not to go look up subject headings or reviews, trusting myself to have remembered and written more if it was good. After all, doesn't "forgettable" say it all?

Now I must thank Blogger and Open WorldCat (whose praises I am determined to never stop singing) for finally making it a reality: I know what I read last year!

My absolute favorite fiction read of the year was The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. I felt like I was in New York in 1941, on top of the Empire State Building watching for Luftwaffe. I spent a week completely swept away in this book. Very little of the other fiction I read made much of an impact. I did enjoy Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, though it was a bit over the top. Engaging, if not deep. The Good Wife by Stewart O'Nan is relatively short interior novel that spans over twenty years. Spare, elegant--all those things that distinguish good prose. It is set in Owego, NY, which I have driven through countless times. Driving and cars are themes. Long drives in upstate New York were a major motif in my childhood. So this book resonated. It also changed forever the way I think about the incarcerated and their families.

I also want to mention a children's book (more a tween book to my mind) Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Chlodenko. I picked it up because I had loved another Chlodenko title, Notes from a Liar and Her Dog, plus there's the family history tie-in: this book is about a kid who lives at Alcatraz, and my grandfather was born and grew up at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, where Capone was incarcerated briefly. Besides all that, it's a really good book.

This was a really big year for nonfiction for me. I try to mix up my reading, usually 3 fiction titles to one nonfiction or biography. I do subscribe to the idea that fiction is true, and nonfiction merely attempts truth. However, I have to mention Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, and Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton, which I need to reread. I will also mention, without link (because this post has taken me DAYS to write, the Popol Vuh, The Pine Barrens by John McPhee, and Bait and Switch by Barbara Ehrenreich. For anyone reading along at home, this should give you plenty of crunchy thoughts to mull over.

For 2006, I have a few reading resolutions. I want to take in some poetry. It's been a long while since I made a true effort. Right now, I am reading Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. Only a year?, I think to myself. I am also determined to fulfill my promise to the LISnews Book Club to read The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture. I have had a request in for it from two library system's since September. Since I found the Open Worldcat record, cataloguing should not be an issue. I don't know what gives. But I will read it!

Little Tokyo on New Year's Day

OK, you heard about the rain on the Rose Bowl Parade. Well, here's Em and Matt in front of some unidentified Japanese trees in Little Tokyo in L.A. before the first downpour. We had a great time. We are thinking of going again next year. There was no traffic on the freeways coming or going.

Little Tokyo is crammed with stores selling Japanese books, clothing, housewares, food, you name it. Among our favorite purchases: little Japanese lanterns strung on Christmas lights; teeny mushroom-shaped Pocky candy; a Hello Kitty draincover; an all-metal (read unbreakable) jigger; a My Neighbor Totoro stuffed charm for the Prius; manga; Japanese grammar books; and a Japanese children's book that Em hopes to translate.

We had lunch at an excellent restaurant. The best gyoza we'd ever had plus incredible sushi. Here's Em and Matt outside the restaurant:

An Ocean Beach Christmas

Matt and I attended the Ocean Beach Christmas parade earlier this month. OB, as it is known, is the beach community where Matt lived before I moved here, and works. He is hoping to return there soon, as living one mile inland is making him nuts. OB does have a special laid-back vibe. The Christmas parade is the big event of the year, second only to the famous marshmellow fight on the beach right after the fireworks on July 4th. I thought I'd share the carol lyrics from the parade. Not all of them, not "Jingle Bells, Dog Beach Smells" (there were three large dog contingents in the parade), but here's "Rocking Around the O.B. Christmas Tree". The tree is hung with beach balls and 45s.

Rocking around the O.B. tree
Have a bonfire of the beach
Marshmallows flung where you can see
Nobody's out of reach

Rocking around the O.B. tree
Le the holiday spirit ring
Later we'll drink some spirits, too
And do some off-key caroling

You'll get a sentimental feeling when we say
Jingle bells and Dog Beach smells
O.B. all the way

Rocking around the O.B. tree
Have a happy holiday
Everyone's dancing merrily
In the old Obecian way.