Long Weekend!

Start of the mudflats at the marsh yesterday. I didn't bring my camera on our hike today, which turned out to be a great one! About 8 miles total. We got to a great beach where we were totally alone. No other footprints even, though there were some tracks left by elk. It's been getting colder here, but so far this weekend it's been nice for walking and hiking. And tomorrow is a holiday. I love three-day weekends.

I have been thinking about Tiff, Shane, and Caldon a lot though. I know it's been tough, but it seems like things are getting a bit better, and hopefully they will continue to... Still can't wait to see them in less than a week. And I'm really glad mom will be going out to Boston the day that Lorene has to leave. Lorene has been great, and I'm sure mom will be too! All I can do right now is send positive, loving thoughts their way...

A Thursday

 Broccoli cheddar potato soup. I made it (not Adam), as hard as that may be to believe. And it came from the recipe book Tiff and Shane gave Adam for his birthday. Pretty good!

Kiki. Not today though, it's been rainy and cold. It even hailed!

It's already getting dark

and it's only 5 o'clock.

Went to a new beach this weekend. Biggest waves I've seen around here. It was pretty cool, but then a dog got pulled out. I actually thought it had drowned it was under so long, but its owner kept diving in, and eventually they both came up ok. It was scary.

Finished the puzzle Tiff gave me for my birthday! It was a fun one. :)

Post-Halloween

And post-Halloween/Birthday flowers from dad. They're really nice, and I think the Halloween colored Asiatic Lilies are great! Plus, there's a cute balloon that isn't shown in the picture. The cats, Kiki in particular, are interested in the flowers (and the ribbon attached to the vase) as well.

I also got a Nook from Adam, which is totally awesome! :)

No trick-or-treaters, but I wasn't expecting any.

Thanks dad, mom, Tiff and Shane, Dane, Ed and Lisa, Lorene, Jeffra, and everyone else for the birthday gifts and wishes! 

Almost Halloween

 Enjoying the last rays of sun.

 Adam's awesome Zelda pumpkin! Mine was just a face.

We went for a nice walk on a new coastal trail today. The fog even cleared up, and we saw some seals while we were out there!

My favorite time of year

 

 And we have a great pumpkin patch here. A lot of green ones this year... We ended up with 5 pumpkins (plus one tiny one I couldn't resist at the end!). Seems like a lot, but I just love pumpkins....

There were several shades of really pretty sunflowers growing throughout the pumpkin patch. And it was a nice, though overcast and chilly, fall day!

Weekend in the Bay Area

 Santa Cruz! There's a possibility we might end up back here...

Extended Hioki family. Many a picture was taken... It was Adam's grandparents' 60th anniversary!

We came home to a pretty sunset and kitties happy to see us.

Spiders

This plant was looking a little sad, so I was going to water it when I discovered it is infested with little baby spiders. Each one of those white dots is a spider. And the tip of the highest leaf is covered in them! The plant is outside for now...

I always seem to post on Saturdays

Sometimes we get really nice sunsets at our place.
Adam invited some friends from school over for dinner (but they did most of the cooking, which was great) to celebrate taking the GRE, and they were super nice and fun to be with. I'm happy that a big source of stress is over for Adam now. I got up early with Adam and went to the farmer's market while he took his test. Apparently the farmer's market is still setting up if you go before nine. I was kind of surprised. But, I did get some really good organic berries, some of which I put on a fruit tart, which turned out to be really good!

I keep thinking it's Wednesday...

but it's only Tuesday... it has been sunny for a couple hours though!

They're building a house across the street from us. It's really just one guy doing everything, and I've been surprised by how fast he's done it, but we haven't seen him in a few days. I'm worried that if it gets finished we'll get more obnoxious neighbors, but who know...

Poor Adam has been hassled by the school and has to go through even more crap to get this one unit to count. Dealing with college administrations is always difficult for some reason.

Another Saturday Night

Yum! Cornmeal pancakes.
My schedule has been changed. For the better I think. It's kind of a bummer leaving when all the kids are leaving though...

squash

Apparently the squash we bought at the farmer's market was a spaghetti squash. It tasted great. What a weird vegetable...

Yesterday

at one of my favorite beaches in the area. After a couple chilly, foggy days, yesterday and today were really nice.

 Adam's first face

Adam's second face

I'm blowin' my dough and goin' deluxe...

Well, I bought flowers at the farmers market today anyway, which I've wanted to do since we moved here but which always seemed frivolous, and Adam bought a bunch of organic vegetables that I'm looking forward to!

Here are all the blackberries Adam could reach (with the help of a chair) that are growing over the fence from our neighbor's yard. They were delicious, but there weren't nearly enough!

My idea of a good Saturday night. Adam, home fries, un peu de vin (du vin?), scrabble (after this picture I played queens/swore with queens on a triple word; it was a lucky game for me), and good music. I think I was interrupting Adam's train of thought here...

Friday!

Kiki likes to yell at me for awhile when I get home to make me feel bad for being gone all day (and so that I give her plenty of pets of course!). I actually thought it wouldn't warm up today, but finally around 5:30 the sun came out and it's pretty nice. For a bit anyway... Turns out I have another three day weekend, but I'm going to go in for an hour or so on Monday to meet with the psychologist. Technically it's a furlow day for me, and I'm not allowed to be there, but this way I'll get a little overtime on a different day (on my time card anyway).
There are some slow times during my days, but for the most part things are going well. Working 6.5 hours a day is pretty nice actually. I get home and still have time left for myself. And it's nice not having any work to bring home with me. Hopefully my brain won't get too weak! 

The sun is actually out...

At the marsh today.

One week down...

Adam joined the History Club, and I finished my first week of work! I think it's going to be an interesting year. I'm a one-on-one instructional aide for a junior, and he is a great kid. His thing is movies, so I'm sure I'll learn a lot about them. I didn't see myself working in a high school (and to be honest some of the kids are already getting on my nerves), but it'll be good. And I have a job! I don't seem to be adjusted to waking up early again yet though...

Fresh Fruit!

Apples! and a pear. Unfortunately, no one seems to have taken care of the trees in a while, so there isn't much fruit. But the apples are great! The pears aren't quite ripe yet, and there's only a few, but I'm sure they'll be good too. I kind of feel bad for taking all of the ripe fruit, but it doesn't seem like anyone else is eating it...
This could be the beginning of starting my blog again. Maybe I'll just post pictures. We'll see...