small hands

This weekend, my friend Julia and I went to the Domaine Carneros winery in Napa. We climbed to the top of the stairs in the picture and sat on the terrace in the shade and drank champagne and ate a cheese tray as we gazed down at the rolling hills of the Napa valley. It was really gorgeous. A half of a flute of champagne went straight to my head and made me feel fuzzy. Later we went to a Portuguese restaurant in Sonoma.

Earlier in the day I had taken my kids to my girl's swim meet. It was the usual fun and she improved her breast stroke time in the 200 meters even though I didn't stand on the side of the pool and yell at her. Imagine that.

Sunday, I walked around Lake Merrit, did some grocery shopping, and generally puttered around the house. I even took a nap in the warm afternoon.

I love Country Home magazine. I think it's head and shoulders above most house p0rn and I love this cover.

I do wish, however, that the photograph of this quilt had not been blurry. Have mercy on us quilters.



This weekend I took my kids to my parents' cabin. My mom said that they needed help clearing the pine needles on the property, but it was mostly done when we got there. So I took the kids fishing while my Mom barbecued a turkey on the Webber grill and puttered around the cabin. We fished at White Pines Lake, which is really pretty. Fishing is not my thing, so I sat in the shade and did crossword puzzles while the kids fished. There was some fishing tournament on the lake, so there were a lot of people.

Later in the afternoon, we returned to the cabin, changed into swim suits and went to Blue Lake to swim and play table tennis at the clubhouse. Fun times, lots of sun.

Sunday we fished more, then more swimming (in the pool this time), more table tennis, more sun and barbecue.

I'm glad we were able to have a quick getaway. I may overdose on adrenaline right about now. As soon as we got home, the mental To Do lists started forming. I want/need to slow down.



My girl was able to appreciate how cool it is to get away from your life for a while. The children sailed into camp this morning and now I have a big pile of work to do.

I had a good weekend and I hope you did as well.

On Saturday morning, I dropped my daughter off at swim practice and my son off at his dad's house. Then I returned home and puttered around, cleaning up, purging and organizing stuff, putting new pulls on a new cabinet for my bathroom.



For lunch, I stopped by a local taqueria and had a fish taco. Delicious. Then I walked over to the Temescal Street Faire. I like walking in my neighborhood and I am thankful it has a hardware store, a library, a drug store, a bakery and a really good deli within walking distance. I get to look at people, look at plants. Cars look a bit frightening when you're walking. I wish more people walked.

The faire was lovely and, since I was by myself, I got to leave after walking through, listening to music and people watching. Back home for more organizing and purging and watching this movie. I wasn't impressed with it. I started watching Curse of the Golden Flower. Ahhh Gong Li and Chow Yun Fat, lavish costumes and epic drama.

Sunday morning I made orange scones with dried cranberries and coffee for breakfast. Then I started working on bags for my son's teachers, just like I did last year.



While I was sewing, I listened to Dave Chappelle on You Tube. At times I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe--though I won't tell you which clip in particular sent me over the edge.



The bags took longer than I expected, probably from all the laughing. The handles on the first one I made were too wide, so I kept it for myself and made two more. I was really glad to use this Martha Negley vegetable fabric for the lining. It's the ultimate farmers market bag. :0)



I pulled myself away from the bags and Dave Chappelle long enough to take a shower, get dressed and go to the grocery store and Cole Coffee.

I gave the bags to the teachers this morning, because my son was too shy to do it himself and they loved them. I thought the kids' last day of school was Friday, but it's Wednesday at noon. Ooops.

This summer, my son is going to Cal Camp through July. My girl is going to Cal Camp for two weeks, one week off and then three weeks of African Dance camp. And plenty of swim practice throughout all that. In August, their father is taking them to Europe (England, France and Germany) for three weeks.

I have been musing about what to do with myself while they're gone and keeping in mind that I can't do something so fantastic that they'll be upset to have missed it, I decided to go on a road trip to Portland, Seattle and possibly Vancouver, B.C. A road trip by myself. It's exciting and a little intimidating. It's not going to take three weeks, because I can't be away from my practice that long. Frankly, I don't have any details worked out thus far. Stay tuned.

The chaos is better. The sun came out a little this week (though it's not visible now). I am blogging before Court this morning. I was looking at my electronic calendar and complaining to my secretary about all the work I have. I told her it was all her fault, which made her laugh. She bribed me a couple of weeks ago to get a brief done by promising that she'd love me forever if I did. So I did and now she loves me forever, so I can blame her.

My children have one more week of school. They're excited. I'm excited. Their school is like a job for me and I enjoy the ten 10 weeks off.

Plus, I got right with the library (paying $20 in fines) and now I can read No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy and Midnight Robber by Nalo Hopkinson. Summer reading, bring it on! I love the library.

Obviously I've got berries on the brain.

I'm a bit disgruntled. The chaos in my house is still really bad. I look at the pile of my son's toys in my dining room and my brain locks. Then again, I get brain lock about plenty of things these days, when I encounter a task I don't want to do. I'd rather have a clean house. I'd rather V. haul all the junk away. I'd rather go on vacation.

This weekend was fine. My son had his last soccer game of the season and enjoyed himself thoroughly. It was blowing and cold (jackets for everyone), but the sun peeked out a bit yesterday, which elevated my mood. So did getting 50 cents credit for reusing my Cole Coffee bag. So does that picture of the baby sucking her thumb.