Getting our house ready to go

This is such a rotten job to do. To speak of it is easy - we're basically packing our clothes and our electronics, and everything else is more or less staying put in the house.

Ah, but it is so much more. Because Dave will be using our room, we're completely vacating the master suite. While we're excellent at purging our clothes, and not that much ends up in that area, it still takes forever.

Then there is the kitchen. Again, I figure I want to make this as pleasant as possible for Dave, so we're completely purging the fridge and the pantry. I'm leaving things like spices and all purpose flour, but for the most part, it's a total clear out.

And also, just to put things in order, I'm doing a top to bottom spring clean of everything. It's making the house look great, but is never any fun to do.

Total drudgery. And my feet hurt.

The Galapagos Islands are as cool as you think they would be

Backyard - end of day 2

The backyard is about 80% done. When I got home today, they had put in a lot of the sod, and the edging was all done. It's hard to tell from the photos, but it does make the back yard look really big.

You can see clearly the area that was our grassy area before - it's the section where the grass is darker green.

Landscaping progress

Some photos of the progress on the back yard. I didn't know that they were going to be starting Friday, so I came home that afternoon to everything being ripped out. Today, it seems they might get it all done - new edging, more grass.






And some photos of the front walk. This isn't quite done yet. We need to install the edging pieces (which we weren't sure that we were going to do), and some path lighting.

Rick Steves in Austin

One of my very favorite authors/TV show hosts came to Austin this week. He was doing a talk and book signing at Book People. The topic was "Travel as a political act." He spoke passionately for about an hour and a half on the mind-broadening power of travel, and how seeing other countries and cultures, we can both appreciate ours better, as well as discover other ways to improve.

It was a great talk - if anyone gets a chance to see him, I highly recommend doing so.

He also recently traveled to Iran to both visit the country and make a TV special. It is going to be airing on PBS starting in January. I can't wait to see it. He talked about some of the things he learned while there. Fascinating stuff.



It was a completely packed house

Meet Mr. Turkey

This is our very favorite Thanksgiving decoration. I think it's the hat that makes him wonderful.

Walk construction - Day 1

Noon on day one.

Finally re-doing our front path

Today we got some materials delivered to finally re-do our front walkway. We ripped out our nasty 70s vintage courtyard a few years back, and that is also when we did the primary part of our front landscaping. At the time, we elected not to do the front walk, because honestly, it's just expensive.

But finally, we've gotten tired of the remaining 'fast food restaurant' tile at the entry way to the house, and the crop-circles in the middle of the path. Besides, the current stuff just looks nasty.

Here are some before photos, as well as our very classy front yard, covered by all sorts of crap.

For me, this was the most memorable moment on Election Night

As I get most of my news from the Daily Show as Tom watches it religiously...it seems apt that I was watching Jon Stewart as polls closed on the west coast.



For the last election, I was at the International Quilt Festival in Houston when I heard the news of the outcome. This time, I was at Andy and Monica's house.

Halloween, 2008

Well, we had over 600 trick or treaters this year. We ran out of candy around 9 pm, and they continued to come. We put a sign up when we were out, and they still kept coming. It was really fun.

We offered beer to the adults, and got looks of incredulity when they realized we were serious.

Fly through the air with the greatest of ease....

Look at me go!



Update: Let me give you a bit more detail....

Despite my terribly stern look, it was a fabulously good time. As you might imagine, it does take quite a bit of concentration, and that is why I don't look like I'm having a good time.

This was a Learn to Fly session at the Crossings here in Austin. I did this with my friend Rebecca. I totally want to do it again.

The purpose of this class was to learn the following maneuver

1. Grab the bar
   
2. Jump off the platform
3. Hook your legs over the bar
4. Let go of the bar with your hands
5. Swing upside-down once
6. Grab the bar again
7. Do a 'reverse somersault' down to the net

If we did well, then later in the class, after step 4, instead of swinging upside down, after we hooked the bar with our legs and then let go, we would then look for the catcher, and if timing was right, we would grab onto him, and let go of the original bar with our legs.

I did very well, and so here is a Picassa album of me going through one entire time from start to finish.

Trapeze

Wedding quilt

Here are some pictures of the quilt I made for Dave and Lisa's quilt. This is a 106" x 106" quilt (roughly King Sized) that I made from start to finish in 10 days, and used nothing but fabric I already owned. Dave works on environmental policy, so the theme was designed for that.


This is a detail shot of one of the tree trunks

And a detail of just some of the quilting. Leaves in the trees

Washington DC

This past weekend we headed up to the DC area for Dave Grossman's wedding. It was a lovely event, and the rain managed to hold off just long enough for them to have their ceremony outside as planned. We got some time with Jim and Dawn as well. We took some pictures at the wedding, but naturally, I left that memory card at home this morning. I'll try to remember to post some pics.

More Lake Tahoe

Ok - Lake Tahoe is fantastically blue, which I didn't fully realize until I went there in the summer for the first time. Last year, I went on a boat cruise with a friend, and I went again this year. When you are out on the lake, you can get a really good sense of the 3 different colors that the lake takes on - deep royal blue, turquoise blue (like the Caribbean), and an emerald green.

Here's a shot where you can see one of the transitional areas. In the foreground, where there is the deep blue, it means that the water is very deep, and the color is a reflection of the sky. In the distance, you can see a turquoise, and that is an indication that the water is 30-100 feet.


And now a few shots of just the lake. It really is an incredible color

Lake Tahoe Pictures

I took this shot up at Lake Tahoe early this month. I snapped this photo, and I wanted to share. Even though it looks like I added them in, those sparkles are un-edited.