elainegrey

For the whole series the tag is 2012101920tuolumnetrip -- you can use the slideshow feature to flip through the images. (I don't have the photos of Chinese Camp and Knight's Ferry done yet).

I'm 2 for 4 in identifying wildflowers so far, although i'm certain of the families of both uncertain flowers, and would be comfortable even naming the genus of both (a goldenrod and a buttercup).

I've delighted in rereading and skimming through The Geologic Story of Yosemite National Park as i identified peaks and geologic features in the photos.

If you prefer looking at photos here, i offer behind the cut ( a bakers dozen photos. )

Yesterday's road trip began with a bit more adventure than i expected as we took a route to Pescadero that was direct but very winding. I was driving the jeep and a little anxious for a bit about the winding roads, the bicyclists in the lanes, and on coming vehicles. There was a down hill stretch where a bicyclist was about to overtake us, but around a curve was an uphill and i lost him.

The green of the coastal mountains on a morning with the low clouds is hard to describe: it glows in the diffuse light, the thick green mosses, the low growing perennial plants, ferns. Lace lichen drapes the oaks like the Spanish moss of the southeast, but this is even more trailing and distinctly lichen green instead of the grey. Even on bright sunny days, some canyons are in a twilight.

The goat farm was a delight, and the sun broke out through the clouds as we were there. A field of yellow mustard flowers separated the nursery barn from the rest of the barn. We could handle (stress) the male kids who would be sold by the dairy, no comment on whether they were destined for meat by the buyer or not. The first year mother goats were sweet as they sat together in the sun.

The cheeses were not a "gamey" as Christine feared, and we ended up buying more than a few. The farm seems to be doing well as farming tourism goes, and although i was aware of the gentle manipulation of having the tour go from 11-1, and end in the cheese shop, i can't begrudge an entrepreneur who is committed to sustainability and gentle scale.

We had a generous and long lunch at Duarte's (Doo-art's) in Pescadero with a friend of Christine's, belatedly celebrating both of their birthdays. Christine said her crab melt sandwich was delicious, i had baked oysters. We wrapped up with olallieberry pie. What is an Olallieberry? It's a mutt, Christine laughs, as i read off the crossed berries that were its progenitors. (Think blackberries, raspberries, dewberries.)

We took a drive home up the coast on highway 1, marveling at the scenery, familiar and yet still a wonder. I tried taking some beach photos, but the "sea breeze" was incredibly stiff and i was chilled pretty quickly. We crossed the hills at well developed 92 and drove home along the San Andreas fault on Cañada Rd.

We were home around 5, and i was so tired. I'm not sure why, but this morning my legs hurt. I realize all the squatting down to see the goats face to face did work out my legs. For dinner we had hot cocoa, and i had some nibbles of the honey lavender chevre. We watched The Tempest (2010) with Helen Mirren as Prospera: the issues of slavery and freedom and power are fascinating. Having the protagonist as a woman fascinated me, thinking of the power broker women of history, who manipulated governments thought their children. I find it more believable for Prospera to surrender her staff of magic after seeing her daughter betrothed to the prince, i think, than had it been Prospero.

I've slept far more this vacation than i planned and slept in this morning. I suppose should get myself to Meeting as i have not been to Worship for weeks. It will do me good, i suspect. Thank heavens for Friends casual presentation: i have quite the case of hat hair from yesterday.

Laura's flight got snagged, and she spent a night in Minneapolis. She arrived Friday morning at 9:30-ish and i picked her up with a car ready for a road trip. It had struck me we could be in the Sierras in three hours, and she thought that sounded great. I think it's a fascinating roadtrip, to cut through the landscape changes of the state, coastal range, central valley, foothill, and summit.

I didn't make very good time going uphill in Hélèn the Accent, and when we finally reached a well-marked day use area it was much later than i expected. I did recall reasonable geologic landmarks from roadtrips long ago, especially the inverted stream near Oakdale. Table Mountain is where a lava flow from the Sierra flowed down a river valley and, in the subsequent ten million years, the rest of the landscape has eroded away leaving the lavaflow a high flat wandering mountain.

We picnicked and walked around an overlook, ancient volcanic cones in the distance, the granite batholith of the Sierras visible around us. "What tree is this?" Laura would ask of the mixed conifers around us, and i realized how much i've focussed on geography.

I do have a tree book i could study.

Yesterday we hung about the house, with an outing to the used bookstore, and a dinner outing to Half Moon Bay via Skyline Drive in Josie. Today, Meeting and then to the city while Christine rehearses, and then she's on her red-eye flight back east

Spent the morning editing down the eighty some digital photos to twenty some, and going through and getting the scientific names of as many of the critters and green things as possible. Our burrowing friend in the camp was a pocket gopher, not a mole[1]. Some disappointments from the trip including forgetting the tripod mount. After the comedic search and discovery of the light tripod, the final scatterbrained event tempted a sense of tragedy. Another was not getting to the river mouth for birdwatching and telephoto photography in the early morning. (But without the tripod mount, there was no way i could hold the telephoto steady.)

I finished shooting a mystery roll of black and white, and one 24 shot antique roll of color. I'll pick the color up when i'm done here; black and white is two weeks.

Here's the link to the trip tag slideshow: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elainegreycats/tags/201108manresaescape/show/

I saw my first California thrasher, a robin sized bird with a striking down-curved beak. Its coloration in the morning grey reminded me of a California towhee.

Also saw: several coveys of California quail, a bat in the dusk, a spider weaving a web against the twilit sky, orb webs wet with the mist, some small predatory critter trotting up the trail (fox?), industrial farming of strawberries, fields with artichokes, lots of pink ladies (tall foliage-free lily blossoms), Martinelli's cider factory, a quick drive through Watsonville, lines of pelicans, frolicking dolphins, raccoon tracks, scrub jays, California towhees, a rufus-sided towhee, a tiny wren, bunnies.

I kept feeling like i was spilling tea on my new-dyed clothes (some of which were dyed to cover tea stains).

Our first two night trip was a success, and we're definitely returning to the Manresa campground.

This vacation has had an odd amount of ... frustration and disappointment. I'm pleased with how frequently i'm able to shake it off, but events have accumulated. I can't seem to get the cuff on my mother's sock-slippers to end up the same length (and i'm tired of frogging -- ripping out -- the delicate llama-bamboo yarn). I "lost" the rolls of film for developing. The service was awful at the place we went for brunch in Watsonville and i was about to dissolve in tears as i reached a very hungry state waiting. Monday's antibiotic reaction was severe (but, fortunately, limited).

It seems like an odd amount, but maybe it's a normal amount of frustration and disappointment. It was certainly balanced with plenty of rest, delight, and joy.



[1] My first instinct was "ground squirrel" as that's the burrowing mammal i see most frequently in California. I'm not really familiar with gophers.

It's just glorious today. Christine was cold this morning, but she was able to play her Polly mandolin next to the fire ring with no apparent problems. I hiked, and am now doing laundry, and it's very very comfortable.

Apparently, tomorrow we get "rain" , possible thundershowers, and then shoot up into the 90's by the 4th of July weekend?!

(Camping entry later)


( From: NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA -- which communicates in ALL CAPS )

My boss has been training as a emergency responder for years. This morning he is frustrated to be away from the call up. We'll be on the ground in Atlanta to hear what happens in Hawaii, but the expected first arrival in Half Moon Bay is after we take off from ATL.

Yesterday during work i decided not to do the conference today, but go into the office. Too many moving pieces to wrangle and an architectural review to prepare. I also pitched for new staff: a developer who would also be a "scrum master." I think i may have convinced my boss' boss. nowIn the early morning hours i realize that having someone else in the role of scrum master pushes me further away from the team building work that i value. However, it's right for the team: they need someone dedicated. And perhaps i just become much more of a mentor, a less direct manager.

For me, it will take away the stress of letting people down: by getting someone who focusses on making the team development effort go smoothly, i can focus on the trainwrecks outside of our team.

Christine picked me up after work, and we listened to the game* in the car. We dropped off the rent check, and Christine suggested we could go to the little neighborhood restaurant, in which i had noted that the first game of the series was playing when i went to meet with someone to discuss career growth. So, we did. A handful of other folks were in the restaurant watching: it wasn't crowded but was neighborly. The owner was watching as well. I ordered flan at the top of the eighth inning and carefully paced my bites to extend the desert so my last bite was with the last sweet out of the bottom of the ninth, when the Giants won the game and won the series. The owner came around with a bottle of sparkling red wine so we could all toast the Giants.

Home after, where i was too exhausted to consider exercise. When we'd left my office i was aware the discomfort in my mouth was sapping my energy. I didn't want to do a thing, but it was now the last minute to vote. So i went through the pages of offices and ballot measures with Christine, feeling less proud of this analysis effort. Christine however really dug in and even called a community college colleague for advice about the state school superintendent.

Our polling place is quite close, so Christine will take our ballots over there to vote. I hadn't notice the wording on the envelope before: apparently she's only supposed to take it over if i'm sick or disabled (not just needing to get to the office). I'm feeling a little guilty about using the proxy delivery this year: i'll try to remember next year that the wording is that restrictive.

Today there's a stack of critical to-dos waiting for me, so i can't dawdle too long with the internet.

* It's a best of seven series: once a team wins four games, the World Series champ is decided. The games vary in location: 2 games - 3 games - 2 games. The Giants had won the two games in SF, and had won one of the two games in Texas. If the Rangers won last night, the teams would have head back to San Francisco to play game six.

So, yesterday i took it very easy. Much of Tuesday evening may be some asthma flare, but i'm now wondering about GERD. Can i have it without feeling much in the way of discomfort?

Christine assured me i was being reasonable taking the day so easy: it is a challenge because i know the behavioral expectations i was raised with is to work until you drop. I have recognized that those expectations are fallacious: one then drops for a much longer time than if one took the time to care for oneself. Unfortunately, i look at her family's behavioral expectations and read it as mollycoddling. Is this because my family expectations are so extreme that reasonable expectations are all distorted? It probably is, as i cannot for the life of me figure out where i would be "comfortable" except at the point of waiting until i drop.

So, i rested after the 11 am phone call, where i found myself muting the phone so folks wouldn't hear me panting. "Hmm, panting, i bet my lungs still aren't working very well."

I received an invitation and $100 from adwords.google.com to test setting up an adwords account. That was something i could piddle with as entertainment, and so i did. Christine has suggested making advertisements for causes, and i find myself uncomfortable making ads and pointing them to some organization's stuff. Somehow, the impression of "responsibility" seems misleading if my ad points to someone else's URL. I worry about stepping on the toes of someone who is working carefully to craft a message and promote the issue in an organization. i worry about board members getting irate: who knows if they decided not to get Google Ad Words or if they make final approval and it seems someone isn't following the process of the organization. If i promote a cause here, it's not coming from the official body, and that's clear. If i run an ad to an official organization's website.... Anyhow, Christine's goign to see if we can donate some of the $100 in impressions to some cause we care about. Best i can tell, the $100 will last forever advertising my creek blog postings.

I received the invitation because i am apparently a successful user of Google analytics. This is an interesting use of the word "successful" as i've not hooked my analytics account up to any page in my grey cat domain. http://yoast.com/wordpress/google-analytics/ is a plugin i could use: do i really care, though?

A FB friend suggested all her friends "look at Spokeo.com. A new online USA phonebook w/personal information: everything from pics to credit score, home value, income, age, etc. Remove yourself by first searching for yourself to find the URL of your page, then going to the Privacy button on the bottom of their page to remove yourself. Copy & repost so people are aware." The data is all poorly correlated. I'm linked to another "Elaine X Grey" whom i knew about when i lived in Philly because she had credit problems and i'd get her calls. She apparently lives in Latrobe, PA now and my web photo (the one i use here at facebook & everywhere else) is displayed for her. Oddly, my calendar was reminding me that it was time to get one of the three free credit reports per year, so i got Equifax, and it seemed pretty quiet.

I continued with my reading about the Gulf Oil spill, particularly the naturally occurring oil seeps [image]. I also contributed to the San Francisco Save the Bay's recommendation of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana.
( About CA proposition 14 and others )

In a fit of utter silliness, i bought my Mom a http://www.mouthman.com/ [Warning: auto sound, can turn off player at bottom of page] t-shirt of an alligator. Mother alligators are somewhat remarkable, and she went to the University of Florida. I can imagine her playing with her grandkids while wearing it.

In the very late afternoon, after a nap, i went back to my work computer and banged out an analysis that i've needed to do but had been triggering some overwhelm. I could have taken all afternoon to do it in my procrastination state and been miserable. I know there's a lesson here: i'm not entirely sure what it is.

sparkymonster lives in Massachusetts, but held up this California political attack ad for the ... how shall i describe it? California Quality?



I do not know if i will survive the next election in this state.

And, oh god, our state budget...

Yesterday morning i finally closed uDIG, the geodata program. Christine and i had a quick breakfast together and then i was off to Meeting.

The queries for the month are on Integrity; i am still reflecting on the concept of "to sacrifice is to make sacred" as well as meditating on transformation (and recognizing that resting is part of transforming). I think there was a mild disgruntledness in the ministry others offered, but it's hard to know whether it reflected my disgruntledness. The person i want to be is impossible: there's clearly something about creativity and learning that can wrap me up, and if i don't feel guilty about it, it renews me. But then i want to be less of a hermit and connect with other people.... And even now, i find the myself gravitating towards a logical progression that ends with oblivion. I'm not sure what it is about the testimony we call integrity that has me pulling out the mental scalpel and paring joy away from everything. When i think of integrity, i think of becoming whole ... and i'll admit i remain very self centered and think me me me (the queries are oriented that way) not how to help others be whole, as well. I'm not sure how i got so tangled up yesterday, and i think i'll just leave the tangle there.

After Meeting we ate again, and then began out drive up to Santa Rosa, where Christine had found a motorcycle. We had started out by looking at an alternative to not repairing her scooter. The scooter is a "Chinese scooter," and we had discovered after she got it that these generic scooters had flooded the market under countless brand names, that it was very hard to find places that would work on them, that parts were not easy to get, etc. We discussed finding a used familiar brand scooter, i floated a maximum price point that seemed to make sense to me (taking into account the age of our current car and some other things), and next thing we were looking at motorcycles. Honestly, i think it's a better value.

We drove up the east bay, had some congestion crossing the bridge to San Raphel. The drive around the east bay is on heavily used eight-lane interstate through light industrial areas, malls, and sprawl. I'm calculating the drive back in my mind: dark, unfamiliar roads, following Christine on an unfamiliar motorcycle. She suggested the Golden Gate bridge for the return back: skyline drive to 280 is efficient, beautiful, and lightly traveled. And it's very familiar to both of us. I knew the bridge crossing would be congested, even without the Bay Bridge closure.

The folks we bought the bike from were comfortably familiar strangers. Karen felt like someone i'd like to get to know better. I felt a little guilt about my minimal mechanical understanding of motorcycle engines, respect for Amos's clear mechanical care and skills with the bike. It's a heavy bike, and while Christine gets the hang of it, i'll have to be there to help get it up on the center stand. It's low, and otherwise it fits her well.

I followed her back out onto 101: she struggled a bit it seemed with the shifting through the ten gears with the additional foot lever. The bridge traffic was pretty slow and became so pretty far away from the bridge. I'm pretty sure we spent an hour in that traffic, maybe longer. When i called 511 to find the driving time from Sausalitio to the bridge toll plaza it was 30 min, compared to normally five minutes.

We met up at the Beach Chalet: Christine had chosen to lane split ahead, which i knew would be the safer option for her. The wait there was thirty minutes, and she needed the break, so we watched the sun set and then had a window seat after dark. We could watch the long line of fires on the beach and see the lights of occasional passing boats. We planned a sitcom around the staff: the manager looked a bit like Kenneth Branagh.

I reflected on all the sitting around and waiting that there are people who spend a similar amount of money on a vacation day, who also spend a similar amount of waiting around, who end up with a t-shirt from a theme park at the end. Our vacation souvenir is Stephanie (Christine asked the bike's name).

While stuck in traffic though, after my iPod had run out of its very little juice, i had asked myself to be in the moment, enjoy slow progress of the Marin headlands around me. The important thing i not becoming attentive to something other than the movement of the cars around one: i passed several pairs of cars pulled off to the side, at least one pair with sheriff's vehicles. (Watching the sheriff's cars get to that point was also interesting.) I eventually turned on the radio to hear an interview with David Allen of GTD fame, talking about being in the moment, the challenge,the illusions, and that finding God is as important as buying catfood. It was such pleasant synchronicity to listen to that in the golden evening light as i inched across that great red (orange) bridge.

This morning is slow: Christine resting from the unfamiliar long ride. I'm not sure what to do with the day: to many things i wand and need to do. Will i mix dye? Will i make rice crackers? Will we get groceries done? Will i document my diet experiment? What about library committee stuff? Lingering work stuff? Wail! I will try to be in the moment.