White Christmas

While here in the Bay Area we don't have snow (we do have rain - lots and lots of rain, not that I'm complaining), one can still find winter white if one looks closely enough:

The latte I was served at Awakening Cafe in downtown Oakland (and kudos to them for being open on Saturday morning, when Starbucks and Tully's were both closed - downtown Oakland not a very happening place on Saturdays, apparently).










The Calla Lilies keep coming (we had seven blooms all together).












Cowboy the cat (who lives in Austin Texas with my sister Mary Cam and her kids).













Obama in the White House! (OK, he's actually ON it, not IN it - picky, picky!).












The cafe mocha I was served at Cafe Cacao, the restaurant run by Scharffenberger's Chocolate at their plant six blocks from our house).













That's right - there's a chocolate factory SIX BLOCKS from our house!













SIX BLOCKS!!!!!!!!! And, yes, they make a darned fine mocha with their own chocolate.












HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!

We Query the Community Hermeneutic (TM)*

We were looking through the photos from our glorious trip to Asia (taken by our minion, Stephanie, though she hates it when we call her that) when we came across this image, and have fallen into musing about the curious phrase in the bottom right quadrant of the frame.


We surmise that the word "Dunkin' " refers to Dunkin' Donuts, where the photo was taken, "White" refers to our own wonderously white, creamy complexion; clearly there is some sort of proposal being made to us - but what? What?

We implore our Legions of Fans to help us discern the exact meaning of this phrase. We are open to other interpretations than those along the lines of our own reasoning, we suppose.





Kisses to All!


P.



* - TM 2008, Brian C. Young

Little Monstrosities

Lest anyone think I'm getting soft in my middle age, I've come across a fair number of odd, hideous, or just plain scary things as well. Like...

The world's worst snack. Got these in the Star Alliance Lounge in the Shanghai Airport. They're dried plums, only they've been preserved using some sort of horrible salty process that makes them absolutely disgusting.










Purple broccoli. PURPLE BROCCOLI! It's just wrong, WRONG I TELL YOU! (Correction: Brian has reminded me that these vile veggies are actually cauliflower, not broccoli - which makes them far more evil, in his opinion.)










Come to think of it, the entire produce section in the San Ramon Safeway was pretty scary. Produce really shouldn't be so perfect and orderly.










Speaking of scary, Morty found it quite alarming when the guy from PG&E came to our house to light the pilot light in our heater and had to crawl under the house to do it. He was talking to us from underneath the grate, and the Mortster just about came unhinged.

Little Miracles

Maybe it's a hangover from the Thanksgiving spirit, but I keep seeing amazing things (and sometimes even managing to get pictures of them).



There are actual Calla Lillies growing in our backyard!












Violet and Morty peacefully co-exist! (Sunbeams have that effect on them sometimes.)

















Origami baboon and elephant! Only two of the amazing creations at the wonderful welcome party that the folks at Berkeley Friends Church had for us on Sunday.









Cats that can read - upside down, even! This is Baby, one of my sister Mary Cam's cats in Austin, Texas.










Great shots at Thanksgiving - good work, Bri! My dad is on the left, my sister on the right, Cam's dog Sophie in my lap, and her boys Burke and Ash behind the couch.

Afterthoughts

Finally finished listing all my expenses for reimbursement by Columbia College Chicago - spent considerably less than last year (a big chunk of that was using Skype exclusively for telecommunications). Have been sleeping a lot, but haven't had any of that waking up after a few hours and not being able to go back to sleep that plagued me last year upon return. Am working on my pictures and hope to get them all up on Flickr much mroe quickly than last year. Before that, though, I have to prepare my presentation for Columbia College, so that's my next priority.

I'd like to put up some pictures that I really like but that didn't fit in previously. Here are a few from week 1...


Street scene ini Bangkok.












Vendors outside the temple near our hotel. The stacks of yellow and purple things are garlands of flowers.












Singapore by day.













Singapore by night.













The fried rice from the restaurant of the Kuala Lumpur Hilton hotel (the pink things are salmon chips, and they were better than I thought they'd be).










The chocolate ferris wheel in the KL airport. Each car has the brand name of a different chocolate on it. Mmmmm..... chocolate.










More to come!

California Here I Come!

Had a lovely final morning in Tokyo before I had to be on the 11:45 bus to the airport.

Started with breakfast at the Palace Hotel...













...then went for a stroll at the Imperial Palace Gardens...













...with my friend Rosemary from Calvin College...












...after which we went to the lounge on the top floor of the hotel...












...where I had an $8 ginger ale.













Arrived in San Francisco approximately three hours before I left Tokyo, thanks to the International Dateline. Very glad to be back at home with Brian and Violet and Mort. Will post some more favorite pics that haven't made it onto the blog yet in the next few days. My thanks to everyone for their comments and support!

Allonsiy!

Well, we've had our last IIE fair (four hours of soul-crushing boredom), our last school visit (my table was mobbed after one kid who wants to play drums in a jazz band talked to me for a while, then brought all his friends over), and our farewell dinner (we almost got away without any karaoke but failed in the end to restrain ourselves and most assuredly shamed our entire nation). I've been to the Meiji Temple (see below) and have made a date with Rosemary for breakfast tomorrow and a stroll through the Imperial Gardens across the street from our hotel. If all goes according to plan, I have only to board one more bus and two more planes to get home. I've had a great time this year, but am really looking forward to being home.

Some highlights from the past few days:


Sunset at the Beijing Airport.















Mt. Fuji from the plane window.














Favorite building in Harajuku.



















Favorite business name in Harajuku.













There was a huge antique market outside the venue of our last IIE fair, causing many of us to stampede the only cash station within several blocks (the vendors did not take credit cards).









My apologies for the fuzzy picture, but the item on the left was called "Barbarian Pumpkin Scone." At least one other person in our group got a better picture than me, I'll try to get it. I did purchase and eat the Barbarian Pumpkin Scone. It was somewhat pumpkiny but not at all barbarous.







Visited the Meiji temple with Emily, Jennifer, Monica, Joan, and Jason on a beautiful fall morning. Am ashamed to report that we stopped at Starbucks both before and after we were there.









Emily, Joe, Jason, and Erick having way too much fun at our farewell dinner at Fujimama's (great food and open bar, it's a wonder we ever left).