Marveling at rain-dappled flowers and leaves  Checking out an art exhibit at the O’Hanlon Center for the Arts – some absolutely stunning pieces by both experienced and novice artists.  Walking around the Lafayette Reservoir with a good friend who I haven’t seen for a while. It was so good to catch up and reconnect. Going…

I’ve spent the last three days mainly hanging out at the house with Otis, though I did run a couple of errands. I was so impressed with how helpful people were. First was a CVS employee who, after cheerfully assisting me with my purchase, recommended the local Chevron station as the best place nearby with…

It was a beautiful sunny day and I spent as much of it outdoors as I could. Otis and I started the day with a walk to China Beach. We saw a group of women finishing up their early morning dip, that reminded me of my experience with Mary and her friends in Wellington Harbor.…

Had a quiet Easter Sunday, like many of my Easters have been since my kids outgrew Easter egg hunts. I miss celebrating Easter with my kids and extended family. It is good to know that I’ll see Annemarie in less than a week and that Kieran and Kourtney got to enjoy Easter with my sister Lori…

What a great day I had, especially after feeling a little unsure of how it would be at the beginning. I was worried about a report I needed to write, wondered how a call would go later in the day and how much I would have to keep an eye on Otis. I had a…

I’m doing some house and pet sitting in San Francisco again. I spent some time on Thursday doing a bit more training at the Marin County Bar Association then headed to the city to see my buddies Otis and Chicken. Otis and I walked to China Beach, enjoying the beautiful views and lack of crowds.…

I headed home and had no problems getting to the airport or getting through security. I think I’m spoiled from the food offerings at SFO and Oakland, at my gate at Charles de Gaulle there seemed to be mainly prepackaged food and coffee machine coffee. The flight was fine, I finally got to see the…

Today was my last full day in Paris. It was another beautiful day. I updated my blog while drinking a delicious cappuccino at a café around the corner from the Montparnasse cemetery. Then I had a nice long wander through the cemetery, finding graves of people such as Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Bouvier,…

Today I got out of Paris and took a bus trip to the Loire Valley where I got to explore two castles and a medieval town. It was awesome to have a break from the busyness of the city and let somebody else do all the work of figuring out where to go.  I splurged…

I had a nice wander around the sixth arrondissement this morning, noticing lots of interesting artwork up on the walls – including an alien, C-3PO and Chewbacca from Star Wars and my favorite, the figure of a retreating old man in a long coat. I also found a few cute little alleyways and the ornate…