Another day, another ferry. This one took us into Seattle where we stayed with our cousins Janet and Bing in the North Beacon Hill neighborhood. Before we left I had a last walk on Vashon. The next two days were filled with lots of catching up with many different cousins – some we had not…

This morning we hit the road to Gresham, just outside of Portland, to see our cousin Rheanna and her husband Seth. They bought house earlier this year – a mid century modern style with wood paneling,  huge windows and lots of trees in both the large front and backyards. After a too brief stop to hear…

We were up and on the road to Eugene by 7 AM. We alternated listening to 80s tunes with talking about what was going on in the world, our families and life in general. We made good time to Eugene and were soon pulling up at our cousins Gwen and Fred’s place. It was fantastic…

OK so I have been very lax about updating my blog. I’m on a road trip with my sister Lori to visit relatives in Oregon and Washington and haven’t had the downtime I usually get in the evenings to post. I started my journey on Tuesday when I met Jody for lunch to catch up…

Spent the morning doing work on my two projects, then went for a walk in the neighborhood on a few streets I don’t think I’ve ever been on before. It’s amazing how many little hidden areas there are in Mill Valley. I also spent time trying to get Mom signed up for credit monitoring due…

Today was a magical hiking day. Julie, Gabriella and I hiked part of the Bay Area Ridge Trail near Woodside, in the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. It is a gorgeous place to hike, with lots of beautiful towering redwoods, luscious ferns and colorful wildflowers. The weather was a total 180 from our hike…

Today was a fairly active day, though I spent the day at or close to home. On my walk in the neighborhood this morning, I saw some blackberries that are almost ripe enough to eat! Also saw some plums that are still very green. I love seeing wild fruit when I’m out walking around. When…

I had a very social day on Thursday. After a morning walk around the neighborhood I met a friend for lunch in Walnut Creek then Emmy and I went to the Godfather Winery on Mare Island and enjoyed some delicious wine on the porch of the beautiful old officers house where the winery is based.…

Had a quiet 4th hanging out with Margot and reading. That night I heard lots of fireworks and from the front door saw the light show on Sutro Tower-very cool effects from the fog. The next morning I walked around the reservoir and passed a San Francisco Water Department truck blaring classical music with a…

Today is my 55th birthday. I usually am not concerned or take a lot of notice of birthdays that are not ones that push me into a new decade. 25 was the last time that a ‘five year’ birthday was important to me since that’s when I turned a quarter century. But for some reason…