Bike to Beach

Trying to work off the mass quantities of food from Xmas feasting required some calorie burning. I hopped on my bike this morning while Mark still snored.

What a wonderful morning with the mist of dawn shading all but the most vivid colors to grey. The birds were finding breakfast. The fishermen were finding solace, but not fish. Walkers were finding energy in their morning stretch. And I found a special morning.

Here are some photos from my bike ride down the Causeway to Honeymoon Island. Notice the Rackominiums and Dockominiums at the marina! and the dogwash located next to the carwash as you leave the beach. and see the birds in the river on the bike trail to the causeway.

Preparing for Christmas

First, it is important to note that I hate to shop. I dont like malls, I dont like cutsy shoppes, I detest sales people. I get physically ill when shopping for over 1 hour. So, any gifts that I purchase are well thought out and purchased over the internet or on a specific expedition to the appropriate store for the item desired.

As a result, Christmas is extra stressful for me. No sympathy is requested. I purchase gifts for my parents, Mark's daughters, and that's about it. Mark and I havent exchanged Xmas gifts in years... if ever when I think about it.

This year has been extra busy with the house rehab, settling in, and trying to locate anything we are looking for - from the right color paint to couscous. We've not baked anything holiday-related, not gone to any Christmas concerts, not gone to any xmas parties. havent played any of my Xmas cd's, and have done minimal shopping as described.

But we did decorate the house, somewhat. And, to augment the leaning, plastic Christmas tree from mom and dad, I purchased an expensive pine-scented candle from William Sonoma at the Stanford Mall - where you walk outside between stores - one of the few malls where I can spend a pleasant hour. So I make pretend we have a live /dead tree.

What do I miss? Visiting friends, though we did get to do some of that while in California a couple weeks ago. Hoping to get some Florida friend visits in before New Years, though it seems that we will do the visiting. Others dont seem to venture out.

I'll miss spending Christmas with my sister and her family in southern California. Miss spending time with Mark's girls. Miss the Christmas tree at Union Square and driving up Roosevelt to the excessively decorated neighborhoods in Redwood City.

But I am enjoying riding my bike to the beach in the morning - meeting other more vigorous bike riders while waiting for the drawbridge to come down. Enjoying the trips to Lakeland for mom's home cooking and Sean's latest tales. Meeting new people at George's workout and yoga classes at the Y. Having a personal shopper with Arif at Home Depot - where, frankly, we spend most of our shopping time. Eating grilled grouper sandwiches at the Sandbar, down the street.

FREEZING in Frisco

We are in Silicon Valley this week - me working, Mark shopping. Its cold here! Funny how quickly we aclimated to the warm weather. We've been busy visiting friends, eating, shopping at Trader Joe's, eating, shopping at Whole Foods, eating, shopping at middle eastern grocery stores, and eating. No, there is no food in florida. Funny that we hadnt heard that in the news!






Christmas tree photos explanation: Please note that Mark did not want our own tree, real or otherwise. Too much work he said! But I got him to take in the broken-down fake tree my parents were disposing as it was easy and free.
Now, in California this week, we've been involved in several tree projects, helping to straighten the tree, rearrange the tree, and to select and cut down the tree! Tree hunting pictures are included.