Winter is here (still). It's been very cold in Chicago, dipping this weekend to 20 below; but it seems to be warming up slowly. It was warm enough to snow last night, apparently, and there's a light dusting of white on the ground. But what you really want to know about is Kenneth Libbrecht, the physicist and snowflake-hobbyist who takes pictures of snowflakes with a specially designed microscope-camera. American Public Media's Weekend America talked to him about his photographs and put up a slideshow of them on their website. I was really surprised by some of the shapes he captured.

Guess Where!

I enjoyed growing up in the parts of SF that I did, but that didn't really include Glen Park, the neighborhood around the house where I lived for my whole life. I'm getting to know it better now as an adult. It has a great mix of residential and recreational--not many boutiques, but I don't shop that much anyway. On this last visit, we took several walks through the above-pictured Glen Canyon (including one with Mali and Denali, wearing their hats! and one with my mom, and one with Jimmy K), ate more than a few crepes at Higher Ground (Chenery and Diamond) and had tapioca tea at Eggettes. I also finally bought some eggettes. They look like bubble wrap, smell like waffles, and taste like waffles, too, but with an enchanting range of textures. Crispy outside and chewy inside. Love it. I'm a little worried that Eggettes won't make it, though. Its footprint is on the large side. And you know those machines they have at the front of supermarkets, where you put in a few coins and a mystery toy in a plastic bubble comes rolling out? Eggettes has 48. I counted. Along with a "UFO Catcher." I would've gone there all the time in high school if it would've been closer (and open). In its current location, I'm not sure they can generate enough business to stay open. But there were plenty of customers the second time we went. They should pay me for advertising them on my blog.

Jimmy described the canyon as a "Disneyland attraction that never got finished." It does pop up unexpectedly in the middle of the city, but it doesn't seem out of place to me. The homes remind me of hobbit holes, not in their specific appearance but in the idea expressed in the way they nest along the canyon rim, living right inside a beautiful place. The weather was perfect for walking (though recent rain made the paths a little muddy), and the light was great. I kept poking Patrick and saying, "Look at how un-flat it is!"

-I wrote most of this a few days ago. We got back to Chicago yesterday. Today is Sunday, and tomorrow I'm back to school. The time for blogging is over for now!

Happy New Year!

My blog has gotten a face lift. I don't really want to spend that much time on it, but there are lots of bits that could use improvement. If you think of any good links, comment.

I expected to be blogging from a boat floating in the Gulf of Mexico, but it seems we've brought colder weather with us. It's been windy here, and it rained yesterday. We're having a good time anyway. Patrick's dad, George, and his stepmom, Susy, are taking good care of us. We went to Susy's graduation from massage school today. She already has a promising interview lined up. Exciting! And she's still enough in learning-mode that she doesn't mind giving free massages to family. :)

Back in the Bay Area, we saw a lot of friends and family, not spending quite as much time as I would've liked with everyone I like but also kind of overwhelming ourselves with engagements. It was nice to see more of Patrick's family, though; his aunt Theresa and her partner, Cal, just moved to Oakland this year--well, last year, as of today!--and we had a delicious and delightful dinner with them. I enjoyed seeing George, Maria, Sophie, and Annie, too. Annie was sick, but her increasing proficiency in the English language was still discernible. My cousin Caitlyn is still quiet, but she is way less shy and consequently a lot more fun. Ian discovered that I am strong enough to toss him but not to sustain it for an hour straight, so he's made friends with Patrick. I missed Matthew, since he's down in LA fulfilling childhood dreams of conducting the Disneyland Train (it's been a multi-year climb up the theme park ladder); soon, he'll be in Edinburgh, another long-time aspiration. I'm proud that he's stuck with this stuff.

The nuculer family had a good time watching Ratatouille on DVD; Jarrett and I made a very tasty apple cake from the Firehouse Cookbook; and I tried to deftly maneuver my way into winning a game of hearts, only to have Jarrett stick me with the queen of spades in the last hand, leaving me trailing behind my dad by a number of points too trivial to calculate yet too tragic to ignore.

Food highlights included sticky rice, a very creative curry+fried tofu+mushroom+miso soup, more sticky rice, a surprising cole slaw, AMAZING cookies (Auntie Lorna only baked how many, somewhere around 1,500 this year?), pear ravioli, pear and squash soup (vegetarian! yay!), the best chocolate chip cookies, battered crab, veggie chicken, quesadillas full of black beans and sweet potatoes, homemade rice porridge, oh I could go on but I won't.

I have a few pictures to post, but they'll have to wait until we get back to Chicago. In the meantime, I have lesson planning to do!