Remote Sensing

Gainesville

Happy Birthday, Charlie. Welcome to True Geezerhood, with the rest of us.

Finally the jet lag is easing up today. It's always hard going this direction. I'm sure this is made worse by the fact that my inner clock was set to Pacific time in infancy and the first 20 years or so. It just feels so right out there. No doubt Mom feels the "rightness" of living in Central time too.

Finished my book last night and now am back to reading the first two volumes of Robinson's global warming trilogy. The third one comes out Feb 26, and I want to be caught up by then to fully enjoy it. I love the way he writes about science. And he has this wonderful passage that sums up the way I felt while Out There this past week:

"... back in San [Francisco]-- his childhood home, and still the place where he felt most comfortable on this earth.

He actually noticed that feeling as he left the airport terminal's glassed-in walkway over the street, and hopped down the outdoor escalator to the rental car shuttles. The comfort of a primate on home ground, no doubt-- a familiarity in the slant of the light and the shape of the hills, but above all in the air itself, the way it felt on his skin, that combination of temperature, humidity, and salinity that together marked it as particularly San [Franciscan]. It was like putting on familiar old clothes after spending a year in a tux; he was home, and his cells knew it."

--Kim Stanley Robinson, Forty Signs of Rain.

He was talking about San Diego, but the feeling is the same.

Easing back into routines-- got the bills caught up yesterday, the fridge cleaned out and menus for next week planned today. Nothing very exciting.

I spent some time today shopping at the Ferry Building-- online, of course. I love that McEvoy Ranch Verde stuff so much I ordered a bottle of it for myself, along with a bottle of their olive oil.

Also spent a long time going through the Sur Le Table site. Finally had an order all ready to go, but when I went to check out, the form wouldn't accept my input-- kept giving me an error as if I hadn't filled out any of the fields. After 4 attempts, I gave up. Will try again in the morning, and if it is still broken, I'll call the order in.

As for the Cowgirl Creamery-- much as I adored that Mt Tam cheese, I finally decided that $50 was a bit much to pay for 10 oz of the stuff! That included postage, but still.

Tomorrow I will begin to cook again. Sometime this week I plan to do the Chipotle pork roast Sandy spotted in the Chronicle.

Glad you're getting your fair share of Wisconsin winter weather, Ma. Who knows, maybe you'll get a bunch of snow before it's over. It's still cold here too, on our scale. The azeleas are spectacular this year, at least in our yard. I haven't been anywhere else in town during daylight. Will see what's what elsewhere when I go out shopping tomorrow.

A fine letter from Sandy. How nice she got to spend that time with Chris. He gave me my kick-start on personal computers too, of course. Invaluable. When I saw the date, I knew exactly what was going on in my life-- we left Baltimore the day after my birthday (and wonderful surprise party at a favorite Greek restaurant-- I'd thought I was meeting two friends there, and about 25 people showed up) and I started work in Gainesville on November 1. I lived in Oak Forest, right on Biven's Arm, for three years before buying the little house on NW 11th St.

Wish now I'd gotten something at the Beach House shop when you did, Mom. That was a swell place I'd like to remember very well.