No,I haven't fallen off the planet...

Greetings for the great Wind Bowl of California; I’d wave, but I’d best hold on to this tree so I don’t blow away! Thanks to the remnants of a Philippine typhoon, we’ve had an early taste of winter this past week~ a drop in temperatures, driving rain, & of course, gale-force winds taking down trees all over. No major damage around the garden~ fences & furniture is intact, though the remains of the cucumbers & green peppers were flattened.

I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel work-wise; I’ve been working weekends for a couple months, but quarter-end & escheat reporting should be wrapped up in the next week, and my CEO told me that they are finally ready to hire a new accounting manager. YIPPEE!!! I doubt they will find and train someone by my next vacation (the week after Christmas), but it’s a relief to know I’ll have some help & backup in the future.

Good news on the Jessica front as well; instead of being homeless, she is now living & working back in San Jose. She was able to get on with Safe*way, at a brand new store near where she is living; the money is modest, but better than unemployment & it’s a union job with full benefits after her probation period. She seems to have lucked into a good roommate for a change, an “older” woman with a daughter away at college, so she’s being mothered & looked after~ or at least as much as she will allow (goodness knows where that independent streak came from!) We are fostering Violet the Cat again, but the transition has been a bit quieter this time; it only took a month for her to start joining us in the living room in the evenings, perched on tip-toe in my lap.

Chris is still working most weekends, but not the crazy-excessive hours of summer, so we’ve managed to slip away for a couple adventures over the past month (which I’ll be sharing shortly). This past Monday was a holiday for me & he had the day off, having worked the weekend; we lucked out big-time, scoring half-priced tickets for the King Tut exhibit at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. We had the first entry at 9:00 am, & actually had the gallery all to ourselves for about 15 minutes~ we had quiet & room to enjoy the gorgeous artifacts without bumping elbows or fussing children. We were done in just over an hour, since the rest of the museum is closed on Mondays, & took a leisurely hour stroll around the Botanical Gardens & Arboretum pausing for a picnic snack, & to watch one of the many tai chi groups practicing in the park. Since the rain was threatening to start, we headed back towards home before noon, stopping off for lunch at Mimi’s Café; a restful day was capped off by a quiet nap with the cats & grilled cheese sandwiches for supper.

Time to sign off & pay attention to my novel, before it has to go back to the library on Tuesday; this is how I know I’ve been working too much~ I’ve only read 8 books since June!