PETALUMA

We walked around Petaluma - at least I did. The boys went shopping in the many, many antique stores. I walked around the historic area. There were some really interesting church buildings. Saint John Anglican Church was like a medieval castle, and the Methodist Church had touches of Bauhaus. The Open Door Church had no open door so I cannot say what it was like on the inside. I did find an impressive Catholic church that was built with donations from a Frenchman. There were some very impressive stained-glass windows of the apostles and various saints, including Saint Joan of Arc and Saint Blasius (Saint Blaise).

KUUMBA

Kuumba (Creativity)
To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

NIA

Nia (Purpose)
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

WINTER WALK IN SONOMA

The winter sun was strong today but the light didn't compensate for the winter cold.
We took a ride through the countryside to the town of Sonoma, stopping for a walkabout in the mini-town of GlenEllen. I had my book (current read: Jules Vernes' "lost novel" of Paris in the 20th century) so I didn't pay much heed to the stoner chatter of Evan and Rich.
In Sonoma we parked on the plaza and walked back to the State park where Vallejo's house is located. For $2 we got to walk around his house and poke our heads through the bars to look at the off-limits rooms. Rich decided to pass on paying the $2 but he walked around the house anyway - another reason the State is experiencing a $42 gazillion budget deficit (Thank you Gov. Schwarzenegger for holding the line on fiscal responsibility - it's starting to pay off, NOT).
We walked back into town for a good root around the plaza. The boys went shopping and I went to visit the mission, another state park.

UJAMAA

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Balades d'hiver en saumurois

L'air était doux et j'ai voulu découvrir de nouveaux coins du Saumurois. Je me suis retrouvée à Montreuil-Bellay où mes pas m'ont menée sur 14 kilomètres à travers forêts, vignes et découvertes patrimoniales. Ci-dessous, l'Abbaye d'Asnières du XIIIème siècle.
Un autre jour, j'ai marché à partir du chateau de Saumur jusqu'à Dampierre où j'ai pu photographier cette jolie vue sur Saumur et la Loire.

UJIMA - SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS DAY

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.

KUJICHAGULIA

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

UMOJA - LÁ 'LE STIOFÁIN

Umoja (Unity)
To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.




We are celebrating the beginning of Kwanzaa.
We drove out to Half Moon Bay in search of the wren. We didn't catch a wren but we did see a forlorn red-tailed hawk hanging out on some telephone wires.
We took a walk around the historic Johnson house, a typical New England saltbox that is very rare on the West Coast.
Then we drove to downtown Half Moon Bay. Things were very lively downtown. Most of the stores were open and there were lots of people hanging out. I took some pictures of the Methodist church but we couldn't get into it because it was closed. It seems like it is always closed when we visit HMB. I remember the last time Uncle Victor was out here we took him over there but even then the church was closed.

OICHE CHIUIN

Finally got to check out the service at the Anglican church on the corner, Trinity Episcopalian. They had a do-it-yourself carol singalong before the main Christmas Eve service. I had been to the Catholic service at Church of the Nativity before but I didn't like it much - too fake. I did enjoy the Anglican service and will probably make it a new tradition.
This morning we went to visit the dead relatives in their various graveyards. First, to Holy Cross in Menlo Park to visit Rich's grandma Julia and Uncle Sal. Then to Palo Alto's Alta Mesa Cemetery to visit his mom and dad, Anita and Ben, and his grandmother Maria and grandfather Vidal. We finished up by visiting his brother Ben. At each grave we left a poinsettia but I had to fashion stakes to keep them in place because of the wind. In fact, a tree blew over in Alta Mesa from the fierce wind.

OWL HABITAT

Evan couldn't get out of bed this morning, a victim of liquor poisening I suspect.
We left him at home and went for a walk around Bayfront Park to check out the burrowing owls. We didn't actually see any but it was sure nice to know that they were there, hunkered down in their burrows, waiting for the tourists to pass by before coming out to take some sun.
We did see a crane that followed us for about a half mile - every time we got close it flew up out of the marsh and came back down a hundred yards ahead of us.
After our tramp we rode over to Palo Alto for lunch. We decided to try Bistro Maxine, a French creperie and sandwich shop. The waiter was a little surly when we tried to practise our French on him but he came back later to apologize saying he was really busy and couldn't give us the time for a French lesson. He turned out to be a really nice person (literally nice - he was from Nice).

Sunset Magazine article about the Burrowing Owl Alliance

TEDDY BOY

Ted made it to the party long before his dad. Ted had to drive from Santa Monica and Evan was coming from San Francisco. But Evan had to have cocktails with JW in the City and arrived pretty loaded about an hour after Ted.
The other guests were Richard Maggi and his ex, Gwen; and Rick Pirman. I made the chicken tagine again - always a winner!

UFO OVER MP

The Blimp appeared in the skies over Menlo Park. How many $500-an-hour passengers were onboard?

I WANT THE GUITAR HERO BARBIE

PEACE OUT, SANTA CRUZ

We got to Santa Cruz early - way early. Stephan was afraid that things would be slow on Highway 17 so we left at 3 to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the rehearsal at 6. Things were not slow on Highway 17 so we had about two hours of hanging around downtown.
We walked up and down Pacific Avenue from the war memorial to the area past the Saturn Cafe. We stopped in at the octogon building to check out the museum store. Except it's not the museum store anymore - it is Lulu Carpenter's Cafe. We never did find out what happened to the museum store.
On the corner of Pacific and River Street we came across these women demonstrating for peace. I guess they hadn't heard the news that Obama won the election and the war is over. With any luck the boys will be home for Christmas.

VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE DAY

O CHRISTMAS TREE

ULY'S SPECIAL DAY

Uly had to have his special day with Uncle Richie, too.
Uncle Richie had a nice present for him - a skater skull hat.
We walked downtown Menlo Park for a bagel and hot chocolate lunch.
When I went to the gym they took a ride to San Jose to pick up a Sharks jersey. When I got back Uly had had enough - he wanted to go home. Rich took him home before we could make the traditional Uncle Máirtín pizza.

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