Thursday, December 29, 2005

After Christmas

I survived the Christmas insanity! I hope everyone else did too! We got back from San Diego yesterday evening. I think I have only missed one Christmas in San Diego in my life. There is always the temptation to think "well, it would be so much easier/less hectic/more relaxing to just stay home" but the truth is I'm not sure Christmas would really happen if I wasn't down there. It's part of the routine, part of the holidays, part of my life. We have our big family get-together on the 26th every year, so the 25th is always a travel day. Sometimes we fly, sometimes we drive. This year we drove. Almost 500 miles...bleh. Still beats flying though (not a big fan of air travel).

My grandparents' house seemed so much bigger as a kid. It's like a time warp to be there every year, everything almost the same as it has been forever, except the people keep getting older... Ever notice how as a kid, people never really seem to age, but then as an adult, suddenly people really seem to age a lot from year to year? It's weird.

It was fun, it's always so nice to see everyone, though there is never enough time in the day to catch up with all 30something people who are there. Then again, I don't tend to be all that good at catching up anyway, except with just a few people. I wouldn't say I'm the black sheep, but perhaps D.J. was right when he said I'm the black rosecomb of the family. :-) It's not a bad thing.

I am in rather dire need now of some solitude though. My tolerance for family togetherness isn't the highest in the world. I know that sounds horrid, but...it's just who I am, I need time alone.

We had almost two inches of rain in the last few days, and it's totally gross outside now. I haven't worked the horses for quite some time now, and I can only cross my fingers that the birds will end up in decent condition. I don't have the facilities to keep all the birds indoors (nor would I really want to keep them all indoors) so it's kind of an iffy situation here in winter time. PPBA is a month away. Aaack!

I spent today cleaning the house, which ranks right up there with smacking my thumb with a hammer.

I have not drawn anything since the 23rd, and it's kind of refreshing, though I'm starting to feel ancy like I ought to be getting back to work. The art table is just across the room, taunting me. I needed a break though, to preserve some semblance of sanity. I will start again on Monday. I am disappointed though that the back pain hasn't gone away. It's better, and maybe by Monday it'll be even more better (grammar, I know), but I think it's just going to be something I'll have to live with unless I can come up with a more ergonomic way to draw....and so far I have not. Of course, thinking about it makes it worse, but trying not to think about it means I end up thinking about it more. I have been told I think too much. I think that may be true. ;-)

And last but not least, to the disappointment of anyone on dialup, I am going to post a zillion pics I took in San Diego. I will not show family pics here, in the interest of privacy, but I took a zillion shots of the ocean, and I think that'll make a nice contrast to my usual horses and art and chickens and cute cats. Enjoy!

Anemone in the tide pools. I'd been hoping to find hermit crabs (they are so cute!) but we were on the tail end of low tide and they were farther out than I was willing to risk walking, so I settled for admiring anemonies.

Mussels.

Coastal bird ID is not my strong point, so I had to bust out the bird guide when I got home. Elegant terns.

Ring-billed gull.

Western gull.

The following pics are all taken along a short stretch of beach in La Jolla.







Seals lounging in what used to be The Children's Cove. This apparently has generated a great deal of controversy. It's this little inlet that used to be a beach where kids could play (I remember playing there!) but in recent years it's been taken over by seals.

One view of San Diego from the top of Mt. Soledad. (I took several shots, none are spectacular, so I just picked one).

On the very top of Mt. Soledad there is this huge cross. If I knew more about it I'd tell you who put it up, but I don't. There is a sign though, proclaiming that the site is not city property and therefore the city cannot be sued for having this giant cross there. Probably somebody got offended by it. Good grief. I thought it made a really striking photograph with the late afternoon sun behind it.

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