A Morning Hike

Yesterday morning I went on a winter walk in the park next to our house. It was 41 degrees. Sun was out, but much of the walk was in the shade.

A striking note in the beginning -- the call of a flicker. Then a little farther on, a group of geese honking away as they circled the valley where Lake Chabot is enscounced. As I arrived at the lake I saw more geese, eight white pelicans, cormorants, various ducks and one seagull. I also think I saw an osprey.

Then there were a group of robins polishing off the remains of the season's toyon berries (heteromeles arbutifolia.) We use the berries every year in Christmas decorations. Lots of other attractive vegetation -- at least two types of ferns, some new redwoods in the dell, stands of willows covered with yellow leaves, big mushrooms.

I collected some fresh bay leaves for I know not what.

Along the lake, mostly women walking, mostly Asian. Saw three dogs. Several groups fishing. The only jogger was a very old man, moving very slowly.

Temperature at my house when I returned -- 44 degrees.

End of the "Fall" leaves

Monday I got my Gmail under control. Today I cleared out my Comcast account. Definitely a good thing. Next I need to organize my home office paperwork. It is bordering on chaos, but not quite, thankfully.

Did a load of family laundry -- all on my own! Raked up the remains of the red leaves from our front yard "liquid amber" tree. In the Bay Area, we are still in Fall, as usual in January...

Tomorrow I will start a "Coq au vin" for a Thursday or Friday night dinner. Never done it with the long marinade. Bon appetit!

Home alone

This is my first day home "not working."

I left the San Francisco Chronicle after two stints, totaling 28 years. With the newspaper business in financial free fall, the offer of a buyout, combined with my age, was enough to tip the scale. The fact that I was able to get on my wife's health insurance policy was another factor. I'm not 65 yet!

So what have I done so far? I got the Christmas lights down before the rain. (Cold for the SF Bay Area -- 46 degrees...) Made some green tea. Noticed that the only sound I heard was the refrigerator. Ate some dried fruit and thought about how I was going to lose weight. Being inside the house is not the best for that I've heard ;-) I weighed in at 198 today -- not good! Will be working on that.

Since I'm just back from a vacation in Southern California, my email is a mess, so I need to clear that up. And, apply for unemployment!