Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
We had a busy weekend and a long one, thanks to Intuit bucking the national trend and taking MLK's birthday off instead of president's day. My dad was also in town for a visit, so there was a lot going on. Walt and I had originally planned to get a daybed for the office so we'd have an extra bedroom where my dad and other visitors could stay when they were in town. We got as far as visiting Sleep Train to look at daybed options, but they were all so ugly we had to pass. We're going to troll Craigslist instead, where even if we have to buy something ugly, at least it will be cheap. I think I could live with a somewhat ugly frame as long as we have a good mattress and some decent-looking pillows on it. All of this meant that my dad had to stay at a hotel, though, since we didn't get the bed situation worked out in time for his visit.
My dad was in Chile for most of December, and he brought Devon this adorable sweater that he had bought there. Devon kept referring to it as "Paw Paw Neil's jacket." It turned out to be a prescient purchase, since it's been quite cold here recently (in opposition the national warming trend everywhere else). We also had a chance to look through his photos, which were great. One of the highlights of his trip was a cruise through the waters of southern Chile, which have enormous glaciers as you get close to Tierra del Fuego. He had some beautiful photos of the glaciers that reminded me of the trip that Walt and I took through Alaska a few years ago. Glaciers are really magnificent; the ones we saw in Alaska gave me a close up look at what we'll be losing through global warming. It's a real tragedy on all fronts.
We took our usual trip to the farmer's market on Saturday with my dad, spending quality time with Gandhi and eating our way through the market. I suppose it was a good thing that we did a lot of snacking there, since I just saw in the paper today that the cold snap has ruined 70% of the California citrus market. I'm sure oranges, tangerines and the like will be a lot more expensive next week and for the rest of the year. My dad also brought me some Meyer lemons from his tree -- another good thing, since it's likely that it got damaged this weekend by frost while he was visiting us. We spent a long time at the market, at least a couple of hours, since Devon was running around and we were shopping for dinner later that evening. We had a late-night (by which I mean after Devon was in bed) dinner of roasted garlic crab with my brother and my dad -- a total winter treat -- that required some extra shopping. There is something about crab in the winter that is totally festive, perhaps because the Dungeness season usually starts in November and runs through the winter, so there's an association with winter and crab season; but also because it's luxurious yet messy eating, in some ways the best of all worlds. You just can't get too stiff when you've got garlic butter and crab shell all over your hands.
My father left for home on Sunday, and Walt and I decided to take Devon to the zoo. None of us had ever been to the San Francisco zoo -- and in fact, I mentioned in one of my Brooklyn posts that before we went to the Prospect Park Zoo with Cass, Henry and Jim, Devon had never been to a zoo at all. We thought we'd just try the SF Zoo and see how she liked it. Not surprisingly, it was a winner. We didn't have a chance to see all of it, but it's definitely a small zoo -- although that's actually a plus at Devon's age. We've been reading her a book called "This Is the Tree," which is about a baobab tree in Africa, so we spent a lot of time in the African section looking at giraffes, lions and the like. She was especially taken with the gorillas. I was wondering if this was because they're one of the most anthropomorphic animals at the zoo (it was probably also because she has another book where a girl learns to kick from her friend the gorilla, and she was always interested in the gorilla in the book). 
By the time we saw many of the African animals plus a few others (like the bears, which were surprisingly unexciting to her -- I thought she'd really like them), Devon was really tired and close to a meltdown, so we had to put off the children's zoo for another day. Supposedly the SF Zoo has a petting zoo (called the "family farm" or something), but Walt went on a little expedition and couldn't find it anywhere. This zoo has absolutely terrible signage, so I'm not that surprised that he missed it (assuming it does exist). We spent quite a bit of time trying to read the horrible map and even more atrocious signs to get to certain animals; and in the end, I don't think we got to a single exhibit in the shortest manner possible. Devon had a wonderful time, though, and I'm sure we'll be returning more now that we've finally broken the barrier and made our first visit.
On Monday my mother mercifully offered to baby-sit Devon, so Walt and I had a whole day to ourselves. I felt a bit guilty for not doing work on the apartment (which is constantly in need of small work in addition to the large things that are still not done, like painting the kitchen cabinets and installing the patio out back), but it was nothing short of luxurious to do fun adult stuff. We went to see "Casino Royale," which was great in all ways (great in the sense that we hadn't been to a movie in a year and great in the sense that the movie was really fun). With babysitting running at $20/hr here, we don't get out at all. We tried to pick something that would need a big screen for full effect (as opposed to The Queen, which we saw on Walt's computer recently -- it's fabulous, by the way -- where a large screen is definitely not a requirement to feel the impact of the movie), and I think we chose well. The opening chase scene in of itself was worth the big screen. And who knew that Daniel Craig would be so sexy as James Bond? I saw him in Munich last year and thought he looked like a boxer -- pugnacious, broken nose, nothing to look twice at. But he's great here, and he's aided by a script that at last makes James Bond appear like a real human instead of a stiff automaton. Really fun if you haven't already seen it.
I'm struggling with going back to work today -- it's tough to get back into the routine after so many breaks in it -- and I'm a bit oppressed by the idea that now there are no more official holidays for me until Memorial Day. Ugh, that is a long time.
My dad was in Chile for most of December, and he brought Devon this adorable sweater that he had bought there. Devon kept referring to it as "Paw Paw Neil's jacket." It turned out to be a prescient purchase, since it's been quite cold here recently (in opposition the national warming trend everywhere else). We also had a chance to look through his photos, which were great. One of the highlights of his trip was a cruise through the waters of southern Chile, which have enormous glaciers as you get close to Tierra del Fuego. He had some beautiful photos of the glaciers that reminded me of the trip that Walt and I took through Alaska a few years ago. Glaciers are really magnificent; the ones we saw in Alaska gave me a close up look at what we'll be losing through global warming. It's a real tragedy on all fronts.
We took our usual trip to the farmer's market on Saturday with my dad, spending quality time with Gandhi and eating our way through the market. I suppose it was a good thing that we did a lot of snacking there, since I just saw in the paper today that the cold snap has ruined 70% of the California citrus market. I'm sure oranges, tangerines and the like will be a lot more expensive next week and for the rest of the year. My dad also brought me some Meyer lemons from his tree -- another good thing, since it's likely that it got damaged this weekend by frost while he was visiting us. We spent a long time at the market, at least a couple of hours, since Devon was running around and we were shopping for dinner later that evening. We had a late-night (by which I mean after Devon was in bed) dinner of roasted garlic crab with my brother and my dad -- a total winter treat -- that required some extra shopping. There is something about crab in the winter that is totally festive, perhaps because the Dungeness season usually starts in November and runs through the winter, so there's an association with winter and crab season; but also because it's luxurious yet messy eating, in some ways the best of all worlds. You just can't get too stiff when you've got garlic butter and crab shell all over your hands.
My father left for home on Sunday, and Walt and I decided to take Devon to the zoo. None of us had ever been to the San Francisco zoo -- and in fact, I mentioned in one of my Brooklyn posts that before we went to the Prospect Park Zoo with Cass, Henry and Jim, Devon had never been to a zoo at all. We thought we'd just try the SF Zoo and see how she liked it. Not surprisingly, it was a winner. We didn't have a chance to see all of it, but it's definitely a small zoo -- although that's actually a plus at Devon's age. We've been reading her a book called "This Is the Tree," which is about a baobab tree in Africa, so we spent a lot of time in the African section looking at giraffes, lions and the like. She was especially taken with the gorillas. I was wondering if this was because they're one of the most anthropomorphic animals at the zoo (it was probably also because she has another book where a girl learns to kick from her friend the gorilla, and she was always interested in the gorilla in the book). 
By the time we saw many of the African animals plus a few others (like the bears, which were surprisingly unexciting to her -- I thought she'd really like them), Devon was really tired and close to a meltdown, so we had to put off the children's zoo for another day. Supposedly the SF Zoo has a petting zoo (called the "family farm" or something), but Walt went on a little expedition and couldn't find it anywhere. This zoo has absolutely terrible signage, so I'm not that surprised that he missed it (assuming it does exist). We spent quite a bit of time trying to read the horrible map and even more atrocious signs to get to certain animals; and in the end, I don't think we got to a single exhibit in the shortest manner possible. Devon had a wonderful time, though, and I'm sure we'll be returning more now that we've finally broken the barrier and made our first visit.On Monday my mother mercifully offered to baby-sit Devon, so Walt and I had a whole day to ourselves. I felt a bit guilty for not doing work on the apartment (which is constantly in need of small work in addition to the large things that are still not done, like painting the kitchen cabinets and installing the patio out back), but it was nothing short of luxurious to do fun adult stuff. We went to see "Casino Royale," which was great in all ways (great in the sense that we hadn't been to a movie in a year and great in the sense that the movie was really fun). With babysitting running at $20/hr here, we don't get out at all. We tried to pick something that would need a big screen for full effect (as opposed to The Queen, which we saw on Walt's computer recently -- it's fabulous, by the way -- where a large screen is definitely not a requirement to feel the impact of the movie), and I think we chose well. The opening chase scene in of itself was worth the big screen. And who knew that Daniel Craig would be so sexy as James Bond? I saw him in Munich last year and thought he looked like a boxer -- pugnacious, broken nose, nothing to look twice at. But he's great here, and he's aided by a script that at last makes James Bond appear like a real human instead of a stiff automaton. Really fun if you haven't already seen it.
I'm struggling with going back to work today -- it's tough to get back into the routine after so many breaks in it -- and I'm a bit oppressed by the idea that now there are no more official holidays for me until Memorial Day. Ugh, that is a long time.
posted by Devon Szalva at
11:28 AM
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