California…

“California is a place in which a boom mentality and a sense of Chekhovian loss meet in uneasy suspension; in which the mind is troubled by some buried but ineradicable suspicion that things had better work here, because here, beneath that immense bleached sky, is where we run out of continent.”

- Joan Didion

TGIF

In the Bus

by Grace Paley

Somewhere between Greenfield and Holyoke
snow became rain
and a child passed through me
as a person moves through mist
as the moon moves through
a dense cloud at night
as though I were cloud or mist
a child passed through me

On the highway that lies
across miles of stubble
and tobacco barns our bus speeding
speeding disordered the slanty rain
and a girl with no name      naked
wearing the last nakedness of
childhood breathed in me
                   once    no
                   once    two breaths
a sigh    she whispered    Hey you
begin again
                      Again?
again     again    you’ll see
it’s easy    begin again    long ago

The Casbah entrance

The Casbah entrance, originally uploaded by RachaelClaire.

In case you aren’t familiar with San Diego, the Casbah is a live music venue. It is becoming the only venue that can make me get up off my couch and go out on a school night and stay up past 10pm. Not often, of course, and I usually want to leave 45 minutes into the show but nonetheless it’s the best around. I wonder if there are any shows coming up…

Otis as an only child

Otis as an only child, originally uploaded by RachaelClaire.

In the beforetimes, Otis had it made. Nowadays he has to walrus wrestle for tennis balls with his little, faster brother. It’s hard being the eldest.

Balboa Park Koi pool

Balboa Park Koi pool, originally uploaded by RachaelClaire.

If I was a different person I’d probably feel more negatively about this Koi pool – there are probably 3 plants and 5 fish in a pool that’s something like 100 feet long – but I love it and can just stare at those 5 lonely fish forever…

TGIF

“Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities, no doubt, crept in. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Real weather…

Real weather, originally uploaded by RachaelClaire.

Best guard dogs ever…

DSC01234, originally uploaded by rachael.rider.

By the way, best birthday present ever…

DSC02139, originally uploaded by rachael.rider.

Photos of me and Amelia taking over the Balboa Park botanical building. Or rather we took it over as much as you can when you’re surrounded by a couple hundred tourists with cameras.

This is what I’m dealing with…

DSC02103, originally uploaded by rachael.rider.

Seriously some heinous things have been perpetrated on my house and the part of me that is overwhelmed by all the stuff we need to do is still losing out to the part of me that needs JUSTICE. I mean come ON! There’s WOOD under this stuff! Who DOES this? Oh right – people who’re just like my grandparents would be if they didn’t have their children keeping them in line…