Memorial 2005

This morning at breakfast I announced to Karl that I am quite looking forward to becoming 40. *gasp*

Hear me out.

In your teens, you are just beginning to discover life. In your 20's, life is grand - it's exciting, it's new, it's adventurous, you're beautiful and you don't have to try hard at it. In your 30's, life is work, work, work - marriage (maybe), children (maybe), career, cars, home ownership and hitting the gym because it's necessary. Then in your 40's, life gels - you know what you like, what you want and you don't have to do anything you don't want to do. You are comfortable in your own skin the way it is, you have hit your stride. I look in the mirror these days and struggle with conflicting emotions - I feel like I'm working hard but I haven't reached that level of contentment just yet. I'm waiting to hit my stride. I'm almost there.

I've managed quite a lot in the past week. 3 of my 4 projects at work are finally finished. This extra long holiday weekend was filled with a lot of good things - we spent quality time with friends and went on a great hike, I finished Diane and made good progress on my sock(s). Diane has been an interesting project and I learned a few things. For example, texture can be dramatic yet simple. Another one is, figure out what the pattern is saying. Third, cotton really sucks to knit but it is comfortable.

My sock is coming along fine. I accomplished the heel turn and gusset on the drive from Sacramento to Stinson Beach on Saturday. I was quite pleased, but I put down the knitting before the road became too winding. Otherwise I would've been sick. I broke one of my DPNs while watching Empire Strikes Back, aka Episode 5. It was a Brittany birch 5" #1. Fortunately I had a set of Clover 7" with me so I didn't have to stop knitting but I was perturbed that the birch broke so easily. I'm a tight knitter but I didn't think I was that bad. I emailed Britanny to see if they would sell me just one replacement needle. Who knows, maybe they will replace it for free.

In other Memorial Day weekend activities, we spent Saturday on a very nice hike at Stinson Beach. we didn't go up to the top of Mt. Tamalpais, but the view was stunning nonetheless. The day was gorgeous so we had a lot of company on the trails. The hike started in Stinson Beach, through some woods, opened up in a meadow, through a redwood grove and then back along the coastline. It was about 7.5 miles roundtrip. Here's a view of the Pacific from the woods....

And this is the beginning of the meadow. It looks like we're climbing to the top but the trail fork towards the coast. That's Karl and Vandana ahead. Notice the prickly thistle and how high the grass is. You can see it better in the next picture, which is of me with Tim in the background.

I had to keep my arms up to avoid the thistle from scraping me up. Oh, the trials of being vertically challenged. I briefly entertained the idea of bringing my knitting with me but I didn't think I could pull off hiking and knitting simultaneously. Besides, I would never hear the end of it.

After a picnic lunch, we headed down into a redwood forest - amazingly different from the earlier woods (which had no redwoods) and the meadow. It was cooler and damp as the trail wound alongside a creek. Most of the flora and fauna were tropical plants like ferns. Karl was impressed with these two giant redwood trees that looked like they had split apart.

Despite that I've gone on countless hikes, I never lose the thrilling feeling of coming up over the crest of a hill and seeing a vista open up ahead. Not very long after we left the redwoods we hiked up a short slope and were rewarded with this view...the crescent of sand that is Stinson Beach.

We ended the day with drinks at the Pelican Inn, an excellent English-style pub and lodge, and then dinner in Sausalito. My friend McGinnis asked me and Karl, on the way home, if this was a typical day for us. We were surprised by the question, but it made me realize that we are pretty lucky. We actually do this type of thing on a regular basis and don't think twice about it. Yet there are many people who don't have this luxury. Certainly I have become spoiled because before I moved to California I never went on trips like the ones to Stinson Beach or to Tahoe. Karl is from the East Coast too, so we know to take advantage of where we're living now to visit as many special places as we can. We know several native Californians who have never been to Yosemite! Imagine that! We go at least once a year. Anyways, hope you enjoyed seeing the hike. Come out here and check it out. We'd love to take you on a tour. Plus, there are some great yarn shops in the Bay Area.

Have a great day!