Happy Family Tradition Day
I’m sitting by the cast-iron stove in Jhonen’s parents’ guest house. Inside it, roaring away, is a fire I built myself (the second in my life. The first was last night’s, and went far far worse than this one did). Jhonen’s still in the main house, presumably talking with his parents.
It’s terribly comfortable here. I’m wearing the traditional Christmas Eve pajamas. Today was spent in singing and baking (a vegan pumpkin pie that I think needed more time in the fridge to gel up) and conversation. There’s enough overlap between their traditions and my family’s to make things gently homey. Jhonen’s mother invited over a Chinese student and two Saudi friends of hers, and I spent a good bit of time on the floor keeping the two-year-old son entertained. It’s been really lovely.
Last week was spent in the Bay Area. A lot of board gaming was done, and meeting up with various of Jhonen’s friends for dinner and hanging out. One of them trains dogs as a hobby, and I spent quite a lot of time rubbing Pablo’s ears. They were soft. I got a bit overloaded at a few points, and had to spend way more time than I wanted to dealing with work crap, but the dogs had soft ears, and that made up for a lot.
Next week we’ll be heading to New Year’s Gathering, a Quaker event held at Sierra Friends Center. I’ve somehow sidled my way into being responsible for at least a third of the food preparation which means I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to feed thirty people, some with gluten allergies, some with lactose intolerance, some with soy allergies, some who are vegans, and all of whom are vegetarians. It’s a fun set of Venn diagrams, but I think we’ve come up with good options for pretty much everyone. It’ll be nice to have something to do while I’m there.
I still don’t have much resolution on what’s going on with my insides. But this is not the time to worry about it.
Happy holidays to all of my friends and relatives. I’m glad you’re in my life.
March 11th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
>I’m sitting by the cast-iron stove in Jhonen’s parents’ guest house. Inside it, >roaring away, is a fire I built myself (the second in my life. The first was last >night’s, and went far far worse than this one did).
My first read of this was, that the main house was set affire by noobie, thus being cast out to the guest house to try again…
When in double starchy veggies (beans, broccoli, squash) brown rice works well for those picky venn circle hell. Various combos of Fruit and nuts for dessert..apple pie with date/almond for crusts.