My friend Kjirsten warned me the other day on the phone about summer in San Fransisco, she even quoted Mark Twain -- something to the effect of "the coldest winter of my life was the summer I spent in San Fransisco."
We are presently in San Fransisco for a long weekend. We drove out yesterday on the most boring stretch of highway I've ever been on (I-5 North). Down in SoCal you go through pretty scenery, have ocean views, etc. But once you get past Camp Pendelton it is just LA blechy sprawl and then ginormous feed lots filled with doomed cows. Lars said he had never heard me gripe so much before. I am planning on taking the Pacific Coast Highway back.
Okay, I digress. So, it's pretty chilly here. Down in the San Diego area I have footwear for 3 occasions - heels for works, Uggs for the morning (yes, Veggie-girl has Uggs . . . sorry) and flip-flops in a wide-assortment of colors that I wear for every other occasion. Being a numb skull, I packed myself a pair of heels and some flip-flops. I think at this point I have frostbite on my little toes from exposing my piggies to the Ice-Age air. Who knew? Never mind that Kjirsten warned me. I was wearing my favorite jeans, a knee-length dress, tank top, long sleeved shirt and sweater but the air here was rather Michigan-fall-on-the-verge-of-first-frost. Bad Mommy, too, I dressed the girls in matching red, white and blue Daisy Dukes and shirts and Soren in shorts and a tee. Before we left the hotel room this morning, we took plenty of pictures of our patriotic trio and then swaddled them in sweatshirts and jackets.
Lars' mom (Mary) and John met us downtown for a fabulous breakfast. John/Dieter and Aubrey, Lars' step-brother and soon-to-be sister-in-law, came as well. It was so wonderful to see John and Aubrey, we don't get to see them that often and every time we do we say things like, "I wish we could have more time with them." Anyway, John/Dieter and Aubrey tapped into their inner-children and climbed the jungle gym chasing after our little pookies all over the place. John/D, my kindred spirit, even tried to gain us access to a closed candy store. Instead we all just tongued the glass. Aubrey and Petra got to doing cartwheels and back walk-overs in the park. I don't know where my darn brain is, but I think it left the day my placenta implanted. Anyway, I thought I'd try a few never minding the fact that I'm halfway through a pregnancy. After a cartwheel and a couple of headstands, my specialty, I got a little nervous that I might have done something stupid. Of course, when it comes to personal situations it becomes impossible for me to tap into my professional training that required 9-years of school at the University of Michigan and $90K in student loans. Good thing I have friends in high places. Poor Jess, a good buddy and fellow midwife, got an earful this morning as relayed my near level of panic to her. She talked me down saying she didn't see any problem with me inverting myself against the laws of gravity. She delivered Annike, you know, so she's my hero already. Such a good person.
Ultimo is fine, kicking me in the ureters and femoral arteries. I'm pretty sure this baby is part giant squid. I got on with my day post-cartwheel scare until I felt like the Elmer's Glue for School Children in a Non-Toxic Formulation that was sort of holding my pelvis together went ahead and gave out on me. You know, if my heart weren't so desirous and longing of a big, yummy, nutty family (sounds more like fudge, but I am talking about kids) then I might go out on a limb and tell y'all that I think my body is trying to say that my childbearing days should go the way of the Dodo Bird. But I'm not saying that, me wants lots of yummy, fudgie puddins' (again, I'm talking about children, but fudge doesn't sound so bad right now).
Anyhow, we spent much of the day with John Sr. and Mary, which was great. Rode the trolley. Went to Fishermans Wharf and Pier 39. Tried to track down the San Fransiscan sea lions, but they had all left for San Diego cuz it's too damn cold up here and ain't nobody got that much blubber, I tell ya.
You should know that I actually really like San Fransisco. I love the depth of the city. I really love the architecture. Mostly, I love the diversity of cultures. It's like being back in Ann Arbor with all the fabulous numbers of languages you hear with every group of people you walk by and all the human diversity but more cityish and urbany. It's so beautiful here. I like the weather and the beaches in San Diego better, oh and the better highway views with less cows headed to guillotine. If San Fran had more San Diego weather, I'd be here in a New York minutes. Yep.
Okay, Soren fell fast asleep in my lap at a Thai restaurant before we could manage getting to fireworks. We had a great dinner. Lars and Petra decided to go exploring, they just walked back into the room. They went out for sushi (I mentioned we just had Thai for dinner?), Lars says they only spent $38 (that, my friends, is the cost of a nice organic - read: very healthy - cake from Whole Foods). I'm in the hotel room with Soren and Annike. Annike is sawing logs like a 450lb man with sleep apnea, her head buried in Soren's neck, her arm flung around his waist. It's super-dog cute, a bit noisy, but very cute. I'm listening to the fireworks while typing this and scheming of ways to reattach my pelvis to, well, my pelvis.
I will try to post a picture of today's fabulousness soon.
Tomorrow we're off to a wedding in nearby Oakland. I have a sleeveless dress and open-toed heels. Wish this mama some luck.
Peace out.
K
3 comments:
You can always buy that gorgeous silk/alpaca sweater that goes perfectly with your dress for a zillion dollars rationalizing it that you'll n-e-e-d it to keep Ultimo happy! Then again, the other side of the Bay should be warmer...
We're in Baltimore for our wedding, then it's on to DC for hard-core museum hopping. Or just hopping on the Mall, we'll see!
Years ago your Dad and I visited San Fran in June. I made the sad mistake of wearing a T-shirt and shorts. We visited for the day then drove through Yosemite to our final destination Lake Tahoe. I froze my tushy! No one warned me how cold it would be. It was JUNE, for Pete's sake (yes, the pun was intended). I was miserably c-c-c-old!
Take good care of our 7th grandchild. Please...keep both feet planted firmly on terra firma and save the cartwheels for another time:)
Kjir, I shoulda listened to you! And you were right, the other side of the Bay was actually nearly sweltering!
As for cartwheels, I promised Ultimo that I would stop doing cartwheels for the rest of the pregnancy if he/she would give me a sign that he/she was okay. Ultimo loves Mommy, good baby. Now I'm grounded.
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