California Visit

I visited my family the week before last and got to hang out with my cousin and her beautiful baby for the second time since he was born. They live in England, so she’s a major badass for traveling with him to see all of us, (although in my biased opinion he’s also an uncommonly well-behaved baby.)

I’ve been working on my general aversion to flight so I can visit more often, even though I still love the drive. Driving involves four days of travel total, which does mean less overall family time. Flying makes me nauseated and stressed, but it gets me there in time for a lot more tea with my grandma, shit-talking with my siblings, and cuddles with the baby when he’s there.

The November Pokemon Go community day fell during my trip, so I also dragged my dad and my sister around downtown Mountain View with me to catch shiny pink monkeys. It was a nice chance to get some extra walking in and take some pictures. The Castro Street area is quite pretty.

My dad and sister, who were kind enough to be seen in public playing Pokemon with me.

White rhododendrons (I think?) that are planted all around Pioneer Park

Blue flowers of some sort that looked really nice against that clear California sky

Succulent flowers are pretty wild

Sweet peas and lavender

My House is Full of Family and I Love It

I’m turning thirty next week, and my three siblings are visiting me for my birthday which is so great! They’re all incredibly cool people, so while they’re here they’ve been helping me organize and unpack the last things left over from our move. We also hit the zoo and Pike Place Market, of course. It’s nice to know that I’ll be leaving my twenties with lots of fun family times and a much tidier house.

I usually post pictures of pretty stuff I find outside, but my White’s tree frog was being extra friendly recently, so I guess he wanted to be included. His name is Merlin. He eats everything he can fit in his mouth, and some things that he technically can’t (like my fingers,) and sometimes croaks very quietly to himself, but only when I’m not watching him. One of my sisters is experiencing reptile withdrawals because she’s not allowed to have them in her apartment, so she’s been playing with him a lot. It’s more attention than he’s used to, but he takes everything with a permanent goofy smile.

Image: A fat turquoise tree frog with white spots sitting on my wrist in front of my desk.

Writing days this past week: 4