Some pictures and a video of our trip around the bay today.
We thought the buildings by the lighthouse were for the staff, but it’s actually a hostel! See http://www.norcalhostels.org/pigeon/
Now for the license so I can send her to the store to run errands!
She got her permit after passing the written; they are backlogged 45 days at our local DMV for the behind-the-wheel so she will inquire with other locations.
She now has an official California driver’s permit and will hope to have her license within a month.
Everything seems to happen at once. Alex turned 18, we moved into a new place, she takes a road trip to Los Angeles; she’s graduating high school and getting her driver’s license within two months, etc.
For those of you who don’t know, we just moved into a new house in Cherryland (Hayward). Alex is turning 18 the same month, so we are having a party to celebrate moving into our new home and Alex’s emancipation!
WHEN: 2pm-9pm on Sunday, April 18, 2010
WHERE: 914 Blossom, Cherryland (Hayward), CA 94541
Please RSVP via email (commenting here works) or mobile 917-330-6105 (text or voice).
If you can’t make it, fear not; we will be having another party for Alex’s high school graduation in June and then Joe’s birthday in early July.
Just got terrible news about losing one of my closest gaydad friends in the world, Gene Baugh, in Columbus, who raised his five kids. I read his autobiography, although I don’t think it was ever published. He was a huge fan of the Spanish language and had spent time in Spain in his youth. I flew to Columbus to be in his marriage to a man in 1998, and he and I also spent time together at various gay parenting conventions around the country. We originally met in 1996 in Minneapolis and stayed in touch quite regularly the whole time, sharing the drama of our kids and our lives before and after coming out. He was only 56, and a big bear of a man (also very tall).
His daughter, Ruth, who lives on the West Coast now, as I do, went with my daughter and me to our first Provincetown Family Week. Ruth and I recently got back in touch with each other and today she emailed me with the news that he had been taken off life support as he had requested be done if he should ever be in this state. He had a stroke on Friday.
Yesterday when she learned in environmental science that tap water is cleaner than bottled, and that was something that I had advised her of a long time ago. Moreover, bottled water I learned can seep plastic into the water when left in a hot car trunk, for example, over time.
The pasta sauce was made before we went really low-carb, but the point is that she was able to pretty much replicate my Mom’s homemade red sauce.
The second picture is of her purely vegetable and meat portabello bun sandwich.
Landlords divorced after decades and foreclosed, basically. I can’t buy the place, so unless a family member comes through with a cash offer, we have to move anyway by beginning of April.
Some of the trip is uphill, so hopefully it won’t be too hard walking home for me. I traveling light with my briefcase, but it does hurt my shoulder after a while. If I do this, I will be walking well over 20 miles a week, which hopefully will net a significant, healthy weight loss. While I don’t officially get to wear tennis shoes at work, I have a pair of dress shoes if I need them to change into, and I can’t imagine walking in anything else.
Despite originally protesting, Alex walked with me to her school and I even caught the early train. I’m hoping this will significantly improve health/blood sugar.
If the timing and discomfort of walking becomes ridiculous, I might buy a bike and a heavy-duty chain, but right now I’m saving money on that and the one dollar a day parking fee. I don’t even know how long we will live at this location, so this is not the time to make such large investments.
Yesterday after I returned from IBR from the long weekend, Alex and I did a ton of grocery shopping and got a lot of healthy food, which of course is more expensive. We went to Safeway and I used my discount card, but before going there, we got some basic canned goods at the dollar store near Mom’s house in southern Hayward. We got to see Nicholas and my brother finally fixed my windshield wipers, which was something that was scary not to have fully functioning on the Nissan when it rained, but of course now it probably won’t rain until next year. It was nice seeing Mom and having lunch there after not seeing her for about a month while she was in Florida.