Super Bowl Sunday?

Our plan?  Get out of Dodge as millions of fans swarm upon San Francisco's Super Bowl Sunday festivities.  On Friday evening, traffic was horrendous driving from Oakland to North Lake Tahoe, I suspect others may have developed a similar plan and have taken to the road as well.

North Lake Tahoe?  Beautiful.  It's like an Alpine Village right here in the mountains of California.  The skies have been blue all weekend long.  Despite the 59 degree sunshine, the houses still have lots of snow on them and the resorts still have awesome skiing.

Saturday, we made the trek to Northstar, a huge resort with some great runs.  I know it sounds as if I know what I'm talking about, but really I have only been skiing once many moons ago, and that was cross country.  So we opted for the non-skier option, tubing.    Yes, it was families with small children, the elderly, injured, and us in the queue for the downhill tubing adventure.

This was not your days of yore tubing adventure.  Gone are the days of toting a tube up a steep hill, getting soaking wet, and clinging to a tube for dear life before running over someone at the bottom of the hill.  At Northstar we paid a dear price for an hour appointment to tube.  after which we sauntered over to the yurt, sat in an inner tube, connected to a tow rope to be pulled up the hill, waited 15 minutes in line and got pushed down the hill by an attendant.  Nary a hint of exercise in the entire process.  Still an exhilarating experience to whisk down the hill with snow spray in your face and the wind in your hair.  Sounds a lot like skiing without the expensive clothes or equipment.

Resting at the lodge before our grueling day of tubing...although it looks cold, the weather was actually in the high 50's.  

So...many...people!

Beautiful day on the slopes...

Waiting in line for the downhill...

At least a full 30 feet of walking slightly uphill...exhausting I know!

It's a hard knock life being towed up the hill. 

Exhilarating!

Lots of fun for sure.  

Definitely styling.  

One of the many icicles of death hanging outside our door at our vacate rental.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon by the fire with beer and bourbon...ahhh, the sweet life.

I can see the attraction of learning to ski.  The views were magnificent, the air was fresh, and the outfits were divine.  Matt and Tyler, our good friends, reported that the skiing was excellent and spent the entire day exhausting themselves.  We all went to bed fairly early and spent the next day touring around this winter wonderland.  Definitely a place worth a return visit before the end of ski season.

Hard to believe it is already February.  Christmas was spent chopping and cutting and frying and baking for our Balinese feast.  Never again people, it turns out Balinese food is tons of work.  Next year?  Far less exotic fare...it'll be nice to spend time with guests instead f in the kitchen.

The day after Christmas I flew to north Carolina to visit friends and family.  Donna Bailey hosted a gathering with loved ones and we all enjoyed some delicious eats and drinks.

Everyone got new Christmas PJ's!  Yeah...all kinds of sexy! 

Chopping, chopping, and more chopping...never again! 

First stop during my visit to NC, Clayton Christmas realness.  

Thanks Donna for opening up your home and heart to this motley crew.  Julie looking resplendent as usual with  some pretty awesome book ends, Khristy and Warren. 

A panorama of pretty pontificating perfectly plowed people.  

Mark plotting, scheming and enjoying a delicious mixed drink.  

The parents dreading the return to their home filled with two teenagers.  One more drink will make it bearable.  

Dazed and confused...

Young love for Suzie and Laura...a delicious couple (Suzie was a former teacher of mine and is a wonderful friend - I can't claim her as one of my recruitment numbers for the LGBTQ community, but I like to think my fabulousness rubbed off on her  little when we worked together)

Is that Dr. Byrd holding up that house...holding court for the evening.  

Todd, Bill, and donna hoping to get a word in...

My teacher friends and loved ones.  One day we will sit in our retirement home together with red pens, glitter,  and white boards marveling at how good the cafeteria food is...

The Triplets...Damn that photo bomber! 

Good times friends, good times.  My NC loved ones are certainly missed already and I can hardly wait for a return trip.  

A cool photo of Drake's downtown Oakland, an eatery and bar with excellent Cider and Frito Pie.  Oscar, Yosiell and Rusty enjoying a mid winter warm day! 

As many of you already know, we had a death in the family this winter.  Our faithful dog and companion Keiko was laid to rest this past January.  Rusty actually posted this on Facebook and he was so eloquent that I decided to just repost.  

On a warm August day in 2001 in Durham, our neighbor Bill thought he saw a flash of fur in the woodpile at the back of our lot. He thought he heard a puppy, so tried to coax it out with some food. He left it there, and she ate it and retreated back into the woodpile. Later he brought some more food to try and capture her. She got startled and bolted across the street and into the arms of her second rescuing angel, Babs. Babs and Jim took the fuzzy puppy into their home, cleaned her up and fed her. They suggested that we take her, since she looked like a combination of our two dogs, Crystal and Callaghan.

Callaghan was 14 years old, and had been declining for probably two years. He couldn't stand without help, and was losing his sight and hearing. I didn't want a puppy ruining the time we had left with Callaghan, so I said we couldn't take her. That night, sitting on a porch in Siler City with Anne and Django drinking wine, Walt turned to me and said vehemently, "I want that puppy!" (He was always saying we wouldn't have any other dogs after the two we had were gone; I knew otherwise.)

I told Babs to bring the puppy over, and we'd see how she got along with the dogs and our two cats. I believe Babs gave the puppy a nice dose of Sleepy Time Herb Tea, or maybe some Benadryl, because she brought over the most docile, snuggly, gentle, fuzzy puppy you could imagine. We decided to keep her.

We named her Keiko, after the new-ageish jazz musician Keiko Matsui. She terrorized Callaghan for his last week on the planet, loving and nuzzling on him when all he wanted to do was sleep. She played gently with Boris and Natasha, our cats, and learned her place in the hierarchy of the house from Crystal. I didn't like her much, since Callaghan was my number one boy, but she adored everyone, including me. She drove me crazy, always needing to be touching me when we were seated, and if not, I definitely had to be within line of sight. 

I took her to puppy class where she learned that I could magically dispense hotdogs from my mouth, though learning what to do with the words that I was saying was something that she was less interested in. She barely graduated. Still, she was attentive, energetic, and above all, the most affectionate, sweetest dog I've ever had. She loved cats, and never realized that not all cats loved dogs. She was big and fluffy, and kids and toddlers always wanted to grab her and squeeze her; she tolerated them gracefully.

Today is the first day in more than 28 years that I don't have an animal in my life. So excuse me if I pet your dog a little long, or linger with your cat if I see her. Keiko is irreplaceable, as are all our pet companions, but for a dog that I didn't want, she has left a huge hole in my heart.

So with that gentle readers give your doggies a big hug from me and enjoy your February.  More adventures on the way.