All the Same

Some are open and some are closed and I did sneak in one that is Very Different for anybody who cares to try and spot it. Otherwise it's a pretty boring picture but it was conveniently to hand as I laboriously pinned together the layers of my quilted star coat. The pins themselves and the hand quilting are giving my suddenly arthritic fingers a run for their money, but its probably better to keep using them....the fingers and the safety pins.

We went to the sporting goods store to replace John's very nice lost coat. He wore his ratty Oakland A's (a collectors' item now that the A's have abandoned Oakland for an as yet to be built or even approved stadium in Las Vegas.) jacket, unearthed in the coat closet which we never use, until the sons shamed him into replacing it. We had hoped it would surface alas, and now that he has bought a rather handsome new one it probably will. I contemplated some new workout wear, since that's all I wear during the week, but lacked the gumption to try anything on.

We moved on to the creek walk but eschewed the creek for streets which were sunnier. It's been literally freezing at night and doesn't warm up a whole lot during the day, despite the cloudless sunny skies. We're told an atmospheric river is on its way but meteorology is an imprecise science, despite elaborate charts featuring many colors and lots of arrows, so nobody is willing yet to commit to where said river will hit the West Coast. The last one arrived in the middle of December, stalled over Sonoma county and dropped 14' of rain in three days so we're still enjoying the sun without yet being overly worried about the Sierra snowpack or the  depth of the reservoirs.

I made a donation to Anera, a good charity that supports the children of Gaza, balanced my checkbook, a simple task made simpler by the fact that I moved my credit card account online, and dithered about finding a new dermatologist. We're both fed up with the clinic where we feel like we're on an assembly line and are greeted by a recorded message that tells us that the wait time is 3-4 months. I'm not sure I'll find one that's any better but it's worth a try. Interestingly, there seem to be three clinics in town and all three of them have Redwood in their name, making the search even trickier....

The sun is now setting at 5:45 and it is wine time....