Palm Trees

Growing up in San Jose there were a few palm trees in the neighborhood. I don't know the species, but there was a towering palm on the block behind our house that we could see from our street, and another a couple blocks away. I'm sure some neighbors had minor fan palms in their yards, but they weren't as common as the various deciduos trees and conifers in our city. And I thought they were ugly, with their dead fronds hanging shaggily, waiting for a storm to blow them all over the street.

As the orchards were bulldozed and turned into strip malls, it became fashionable to line new shopping centers with palm trees. I thought it looked stupid, like San Jose was trying to be something that it definitely wasn't--namely, Southern California. 

Fastforward to 2012, and I am a full-time Southern California resident. At first I was sort of oblivious to the palms. I tolerated/ignored them. But I recently discovered that I'm a palm tree convert. At least in this context. When I look out across the city and see the spiky silhouettes against the sky, I feel a little stab of joy. When a friend posts a picture of palms and power lines it feels like we're all part of a tribe. 

 It's no secret that I love my neighborhood. And the power lines, sunshine, hills, and feathery palm trees are part of the landscape. So there you go. Urban palm trees in San Diego are on my metaphorical "awesome stuff" list. 

Party Weekend (Sunday Snippets)

(Sunday Snippets via tinniegirl)

4 Things Friday

1. This. The happiest of cows. It's been around a while, and it's sort of the opposite of life here in the northern hemisphere--we're gearing up for winter, not enjoying the first nice days of spring, but it makes me so happy! My friends Steph and Tina reminded me of it today.

2. I'm looking forward to a busy weekend with lots of friends and bike riding. 

3. South Park Walkabout is this weekend. Hope I see you, San Diego.

4. I'm listening to this song on repeat today. 

Heatwave

Oh my goodness. Yesterday was yet another hot day here in San Diego. I'm not sure how hot it actually got, but it was hot and humid enough to make us all miserable. Don't get me wrong, it isn't that it's unusual for summer arrive in July and last until late October. "Indian Summer" is basically just "summer" in California. The only thing truly unusual about the heat here, is that it seems more relentless than usual. Due to our proximity to the ocean, we rarely have more than a few hot days in a row before the marine layer moves in and cools us down for a day or two. Very little of that going on lately. Today is finally a bit cooler, but I'm afraid it won't last.

The heat makes Hamilton sad. He has been lounging on the cool linoleum of the kitchen or on the plywood chairs under the fan in the dining nook, or sometimes he just gives up and flops in front of the fan:

Poor baby.

With all this heat, it's been way too hot to cook. But for way too long. There comes a point in an autumn heatwave when a girl has to stop eating out, can't handle one more salad, and must break down and turn on the oven. 

We reached that point a couple weeks ago. We've roastd a chicken 3 weeks in a row. Now we've moved on to turning on the oven AND cooking on the stove. Nothing complicated, just one of our staples, now that we're getting beets again from our CSA (did they ever really stop?). Ha! Looking back I see that we made this same dish on the same night last year. But last year it was nice and cool, and the meal was a celebration of that. This year it was in defiance! 

So yeah, it was still delicious. And we have enough leftover for breakfast tomorrow or Saturday. But I don't think I'll be bringing myself to cook with the oven and stove together again until the heat breaks for good. Tonight: Matt can cook. I'll just chop veggies.

30 September, 2012

It's been a while, right? Time to do better! It was a great weekend. Lots of bikes and sun and food and drinks and fun. 

(Sunday Snippets via Tinniegirl)