More Akemi in Monterey

Back to Real Life

Well we sure had a great trip - short though it was. We definitely got our money's worth. We were scheduled to do two days whale watching but I got a reprieve because in Ashley's estimation we saw plenty of whales on our one day out and it was 3 hours out of the day we could be doing something else. My stomach was so relieved. Theron and Ash loved it though, they were at the very front of the boat riding the waves. I was at the back wishing I had a seat belt. It took me almost an hour to inch along the wall with my back plastered against it, just to visit them. Theron was the picture of glee.

It sure was nice to have some quality family time. We really just don't see each other enough, but my goodness, that boy can talk. When he's not talking he's singing. When he's not singing he's making sound effects. When he's not making any sound at all it's probably because he's sliding on his back under the dinner table. Oh, yes, and don't think just because we're on vacation and we love your little face more than life that you can't get in trouble. We needed that quality time just to remind this little person how to sit in a chair and use actual utensils. Ashley and I are going to invent a double-stick tape seat cushion for parents in restaurants.


Here's Theron learning how sea anemones catch their prey.

We explored tide pools, played at the beach, spent a day at the Aquarium, drove down 17 Mile Drive, saw deer and crabs and sea otters and sea lions, etc... We used the hotel pool, we ate A LOT. Ahhh... We stopped to see Grandpa Flip and Grandma Rita and got back on the train in San Luis. Ash and I finished the second book in the Bartimaeus Trilogy The Golem's Eye (FANTASTIC!!!!) (I thought the skeleton was SCARY but Ash thought he was funny!)

At the Aquarium

Art and Entertainment

The recital went pretty well, though Ashley confirmed, very nicely, what I already figured - that it did sound like a bunch of amateurs, because it was. But it was still very grand. I started to enjoy it, hearing everyone all together, and I was so happy and then I lost my place and had to figure it out. Then I started to enjoy it again and lost my place a second time so after that I just gave attention to reading the music and all I really heard was where we were and when to play. We were told to come in formal dress and for some people that just meant skin tight jeans and black vans. I have itchy black clothing and adorable put-you-in-the-hospital shoes for various work events so it was no problem for me.

Then we left for vacation. We knew we wanted to go somewhere for Spring Break and Ashley so happened to get an email from the hotel we stayed at in Monterey two years ago (for a conference). They had a reasonable package going so we booked. I'll have to say I was so surprised Ashley would suggest it because then, as now, we had an ocean-facing room and while I found the sound of the waves to be absolutely dreamy, Ashley could not get any rest because to him the surf sounded like "a dumpster being dragged across a parking lot".

Anyway, then we got this great idea to take Amtrack up here. It is good and very inexpensive, but it's a LONG trip. Only two hours longer than driving and you can read or sleep or walk around, so it's better, but still long. Traveling these days with a 6 year old has a lot of advantages over traveling with a baby:

- He can carry his own bag of toys and treats

- We don't have to haul a car seat or stroller

- I know there's more but, hmm, I can't think of any right now

There are a variety of cons that mostly have to do with his mouth.


Here he is on the train being an angel. This picture was taken around 10:30. We were on the train from 10 to almost 7 p.m. Around 11 a.m. he puts the book down and says to me, "If we're not there in 6 minutes I'm going to start complaining. A LOT."




He did find things to do and one of the more entertaining things on any trip is to buy snacks at 400% markup. We went to the snack bar 3 times. I had a backpack full of treats and he did eat some, but we all know that food from home, nutritious and free, just doesn't cut it.

Anyhoo, our first day in Monterey we took a whale watching tour and saw a bunch of grey whales and some humpbacks. Of course in the Bay, close to shore, were otters and the ever present sea lions.


We did see a bunch of tail flukes but I couldn't get a picture because it happens too fast and I didn't think it was fun to stand there with a camera to my face the whole trip. So here are some whale backs. Theron thought standing at the front of the boat and riding the waves was super fun.

This is the view in front of our room where Ashley saw someone propose. We got their email to send them the picture.

Health and Welfare

Probably the only thing more fun than watching the guys eat brown rice for dinner is a mole check. The doctor said everything is fine, at least at this point, even after all those years of frying on the beaches of Southern California. Nothing needed to come off but she did offer to burn, freeze or cut off anything that was bugging me. She's great.

Theron had an appointment, too, at the dentist. Unfortunately he has to go back because he has two cavities, but he doesn't really mind so much because they have so many fun games and stuff. While he and Ash were waiting a little boy came in with his mom and Theron became the perfect host, "Would you like to come over here? They have lots of fun activities." Then when Ash wasn't looking, he disappeared and was in the treatment room interrogating the dentist, who was with a patient, about how to play the video game in the room. Anyway, we have to make two more appointments and can I just say I've probably had something done to every tooth in my head starting when I wasn't much older than Theron and at no time along the way has anyone ever offered me:
- cartoons and video games
- gas
- chocolate-flavored downers

I have to go and watch them drill his tiny little teeth - what about the mommy? I could use some relaxation.

Ashley said the x-rays showed his top front teeth close to coming through. A few days after the dentist Theron's second tooth, from the bottom front, finally fell out. The tooth fairy hasn't been by yet though because she needs to go to the bank and also she's exhausted because the time change caught her off guard and she needs 17 hours of sleep every day.

Theron and I have colds and we stayed home yesterday. Guess what was on Oprah? The episode was called The Truth About Food! How happy was I? I would have taken the day off just to see this one. It was good because our supplements were running low and I was losing some of my enthusiasm, only some, so Thank you, Oprah! Tonight we ate artichokes (fiber, iron, magnesium, vitamin c) and whole wheat molasses quick bread (more iron and fiber and calcium). I watch them eat and think 'yessssssss'....

I finished Kafka on the Shore. I only think I know what happened but I really, really loved it. Now I just need to have lunch with Naomi so we can discuss. She also recommended the Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. It was with sadness that I finally put Kafka aside because it requires more than one reading to begin deciphering it, and I was reluctant to start something new, but the first book, The Amulet of Samarkand is immediately fabulous and I can't believe I haven't read these before.

Obsessed with Nutrition

Recently I read a book called The Crazy Makers and now every day I've been making the guys take extra supplements and most nights I go to bed reading about nutrition. Theron grew a quarter inch in about 7 weeks (before my current fixation) and I'm obsessed with putting good things into his little body to make it stronger, bigger, smarter. Before I fall asleep I think about what he ate that day, I look it up, and imagine how it's working in his body. I'm wondering if I can get him tall enough by September to look like an actual 3rd grader. Ash and Theron just eat what I give them. Fortunately we all like vegetables and non-meat proteins, etc, so it's not really a big battle. But it makes me happy. I made a batch of whole wheat chocolate chip cookies with a 1/3 less sugar. They look healthy and taste healthy, though I'm sure they're only "less bad" which is not really the same thing. Theron eats them, though and is willing to accept that they are "cookies".

Saturday there was a book fair at the school and Ash and I were so excited but Theron, a huge reader, was remarkably subdued. Going through the stacks I had a pang of a happy memory of book fairs past. Ash and I kept finding things we wanted to read but Theron was really only interested in the Hulk and a giant pencil with a pointing finger on it. The fair was in the little library and on the shelves we saw Big Duck's doppelganger (that's not really the right word, but I like it) - a newer, cleaner, more hair on his head, version.

Theron with Big Duck, his constant companion

The birds

Yesterday at Theron's school I saw a flock of wild parrots. Of course it was the one day I didn't have a camera. But we have our own beautiful birds at work. The native gardens around the building attract the most gorgeous little creatures. Here is a flowering bush.

What you can't see are all the little yellow birds going crazy on the blooms. When I got closer they flew away but until then it was like a fairy tale Christmas tree. Here are some grainy closeups from the same picture. My heart... they are so sweet.

Pictures from Scott's pirate birthday party.

Theron started harmonica lessons and learned the scales. If he works hard he gets to have a real chromatic harmonica. I hope he can hang on and do it. He really wants to be good NOW.

Not much has really been going on: Theron has a new loose tooth, Ashley had a birthday. Theron was excited to find a card that had a donkey with jiggly eyes that said Happy Birthday from your smart ass kid. I replenished my library hold list and started reading a recommendation from Naomi, Kafka on the Shore, which is already, just a few chapters in, so amazing.
Otherwise ho hum, not much of note...

President's Day

I would say Saturday and Sunday were pretty good overall considering neither Ashley nor I had to go to work. Since that has not happened for a while things were off to a good start. Sunday we all took a long walk and took pictures. Monday Ashley had to work while Theron and I were off, so I planned a surprise outing to Kidspace in Pasadena. When I told him we were going out he wasn't really that happy since he was in the middle of his online pirate game where he was trying to get to Cuba to pick up a voodoo doll. But he got over it. Here he is at Kidspace pretending to be an ant...
Climbing a tower



Serving up food at the Bug Cafe. Those kids were working hard. No sooner had we finished the Water Beetle Sushi than they were bringing over a fresh Dung Beetle Poo Poo Platter. They were busing the tables like pros.
Here he is in the water pretending to be King Kong looking for fish.

Then we came home and I bottled up some of my homemade grog for Scott's Pirate birthday party - Apple and Blueberry. Just joking! I buy my grog at Trader Joe's and paste my own label on it.

Art and Culture Week

these lights at night

This week many of us at work went to the member's opening of the new Broad Contemporary Art Museum, BCAM, at LACMA. You know, it's pretty much the exact opposite of the collection we normally see everyday, and it was very fun. Probably everyone's favorite was a Robert Therrien piece that is a giant table and chairs. Giant. You walk underneath and it's so delightful.

Wednesday after school I took Theron by the music school to meet my teacher. We've been a little worried about Theron's musical abilities, but my teacher says it's all just work and the most important thing is to get him started on something he really wants to learn. One thing he has talked about a lot is the harmonica and this is one of the many instruments my instructor teaches. So, it was very cute. Keith gave Theron (gave him) an inexpensive harmonica and told him it was his but he had to promise to play it. Then he taught him some fundamentals, such as that harmonica players don't suck, they draw. When Keith opened the case with his beautiful chromatic harmonica Theron looked like one of those cartoon wolves with the bulging eyes, heart-shaped pupils, tongue hanging out. He was told that if he's serious about playing this is the kind of instrument he will be using. He played some music for him and Theron spun around and collapsed in giggles. He will start lessons next week. In the meantime he's been using it a lot. He's composed something he calls The Popular Song and he is inventing a code: hole 4 means I love you, hole 6 means I understand, and hole 10 means I'm sleepy.

For Valentine's Day Ash helped Theron buy me a very thoughtful card and chocolate. Ashley and I made each other cds of our favorite new songs. I LOVE the cd he made me, probably my favorite track is Chuck Prophet's Freckle Song.

And now it's too hot... Saturday it was 86 degrees so we went to the park where they had 70 tons of manmade snow.

Can a person freeze at 50 degrees? We're beginning to think so, what big babies we are. This morning Theron and I bounced out of the house into the glorious sunshine and half a block away we realized we were icicles. Theron zipped up his coat and announced he was now bullet-proof.


In spite of the fact that both Ashley and I had to work this weekend it was still fun in places. We spent a few hours at the Natural History Museum per Theron's request. He was getting mad at us though because we failed to give the appropriate responses. The correct response was "Cool!" , etc. Also, we were rushing through the dioramas of mammals and Theron yelled at us for not giving him time to "read the inches and diets". He was mad at the coyote for eating a house cat.


Sunday I got to go to my orchestra lesson. I'm four times older than many of the participants. The teacher makes me laugh, though he's not trying. It's not all music instruction. A lot of it is him saying, "Stop kicking. Stop kicking. Stop kicking. Put your hand down. Turn off the phone and put it away". I know it's not really funny, but I'm amused. Also, though, it is really fun.

While Ashley was at work Sunday, Theron came out of his room and asked when his birthday is. I told him, he said thanks and went back to his room, shutting the door. After a few minutes I went to see what was going on. Theron was trying to sign up for an online Pirates of the Carribean game. He would have never managed it, but we did have to have the little talk about using the internet. He's 6! It's bad enough that time passes so fast we can barely keep up with one emergency to the next. Theron's advancement to second grade makes us feel like we've literally lost a year of his life. I know it sounds unreasonable, but in 7 months he starts 3rd grade!!! ??? Sunrise, sunset! Oh, well, maybe later this summer he can finally get us set up for wireless printing.

Oh, I finished all but one of my library books, so any recommendations, I'm ready for more. There's only one pending on my hold list now.

In spite of fear my cello teacher talked me into joining orchestra.

"It's fun", he says.

"It's fun", I repeat. "No one cries?"

"No", he says.

"There are going to be children there who can do this better than I can."

"No. Well, yes, that's true."

But I went and actually, yes, it was fun. In spite of how awful everything sounds right now, getting started, it's easy to imagine how wonderful it will be to have everything come together. Even out of tune and out of rhythm it was pretty great. I have a terrible time with keeping beat but Ashley says nothing fixes that faster than playing with other people. I didn't count but there are more than 20 of us. I am the oldest next to the teacher. Some of the kids are really good and some of them are like me. I think it will be okay. It's another weekend commitment but Ashley and I think this is a way for me to improve my overall skills and it's not forever.

Sunday we went to Costco where Theron saw a fort play set. "I need that to put in the front yard so I can go there when I need privacy."

"What? You have a whole room with a door you can close, how much privacy do you need?"

"But my room is too small and crowded."

"I think that means you have too much stuff. Or you could just clean it up."

"I can't clean up that much! My goodness, it's your house!"

Here's another book review, I'm almost done with this one. The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross. In this story computers and mathmatics can open doorways to alternative worlds where brilliant as well as idiot monsters are waiting to come through. The hero works for The Laundry, a government agency that deals with these things. The book is full of exciting and gruesome encounters. The hero may kill a tentacled creature that is trying to kill him and his new lady friend, but instead of thanks he is hounded by accounting who want him to explain why he came in late and to fill out the necessary paperwork justifying the expense of cleaning up the mess.

An embarrassment of riches

My friend, Naomi, and I loooovvveee the library and we looooovvvveee to use the online hold list so that exactly what we want to read comes right to our local library, right to the front desk. We keep the list stacked because sometimes you're the 400th person in line, or sometimes you're first but it still takes 3 weeks for it to show up from Sherman Oaks. It's a thing, too, because they recently made a policy that although placing a hold is free, if you don't pick up your book within 10 days they charge you a dollar. Perfectly fair and appropriate, but some weeks it becomes a giddy race to get there in time. Not because we mind giving the library a dollar - I frankly wish they had a donation box at the door - but missing the book would be a disaster especially if you've been waiting for the Omnivore's Dilemma since April.
Last week SIX books on my list came in and two more are on the way. So I am reading A LOT. You never know how long you can renew an interlibrary loan book until you try it. I regret that I skimmed through a couple I probably would have savored.

Look Me In the Eye by John Elder Robison - brother of Augusten Burroughs. It is his story of having grown up with Asperger's syndrome at a time when no one even had a name for it. Most touching was when he told how adults thought that he preferred to play alone, but really he never wanted to be alone. It was that he was such a failure at making friends that he knew he couldn't really be around other children and it was the most bitter disappointment of his life.

The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callanan. This novel revolves around a soldier during WWII who is in the bomb squad and he is sent on detail to Alaska to look into the mysterious bombs arriving stateside by balloon from Japan. The balloons, by the way, really came here but were not successful in a big way. Perhaps because the press agreed to suppress reports of found balloons, the Japanese may have thought it wasn't working. One balloon did hit the mark in Klamath, Oregon and was responsible for the only WWII casualties on the US mainland due to enemy causes.
Anyway, that's not really all the novel is about. The main character falls in love with a half Russian, half Yup'ik Eskimo woman. I can't say how they are connected without ruining the story, but it was very interesting and sad, and not at all trite and predictable. I didn't really have to rush through this one - it was very fast and interesting reading and it came early in the deluge.

I did rush through House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielwski, as much as you can rush through a book that is more than 700 pages and has 3 - 4 narratives going on at a time. Maybe I'll try to get back to it someday and I haven't turned it in yet because I'm not sure I'm done with it. Actually, I'm not going to try to explain too much. Reading it is not so much reading as it is strategizing. The basic story revolves around a documentary made about a house where rooms and hallways appeared out of thin air. Before calling in any authorities or the press the owner hires some men to come in and take an expedition into the depths of the house. They are gone a loooonnnnngggg time. The owner, his brother, and a friend go on a rescue mission.

There's more but that's enough for now. Back to the books.

Don't answer the phone.


It's just someone telling you if you want to vote No you need to vote Yes - or something like that. Or they want to connect you to your senator's office so you can repeat what you've just been told to say.

Look at this instead. How many of us in the 21st century have seen needle lace work in progress? I saw this at work this week and it's so amazing. I want to try it. (In my copious free time!!!)
The design is sketched out on paper or stiff cloth. The lacework is anchored down to the backing which will be removed later by snipping the stitches on the back.

I had never thought about how this was done and when I saw this piece it took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at. I think it's kind of thrilling to imagine all the images you could conjure up in lace. Imagine a Spiderman with a bunch of webs all around. Tres jolie!

Work and Play in the Big Easy

Ashley and I went to New Orleans last week to give a little two day workshop for the State Museum - they're doing a move project. Ashley and I showed slides one day and did some hands-on the next day. We feel it went very well. We had to travel separately so I could leave Theron at Grandma's house. My red eye flight out of Bakersfield was cancelled at the last minute (!!!) so instead of getting in the next day at 7 am I got in at 10:30. I ended up having to take a van back to Los Angeles to begin my trip. All in all it took 17 hours - it wasn't so much a red eye as a black eye. I had to sleep in the airport in Charlotte. I will say the best planning I did was to roll up my down pillow in my carry on bag. It fluffs right back up and boy was I happy for that one little luxury. When I got there I took a quick nap, a shower and headed over to the museum where Ash was already about done with his portion of the presentation. So I just hooked up my computer and jumped into mine. I was sleepy but it was good to get it over with.

The second day was at their warehouse in Baton Rouge - a good 90 minute drive away. The weather was rainy but warm. We stopped at a mini mart and threw a bunch of treats in the bag like Crawtator flavored potato chips and vanilla Moonpies.

Here's a blurry picture inside our hotel room, right in the French Quarter just steps away from Jackson Square. I meant to take a picture of the unicorns on the bedspread.

Here's the beautiful courtyard of the hotel.

Here we are on Decatur Street after beignets and coffee with my Aunt Susie and her Louis.

French Quarter at night. People still have Christmas lights up until Epiphany and then there were already decorations already up for Mardi Gras. Oh, and for the LSU/Ohio game that was a couple of days before we arrived. Ohio lost but people said they hardly looked sad, it was a big party.

I haven't been to New Orleans in 15 years but I fell in love again. Aunt Susie says people are slowly getting on their feet and that Mardi Gras should be of pre-Katrina quality. Jim and P.C. pointed out one of the two bars that stayed open during the storm and Ash and I had a little drink there. There weren't many people out Wednesday and Thursday night but it was still very lively. Everything bad looked so good. I had to keep telling myself, No, You do not want a cigar. Or a take-out daquiri that comes in a rainbow of colors, swirling around in big wall-mounted mixers looking like Slush Puppies.

Ashley on Canal Street.

My first oysters ever, at the Bourbon House, where we were the guests of Ashley's old friend, Jim, and his wife P.C. They were divine. The oysters were good, too. I was sad we didn't have the opportunity to get more before we left.

Anyway, as we are reminded, again and again, it's a small world. We ran into some people we knew from New York who were there taking down an exhibit. If we'd all tried to organize a get together from scratch I'm not sure we could have managed it, but there everyone was.

We really want to go back soon for an actual vacation when we can take Theron. He would love a swamp tour and he would probably get a kick out of all the pirate knick-knacks around. He did fine with Grandma. Every day she would gel his hair to get his cowlick to lay down. Friday she asked if she could spike it. He said no. She said why not, don't you want to look cool? And he said, "I don't want to look cool! I just want to look appealing."

So, back to real life again.

Happy New Year

This year, as usual, we had our annual seafood pigout, and maybe all that holiday overeating or the fact that Ash was feeling a little down, we actually had left over crab. It's unheard of, I tell you. We celebrated the new year at 9, to correspond with new year's in New York, and went to bed. Silly us, we thought we'd be asleep by midnight, but we forgot about all the illegal fireworks that appear on our street absolutely every holiday.
Theron's new computer games are a big hit. He actually spends a lot of time with the educational game which, in addition to math and spelling, have taught him to compose pictures and play music. Then when he's done with that it's on to Harry Potter. He was taking a walk around the castle yesterday and I asked him where he was going. He said he was just taking a walk since he doesn't really go to Hogwarts, he wanted to have a look around. Then he showed me the Great Hall. "This is where the headmaster sits" he says. Then he waved his wand around the chair, and says, "Next time Dumbledore sits down he's gonna really burn his butt, man."

Christmas is for visiting

One of our first visits was over to Mike and Erik's to see their tree... and to listen to records, go for a walk...
Admire the local decorations
We went to Lumbini to see Miss Leslie and everyone. Miss Janet made sure Theron got his fill (3 servings worth) of her inari sushi and marinated cucumbers.
Theron and I went to Morro Bay ahead of Ashley, who had work to do. Theron has never met the older boys and he and the youngest, Orion, haven't seen each other since they were babies. We rang the bell, Ori opened it, took one look at Theron and ordered him into his room. We were standing there for about 3 seconds. Then for the rest of the trip they virtually inseparable, except when they had to be separated because they couldn't stop bickering. Still, I think Ori was especially gracious, though probably disgruntled. He let Theron time share the Spiderman suit since we didn't bring ours. Sometime during the trip Theron lost his first tooth and it was a big event as there was a full house of little boys from ages 5 to 10 who gathered round to congratulate him for being so tough, to give him paper towels for the blood, and to admire the new hole. The tooth popped out when Ori either hit him in the mouth with his head or slapped him - I'm not clear on that part. However, Theron hugged him and told him Thank You.

It takes a village

Sunday Joan's mom watched the boys and fed them lunch while Joan and I and her stepfather went to Costco. Before we left she said to Theron, 2 rules - I'm in charge and you do what I say. Theron laughed. I told him it was actually not that funny, it's true. For some reason Theron decided to go on a hunger strike while we were gone. Kathy said, Don't you like noodles? Yes, he says. Then she explained to him that not eating meant he was holding everyone else up from watching a video, which constituted bad behavior, and Santa might not come. He thought about it. Then he told her, it was okay because Santa would come anyway because of Ori.
After we got back Hal took all four boys to the movies so we could wrap presents. He said he only had to tell Theron to be quiet once.

Christmas Eve Ash came up on the train along the beautiful coastal route to San Luis. He brought the Spiderman costume.
Christmas was in Santa Maria where Theron found that Santa did indeed read his list. Isn't it great Santa was able to make it over to the Rite Aid to pick up this fabulous Spy Guy kit?


We took a lovely drive through the hills to see Grandma Mary and Grandpa Richard and of course, the beagle, Sam. Then it was home again to our little house which was much cleaner than how I left it thanks to Ashley. There was a mini emergency because we couldn't immediately find the Spiderman suit and in order to watch Spiderman 3 he needed the Black Spiderman costume (the outfit you see above is reversible). It didn't reappear until we unpacked everything and thank goodness because Theron was ready to call 911 and/or end up in the longest time out of his life.
Ashley went through the newspaper flyers and catalogs that accumulated while we were gone and said, We don't really need anything right now, do we? And I agreed that we don't. So we're pretty fortunate.