Spring Break on our way to Bass Lake

We finally took off on our Spring Break vacation. Expectations were high, starting with my much anticipated break from the sugar fast that had been driving me batty - I thought of sugar, I craved sugar, I dreamed of sugar... in short, I was obsessed with sugar, or the lack thereof.

The destination: Bass Lake and Yosemite. The plan: uncharted, for the first time ever. Other than a night in Yosemite, there was no plan. Probably because Bass Lake didn't seem to need a lot of planning. It was evident fairly early in the planning process that we were too late for winter activities and too early for everything else. We fell on that cusp. The weather seemed uncertain, but mostly on the sunny side.

I have now finally truly learned not to rely on the weather forecast.

As we got closer to our destination, we decided to take a side road, which turned out to be a short scenic byway. And it was scenic indeed! The landscape continued to turn into green rolling hills sprinkled with rocks, trees, and flowers. And before I knew it, I was on the lookout for the ever-elusive Poppy.

I am obsessed with Poppies, and Poppies like to taunt me. They show up in clumps on the side of the road - every road where I can't stop to take a picture or twenty or one hundred. So I spend many days driving by, looking on the side of the road, and itching for my camera - and a parking spot.

Jim and his eagle eyes finally found me a Poppy (well, there were more like four). We stopped and took a few pictures, with my brother's super wide-angle lens. I have now fallen in love with that lens. We have a 17 - 55 that does a great job. The 10 - 22 is even more fun... and boy, have I been having fun with it!! Pictures to follow, all on flickr.

That's it. We made it into Bass Lake. Our unit is awesome - two-level two bedroom, 2.5 bath, full kitchen and living room with a Murphy bed, just in case. It's like being home.

Next on the unplanned agenda: Yosemite. Although now it looks like rain is looming. Or snow. I'll take the snow given a choice - better pictures.

More tales from the dinner table...

Katarina: (burp!)

Katarina: (burp! again)

Me: "Katita!!"

Katarina: "What...? It's necessary!"

...

Katarina: "What does necessary mean?"

Katarina at it again

Here's Katarina's latest, so that I have a record of it and thus can remind myself of my now 4 year-old's wit. An apology to those who already saw it on Facebook. Here it goes again.

Imagine our breakfast table: Katarina, Jim, Larissa and I. We all sit together every morning, since it's the only meal for which we can guarantee we'll all be there.

Katarina stopped to look at me and tell me: "mommy, when I brush my teeth, it chokes me."
Me: "Does it choke you when I brush your teeth?"
Katarina, nodding: "Yes. It just chokes me all the time. I don't know why... (pause) we have a mystery here..."

Soap material

Ever wonder where soap operas get inspiration for their material? I mean, life isn't really that complicated, right? And relationships aren't really that fleeting... or are they?

I think I may have found the answer. Where, you wonder? The most logical place, of course: preschool.

Katarina came home one day to let me know that Hunter, her pal she hangs around with all over the place, was now Allison's boyfriend. "OK...", I said - I mean, what else am I supposed to say?

The next day, Hunter and Allison weren't girlfriend and boyfriend anymore. Hunter was now Katarina's boyfriend. "OK...", again I replied. She seemed to be taking Hunter's apparent indecision and potential commitment issues with relative obliviousness.

The day after, Katarina informed me that Hunter wasn't her boyfriend anymore. "What happened?", I inquired. "He broke up with me." "Oh..." I said - again, what else could I say? Her heart seemed intact enough, so no worries on my part. Hunter may have commitment issues, but they weren't affecting her. She also proceeded to tell me she didn't want to marry him, because she didn't want to have babies. In my book, right now, that sound just fine...

One more day went by. Yes, there's more.

Katarina let me know that now Hunter wanted to marry Allison - so much for commitment issues, I thought. "OK... so now Allison and Hunter are back together?" I asked. "No. Allison is with Eddie now. Hunter wants to marry Allison, but Allison is now Eddie's girlfriend." All this was said as if telling me they all shared crackers for snack before going to the playground. "Ah..." I replied, not sure what else to say. "After Hunter left, Allison and I were friends again, and we played together."

So, in summary, here's the Days of Our Lives (insert your favorite soap here) script: love triangle, commitment issues, boy wants girl, boy doesn't want girl and now wants other girl, boy wants first girl back, but only when she's found someone else.

And in the end, they can all go back to playing in the same sandbox. Literally. Can't beat 4-year-old logic.

Top reasons why you should love life...

So, we're all in this cycle: the economy sucks, the Dow Jones is now the Down Jones (although I hear it's up lately), jobs are less safe than before, some of us are getting pay cuts, the swine flu looms in the horizon, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Life can be hard, brutal, unexpected in its cruelty. But then, life is, at all times, just beautiful, if you know where to look. So here's my partial list of why I love life, despite all the downs, the uncertainty, the lack of a crystal ball, and the plain hardship that it can present.

1. Light. When I wake up in the morning, I can see the hue of dawn cast on the sky through my windows. My heart just stops at the sight of it, and then I remember to breathe. And then I wish I could capture not just the color, but the feeling of a new day.

2. Spring - need more reason than the purity of rebirth? Colors are intense in their green, flowers start to pop in unexpected places - like the center of the 241 toll road on my way to work. It's purple, lush and full of life, and a constant reminder of the consistency of nature in the inconsistency of life.

3. Rain. I love the rain almost as much as I love Spring. It washes it all, and as I inhale, I can smell the richness of the earth. Colors intensify under it, even as the gray mantle of the sky takes over in the horizon.

4. My heart. When it rejoices, there's no bounds. When it breaks, there's no bottom. And through it all, I'm just grateful that I can feel.

5. Sound - of birds outside my window in this neighborhood of houses and streets and traffic. Birds still nest in my trees and chirp their eager, happy song every morning. They remind me that there's more than meets the eye when I can be sure of their presence just by the sound of their song.

6. Friendship. It takes you up, it takes you down, and it just gets you through it all. I don't think I have an abundance of true friends, but those true friendships I do have are more than any one person could ask for. Each is a treasure, and each gives me a reason to have hope that, no matter what the future holds, life is worth experiencing and sharing with others.

7. Laughter. That of my children, which is a mixture of baby gurgles and little girl giggles. There is no sweeter sound. The laughter that my husband can bring me on any given day, because he can be a funny guy. Laughter shared among friends, because it takes away everything else. There are no worries where laughter lives.

8. Love - yeah... the sappy kind that makes you almost blind to everything else, fills your heart to the brink, and makes you vulnerable beyond your comfort level.

9. Adversity. Life isn't perfect, and happiness is never complete. There are only perfect moments, and in the balance we can only hope that those moments are greater than the non-perfect ones. Still, adversity largely makes us who we are, and gives us the contrast we need to appreciate what we do have. And who would have thought that, in those moments when we have to prioritize, the things we hold most dear are the simple joys and the truest gifts?

10. Art. Be it music, dance, paint... you name your type, and you'll understand why.