Mom left on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I can happily report that she’s no longer watching Fox News.  She no longer watching it because it was making her nervous and has starting getting her news from some channel in Orlando that is evidently targeting seniors with lead stories like “It’s gonna be a hot one today!” and “Maybe you should play golf in the morning–  don’t forget to drink a lot of water!”  I think it’s a good move for her.

Saturday we started getting Christmas assembled and Mr. Poe started working on the tree.  I will bring the tree upstairs from the storage room but I don’t ever help him decorate the tree.  Because he has very, very certain ideas about what ornaments belong where and it actually takes more time for him if I help him decorate because he has to move every ornament I put on at least twice.  Our tree this year is pink and slver with a glamourous silvery angel on top.  We wanted a tree that screamed “Machismo!”.  Here’s Mr. Poe hard at work:

Ashley Junior inspecting the it nearly finished.  He’s looking for the tree skirt that he loves to chew on then pee on then chew on again:

The dogs were so worn out from Abuelita they couldn’t keep their eyes open all weekend:

Sunday we had the CAT2 Sunday people over for an organizational meeting.  Not necessary at this point because we do the same thing every year because it works so well so it’s really not a lot of planning.  But it gave me the change to make a bundt cake:

And Jambalaya.  Mr. Poe had definite ideas about how much liquid I was supposed to use and the finished product was almost like a risotto.  I liked it that way, but it just didn’t seem right.  It almost seemed too much like gumbo:

Here’s everybody at our meeting.  Which was heavy on the eating and light on the decisions:

We all went to bed early on Sunday.  It had been a long day.

Friday we got up early-ish and headed over to Marin to go visit Muir Woods.  I’d never been there before and it’s very, very pretty.  Go early or you’ll spend more time hiking from your car to the entrance than you will in the forest.  And what a forest it is:

Me and mom:

Hello gorgeous!

From there we headed over to the Pelican Inn in Muir Beach which was a good idea because it’s so pretty but a bad idea because I didn’t make a reservation and they were completely booked.  Note to self:

So we headed over to Muir Beach which is super pretty:

My second choice for lunch was Cafe Del Soul in Mill Valley which was sadly closed.  So we gave up on Marin and headed back to San Francisco and we had lunch at the Beach Chalet in Golden Gate Park.  We got a table by the window and it was great.  And no, Mr. Nick, my mamma didn’t leave with a growler.  This is the view from our table:

Our last stop was the pretty North Windmill.  Not so many flowers but still very pretty:

We headed home and lounged about the house for the rest of the day.  Lots of fun.

My mom came for Thanksgiving again.  It was lots of fun and there was a huge amount overeating.  I busted out the deep fryer to critical acclaim.   The Smith Fangs came this year along with Wilfredo and Mike, and TWO of my old Lifecycle tentmates Russ and Wanderson.  I’m leaning hard on Wanderson to ride this year and tent with me again–  my mom promised to pledge me if he does.  It was also Russ’s birthday and it was a big one.  I hope we did it up right for him.

Here are the little ones camped out in Abuelita’s lap:

Rufus was completely exhausted before the guests even showed:

Wilfredo in his favorite post Thanksgiving position:

Mimi all dressed up and ready for her second plate of vittles:

Out comes the birthday cake!

I got Russ this hat for his birthday.  I wasn’t 100% sure that he liked it but it’s super super cute on him.  Take it as a given that Mr. Poe will be getting something similar for Christmas.   Shhh…..  it’s a secret:

We were all asleep by 9PM on Thanksgiving.  Which I think is the gold standard.

Mr. Poe and I both had the day off and the weather was kind of crappy so we planned on getting errands run so I could try to be on my bike for the rest of the weekend.  We headed to the grocery store in the morning and then went down to Union Square for lunch.  After we headed over to Macy to get stuff we needed for Thanksgiving and to look at the Christmas stuff.  The Union Square Christmas tree was in process as we looked at the holiday stuff:

The Christmas department at Macy:

This was my favorite of the themed trees:

Pink poodles!

We got a couple of ornaments and Mr. Poe headed off to a dental appointment and I went to Neiman Marcus to peruse the new Tom Ford cosmetics range.  They don’t have the product in stock yet nor is the counter ready but they have all the testers but you have to ask about it and they usher you into a special room where you can peruse the goods and pre-order what you want.  Like they’re in the mob and it fell off of a truck.  It seemed pretty ridiculous but you know I love all that shit so it was lots of fun for me.  I got a pic of the display while the lady was ringing me up:

..

I headed home and started cooking.  The holidays are pretty much here and I started some of the stuff that I’ll be using that freezes beautifully.  First up was a mushroom soup base that’s going to show up in a bunch of things but the real pain in the ass was the big pot of red chile I made.  It takes forever, but it’s going to be used in tamales, dips and who the hell knows what else between now and new years:

I’m pretty beat.  I think it’s gonna be an early night.

Thursday I had some sense about me and I came into work Market to 14th to Folsom to 2nd to Market to Sansome.  I didn’t make it home for lunch but I got a little ride in on my way home.  I headed off Sutter and stopped at Stockton for a pic of the Stockton Street tunnel:

Me:

I continued on Sutter and stopped at Van Ness for tangible proof that we’re slowly inching our way out of the recession we’ve been in.  Construction in San Francisco has resumed!  This site used to be a movie theater and I’m thinking will soon be condos.  I see it as good news all around:

I continued on Sutter to Fillmore to Fulton to Baker to Buena Vista East.  I stopped halfway up the hill for a pic of everybody’s favorite radio tower:

I continued on Buena Vista East to Loma Vista to Roosevelt to 17th to Mars to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  I made Mr. Poe dinner and then did a little work before bed.

Wednesday morning I came down Market into work.  Which is a huge mistake because Market is such a shit show between all the bikers, pedestrians, cars, cabs, buses, and streetcar tracks and I don’t know why I do it!  It isn’t actually any faster in the morning than coming in on Folsom which is far less fear inducing but I get it in my mind that I’m late and I need to get to the office the fastest possible way and then I’m on Market.  It’s a bad habit I gotta break.  I didn’t go home for lunch and ate downtown instead.  I almost always go to Tlaloc because the burritos are good and about the right size and I like their salsa but mostly because it’s a block from my office.  They have a salsa called inferno that I’ve grown quite fond of that makes me both sweat and cry.  Which, for anybody who has ever lived in Santa Fe, is kind of the point of hot salsa.  Making my own salsa is something I don’t currently do, but I should because it’s just the kind of fussy, time consuming cooking that I find relaxing.  Maybe I’ll make some for Thanksgiving.

After work I headed off  Sansome to Clay to Drumm to Washington to the Embarcadero.  I got some pics of the last sun of the day from the Embarcadero at Howard:

to Folsom to stop by Mr. Chris’s for a minute and then I took Spear to the Embarcadero to Townsend to Kansas to 17th to Potrero to 21st.  I got this pic as I headed west on 21st:

I continued to Valencia and stopped at 26th for a pic of the storied Dovre Club sign:

I continued on Valencia to Tiffany to 29th to San Jose to Monterey into Santa Clara to Portola to Claremont to Dewey to Laguna Honda into 7th to Hugo to 3rd to Stanyan to Page to Scott to Duboce to Castro to 17th and home for dinner.  After dinner we did some chores around the house and then we went to bed. 

Bike Mileage:

Today 17.7 Week to date 36.0 Month to date 36.0 Year to date 5,037.8 To Goal 2,962.2 Over (Under) plan (1,822.5) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (1,589.1) Rolling Year 5,753.6 Since Inception 10/1/07 33,543.3

We’ve had a bunch of work done on our building and I’ve worked from home because of it.  The neighbors upstairs got new window and there was a scaffold in the back yard which raised the dog’s terror threat level to red.  I laid around all weekend and the most activity I managed was to get into a car and go to Target and for that I didn’t even have to drive!  Nathan and Daniel came over for dinner on Sunday.  Nathan and I boozed it up a little more than Daniel and Mr. Poe would have liked us to and I had a bit of a headache on Monday morning as a result and I took Muni into work.  I’m done complaining about my low mileage for the year because there doesn’t really seem to be much of a point to feeling guilty about it.  I’m at over 5,000 miles for the year and although I’m way short of where I was a couple years ago that’s still a lot of miles.  I’m not delighted about sitting around and doing nothing all weekend but that’s something I can work on.  There’s worse things I could do than watch TV all weekend with dogs napping in my lap.

Monday I came down Market into work and didn’t go home for lunch.  I went on a nice ride after work.  Daylight savings is here so we’re not gonna see a lot of pics of my evening rides for a couple of months.  I headed off Sansome.  This is the view of the Christmas lights on Jackson from Sansome:

I continued on Sansome to Pacific and got a couple of pics as I headed west:

I continued on Pacific to Fillmore to Jackson to Presidio.  This is the view of the last bit of the sun as seen from Washington and Jackson:

I took Presidio to Washington to Arguello to Lake to 27th to Cabrillo to 47th to Fulton to the Great Highway to Taravel to Merced to Hernandez to Laguna Honda to Portola to Corbett to Ord and home for dinner.  I got a few things done and then we went to bed.  It was a long day.

Bike Mileage:

Today 18.3 Week to date 18.3 Month to date 18.3 Year to date 5,020.1 To Goal 2,979.9 Over (Under) plan (1,818.3) YTD Mileage vs Last Year (1,599.8) Rolling Year 5,760.2 Since Inception 10/1/07 33,525.6

Sunday I had plans with Ms. Nathan which was a special treat because he’s so very busy that getting him for an entire afternoon is almost impossible.   But I lucked out on Sunday and I made my way down to Union Square at around noon.  I stopped at Westfield Center first.  Mac Cosmetics has a Johnny Weir themed Christmas collection (don’t ask) and they were doing this big crazy thing at Bloomingdale that involved skating models and a big inflatable snow globe:

Union Square:

A view of the Theater District on Bush:

I met up with Nathan and we went and got sandwiches and headed out on our walk.  We walked over to Japantown and then through Pacifc Heights to the Lyon Street Steps:

Miss Smith walking down the stairs:

Then we headed into the Presidio and had a hard time finding the Yoda fountain but we managed:

Then we headed over to the Palace of Fine Arts which is recently remodeled and looks fantastic:

I walked with Nathan about as far as Polk and then I headed home on Muni.  I was beat!  I hung out with Mr. Poe and had dinner and then we went to bed.  Fun day! 

Saturday I had a Different Spokes ride on the calendar.  Nobody showed up so it was just me.  I’m glad I went because the weather was gorgeous and I had a great day.  Sadly, this is the farthest I’d ridden since July!  I’ve gotta figure out how to be less lazy next summer because it’s ridiculous how far out of shape I’ve gotten.  I headed out to Point Reyes Station which was warm and gorgeous.  I rode through Olema on the way:

Point Reyes Station:

Sadly, the pic I took of the burrito I ate at the Palace Market didn’t turn out because it was pretty awesome.  It wasn’t the greatest burrito I’d ever eaten, but I would rate it as “Solid”.

The real surprise was how warm and gorgeous Nicasio was.  I don’t think I’d ever seen the reservoir so still!  loved it:

Me:

Sausalito was dripping in tourists and gorgeous as usual:

I got a bunch of pics as I came back over the bridge.  Marin headlands:

I was totally wiped out by the time I got home.  I had dinner and went to bed early.