When we came back to California last June, Loren had advised his Mom and sisters that we would stay through their Mom’s birthday in mid-January. In January, just before her birthday his Mom said to his one sister, “I’m going to miss them, they’re leaving again soon.” Ironically that was the day before Loren approached his sister about us actually leaving on March 2, which will be six weeks after her birthday. Both his Mom and sister seem supportive of us picking up our dream travels again. This time we’ll return sooner.

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This week we celebrated Chinese New Year with friends, enjoying great conversations over a delightful spread of delicious Chinese dishes.

 

The next morning I taught the 6 and 7:45am Bikram Yoga classes, and wanted to share the good sentiment with my yogis and yoginis. I hung a homemade tissue paper sign on the studio door to say Gung Hei Fat Choy! Good luck to everyone in this year of the Pig.

The yoga studio lobby is also decorated for this coming week’s special day, courtesy of my colleague-yoga teacher friend in the photo above…

What I was surprised to find early that same morning as I drove through Crow Canyon to the studio to teach was… snow! It had been raining, and through the canyon the raindrops turned to wet snow. It was beautiful on my windshield. The next day as I drove to take the 7:45am yoga class, it was pretty to see the many snow capped hills in the surrounding terrain. Please trust my memories, as I have no photos to share about that… 

This week I enjoyed dinner out with a dear colleague-friend, who had relocated to the next city to where Loren’s Mom lives and where we are staying. It’s wonderful to have her so close that we can see each other once in a while, more easily than if she were still in the south bay. But how could I again forget to snap a photo?

I did remember to capture a picture the day that Loren and I had a great time with friends over Thai food for lunch in Jack London Square in Oakland…

Loren and I rode BART to Oakland and back. We boarded at the Castro Valley station where we are staying. I know that this station was not built until long after Loren and I had met, which was also after he had moved to the South Bay when we were married. I looked it up online and learned that the station was built in 1997. I also learned that Castro Valley is an unincorporated area which I hadn’t known. BART’s website add this:

Once known for its chicken ranches, Castro Valley was named after Don Guillermo Castro, a local rancher and magistrate in the mid-1800s.

Once we were on board, we switched lines a couple of stations later to reach the Oakland City Center stop. There is quite a lot of construction of tall buildings going on, and Loren was impressed with the renovation that has already happened in this area. It was a gorgeous day. We enjoyed walking twenty minutes to the restaurant and back again afterwards. Along the way we were treated to decorations honoring Chinese New Year, 

and, we saw a few murals of and advertisements for our beloved Golden State Warriors. We’re Dubs, (W shortened, spelled out) of the Dub Nation, aka Warriors fans. It’s a team we enjoy watching on TV whenever we can. This year with Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson as the “Death Lineup” players, now incorporating the achilles-tendon-injury recovered “Boogie” – nickname for DeMarcus Cousins, and other excellent players who’s abilities are hot, they are a strong basketball team. We’re hoping for a three-peat – three championship wins in a row, that they need to officially claim themselves a Dynasty. Even so, they actually have won three recent championships, but the wins were not in three consecutive years. 

The next morning, as well as the morning after that again on the way to take a 7:45am yoga class each time, there was a thick layer of frost on our car before leaving our AirBnB home! That said, I found this image online to convey my resolve in still going. 

One of our housemates from Atlanta questioned one evening this week as the cold came in with us through the front door,

     “Isn’t this supposed to be sunny California?”

     “Yeah,” I replied, “that’s southern California, where it’s about 10 degrees warmer…”

And today it was raining again… intermittent though sometimes heavy, and totally overcast. That’s how the winter weather changes in the San Francisco bay area. 

We finished our week with a wonderful dinner date with friends at their home, and it was fun to have their cat be a part of our after dinner gathering by the fireplace.

 

The evening of meaningful conversations went on into the wee hours, with us enjoying refills of nightcaps together…