The Hobbit: Long Beach, 2012

Sometimes--when you've been moving, and traveling, and working non-stop for what seems like forever--you need to take a day off and enjoy friends, food, and a great story. So that's what we did yesterday. We started the day with breakfast (in good Hobbit fashion) at Jason's house with Greg and Lauren. Then those two had to be off, and Sean, Jason, and I settled down to read The Hobbit aloud in honor of its 75th anniversary. And that's how we spent a simple, beautiful day. We had breaks for lunch (warm bread, brie, and fruit) and dinner (London broil, baked potatoes, rolls, and butter that I begged off a neighbor at 9 p.m.), a walk to the park, and a cookie break after midnight. When I wasn't the one reading, I colored and wrote in my journal, or just laid on my back and enjoyed being still. We didn't finish until almost 1 a.m. and when we were done we had journeyed with Bilbo through Rivendell and the Misty Mountains, through Mirkwood and all the way to the Lonely Mountain and the lair of Smaug himself--and then back home again to the Shire. What an adventure!

Rosh Hashanah 2012

No school, so we make friendship bracelets for hours.

Giuliana lets me wiggle her loose tooth, and I am filled with childlike wonder over the miracle of losing teeth.

Vinny says, "Carolyn, who was that guy who rode around yelling 'The Rednecks are coming!' ?"
I ask, "Do you mean the 'Redcoats'?"
Paul Revere will never be the same.

In short, I love Jewish holidays.

Sister Weekend (Minus One)

2 weeks ago, on Friday night, August 31st, after a 4 hour flight delay, I landed at San Francisco International Airport and met up with Cayla and Cathryn for a Labor Day weekend full of hiking and exploring in the Bay Area. The only thing missing was our dear, sweet Camie. 

Cayla and I starting off on our first hike of the weekend on Saturday:



This is us after our first hike--a 9 mile round trip hike in Montara/Pacifica.


Sunday we rode BART into San Francisco:



It was an absolutely gorgeous day in the City, clear and warm, blue skies and sunshine. We climbed 284 steps up Filbert Street--the steepest street in a city full of steep streets.





We went to the top of Coit Tower:


We explored some beautiful Catholic churches in Little Italy, including the National Shrine of Saint Francis of Assisi (!!), visited City Lights Bookstore (home of the Beats), and ate way too much garlic at The Stinking Rose.

 










And on Monday we went to Muir Woods...and hiked through cool redwood forests and over sunlit hills for 5 miles to the ocean. Does life get better than that?

 











The Bay Area is so, so, so beautiful: it makes me really hopeful for the New Earth.

And I love my sisters. <3