Serene of the Oakland Serenes

So, it's probably pretty obvious that I'm having a rough time lately, but there's still LOTS of good stuff!

In no particular order:

1) My mom and I are having some good times together. She's having a rough time herself, rougher than I am, and we make each other laugh, which in itself is enough to validate my decision to come here.

2) There are farmers' markets here, and we've gone to a couple of them. We're going to my old favorite one later today, which apparently has grown to be huge. Should be fun, but might be too much to handle on a regular basis. Might get a CSA box instead of chasing farmers' markets all week.

3) James and I are going to opt out of Christmas stuff this year, and I've booked us a Christmas Day whalewatching cruise! (I snagged the idea from a tweet by seanan_mcguire.)

4) I am having some luck with jobhunt stuff and expect that I'll be working by January.

5) The apartment is ready for the guy to come tomorrow and rewire it, put up walls, etc. James did an AMAZING job ripping out all the walls and fixtures and disposing of all the drywall, etc. I took some photos on his phone, and will share some later.

6) I'm eating better, so I'm feeling better.

7) My family love me.

8) The refinery fire that was making it hard for my kid to breathe wasn't worse.

Lately, we are in a kind of limbo on the issue of home. I mean, we're living with our family, which means we have a home, but we're in their space, which means we don't always feel at home. Partly because of this, or perhaps mainly because of this, we go out driving a lot. If we lived someplace walkable, we'd probably be out walking a lot.

Anyway.

This morning, we got up, ate, got showered, and drove an hour or so to Julian, a local mountain town famous for its apples. They have an apple festival every year, and their apple pies are an iconic San Diego treat. We wandered their main street, checked out their antique shops and other stores, had kick-ass barbecue (the best smoked ribs either of us has ever eaten), and bought some pie and raw cider to take home. I also bought two Georgette Heyer books to take home, from a little bookshop with a chatty owner.

We got there at 10 to a very sleepy town. A little after noon, when we left, it was clear they were just beginning some kind of holiday street festival or something. We happily skedaddled out of there.

After that, James wanted to do some more antiquing, so we went to Ramona, another local town that has lots of little antique malls and shops. They were also having a holiday craft fair in their town hall, which was delightful. I bought TARDIS hair clips and we got some old-timey candy from the antique store. We talked and laughed and admired pretty women and held hands and discovered things.

And I was far away from the place I live, which itself is a temporary lodging.

And I was home.

( What my life is like now )

( What I want my life to be )

Basically, I'm currently mostly happy, and intermittently frustrated/thwarted. It won't last forever, but I'm tired of it.