I Think I Might Be Back

Yes, I realize that I haven't updated my blog in over 7 months.  The last time I posted, I had finished my Mother's Day Mother Daughter Tea and in a blink of an eye, the Holiday Mother Daughter Tea is in just two days away.  This after noon, I went shopping for the tea.  I have 72 people coming.  The Meeting Room wall are decorated, tomorrow, with the help of teen volunteers we will get the tables set up, cups out and washed, cutlery wrapped in napkins, tables decorated, party favors set out and the craft bagged.  Oh yeah, I still need to cut out 20 pyramid boxes and punch out some more gold stars.  The craft will be a Christmas Tree Treat Box decorated with a gold pipe cleaner for garland and jewels.  I call this the Zen Holiday Tree Craft because the guests will need to use liquid glue and patiently wait for the glue to set on each step before continuing on to the next step.
Tomorrow night, I will need to practice folk tales.  I found a cute gypsy story--well actually the story I found was a thumbnail story--to tell it I will need to flesh it out.  I think I will have fun with this.  I also have a Native American tale that I will tell as well.  There is a third story--Snow Child--that I may or may not tell.
Last year, I thought I might skip the story telling part of the Tea but then I got a couple of e-mails telling me how much people enjoyed the stories.  So much for skipping the stories.  Once again, I briefly considered not having any stories, I have a young harpist that will be performing but I got a couple of other e-mails about storytelling.  But I think I can get by with the two stories.
I can't believe that this will be the 8th tea that I am hosting.  I host the tea to honor my mother who is a rather fantastic woman.

My Sunday

Today was one of those relaxing days that don't come very often.  In the morning I took a short drive to Pasadena for a lox bagel on Lake Avenue.  After breakfast, I walked to Colorado Avenue to check out the Ferrari show.  I followed that up by spending a few hours at the Norton Simon museum.  Not too shabby for a Sunday afternoon.

Yum!

When I came home Friday, I found that the maintenance man for the complex had left me a little bag of fresh catnip.  He sees the boys out on the balcony or in the window sometimes and thinks that they are beautiful.  Last month, I brought him some tax forms from the library, so he brought the boys the catnip, to return the favor. 

I opened the door holding the bag and immediately it seemed the cats knew something was up.  I got a leaf out and gave it to Sasha.  Sasha took his leaf and started rolling around. 

 

Misha looked at Sasha and thought hey what's happening?  I had his leaf out ready to go.  Then he looked at me, and I got this photo.

Here he is licking his chops waiting for his catnip.  This afternoon, I gave them each another leaf, this time they promptly ate them without much ado.  However, this evening Sasha did go over to his catnip mouse.  He seemed to be telling me that it would be a good idea for me to fill the mouse-tummy back up with the good stuff.  What can I say, I guess I am an enabler. 



 

Daylight Savings Time

I'm a fan of Daylight Savings Time.  I like long summer days and being able to do things after work in the daylight.  One of my fondest summers was spent in Europe.  The summer started, I took the train from Beijing to Moscow.

 In Moscow, my friend and I went to the Moscow Circus.  At 10:00 pm when we exited the Circus, we were over joyed to realize that we still had enough daylight to leisurely get back to our hotel.  After a few days in Moscow, I boarded a train with my then boyfriend for Estonia which is closer to the Artic Circle and has White Nights.

In the evenings, Urmas would come around, pick Arvi and me up, and take me on tours. The first time, he came around at about 10:00 pm and suggested we head out.  He laughed when I said that we wouldn't be able to see much.  We ended up coming back after sunset which was well after 2:00 am.  I stayed in Estonia for about a month and then took the ferry to see some friends in Sweden.  After Sweden, I spent another 8 weeks in Europe traveling where my whims took winding my way back to Estonia. 
As much as I loved the summer in Europe, I don't think I would have been able to last a winter where daylight only debuts for a brief period each day.  I had a hard time my first year in Japan living up north.  In the winter, the sun sets at about 3:30 pm and is full on night by 4:00.  Japan at that time did not have Day Light Savings Time and there are no time zones in the country either because is longer than it is wider.  However, I did notice a difference in Western Japan where we had longer days.  Also conspicious was the rising sun at about 4:00 in the morning.  Many a summer night, I would bike home in daylight after finishing an evening out at Mac Bar. 

After leaving Japan, I spent time in Hawaii which also does not have Daylight Savings Time.  The days are longer in the winter than on the mainland, but the summer days are shorter.  Of course, I loved Hawaii and would love to go back, DST or not.  But one of the highlights of moving to Southern California was that once again I would get long summer days.  Today, I joyously gave up my extra hour.  I changed my clocks over as soon as I got home yesterday to mentally get myself ready for change.  I woke up this morning, ready to enjoy the day.  Today just happened to the be the first springlike day after the latest winter storm that brought chilly temps.  I am so looking forward to this summer, where I won't have to spend 40 minutes in the car after work.