The Hills, They Are Burning

 

Ok so what we said about the hills, don't take to the hills right now. They are either on fire, about to be on fire or filling with smoke. We woke to the sound of our UPS beeping as it kicked in during a power outage while we were sleeping a week ago. The house was otherwise silent and of course pitch black but I had a bad feeling the outage was due to the storm we'd heard was on the way. Dry lightning is the enemy of anyone who lives on the West coast of Canada or the US. Late summer heat and dryness in the forests makes for a dangerous place for a strike to land. In 2008 we were here for the last dry lightning event in California and it was pretty catastrophic. 

I looked out over the valley saw in in distance some flashes of  lightening and when I stepped outside the dry hot wind kicked up and started to pull on our awning over the deck. The air smelled like sulfur. Joel got up and began manually cranking in the awning which is very difficult without the electric motor. The storm rolled closer and some drops of rain started and I had to run outside to cover the generator with tarps and huge rocks to hold them down dodging flying branches. Our phones lit up with alerts about fires from the storm that had started in Mill Valley, Pt Reyes, Forest Knolls/San Geronimo (very close to us) and I believe there were a few other strikes spots around the Muir Woods side of Mt Tam. Even with the rain starting we knew there was enough build up of dry tinder, these fires were not going to be easy to attack. I sat up with my phone and our wireless hotspot (the only way to get a signal in an outage here because we are just out of regular cell phone company range).  Our local firefighters heroically put out all the fires overnight except for the one in the Pt Reyes National Park which they could not reach. That is the one that is now nearly 3,000 acres and now drawing resources from Montana. 

 A week went by with over 650 fires raging across the state from the lightning event and then we had advance warning of ANOTHER lightning complex coming our way and were advised to be ready to evacuate if a strike were to land near us. So, along with all our friends in the area, we began to organize the plan for evacuation and pack up essentials in the car. A massive Red Flag warning covering most of Northern California was declared. Extra resources started to pour into the state. Luckily when the storm hit it has mostly dispersed at sea and there were just a couple of strikes near existing fires. Our Red Flag was lifted and life returned to our strange normal.  

Fairfax with unhealthy smoke levels still had a concert in the parking lot and diners sitting on patios

It's hazy out there but the sun makes it through. We usually have clear air in the afternoon & evening.

We're so fortunate to have central air conditioning (powered by our solar array) which pulls in fresh air from outside, cools it and then filters it before sending it around the house. Very little smoke gets inside. We had the system updated just a couple of years ago and are very glad we did. It has saved our lungs and sanity the last few years. 

Final Kitchen Reveal

Our kitchen is finally finished and it's time to reveal the before and after photos. First, here's a little glimpse of the day we took possession of the house...

Are you ready? Let's do this

Halloween in a new scene

Let me be completely honest. I've never been much of a fan of Halloween. As a kid I enjoyed dressing up and going door-to-door. My mother made some pretty elaborate home-made costumes and I liked the costumes parades. As I got older I didn't find another part of the tradition to get excited about. Everywhere we lived, once you were old enough to to roam without supervision it was a celebration of playing tricks and more importantly, destruction. It was the day homeowners didn't want to leave their home in the evening because they wanted to be able to call the fire department if someone set their garden on fire. Fireworks and firecrackers whizzed down every street. Some kid always blew their hand off trying to make a mega bomb out of the various fireworks materials and there was often some sordid tale in the newspaper the next day of a cat or dog being killed. Teenagers with baseball bats would be driving up and down our road bashing all the mailboxes off their posts. The day after halloween looked like a post apocalyptic world. Jack-o-lanterns's had been kicked to pulp, burned bushes smoldered to ashes and police tape fluttered over the former windows of whichever store had suffered the worst vandalism.

Now I have my own kids I'm trying to reclaim the fun parts of Halloween for them. This year we decided to venture out in Fairfax with our 2 1/2 year old son. I'd already driven through town a few times during the day and felt this vibe of anticipation and excitement in the air. As we cruised into town that night we observed that every human and pet of every age was in costume. We'd missed the parade this year due to a long nap but it appeared to us that the parade had spilled into every corner. My mother commented that it was more like Mardi Gras than Halloween. The park was lit up and decorated with hay bales and all the restaurants and bars were filled with patrons in full regalia. A main residential street was shut down to traffic allowing all the trick-or-treaters to walk safely from house to house and it wasn't just tiny kids, all ages seemed to participate. The town hall had collected candy in the week before Halloween to help the residents on this street keep up with the volume of trick-or-treaters. Teenagers were out with their friends and their families participating and engaging. It was entirely a different planet from what I was used to. And what a nice surprise. Fairfax, you just might have turned me into a fan of Halloween.

Farewell Fairfax

The move became real this week. The relocation company arrived on Wednesday and they started packing up boxes. The temperature soared into the upper 90s which made the manual labour extremely tiring. Joel and I had to settle on what exactly needed to be in the container going to Singapore (which we won't see till October) and what needed to travel with us for the next six weeks in Canada. Then we sent our furniture and fall/winter clothes up the coast in a truck to be stored in Victoria.

Our good-bye visits this week were both wonderful and sad. We feel incredibly fortunate to have had the chance to build this kind of community and to get live here.  We will miss strolling around Fairfax at night, the live music and great places to eat and all the weird and wonderful characters wandering around. We'll miss all our fantastic neighbours and Delila, our cat friend. I will miss my school and having all my talented classmates around to critique work. I might not miss room 521 though.

We'll both miss all the great people we met through Joel's work and the many great impromptu gatherings we had. California has been great but it's time to adventure again! Thanks for all the great memories, we'll be back one day.

-Stacey

The Bucket List

As our weeks here dwindle away we've been working our way through a bucket list of the things we set out to do before leaving. I took our friends Jon and Christine wine tasting in Sonoma on Friday and enjoyed my final trip to our favourite tasting room at Sojourn. We drove around the headlands and up Mt Tam too.

Joel and I have been out to some new restaurants in the area and in fact haven't really cooked at home much in the last while. Our latest finds that we whole heartedly can recommend are:

123 Bolinas which is at that very address in Fairfax. It's a new wine bar with a small tapas menu and a great selection of wines by the glass or half glass and wonderful cheese plates. Cozy atmosphere and choc full all the time.

Picco in Larkspur has been on my list to try for ages. It's a popular night spot in the neighbourhood for casual fine dining. Our dinner there was fantastic, don't miss it if you're in that area.

Next week we set sail for the legendary Chez Panisse...


-Stacey

Bikes and stuff

I finally got my new road bike in April, The Precious is a Cervelo R3SL equipped with Sram Red. I've got my Quarq power meter in my carbon fibre crank set (on my second one since I wore the one I got last year out) and I've still got my Mavic wheels I bought last summer. So that's my gear geekery out of the way.

I've been riding all winter under the supervision of my coach and started this racing season in February as a Category 3 rider - another jump up from last year. I decided to do mostly stage races this year which are 3-5 days of racing several different stages (like they do in the tour de France). In May I raced in the Sram Tour of the Gila, which was literally in the Wild West of New Mexica. And I did two races in Oregon later on, Mt Hood Classic Stage Race and the Cascade Classic Stage Race.  I placed high enough in those races to earn "upgrade points" and made the jump up to category 2 a few weeks ago!

Now I have to try to not die in the last few races of this season.  Category 1 and 2 riders are often lumped in with the pro riders so this is a whole new and much faster group of riders. Pretty excited to get out there and give it my best though.

-Joel

Our last Summer

It's hard to believe that our time in California is coming to an end in a few weeks! We hosted a farewell party for us as well as five of our friends who are also setting off on international voyages for new jobs. It was our best party yet. Over 70 people showed up who were from all the various groups we've been part of here. We had our friend, DJ Source spinning records all night long, I had a South Indian place cater food and Joel's cycling team had their Sponsor send over a full size keg. We danced the night away and even had a visit from the Fairfax police who were pretty cool about the whole thing.

evening walkabout in Fairfax

evening walkabout, a set on Flickr.

It's hard to imagine leaving here this year. I was out this evening with my neighbour and pro photographer Stacy Ventura just trying to capture the ordinary things along our street and walking trail we take behind our house.

Tea for Two or 25...

I love tea and over the past year I've realized that pretty much everyone we know is a sucker for a fresh scone and a steaming cup. I decided to throw a spring tea party and serve a full English tea spread with finger sandwiches, cakes, Devon cream and of course scones. Nancy and I began searching every Goodwill, Sally Ann and Antique shop we could find for mismatched bone china cups and saucers which eventually yielded an impressive and eclectic set. No two are alike and we're sure they all must have a story. As the day of the tea party neared several neighbours donated teapots, tables and chairs and quite a few friends channeled their inner Julia Child and added wonderful food to the spread. The result was a delicious day of eating and drinking (I think the mimosas might have over-taken the tea). Cheers to a great day in the sun.

An empty house

We've had a steady stream of friends visiting since Joel got back from LA. As my family leaves today and tomorrow we'll back to a house with a population of 2 for the first time since early May. It's been a great summer. We've had many memorable meals here, emptied many cases of wine and the hammock has been in use nearly every day.

Joel and I leave for our short vacation to Europe on Monday with two brief stops in England and then 5 days in Sweden. It's the fastest paced trip I've planned yet, every two days is a full travel day but I'm really looking forward to it. We'll write a few blog posts along the way I'm sure.

Familypalooza continues

While Marcel was bombing around the Fairfax trails and refilling his jug of beer at Iron Springs Brewery, Alan and Adrian were driving down the coast on their way to our house. They stayed at a couple of fine B&Bs and did some father\son bonding. They arrived yesterday a few hours after Marcel took off on his flight back to BC. My mother Susan flew in later that day.

Today is Dad's 60th Birthday! It's a brilliant sunny day (of course) and we're off to brunch in Fairfax.

Q. Where in the world are Joel and Stacey?

A. Sometimes in Fairfax, sometimes in LA

Spring, the season of weekly flights and filming hysteria is upon us. Joel, being the Pennington he is, manages his overtime hours and fits in his cycling training for hours in the wee hours every morning. Around LA. He's not all that fond of the inner city routes but looks forward to the longer weekend rides in Malibu. He also claims that riding "California Screaming" in Disneyland's California Adventure is part of his training. If he's successful at proving this DL will become a haven of athletes. Imagine that. 

I scaled back my school schedule to make room for (drum roll) skating and (another drum roll) a life. I know, frivolous. I got a little burnt out on school in the fall and have diversified my weeks with skating and more regular running. I hired a skating coach here and will begin to work with her tomorrow. I also took a trapeze lesson at a circus school yesterday. So to all the kids that made fun of me when I was too scared to venture up the ladder to the tree-house... try the ladder to the top of the trapeze platform. Fear of heights conquered. Without the use of a trapeze, I fly to LA every other week to see Joel. A schedule we are pretty used to now. 

The Academy of Art is giving me an Associate of Arts degree (AA) in May of this year. It's nice to have that under my belt though I will most likely keep working toward my full degree over the next few years. An ongoing gallery of school projects of mine is growing on Deviant Art

That's all for now! If you're in Victoria, enjoy the snow or buy some really huge patio heaters.

Sometimes life gives you really tasty lemons

It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood. The sun was high in the sky with not a cloud in sight. The chilly morning had finally settled on being an 18 degree afternoon. I dropped our car off at the mechanic shop and headed over to Good Earth natural foods to wait while they changed my headlights. After selecting a gluten-free slice of pizza and a greens drink I found a spot on the patio where I could watch the three (!) mechanics all working on my car gesticulating and shouting loudly enough in Spanish that I could almost hear them from where sat half a block away. Then they got a jack. Apparently I'm not the only one who has trouble changing the lights on this car.

When I showed up to pick up my car the patriarch of the garage sidled over to me with a bulb in his out-stretched hand. "Why? Why they made your car have bulb like BMW?"

I paid for my yuppie-bulbs but as I was turning to leave the mechanic appeared in the doorway again heaving a large box full of lemons "here, you take?"

In the end he made sure I had a grocery bag full of lemons from his tree.

When I got home, the 8 year old boy who lives next door was standing in the driveway with a rake "I'm clearing out your garden" he announced proudly "so you can plant things here." He was indeed clearing out a leaf pile I'd hidden behind the Wisteria.

An hour later the rake was abandoned for dinner time but there was a big dent in the leaf pile. I split my bag of lemons into two and placed the second bag on the doorknob of his house. Above me in the window he and his four year old sister waved to me waved to me gleefully from their seats at the dinner table.

Along comes November

 

 

 

It is finally cool enough that sun-dresses are frowned upon and our flip-flips have retired to the closet. Still, it is sunny nearly all the time and perfect weather for running and cycling.

Joel hired a cycling coach and has just moved up to category 4 elite for this year's competitive season with his eye on sliding into category 3 as soon as he can. His appetite for protein drinks is astonishing.

School has been less than fun this semester. I knew this was going to be rough but I'm at my limit for all-nighters already. I had a painting chosen for the winter art show -- not what I was expecting as a non-painter but other than that I think this has been mostly a survival semester and not particularly useful for portfolio building.

My mother, brother and grannie were down here for a week earlier this month. Everyone seemed to enjoy their time here. They did day-trips around Marin and out to Sonoma and San Francisco. Grannie sat in the sand and waded into the waves like a local. 

We have booked our flights home for the holidays and are eager to see family and friends again. 

September begins

Summer is still here in Fairfax despite the fact that all the kids went back to school a week ago (they go back a week earlier here). A quiet has descended on the neighbourhoods which doesn't match the soaring temperatures and clear blue skies. Thankfully the weather has been kind and most days have been under 40 degrees. On the hot ones I spend the afternoons in the air conditioned library or drive into San Francisco where there is usually a 20 degree drop just before the Golden Gate Bridge.

My semester doesn't begin until the 9th so I have a few more days to pull together my supplies before the storm. Because of the randomness of my transferred credits I have two semesters ahead of me of tough classes that aren't really supposed to be taken concurrently. The good news is I can graduate with an Associate degree in the Spring and begin to look for work here. The end is near!

In other news, Joel had a 4th and a 5th place finish in his last two races. Both were fields of 50 riders and Joel with his small break-away group were able to lose the Peloton miles behind them.

I got back on the ice a week ago after a one year hiatus - the longest break since I could walk. It did all start to come back to me and I can begin to plan a few sessions throughout the fall to get back into skating a bit more. I don't know exactly what I want to do with it at the moment but it sure feels great to be back.

August

I have just wrapped up the Summer semester at school and have four weeks off before the next installment of art madness.

We've been at bike races nearly every weekend as Joel keeps knocking off the requirements to reach the next racing category. These excursions have taken us up and down the state and inland to Lake Tahoe and into Nevada.

When not racing we've spent some glorious days on the beach and picnicking in our area. I've been slowly working up my stamina trail running

We've become pretty involved with our little community. There have been BBQs and impromptu driveway gatherings. Kids bring Joel their bikes for a tune-up when he's outside with the workshop door open and a new neighbour has been sending us loads of veggies from their garden.

We've also taken in town festivals, music down at our local pubs, outdoor movies in the park and are looking forward to seeing Radiohead at the Outsidelands Festival in two weeks time. We also have our first wedding anniversary on the 25th of this month. Hard to believe it was that long ago already.