Elsa in the kitchen

... thought y'all might want to see these photos from the weekend (she was "helping" me cook). And, although you can't tell by these shots, she LOVES her chair - a gift from Oma.

Elsa's readoption

Well, today, Elsa officially became a U.S. citizen. In order for that to happen, I had to re-adopt her in California State court (I adopted her already in the Ethiopian courts).

It was a momentous, joyous, peaceful, fun event.

Not.

Elsa cried pretty much the whole time, except when she was screaming. I am not exaggerating - poor Oma, who was there to witness it all, will tell you it is true.

Here's how Elsa feels about the experience:


And in case you couldn't tell from that shot, here's a another one:


Sigh.

Ah well, at least it's officially done. Many thanks to Oma for the help and support, and the Elsa transport afterward!

A Creative Christmas

Kate arrived from Austin, Texas with a suitcase full of goodies for all of us. I received three wonderful creative gifts, two waterlily paintings she had done last Fall and a beautiful inlaid bowl that she found in Austin. I found frames for the paintings today and here is my bounty.

Fun day around Mount Tam with Elsa, Porter, and India

dec27_2008 Click on photo to see the whole album from our day.

A festival of velour, 1979-ish

A festival of velour, 1979-ish
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Memories! Boy did we ever love velour v-necks! I'd kill to have that hair again, not a single grey strand in there.

Merry merry!

camels

camels
Originally uploaded by pamplemousse2007

Spotted this funny sign on Austin's Sixth Street this weekend.