busy busy busy

My brother Dave is visiting me and we've been go go going non-stop since he landed. It's good- I'm preoccupied. I've put all the paperwork on hold while he's here (I hope I don't regret it in the long run) and I honestly haven't spent too much time on the "spiral of sadness" lately, though I'm definitely having my moments when I'm alone with my thoughts. It's really been fun having Dave here- since he lives in the U.P., there's a whole lot of new, novel things for him to discover out here.

We rallyed out to Point Reyes later on yesterday afternoon, got out there just in time for a nice sunset.  The light was incredible (and I know- these photos don't even come close to doing it justice...sorry, I've been in "just a snapshot" mode).  The waves were rockin' and the weather wasn't really cold at all (strangely).  Dave was blown away...and honestly, Point Reyes never gets old for me.  It was Eileen's most favorite place in the Bay Area.  One of her new year resolutions a couple years back was to go out there at least once a month- and of course, she did.

One of our main motivators for any outing is food. You know that Anthony Bourdain show where he goes around to all types of areas and samples the food? Well, I feel like one of the local guides from the show. "Here Dave, try this....". Pretty funny. Thankfully I haven't offered any misses yet. Eileen and I had been wanting/trying to get Dave out here for years but it never could happen for myriad reasons. Depressing as hell that Eileen is not here to share in the experience, but I'm trying to hit all the activities that we always aimed to show Dave. "oh...Dave would flip if he saw this!" or "Dave has gotta try this food some day!".

Knock on wood, it's been uncanny how well everything has been going- traffic has generally been favorable, we always seem to luck out and snag a good parking place, wait times at restaurants have been great, the weather has cooperated despite the forecast sensationalizing a little bit of rain. I even got excused from jury duty on monday without having to wait around for hours!! Maybe Eileenium's energy is surrounding me, or maybe I'm cashing in on some karma or something. Whatever, I'll take it. I need even small things to go my way for a bit. A guy can only take so much.

I'm not completely freaked about this, but I've pretty much killed everything in our garden and many of the flowers and plants that Eileen worked so hard to nurture. Things had been so nutty and then, just before Dave arrived, I finally noticed how the yard was looking. Heavy sigh....I feel terrible since Eileen always liked when the yard was looking nice and pulled together. The garden is a huge mess right now- I haven't harvested any of the tomatoes or cukes or basil. Every time I'm playing ball with Red, he brushes up against the giant mass of tomato plants and gets all sticky. I'm mad at myself for not keeping up with it, but I'll definitely get it sussed out eventually.

That's one thing I've been thinking about a lot lately; the fact that Eileen and I were a great team as far as keeping the house running well and keeping life and everything managed. Now, it's just me alone having to make sure Red and the cats are taken care of, the yardwork is ongoing, the bills get paid on time, etc. So far so good...well, except for the plants and a few other things....ah...um, well, let's just say I'm working on it and it's gonna take some time to get into a groove.

I need to quit eating out so much and try to cook for myself. I used to do it all the time, but when me and Eileen got together, she took over almost all of the cooking duties (thankfully!). I miss her cooking so much! Luckily I have a ton of her recipes and notes. I hope to get myself back up to speed with cooking...maybe I can get well versed with our old favorites at least. The other day I found some of her home made lentil soup in the freezer. It was surreal to find that gift from her and it sure was tasty. Had a bit of a moment while enjoying that meal.

I'm hoping that Red handles it ok when I go back to work. He used to have it pretty good; E would leave for work by 7am, meanwhile I would be out with Red for an hour or so before heading to work myself...usually right around 9 or thereabouts. (the beauty of living close to work!). Then, E would get home between 3:30 or 4-ish, so Red didn't ever have too much time on his own. I'd hate to have to send him to doggy daycare. I'm thinking, at least at first, I'll come home for lunch to let him out and give him some love. One of those things where all I can do is say "we'll see....", and do my best.

Ok gotta go show Dave some more stuff (and eat more!)...that's all for now.