The beginning of the 61st year
Sep. 18th, 2017 11:45 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ymjoostenIt's time to start a journal again. We will have been at our new home in California for eight weeks as of tomorrow. We're adjusting to living in a new place, meeting new people, and exploring new places. The natural beauty is stunning and makes me glad to let go of the drab DFW landscape. There were some beautiful spots in Dallas and Plano, but the day-to-day living for me was a very artificial and cement-bound existence. I can see a vista that includes mountains and trees from my office window. What a change!!
Tonight I go to my first writing class session. The class is called Writing from Life Experience. I guess now that I'm 60, I should have enough life experience to generate some decent stories. I don't know about that, but I hope I can pull some good descriptions of people out of my head. I've been reading Graham Norton's murder mystery Holding and he shows exactly how good he is at reading people and understanding them. You can see why he's such a good interviewer.
My birthday celebration actually started on Saturday with the family birthday dinner and presents. Danny gave me the book by Graham Norton. Rick surprised me with a trip. We're going on the Star Trek cruise in January. As someone on Facebook said, being stuck on a boat with Karl Urban for a week sounds good! It's not just Karl Urban, but about 20 of the actors from the Star Trek universe. The host is George Takei. He is so cool. I'm so excited!! (Back to the birthday celebration:) Danny and Rick gave me a Princess Cake. It was raspberry filled and it was really tasty.
Sunday, my friends Carolyn and her sister Gayle came from San Rafael. After the house tour, Danny chauffeured us to downtown Lafayette for the annual Arts and Wine Festival. It was lots of fun. We walked around and listened to a rock band while we ate Lumpia and tacos. I had beer and Rick had wine. We found a beautiful vase, some soap, a wine and wine-glass holder that looks like an archery bow, and I found a handbag made of recycled vintage upholstery. I also bought a necklace made in Afghanistan that supports kids going to school. Danny picked us up and we came back for birthday cake (rich and delicious German Chocolate!!) that Carolyn and Gayle brought with them. It was good to meet Gayle and great to see Carolyn.
For someone who just moved across the country, I don't have much to say. Not a very auspicious beginning to my journal, but I plan to use it to talk about class and anything that I'm working on, as well as what's going on here in beautiful Lafayette, California. I'm getting over an infection caused by a spider bite and the antibiotics make me feel really blah! There's also a ton of pollen here and all three of us have been suffering. It makes me a little dull, I'm afraid.
More to come this week!!
Tonight I go to my first writing class session. The class is called Writing from Life Experience. I guess now that I'm 60, I should have enough life experience to generate some decent stories. I don't know about that, but I hope I can pull some good descriptions of people out of my head. I've been reading Graham Norton's murder mystery Holding and he shows exactly how good he is at reading people and understanding them. You can see why he's such a good interviewer.
My birthday celebration actually started on Saturday with the family birthday dinner and presents. Danny gave me the book by Graham Norton. Rick surprised me with a trip. We're going on the Star Trek cruise in January. As someone on Facebook said, being stuck on a boat with Karl Urban for a week sounds good! It's not just Karl Urban, but about 20 of the actors from the Star Trek universe. The host is George Takei. He is so cool. I'm so excited!! (Back to the birthday celebration:) Danny and Rick gave me a Princess Cake. It was raspberry filled and it was really tasty.
Sunday, my friends Carolyn and her sister Gayle came from San Rafael. After the house tour, Danny chauffeured us to downtown Lafayette for the annual Arts and Wine Festival. It was lots of fun. We walked around and listened to a rock band while we ate Lumpia and tacos. I had beer and Rick had wine. We found a beautiful vase, some soap, a wine and wine-glass holder that looks like an archery bow, and I found a handbag made of recycled vintage upholstery. I also bought a necklace made in Afghanistan that supports kids going to school. Danny picked us up and we came back for birthday cake (rich and delicious German Chocolate!!) that Carolyn and Gayle brought with them. It was good to meet Gayle and great to see Carolyn.
For someone who just moved across the country, I don't have much to say. Not a very auspicious beginning to my journal, but I plan to use it to talk about class and anything that I'm working on, as well as what's going on here in beautiful Lafayette, California. I'm getting over an infection caused by a spider bite and the antibiotics make me feel really blah! There's also a ton of pollen here and all three of us have been suffering. It makes me a little dull, I'm afraid.
More to come this week!!
