Home for the Holidays - in Sunny San Diego

Being home was terrific. I got some wonderful family time in and was able to see most of the friends I'd wanted to see. I went to La Jolla Cove the day after Christmas with my friend Megan, and it was a great day for it - clear and windy. It's also harbor seal pupping season. If you look closely, the smaller lumps on the beach are the pups.

See, I told you it was windy.

Those are pelicans on top of the rock.

Here's a different kind of pup - my parents' golden retriever, Jackson Blue, with the remnants of a duck toy in his mouth.

As great as it was to be home, I did miss the cold. After having breakfast with some friends, I walked two miles to the Natural History Museum to catch up with friends. (Not having a car is so much easier in Boston...) I'd misplaced my sunglasses and was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. It was too hot and too sunny. Back in Boston, while I was waiting for Greg to pick me up from the airport, I stood outside, just to feel the crisp cold air again. I really like it here in Boston.

Can you see the geese prints in the snow? It hasn't snowed since New Year's and the snow has melted and refrozen a bit, so there's ice on the top. Some of the oak leaves were in the ice, too. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but some ice froze around the leaves. The effect is that there's nothing on top of the leaves, but if you pick one up, you see that there's ice around it, and a leaf print is left over. I didn't even try to photograph it, but I will next time. There's a 100% chance of snow tonight. It's supposed to snow from 8pm tonight to 11am tomorrow, dropping 3-7 inches of snow; I can't wait. It strikes me that San Diego rarely gets a 100% chance of precipitation. I always say that San Diego can't commit to bad weather. Well, Boston sure can, and I love it. I drove Greg to the airport last night, with his car. He went to Orlando to run the Disney World Marathon, so he can qualify for the Boston Marathon in April. The streets were plowed and there isn't much snow left on the ground, except in parkways and gutters. When I got home and parked the car - I mean, when I pahked the cah - I crunched up against the few inches of snow/ice on the edge of the street. It makes a grinding crunchy sound, which is perfectly acceptable here. This takes some getting used to for me, because if you are parking your car in San Diego, any grinding, crunchy noise is bad news.