Friday night John and I went to the San Francisco Zoo for a special members only evening. We watched keepers feeding the African elephants corn on the cob, and bananas, and small watermelons that cracked open with a sickening splat. The elephants loved it all. We could have gone into a few of the animal houses to see where the keepers prepare their charges' food and medicine, which we've done in the past, but we arrived a bit late and we really wanted to see the new meerkat exhibit. Alas, it was almost sunset and the meerkats had retired to their burrows before we ever got there. We'll have to go back. There's a prairie dog exhibit as well, and the petting zoo has the cutest guinea pigs and rabbits housed together.
We walked around looking at snakes, turtles, chinchillas, owls, and a leopard gecko as well as our usual favorites. We had pretzels and lemonade for dinner (shhh, don't tell our moms). It was nice to be there in the off hours although there was a pretty sizeable crowd. We saw the plans for the renovaton of the zoo, and it's going to be gorgeous and mostly cage-free by 2003. I'm especially looking forward to the African savannah and the Lemur forest.
Saturday morning I got up at the crack of dawn so Denise and I could get to Filoli when it opened. Gardening enthusiasts, read all about it here. The rest of you may continue down the page.
I hate Berkeley. I really do. I always get lost there. It doesn't matter how early I leave my house, I'm always late to wherever I'm going in Berkeley. I don't go to the East Bay much even though I have friends over there. It's bad enough dealing with peninsular traffic. Bridge traffic is such a nightmare that I build in an extra hour now for getting from 101 just north of the airport to the Bay Bridge no matter which part of the peninsula I start from. An hour to go 12 miles. That's really sad.
Nonetheless, I went to Berkeley after I got back from Filoli. Beth and Sabs had invited me to a barbeque. I've read Beth's diary for over a year, and we'd talked on the phone, but I needed to make the effort to get to her side of the bay because she doesn't drive and where I live isn't accessible by BART. I'm glad I went, despite the enforced hell of stop and start traffic. We had a great time, and talked for ages. I met some of their friends. It was a nice day to be eating al fresco, and there was enough food for an army. I brought blackberry wine, but nobody was drinking alcohol so I had rootbeer instead. It was a charming way to spend an evening.
But I still hate Berkeley.
Today I have done nothing but nap, read, and lie on a heating pad. Yes, after nearly four months I got my period again. Boy, it was great not having one for so long. I've hated the process since it first started. It's messy, it's painful, it interferes with my thinking process, and it's completely unnecessary since I never wanted children. The first time my period was late last year I was concious of a sadness coupled with utter joy: if this is happening to me it is an unmistakeable sign of middle age, but how freeing to know it won't be long (relatively) until I don't have to deal with mess and pain on a monthly basis. For the first time being middle aged started to sound good.
Though I must tell you that my vanity is still slightly wounded at the idea.
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