This and That

Well, in the excitement of Peter's 2-month birthday a few weeks ago, everyone seems to have forgotten about MY birthday on the same day (June 21)! I turned 8 years old, (in people years...not sure what that is in cat years). I think I look pretty much the same as I have for the past 3 years, give or take a pound or so:

But that Peter on the other hand has DOUBLED in size in only 2 months - he's almost caught up to me! Just scroll down to the May 22 entry for a comparison of one day to one month to these pictures of Peter at two months:


His favorite activities have changed as well - Kicking Off of Blankets has moved up to number 3, right behind eating and sleeping. Too big to be effectively swaddled, Peter can now kick off all of his blankets in less than 5 seconds. Which means that with speedy re-blanketing by his concerned parents, he is able to kick off his blankets about 6 times a minute or 360 times an hour. That last number is just theoretical. Erika can only stand about 120 blanket repatriations before she loses it and picks him up to sit on her lap.

In travel news, Peter slept all the way to and from San Luis Obispo, the latest possibility in Erika and Martin's "Buy a Farm" scheme. It has since been scratched from the list for two reasons: land is too expensive (about the same as Sonoma County) and it feels more like Los Angeles than San Francisco. The town of SLO itself was completely charming, but Paso Robles and Arroyo Grande, where the land is, were not very appealing. However, the weekend was not lost because Erika was able to take a very interesting goat cheese making class. Making fresh chevre is EASY! Anyone know where to find raw goat's milk in San Francisco? Stay tuned for Butte County, next weekend's destination.

And of course I can't post a blog entry and not talk about food...Having Martin home for 4 days, due to the 4th of July holiday, made possible a brief but successful Baking Frenzy on Erika's part. Take Two on Esalen's sourdough rye bread recipe produced two near-perfect loaves. Next attempt it will be perfect, Erika is confident. Which is a good thing because Esalen is in serious danger of burning down right now. The fires are raging in Big Sur - it is pretty frightening. The last of the season's cherries went into a cherry and nectarine clafouti that I tried to taste this morning before I was swatted off the dining room table AGAIN. Erika said it was delicious.