co-housing, exes, and flooring

This dream finds me (and my boys) living with my exes from Portland. The dream is mostly about the logistics of the four adults remodelling the house (the flooring is a contentious issue), but some of it deals with the renewed pseudo-romantic relationship between me and my exes. The dynamics haven't changed that much in my dream, except that now I'm strongly partnered with someone else and somewhat immune to the distance and inconsistency I felt with L while sie was with M.

Likely triggers for this dream: late night conversation about co-
housing in a non-monogamous context, and recently hearing that my exes are expecting.

Vacation

Reno was a nice, but brief visit with my older, little sister. I feel
like I haven't been there for her much, considering all the times
she'd drive me somewhere when I was a kid.

I would have stayed longer, but she was really slammed with work and I
did not want to be a nuisance. It turns out my departure preceded snow
on the Donner pass by twelve hours or so. Motorcycles don't do snow
well, so the timing worked out for me.

I made it back to SF just in time for a massage from (and visit with)
my oldest friend, S.

Thursday I departed with my good friend, K, for Harbin hotsprings. We
set up our sleeping bags on the deck, and got in the hot water for
what seemed most of the night, but ended up being just a couple of
hours. The kitchens there don't allow meat (except eggs, about which K
and I debated the status of), so we ate fairly light the whole visit,
except for the ten pounds of oatmeal I ate for breakfast on Friday. I
am incapable of cooking breakfast for two normal humans, apparently.

Time seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time while at
Harbin. Sleeping under the stars for just the second time in my life
that I can remember, the hugeness of the sky struck me, and it felt
good to feel small. Spending the time with K was great, and I wish
there were more opportunities for events like that.

I rounded out my time off with my first apple pie from scratch, but
failed to add xanthan gum to the whole wheat flour, which resulted in
a funky-bready crust. Lesson learned!

Vacation: accomplished.

SF to Reno: the olfactory experience

I decided that I'd rather visit my sister in Reno with my vacation
than exhaust myself bicycling around Marin (my butt has been really
really unhappy with my saddles of late in any case). Fortunately, my
boss is also an awesome friend and graciously allowed me use of her
Triumph Bonneville America for the duration of my vacation, in
addition to insisting I take the week off in the first place. Moto
trumps driving for me. It provides a much richer experience,
especially for the nose!

Starting in SF around noon, I was treated to what smelled like a large
collection of fish sitting out in the sun. Is there an underground
fishmarket set up in the bowels of the bay bridge? The smell started
just before the bridge starts and carried half way to treasure island.
What gives?

I'll not attempt to describe the ebmud water treatment plant in Oakland.

Things remained relatively boring through Davis, where the aggies
really earn their name. I don't usually notice the bovine aroma, so it
must have been a special day. Sac provided river-tree smells,
surprisingly refreshingly.

Auburn and surrounds had that distinctive foothilly dirt-in-late
summer smell, giving way to the crisp, thin chilly air of donner, with
sprinkles of evergreen scents.

A distractingly tarry construction site interrupted an otherwise
lovely descent, into the Reno desert and the muddles smells of greed,
hope, and despair.

Congratulations Finland!

Winners of the first-ever eurovision dance competition!

And condolences to Switzerland, the only team to score no points
whatsoever.