Filoli's "Winter Wonderland"

Filoli is a country estate built in 1915 for prominent San Franciscans Mr. and Mrs. William Bourn, whose wealth came from a California gold mine; the house and grounds are now part of the National Trust for Historical Preservation.

Since my curiosity had been piqued by Michael's class trip there this fall to see the migrating butterflies, I decided to go on my own and see the home and its "spectacular nine-day Holiday Traditions event." Richly decorated giant Christmas trees were placed throughout the manor house. Christmas decorations and treats were on sale in every room. I was about 25 years younger than the rest of the crowd, but enjoyed milling about and listening to the Christmas concert held in the ballroom.

After buying a few cards, I sat in the café with a slice of quiche and a cappuccino and made notes on the cross-cultural rhetoric class I observed at Stanford that morning! Lovely way to get in the Christmas spirit.

Laura's Birthday

Two days after Thanksgiving, we gathered again...for my birthday! Was great fun to be surrounded by family.

While Mary and I were enjoying "An Education" at the movies, Tiffany, Bennett and family arrived at Mary and Mark's with their Wii Guitar Hero game. After some music, we all went out to dinner at Fresh Choice, where even the boys were able to fill up with the all-you-can-eat buffet.

Came back to some remote-control helicopter flying and ended with gift-opening and a great Baskin-Robbins cookies-and-cream ice cream cake! Yum, yum. Was all a real treat!

Stanford Tour

Niece Kate and I took a Stanford tour today while Mary met with her research assistant. What a gorgeous university. Sad story about the founder Leland Stanford's 16-year-old son dying of typhoid while on a family vacation in Europe, but what a memorial created in his honor. Tour guide Brian was friendly as he showed two Irish women, an Israeli woman, Kate and me the campus, walking backwards all the way.

Passed my California driver's test

Big accomplishment for the week was getting my temporary California driver's license.

Luckily, I just had to pass the theory exam because I still had my expired Kentucky license. If you only have a foreign license, you have to take the driving exam as well.

Yale Event and the Giant Camera Obscura

Met with my Frankfurt University colleague Peggy for a day in San Francisco. First we went to a Yale Club of San Francisco lunchtime lecture--"One-Moment Meditation" (parking across from the University Club $5 per 20 minutes!).

Then we had lunch at the Cliff House, where she'd had her wedding reception in 1992. The wood panelling was gone and the restaurant had been completely redone, but the California sandwich with shrimp and avocado was excellent!

We were both amazed by the giant Camera Obscura outside, based on a 15th century design by da Vinci and the last remaining structure from the "world-famous" Playland, which used to be on the adjacent beach. The panoramic view of the ocean as seen in the dark room reflected by a mirror on the top was fantastic. Fun day!

Breakfast with Karen & Kevin in from the East Coast

Karen (whom I'd met over twenty years ago--gulp!--when we had just graduated from college and were both working in Germany) was on a belated honeymoon in California with her sporty husband, Kevin.

Was great that we were able to reconnect (the last time was in New York when we toured Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty with 5-year-old Nick) for breakfast at Stacks on Menlo Park's cute main street. Didn't realize my camera was set to video when the nice man volunteered to take a photo of us, but you get the idea!