Dear Allan,

Happy birthday, sweetheart. I find it easier to write to you rather than about you, though even you'd find it strange that I would write a letter to eyes that would never see it. However, you, better than anyone else, knew I was a few cards short of a full deck, so it should come as no surprise. You loved me unflinchingly, without reservation, and fully accepting of all my flaws. I miss you every day. You knew I would.

You should be 23 today. Instead, you...

We're heading off to Canada next friday to spend Christmas with my family. My large, well meaning but smothering family. Two weeks of family gatherings, Christmas after Christams, plans we didn't make and won't know about until they're sprung upon us, it really will be a nightmare for Sou and the girls. I'm used to it all, but it's certainly quite different to what they're used to. My mother's side of the family is quite large and overly friendly. They're the kind of people that really do mean well,...

I wanted to give a shout out to a bunch of books I've read recently. Well, I wanted to write up a post reviewing each one, but that turned out to be overly ambitious given other constraints on my life, and they're due back at the library already. So here's the brief shout:

The Future Eaters, by Tim Flannery. Ecological history of Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and New Caledonia. Fascinating, takes in a broad sweep from the break-up of Gondwana through to recent human impacts,...

It looks like I have a lot of reading and commenting to do.

I just bought my husband the coolest book for Christmas. It's Frank Lloyd Wright in Pop up. It's full of popup buildings, it's soo cool I also furthered my gargoyle and egyptian cat collection. Hooray for "antique" stores.

Also..we've finally figured out what's wrong with my car. The whole entire hybrid system is shot. Now I'm 500 miles short of the end of the electrical system's warranty,...

Ok, because I'm a dork, I forget to come back and check for comments here. Thank you all for your kind comments about my adventure list! I keep coming up with additional adventures, but I'm trying to let them be for now. Once I get through the 30X30 challenge, maybe I'll figure out a solution for that!

I'm thinking that I will get my nerve up to go to the Audubon meeting in December and see if I can tag along on the Christmas Bird Count this year. Fingers crossed that I can make...