Gene's got a bun in the oven...

In the last couple months Gene has expanded his baking repertoire beyond homemade pizzas. Here is his latest rustic whole wheat bread.

Appreciated by Gene, Jann...and their visiting friend, Matt Wedel. His other recent masterpiece was green onion pop-overs.Jann's contribution was an apple pandowdy, made for for Valentine's Day.

Our one-day cat

A while back we were followed home by an orange cat. Alas, its (very grateful) owner picked him up the next day.

Here our cat friend inspects our apartment.

And has a snack.I am pretty wary of cats, despite our visitor's friendliness. Then I warmed up..and gave in. The next day Gene found a poster for him, contacted the owner, and "Queso" our feline friend went home.

Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree, before and after adornment.

We topped the tree with a kagami mochi, a gift from Hideko-san, Jann's graduate student colleague from the University of Nagoya, Japan.

Phasmid

Outside our doorstep the other night was this fantastic insect, a walking stick. Alas, it turns out that it is probably one of a large population of escaped pets or laboratory specimens that are becoming common throughout California.

Fungus Fair

Ah yes, the Fungus Fair! The Oakland Museum of California held its yearly Fungus Fair in December and we went. Jann prompted this excursion and Gene came along. He sure was a fun-guy. Ha, ha. :)

There were cooking demonstrations, specimen exhibits, a faux forest with real fungus (see below), and and eerie blue light from Gene's camera.

Election Night

While among friends, we watched with elation as the election numbers came in on November 4th. What a proud day for Americans.

The same night, however, the passage of Proposition 8 in California made us not so proud. A week later there was a peaceful protest by Berkeley citizens (and thousands of others around the state, country, and world) for "No on 8." Jann was proud to be part of it and in good company with the ministers and many members of the Unitarian Universalist (UUCB) community.

Palace of the Legion of Honor

In October, we had a car for the weekend and, while driving through San Francisco, began discussing the Palace of the Legion and Honor and the Palace of Fine Arts. Neither of us knew the difference between them. So we drove through Golden Gate Park to the Palace of the Legion of Honor. It is beautiful, has a fantastic museum, and one of Rodin's Thinkers. Ah, adventures!