Happy Holidays

Above: Me with RunningRoommate and her incredibly athletic and sweet border collie mix.

Joy and peace to the world. I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas, and I don't now, but I enjoy all the feelings of goodwill and holiday cheer that people have at this time of year. And yesterday I got to participate in a really neat tradition in the Quicksilver hills behind where I live-- the Quicksilver running club and other running clubs, including Women on the Run (who I joined), run up to the peak in Quicksilver park (about a four and a half mile run all uphill) and everyone brings a biodegradable Christmas ornament which they then hang at the peak. It was cold and raining on and off, so we only sang two Christmas carols and took a few photos, then ran back down to do a potluck breakfast at the bottom. The potluck had hot blueberry soup (I'd never had that before, it's a specialty from Sweden apparently, but it was delicious and warmed me right up) and all kinds of other goodies. I also sampled some Black Muscat, a desert wine that was made by the Jesuit priests who lived in the Quicksilver/Almaden hills decades ago. The label is no longer available (and hasn't been for over thirty years-- it says since 1888 on it though), so that was a very fitting treat (they also apparently had a wine named Angelica that was even better according to one of the old timers there).

My contribution to the ornaments were a variety of flour and salt cookie cut-outs that I made with one of the women from the running club the night before. We added dried beans, sprinkles and food coloring to make them pretty. Check out the blue foot and the cat just to the right of it!

I know I've been delinquent in blog posting, I'm in the process of moving in with RunningRoommate so life is busy, plus I'm working every single holiday so it might be a little while but I'll post a synopsis of the last few weeks and a whole bunch of photos when I catch up.