Ees been long time..! I mostly attribute absence of more recent posts to the monotony of the typical Bay Area lifestyle. The grind is more coarserer than the coffee grind A coffee grinder at least yields flavorful coffee powder, but the daily bay area grind( if you're still relatively new to the grind- like I am) will leave your head spinning like a roller coaster at the end of the day.
The last few months have indeed been a whirlwind. Starting from the hubby's birthday in early May when I planned a surprise weekend getaway. The hubby didn't know where we were headed and was merely following the GPS directions as I was purring demured flirty lashes in anticipation of the weekend romance. The well controlled sensuality in the air was rudely interupted by the sound of a clang, clash and wow---did we fly in our sets! The seat belts showed an amazing display of their functionality as they tried their best to hold us back and mostly succeeded, but at the last minute I guess they wanted drama too! So they let us jump in our seats for a little bit! That completely startled my cozy day dream and my feline instints were completely aroused. Like a cat being rudely disturbed from eating her cream and licking her lips, the cat almost jumped out of her skin! By the time we recovered composure and the mind told that body that our car was jilted, I realised the romantic aura I was trying so hard to build up, had vanished in a jiffy like the genie from Alladin's lamp! The next sight we saw of our dear hybrid sent shockwaves through the hubby's eyes- complete rear damage with no equivocations- denting at the most genteel curves on the rear, malfunctioning alarm lights that went blink, blink, no blink for 40 secs and then blink again, deep cracks and legs splits that generously showed the underlying skirt at the rear- on the whole not a very pretty sight. The eyes first opened up in dis-belief, refused to accept what it saw, and then as slowly realization dawned, welled up with tears copious attributed mostly to the damage of the budding weekend romance and less to the mangled state of the hybrid. The hubby was mostly encountering the lady that bumped us and she seemed to unashamedly declare her fault and promised her insurance would pay for all the damage. I was tempted to ask her if she could do something that could make whatever that happened un-happen and return the tranquil romantic air I was trying to build up. To cut arguments and words in short the bumpee promised the bumped that her insurance would pay for damage and rental car- so that was sorted. As I tried my best to salvage what was left of the romantic air, the hubby loudly exclamied, "Man- now I cannot drive in the car pool lane till the car gets fixed!" So we were both antsy for different reasons. Anyway, the drama had only begun - not wanting the mishap to dampen the weekend mood, we rented another car ASAP and began the drive to the holiday destination. Unknown to the hubby a really cool and cozy bed and bfast was booked at ppst--Calistoga! Knowing the hubby loves massage, I'd even booked a couples massage! So again dreaming about the wonderful weekend we were going to ahve, the hotel person called me up and told us she was willing to refund the money for the weekend because the air conditioning in the room I'd booked wasn't working! Talk of bad luck in a row!!! Gosh!! But not wanting the malfunctioning air conditioning to dampen the birthday spirit, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge into Calistoga minus the air conditioning. The B & B was perfect charmante!! It was everything I'd seen online and heard about and more! The hostess- was round and smelt of baked cakes. If Mother Goose were to take a human form, it would'nt look a hair different from Darla ! She was rotound and spoke in a distinct village lingo. To top it all, there was a samll doll-like Mother Goose in the garden. The cottage was perfect- called the Redwood Cottage was done up in reds and greens and was mildly pine scented. The hot tub was powerful and had a therapeutic effect when turned on. The absence of air conditioning was mildly compensated with 3 different fans in different directions. One ceiling fan and two table fans operating to maximum turned efficiencies trying their best to dissipate the heat that felt like it was emanating from the very mattress in waas turned towards! Anyway, that was the end of a highly dramatic and unexpected day packed with rushing tyres, loud hyperbole, soaring temperatures and dampening plans. Alls well that ends well..there is nothing more well in the world than cuddling up to the person you love and sleeping in his arms. It works a lot better than 3 ceiling fans and air conditioning put together!!!