Found

My backyard has just acknowledged the official start of autumn coming up this weekend. My trees are so smart!

Vast Variety of Virgos

Now that the Virgo birthdays in my family have come to an end we can all catch our breath and plan for the normal spacings of birthdays. August/September in my family is a whirlwind of Virgos, more Virgos per square inch than any other group.


This is Virgo MMniece with her two kiddles, the littlest of which is also a Virgo.

These gorgeous identical twins are the Virgo daughters of MMnephew. They just turned 3!

Here's Virgo MMnephew with one of his Virgo daughters

Here's Virgo MMsister with the littlest Virgo. The littlest Virgo just turned 1!

Here's Virgo MMbrother-in-law with the littlest Virgo.



Now the great part of all these virgos is the sheer number of MMfamilial gatherings, this year topped off by the suprise party for MMbrother-in-law, who suspected nothing, though I believe he was seriously contemplating divorce by the time MMsister got him to the party. MMfamily, not really well schooled in the fine art of lying, had a wild time keeping the stories straight and piling lies and excuses one on top of the other. MMherself had to figure out how to sneak down to the Bay Area without MMbro-in-law knowing which wasn't easy considering they live 4 blocks from me. Whee, I can safely say MM and family are full of cake and kids and parties and everyone can settle down for a bit.

September 11th

Cruisin'

Last Wednesday I worked my last day at the South Lake Tahoe office I have been temping in since July. (Did I ever think to take my camera....umm...no)

Some things I will miss:

Watching the sun creep up over the mountains in Carson City as I drive along the ridge of my neighborhood out to the highway.
The “bear crossing” signs along the top of Spooner Summit...these make me smile for no reason
The glimpse of Spooner Lake as I head down the Summit into Tahoe. Awesomely serene.
The first breathtaking view of Lake Tahoe as you round the corner of Highway 50. Big and Blue.
Cave Rock...it’s the coolest thing. You drive through it.
The sweet, clean morning air filtering through evergreens as I drive through Zephyr Cove.
The glimpse of mountain cabins and houses along the way into South Lake.
The open meadow that leads the eye to the view of the high rise casinos that are South Lake Tahoe...looks like a miniature city plopped down in the mountains.
The sign for Heavenly Valley ski resort that just says “Heavenly” which is a fairly accurate description.
The meandering ease of Pioneer Trail, which is a welcome backroad, rather than the drive through all of South Lake.
A wonderful ranch just before Al Tahoe Blvd, where I turn, where there is a large white barn and a huge meadow where you will see white horses grazing. The first time I noticed this, in the early morning hours, struck me as a dream or the setting for a fairy tale.
A one hour commute with maybe 5 stop lights and time for a full CD to play.
This view from my work space:



I won’t miss getting up at the crack of dawn to travel there. I won’t miss the increasing congestion of traffic as the summer wore on. I most certainly won’t miss all three huge road construction projects that gave off a badly designed video game vibe. I won’t miss the sticker shock at the pump.

Not that I won’t travel to South Lake many times more...it’s just that the likelyhood of doing it at 6:30 in the morning is pretty slim. For being such a cranky pants morning person I am suprised at how much I looked forward to this early morning ride. Beautiful. It’s why I live here.

I was rewarded with an easy office to work in and an office staff that was helpful, appreciative, and nice. They gave me this as a parting gift. Sweet, huh?

By Summer's End?

MMspouse asked me a few days ago "So, when does the snow melt completely?"
Um....maybe September???


Highway 89, August 25, 2006...Still a bit of snow up there.