Some pics from home

Back in San Jose, I am proudly carrying on the tradition of taking tons of photos of everything I do. Why not? I love digital!

My parents getting dinner ready the first night I was back. That's homegrown basil all over the table.

My mom cooking Basil Spaghetti, her signature dish and my all-time favorite. It is tradition in our family to have it on the hottest days of summer. She made it using basil that my dad grew in the backyard. And pleny of parmesean cheese and Italian Sausage....mmmmm.....so good to have familiar tastes again!


My old bed, which my mom did a lovely job of making up for me. You can even see the remnants of my college hippie days on the wall.

The first afternoon I was home, I took a little nap, and this was the view out the window. Sigh....so nice to be out of the city.

The view from my parent's front porch at sunrise. That's Bear on the lawn in the background. The sprinklers turned on him a few seconds after this was taken.

This is one of my mom's 5 cats. His name is Georgie. Notice the blonde streak down his back? One day she was coloring her hair, and Georgie was bugging her, so she smeared some of the dye on his back. Of course he ran away, so she never got the chance to wipe it off. The next day, he was really listless, probably from ingesting the peroxide he had to lick off, and he had a lovely swathe of blonde down his back. I think he would fit in nicely in Seoul.

I've gotten into the habit of getting up early and going for a run/hike in the foothills nearby. It an area I've always loved which holds a lot of memories for me. Being out early is great because its so peaceful and fresh. Where before I used to be annoyed by any other people I would run into, I now find it so wonderful not to be surrounded by crowds everywhere. Plus, folks are so friendly when they are out for a morning stroll.

The meadow at Bel Gatos Park, a place where I spent a lot of hours growing up.

Classic California terrain -- dry grass and green trees. It's my personal favorite vegetation zone. I even love the smell of it.
Ariel view of West San Jose.....exciting....
While driving around Santa Clara near where Andrea lives, I noticed TONS of Korean places. They even have a Norebang, which means singing room. I thought it was funny that they put Karaoke, which is the more familiar Japanese term, so they can attract non-Koreans as well.

My mom giving Maddie a bath.

The day after the London plane bomb plot was discovered, my dad sent me an email that said, "You picked a fine time to travel Lucielle," a reference to the Kenny Rogers song of course. I read the email in the morning, desperately needed to hear the song, realized I didn't have it in my collection, and frantically texted Aaron to see if he had it. Thankfully he did, and handed me his iPOD the second he arrived at work. It's been in my head pretty much ever since.

So last night at dinner I played it for my parents after dinner, and we had a good old time listening to music on my shitty laptop speakers.

My dad learned how to navigate iTunes and discovered my giant music collection. He's rocking out to Aretha here.
So that's my life at home since I got back.....