At Last!

I really need to learn how to make my photos larger in Blogger. This one is much cuter larger. Anyway. I finally downloaded a bunch of pictures. I will resist my usual urge to post them all at once and stretch them out...

Anyway, here's a cutie little guy down at Lake Merritt, looking all woodland and Little Red Riding Hood and all that. I just want to pick him up and snuggle him! But I don't want rabies on top of everything else, so he'll just have to remain cute and snuggly from a distance.

Not much going on. I started a book last night but it's really not what I'm looking for, so I think I'm going to read The Crystal Cave next for OUAT3. I don't think I've ever read it; at least, not all of it. I may have started it a time or two. I love all things Arthurian and I know this is a well-respected series (I think?) so let's hope it's good!

I am also trying to find a good straight-up old-school fantasy book, which I don't usually read. I've never read Piers Anthony, so maybe one of those, and I've always heard that the Earthsea novels are great (and I love Ursula LeGuin) so I might try those, although I like to start from the beginning and I'm not sure which is the first novel. I thought about choosing it on the cover alone, a la Kate (in her Unbuttoned Yet Tucked In series) -- my criteria would be that it would have to have a dragon, a sword, and possibly a castle in the distance. But definitely a dragon. But when I went to the library to try this method out, I just couldn't resign myself to the dismally bad stories. So I'm looking for recommendations.

I haven't been baking much lately and I miss it. I felt like I was using baking as a stress-reliever, which is fine and all, except that I was eating altogether too much sugar and it was really making me fatigued. I haven't been eating much sugar lately and I really notice the change -- I can actually wake up in the morning! But I do miss the baking. I wonder what's to be done about this dilemma?

Life with Valcyte continues to be challenging, but Terri is a trooper and we're halfway done (yay!!). We are relying on lots of books, lots of movies, lots of foot massages and good food. We manage to get out once a week or so and wander around the drugstore or go visit the birds at the lake (just a few minutes away), and it's not too bad. But it's not me that's taking the Valcyte! I actually get to go to work and stuff. For Terri I know this is really an agonizing process, and she's stuck at home all the time. I admire her strength and grit. I do wonder how she'd be doing if she weren't on it (since she was doing some better after Christmas but before we started on the Valcyte), but we'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, thank God for Netflix and the library.