nisene marks adventure walk

that's right. we had an adventure walk today through the forest of the nisene marks state park. we don't know what the name nisene marks means, but we like it. this is what it looks like in the afternoon sun:


this forest is the home of the epicenter of the destructive 1989 loma prieta earthquake (occasionally, and erroneously, known as the san francisco earthquake of 1989), and is a short 15 minute drive from our house. perhaps you remember it as the earthquake that rocked the bay area during the world series in 1989, when the oakland a's were playing the san francisco giants. the greater bay area experienced significant damage, including the collapse of a portion of the bay bridge, seen here:

while the destruction closer to san francisco was well known, the epicenter of the earthquake was in the heart of this quiet redwood forest in santa cruz county. according to our book "The Santa Cruz Mountain Trail Book," there are areas in the forest where one can find deep fissures in the ground and gaps in the fencing where the earth lurched forward. we didn't find these geographical landmarks. we did, however, find this:

our hike in nisene marks gave us an outstanding opportunity to take our new christmas binoculars for a test drive:

it was also a great opportunity to catch up with our old army buddy joe, who helped guide us along the banks of aptos creek:

krumkaka

marta demonstrates the making of swedish krumkaka (a rolled cookie) to the music of sweden's own peter, bjorn, and john:




krumkaka made backwards (pb&j are still forwards):

christmas card

some of you have been busy! our mailbox was full of christmas cards when we got home. we were overcome with the requisite amount of guilt, as we didn't send any cards. we were also warmed by your glad tidings, naturally. thank you for thinking of us.

if we had sent a christmas card, it probably would have looked something like this:

we're back

for home security reasons we didn't mention our christmas holiday in the midwest, but now that we are back safe and sound in santa cruz we can share some of the highlights. we will spare you most of the details, but a grand time was had and christmas magic abounded.

the first leg of our trip brought us to the scott family's home in plymouth, wi. we donned our best holiday aprons to make cookies, played in the snow, and celebrated the birth of jesus. everyone was there, and it was lovely.

here is a taste of scott family apron magic:
and a picture of scott family snow time:


for the second half, we visited the staple family's home in grand haven, mi. we walked on the frozen beach, had a tea party (for girls only), and ate, and ate, and ate. everyone was there, and it was lovely.

here is a glimpse of the frozen pier in grand haven:
and here is a picture of some of the members of the staple family:


when the eating, celebrating, and playing was over, we got in the rental car and headed back to o'hare for some prolonged airport time. the weather was ever changing during our visit to the homeland. at times throughout the trip, we experienced 40 mph winds howling in the middle of the night, windchill in the single digits, driving rain, heavy snow, thick fog, and sunshine. it was glorious.

here is a snapshot of the road conditions near holland, mi on december 28:

we had a great time, and now we're glad to be home. we hope you all had a warm and happy holiday season!

my new nose

that's all. i have nothing really to say.

not much to blog about

i am sorry to those of you who check our blog periodically only to find that there hasn't been much new for the month of december. i could say that it has been the minor changes that we've made to our website, but that would really be a lie. there just hasn't been a ton to blog about. what can i say?  october and november were big blog months.  the first half of december, not so much.

michigan hired a new football coach today, rich rodriguez. he was the head coach of west virginia until this morning when michigan snagged him away. coincidentally, eight months ago michigan hired a new basketball coach, stealing him away from the wv mountaineers as well. michigan v. west virginia is going to become quite a rivalry without any sporting events even being played between the two schools. i guess the score stands at michigan 2, west virginia 0. i'm cautiously optimistic about the rich rodriguez era. he runs a very exciting spread option offense, and with the talented players that michigan recruiting has access to, it could make for a very explosive unit. i think it will be a very exciting season next year.

ok. so that wasn't much of a post, but it counts as something.

under constrution

we are doing some updating of our website (davidandmarta.com). there will be some outages of service over the next week or so. it should not affect our blog here at blogger. the result will be a much improved web experience, and a newer/better/more integrated website and blog. we just know you are going to like it.

tailgaters!

(you may want to click on it for a better view)

oh tannenbaum

on saturday we hunted for the perfect christmas tree. although enticed by the exotic allure of the young sierra sequoia and coastal redwood, we ultimately went with our gut. the majestic scotch pine is ours. the hunt and capture of this beautiful scotch pine went without incident on the mountain-top crest tree ranch.

they charge $4.00 for a hot dog. that's ridiculous.

anyway, here are some photos from the hunt and of our lovely tree.

david lurks about the tree ranch like the evergreen grim reaper, weapon in hand.

let the tree cutting begin!

the real work is left to marta, who performs the triumphant dragging of the tree to the car.

our beautiful tree glows in stunning holiday glory.