Reunion Pictures

Irene's father just moved to the neighbohood, and stopped by for a chat.

David, Aenoch, and some meat. 

Lapoe, Aenoch, and some meat; Kris and Sophia are all smiles.

Sophia.

Penny and David get a piano lesson from Matthew.

David at the helm of the shark.

Shark vs. Sea Monster!

Earthquake

From CNN: " A 4.2-magnitude earthquake shook the San Francisco area Friday at 4:42 a.m. PT (7:42 a.m. ET), the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The quake was centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland, at a depth of 3.6 miles, the USGS said. Oakland is just east of San Francisco, across San Francisco Bay. " The other thing centered about two miles east-northeast of Oakland is our new home. What an introduction to be shaken from sleep -- espcially while my parents were visting (they've lived in SF before and did not seem too alarmed). And then the local news folks launch into fear-generation mode, telling us that the Hayward Fault is due for a "big one" relatively soon. Good gracious. I just moved on top of this (from Wikipedia): "Of all the region's large faults, the Hayward (and) Rodgers Creek fault system is considered most likely to create the next major destructive earthquake in the region." Yikes. But nothing really was damaged; actually, nothing much moved at all. The quake was incredibly short and sudden. Donna said it was like being on a train. Maybe we should install straps and handles, like they have in the subways.

Californians

Well, hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I heard it was kinda wet and cool in New England. It was hot here -- about 80 degrees. I guess 80 is the new hot. This weather is going to take some getting used to. We finally got the TV going and were able to listen to the local forecast. Boy, the meteorologists here have to deal with 60's at the coast and 100's inland.

But the night cooled off nice. Unfortunately, it was a bit foggy (smoggy?), so we could not really see the big fireworks off Fisherman's Wharf very well; we could not really get the spray of color and the full size of the bursts. But we could see fireworks that were (I think) at the Berkeley Marina better, but that display was smaller.

Slowly unpacking. My car is here; that's a relief. Today, I wired my bookshelves to the wood ceiling (they are in front of a mirror, so I could not secure it to the wall). I hear they got a thing out here: earthquakes.