Thankfully the snow wasn’t as late as I am getting these pictures up. We lucked out, again, and got fresh snow just in time for our arrival. The big new activity this year, given how fresh the snow was, was knocking on trees to create a mini-avalanche. Our hike took forever since we stopped at every tree. The laughter that followed more than made up for the extra time out in the cold.

Related posts:

1. Student of The Day
2. First Snow
3. snow on saddleback

After putting up with sick children and an out of town husband we treated Marla to a breakfast at Cibo in Sausalito. The lattes and donuts flowed freely. Cora enjoyed a play date with a friend from school and the Girl Scouts kept us hydrated and poodled.

The highlight – or lowlight, I suppose – was poor Obsidian being taken by a predator of some sorts. We forgot to close the coop doors for the night and I woke up at 3 am to squawking and flapping. As any good farmer would, I ran outside barefoot and in my underwear shouting, “Hya! Hya! Get out!” at the top of my lungs.

By the time I got to the top of the hill all that was left of Obsidian was a big pile of feathers. The other chickens had escaped unharmed but they knew something was up. It was a bit sad to see them walking around calling for the other chicken.

Alas, poor Obsidian. We did not know ye well.

Related posts:

1. Outstanding in the Field
2. Strawberry Picking
3. I’d Like More S’Mores

In the gallery you’ll see Cora dancing, Seven Dials in London, Big Ben, sick children and the small delights of Mother Nature.

Related posts:

1. Buttermilk Biscuits
2. Look, kids! Big Ben! Parliament!
3. This Week in Northcutt, Episode 2

I made a silent resolution to address this for 2013. I guess I’ll make it public now and debut This Week in Northcutt. My goal is to publish at least 7 photos, one for each day of the week, on a weekly basis. This week you’ll see sleepy Northcutts, slices of Cub Scout activities, some stay-cation tourism and our shiny new front door.

Related posts:

1. Overnight at Monterey Bay Aquarium
2. First Snow
3. A Tale of Two Fields

Our chickens laid their first eggs this week. We hadn’t been checking regularly since we assumed it would be another month or so but the commotion Bence was making led us to investigate. We were greeted with four eggs, one of which was still warm.

We turned them into an omelet this morning and they were, of course, delicious! The yolks were noticeably more orange than even the organic free-range eggs we’ve been buying lately. Once the other two start laying I’m looking forward to an egg for breakfast nearly every day!

No related posts.

First up: a trip to the San Francisco Zoo with Henry’s first grade class. It was a blast seeing him and his buds from school interact with one another. I rarely get to see them at their “day job” so watching how they talked and played was a real treat. The bug house, in particular, was a delight with them alternating, “Ewww!! Gross!” with, “Whoa, that’s so cool!” depending upon the bug.

Next up: our Thanksgiving feast. We dined solo this year, not making a trip to either homestead nor having a visitor. We tried (but failed) to reduce the quantity of food we cooked. That’s OK, though; Thanksgiving is about left-overs.

Last up: a trip to Devil’s Gulch in Samuel P. Taylor park. It’s en route to Point Reyes National Seashore. We took a nice 3 mile hike with the kids and enjoyed the nearly diametric difference between SoCal (a desert) and NorCal (a lush , verdant landscape by winter). Mushrooms grew from pools of water standing in the roots of redwoods and seasonal waterfalls raced down the steep inclines. Magic.

Related posts:

1. Thanksgiving
2. Thanksgiving Day 2007
3. That Was Thanksgiving