Honey

Welcome to the family, new puppy.

Agent loves her new puppy.

Miso loves her new puppy, too.

She’s cute when she’s sleeping.

So was Miso at Money’s age.

And of course, Farmie’s cute when she’s sleeping, too.

On Monday, Agent and I will be returning to San Francisco for a week on memory lane. Agent will be attending an Aikido seminar at her old dojo and I’ll be having lunch with old friends and also spending some time with myself, which is what I’ve been doing lately.

I thought it might be fun to revisit one of my very favorite cities as a tourist, and try to do and see as much as I can while I’m there. I’m not trying to stress out about it and do every little thing, and much of it is still so burned into my memory that it seems pointless. The idea is to find the things I missed when I lived there that are fun for someone just passing through.

Have you been to San Francisco? What did you do while you were there that you think is a must-have experience? So far, the only thing on my list that seems appealing is a day at the California Academy of Sciences, which was still being built when we lived in San Francisco. I imagine I will spend an entire day in Golden Gate Park. What else should I do?

Today feels profound, most likely because I’ve had a lot of coffee and I’m listening to a Pandora station that leans toward my ’90’s favorites, like Erasure and Phil Collins. That’s the kind of profound day I’m having so far, and it’s barely 11:00 in the morning!

The most profound part of my morning is that an old friend accepted my friend request on Facebook. I haven’t seen or heard from him in a really, really long time, since I was a little baby dyke attending Bellevue Community College and wondering what I was going to do with the rest of my life. My favorite part about finding old friends on Facebook is seeing their pictures and finding out how they turned out. My old friend looks great and I’m really excited to be back in touch again.

Unfortunately, reconnecting with him reminds me of a mistake I made when I was younger that bothers me to this day. It’s been 20 years since I betrayed a friend, and betraying friends tend to be my deepest regrets. You see, this old friend I found on Facebook today has a younger sister, and that younger sister was my classmate. I loved her very much, and I lost her trust when, during a sleepover at her house, I snuck into her brother’s room on a dare. I tried to hide when she walked in, but it was no use. I was caught, and guilty, and immediately thrown out of that friendship. Oh, my heart hurts when I think of it still!

I have a few regrets like this that follow me around. I don’t think they’ll ever go away, either. I may have been a foolish little kid, but even foolish little kids make profound mistakes.

Thank you so much everyone who gave such excellent advice about my bonsai. Turns out I have a Fukien Tea tree, one of the most difficult bonsai trees to maintain. According to people on the forums where I posted the same message I posted here, I probably over-watered her. When I replaced the soil, I did notice that it was very wet. Although I believe this may be the answer to the yellowing of her leaves, I’m surprised since I’ve been watering her the same amount for the last 3 years (except over the last winter). But things change, and I’m just going to go with it.

After posting here, I took her to the bonsai place that is a funny little house off Barbur Blvd near Tigard. I pass it when I ride the long way home and have always been curious about it, because it barely looks open and it’s tucked down in a little valley between Barbur and the freeway. I walked in through the back gate (where the sign said to enter) and into the basement of the house. There were hundreds of bonsai trees, large and small, outside as well as in the basement area. There was a fine layer of dirt on everything. The register looked like it had been sitting in the same place since 1984.

The place was empty so I called up the stairs for some assistance. I was holding my bonsai in my arms, feeling like I was in an emergency room and a doctor was going to rush out to help me. Instead, a little Japanese man in a leather apron came hopping down the stairs. He spoke very fast and had one milky eye. I tried hard to communicate everything that had brought me up to this moment when I needed his expert advice, but I don’t think he understood what I was saying and I didn’t really understand what he was saying either. He pretty much told me that I wasn’t watering my bonsai enough and that it would be fine. And also, to bring it back from the window a little bit in the winter. He talked a lot, but that’s pretty much all he said.

I was sad to leave that place. I wanted to hang out and stare at all the bonsai trees and talk to the little old man with the milky eye. I’m thinking maybe the next time I ride by this place, I’ll pop in to see him.

Against some advice (and with others), I moved my bonsai tree to work. All my other plants are so happy with the light that I figure it could be an excellent change for my little tree. Also, I’ll be able to keep more of an eye on her here and possibly save her from dying.

I’ve set up a webcam to take a picture of her everyday. This way, I may be able to see if things are changing for the better or worse over time. Here’s the first shot.