2009–2010

Busy year. Since finding out on Thanksgiving Day 2009 that we were going to have a baby, here's a rough timeline.

• 4 Jan: told the world the news
• 6 Jan: blogged about it
• 17 Jan: the bean is the size of a lime
• 25 Jan: last day at Google
• 16 Feb: landed a job at Twitter
• 18 Feb: my moment of fame
• 8 Mar: first day at Twitter
• 14 Apr: first product launch at work
• 29 May: deep thoughts about life
• 17 Jun: I turn 37
• 5 Jul: preparing to meet the bean
• 15 Jul: the bean's first Tweet

And then on July 31st the bean was born:

Busy Year

Thanksgiving Day 2009:

Thanksgiving Day 2010:

Bean Recap

Now I'm done with the five days of Derbyshire posts and gathered all the photos together it's time for a quick Bean recap. So here we go.

Foggy last day

Day five in Derbyshire was foggy: a thick drippy low cloud was spread over Great Longstone. These trees from the day before were now these trees:

My sister Zoë came over and we went for a walk around the village. It was bright but super-misty:

Fog condensing on the wires of the fence:

Berries in the fog:

Wendy and Zoë inexplicably matchy-matchy:

Gravestones in the fog:

The rest of the photos are on Flickr.

Unfamiliar Frost

Day four in Derbyshire we woke up to a light fog and a thick frost. San Francisco gets one used to the former but not so much the latter. I popped out and managed to take a few photos before either had cleared. This is the gate at the bottom of my parents' drive:

the wall:

and the field beyond, with cows belonging to the couple who live across the road:

Later on, on a walk above Grindleford, you could see the fog sitting in the Hope Valley below:

although where we were it was as bright and clear as can be:

and apparently very pleasant weather for sheep:

A few more photos from the day are on Flickr.

Fall Nostalgia

My parents live in Derbyshire, about 15 miles from the city of Sheffield where I grew up. My sister now lives with her family in Sheffield, and on day three in the UK we visited her, introducing Lux to her two sons (Lux's cousins) Tate and Gil.
While there we all dropped in on Endcliffe Park and fed the ducks in the pond... the same pond where I used to feed the ducks (different ducks, presumably) thirty years ago. The experience, as well as the feel of the season, was powerful. I've been in this park many a November and it was just the same. Autumn leaves were mushy underfoot, the air was wet and cold, the sky was overcast and the sun had barely made it over the horizon.
And yet, and yet! British hardiness prevails: witness this dusk picnic in the mud, with the lone forlorn child in the background:

I took a handful of photos, of which some highlights below. Zoë and Lux:

Zoë and Brian:

Wendy in the park:

Tate in the park:

Derbyshire Day Two

The second day in Derbyshire we took a walk along the Monsal Trail, a staple of staying with my folks. The path's along a disused railway line which was built in 1863 and decommissioned a hundred years later—nowadays it's a flat graveled track about eight miles long, open to cyclists and walkers. It passes half a mile or so from my parents' house and is the shortest route to Bakewell (population 4,000), about three miles away and the nearest town.

We took the trail to Hassop Station and walked back again. Some photos from the way:

Transatlantic Bean

Wendy and I just got back from taking The Bean to meet the English side of the family in Derbyshire, UK. It was her first time flying across the ocean.

Within a day of arriving Lux had been on a walk in the wonderful Peak District countryside, reunited with my mother, and met my sister, brother and father.

Sue and Lux:

Field:

Dave and Lux:

Wendy:

Jak and Lux:

Church:

Zoë and Lux:

Full set of photos on Flickr.

Hallowe'en Bean

The English Hallowe'en tradition is that kids dress up as something scary: a ghost or a vampire or a zombie or a monster. In the US the tradition is that everyone dresses up as anything. It's a like a fancy-dress free-for-all: a car air freshener, the fail whale, a chick magnet... anything at all, it seems. Trick-or-treating is roughly the same both sides of the Atlantic, although the solid expectation over here is treat rather than trick.

On Sunday we went to a Hallowe'en party in Marin. Wendy and I intended to dress up but didn't quite make it (our costumes stayed in the car). Lux, though, went as a woolly lamb. The hood of her top had ears on it, but you can't see them in the best shot I have. I'm not sure what she made of the whole thing.

Luchador

I considered being a Luchador for hallowe'en. This one's another from the Saturday morning walk with Lux, and it gave me the idea.

I wasn't a Luchador for hallowe'en.

Perpendicular Parking

The chaos last night became pretty intense and this is what we woke up to this morning:

Seriously, that dip in the curb is our driveway. I did a double take when leaving the house to go to work this morning.

Here's one more from the walk at the weekend. 19th & Valencia on a wet Sunday morning, peaceful and un-rioty:

World Series

I like taking these polaroid-style photos. The no-cropping no-rotating constraint makes you think harder. Here I messed up the horizontal (I nailed the wrong lines: the yellow ones) but I like it enough to post anyway.

Tonight the SF Giants beat the Texas Rangers to win the World Series. San Francisco's gone crazy. Our neighbors have a sound system out on the street as well as an open fire, several armchairs and a television. Everyone who passes honks their horn, including the police and fire trucks.

@thebeean is going all kinds of nuts.