babies and books

The theme of Bay Area Trip #2 was The Babies Are Coming. Arguably, this is the theme of one’s thirties, but it was especially so in NorCal this past week, where we spent much time playing Blokus with the jaw-droppingly well-behaved children of AK’s high school friend Laura, and playing blink-and-coo with the new baby of Erin and Erin.

Other stuff happened too, like a fun and well-attended reading at Diesel, a brightly lit Rockridge bookstore that gives you hope for the future of books. There were reunions with kid-free friends as well, an art gallery visit and some very good Burmese food. And for some reason I ate a candy bar almost every night I was in town.

In N Out: quality we tasted on the drive up the 5, and again on the way home.

Nan Yang in Oakland: quality you can taste a bit more definitively.

Laura with poodle Ella, also incredibly well-behaved, of course.

Tai is taking piano lessons. Shortly before we left, he composed a melancholy and beautiful song about travel and loss called "Cheryl Had a Car."

In Berkeley, all travel is sustainably powered.

Nicole, Gerilyn and AK at a bar we visited twice during our trip but could never remember the name of. Ben and Dave's? Bev and Dick's? Dave and Buster's?

Persimmons at the Berkeley farmer's market.

Plain orange carrots are so cafeteria salad.

My new Facebook profile pic, naturally.

Erin: new mama of Beck, ongoing mama of Aidan the jealous orange cat.

Other Erin, same Beck.

New parenting is so hard that even the cat needs a beer now and then.

My reading at Diesel: The head in front belongs to Terry Wolverton. The painting behind me is of a man hugging a fish.

With Jen D. and Jenessa.

With Carol and Jen B. We hung out with so many Jens that day that AK actually called me Jen at one point. It was a good guess.

Nicole and Jenessa reenacting a conversation. I think it was about Xanax.

AK doing yoga with the kids.

AK says, "Out of the way, kid. This town is only big enough for one yoga star."

Mikko performs the new lyrics he wrote to "Cecilia." Also about travel and loss, but with some hide-and-seek thrown in. Cheryl had a car, had a great time and was happy to drive it home.

Comments

Signe said…
aww! children! i love children! i hope i will have one or two kids of my own one day, but im still only twenty so hopefully i will have plenty of time for kids when im older!

Wait... Is Erin and Erin a couple? But they have the same name! And the same haircut! Oh God, I could never tell them apart! Thank God theyre not my friends! (hehe)

So many kids and cats in this post... Kids and cats are just about my favorite things in the world! I quite like the cats in this post, they look fat and sassy!

Also, I meant to ask something. I like some short stories I found online and I can't find any information or mention of them online, it only says they are written by a Cheryl Klein and I just wonder if you are the same Cheryl Klein? (Faux Snow Rabbit and Black Mountain Orphan + The Things a Body Does)

Whoever you are, your blog looks nice and you and those people in the pics sure look like you're having a lot of fun! Are any of those children in the pics yours?
Peter Varvel said…
Kiddies, kitties, carrots, and Crayons! What a wonderful and colorful post. (although I'm still distracted by the fact that you ate a candy bar every night - almost. Yum!)
Cheryl said…
S: Yes, those are my stories! It's nice to be the Cheryl Klein someone's actually looking for, since usually people find me when they're looking for Cheryl Klein the book editor.

PV: Tai and Meilin make their own crayons, too. They're hardcore like that.
Signe said…
Ooh really? That's cool! How come they are almost impossible to find mentioned anywhere? Except where they are actually posted, they are never mentioned together with your name. Maybe you're not so famous :P I originally found Faux Snow Rabbit by Googling random words that I liked when I was about 15. I write short stories too sometimes, but they tend to be a bit macabre.
I usually have an aesthetic aversion to orange cats--but I want to squeeze that one!
Cheryl said…
S: I can't explain the mysteries of what does and doesn't come up in internet searches (though I don't always include those publications in my bio, which could explain it)...but I LOVE that you found the story by Googling random words.

PG: Luckily, most of the orange cats I know aren't easily offended, and very much like to be squeezed.
Signe said…
Oh yes well I used to do that when I was 15-16 maybe... I googled random pretty words that I liked, could be that I used words like "snow", "fairy" and "chaste" which were some of my favorites (which I also believe were used in your Faux Snow Rabbit story) I tried to read the story, but gave up, but then I was just so curious about what it was I had stumbled upon so I just had to somehow read through it (I had quite severe concentration problems so it took some weeks I think... I'm quite better now and read short stories quite often)

Sorry for writing lomg ramblings, I never was good at making short sentences, I always tend to talk a long long time to strangers about everything.
Cheryl said…
Thanks for sticking with the story! Comments long and short are always welcome.
Signe said…
Yay! (This is a short comment)

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