The Golden State

As I write, the dehumidifier has just beeped that it is once again full, which means it's time to dump another liter of water down the drain. I empty that thing twice a day. It's amazing how much humidity is in the air in autumn, even when we can air out the house on relatively warm days. And we're still trying to dry out that wall in the hallway so it can be painted. I feel like Sisyphus perpetually rolling his boulder uphill!

I usually station the dehumidifier right outside the bathroom, so that it can (hopefully) suck up the steam from our showers. Sometimes I move it to the bedroom, because on chilly mornings I wake to find the windows coated with droplets of moisture. I blame Olga's snoring.

Speaking of humidity, or lack thereof, Dave and I made a momentous decision a couple of days ago. We're going to Los Angeles for our vacation in February. We had credits to use on Delta that were about to expire, which meant we pretty much had to go to North America, and we decided we didn't want to go to Florida again. I've been back and forth from the Sunshine State so many times I've practically forgotten what the rest of the world is like. So, yeah, we're headed for someplace new!

We've talked about a California vacation for a while, but the state is so huge it seems to make sense to have one SoCal trip and another NoCal (do people say NoCal? Or maybe NorCal?) later on. So that's the plan! I'm thinking we'll work in a little jaunt to Palm Springs and maybe one to Big Sur, and Dave already has tickets to a performance of the LA Philharmonic.

LA is not entirely new to me -- I've been there several times. I think Dave has been there less. But I love Southern California so I'm always happy to go again. My dad grew up in Riverside and I used to have a lot of family in that region, but they've now entirely decamped to Idaho -- and I barely know them, anyway. They're all cousins I've met only once or twice, and possibly a very elderly aunt who would be in her 90s now, if she's still alive. So, anyway, no need to track down family. I wish Christopher was still alive but we can visit his husband Gerry and maybe we'll get to see blogger Elizabeth.

We plan on asking one of our co-workers to stay with Olga. If none are available we ought to be able to board her without too much trouble. It's not such a high-demand time of year that I should have to resort to a ridiculously expensive sitter like I did for our planned Florida trip last Christmas. (Which didn't happen anyway!)

California, here we come -- just like Lucy!

(Photo: A rhododendron bush in our garden, putting on its fall colors.)