Boosted

Sunday morning my acorn meal was still in the oven. It still had a lot of clumps, so I left it in all day, eventually increasing the temperature to the dehydrate setting at 175. In the end, I used the food processor again to chop it finer, and it went in two jars in the freezer. I think there's still some moisture in there, but it shouldn't ferment if frozen, I believe. I weighed it before putting it away, and we have 534 grams. It won't last long if it goes well in bread, but it might if I have to find other uses for it. I've heard pancakes are good. It darkened dramatically out of the water, as you can see.

As soon as the hangout ended, Nicole and I drove downtown to Amazon, near the Spheres, where the city was hosting the vaccine clinic. There was a parking garage waiting for us, and then we went up some stairs and then up an elevator because the stairs ran out, and then across a courtyard and into a line that went into the building and then through a checkpoint and along a hallway to another checkpoint where we got wristbands and then back through the same entryway but on the other side and up the stairs to a line that corresponded to our vaccine (purple for Pfizer). We waited only a minute before a nurse waved a flag that meant they were ready, first for Nicole, then for me. The injection was not quite as smooth as I remember, but it's done. We sat for a few minutes in the waiting area, and cancelled our Rite Aid appointments so someone else can use them.

On the way home, we stopped at the library. Nicole had some gingerbread books waiting, and there was a hold for Rachel, too. Back home I fixed leftovers for lunch.

We were invited to celebrate Hanukkah with our neighbors at Golden Gardens. It was a lovely day, so sometime after two we headed there. They had a game of dreidel set up on one of the picnic tables, but we ended up spending most of the time playing Ultimate Aerobie in the sand. We saw some sea lions swimming just off shore.

The game paused for a while when one of the Aerobies got stuck in a tree. It was just a wispy branch holding it up, but it survived being hit a couple times with a soccer ball. Fortunately, they had brought two. After sunset, while it was still light, they lit two menorahs. I went back to the tree and finally got the Aerobie down. The kids were getting cold, so we said goodbye and went to Ballard Market to get some things for dinner. Nicole picked up ravioli, eggnog, and the last challah. I don't know if that's traditionally eaten during Hanukkah, but I teased her about ruining someone's holiday. She also thinks she cut the line at checkout, accidentally.

At home I made dinner while Nicole and the kids decorated the tree. After dinner, we went outside to look at the lights, and I adjusted the tail on one of Nicole's shooting stars. We brought up the holiday books from the basement, and I read a few pages of Dickens to myself before taking Dr. Seuss upstairs to read to the kids. Colin was the most attentive, but Eric was at least half interested. My upside-down reading is a little rusty, but still pretty respectable.