Jumana’s birthday is on February 16, so for us, the time period from Valentine’s Day through the 16th is like the time between Christmas and New Year for most Americans. Over the last few days, we:

* took scuba lessons at Bamboo Reef in San Francisco
* attended the “Revolution is Love” Valentine’s Day/Free Palestine party at the Palestine Mural in Oakland
* went on a hot air balloon ride in Napa Valley
* bicycled around Napa, through green fields and vineyards and winding hill roads — luckily it had rained fairly recently so there was water in the creeks and things looked fresh and alive. It’s beautiful country over there. We took our dog, June, along in a basket in the front of Jumana’s bike. The dog-basket worked much better than I thought it would, meaning that she didn’t try to jump out of the basket and into oncoming traffic.
* had a small surprise party with a few friends at our house in San Francisco (Jumana was the one surprised, not me)

It was like months of activities crammed into one weekend. It was jam-packed. I’m exhausted. But, despite my assorted screwups and forgetfulness despite which things more or less went as planned, it was great. Today I’m going to eat mac and cheese and finish sketching some dragon stuff. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine’s Day or whatever you’re celebrating!

NEXT UPDATE: Wednesday!