Mother’s Day 2015

Published by

Isaac

May 11, 2015

My mother passed away a few years ago, but I am lucky to have a wonderful step-mother to spend Mother’s Day with.

My wife and I drove back home in the morning to visit our mothers. I dropped her off and spent a little bit of time with my parents-in-law before going over to my parents’ house (they live in the same city).

My parents were out at the farmer’s market when I got there (a Sunday tradition for them). I played with their dog a little bit and puzzled over the mail I was receiving there. Apprently I now have a subscription to Car and Driver magazine for some unknown reason.

When they got back they announced a surprise, my best friend would be visiting as well! Apparently his parents were spending some time in the Netherlands so he’d been hanging out with my parents for company.

We chatted a bunch and made snickerdoodles. The cookie baking was a Mother’s Day activity so we joked non-stop about it. My friend and I got on our knees to be “children.” We pretended to mess up the recipe by adding “one and a half eggs.” The usual stuff.

The cookies turned out really good, obviously due to adding one and a half eggs.

We went on a walk up to “the dish.” Everyone in Palo Alto already knows what that is but I will explain for those of you who don’t know.

A lot of Palo Alto attractions are remnants of the two big owners of the land around there, Stanford and Coutts. Stanford owned a huge amount of land in the hills behind Palo Alto.

That land was never developed or turned into part of the college. Instead it is an open space preserve where you can go walking up in the hills.

At the top of one of the steep hills behind a chain-link fence is a giant satelitte dish, probably about 100 feet in diameter.

“The dish,” as everyone calls it, is part of the program to contact alien life. It sends signals out and listens for responses. Nothing yet!

We came back after the walk and opened presents. I got my step-mom a Ursula K. Le Guin interpretation of Lao-Tzu’s poetry. She likes Le Guin and both her and my dad are fans of Eastern philosophy. She seemed excited to read it and I hope it is as good as her expectations.

We hugged goodbye and I took half the cookies with me. My friend took the other half.

I went back to my in-laws house and picked up my wife there after taking some pictures. We drove back home through the heavy Mother’s Day traffic.

Happy belated Mother’s Day to everyone else’s mothers who I didn’t see yesterday!

-GoCorral

One response to “Mother’s Day 2015”

Making Cheese with Dad | GoCorral

June 26, 2015

[…] After brunch we went on a hike up to the Dish in the Stanford hills. […]

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I’m Isaac

Welcome to the GoCorral website! I’m Isaac Shaker and this is a place for me to write about D&D and occasionally other topics. I host a podcast called Setting the Stage that interviews different DMs about their campaigns. I’m currently focused on completing the Cimmeria campaign setting and turning it into a book.

Setting the Stage Podcast

77 – KPop DnD Hunters (Dan and Idols of the Neon Dark) – Setting the Stage, Campaigns for D&D and Other RPGs

Dan talked with me about his Kickstarter campaign, Idols of the Neon Dark. It's a D&D 5e supplement that tries to bring the fun and atmosphere of K-pop to Dungeons and Dragons. The media frenzy around KPop Demon Hunters inspired Dan to create a product based on the musical genre that his young daughters could enjoy with him.Idols of the Neon Dark contains an Idol character class to represent the teamwork and coordination of K-pop groups. Alongside the Idol class there's a setting called Lumenica City. The city is an undeground haven of neon lights, skyscrapers, and music. There's campaign for levels 1-6 and a bunch of side adventures as well to place within Lumenica City or your setting of choice.You can support Idols of the Neon Dark on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wrenegade-dan/k-pop-5e-hunters-shadows-of-the-neon-darkIdols of the Neon Dark Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/SREMffsEGWIdols of the Neon Dark Playtest Materials: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CqyORb1gD6blKjSvRlPFzO-n9cj6QI68?usp=drive_linkPAX East Playtest Schedule. BOOK NOW! These are in March! https://www.projecthedron.com/events/697b8b2a040ec653b52091b6/sessions?search=name_li_Idols__nd__associatedEventId_eq_697b8b2a040ec653b52091b6&advSearch=true&page=1UKGE Playtest Schedule: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/ukge-idols-of-the-neon-dark-free-play-test-4817224Dan also runs a marketing business for Kickstarters that you should check out if you're thinking of launching your own crowdfunding campaign. Look at how well it worked for Idols of the Neon Dark! https://wrenegadecrowdfunding.com/Our website: https://gocorral.com/stsWant to be on the show? Fill out this survey: https://forms.gle/U11TbxtAReHFKbiVAJoin our Discord: https://discord.gg/Nngc2pQV6CSupport the show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/SettingtheStage Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.