Brain cancer is...

...spending a day with Kristine.

Kristine loves the mountains too. She grew up not far from here, but today she came up for a rare visit to Fawnskin and Big Bear. She and I both taught sporadically throughout the day--is it odd that that's normal now?--and we fit a lot of fun into one day.

Above is a walk near the lake. It's always great to see a place from a "new person's" perspective. For example, Kristine appreciated that our rosa Californica produces tiny little roses...and tiny little rose hips:

We continued on around the lake and tried a place new to us all: Santana & Mavericks. It was so good! I'm not sure why Darrell and I haven't tried it before. Fun fact: Darrell loves shrimp cocktail. He ordered shrimp cocktail shooters (no alcohol) for the table. Look how delicious:

They tasted like yummy spicy gazpacho. Darrell ate out the avocado and shrimp and called it done. Here's our view from the restaurant:

Next we headed to the village for some shopping. Another Fun Darrell Fact: Darrell is a great shopping buddy. He waits patiently, tells you things look cute, and never wants to try anything on. He's a keeper, that Darrell.

We had time for appetizers on the deck before Kristine headed back down the mountain.