Okay, I know I said I was going to try to hook Mick up with a massage after his big test, but what better way to relax than go to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom with the family???

That's right, we got up and hustled ourselves over to a Sunday log ride, roller coasters, Shuka the killer whale, and a $10 bin of bottomless popcorn.

It was so much fun.


In fact, at one point, I looked over at Mick when we were all soaking wet and laughing, thinking how happy I am to have these three people as my family.

For Shelby

Shelby, I didn't get a book signed for you, but, here, you can have this.

Eat your heart out, sucka!

See you later this month...

Annie and Liz

Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert were wonderful. Of course. They'd just met the night before, but their witty personalities and gentle philosophies meshed well. It's not surprising they share the same agent, and that the agent thought it would be a good idea to get them together.

The Civic Center was sold out -- someone said it holds 3,000; that seems about right to me -- and the two offered an evening of talk about their faith(s) and their writing processes. They took questions from the crowd and asked each other questions along the way.

One I recall best is the question: What do you know for sure?

Anne Lamott answered that she knows there's a God and that God has surrounded her with love and people who will keep her together -- even if she loses everything as she knows it.

Elizabeth Gilbert answered that she believes in Gentleness. She believes in treating others, and yourself, with Gentleness. And she believes Courage and Compassion are flip sides of the same coin that complement Gentleness. She's even had them tattooed in white ink on her forearms, and they served as great reminders to her when she was going through her divorce, living abroad for the year she writes about in Eat, Pray, Love.

Anne Lamott ended the night talking about the writing process. She likened it to learning to fox trot -- or some kind of dancing she said she and her guy Rory were horrible at. She'd thought they were both natural athletes and would have no trouble, but it took them months to learn Step, Step, One, Two. She said they were so bad that when they finally got the hang of it, they stuck around and taught other hopeless students to keep working at it with great determination. Because once you got the hang of it, you wouldn't forget it, and you could keep growing if you keep practicing and surrounding yourself with people who will help you. Or something like that. Of course, she was much more eloquent than that, and she was funny and she was charming and she had us all eating out of the palm of her hand and we all knew what she meant and believed every word she had to say about what it conveyed about writing.

See what I have to work with!?

My friend Camille emailed me this note after we worked together today and she heard I was going to testify on Monday:

What a wonderful honor to go to Sacramento and to
talk about such an important topic.  Have a
great trip and wear a low cut top...that always
helps to get an important point across.  God
gave you those boobs Anjie, so use them to
help the American people!  I'll give you a ring
early next week to hear how it went.

Have fun!!!

xxooCAMILLE

Testify

Last Spring when Aubrey was in the hospital for a brutal kidney infection, I wrote about the experience from the standpoint of a parent grateful for state medical coverage. Many of you have seen this -- I posted it here as a long blog, on the Writing Mamas blogsite, and at MomsRising.org. Later, I shortened it, and submitted it to San Francisco's NPR affiliate, KQED, and it aired on Monday, February 11th.

MomsRising.org forwarded the story to the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), and, since then, I've been working with them as an advocate for insuring all children.

Earlier this week the CDF asked me to testify at a State Senate Budget Hearing on Monday April 7th at the capitol (that's Sacramento, for you out-of-staters).

Schwarzenegger's proposal would require poor families to apply for Medi-Cal every three months. Right now, it's once a year. Every three months is preposterous. Think of the bureaucracy, how this will inundate poor families with extra paperwork, and how this will inundate government workers with the same. This seems like a cruel way to whittle down the number of children receiving medical coverage .

You can read about it more extensively at this website The 100% Campaign, where the goal is to get every child in California -- and ultimately in the nation -- medically insured.

I'm pretty nervous to testify -- there'll be a lot of people there, and, dare I say, a lot of movers and shakers. However, when I take a deep breath and think about it, I know this issue matters. I know I can take a stand on this significant public issue. I can also have a voice in our democracy.

I have a conference call this afternoon with the CDF and some other organizations to prepare myself. I'll keep you posted.

Mick finished up day two of his NBDE II test! I'm trying to schedule him a massage for tomorrow. For now, I think he's going to shoot for dinner in the city with a dental school friend tonight -- since the kids are at their pals' house and I'm with Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert. :)

Eat, Pray, Love -- with the book club

Tonight my friend Arlene from book club has made dinner reservations for 6 pm, followed by a night out at the Marin Civic Center for me and two more of our fellow book clubbers, Elizabeth and Merrill (she's new). Anne Lamott and Elizabeth Gilbert will be speaking to a sold out crowd. I'm so excited. Both authors are top-notch; I'm also honored to be invited by Arlene.

I've been in this book club for two and a half years, meeting monthly at my little Marin City library. I've often lovingly referred to my friends there as my 60-something (gal) pals -- although recently we were joined by a 40-something man, Stephen -- and these women have always inspired and intrigued me.

Arlene reads voraciously (five books a week? that might be a conservative estimate) and she travels once or twice a year to Egypt to soak up the culture there. She keeps her gray hair cut short and dyed red, and has bronze skin, different colored fingernails -- or flowered -- depending on the week's manicure, and likes shiny gold jewelry. Elizabeth (yes, I've mentioned Elizabeth before!) is my favorite librarian ever, a former lawyer, '60s war protester, general call-it-like-she-sees-it lady. She comes to book club fully armed with historical and biographical information for us. Barbara (not coming tonight) is a high school teacher, retiring this year, who was born and raised in Whatcom County -- Ferndale, to be exact. She's thin and wears these gorgeous fitted suits, leans over a little bit like she's cold, and speaks warmly with the voice of a long-time smoker. In retirement, she just might start writing -- I'm crossing my fingers on that one. There's also Joy, who arrives weekly in her motorized wheelchair from across the street, who's suffered from MS for years. She likes to talk about stories from her life that the books remind her of -- even if she hasn't finished the book -- and recounts her tales in this great Bronx accent.

That's the core group. Maybe I'll think of another person later. I'm getting a little sad thinking of saying goodbye to them in June (or whenever). I won't dwell on that right now, though. Instead, I'll show you what we've read since we started the club when I moved here.

2005
Nov - Wicked, Gregory McGuire
Dec - Moo, Jane Smiley

2006
Jan - Middlemarch, George Eliot
Feb - July's People, Nadine Gordimer
Mar - The Professor and the Madman, Simon Winchester
Apr - Ghostwritten, David Mitchell
May - Journal of a Solitude, May Sarton
June - In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez
July - Walking the Bible, Bruce Feiler
Aug - Attack, Yasmina Khadra
Sept - My Story As Told By Water, David James Duncan
Oct - Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, Llosa Vargas
Nov - Will in the World, Stephen Greenblatt
Dec - The News from Paraguay, Lily Tuck

2007
Jan - The Orientalist, Tom Reiss
Feb - Talk, Talk, T.C. Boyle
Mar - Daughter of Fortune, Isabelle Allende
Apr - Sex, Time, and Power, Leonard Shlain
May - The Afghan Campaign, Stephen Pressfield
June - Rain or Shine, Cyra McFadden
July - The Forest Lover, Susan Vreeland
Aug - The Untouchable, John Banville
Sept - Amsterdam, Ian McEwan
Oct - The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
Nov - Our Man in Havana, Graham Greene
Dec - The Enormous Room - e.e. cummings

2008
Jan - The Moon By Whale Light, Diane Ackerman
Feb - Crossing To Safety, Wallace Stegner
Mar - The Dissident, Nell Freudenberger

(upcoming)
Apr - A Hatred for Tulips, Richard Lourie
May - The Glass Castle, Jeannette Wells
June - Saving Fish from Drowning, Amy Tan



(Note to self: Take book club group picture.)

NBDE II

At 8 a.m. today Mick starts day one of his two-day test. This is his second set of National Boards and he's been studying for them off and on for the last six months, and has particularly intensified his efforts this week during his Spring Break.

Tomorrow he tests from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Yesterday he registered for the third set of boards called the WREBs (Western Regional Boards), which he'll take at the end of May. That's the test that's on an actual patient -- where you have to make sure you've set yourself up with a patient who has the right kind of cavity, and then you're tested on how well you treat it.

He's got that nice pit-in-the-stomach feeling, but I have to report he's taking this all like a champ. He'll know the results of part II in a few weeks, but let's just say most people come out of them feeling crappy but have somehow managed to pass.

Go Mick!

What is this? you might ask. Well, it's a pile of Dane and Aubrey's friends at stuffed animal camp, each with their own single strand crocheted scarf to keep them warm and show which team they're on. (Shelby? Remind you of anyone we know?)

And what is this? you might ask, although it's probably obvious. This is Aubrey's ice skater.

MATCHING JAMMIES BY MEMAAubrey actually TRIES to smile like this for photos.

She thinks it's pretty.

And what is there to say about Surfer Dude Dane?

FINAL Finals?

Rumor has it that today Mick just took his last finals for dental school.

Could it be that after quarter #11 he no longer takes finals? Instead, he takes National Boards III late in quarter #12? Sounds good to me.

For the record, he takes National Boards II next Friday and Saturday (the 28th and 29th) -- at the tail end of his Spring Break.

Betcha can't guess what Mick's going to be doing for his Spring Break...

EASTER
I haven't checked the facts on this one, but it's tantalizing info if it's true.


Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Here's the interesting info. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives. And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier. Here are the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Fascinating little tidbit copied and pasted by the writer who isn't writing much these days.

A surprise visit to our favorite valentine, MickLovin'.

Little House in the Power Outage

We spent a rather wholesome evening reading and drawing by candlelight back in January during our 36-hour power outage. We were pretty proud of ourselves that first night, feeling that old pioneer spirit, hand-cranking the emergency radio and eating cold stuff from a can.

Turns out we're not as tough as we'd hoped, though, and by the end of day two we missed light switches and music and cold refrigerator food and internet access. Yeah, we know -- lame! But, hey, it didn't help that we'd returned from a ten-day trip the night before and we hadn't had the chance to unpack. All our luggage was splayed open throughout the house as we searched for stuff in the dark.

Late Summer Afternoon

Sycamores In Love

My friend Grace's mother painted these.
(Grace is Aubrey's friend Gia's mom.)

To see more of her work, check out:

http://www.trescheeksuperfreak.blogspot.com/.

Whether you're a tree geek or not, these are stunning.

SO, HOW WAS SOAPSTONE???

Writing's coming hard these days for all kinds of reasons, so I'm conveniently attaching this email I sent to a few friends who asked about my Soapstone experience. It's been a month and I'm starting to process it some.

For some of you, this may be info you have no interest in, so just skip it. Some of you might be curious, so read on if you feel like it.

Here it is:

I have to say the experience was very strange. (Remember how you felt like the Squaw Valley Writer's Workshop 'broke you' for a while, Jessica? I'm feeling that way now about Soapstone, but for slightly different reasons.)

I honestly wrote very little while there, which I found frustrating -- all but 2 (?) 3 days (?) were spent kind of paralyzed. (I did revise and sell the Perspectives piece, and worked with momsrising, CDF, etc., but still...!)

Here's my Lame-o list:

• I was processing my grandfather's death (I said goodbye to him the weekend before; he died the night I got there). Wrapped up in that were images of my father's death 15 years ago. So I felt very unfocused on my story or essays -- and felt like a little of the fun of the experience had shifted. I couldn't have foretold it, either, but processing a loss only made those warm, life-affirming hugs from my kids feel so far away.
  
• Mick also felt far -- he was very encouraging to me (in fact, he talked me through some blocks), but he had/has a lot of his own stress going with dental school finishing up right now -- and it's time to start working on applications, and thinking about practice, moving, new schools, change, etc. (Why didn't I just cancel amid this? I couldn't come up with another date I could do this during 2008, so I took what I could get. I knew I'd regret canceling, and I didn't want to live with that.)
• Oh! And it was way cold! Snowing, freezing, storming, etc.! I'm from the PNW, but I think I've gone a little soft. :) I could see my breath in my cabin for two hours each morning as I stoked the wood stove, and walks along the logging route were a bit windy and nippy! (I did get to the coast -- note photo of "Goonies" rock -- on one of the milder days.)
• My housemate was nice but VERY vocal about her own daily (hourly?) writing magic that she felt deep in her bones. She gave me unsolicited updates on word counts, etc. (silent scream).
  
• I think somewhere in there the writing process slid from fun and playful to strenuous and serious. I've never written well under those circumstances. (Term papers and my thesis come to mind.)
  

Don't I sound like a wimp? See why I haven't said much???

Here's the thing, though. I DO think I learned some valuable lessons that stemmed from identifying what's playful and too serious in my writing process, and how when inspiration hits it's divine, and how the pieces of the puzzle sometimes end up fitting together in ways we can't foresee. It was good for me to suffer for a while to learn this about myself and the writing process -- and to perhaps be more generous or patient with myself/it than I've ever thought to be. (Being patient is REALLY hard for me.)

I'm sure I've neglected many details; and I encourage anyone who's so inclined to apply if 2 weeks alone in a cabin on a creek sounds fabulous. I'll give more scoop on that if you're curious. Who knows? I might apply somewhere sometime again soon -- I'm willing to open myself up to new and bizarre lessons.

I'll attach some pictures that might portray a little more 'magic' than my report offers. :) I hope I don't sound too lame. It really was a good experience, but for different reasons than I would've anticipated. (Which reminds me why I usually try to live by that old motto about low expectations...)

-anj

My cabin, the one with the cube on top; my housemate's

cabin is right next to it, with the pointed roof.

Above: in a dusting of snow. Even on days without snow,
the weather was still usually below freezing.

Above: Haystack Rock of Goonies fame.

Above: between our cabins, the hot tub. I used it twice.

At the woodshed.

One last detail: the kids were wonderfully taken care of by Jan. Two weeks was a long time for them to be apart from me, though (and me from them). I really felt how deeply we missed each other around day ten. I know we all would've been fine if I'd packed it up then. Even if I'd been creatively juiced up, I could tell they felt it was just really long.

AUBREY'S 6TH BIRTHDAY PARTY
with a little bit of slumber

Friends Mia, Gia, and Jade joined us for monkey fun. Dane begged to go to a buddy's house while the girls slept here, so he went to Marcus's and had his own fun.

What Aubrey thinks about when she thinks of her party:

• it was fun
• we had a blast
• we played Polly Pockets
• we made purses
• we pretended we were grownups - Mia was the mom
• I'm six
• we decorated heart cookies
• we made balloons - we put stickers on the balloons
• we slept on the floor
• we played freeze dance
• we watched Shrek the Third
  
• goodbye from aubrey and anjie

SKI WEEK

It might be northern California's ski week right now, but our ski week was back in December at White Pass, thanks to Mike and Jan. We stayed at a condo on the slope for two nights with them, and Kai and Dana and their family.

The kids took lessons and then skied the bunny hills with their cousins; Mick and I got a couple runs in together; and Mick and Kai got a few runs in together. (Jude sledded with Uncle Garth, and Weston stayed at the condo, getting ready to turn ONE.)


Hot POOL at the condo! The kids were ballsy enough to do snow angels over and over and over again before jumping back into the pool.


Aubs hit the slopes with an enthusiastic attitude, "wee-haw"-ing like a crazy girl and crouching like a pro.


Dane exhibited some new traits with an approach Mick and I hadn't seen before and had to adjust to: he wanted to do everything his own way, even when sliding mad and backwards down a hill away from the rope tow (now a "magic carpet") with no idea what to do. What happened to our compliant, easy little boy? (Oh, that sounds pathetic, doesn't it?)

Turns out, he really, really wanted to ski -- his buddy Marcus does black diamond runs, and his cousins had lessons last year, so they were already on the slopes. Dane was just antsy to get started, thought it looked easy, and didn't want to take the time to learn from his parents (even though his dad's been a snowboarding instructor!).

Rather than get caught up in a power struggle -- we wanted this to be fun -- we immediately signed both kids up for 2 hours of ski school and hit the slopes on our own. It worked out well: they were up and running, confident and happy, by the time we got back.

Dane even had a sweet little rash at the corner of his mouth that lasted the next few days, where he'd fed himself snow out of his glove while skiing down the hill.

"Dub-Dub turned ONE!"

MICK TUBE
(note: this has been temporarily removed from YouTube. Too bad.)

Catch Mick on stage at his senior dental school retreat.
Oh, baby, baby...

an afternoon with fancy nancy clancy

Note: I'm typing with fuscia, which is a fancy word for purple.

We got decked out Monday afternoon in fancy frills and headed to Book Passage to meet Robin Preiss Glasser, the illustrator of the Fancy Nancy books. She wore a pink boa and gold butterfly sandals and carried a butterfly wand -- and she signed Aubrey's two Fancy Nancy books and her friend Asia Blue's too.


Even Dane came along and got into the spirit of the event -- I think he figured that's what you do when you have a sister. He wore the Mardi Gras beads his assistant teacher, Ms. Elmore, brought the class that day, and he was particularly interested in meeting a real live illustrator.

ANOTHER KQED PERSPECTIVES PIECE TO AIR

If you're in the Bay Area, turn your dial to 88.5 fm on Monday the 11th!

My 2-minute essay, "Emergency," will air at 6:07 am, 7:37 am, and 11:33 pm; there will also be a weekend repeat on Saturday at 8:37 am.

If you are not in the Bay Area, but want to listen, go to KQED's archives page and listen to it any time after Monday morning via the web.

This is a refined version of what I wrote about Aubrey's hospitalization last spring. It turns out to be a timely piece, considering current state and national efforts to find a way to provide health insurance for all children.

I sent momsrising.org (an organization started by the founders of moveon.org) a copy of this and they've got my/our story on their site; they also sent my essay on to the Children's Defense Fund and they're using this story to present cases to legislators as they work toward attaining health insurance for all children.

Just at the bottom of this post are some "Labels." Click on the blue links "hospital" and "Joan Blades" to find out more about Aubrey's hospital ordeal last year and to see Joan Blades and learn about her activism. These are posts from March '07. You just have to scroll down past this post after you click on them.


*Soon I'll post Christmas, January, Soapstone, Birthday, etc., pictures and updates. Have to get that dialed in though with the camera...

xoxox HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY, AUBREY! xoxox

Dane, I found this picture of you from when you were in Kindergarten. It makes me smile. I wish you weren't sick right now, and I wish I were there to cuddle with you and take care of you and play Fusion Frenzy. I miss you.

I also miss you, Aubrey -- and I can see you behind Dane in this picture! I can't wait to see you and cuddle and play Polly Pockets with you, too. I had fun talking on the phone with you for SO LONG.

Just a few more days, darlins.

LoveLove,
Mom

Are You Up For A Review?

I received this email from a fellow Writing Mama who has joined the competitive world of novel publishing. If you feel like playing the game with her, read her novel excerpt (an amazon.com download that will cost you $0 -- yes, zero) and write a quick review. It doesn't have to be splashy.

Here's her email:

Good news - my novel made it to the semifinals in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards. The selection for the next stage will be based on public reviews. It's cool to get a page on Amazon, and see the power of the online community. I got my first review from a book lover who's interested in China. I'm tickled; she found my book among the 420 mainstream entries.

I'd love it if you have a chance to read the excerpt and write a review. It's a fast read, and I could use your support. Grand prize is getting PUBLISHED. (Let's hope we all get a piece of the publishing pie this year!)

The reviewers get to win prizes, too. Check out the main contest page at www.amazon.com/abna.

To download In the Lap of the Gods, chapter 1:
* Go to my page at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00124CO2U
or search for the title on Amazon under Books ("official ABNA entrant")
* You can download the excerpt easily after signing in. It's free.

* Go back to the bottom of my page to post a review.

One hundred finalists will be selected by **** FEBRUARY 19th ****

BUT - it's probably best to post your review in the next ten days, since somebody has to *read* them all. Gotta love those deadlines!

-Li Miao Lovett

Gramps died at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. His service is Saturday in Yakima; I'll stay at Soapstone but I'll be thinking of him and the rest of his/our family in Washington, California, and, of course, Texas. Peace.

STRAIGHT FROM THEIR NOTEBOOKS

Peso Penguin - by Dane

Purple Girl, Purple Tower - by Aubrey

Boy, I miss these kids! Don't get me wrong: I'm loving life here for these two weeks at Soapstone, but I definitely think of my family often. Mick's plugging away at school; Dane and Aubrey are having a fabulous time with their Grammy. I can't even imagine all the reading, drawing, snacking, and singing going on there.

I'd better get back to work now...

SOAPSTONE TOMORROW!

My flight arrived in SF from Sea-Tac this morning at 8:30; I went straight to work at 10; I've spent the afternoon packing and playing tennis with the family (the kids got new rackets from Santa!).

I leave for Oakland at 5:30 tomorrow morning to fly to Portland at 9, and then on to Soapstone from Portland. DON'S BROTHER AND SISTER-IN-LAW, DEN AND SUSAN, ARE LOANING ME THEIR VAN! Not only that, but they're meeting me at the airport. I am SO grateful.

I'm also grateful that Grammy Jan accepted our ticket south to help out around here for the two weeks that I'm gone. That'll help Mick stay focused on school -- and allow me to spend two weeks away knowing the kids are having a happy/safe time.

Check out Soapstone at www.soapstone.org, if you haven't already and you're curious.

Check out www.ellennotbohm.com to see my housemate. She's published books on autism and is currently working on a novel. We've corresponded via email; she sounds terrific.

A Goodbye

My final time with Gramps is still too fresh to write about, so, maybe I will later, maybe not. He's still in hospice care.

A Loving Act

Gramps is dying. My mom called last night to give me the most recent news. After months of dramatic decline, her father is back in the hospital and it now looks as if he’ll never return to the life he once knew.

My Gram, after 65 years of marriage, has had to make a heartbreaking decision: “I hope you’re not going to hate me,” she whispers to my mom on the phone. Gramps is back in the hospital with a lung infection after his food has been going down the wrong passageway, and, given the other complications of his health, the only way to sustain him now would be to use a feeding tube, and that doubles him up with more pain. “I’ve decided he should not have the tube,” Gram says, her voice breaking.

My mother’s been thinking about Gramps’ suffering for months now. “This is a loving act, Mom,” she chokes out. “You’re honoring his life.”

Thankfully, my mother’s siblings agree. Besides, this is in keeping with Gramps’ living will – that no extreme measures be taken to keep him alive should his body start to shut down. Like this.

She’s honoring the life of the family man, the soldier, the salesman, the farmer, the roofer (even into his eighties, much to Gram’s chagrin). She's honoring the life of the boy who was forced to leave home at twelve to live on the banks of the Salmon River, the man who could tell stories as long and meandering as that river.

So, tomorrow I fly two states away and return the next day, hopefully with my goodbyes rightly said. I bring with me images of a tire swing in the carport, whittling on the porch with our pocket knives, and waiting for fish to bite in a little boat in the middle of a lake on a black night.

I also bring knowledge of a body now weaker, morphine for pain, and an uncharacteristic inability to speak. Because Gramps, after all, is dying.

Aw, Willow Creek...

Here's a video of Dane's class singing at their Winter Concert. If anything, stay tuned for the Bellybutton song, destined to become a timeless classic.

Aubrey's class sang "Grandma, Grandma, you aint sick / all you need is a peppermint stick! / Hands up, shake, shake, shakey shake / Hands down, shake, shake, shakey shake/ Turn around, shake, shake, shakey, shake..." Don't have it on video yet.

We returned from our winter trip north Thursday night to A STORM a few hours later. (Think 1 a.m. wind and rain tossing everything about and pounding the windows all through the night and into the next day...) We didn't get power for 36 hours, not bad in comparison to some in Marin -- but our luggage, opened in the dark, contents strewn about the apartment, was not pleasant come Saturday afternoon. When I download my personal pictures, I'll update more on that personal experience. For now, here's a little blurb on the local experience.


MARIN TAKES A BEATING...
(from the Marin Independent Journal)

MARIN COUNTY was all but paralyzed Friday as a spectacular storm walloped the county, pounding the region with hurricane-force winds and torrential rains that closed key thoroughfares.

Highway 101, Interstate 580, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Highway 1 and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard were all closed for a time Friday, leaving thousands idling in gridlock as their cars swayed in ferocious winds.

Winds reached hurricane strength on Marin's highest peaks, gusting to 83 mph on Lucas Valley's Big Rock Ridge and 78 mph on Angel Island. Truck traffic was banned after winds gusting to 70 mph rocked the Golden Gate Bridge.

Golden Gate Transit bus and ferry service was suspended at the height of the storm.

Some 42,000 Marin residents were still without power Friday evening, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. reported. The biggest pockets of outages were 6,000 customers in Sausalito, 3,300 in Mill Valley and 2,900 in Fairfax, said PG&E spokeswoman Jana Schuering.

The storm dumped more than 4 inches of rain in San Rafael and Novato, and forecasters said light rain is likely to continue through Wednesday.

The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge was closed about 8:30 a.m. Friday after five big-rigs tipped over due to wind.

But it was the closure of Highway 101 at Interstate 580 after debris flew off the new flyover that really wreaked havoc in downtown San Rafael.

With the freeway closed in both directions, traffic was forced onto city streets, where high winds and power outages had taken out traffic signals at key intersections.