Biker Brunch

The weather has been unusually foggy, so I haven't been able to ride the motorcycle to work, but our "Safety First" motorcycle gang (Don on his stylish Aprilia and I on my sporty Honda) took an excursion to Moss Beach last Sunday with Dennis and Adrienne leading our procession in Dennis' Audi convertible.

The foggy weather kept traffic light on Highway 1 and it was a beautiful ride along the beach, through the redwoods, and out to Moss Beach Distillery, a restaurant with a spectacular view of the ocean and a colorful history dating back to 1927 when it was a speakeasy. We did not see "The Blue Lady" or other resident ghosts, but enjoyed the brunch and view before motoring back to SF.

Twin Marathon

Amber is a serious runner who qualified to run in the Boston Marathon this year but had to defer the honor because she was heavy with childs -- Cole and Wilson. She is also a serious user of new media and put her Twitter account to good use by posting periodic updates pre and post delivery -- including the cryptic note that they had left a fetal monitor inside after the successful c-section. It will be fun to meet the boys and see Amber in her new role. After seeing her with Ty during his first visit to the office, she will have the boys diapering themselves within a few months.

In other baby news... Adrienne has a newish job taking care of a baby for friends of hers in the neighborhood. I haven't met little Seneca yet, but I think of him often because his spare carseat is in my car -- from the time he tagged along to pick up Ty after soccer camp last week.

Puppy Love

I had lunch with Jeanne on Tuesday and got to meet the new man in her life: a tiny Norfolk Terrier named Jockey. Cute! He is much smaller than he appears in this photo, but big enough to run the household, which seems to suit Jeanne just fine.

Barefoot Contessa

Rain and Sally came over for hamburgers last night and to dress up the meal we made a roasted eggplant spread that I found in one of our Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. (Great, healthy, and easy!) Ty was inspired to make homemade tortilla chips to go with the spread -- a great way to use up tortillas, we discovered, and less greasy than the bagged variety. At the risk of ruining a future bookclub hors d'oeuvre surprise, I also found the recipe online: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-eggplant-spread-recipe/index.html

This was the first time we had seen Rain and Sally since Jodie had to be put down and we spent some time reminiscing about her amazing life. Because of the cats (and one incident of marking her territory at an earlier house), Jodie had never been allowed in our house, so Rain made a point of bringing the ashes so Jodie "could finally come inside."

With two bedrooms vacant, Adrienne and I are starting to think about downsizing. Just for fun (and early research), we attended a few open houses this weekend in our own neighborhood and in swankier neighborhoods like Pacific Heights. Fun to think about shedding stuff and critiquing the work of stagers. To be continued...

The Art of Soccer

Plenty of people had carved their initials on the picnic table at our campsite at Butano, but Ty was the first to carve a soccer player doing a bicycle kick.