Dash

Grad Speech

2011-06-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

Ty delivered a very funny and moving graduation speech. Here are the opening lines:

Today, I could tell you about Live Oak, the small, sensitive community that lives behind this gate. The school where 5 teachers have gotten pregnant during my time here. The school with a Spanish teacher that can bench press 420 pounds. But...

Mr. Serenity

2011-06-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

Ty was running late, so I didn't get a posed photo as he left for middle school graduation on Wednesday morning, but he does look dashing in his new tie and fedora.

A Giant Parade

2010-11-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

We let Ty skip school to attend the Giants parade yesterday. When I saw (on TV) the crush of people gathered in the Civic Center, I was afraid we had made a big mistake. Thank goodness for the savvy Mom of his friend J, who led the way to a primo spot along the parade route and steered them back to the bus stop in time to beat the rush. Here is her report of the historic event:

By arriving in the financial district at 9:30am we got a great view of the parade right in front at the barricades of Montgomery & California streets. The funniest sight was seeing bankers in droves hastening down California street from the Bank of America, just before 11am, conspicuous in their white shirts and ties. It was totally exciting with the cable cars clanging their bells, orange confetti streaming from the skyscrapers, and the streets filled with fans, tourists, spectators, and tons of kids out of school for the day. We saw it all: Willie Mays, the players, the trophy. We were in the thick of it and it was glorious!

Close Range

2010-08-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

Deborah came across an entry about author Annie Proulx on Garrison Keillor's Writer's Almanac website and kindly passed it along to her book loving friends. Many quotes and comments jumped out. For example, she credits her mother with teaching her to observe "everything - from the wale of the corduroy to the loose thread to the disheveled mustache to the clouded eye."

I need to cultivate better powers of observation, because I have had two close encounters with coyotes in the past week near the Legion of Honor in San Francisco (a museum that is surrounded by a golf course with plentiful rough for burrowing) and the only thing I noticed is that they were very close by (10 -15 yards away) and didn't seem afraid or threatening. If anything they seemed to be waiting patiently for me to leave so they could proceed with crossing the road toward the big fountain in the parking lot. I say "they" because the first coyote I saw looked scruffy and walked with his head hung down. The second coyote looked young, well groomed and perky (like this photo - not taken by me).

After the first sighting, I noticed that they (the park dept) had put up a COYOTE ALERT sign to remind people not to feed or approach them. They endorsed throwing small stones to chase them away if clapping didn't work. (My technique was to keep walking -- but backwards so I could make sure we were moving in different directions.)

After the first coyote sighting, I happened to be at a garage sale and discovered a beautiful (to me) coyote sculpture made of barbed wire. It was a large outline of a sitting coyote in full howl, and it seemed to be calling to me. (Maybe this is the dog I told the kids we'd get as soon as I got laid off.)

Both sightings happened a few minutes before 7, so Ty is planning to go with me at that time tomorrow to see if we can conjure up another sighting (and get our own photo).

Year of Wonders

2010-08-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

Who needs Shelfari to discover new authors when you have Deborah? And where has Pulitzer Prize winning, international bestseller Geraldine Brooks been hiding all these years? Maybe I saw descriptions of her books and was put off by the subject matter - a village nearly wiped out by the Black Plague... a novel that imagines the war years of the father in Little Women. Sounds grim, and the settings are, but watching the characters cope and sometimes rise above their circumstances is a beautiful thing to experience as the plot unfolds in surprising ways.

Chloe asked how I could enjoy a book about the plague when I like happy endings. All I could say is that I have a broad definition of happy. Year of Wonders (the plague book) is one of my all time favorite books. Thanks Deborah! I will never doubt your grim recommendations again.

The Barter Economy

2010-07-28T12:44:00.001-07:00

If we weren't in a belt-tightening phase right now, I might never have discovered the fun side of the barter economy. In this case, getting free admission to Monday night's opening of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Boxcar Theatre. Adrienne responded to a call for an usher & concession person and we were the only takers.

I discovered that it was more fun to be part of the crew than to be part of the audience. Before the show I stuffed programs, swept the street outside the theatre (in a grungy area South of Market, but this time grungy and dusty because of heavy construction right outside the door), rolled out the red carpet (more like mats, but they were red) and made conversation with patrons while they waited for the doors to open.

It is a tiny theatre (seating for 50, arranged on four sides of the stage, with seat numbers coded by compass direction). For example, N-A-1 indicated North, first row, first seat on one end or the other. I tried to explain the compass-based seating system as people trooped through the door, but it was a casual crowd, and they seemed confident they could find their seats.

Adrienne's job was to dispense food and drink, which on this night included Hard Lemonade, shots of whiskey, and Stellaaaaaaa Artois in honor of the heavy drinking that seems to feature in all the Tennessee Williams plays. Boxcar is doing a three-play TN series. We will also be working/seeing A Streetcar Named Desire next month.

But enough about our performance. The actors also did a great job. The show was 90 minutes without intermission, so the director must have done some artful cutting. This was opening night, so there were many critics in the audience. Adrienne noticed that one of the critics (sitting in the front row) slept through some of the explosive scenes, but you can't fault the actors or director for that. Could have been the generous drinks Adrienne was pouring at the concession stand!

Unfolding SF

2010-07-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ty became interested in exploring the neighborhoods of SF (by car) as a way to pass the time while he was recovering from a stress fracture. As one of his drivers, I have shared in many of his discoveries. For example, every drive seems to involve at least one impossibly narrow street and comical street name - like Belcher.

Someday he may become one of the people who walks every street in SF -- a feat written up in Sunday's Chronicle. In the meantime, we're aiming to see the 2612 streets by car. Here are some fun facts that appeared in the article:

Longest Street: Mission (7.29 miles)
Shortest Street: Richter (14 feet)
Widest Street: Sloat (135 feet)
Narrowest Street: DeForest (4 1/2 feet)

Driving to Boise

2010-07-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

I waited too long to make flight reservations to Boise (only crazy expensive seats remaining), so I set out by car at 5 AM for the 10 hour/31 minute drive to Backwater Ave for the 4th of July weekend. It was surprisingly pleasant except for the long stretches without radio reception between Winnemucca and Boise. As Adrienne remembered from an earlier drive to Boise, there are also long stretches in Nevada without filling stations and with ominous signs reading:

PRISON AREA
HITCHHIKING PROHIBITED

But I arrived without problems. Had a great Subway sandwich in Winnemucca and enjoyed the changing scenery from Sierra forest outside Reno to Nevada cowboy country to Boise farmland. Bathrooms were also few and far between and it was truly a sitcom moment when I pulled into the only gas station in Jordan Valley, Oregon - first gas in 100 miles -- to find three SUVs with signs that said Ramirez Family Reunion and seemingly all 18 of the extended Ramirez family in line for the only bathroom.

I tried to scribble down some of the interesting street signs on my way into Boise, but it was becoming a driving hazard, so all I have is "Chicken Dinner Road" near Snake River.

The Great Escape

2010-06-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Lost my job last week, but set a new distance record on my motorcycle -- 200 miles to Garberville. Henry and JT took the coast route all the way from Pt. Reyes. Don and I took 101 to Cloverdale before cutting over to the coast (128 to Mendocino). From there it was a windy ride to the Lost Coast turnoff to Leggett (home of the Drive-Thru Chandelier Tree, which we drove through on the way back). The stretch of Hwy 1 between Westport (on the coast) to Leggett (inland) was eerie. Beautiful, peaceful, windy road with no cars or houses in sight.

We stayed at the Best Western Humboldt House Inn in Garberville, a historic building with all the modern amenities -- including cable TV, so I could watch World Cup Soccer while waiting for everyone else to get up the next morning. We had dinner at Calico's, a great diner on the main drag. The guys took the fast route home -- four hours on boring 101. I took the coast route again because my head feels like a bobblehead doll at speeds over 55 -- 6 hours including a lunch stop in Mendocino. JT has lots of ideas for souping up my bike -- including a windshield and a luggage rack so I can carry more than a toothbrush on these excursions. (JT is already talking up a trip to San Simeon in July and Death Valley in November...)

Holy Toledo

2010-05-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

Idol is over for this season, and the Dreaded Crystal didn’t win, but she managed to retain her uncompetitive spirit throughout the competition, which was wonderful to behold. She seemed genuinely distressed when performers she admired were dismissed early from the show. If the judges compared her performance unfavorably with someone else’s – as they did with Siobhan one week – she would cheerfully agree that the other person was “amazing.” She never failed to acknowledge the backup singers with a warm look or a respectful bow in their direction before turning to face the judges. When she sang the Falling Slowly duet with Lee – a highlight of the show, she described him as “her musical crush,” adding her heartfelt endorsement during a week when it seemed like the judges were favoring him over her. When they asked if she could “see the finish line” (when it was down to her and Lee), she pointed to the back row of the auditorium and said, “Yes, it’s up there.” I can’t wait until she starts releasing some of the songs she’s written, like Holy Toledo which sounds great even in the amateur recordings posted on YouTube.

Pomp and Celebrity Spotting

2010-05-25T07:57:00.000-07:00

It was pretty thrilling to attend Chloe's graduation ceremony. The speaker was Lisa Kudrow (of Friends’ fame) and sitting behind her on the podium was Meryl Streep (a Vassar trustee who has a couple of kids attending the school, though neither was graduating this year). I know I should have been modeling an interest in academic accomplishment, but who can resist the thrill of proximity to celebrities!?!

Kudrow's commencement speech was entertaining and inspiring. She managed to work in all sorts of celebrity anecdotes – most about the ups and downs of breaking into show biz – to make the point that something that appears to be a setback can result in something even better down the road, especially if you keep your eyes/heart open. An interesting technical angle to the proceedings: they were streaming a video of the proceedings to a nearby auditorium because rain was threatening, and they provided instant transcription that sometimes was unintentionally hilarious. For example, “Vassar College” was often transcribed as “Bastards College.”

A Farewell to Dorms

2010-05-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we will be at Vassar celebrating Chloe's graduation from college. She has always been a conscientious student, so graduation was never in doubt until she signed up for astronomy to fulfill her final science requirement and discovered there was math involved -- not the philosophical topics she was hoping to explore and write about, such as the likelihood of life on other planets. Compounding the problem, she once referred to her class as astrology in an email to her professor. (Brings back memories of my "science" classes in college - Physics for Poets and Sleep and Dreams (taught in the huge church on campus to accommodate all the humanities majors who gravitated to that class.)

We are staying at Lee and Phil's house (an hour and a half from Poughkeepsie) and Chloe will return with us following graduation ceremonies for a quick family reunion before we fly home. They still had the artificial Christmas tree in the living room (which they've been decorating for different seasons until one of the kids could help them pack it up and get it back to the basement), so we decorated it for Chloe's graduation party with construction paper "novels" with fractured fiction titles: "A Farewell to Dorms" by Ernest Hemingway, "A Passage to Income" by E.M. Forster, "War and Thesis" by Leo Tolstoy, etc. with Ty cartoons inside.

Deborah is watching Mango and Bisous while we're away and Ty is getting his cat hugs from Java, who could be Mango's stockier brother. Java shied away from the attention at first, but Ty wore him down and now he seems to like it.

With Ty still recovering from his stress fracture, I was dreading the full day of air travel on Thursday, but American Airlines had wheelchairs waiting to get us from curb to departure gate and between connecting flights in Dallas.

Planning and Recovering from Trips

2010-05-14T08:14:00.000-07:00

I am in training for my version of a marathon – a motorcycle ride from SF to Garberville. Although we are staying overnight at the beautiful Humboldt House in Garberville, the drive each way will be 5 times my longest ride – the commute from SF to Palo Alto. On the positive side, the view along highway 1 will be great and we have all day to get there. Our trip leader (Jim, who helped me find my motorcycle in March 2009 and delivered it to SF when I wasn’t experienced enough to make the ride myself) promises many sights along the way, including (in his words):

Breathtaking scenery on Highway 1 (and plenty of time to look at it because the road is twisty, i.e. you won't be going very fast).
Above Fort Ross there are frequently cows in the road. Remember, do NOT slap the cow as you ride by . . . the little guys kick!
Passing thru Fort Bragg is boring but if you're thirsty, there is a great coffee shop almost directly across from the Railroad Depot, home of the Skunk Train.
The Leggett Hill is besought with logging trucks. Fortunately it isn't a long stretch and there are few, if any, on the weekends.
If you've never seen the Tunnel Tree (Leggett), you should. It costs about $2 and takes a few minutes. You can drive your bike thru the tree and one of us can take a picture.
The Benbow cutoff is a nice 3 mile loop, paralleling the roadway and taking you alongside the river. You rejoin Highway 1 just after the Benbow Inn. Garberville is two miles further up the road.
Just north of Garberville is Phillipsville and the start of The Avenue of the Giants. This is WELL worth the time. Silence reigns and the light filtering down thru these magnificent trees softens everything. Stop, take off your helmet and listen . . . you can almost hear the trees growing. Park at Founder's Grove and hike past a 370 foot tree that toppled over a few years ago . . . amazing place. The tallest tree IN THE WORLD is along Mattole Road, near Founder's Grove.

But first I have to recover from tripping down the stairs at home. One toe on my left foot is strangely discolored and may be broken... hard to change gears this week. With all the talk about motorcycles being dangerous, they never warn you about the hazards of walking down carpeted stairs...

Naked Bikes and Wacky Wall Decor

2010-04-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

Before we set out on our motorcycle ride to El Granada yesterday morning, I suggested to Don that we change the name of our bike gang from the Safety First Bike Club (as I've been calling it) to the "Naked Bike Gang" because that is the only thing our motorcycles have in common. His is an elegant Italian bike that looks like it should be in the Smithsonian. Mine is a dual sport that looks like it should be bouncing over moguls on a dirt trail. (I just consulted Wikipedia and a "naked bike" is defined as a bike that is stripped down to its most fundamental parts.)

Although we were fully clothed, I did make a spectacle of myself very early in the ride by dropping my bike at the corner of 25th and Geary. Not sure what threw me off balance from a dead stop, but I was trying to open my face mask without taking my left hand off the clutch. Don gallantly pulled into a driveway and got my bike upright. No damage this time thanks to my new hand guards.

The trip to El Granada was so quick (about 25 minutes), that we kept going down the coast to Half Moon Bay, up over the hill on 92 and down Canada Road to Buck's Restaurant in Woodside. It was fun to introduce Don to a bit of Silicon Valley culture. Woodside is home to people like Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and this restaurant is a wacky museum of oddball art and collectibles hanging from every inch of ceiling and wallspace -- blimps, surfboard, squash racket, a case of harmonicas, 6 foot Statue of Liberty...and wall to wall green alligator carpeting. Legend has it that this is a meeting place for tech industry entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, but they must have put us in the kid section, because I didn't see any deals going down. After our breakfast of burritos and home fries, I took backroads back to SF and Don hopped on 92 back to the East Bay.

Strangely enough, the Buck's menu was titled Naked Lunch options...

Idol Thoughts

2010-04-14T08:29:00.001-07:00

In the early seasons of American Idol, we discouraged the kids from watching because Simon’s judging style was so mean. Now we’re watching it.

I usually agree with Simon’s comments, but the thing I find most sad is the self-consciousness that affects some of the performers as the competition goes along. Even when they’re resisting his feedback, they seem self conscious about it. For example, I used to look forward to seeing what Siobhan would do, sing, wear… Now I cringe waiting to see what she’ll wear and when she will let out the scream.

Somehow Crystal Bowersox has remained true to herself. I agree with Randy’s comments that watching her is like seeing the second coming of Bonnie Raitt. Her gospel/blues take on Saved by Elvis Presley last night was amazing. Even the glitzy guitar didn’t tarnish her unspoiled appeal. Without making a big deal out of it, she also seems to play well with (and acknowledge) the backup singers and band – and the other contestants. Early on the judges seemed to be baiting her by praising Siobhan’s performance over hers but she joined in the praise as if she were talking about a particularly gifted member of her own band or a fellow musician at a jam session, saying simply: “She was amazing.”

Speaking of the judge’s influence, I’m also suspicious of their sudden kindness to Tim Urban, who they used to ridicule for his simplistic arrangements and ever-present grin. I think the recent praise is a strategy by the judges to avoid fanning a cult fire that might have crowned him ahead of the more musically worthy contestants.

"Brake In" Period

2010-04-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

I asked Don to take a look at some black goo that was seeping from my motorcycle at the rate of one drop per ride. He diagnosed it as grease from the kickstand and not a problem, but thought the chain seemed loose and I should take the bike in for adjustments. While there (Mission Motorcycles in Daly City), I asked if hand guards would cut down on the frost bite I was experiencing on early morning rides. Thicker gloves for my birthday had not made a difference. Four hours later -- the chain tightening had been estimated at 15 minutes -- I left with a properly adjusted chain, new front brake pads, and WARM HANDS! The hand guards were not designed for my bike (although the color was a good match), so I gather the guys in the back room enjoyed kludging a solution.

Four hours is a long time to spend pacing between the showroom and the service center, but I heard some interesting stories -- about trucks backing into parked bikes, a motorcycle cop who spent his days and nights patrolling the projects on a dual sport that was a larger version of mine, a guy with a large bandage on his bald head, another guy with his arm in a sling and a damaged bike outside ... hardly anyone seemed there for an oil change or a tune up. Meanwhile, an overhead TV showed stunt riders doing handstands and other tricks while spinning their bikes with the front wheel in the air.

I bring my bike to Mission Motorcycles because the people are so friendly. They describe themselves as bike enthusiasts, and it shows. I always feel a bit intimidated pulling away after getting the bike serviced. It's not like a car dealership where you can anonymously drive off. There are always a few biker dudes smoking out front as you put on your gear and prepare to ride off. Inevitably, something trips me up and someone has to offer advice or assistance. This time the bike wouldn't start because the kill switch was off... And so begins my second year in the saddle.

And then, tuna

2010-03-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure it's possible to be prepared for an earthquake. You can stock up on food, water, tent, first aid kit ... then find yourself miles from home when the earthquake hits. Or the kit can get buried under rubble or an uprooted redwood tree...

But one evening, as we were planning to go out, we did discuss with Ty what he should do if an earthquake hit while he was home alone. Adrienne had read that it was good to hunker down next to a solid piece of furniture -- like a couch -- until the shaking stops vs. the old wisdom of standing under a doorway. He was OK with that, but when we talked about him going next door to get help from a neighbor, he said he couldn't leave without the cats -- the indoor cats who never leave the house except in a cat carrier to go to the vet.

We came up with a simple and completely impractical solution -- cat collars (red for Mango, black for Bisous) that will somehow be buckled around the necks of the terrified cats so they can be dragged lovingly from the house.

And then we meet up at the Earthquake Kit for some bottled water and tuna.

Above the Clouds

2010-03-01T06:22:00.000-08:00

It was stormy last Friday and rain is predicted for tomorrow, but it was gloriously clear and sunny on Sunday (yesterday), and the Safety First Motorcycle Gang (Don and I) held our first ride of the season: a trip across the Golden Gate Bridge and up a winding two-lane road to the top of Mt. Tamalpais. We passed many bicycle riders on the way up, but they had the advantage on the way down, approaching speeds of 35 mph and negotiating the tight turns more easily than I could on the motorcycle.

The view was spectacular at the top -- similar to what you see looking out the window of an airplane, with a layer of clouds below. A tourist from Dijon offered to take our photo and Don struck up a conversation in French! I can't improve on Don's trip report, so I'll just provide a link to his blog.

Lowest Sewer of Integration

2010-02-12T16:09:00.000-08:00

Nothing is easy. We signed up for extended cable service so Ty could watch the soccer channel and lost access to VHS recording. Don says it’s theoretically possible to have it all, but the cable guy wasn’t versed in the old technology. A mad scramble is underway to find a solution before The Bachelor airs on Monday night. It’s the kind of show that’s better to watch in company and without commercials, so Adrienne has been recording shows to watch with Chloe on her next break from school.

I had a funny conversation with someone who worked at our company in the early 90s. She asked how things were going these days and I mentioned some of the new technologies. To which she remarked: “climbing up the ladder out of the lowest sewer of integration and into the clouds.” I will have to remember that next time someone asks where I work.

Writing on Walls

2010-01-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

I went to see Adrienne’s show on Saturday night along with 9 other FOA (Friends of Adrienne): Deborah, Henry, Don, Dennis, Rain, Ginny, Paula, Christine, and Afseneh.

I knew that Adrienne’s character was more risqué than anything she had played before and I suspected she would be a “cougar,” an older woman dating a younger man, but I wasn’t prepared for the dominatrix angle. She did a VERY convincing job of being initially playful/seductive, then turning physically and psychologically abusive to the dumb/pseudo philosopher/surfer dude who until this point in the plot has three woman throwing themselves at him while his most passionate feelings have been directed at a sandwich he is eating and his plans for fixing all the problems of the world.

I thought Adrienne’s scene with the surfer was among the strongest in the show and a welcome relief from the parade of powerless women who had come before. The dialog is very funny and the characters are interesting despite their inexplicable attraction to the surfer dude, but it’s not clear what the message of the story was supposed to be. After being scared out of his wits by Mona (Adrienne), the surfer dude ends up choosing none of the women who are pining for him and returns home to marry his cousin.

After the show we went to a sweet little Mexican/vegan restaurant on Mission Street called “Gracias Madre” where we rehashed the show under a statue of the Virgin Mary (the “madre” the restaurant was named for).

This and That

2010-01-23T07:15:00.001-08:00

Jordan is taking the riding portion of his motorcycle safety class today. I hope he passes the test and that they help him understand how vulnerable he is on a 2-wheeler in traffic and that he is not in a hurry to upgrade from his moped to a bigger bike. With El Nino weather conditions, I have been riding just often enough to keep the battery charged.

In other news, a huge group of Adrienne's friends will be converging at Shotwell Studios for her performance in I Used to Write on Walls tonight. I know it's a new kind of character for her, but she has been mum about everything else. Stand by for the play report.

Ty has an interesting school project this week and next. Each kid in the 7th grade is taking care of a "flour baby" to see what it would be like to be a teenage parent. He has been conscientious about placing the kid in a basket or other secure place when he's not physically holding her and arranging for us to babysit when he goes on runs, but he is also having some fun with the project -- taping the face of a soccer player where the baby's face would be and naming her after him.

2009 Entertainment Highlights

2010-01-01T06:25:00.000-08:00

Before I shift my focus to the new year, I want to recap some entertainment highlights of 2009.

Movies
I saw more movies last month than in the other 11 months of the year combined. Here is my top 5 list:

Up in the Air -- We didn't recognize the name of the female lead, but it was great to see a woman hold her own with George Clooney, based more on her confidence/charm than dazzling good looks.
The Blind Side -- Hard to believe this was based on a true story. Sandra Bulloch was perfect as the tough/generous Mom.
Sherlock Holmes -- The role of brilliant, sensitive, self-destructive sleuth seemed custom made for Robert Downey Jr.
Invictus -- Even harder to believe that this was based on a true story. Made me want to learn more about Nelson Mandella, if all his political strategies were as brilliant as using a white rugby team to bring black and white South Africans together.
Crazy Heart -- This didn't live up to the fawning reviews (for me), but Jeff Bridges was convincing as the down and out country western singer who pulls himself together but not in time to get the girl.

Sports
Watching Barcelona vs. Chivas at Candlestick Park in a friendly soccer match and watching the Stanford men's soccer team beat UCLA. (At this point, you can still watch Stanford soccer games for free from behind the goal on the south side of the pitch. This could change if they keep winning.)

Theatre
I got to see Adrienne in two shows last year, but otherwise I didn't see many live shows. (We skipped Ashland, because the shows selected by the new artistic director didn't capture our interest...) Reading August Wilson's King Hedley II for Book Club this month is making me want to see more of his stuff on stage.

Books
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout was the reading highlight of the year and it changed my attitude about short stories. I also changed my attitude about Joyce Carol Oates (who I thought was too depressing) after reading We Were the Mulvanneys. I don't think it will be long before a Chloe Krug Benjamin novel appears on Best Of Year lists.

Restaurants
Zazies, a casual French Bistro on Cole, was my favorite new (to me) restaurant of the year.

Adventure
Getting a Honda Dual Sport motorcycle (CRF 230L) was my adventure highlight of the year. I set myself the goal of riding through every neighborhood in San Francisco and commuting to work. Done!

Feliz Navidad

2009-12-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

Twas the night before Christmas, and for the first time in our parenting history, we didn't creep down the stairs to fill stockings and arrange presents under the tree for the kids to see when they were finally allowed to process downstairs at the pre-negotiated time (which has been getting later each year at Chloe's request).

Realizing that Ty gets up early to run and cats would be tempted by ribbons on gifts, gifts and stocking stuffers stayed in closets until morning.

Some traditions remain. We assembled last night for a reading of the Christmas story from Luke and The Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore, placed Baby Jesus in the creche scene as we sang Silent Night, and put out the stockings: Chloe's enormous one, Jordan's scrawny one, and Ty's pair of stockings - one from each grandparent household. We had planned a meal of fajitas made with carnitas and other provisions from the local taqueria, but it was closed and we had to improvise. I tried to compare this to "no room at the inn," but I'm not sure anyone saw the connection as we made do with ground beef, a packet of taco spice mix, and other ingredients from the corner store.

Keyed Up

2009-12-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

I had a front row seat for Adrienne's performance of Schubert's piano duet with Stephanie Smith, the bigger than life musical director at MCC San Francisco. It was a beautiful performance and the dramatic conclusion of a far-ranging concert Stephanie put on to honor her parents from Wichita Falls, Texas.

For the Schubert, Stephanie took up more than her share of the piano bench and air space above the piano with her flamboyant keyboard technique, but they were well matched in sensitivity and pacing and the audience was wildly appreciative. It must have been hard for Adrienne to be almost last on the 2-hour program (billed as a 1-hour program), but she rose to the occasion and played the 20 minute piece perfectly, as far as I could tell.

Between musical numbers, Stephanie shared funny, poignant and sometimes awkward details about her personal life -- from her discomfort playing solo piano recitals during visits home to her romantic preferences -- as a way to model being fully out (I think).

Blind Side

2009-12-08T10:04:00.000-08:00

Two things are on my mind this morning. One is Blind Side, an uplifting movie, based on a true story, about a woman who spontaneously decides to invite a homeless teenager to spend the night at her family’s stately house, an arrangement that leads to a deep emotional bond between the boy and family and eventually launches him into a college scholarship and pro football career. Along the way, the Mom shows great courage venturing into The Projects where she encounters some of what he had to overcome to survive. It was uplifting and/because Sandra Bulloch managed to play the Mom role in such a way that her character was saintly but still believable and appealing.

The other thing on my mind is closer to home and harder to take in. We just learned about the death of Holly Horton, until recently the head of school at Live Oak. Her decline from being in remission from cancer to actively afflicted to receiving round-the-clock hospice care was stunningly fast. I believe she was surrounded by people who loved her and I believe she felt acknowledged for the amazing school she helped create, but I’m sorry I didn’t write the note I meant to send when I heard the end was near. When we were choosing a school for Ty, there was a school much closer to home that advertised the same type of nurturing environment, but that’s almost a given in the Bay Area. What is amazing about Live Oak is that the day-to-day reality seems to match the mission statement.

On a Roll

2009-11-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

Ty decided to collect change for UNICEF while trick or treating this year. I tried to prepare him that people might not welcome the solicitation after spending hundreds of dollars on candy, but he persevered. Thanks to additional contributions from Granny, Albert (our next door neighbor), and Don (whose massive collection of coins also included a penny-colored button, a tiny screw, and Pet Food Express token), the grand total was $175.42.

Ty initially became interested in UNICEF because FC Barcelona, one of his favorite soccer teams, supports them by wearing the UNICEF logo on their jersey instead of a paid sponsor's logo, but he has obviously done some research. As we were putting the coins into rolls, he told me that 24,000 children die each day from preventable causes.

Speaking of preventable death, we took an evening walk after wrapping up the UNICEF project and saw a car blatantly run a red light at Geary and 23rd as we were about to step into the intersection. Poor Ty had to listen to another lecture about being a careful pedestrian.

More Magic

2009-11-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

For the record... we also went to see Mrs Whitney by John Kolvenbach at the Magic Theatre. It was very engaging, but we found it distracting that they used the same lead actors in both Kolvenbach plays. The female lead was playing an older version of the same character she portrayed in the first play, but the male lead was now her former husband/love interest where before he had been the derelict father of her daughter's college boyfriend.

It was hard not to keep the first play from bleeding into the second. We found ourselves wondering how the destitute father from the first play suddenly had a nice house in the second play, before remembering it was a different storyline.

Museum and Goldfish

2009-11-04T05:16:00.000-08:00

This week got off to a theatrical start with Adrienne's opening night performance in Museum, staged in the Chamber of Horrors at the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, and Goldfish, a Bay Area premiere at the Magic Theatre. Adrienne and Sondra were great playing society matrons attending the final day of an art exhibition and the Boxcar Theatre creative directors (Nick and Peter) were characteristically inventive, arranging to stage the show in actual museums and galleries around the Bay Area. Goldfish was a wonderful introduction to playwright John Kolvenbach. Before the show, Adrienne was commenting on the age (50 and up) of the Magic audience and I was speculating that the whole nature of theatre might not be appealing to generations used to interactive entertainment. This show was wonderful in every way and I hope it proves me wrong. I don't know anything about John Kolvenbach, but maybe he is from the texting generation and knows how to bridge the gap. The scenes were short -- practically "tweets," but each line packed a punch and often a punchline.

Moving Day

2009-10-26T07:43:00.000-07:00

Ty moved into Chloe’s old room over the weekend, and it was interesting to see which of his furnishings and decorations made the move with him.

His old room was decorated with maps and artifacts from his interest in family history and Eastern Europe. The new room is strictly soccer – Juventus, Barcelona, and Chelsea posters and Pele paraphernalia. His bed is resting on slats on the floor, because we didn’t have the tools or know-how to disassemble his old bed frame, but he says he loves it that way. The only other furniture is a giant soccer ball beanbag chair and a TV/wii for playing FIFA Soccer. I’m not sure what he’s planning to do about underwear and socks, but he didn’t want to clutter up the room with a dresser, bookcase, or desk.

Although he shed most of his childhood accessories, Tigger, Panda, and all the other stuffed animals made the move from the old closet to new and he is careful to leave the closet door open so they don’t get claustrophobic.

Fog City

2009-10-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

It was supposed to be a beautiful day on Saturday, and I knew it would be, if only I could make it through the fog and up to Skyline where I was meeting Alix to see her "new" 2005 Ninja 250, which had been lovingly souped-up for racing by its previous owner.

The fog was so thick in San Francisco that pedestrians I passed on Sunset Blvd. were huddled under umbrellas as they waited for the bus. Water was dripping off my helmet, which I wore visor up so I could see out. I did not feel safe at freeway speeds on the slick roads and without a visor, so I slowly made my way down Mission Street through Daly City, which becomes El Camino. Eventually (in Millbrae) the sun burned through the fog and started to dry out my leather jacket. The ride through the Redwoods was great once I turned off 35, which was already backing up with traffic heading for the pumpkin patches in Halfmoon Bay

Visiting Alice's Restaurant, the biker hangout on Skyline Boulevard, was quite an experience with Alix because she likes to stir things up. Never mind that the regulars who frequent the parking lot across from Alice's were decked out in full leather regalia and had elaborately decorated Harleys with 5X the horsepower. She would say, "How do you like my bike?" and you could see them momentarily at a loss for words before quickly warming to her obvious enthusiasm for her new sport.

Both Ways

2009-10-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

I don't usually like short story collections, because of the effort involved in getting invested in each new story, but between Olive Kitteridge and this month's book club pick, Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy, I'm becoming a convert.

The author has an interesting way of "teetering near catastrophe," as the Slade reviewer put it, without going there.

Goodbye Dali

2009-10-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

It was time for my 4,000 mile motorcycle service, so I used the occasion to have my brake lever replaced. After gently dropping the bike twice (during what has literally been the bike's break-in period), the lever had become so curved it was difficult to reach. Don, a glass-half-full kind of guy, described it as something out of Dali. My new brake lever is less artistic, but more functional, and I took two city rides yesterday to celebrate the easy riding -- one of the rides was around Lake Merced where Ty will be competing today in his third cross-country meet.

Noticing all the barriers blocking streets in our neighborhood, I realized that the Nike Women's Marathon/Half Marathon would be passing nearby so I walked out early on Sunday morning hoping to see Amber in her first race since Cole and Wilson were born in mid July(?!?). There she was among the elite runners (about 8 miles into the race at 8 AM), looking fit and joyful as she chugged up the hill through Seacliff on her way to Ocean Beach.

Exploring Glen Park

2009-10-16T15:54:00.001-07:00

Ty has soccer practice in Glen Park, a half hour drive from home, so Adrienne and I share the driving. She drops him off and I pick him up on my way home from work. This gives me an hour to kill in the Glen Park neighborhood and I quickly rediscovered Chenery Park, a restaurant that welcomes families -- including 12 year olds in muddy soccer clothes -- but has a sophisticated menu (see below), artful decor, and plenty of space between tables. We decided to stick around for dinner there last night after practice.

Ty ordered the Lightly Smoked Carpaccio with Crispy Leeks and Pomegranate Molasses (hold the pomegranate molasses). I had turkey medallions prepared like veal scaloppini, which must have been a special because I don't see it on their website and can't give the official, more enticing name. Adrienne had a cheeseburger. All great.

Another find in Glen Park is Bird & Beckett Books. It's a funky little space that is evidently used for music in the evenings. I was hoping to find a succinct description of the place on their website, but it's an atmosphere not easily abstracted, I guess. They did provide a nice quote: "Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." Groucho Marx

Camping with Book Club

2009-10-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

Our book club has been meeting every 4-6 weeks for the past 16 or 17 years, but only recently have we started camping together.

Our second annual book club camping trip took place at Memorial Park near Pescadero on Saturday, October 10th. As the city of SF was hosting the Blue Angels in the sky and the President's Cup golf tournament on the ground, we headed out of town just two days ahead of a storm that will be drenching the Bay Area this week.

In contrast to Shooting the Boh, the book we just read for book club, where the author is distressed that her companions won't share their air mattresses or ointments during an arduous journey down an uncharted river in Borneo, everyone cheerfully shared their food and gear and it was as comfortable as roughing it can be. The most challenging part of the trip was pouring the hot bacon grease off the skillet without burning myself or splattering other campers sitting around the fire.

Cole Mining

2009-10-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

We have a new favorite restaurant in SF: Zazie's, "a french bistro in the heart of Cole Valley."

We were planning to order from the prix fixe menu, but the selection was limited so we went off plan to order "le canard" (Adrienne) and "savory bread pudding w/ wild mushrooms, arugula, shallots, and fontina, topped with toasted pine nuts" (me). For an appetizer we shared "assiette de fromages - a selection of three French cheeses w/ figs and toasted walnut levain." Bread was featured in all of my courses and it was particularly good.

Before dinner we had a frugality triumph when Adrienne stopped in at Cole Hardware (a store so famous for its selection and service that they sell Cole Hardware t-shirts and postcards) and found a new plastic knob for the top of the rice cooker. (The old one had melted when I put it in the dishwasher by mistake.)

Alice's Restaurant

2009-10-05T07:28:00.000-07:00

The "Safety First" Biker Gang (Don and I) rode to lunch at the famous biker hangout in the Redwoods made famous by the Arlo Guthrie song from the 60s "You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant..."

After a very blustery Saturday night, the weather was crisp and clear on Sunday morning as we set out on our adventure. The journey took us along the beach, through Daly City and Pacifica, along the reservoir and golf course in Hillsborough (my usual work route), but then into the redwoods after a brief stint on 92 toward Halfmoon Bay. This popular biker route was remarkably clear during our ride -- possibly because there was a 49er football game that afternoon -- so the only real challenge was avoiding tree branches that had fallen during the windy night.

We pulled into the biker lot at noon and walked across to the restaurant in our biker "armor." It's nice to go to a restaurant where almost everyone is wearing variations on the same fashion theme and sharing the picnic benches with their helmets. This is actually a family friendly biker joint that doesn't take itself too seriously -- menu items include things like Redneck Benedict and hamburgers named after different bike manufacturers. Don was disappointed that they didn't have an Aprilia burger. I later heard from Henry that Harleys park in front of the restaurant and "other" bikes park across the street. We were in compliance, but only because the Harley side was on an incline that didn't look suitable for parking.

This was our longest trip so far -- 80 miles round trip for me, which is exactly my work commute. I got back to SF in time to catch a few acts at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass event -- a huge concert in Golden Gate Park that is put on for free every year by banjo loving billionaire Warren Hellman. I also got to hear a few sets on Saturday because Ty's soccer game was in the polo field near one of the concert stages.

Master of Ceremony

2009-10-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

This week it has been a particularly empty nest with Chloe and Jordan both at college and Ty on a school backpacking trip, so we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at Hayes Street Grill, a wonderful restaurant in walking distance of SF ballet, opera, and symphony (so you have to time your arrival to avoid the crowd).

This was our favorite restaurant when Ty was a toddler, because we could eat at the bar and Ty was entertained by all the activity. After a few visits, they began to recognize us -- especially Sherman, a tall waiter with deep voice and dramatic flair who discovered that Ty had a birthday within a few days of his and took him to the kitchen to make his own sundae on the house.

Imagine our surprise when we returned after an 8 year absence and Sherman asked, "Where's Ty?"

I felt guilty enjoying the famous fries while Ty was eating freeze dried lasagna, but that didn't keep me from relishing every last fry -- or the creme brulee that Sherman comped us in honor of sharing a birthday month with Ty.

Whole New Ball Game

2009-09-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

When Ty started middle school last year, he fell in with a group of kids who love soccer. The school didn't have a soccer team, but the 6th grade boys played soccer every day at recess and wore replica soccer jerseys to school. He joined in as best he could -- acquired his own set of jerseys and educated himself about top teams by browsing the internet -- and later tried out for their "futsal" (indoor soccer) team. He was placed on the second JV team, made up of younger kids and other beginners, and told us he wanted to play on a Vikings team (the SF rec league) in the spring. Meanwhile, he started running 2 miles a day, taking a soccer ball everywhere he went (including grocery stores and restaurants), took two soccer camps over the summer to build up his skills, and kicked the soccer ball against the fence at the local playground when he couldn't get a friend to kick the ball with him.

I thought it would be impossible for him to find a Vikings team -- most of the kids have been playing together since they were 6. He had tried joining a team in fourth grade, with kids and a coach he knew from elementary school, but it was a disaster. He asked to quit after a few games and we let him after watching the intimidation and ridicule that made the experience a miserable, spirit-crushing ordeal. I was shocked that he wanted to try again.

Adrienne tried getting him on a team with kids from his school, but there were no openings, so his re-entry to Vikings was on a team of strangers, most of them 8th graders. Their first practice was last Thursday. As Adrienne and Ty were leaving for the first practice, they discovered that a power outage in the neighborhood kept them from opening the garage door, so they took a taxi to the practice field across town. Despite this inauspicious beginning, the coach and players seemed friendly enough and we looked forward nervously to the first game.

Well, the first game happened yesterday and it was a joy to behold. The coach was calm, the boys on the team played a sophisticated passing game and exuded the same calm as the coach. Ty got plenty of playing time and his skills and temperament were a good fit for the team. The parents followed the game with interest, but didn't seem fazed when the 2 point lead ended up as a 2-2 tie. In fact, they seemed most proud and impressed when one boy on our team kicked the ball out of bounds so an injured player on the other team could be helped off the field. Talking about the game on the way home, Ty's proudest moment was being slide tackled and somersaulting back into play.

Completely Okay

2009-09-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

Last week I logged over 350 miles on my motorcycle -- riding to work 4 days out of 5, which is a new record. You would think that practice would make me more perfect, but while meandering through a new neighborhood this morning (the Upper Haight), I dropped the bike -- while traveling zero miles an hour -- at the corner of Java and Masonic. There was a blind corner to my left and a downhill stretch to my right. As I was cautiously easing out for a right turn, a car came around the blind corner. I put on the brakes to let it go by and realized too late that the bike was leaning over too far to the right.

There did not appear to be any damage to the bike, but I was struggling to get it upright on the slight incline when a mother of two young boys (watching from across the street) asked if I could use some help. Without a moment's hesitation, I said "Yes!" After making sure that the younger boy didn't follow her into the street, she walked over and helped me hoist it up and asked if I was okay. I said I was "completely OK," just inexperienced as a rider. I felt glad for the boys that they had a Mom who so readily helped strangers and only slightly embarrassed as I rode off into the fog and overheard the older boy asking his Mom, "Was she completely OK?"

The Gathering

2009-08-24T07:19:00.000-07:00

I was late starting our book club book this month -- The Gathering by Anne Enright -- but I spent most of the weekend entering its dark world and taking breaks from it. (This book is about as far as you can get from escapist fiction. Although it's a great book, you don't escape into it. You need to escape from it.)

During one of the breaks, Adrienne and I walked to the Balboa Theatre for a matinee screening of Julie and Julia, the movie about the blogger who gives herself the challenge of cooking every recipe in Mastering the Art of French cooking. Meryl Streep has been getting all the positive reviews, and she was great as Julia Child, but we both thought critics have been too hard on Amy Adams.

During another break, I rode the motorcycle over to Adrienne's bell concert at the purple church on Portola -- a fun performance with a rock and roll theme you don't often hear from a bell chorus.

At this point, parking the motorcycle in new places is more challenging than riding it, so I spent quite a bit of time maneuvering the bike into a spot that had a reasonably flat and firm surface in the funky lot behind the church. Unlike a car, the bike can tip over if the angle or surface is wrong. Also unlike a car, it doesn't have a reverse gear so it's wise to back it into position to avoid pushing it out of the parking space...

Jordan is back from Africa, but he spent part of Sunday in the ER with Jon because of a "bug" that came back with him. Many possible factors: tick bite, rancid goat stew, reptile handling, long flight home... I guess it goes with the territory, but it seems like a high price to pay for adventure.

Cheeky Birds and Falling Bikes

2009-08-17T07:40:00.000-07:00

The wind was still whistling through the trees on Sunday morning, but I braved the Golden Gate Bridge and 7 miles of 101 North for our second "bikers brunch." Our destination was Guaymas, on the waterfront in Tiburon. (Also popular with cheeky birds that swooped in for tortilla chips at the tables nearest the water.)

The ride out -- with Don riding along as "wingman" -- was pleasantly uneventful. Riding back, I slowed down when I saw brake lights up ahead and started scanning the road to see what was causing the delay. Suddenly I saw two tangled racing bikes in the fast lane and two frantic guys crossing four lanes of traffic to retrieve them. The bikes had apparently fallen out the back of a truck that was parked on the side of the road. More evidence that it's not possible to worry about the actual thing that you might need to deal with on the road -- in this case, dodging a flying 10-speed (or are they 20-speeds now?)

Wicked Wind

2009-08-15T05:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a foggy summer in SF, but last week there were three days when it was clear enough to ride my motorcycle to work.

I have to make the decision at 6 am, when it's still dark outside, so the question is whether I can see the moon overhead. If yes, it's clear enough to ride. The only problem with this decision tree is that it doesn't take into account the wind, which was keeping the sky clear of clouds, I guess, but making it challenging to steer. Especially at high speeds on the freeway. At one point, the front tire did a weird shimmy and I decided to take surface streets the rest of the way to work so I could face the wind at slower speeds.

Making a virtue of necessity, I took El Camino Real the rest of the way to Palo Alto. (El Camino Real is the famous 600-mile road that connects 21 misssions in California and runs all the way from SF to Palo Alto -- with stop lights every few blocks and speed limit of 35 mph when traffic allows.) On the return trip, I took El Camino from Black Mountain Road, where my usual route feeds onto the freeway, to San Franciso and discovered that El Camino becomes Mission Boulevard. It added 30 minutes to my commute, but I survived to consult my motorcycle book about riding in the wind.

I was relieved to find that the shimmy was not a problem with my motorcycle. As the author described it: "When riding through crosswinds, you may get some strange feedback from the front wheel..." The proper response, he says, is to "concentrate on countersteering to make the motorcycle go in whatever direction you wish, and let the tires swerve around under you."

Yikes.

After dinner on the evening of the windy ride, we watched a documentary about the making of four Broadway musicals (Wicked, Caroline or Change, Taboo, and Avenue Q). The star of Caroline or Change shared a favorite quote: "Things always works out in the end, so if things aren't working out, it's not the end." Maybe I should think about that when I'm riding through wind.

Standing Room Only

2009-08-09T06:17:00.000-07:00

I was nervous about taking Ty to the "Night of Champions" soccer game at Candlestick Park last night (because I don't like crowds and don't know the parking strategy or neighborhood around Candlestick and had visions of breathing fumes for an hour trying to get out of the parking lot only to get lost in Bayview at 11:30 at night), but Ty loves soccer and FCB (Futbal Club of Barcelona) is one of his favorite teams, so I bought tickets and hoped for the best.

As usual, I worried about the wrong thing. We got there early, of course, and joined a festive scene of tailgate parties, Mexican music, and people juggling soccer balls in the parking lot. Ty fit right in with his Barcelona jersey.

The event was actually a doubleheader. During the 45 minute break between the first game (which drew half the crowd that would eventually fill the stadium for the Barcelona-Chivas game), Ty went out to check the souvenir stand. He had already gone off on his own to the snack bar and bathroom, so I figured he would be OK. But I got increasingly concerned as the clock ticked down to game time, crowds started streaming into the stadium, music started blaring, and Ty still wasn't back. I knew he had his ticket, but it occurred to me that the ushers would be busy dealing with the crowd and he might be wandering around on the wrong level or even stuck outside the entrance where we had seen a souvenir stand on the way in. I didn't want to leave my seat because I knew he would be looking for me if he had lost his ticket and was finding his way back by remembering that we were behind the goal area.

Moments before the opening kick, he appeared at the end of our row. I was so relieved. Eventually he filled me in on his saga. After buying a souvenir air horn at a souvenir stand on a different level, he went down three flights of stairs instead of two and got disoriented. He asked four different ushers and eventually one was able to direct him to the right stairs/tunnel to get back to our section.

The contrast between the first game -- where it seemed like one aimless booming kick after another -- and the second game, where passes crisscrossed the field with pinpoint accuracy -- was amazing and educational. We got to see many great shots on goal. The most incredible was a backward bicycle kick by Messi, the star player for Barcelona, which he took after trapping the ball on his chest with his back to the goal. It turned out that we were in the rabid fan section and everyone stood for the whole game. It turns out to be a fun way to watch a game and we stayed warm despite the famously windy, cold stadium.

Ty became increasingly expert on the airhorn he had bought during his tour of the stadium (it requires some practice and trumpeting skill to get any sound to come out at all) as the main game played out in a 1-1 tie.

Despite the crowd of 61,000, our car was near one of the exits and we made it out of the parking lot within minutes. I followed the stream of cars out to the main street and saw a sign for 101 South. It was the wrong direction, but I knew my way from there.

Biker Brunch

2009-07-24T06:54:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-16T06:43:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-16T06:37:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

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.

The Bottom Line

2009-06-25T08:55:00.000-07:00

After 3 months and 1600 miles in the saddle, I invested in some real motorcycle pants – something friends had been urging me to do by sharing stories of accidents where the right material in the right place saved serious injury. (In one story, a rider is saved from abrasion by his thick wallet – which wore away, along with the pocket of his jeans, except for the leather side nearest his bottom.)

My new pants (Alpinestar Street Cargo) aren’t leather, but they are made of a space-age material that claims to offer better protection than jeans. More importantly, they have an ingenious design that replaces the saggy seat characteristic of motorcycle pants with a stretch waistband in back covered by stylish panel of material that blends in with the rest of the pants. This means you can bend over while riding without showing your backside. They look like cargo pants but have heavy duty armor in the knee/shin area, which is removable for washing.

Amazing Adventures of Snakeman

2009-06-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

Jordan has returned to Africa to study the world's most venomous snakes. You can follow his adventures at http://therealcobrasnake.blogspot.com/

Day Tripping

2009-06-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

It is a rare occasion when all 5 family members are in the same place at the same time these days, but we managed to coordinate schedules for a day trip to Santa Cruz yesterday.

We reached SC at noon and Jordan’s GPS-equipped iPhone directed us to Zachary’s Restaurant, a popular brunch spot on Pacific Avenue, a popular shopping street. In the spirit of sampling the local cuisine, I ordered something called “Mike’s Mess,” a breakfast dish that involved tofu and other healthy ingredients. We spent some time window shopping, then headed to UC Santa Cruz to see where Jordan would be living for the next four years.

We took the scenic route onto campus and were amazed at the vast open spaces between buildings. There wasn’t much activity on campus because of the season, but we got to see Jordan’s dorm, situated in a redwood grove, and made our way to the bookstore, where Jordan picked out a tasteful UCSC “hoodie” -- with school name but without the school’s banana slug mascot. After more walking and shopping, we wound our way to the harbor for dinner at The Crow’s Nest, a great restaurant overlooking the water.

Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz

We did not make it to the beach or to the Boardwalk amusement park, but we know how to get there now, even without GPS.

Faking It

2009-06-15T08:27:00.000-07:00

Every few months, Barbara G. drops off a stack of New Yorker magazines and I get to catch up on cartoons and articles of interest. This article is must-reading for anyone in a book club -- especially those of us who have been guilty of skimming or skipping a book and had to fake it through the discussion...

The article is arranged into "discussion points," for example:

Book-club members who have actually read this book have called its plot “depressing,” “disgusting,” and “too much about poor people.” Does this suggest that you, as a reader, have a moral obligation to say that you liked the book?

Meat the Grad

2009-06-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

During Jordan’s high school graduation ceremony last weekend, he was used to illustrate the quirkiness of the school and graduating class – a budding herpetologist and president/founder of the “meat club,” his effort to balance out the vegan influences at the school. So it was fitting that we celebrated his graduation with lunch at Espetus, a Brazilian restaurant in SF where waiters dressed in gaucho garb circulate with sword-length skewers bearing different types of meat and poultry: filet mignon, ribs, lamb, prawns, pork with a dusting of parmesan… to chicken hearts. The meat keeps coming until you turn a wheel on the table from green to red. Balancing out the meal is a salad bar with a mountain of guacamole and other slightly healthier treats.

The Buzz

2009-06-10T07:28:00.000-07:00

Go Barcelona!

Blue Plate

2009-06-04T16:58:00.000-07:00

We drove to the outer Mission last night to see if Blue Plate could live up to its many great reviews and awards for “Best Comfort Food.” (In this case, the comfort food has an upscale/hip twist with offerings like “macaroni and drunken Spanish goat cheese.”)

At the start of our half hour drive to the restaurant, we almost changed our plan in favor of local Mexican/margaritas, but we stayed with our plan and were rewarded with a perfect parking spot and a table by the window. We both ordered the meatloaf – a house specialty that is the best meatloaf I have ever tasted. We also enjoyed the buttery focaccia they serve up instead of bread. Not sure if we will go again because of the long drive, but I rank it with Firefly as one of my favorite SF restaurants and disagree with reviews that describe the neighborhood as sketchy.

Catch a Wave

2009-05-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

Being a conscientious new rider, I was aware that my bike was due for a chain lube. I understand that this is something one can do on one's own, but I was apprehensive about doing it wrong or buying the wrong goop, so I asked Henry to assist. (Deborah quipped that I had gone from novice to Navas.)

I collected some important new information in the course of the visit. Henry lives on a hill and he told me to turn the front tire uphill when parking on an incline. Apparently the bike can roll off the kickstand if it is pointed downhill... So much to learn.

I have ridden to work a few times since the time I dropped the bike in the parking lot. One time I stayed on the freeway all the way and it was faster and easier than my usual scenic route. I still encounter plenty of challenges -- just this morning the bike skidded as I went around a corner near home because of wet ground from morning fog -- but I must be getting more confident because I am starting to notice "the wave" you get from fellow motorcyclists -- and even take my left hand off the handle (briefly) to wave back. Wondering about the significance of different waves, I found some funny YouTube videos on the subject. Apparently there is no wrong way to wave, but some techniques seem more sophisticated than others...

Stop, Drop, and Roll

2009-05-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's biking challenge was getting my 250 pound vehicle upright after dropping it in the parking lot at work.

The ride to work had been uneventful and I was backing into a parking spot; bike in neutral, engine still running. I'm not sure what happened to upset the bike's equilibrium, but it started to fall over to the right and all I could do was try to ease it down so it would crash from a lower height.

The bike was still running from its prone position, so I turned it off, got it upright, and began to assess the damage (relieved that no one was in the parking lot at 7AM to witness my mishap). I noticed that the mirror was loose, the brake lever was curved in a new shape, and there was fluid of some kind on the ground. I didn't see a leak, so I hoped the fluid had escaped in some natural way from the bike being sideways for a few seconds with the motor running. I took it for a test drive around the parking lot to see if the brake still worked. All good except the mirror, which couldn't be tightened by hand...

I consulted with Henry by email and decided it was safe to ride as far as the Honda place where I bought the bike two months ago. A friendly mechanic named Murray tightened the mirror and said the brake lever would work OK if I didn't mind the new shape.

Another learning experience: When I set off to get my bike repaired, I forgot to switch the fuel lever from OFF to RUN and learned that the bike will run for a few blocks before the engine dies. Fortunately I was able to turn into a parking lot when I felt the bike start to lose power and I figured out the problem fairly quickly -- after worrying for a few seconds that the loss of power resulted from damage in the fall...

All went smoothly during the ride home, but I decided to drive to work today to allow time for all the lessons to sink in.

Blow, winds

2009-05-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's riding challenge was Highway 101 on the way to work and 20mph winds on the way home.

Seeking to avoid fog on the coast, I joined the early morning rush hour stream down Oak in SF and merged with freeway traffic at Octavia. The speed limit is a sensible 45 or 50 through South San Francisco, so my main challenge was keeping an eye on merging traffic and not freaking out as cars whizzed past me on both sides. At 380, I cut over to my familiar route on the reservoir roads that run along 280.

Riding home I was enjoying the warm temperature when I began to feel a strong headwind and occasional gusts from the west. I began to wonder how this would feel on the freeway when I would be traveling at higher speeds ... Then I noticed fog along the coast and decided to stay on 280 instead of taking the foggy Pacifica loop. Between the wind and the rush hour traffic returning to SF, it was another educational ride and I spent some time reading about "dang wind" in my riding book...

Fog Fest

2009-05-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

Rode to work again today. The fog was so thick from SF to Pacifica that I had to stop several times to wipe the condensation from my glasses. Eventually, I took my glasses off and rode with the face shield up because it was the only way I could see where I was going.

This time the freeway was the easy part of my commute because it was the only stretch where the fog lifted and the sun shone through.

Mission Motorcycles

2009-05-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

Six weeks after buying the motorcycle (slightly used with 134 miles on it), it was time for the 600 mile "break-in service." I debated whether to take it back to the wonderful dealership where I got the bike (Mountain View), but the location was inconvenient -- near work but not near enough to get to and from work while the bike was being serviced. Golden Gate Cycles was the most convenient location -- and I felt like I owed them some business after researching different types of Dual Sport models in their showroom -- but Yelp (online) reviews were terrible. Story after story of inflated prices and impersonal service. The last place I considered had everything going for it -- reasonably close to home, positive word of mouth, adoring online reviews -- but I had scouted the location by car and was worried about navigating the hills and busy intersection surrounding the shop. Buoyed up by my ride to work, I decided I could handle this new challenge, so I made an appointment at Mission Motorcycles for Saturday morning (yesterday).

Rain was predicted, but didn't fall beyond the mist level during my ride along the beach to Daly City at 9AM. I pulled up to the Service Entrance as the mechanics were rolling several bikes out of the shop and into a line on the street, facing outward. (I later figured out their system, I think. Bikes facing out are waiting to be service. Bikes facing in are done.) A friendly mechanic greeted me by name and indicated by gesture that I should add my bike to the line. I haven't had much practice backing in, so he helped by pushing the front of the bike back for the last few (slightly uphill feet) to the curb.

I left most of my gear at the shop -- they have a rack where you can leave your helmet, gloves, etc. -- but left my kneepads and shin guards on during the walk to the bus stop. This turned out to be a good thing because I slipped on a metal manhole cover during my walk. One more example that you can't plan for every dangerous situation... but my armour protected me from a skinned knee.

I have no way of judging the skill of the mechanics at Mission Motorcycles -- the bike was running great before and after the service -- but the customer service was great. No up-sell during the checkout. Just some friendly advice that I should turn the fuel line OFF between rides -- something they advised during my motorcycle class but that JT said was unnecessary. I should have asked how they knew that I wasn't doing that, but the fact that they correctly surmised it made me think that it somehow was affecting the mechanics. Need to ask my more experienced rider friends about that... The final nice touch is that they turned my bike outwards while I was paying for the service so I could gracefully ride away without muscling it into position (there is no "reverse" on a motorcycle).

The Mosquito Has Landed

2009-04-30T09:23:00.000-07:00

Rain is predicted for the weekend, so I decided to take advantage of the last sunny day of the week to ride the motorcycle (aka "Mosquito") to work.

It was exhilarating to cruise down Highway 1 past Ocean Beach and onto Highway 35 South knowing I wouldn’t be heading back until the end of the day. Not many cars on the road at 6 AM, when I set out, so I didn’t feel like I was slowing anyone down as I barely maintained the speed limit (which varied from 35 to 55) on 35. Sooner than I expected, and without much warning, 35 fed onto 280 and I was sailing along in the slow lane between 60 and 65. I tried to remember Don’s guidance about maintaining a loose grip on the handlebars to avoid the “sail” effect as I floated down the freeway stream. I was happy to take the Black Mountain Road exit and return to scenic 35 as it wound around the reservoir. At 92 I took a left onto Canada Road with the feeling I was on the home stretch.

The most challenging stretch came after Whiskey Hill Road (the transition from Woodside, where Canada Road ends, to Sand Hill Road) when I had to face commute traffic and blinding 7AM sun. I am actually looking forward to the return trip when temperatures should be 10 or 20 degrees warmer.

First Road Trip

2009-04-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Today was the biggest challenge yet -- a trip across Golden Gate Bridge to the Marin Headlands, a hilly area just across the bridge that is popular with hikers, cyclers, hawks, and other bikers.

I would not have braved the bridge (yet) without Don, a more experienced biker who has a wonderful blend of caution, confidence, and zest for adventure. He also has a spectacular and rare bike (the Aprilia Shiver) that dazzles everyone we encounter, including the two Harley riders we met at the first scenic lookout point.

The round trip was only 21 miles (for me), but it felt like traveling to another world. There were many spectacular views of the city, but the most dramatic scene/moment was heading down Hawk Hill, a steep one-way road that led down to Fort Barry and Point Bonita Lighthouse. Along the way, Don was flagged down by a cyclist who had a flat tire and needed to convey a message to his friend at the bottom of the hill who had a bike pump. I'm not sure how they could spot the Good Samaritan behind the full-face helmet, but he obliged.

There were so many new experiences during this ride: merging with freeway traffic, going through a toll booth (not easy to fish for money with gloved hands and armored jacket), waiting our turn at a one-lane tunnel that changes directions every 5 minutes, but the best part was being part of a "gang" -- knowing that someone else is experiencing the same sights, smells, crosswinds, views, and dealing in their own way with the same gravel, potholes, speed bumps, stalled buses, and oblivious golf carts that suddenly pull into the road.

We celebrated with lunch at Angelina's, which I now consider my "biker hangout," and started plotting the next ride.

Leader of the pack

First bridge crossing!

Scenic Route

2009-04-25T18:35:00.000-07:00

Today's motorcycle challenge was a ride down Market Street, from the vicinity of Union Square to the Ferry Building. I have walked this route and remembered many historic and picturesque sights (like Lotta's Fountain, where survivors and civic-minded others gather every year on April 19th to remember the 1906 Earthquake). Today I discovered that it's not a great driving route -- even at 6AM. One lane is reserved for buses. The other lane was required to turn right at 1st Street, so I never made it to the Ferry Building. Oh well, another notch on my motorcycle belt. I returned home via Mission Street, then right on 9th past the Civic Center.

My mid-week (pre-work) rides are much shorter, but this week I traveled through the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood one morning and another day discovered a great route: down 25th Avenue, right on Camino del Mar and into the Presidio where the road gently curves along the hillside with views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Veer right on Kobbe, left on Park and wind downhill to Crissy Field, past the pet cemetery and right on "Old Mason." It's hard to describe the exact route back because there are one way streets and parking lots and dead-ends as you wind your way past old canons, through the barracks and past the Officer's Club, but eventually you find your way to Moraga, then follow signs to the Arguello Gate. This leads up a gently curving road back to familiar territory of the Richmond.

Sunday Driver

2009-04-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

Today's riding challenge was the freeway. My modest goal was to drive down 19th Avenue (a busy street) and to stay on it as it becomes 280. One advantage to this route is that there is no merging with freeway traffic. Just a gradually increasing speed limit 30 - 35 - 45 - 65 and the realization that I just passed the last opportunity to turn right onto a surface street.

I never achieved 65 mph, but I did make it to a respectable 60. The wind was not whistling through my hair -- what with the helmet -- but I could tell I was moving fast from the way my helmet strap slapped against my jacket. (The strap was fastened, but the end wasn't snapped. Not an issue at my usual speeds...)

I got off at the Pacifica (Hwy 1) exit, which involved some lane changes, and doubled back on 35 North to the Great Highway, my familiar beach route. It was all very exhilarating. My total mileage for the morning was 31 -- a new single ride record and duration of ride was 90 minutes, another single ride record.

I was disappointed that this motorcycle didn't have a fun name like Rebel or Bandit or Eliminator, so I have dubbed it "The Mosquito." This is not meant to imply anything negative. It just looks like a mosquito to me and maybe I am hoping that when people hear the buzzing they will get out of the way!

Neighborhood Tally: Another riding goal is to ride through every SF neighborhood. On Saturday morning I rode along the waterfront from Pier 39 to Pier 14 then circled back past Telegraph Hill, North Beach, Chinatown, Pacific Heights to home.

In the Dark

2009-04-09T07:08:00.000-07:00

I changed my routine today. Instead of riding the motorcycle after work, when I'm travel weary from my commute, I decided to ride before work. It was 5:30 AM and I decided to venture out to The Marina via Park Presidio/Highway 1. This involved passing through a tunnel (a first), down a grooved road at 45 mph (another first), through "Cow Hollow," and up over a steep hill to get back to familiar territory. Before any of that, I had to get the bike started.

Normally it starts right up, so I was surprised when I pulled out the choke, pushed in the starter, and it tried and failed to catch. I went inside to consult the owner's guide and it suddenly dawned on me that I had forgotten to set the engine cut-off switch to run. (In my motorcycle class, the teacher had us use the engine cut-off switch to turn off the bike. I understand from talking to JT and Don that this is not standard practice, but I am still figuring out my standard practice.)

I tried again, but this time the engine didn't even turn over. I mentally reviewed the startup sequence: bike in neutral (or clutch in), cut-off switch in run position, ignition on, push starter button... then it dawned on me that the kickstand was down. (As a safety precaution the kickstand has to be up when the motor is running.)

After all the drama of starting the bike, the ride was uneventful and I was relaxed enough to notice the sound of birds singing as I came up and over the steep hill on Divisidero.

Counter Intuitive

2009-04-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

South of San Francisco State University, west of 19th Avenue, and east of Lake Merced and Harding Park Golf Club is an apartment complex called Park Merced. I discovered this neighborhood after cruising down 19th Avenue on my motorcycle and deciding I better get off before it turned into 280. (I was going to describe Park Merced as a sleepy little neighborhood, but all neighborhoods are sleepy at 6:30 AM, my preferred practice time.)

Park Merced would be an unremarkable neighborhood except that it was on the curving streets behind this apartment complex that I finally got the idea of countersteering. This is a case where it's easier done than said.

My strategy for building proficiency is to tackle a different neighborhood on each ride. So far, I have passed through: the Richmond, the Sunset, Seacliff, Golden Gate Park, Laurel Village, Presidio, Upper Haight, down California Street to the Financial District, and Highway 1 to Daly City. I have stalled the bike and had to restart on a steep hill in the Sunset, driven over a curb entering a gas station near home, started in 2nd gear a few times, tried to start in neutral a few times, but so far so good staying upright.

Fast food and slow rides

2009-03-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

Mom was visiting from Boise this weekend and we celebrated her birthday with scenic walks and many foods off her usual healthy regimen -- chile relleno at Tia Margarita on Friday, Jack in the Box tacos for Saturday lunch, clam pizza (Ty's idea) on Saturday night, and corned beef and cabbage on Sunday.

Still enjoying the new bike. I took a few longer rides this weekend (through Golden Gate Park out to the beach and back) and practiced figure 8s in the city's most scenic parking lot outside the Legion of Honor. I also practiced filling the gas tank. It took one gallon, counting the drops that spilled on the gas tank while I was mastering the technique.

Thanks to Mom, I am highly visible and well armored. Here she is modeling the new jacket.

Jumpy

2009-03-26T13:14:00.001-07:00

I've been riding the new bike after work to get in some extra practice time. This is not the ideal time to practice because of busy roads and impatient drivers on their way home from work. I almost decided against evening practice when I had trouble with jerky transitions between gears on Monday. Imagine my happiness when a co-worker explained that dirt bikes (and hybrids like mine) are supposed to be a bit "jumpy." This was confirmed by a review I found online. To quote the experts (in an otherwise favorable review): "Backing off the throttle is nearly impossible to do smoothly and picking up the gas is only slightly easier to control." Far from giving me buyer's remorse, this review gave me new rider's relief.

Knowing I wasn't doing something wrong completely transformed my enjoyment of the ride. I had a blast on Wednesday and ventured onto Geary for the first time. No mishaps -- except for sliding downhill for a few feet when I tried to start from a stop sign in neutral...

First Ride and More Small Bursts

2009-03-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

My new motorcycle arrived at 10:30 am yesterday -- driven up from Sunnyvale by JT, the biker friend of Henry's. He talked me through some bike basics -- making it all seem a lot simpler than the explanation in the owner manual and the safety class. Like the masked man in Lone Ranger episodes, he probably would have been happy to ride off into the sunset (sunrise) with nothing more than my thanks, but he needed a way to get back to Sunnyvale, so I bought him a cup of Angelina's coffee and a raisan cookie (his modest selection from the array of goodies) and collected more cycling lore while I drove him home.

Rain was threatening by the time I got back to SF, but I was eager/nervous about my first ride and decided to head out into the mist. As usual, the things I had worried about were not the things I needed to worry about. The bike was not all that difficult to balance and maneuver. I did have trouble accelerating and braking smoothly. I can see that this will get easier with practice and I have a perfect practice area within a few blocks of home. For my first ride, I wound through the ritzy Sea Cliff neighborhood overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge and up to the Legion of Honor. Today I'm hoping to take a ride through the Presidio, another beautiful and low traffic area near home.

On the subject of small bursts, Ty and I went to a San Jose Earthquakes soccer game last night with Rain and Sally. We almost backed out when we discovered that it was an open stadium under threatening clouds, but Ty urged us to go for it. Rain convinced the guy at the ticket booth to upgrade our $20 tickets to $40 tickets at midfield. Between that and finding street parking, we saved $100. That small burst made up for getting soaked by the rain that fell off and on throughout the game. The Earthquakes lost to the New England Revolutionaries (1-0), but I had forgotten the fun of being at a live sports event. We all enjoyed stomping our feet during corner kicks to create an earthquake effect in the stands.

Small Bursts and Perfect Strangers

2009-03-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

In Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout, the title character distinguishes between Big Bursts (like weddings, births, etc.) and Small Bursts (everyday events that are sustaining in different ways). I will have to go back to the book to see exactly what she says about them, but it got me thinking about the bursts in my life. Here is one I shared with book club:

After eating an austere lunch of cottage cheese and carrots I decided to treat myself to a bag of Fritos from the vending machine at work. Unfortunately, my bag snagged on the mechanism, trembling there out of reach. I gave the machine a few tentative shoves to no avail. I was about to convince myself that it was all for the best (healthwise) when a stranger saw my dilemma and gleefully rocked the machine until the bag dropped free. Hell’s bells, as Olive would say. This episode improved my outlook for the whole afternoon.

Olive did not mention medium bursts, but I will have to start a category like that for having my new/used motorcycle discovered, test-driven, and delivered to me this Saturday by JT, the perfect stranger.

On the Boulevard

2009-03-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

My first good impression was affordable valet parking as Adrienne and I pulled up to the restaurant a few minutes late for our 6:15 reservation. My second good impression was the beautiful interior of the historic (pre-Earthquake) building at the foot of Mission Street. We were meeting Dennis and Don for a double birthday celebration at Boulevard, whose chef Nancy Oakes is one of the best in California. They were on time and already had a wonderful French wine picked out. (Hoping Don will repeat in a comment his explanation of California taste vectors vs. French wine vectors, but this variety hit the "sweet spot" by not being too sweet.)

For starters, I had Arugula, Pear and Goat Cheese, an elegant salad of "shaved bosc pears in pear william syrup, pear crushed with pomegranate & balsamic vinegar, grapes, marcona almond pesto, bucheron goat cheese, pear & pomegranate vinaigrette." For main course, Adrienne and I both had the Local Petrale Sole -- "wild caught and pan roasted" with parsley & garlic mashed potatoes, fresh louisiana prawns, german red spinach, and shrimp nage (whatever that is).

Our sweet and quirky waiter crooned a few lines of happy birthday as he set out desserts. Yum!

The Deed is Done

2009-03-18T06:50:00.000-07:00

Here's how it came down... Once I decided on the type of bike I liked, Henry put me in touch with a friend (JT) who knows bikes. JT found a barely used Honda CRF 230 (dual sport) at a trusted dealership in Sunnyvale. A deal was struck. The dealership being far from home, JT is driving it to SF this Saturday -- taking a route that could someday be my commute: Page Mill to 35 to Highway 1.

Note the sleek European styling and blazing red color. Watch out world.

Nice review on MotorcycleUSA.com

Testing, Testing

2009-03-15T07:08:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday I took myself down to the DMV and got my M1 (motorcycle) license. Because I had already taken and passed the rider safety course, this involved handing over $28, taking an eye test, getting my photo taken, taking an abbreviated form of the standard (class c) written test and a separate written test focusing on motorcycle riding. I wish they had let me keep a copy of the motorcycle test so I could share more precisely, because some of the questions were quite bizarre. For example, one question asked about the penalty for speeding away when instructed to pull over by a police officer and killing a pedestrian during the chase scene.

The next step is actually getting a motorcycle and getting some riding experience -- initially in parking lots and low traffic areas like the Presidio -- so I can answer people's questions about where/when/how I'm planning to ride it. My hope is that I will eventually feel confident enough to ride it to work one or two days a week -- taking the long way (highway 1 along Ocean Beach, through the forest along skyline and back to civilization down Page Mill road). Another goal would be to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, where the speed limit is a sensible 45 mph, for drives to Pt. Reyes.

I found a wonderful site for beginning riders and after researching bike reviews on that and other sites I find that I am leaning (note how biking lingo is creeping into my everday speech) toward the bikes in the Dual Purpose category. I made a list of the leading contenders -- Suzuki DR200SE, Kawasaki 250SF, Yamaha TW200 and Honda CRF 230 -- and highlighted phrases that appealed to me, like "pretty forgiving, don't worry about dropping this motorcycle, nearly indestructible, perfect for a new rider, phenomenal gas mileage." Then Adrienne and I went to Golden Gate Cycles to see the bikes in person. Unlike racing bikes that force you to bend over to reach the handlebars or cruiser bikes that encourage a laid back posture, the Dual Purpose bikes, which the sales guy described as "motards," encourage what I would describe as an athletic/alert posture. I was surprised and happy to find that I could reach the ground comfortably on all the models, even the Kawasaki, which listed a seat height of 34.8".

It is hard not to take color into account when choosing a bike. The best looking bike (to me) was the Suzuki (see below) . This one had a sleek black color. The colorful bikes are more visible and therefore likely to be safer. There is a flourescent color known as "Kawasaki green" that is hard to miss. The Honda was red and the Yamaha was blue -- the best match for the helmet I bought for the safety class -- but otherwise not as stylish because of fatter tires (need to research pros and cons of that).

As much as I love the sales experience at Golden Gate Cycles -- after a few minutes in the shop Adrienne was talking about getting a scooter for herself -- I would like to find a used bike on Craigslist. Leading contenders are the Suzuki (most comfortable) and Kawasaki (most exciting and clearly the sales guy's favorite). Shopping saga to be continued...

Uneasy Rider

2009-03-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

I have already shared this information with my motorcycle mentors, but for the record…

I am still processing the riding portion of my motorcycle class, which took place last weekend. On the positive side, I passed the evaluation. Conditions on Sunday were bad – continuous light rain – but it was interesting to discover that there was no obvious loss of control/traction, at least at the speeds we were traveling (up to 20 mph). The negative aspect of the class was the instructor’s teaching style. He was a Vietnam vet whose behavior was almost a caricature of a domineering drill sergeant.

This made a physically and mentally challenging experience also an emotionally challenging experience. One guy -- the other beginner -- dropped out of the class after Saturday. I made it through most of the class without being the subject of the trainer's negative attention until we were doing a task that required braking on a curve. I learned the hard way that you need to get out of the lean/straighten out the bike before applying the front brake and "dropped the bike."

We (the bike and I) must have stopped abruptly and the bike, already leaning left, continued its descent. I quickly judged that I couldn’t get it upright and bailed to the left, skinning my left knee slightly and bruising my right shin on the brake pedal as that leg came over.

I am trying to remember that one reason for taking the course was to challenge myself. It has been a long time since I was scared to the point of trembling. I was the last in our group to go through each evaluation exercise and my hand was literally shaking on the throttle as I waited my turn, causing the engine to rev if I didn’t hold it off the handle. Between that and lack of confidence in my hand braking skill, the last hour was nerve wracking.

Stay tuned for the next installment: applying for a motorcycle license and acquiring a motorcycle (perhaps from a person who went through this whole process and decided it was a crazy idea).

Living dangerously

2009-02-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

So far, so good. I took the classroom portion of my Basic (Motorcycle) Riding Course last night and got 100% on the written test. Some skills – like acing multiple choice tests – improve with age.

I have been so nervous about the riding part of the class, that I forgot to worry about walking into a classroom where I was likely to be the only woman and the only person over 50. Actually, there was one other woman in our class – but she was young and knew enough about motorcycles to have her future bike in mind (a “Monster”) – but the average age was 20- something and everyone seemed to have some riding experience.

The instructor was an ex-Army guy with a gruff manner but a genuine interest in what we were doing in the class. As an ice breaker, we were supposed to introduce each other – with information about what type of bike we intended to buy/ride and what our motivation was for taking the class. Most people were planning to get sports bikes. I was the only person who mentioned a scooter as a possibility. I did this apologetically and the instructor launched into a funny story about being passed on the freeway by a souped-up scooter. This set the tone of inclusivity, although I did pick up a lot of information about biker proclivities. The training film showed people on “cruisers” riding with people on “sport bikes.” Instructor Bill said this would not happen in real life. Just as he said we would never see Harley Davidsons and Japanese bikes on the same ride. I also learned the meaning of T-Bone, High Side, and other ways to wipe out. Despite all, I am looking forward to the riding class this weekend. The class is held rain or shine and rain is predicted for both days.

(While verifying that I had the term "high side" correct -- I was remembering "high rise" -- I discovered an interesting article on How to Crash, a calm discussion about things like standing on the pegs just before impact to improve your odds of sailing over the car instead of into it.)

The hand that gives the rose

2009-02-22T09:40:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Adrienne's birthday with a drive to Pt. Reyes where we hiked through a cow pasture, had lunch at Pt. Reyes Station, and picked out Zulugrass jewelry (the gift Adrienne wanted from the kids). Adrienne had discovered the distinctive jewelry on a previous trip to Pt. Reyes. It is simple, earth friendly and made by a company in East Kenya founded by Philip Leakey, the youngest son of paleo-anthropologists Drs. Louis and Mary Leakey.

As Adrienne and the kids were deciding between the strands of beaded zulugrass, I looked through the greeting cards -- a much nicer selection than I found in neighborhood card shops -- and was struck by this quote on the subject of giving by Hada Bejar (who I just discovered through Google was a British playwright and poet):

"The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose."

Never a dull moment

2009-02-20T16:12:00.000-08:00

Our book club is reading Olive Kitteridge this month, an amazing book of linked short stories by Elizabeth Strout. I don’t remember ever encountering a character like Olive in fiction. She is not a nice person, but there is never a dull moment when she is on the page. Here is how the NY Times sums it up:

The pleasure in reading “Olive Kitteridge” comes from an intense identification with complicated, not always admirable, characters. And there are moments in which slipping into a character’s viewpoint seems to involve the revelation of an emotion more powerful and interesting than simple fellow feeling — a complex, sometimes dark, sometimes life-sustaining dependency on others. There’s nothing mawkish or cheap here. There’s simply the honest recognition that we need to try to understand people, even if we can’t stand them.

Wonder dog

2009-02-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Jodie turned 19 on Wednesday. So many amazing stories come to mind -- the time she and Rain were being stalked by a mountain lion, the time Jodie was bitten by a rattlesnake and Rain tried to suck out the poison before speeding to the vet for 3 days of anti-venom treatment, the time I posed with her for a photo and wound up covered with poison oak.

And the winner is

2009-02-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

...Revolutionary Road.

I don't have much basis for comparison, because I've seen only one other Academy Award nominated film (The Reader), but Revo Road has my vote. Painfully wonderful storytelling and memorable acting by the leads and Michael Shannon, a mentally ill man who named the horrible truths about "life" in 50s suburbia.

"Everyone admits to the emptiness of suburban life, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness."

I am trying not to draw comparisons between Frank's job (marketing writer) and mine. Not satisfying to write clever brochure copy? My only quibble with authenticity was the scene at the end of the film where Frank is sitting on a playground bench watching his young children on the swingset. In real life, they would be nagging him to push them.

Playing it by ears

2009-01-16T07:06:00.000-08:00

Adrienne spent Tuesday morning in the operating room. We are grateful for the positive outcome and the outpouring of support.

Thankfully, we weren’t in the hospital room long enough to learn how to operate the buttons that raise and lower the bed or the buttons that operate the overhead TV. We were there long enough to appreciate the attentive and friendly hospital staff. It’s funny the things you remember. The anesthesiologist confessed that he fainted the first time he gave blood as a strapping young college student and had to go to medical school to redeem his reputation. The nurse, who knew her business very well but was still mastering English as a second language, told Adrienne we would have to “play it by ears” when it came to post surgery pain medication.

First Inning

2009-01-05T07:13:00.000-08:00

We started the new year with a quick escape to Mendocino. The weather was crisp but clear, ranging from 37 to 47, so we were able to do some town and beach walking to work up an appetite for dinner.

The best known restaurant in Mendocino is Cafe Beaujolais, but our favorite is Moosse Café, specializing in “North Coast cuisine” (which must have something to do with locally grown/humanely raised and no microwave – more on that below). We had:

Grilled, marinated tender shoulder Angus steak with peppered-blue cheese mash potatoes, caramelized shallots, mushroom and asparagus salad, and butter-enriched demi-glacea

Crispy confit of duck with roasted garlic, leek and bean ragout, buttered turnips and a cranberry duck glace

Our favorite place to stay is The Blue Heron Inn – three rooms above Moose Café. Choosing a room is tricky because the only room with private bath has a town view instead of an ocean view. If you choose the ocean view and no one else is staying in the other room that shares the bath, you get the best of both worlds.

The first time we stayed at the inn, we were the only ones in the building when the restaurant closed down for the night. There is no innkeeper. It was a strange feeling to be able to prowl through the restaurant and peek into the kitchen after hours (which we did on our first visit in a futile search for a microwave to reheat coffee before the café opened for the day).

Tally Ho

2008-12-31T17:26:00.000-08:00

I hit the SF lion hunt jackpot this afternoon with a sighting of this lion relief from 6BC (during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II) on display for a few months at the Legion of Honor.

On the way home we stopped at Tal-Y-Tara Tea and Polo Shoppe (their spelling) to cash in a coupon for a complimentary pot of tea in this bizarre outpost of Tweed and Tack in the Richmond.

I am not planning to write New Year Resolutions, but if I did I would resolve to appreciate the great views in our neighborhood. Ty took this shot of me in a grove of Eucalyptus trees overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.

Branching Out

2008-12-30T07:55:00.000-08:00

I went back to the Academy of Sciences yesterday to see the exhibits I missed on our first visit. I thought Monday would be less crowded, but the building was filled to capacity and they were metering the lines for members and ticketholders. I would not have waited in the line except that the weather was nice and the group behind me made for interesting eavesdropping as they schemed about how to sneak three adults in on one family membership card.

Once inside I spent my time in the African room where I searched in vain for the diorama from the old Academy that slowly transitioned from day to night with corresponding animal sounds in the background.

On my way out I stopped to watch a video presentation about the baobab tree, a species I hadn't heard about until Ty started attending Live Oak School. (Each student belongs to a "tribe" made up of kids from different grades. Each tribe is named after a tree and he is a "Baobab.")

I learned that it's also known as The Upside Down Tree, because the branch structure resembles roots; that it's the national tree of Madagascar; and that it is pollinated almost exclusively by lemurs licking the nectar from a flower on one tree and doing the same on others. The tree is oddly broad, and one of the folktales is that the tree complained to the gods that living in the rainforest made it bloated from absorbing too much water so the gods uprooted it and hurled it into a dry environment where it landed upside down and was destined to grow that way.

Back to Nature

2008-12-29T07:15:00.000-08:00

The California Academy of Sciences was a favorite destination when the kids were young, but we let our membership lapse when the museum moved South of Market for a few years during construction of a new facility in Golden Gate Park. It finally opened again at the old location, but the high admission price ($25 per adult or $160 for annual family membership) has kept us away.

Yesterday we finally committed to a family membership, reasoning that it's close to home and would be fun to duck in for short visits as we have with our membership to the DeYoung and Legion of Honor.

The museum opened to great fanfare earlier this year and it's still very crowded on weekends -- as we discovered during our 45 minute wait to walk through the 4-story rainforest exhibit. My first impression of the new museum is that the animal habitats haven't changed as much as the human habitat (which is spectacular), but that may be the right priority. If humans are drawn to the place and take more interest in animals, it's bound to help the animals living outside captivity.

Rainforest exhibit

The Matching Game

2008-12-27T11:39:00.000-08:00

When Chloe was young, she began a tradition of creating surveys for family and friends to fill out during holiday gatherings. Part of the tradition was that the questions and answers had to fit on one piece of notebook paper. She would write the questions in the left column, names across the top and draw a grid. As participants completed the survey, they would fold the paper accordion style to conceal their answers and hand the questionnaire to the person whose name appeared in the next column.

After many years in hiatus (coinciding with Toe and Lo's move to Indiana, PA?!?) the tradition was revived this year and there were some funny and eerie matches. The funniest answer was Ty's response to "What non-material thing do you want in the next year?" (In contrast to answers like "peace, love, family time, etc." he said "Mario Cart," a populuar video game. No slouch in the vocabulary department, Ty had interpreted "non-material" to be something other than clothes.)

In the eerie coincidence department, Jordan and Ty named the same person in answer to the question "Which actor would you want to play you in the movie of your life?" (Ewan MacGregor) and Adrienne and I used the same questionable word construction in response to "If you could have one quality you don't think you have already, what would it be?" (carefreeness). Chloe is a genius at devising questions that provide the perfect balance of humor and reflection.

First Things First

2008-12-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

It's a soggy Christmas morning in San Francisco. We agreed on 9:30 for the opening ceremonies, so I am alone downstairs for a few hours and solely responsible from keeping the cats from chewing ribbons.

The newspaper is full of Best of 2008 lists and "how to spend the holiday" lists. One article suggested making a list of things you did for the first time in 2008. I suspect the kids won't indulge in this type of reflection (unless I introduce it as a dinner table topic), so I will include a few of their firsts in my list.

This was the first year we started collecting food scraps for the compost bin. It's a nuisance to carry the stuff down to the bin each day, but satisfying to do a green deed and amazing how much it has reduced our regular garbage volume.

Ty took a solo airplane flight.

Chloe moved into an apartment.

Jordan applied to colleges.

First time attending a movie premiere -- the film version of Jeanne's City of Ember.

First time reading many wonderful books: Master Butcher Singing Club and Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse by Louise Erdrich; the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy...

First time seeing many new and old plays (some starring Adrienne): The Shaker Chair, Fences, Curse of the Starving Class, Death of a Salesman and The American Dream.

First time riding a jet ski.

First time camping in November (with summer-weight gear).

First time watching a season of American Idol.

First time hiking the Bootjack Trail to Mountain Home Inn.

First time eating roasted chestnuts (and wild boar stuffing) at MacCallum House for Thanksgiving dinner.

First time visiting Portland and Mt. Rainier.

First time seeing a banana slug eating lettuce (during first camping trip with book club).

I also saw many new lion statues for the first time (to add to my collection of lion sightings). Here is a distinctive fellow from the Seacliff neighborhood.

Pudding and Pie

2008-12-23T09:06:00.000-08:00

Phil gives the ministry a good name through his open mind and reverent irreverence. I thought of him when I came across this poem by another Philip on his birthday yesterday. I sent it along and he responded with one in a similar vein. Here they are:

O Karma, Dharma, Pudding and Pie

O Karma, Dharma, pudding and pie,
gimme a break before I die:
grant me wisdom, will, & wit,
purity, probity, pluck, & grit.
Trustworthy, helpful, friendly, kind,
gimme great abs and a steel-trap mind,
and forgive, Ye Gods, some humble advice --
these little blessings would suffice
to beget an earthly paradise:
make the bad people good --
and the good people nice;
and before our world goes over the brink,
teach the believers how to think.

-- Philip Appleman, from "Five Easy Prayers for Pagans"

The Senility Prayer

God, grant me the senility
to forget the people
I never liked anyway,
the good fortune
to run into the ones I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference.

--Brenda A. Smith

Slim Shady Meets Shostakovich

2008-12-21T08:49:00.000-08:00

Ty showed me a slideshow he made that featured 25 of the world's most famous composers set to the music of Eminem. I didn't know how to react. I was impressed that he'd taught himself PowerPoint and that he was interested in classical composers and that he'd thought to juxtapose the old white guys with the young white guy, but the lyrics were a rude education for me... I guess it's good that he wanted to share his creation.

What would Shostakovich do?

The Butter Knife

2008-12-16T07:11:00.000-08:00

When Ty got serious about golf, I bought him a set of clubs that were on sale at a local sporting goods store. Three months later, he had snapped the heads off all the woods. I don't know if it was a problem with his swing or with the quality of the clubs, but I found replacements at the local Goodwill for $3.49 each. The Goodwill clubs are still intact, and I still check the sporting goods area at the Goodwill to see what treasures I can find. Mainly I look for wedges because Ty was eager to have every type: lob wedge, gap wedge, sand wedge, pitching wedge, trouble wedge... but I came across a real treasure last week: a 1-iron. I knew they were rare and hard to use, but I didn't know the extent of it until I did some online research. Here are highlights from an article that did not include a byline:

The 1-iron is often referred to as a butter knife, although even some butter knives are more forgiving. It often requires the perfect blend of speed and power, which most players don't have or don't want to risk trying. That made the 1-iron the source of some of the most famous lines in golf.

"The only time I ever took out a 1-iron was to kill a tarantula,'' wrote Jim Murray, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

Lee Trevino once suggested holding a 1-iron when lightning was in the area. "Even God can't hit a 1-iron," he joked.

But the club was responsible for some of the greatest shots in golf, starting with Ben Hogan hitting a 1-iron into the 18th green at Merion to win the 1950 U.S. Open. That remains one of the most famous of all golf photographs.

Holiday Traditions

2008-12-09T06:13:00.000-08:00

For the past year we have tried to do more shopping in the immediate area. This is not much of a sacrifice because we have a fruit and vegetable store on one corner, a local market on another corner, a meat market two blocks away, and many takeout options in a two block radius.

Less convenient is our new holiday tradition of Christmas tree shopping near home at a nursery five blocks away. I missed the ritual this year because the only time all three kids were available was 4-5:30 on Monday, so they did the schlepping of the tree and the wrestling of it into the tree stand. They even did the draping of the Christmas tree lights, which allowed Ty to hold back one strand of lights to decorate his room (until Adrienne discovered his ploy and did some rewiring) .

Although Christmas music has been playing in the house and the car radio, I have Phantom of the Opera "inside my mind." Ty and I went to see the play Sunday night and he loved it as much as I did when I first saw it 20+ years ago during a Christmas trip to London. The musical is also linked with memories of my father because his last gift to me was a cassette tape of the musical -- mailed from London shortly before he died.

It is hard not to compare the performance last Sunday to the one I dimly remember with Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the lead roles. What struck me then about Sarah Brightman's performance was that she really did seem possessed by the music when she was singing with the phantom. It was a subtle kind of madness that I imagine I can hear even in recordings of the performance. The woman who played the role in SF seemed too mentally stable or something. Still, it was wonderful to share the experience with Ty and he seemed most struck by the special effects.

Rise Up!

2008-12-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

One day, out of the blue, a colleague asked, "If you were sure to be successful, what would you do?" My first thought was that I would like to write a novel, but I realized that I was thinking within the range of my natural abilities. His question opened a bigger universe and I found myself thinking, I'd like to be a wonderful singer. I'd like to be a standup comic who was fearless in front of a crowd. I'd like to be a wildly attractive person. What I finally decided and told him was that I would like to be an evolved person who didn't define myself by my accomplishments. Knowing he was a spiritual person frustrated with the Catholic church, I went as far as to say I'd like to be like Jesus. He thought that was a very ambitious goal.

A few days later, I heard Tyson talking to a friend about things he likes to do vs. things he's good at. Somehow it seemed related to Anthony's question and I hoped he would keep doing the things he likes whether or not he becomes "successful."

This play excerpt by Stephen Vincent Benet also seems related. We received it from Lee, who received it in a Christmas card, and now we have it framed and hanging on the wall for inspiration.

God pity us indeed for we are human
And we do not always see
The vision when it comes, the shining change.
Or, if we see it, do not follow it
Because it is too hard, too strange, too new
Too unbelievable, too difficult,
Warring too much with common, easy ways.
Life is not lost by dying! Life is lost
Minute by minute, day by dragging day,
In all the thousand, small, uncaring ways,
The smooth appeasing compromises of time,
Which are King Herod and King Herod's men,
Always and always. Life can be
Lost without vision but not lost by death,
Lost by not caring, willing, going on
Beyond the ragged edge of fortitude
To something more — something no man has ever seen.
You who love money, you who love yourself,
You who love bitterness, and I who loved
and lost and thought I could not love again,
And all the people of this little town,
Rise up! The loves we had were not enough.
Something is loosed to change the shaken world,
And with it we must change!

American Dream

2008-12-05T07:55:00.001-08:00

Adrienne plays Grandma in Boxcar's current production of The American Dream by Edward Albee. It's wonderful. Wickedly funny. The staging -- in people's homes around the Bay Area -- gives us a ringside seat for the dysfunctional family drama.

Gobble, Gobble

2008-11-30T14:35:00.000-08:00

We just returned from Thanksgiving in Mendocino with the Robinsons (Victoria, Charlie, and Andrew). There were many highlights, starting with a 5-courseThanksgiving Day feast at MacCallum House:

Roasted Zeni Ranch Chestnuts
Dungeness Crab Cocktail with Lime-Avocado Aioli

Pear, Roasted Beets, Spiced Hazelnuts and Endive Salad with Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog Chevre

Roasted Herb Scented Branigan Farms Free Range Turkey

Wild Boar and Apple Stuffing

Gewürztraminer Gravy

Roast Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Maple Cranberry Relish
Pumpkin-Pecan Napoleon with Caramelized Puff Pastry, Mendocino Huckleberries and Scharffen Berger Chocolate Sauce

The weather was perfect, so we were able to balance the eating with a lot of walking and beach combing.

By Saturday night we were ready for another restaurant meal and had a great one at Mendo Bistro -- one clue that Fort Bragg is starting to compete with Mendocino for dining dollars -- and funkiness, judging from this photo of their chef on the Mendo Bistro web site.

Flora Talks Turkey

2008-11-25T09:53:00.000-08:00

A fun aspect of my job is writing scripts for in-house videos. Usually they feature product experts, but we did a Thanksgiving Day analyst spoof promoting a new product -- starring Adrienne as "analyst" Flora Gardner. The video is offline now, but standby for future creative productions... This was our first effort with a green screen backdrop, allowing us to create the newsroom effect you see below.

The Cattle Were Lowing

2008-11-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

It was unseasonably warm last weekend, so Ty, Rain and I decided to go camping. We weren't the only ones who had the crazy idea of camping in November. We pulled into Samuel P. Taylor, expecting to have our choice of campsites, and saw the dreaded CAMPGROUND FULL sign, so we ended up at the Olema Ranch RV "Resort," where we did have our choice of sites.

The strange thing about camping in November is that it gets dark very early. We ate tacos by lantern light at 6PM and were in our tents by 9PM. Aside from the lowing of cattle on a nearby hillside it was a peaceful night. (The lowing was quite frantic and we worried that the calves were being attacked by coyotes or other varmits, but Rain figured out they were probably just hungry and the sudden silence we heard after the lowing meant they were nursing, not dead.)

Earlier in the day we visited 5 Brook Stables. Ty won $5 when Rain bet he couldn't touch one of the chickens milling near the corral.

Choosing What Matters

2008-11-09T09:48:00.000-08:00

It was a rainy day in SF yesterday, but before the rain set in, we walked down to the Kabuki Theatre to see "The Secret Life of Bees," based on a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. It was a wonderful movie and wonderfully true to the book.

So many great lines. I will think of this one every time I see an unusual paint color on someone's house:

"Some things don't matter much. Like the color of a house. How big is that in the overall scheme of life? But lifting a person's heart -- now, that matters. The whole problem with people is ... they know what matters, but they don't choose it. The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters."

Cause of Death

2008-11-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

The book Cause of Death (or I should say this blog about a book) got me thinking about the mysterious death of our pet canary when I was 11 years old. My grandmother was taking care of us while my parents were away and she seemed suspiciously cheerful reporting that "Mellow Yellow" (the bird) had died in his sleep. We never discovered the cause of the canary's death, but we kids were lucky to survive my grandmother's visit. She added the leftover birdseed to our meatloaf one night so it wouldn't go to waste.

I discovered the blog because Amber's mom helped design the book. If the book is as entertaining as the blog, it should be a big hit. I like this description from a review of the book:

“I can see this book being useful for people creating fiction where they need somebody to die, and fast.”

Campaign Humor

2008-10-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

I overheard Ty discussing proposition 8 with a friend. (Yes on 8 would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.) Both had seen the Yes on 8 ad where the little girl tells her mother about hearing a story in school where a prince marries another prince. His friend did not see why this was so upsetting to the Yes on 8 side. “It’s not like there are that many princes and princesses around.”

Ty is doing his part for the campaign by dressing as McCain, but encouraging people to vote Obama.

"Trick or treat, my friends."

Small World

2008-10-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

Ty has been playing the Lincoln Park golf course on his own because I think it's too crowded and expensive to play on weekends. Yesterday he was paired up with someone who used to be in Adrienne's piano club (a group of 12 musicians who take turns hosting recitals for each other in their homes). Despite Ty's last name, the man didn't make the connection until I met up with them at the 18th hole.

While Ty was having this small world experience, Adrienne and I ran into Jordan's kindergarten teacher at the St. Anne's rummage sale (where Adrienne was hoping to pick out a costume for an upcoming show). Out of thousands of items, I had just bought an American Tourister "carpet bag" the teacher donated to the sale.

Finally, an unconfirmed small world experience. We were playing Scrabble with the TV on in the background when a local restaurant review program did a feature on Nick's Crispy Tacos. Ty is convinced he saw Amber and Matt when they panned the crowd.

Ghoul Setting

2008-10-19T08:08:00.000-07:00

Over the years, we have collected quite a few Halloween costumes (because we gave the kids a modest costume allowance each year and Jordan and Ty used it to buy variations on the ghoul/grim reaper theme for 5 or 6 years running). Now they are into more esoteric costumes, but it occurred to me that I could recycle the masks and robes as decorations. I feel like a set designer for Pirates of the Caribbean. Here are some of the montages.