Last weekend we enjoyed a few days in California. There was a special treat for me in the fridge at Clorinda’s house – dark chocolate covered pistachios with a special message on the bottom, “For Keith, but Clorinda tasted”. Diana’s still searching for her special treat. I was able to reciprocate with some handmade ginger flavored chocolate hearts that were well received.
During a dinner at Adamo and Amy’s home, a local policeman showed up to return a sign that had been stolen from Gypsy Hill and spotted in a yard in town. Luciano took advantage of the visit to enjoy his first experience in a police car with the lights on.
The sunsets from Amy and Adamo’s home can be quite spectacular – even more so now that some trees have been trimmed back.
On Sunday I had a very enjoyable lunch at Santana Row catching up with Finn while Diana met up with her girlfriends for “Sip and Dip” at Kristina and Cat’s home. Finn shared his website which showcases some of his graphic design and mobile application work – finnrobertsondesign.com. He’s working on finding the perfect job match in this field just now. I met up with the crew at Kristina’s and we enjoyed a lovely dinner and sharing stories with her Mom. We spent the night in Los Gatos and I was able to visit some favorite old haunts – Carry Nations pub, The Great Bear coffee shop where we met up with Los Gatos Amy, and The Los Gatos Cafe for breakfast (and a special carrot and walnut left over treat for Clorinda).
On Tuesday we met up with a couple of friends of D’s from Australia – Renee and Daniel. Renee taught Alicia dance and singing when she was in Australia many years ago and has since married Daniel. They walked across the Golden Gate Bridge; we met them on the far side, and took them up to the top of the Marin Headlands for the best view of San Francisco.
From there we headed to lunch at a restaurant in Sausalito called Bar Bocce – an excellent recommendation from Amy that included a small beach and bocce court. Good food, great company, and excellent views.
Then it was back over the bridge for a tour of the city that included Coit Tower, North Beach, downtown, the very touristy Pier 39 (with only a few sea lions in residence), and dinner at The Slanted door in the Ferry building.
This weekend was mostly spent relaxing after the trip. We did see the movie “The Hero” on Saturday afternoon and both enjoyed it very much. It’s by a director named Brett Haley and starts Sam Elliot as an aging Western movie star. We looked up other movies by the same director and found “I’ll See You in My Dreams” – a similar movie starring Blythe Danner and Sam Elliot.
Dinner on Saturday night was at Wasabi with Patty and Brent. This is the sushi and Japanese restaurant that I first experienced with the Halls and loved. My second visit was just as good as the first. After dinner we walked over to Zin Zen where The Three Amigos band was playing. McD demonstrated her varied dance moves with Patty and some new friends that shared her exuberant dancing approach.
During the trip to California I was able to finish the book, “Two and Two, McSorley’s, My Dad, and Me” by Rafe Bartholomew. This is a very enjoyable read about the oldest continually operating bar in the United States and a father and son who have both worked there for many years – several together. Lots of insights into the operation of the unique bar are offered along with a lot of commentary on working together with one’s Dad. I was interested to read that the bar did not close down during Prohibition but was first closed during Hurricane Sandy. This reminded me of my experience trying to recover connectivity for AIG’s employees stranded at home during Sandy. This while all of the New York based team was completely offline due to lost electricity and connectivity. Not something that I hope to have to do again in my IT career.
A favorite music discovery this week was the album “The Convincer “ by Nick Lowe in 2001. I’ve always enjoyed his music and witty lyrics and this album contains a solid dose of both.
I’ve also been loving the new song “Java” by Stanton Moore’s band from their upcoming tribute to the late Allen Toussaint. The musicians are all stars, the arrangement excellent, and all backed by the incredible drumming of Stanton Moore. I was reminded of the first time I heard him – Levon Helm’s band was playing at jazzfest and Levon came out from behind the drums to sing a couple of songs. Stanton Moore took over at drums and I asked Denny who that amazing new drummer was. I was an immediate fan and have enjoyed several performances by Moore’s bands Galactic and his eponymous trio since.
nfiguration and finally put a piano in the area we’ve referred to as the “piano room” since moving into the house over 4 years ago. I did some quick online research and then made a trip to Jack Whitby pianos in Dallas. Jack is quite the local character and had a good selection of reasonably priced pianos. I picked one out around 1:30pm and it was delivered to the house by 5pm – much to Diana’s surprise and entertainment. I’ve been enjoying the sound and feel of the new Shoenbach piano very much over the last week.
We also loved this wedding card from the Scottish penguin series that includes our Christmas present mugs with William Wallace, Batman and Robin, lovebirds, and bagpiper.
Here’s the staging for a selection of songs from the “Animals” album. Screens and chimneys down the middle of the arena and perpendicular to the stage reprised the classic album cover of the Battersea power station. This was also the point in the show where Waters’ feelings on Trump were on full display. Including a large Trump pig that circled the arena and many graphics and direct Trump quotes projected on the large screens. It was interesting to look around and see the split of those cheering and those sitting on their hands. I’d say about 30% obvious Trumpers in the audience – I was expecting less.
The first half of the show ended with “Another Brick in the Wall” and a crew of local Dallas kids dressed in orange prison garb dancing on stage. They removed their overalls to show “Resist” shirts. At the end of the show, confetti with Resist stamped on it dropped from the ceiling. “Resist” is a slogan for a movement that encourages grass roots organizing and action to stand against the current Trump/Republican agenda.
Based on this text I think Will enjoyed the show as much as I did which makes me very happy.
esting to see the Village Vanguard in a documentary called “Becoming Mike Nichols” that I watched between catch up naps on Saturday – apparently he and Elaine May performed there in their early days as an improv duo. The documentary was about Nichols work up to and including “The Graduate” which was his first movie at age 36. It was also Dustin Hoffman’s first movie – Nichols had seen him perform at an off-Broadway production.
Tuesday and Wednesday were long work days at 180 Maiden Lane in the Wall St area. 80 folks locked up in an auditorium with rotating speakers, panels, and group discussions.
day I made my first Blue Apron meal in a while. Catfish with ponzu and red pepper sauce, ginger toasted peanuts, garlic infused rice, and sesame seed zucchini.
ed the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson this week. This is a mind blowing account of the racial injustices of the judicial system in the South (particularly Alabama) told through stories of many cases that the author, a Harvard lawyer who has never really earned much of a living, has worked on over the last 20 years. The progress that Stevenson has driven almost single handedly over the years with many Supreme Court hearings is phenomenal.
The concert at the Granada was by the Ian Moore band. He’s a singer and blues guitar player who rose to fame in the early 90s in Austin. My favorite song of his is “Blue Sky” and there’s a link to listen to it below. When we arrived we had a surprise treat of Jason Elmore as an opening act. He’s a local blues guitarist that we typically see in small restaurants or bars and it was nice to see him on the big stage. The sound for Jason was great but Ian’s vocals were way too loud and distorted when he sang loudly – this was disappointing since he has such a great voice.
Denny came to visit on Sunday afternoon and spent the night with us – he has work in Plano next week. He helped finish up the puzzle with Alicia. I think they did about 20 of the 463 pieces but you would have thought they were the puzzle completing saviors to hear Denny.
