We landed in cold and rainy San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon and were greeted by an American airlines protest outside the terminal – something about “One Job is Enough” – very loud.
Tuesday evening was spent at Adamo’s house enjoying Italian take out. We were glad to finally diagnose why Phoebe constantly barks whenever Grammie shows up in the house – her hearing aids emit a high frequency noise that drives the poor dog nuts.
Diana enjoyed holding Francesca – 7 weeks now and almost 7 pounds. I 
spent some quality time having Massimo read me his favourite books – he has them very well memorized for a 3 year old. The chameleon doesn’t have a colour of his own is his current favourite.
We returned to Adamo’s home on Wednesday morning to do a couple of hours of babysitting while Amy went to an appointment. McD did a good job on some puzzles and we were able to keep the two terrors entertained almost up until their Mom returned – they’re good for about 90 minutes.
Thanksgiving day started and continued with lots of cooking. Giancarlo and Diana made a good team preparing two kinds of stuffing and D’s famous artichoke dip.
I particularly enjoyed a story from Diana’s childhood about the reused lunch bags. While all the other kids in class got a new lunch bag with their name nicely written out each day – poor, tortured D had to reuse whatever size sack was available until it could be used no more. Apparently particularly embarrassing if containing a smelly leftover fish sandwich. It was better to go hungry than stink up the whole classroom. She created this mock up to make her point – Clorinda was too busy to write out full names and just went with initials. I think I saw some deep seated frustrations being worked out as the bag was aggressively crumpled up.
I headed up to Adamo’s home early on Thanksgiving afternoon to watch the Cowboys play the Bills and wish I hadn’t bothered – one of their weaker performances in a while. One of the cats was more interested and determined to block my view.
Family and friends soon arrived, with Julie bringing up the rear in typical fashion. Plates were filled with all kinds of delicious offerings and then we took our places at the very long table with the beautiful Pacific Ocean backdrop.
Amy stopped moving for a couple of minutes and allowed a couple of family pictures:
Massimo had on a very cool t-shirt under his flannel – Austin Mix Tape:
Clorinda’s neighbor, Andy, finally got the two terrors to settle down and watch some videos of the new mountain line that has been patrolling Gypsy Hill:
We met up with my boys, Christine, and her Dad, Guy, on Friday evening. Will chose Vino Santo in Redwood City and it was delicious. We had fun giving the kids their Christmas gifts as we won’t be in California this holiday season.
Will started us of with his “off-menu” appetizer sampler dish – a very nice way to try a number of things:
The lobster ravioli seemed to be the most popular entree at the table. I enjoyed veal marsala – haven’t had that in a long time.
The evening closed with the usual father and sons picture. It was great to see all the boys looking so well.
We walked up hill to Andy and Jude’s gorgeous home for coffee on Saturday morning. There was a hummingbird convention underway outside the window – this was just one of three feeders and all were equally populated.
Andy and Jude are a very kind couple, keeping a close eye on Clorinda, and full of good stories. I enjoyed a new one about hippies sitting outside their record store in the Haight Ashbury region of San Francisco, playing loud bongos and blocking entrance to their store. They tried several different approaches to moving the hippies on, ultimately having success with an Andy idea – play the Barney song repeatedly through the outside speakers.
I’m pushing publish a day early this week as we’ll be traveling back to Dallas most of tomorrow.
I finished a trio of books this week. My favourite was “The Dutch House” by Ann Patchett. I had brought this book to read on my previous trip to Pacifica, but Clorinda ended up getting engrossed in it. We were able to discuss it this time and she regularly asked me where I was in the story.
I really enjoyed Patchett’s prior book “The Commonwealth” and this was almost as good.
The story is based around the Dutch House, purchased at the end of the Second World War by Cyril Conroy, who combines luck and a single canny investment to build an immense real estate empire, and thrust his family from poverty to great wealth.
Set over the next five decades, the story is about two smart people, Danny and Maeve, who cannot overcome their past. Despite outward signs of success, the siblings are only truly comfortable when together. They are ultimately forced to confront the people who left them behind with dramatic consequences. I recommend this book a lot.
Here’s a paragraph that explains the book jacket picture:
“the thing I couldn’t stop thinking about was the portrait of Maeve hanging there in the drawing room without us. How had we forgotten her? Maeve at ten in a red coat, her eyes bright and direct, her black hair loose. The painting was as good as any of the paintings of the VanHoebeeks, but it was of Maeve, so what would Andrea do with it? Stash her in the damp basement? Throw her away? Even as my sister was right in front of me I felt like I had somehow left her behind, back in the house alone where she wouldn’t be safe.”
And here’s something that I don’t understand – “and two hamburgers for Kevin, who could have cared less”. How did this get turned around in American English? Patchett is trying to say Kevin didn’t care at all – he couldn’t have cared less – but instead uses, could have cared less, meaning he did care a bit. It’s interesting how these things that are obviously wrong, become accepted as meaning what they don’t. Climbing down off the soap box now to tell you about the other books I read.
I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the Amazon book review when one of my favourite authors recommended two new books that he had enjoyed very much – I ordered them up and put them in the to be read stack. The first, “Very Nice” by Marcy Dermansky is described as:
“A brilliantly funny novel of bad behavior in the post-Obama era, featuring a wealthy Connecticut divorcée, her college-age daughter, and the famous novelist who is seduced by them both.”
Not really my cup of tea, but a quick and entertaining read nonetheless – I think this is what is referred to as a perfect beach read.
The next recommendation, “All this could be yours”, by Jami Attenberg, had a bit more substance. One back jacket cover review captures the feel well:
“Big Little Lies meets Succession in the scorching heat of the Big Easy . . . Money, power and family are touched upon through Attenberg’s emotional, humorous and sharply written accounts.”
“If I know why they are the way they are, then maybe I can learn why I am the way I am,” says Alex Tuchman of her parents. Now that her father is on his deathbed, Alex—a strong-headed lawyer, devoted mother, and loving sister–feels she can finally unearth the secrets of who Victor is and what he did over the course of his life and career. (A power-hungry real estate developer, he is, by all accounts, a bad man.) She travels to New Orleans to be with her family, but mostly to interrogate her tightlipped mother, Barbra.
I enjoyed the characters and New Orleans setting of this novel, but it was also a bit of a quick, beachy read.
I revisited a couple of excellent country folk songs from Hayes Carll this week:
This new Grace Potter song came up on one of my playlists this week and I like it:
Here’s a good one from Austinite Rob Baird. He’s opened a couple of shows at the Kessler and seems to be gaining a good following:
And finally another Austinite, Shinyribs:
Norma thought she was very funny in the office on Tuesday. Sitting with a bandage on her finger just waiting for me to notice. In her defense, she brought an amazing bottle of 23 year old Ron Zacapa rum from Guatemala that we all enjoyed very much.
I finished “Conviction” by Denise Mina this week. Here’s the Amazon synopsis:
What a great album cover – Elvis Costello and the Attractions “Armed Forces”. Anne texted me this picture from the Costello concert in New Orleans. Her friend, Margaret, is a huge fan and you can tell they have very good seats. This reminded me of the album Costello made with Allen Toussaint after Katrina.
My week started with a different medical appointment – the annual eye exam complete with dilation on Monday morning. Nothing better or worse than last year, which is always pleasant news. Right after that we made the drive down to Austin so that McD could attend a prospective client meeting on Tuesday morning. It’s nice that she has a client in Austin instead of Milwaukee or Boston.
It was a short walk to June’s and a typical situation – the champagne by the glass didn’t suit McD (I tasted both samples and agree with her this time), and so a bottle was ordered. We enjoyed another great meal – my bone marrow bolognese was fantastic. Our only complaint was the music the DJ was playing – we might be getting too old for this place on weekend evenings.
After dinner Diana and I were ready to call it a night. Not so much with our guests. They Ubered to a honky tonk 20 minutes away and enjoyed a show by Choctaw Wildfire. They always like to find some authentically local and off the grid spot.
My book this week was “Panama” by Thomas McGuane. What a crazy ride of a book, n0t like anything I’ve read. Felt like a marriage of Hunter S. Thompson at his gonzo best and John Kennedy Toole’s New Orleans humor from “Confederacy of Dunces”.
We visited a bar across the street to watch a little bit of the World Series baseball and took this silly picture for Cat to send to Kristina. He had a splint on his finger due to arthritis – more on that later.
Then Jimmie Vaughan inducted and played with the amazing Buddy Guy – 83 years old and very spry and energetic. Sean Penn (also surprisingly nervous to start) inducted Lyle Lovett. Lyle won over Diana with his story telling and humour during his acceptance speech. I enjoyed Edie Brickell covering one of his songs very much. Then it was time for the grand finale with everyone on stage.
The excellent show finished after 11 and we were both hungry. It was raining outside as evidenced by Wet Willie, and 2nd bar and kitchen was closed, so we went across the street to the JW Marriott. That turned out to be a mistake.
Things moved slowly to reinsert my right index finger nail and stitch me up, with us ultimately discharged after 4am. What a long, frustrating night. I tried to leave a couple of times, with my wonderful wife handling me well. You’ll have to ask her for some of the more entertaining details. Also good stories about our fellow patients, and the paramedic who stopped in just to hang out with some sane folks for a bit.
My finger was numb all Thursday and so I was able to go into work in the afternoon. Not so much on Friday, woke up with some pain and then flew to California in the evening for Clorinda’s 88th birthday celebration. We enjoyed the Fairmont hotel all lit up for Halloween in downtown Austin.
Sometimes challenges are fortuitous – the power still out meant Adamo had to cook up all his lobster tails that had defrosted – absolutely delicious.
I was able to finish three books with all the flying and downtime. “The Last Days of California” by Mary Miller is an interesting tale of a family driving cross country to California before the Rapture. The book is told through the eyes of the 15 year old, younger sister of the family.
Next up was the Steve Forbert biography from his show. This was a joyous read with so many great music stories. He was raving about Shawn Colvin, who we saw inducted at the ACL show. His writing is very engaging and personal and really communicated the struggle of a singer songwriter.
Last was a short read from the amazing Stewart O’Nan – “Last Night at the Lobster”. I loved his “Henry, Himself” a few months ago.